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2016 Yunnan Sourcing "Wild Purple Green Mark" Ripe Raw Pu-erh Tea Cake | Yunnan Sourcing Tea Shop

2016 Yunnan Sourcing "Wild Purple Green Mark" Ripe Raw Pu-erh Tea Cake

by Yunnan Sourcing Brand Pu-erh
Sold out
$11.25 - $92.00
$11.25
$11.25 - $92.00
$11.25

What happens when you skillfully blend Wild Purple "Ye Sheng" Raw Pu-erh tea from with wild arbor ripe pu-erh tea from Mengku?  You get something delicious, powerful and complex that is the best of both worlds.  It has sweetness of a good ripe pu-erh, it has the umami and savory character of wild purple raw tea and the bitterness of both raw and ripe.  The tea is thick and lubricating in the mouth and there is a slight lingering bitterness that transforms into a pleasant mouth-watering sweetness long after the tea has been enjoyed.  Cha Qi is powerful but not overwhelming.

The wild purple "ye sheng" tea was wild harvested in the Xiao Hu Sai area of Mengku and is Spring 2016 harvest.  The ripe tea comes from Mengku's Da Hu Sai village and grows naturally from trees and bushes between 40 and 80 years.  The tea was taken to Menghai where it underwent wet piling under the direction of a well-known and skillful wet piling master.  The ripe tea is 2015 harvested and 2015 wet piled.  It was allowed to age for a year before pressing.

The aging prospects for this tea are really exciting.  We have many examples of past raw and ripe blends in the world of pu-erh and several have become famous (like the famous "Purple Heaven" bricks and cakes from the 80's and 90's).  I created this tea because it's delicious to drink now and encompasses the things I like about raw and ripe pu-erh.  The blending is harmonious and there is no need to wait to drink this tea, as it's enjoyable right now for those who are not faint of heart!

 

August 8th, 2016 Pressing

357 grams per cake (7 cakes per bamboo leaf tong

Wrapper Design by Meghan Albers (USA)!

https://www.meghanalbersdesign.com/#/yearofthemonkey/

 

This tea has been tested in a certified laboratory for 191 pesticides, and is within the EU MRL limits set for those 191 pesticide residues. For a full list of the 191 pesticides we tested for and more information about MRL testing and the EU Food and Safety commission click on this link.

 

Overall rating: 4.4444447 / 5 from 9 reviews.

AI Generated Review Summary

Summary topics

Review topics: ["taste","blend","tea","water","cake","cha qi"].

Review highlights

Reviews

Love this!

"I love this tea and so sad it's sold out. I have two cakes left!"

— Frederick B. (5/5)

Leave this one to age, drink your other teas for now.

"I am new to teas but have been involved with coffee professionally for more than 10 years. My personal preference has veered towards ripened puerh, but I do understand and appreciate the idea of aging raw puerh. This blended cake makes absolutely no sense to me. The harshness of the young raw tea is overpowering and the main flavour notes I detect are of roots and tree bark. Very medicinal and has a lingering bitter aftertaste. It woke me up, but not in a good way. If you insist of drinking it now, I'd suggest brewing it at a 1:30 (tea:water ratio), very short steep, pour out and add another short pour of water into the carafe. The bypass water is necessary to bring about dilution to control that harshness. I understand the parody behind the creation of this cake, but that all ends with that first sip (1:20, 15 secs, no bypass). This is going to the back of my tea cabinet, maybe I'll revisit it in 15-20 years."

— Terence T. (2/5)

Rich and smooth

"Rich and smooth"

— Ryan S. (5/5)

Strong & Spiritual

"Very special tea with very special flavor & very special cha qi. The wild purple makes it strong, so watch your dose. The "ripe/raw" blend is masterfully (magically?) done...thanks to the tea wizard!"

— Ken G. (5/5)

quite good. At first i

"quite good. At first i didn't realize it's a mix of raw and ripe pu, but subsequently i started to love it because of its more versatile tastes. Thanks!"

— Paulius K. (5/5)

Drinking this right now.

"I was surprised by how much I liked this tea the first time I tried a sample of it - I had to buy myself a cake. This tea has some seriously powerful flavor! The smooth creamy ripe is very well balanced by the bitter strength of the raw leaves. I'm going to buy another cake next time I order tea, which will be long before my current cake runs out, but I know once it does I'll be sad if I don't have more of this!"

— Lauren H. (5/5)

Remarkably drinkable everyday tea. Very

"Remarkably drinkable everyday tea. Very good marriage of purple and green teas at a reasonable price. I liked it enough to buy a second cake."

— Reid G. (4/5)

Zim Zam Zoom!

"Scott has done it again with this amazing blend! The mixture and ratios could not be more perfect. I confess I have experimented with mixing ye sheng with ripe to give the ripe a little kick. This blend is better than my attempts! It's got tons of complexity and strong cha qi. Can't wait to age this!"

— David L. (5/5)

Powerful and unusual

"6.4gr/80ml. Had I known this tea was going to be as potent and powerful as it was, I definitely would've put only 5gr in my gaiwan. I thought it was going to be a fairly smooth tea with a little edge from the Ye Sheng, and for the first 3 infusions it more or less was. I guess even initially the Ye Sheng flavour was somewhat stronger than I expected, but still, the dominating flavour was that of Shu. It was slightly weird to drink because you certainly do not expect that level of bite from your average Shu. After that, the Ye Sheng became more and more prominent, and turns out, Scott put one hell of a powerful Ye Sheng in there. Even assuming the blend was 50/50 (though I think there was a bit more Shu than Ye Sheng), even with fairly quick infusions, the brew had a really strong Ye Sheng taste and aroma, and it was fairly bitter as well. Definitely more bitter than any of the young "regular" puerhs I've tried so far, but it was still quite drinkable and enjoyable. I think I managed to get around 10 infusions out of this tea. The last ones, I think, were the most balanced, but had very little Shu flavour, unfortunately, since Shu brews out quite a bit faster than Sheng, generally speaking. Not sure what to make of this tea. It was definitely interesting to try, but I think it needs to settle down for a year or two, at the very least, to get some of the edge off of Ye Sheng. Of course, the description did say "it's enjoyable right now for those who are not faint of heart!". Might become a real gem in a few years, who knows, if you're feeling adventurous - it's only $28 for the usual 357gr cake. At the very least, it is an interesting tea to try, I definitely did not expect it to taste like it did."

— nick (4/5)

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