I had purchased a tong of these cakes when I was at the Malaysia tea expo in Kuala Lumpur last December. This tea was on promotion and there were only 8 cakes (an unopened tong and 1 cake) left 'on the shelf '. I decided to buy the lot. An impulsive buy.
I had made many tea purchases that were a miss than a hit. This purchase, fortunately was a value for money purchase when I tried this tea at home.
This tea had been well stored in Malaysia. Breaking up the cake produced a dry crispy sound and the appearance of the cake looked good for its age. My readers would know that I prefer my raw pu erh with a smoky background, but this cake was 'smoke free'. Brewing this tea produced a citrusy aroma reminding me of fresh lime. Not overpowering but its somewhere in the scent. I liked this tea in that I felt heated up after drinking a few infusions, like I am going to break into sweat. Chinese tea drinkers refer to this sensation as being caused by the 'chi' or energy of the tea. I had observed that some of my friends sweating literally when they drink 'chi' powered puerh. My friends tell me their backs starts to sweat and even may have beads of sweat on their forehead……and my friends actually enjoy and look forward to drinking such teas.
Back to this tea. This pu erh is produced by CNNP (aka Zhong Cha brand) and has a blue peacock printed on the wrapper. This cake, as described in the neifei, is made from pu erh harvested from Bada region in Yunnan. This tea when brewed exhibited a nice dry woody character, and when combined with a hint of citrus aroma, made this pu erh an interesting brewing session. This perhaps is one of the reasons why I go overseas for my tea adventures. I get to explore the many types of tea while at the same time making new friends who are passionate over their cup of Chinese tea.
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