2005 Chen-Guang-He Tang "MengHai Yieh Sheng"

According to information provided by Guang, the Menghai Yieh Sheng (Wild) is a beeng produced by Chen Guang He Tang in 2005 as a blend of Ban Zhan (not Lao Ban Zhang) and other Menghai wild spring leaves harvested at 2005. This is one of the more expensive young pu-erh, a standard 357g beeng costs $120. It must be an exceptional cake to justify that price – so I decided to try a sample and if it’s really that good obtain a whole beeng.



This tea is produced by the same producer in the same year as the 1st Tea Expo beeng I like very much and even shares the wrapper design with it. Of course, the price is 4 times as much.

The leaves point out to quite wet storage being much darker and more brownish than the Tea Expo Memorial beeng. The cake looks stone-molded, the sample could be easily separated into single leaves, so I used the most whole and biggest of them for the first time.



The smell of liquor points out to the wet storage, though I found a clear fragrance of peaches under the cellar smell. The taste points out to the Taiwanese storing conditions, too, though the aftertaste is excellent, clear and long lasting. Actually, I liked this tea quite a lot, it was energic and fresh with interesting taste.

If this tea is $50 per beeng, I would easily buy few cakes to store and drink later, but since its $120, sadly I have to live without it.

2005 Xi Zhi Hao Lao Ban Zhang

The San Ho Tang tea factory is producing luxurious pu-erh, at least in the eyes of many pu-erh fans. Though the recent production is somewhat controversial, the first and maybe first half of second year is seen as really good.



San Ho Tang produced two test runs of pu-erh – 1997 Yi Wu and 1999 Meng Sa. It started the regular production in 2005, producing Lao Ban Zhang, You Le and Nan Nuo beengs. I was able to acquire the last two, but from Lao Ban Zhang beeng I have only a sample. As always in samples, I do not judge the wholeness of leaves, since they broke when the sample is taken from the beeng. Today I brew the leaves that fallen off the sample.

This beeng is made from sun-dried mao cha from old semi wild plantations in high altitude in Bulang mountain range. This is very similar to 2006 Xi Zhi Hao Lao Ban Zhang beeng, though the leaves are somewhat darker, probably because they aged a year longer.



This is a fine pu-erh. It produces yellow, thick soup with nice, calming fragrance. The tea lasts long; from about 5 grams of leaves I was able to make 8 infusions, about 1 liter of tea. I started with very short infusions, gradually prolonging them, the last ones were few minutes long. The aftertaste is nice.

I believe this tea is very similar to its one year younger cousin. I like it, but I miss the real character. Maybe some flaws, or stronger aroma. This tea will be probably highly valued by collectors, but I like the Yi Wu teas much, much more.



This tea was also drunk by Hobbes.

2005 1st SoutEast Asia Pu-erh Trade Memorial Cake

The 2005 Pu-Erh Trade Memorial Beeng is one of the tightest beengs I own. Originally purchased at Hou De, it's one of the beengs that is still available, although only in limited quantity.



As you can see on a photo above, the beeng is hydraulic pressed, making the leaves very hard to separate from each other. It is certainly a tea that will not age well in dry environments. On the other hand, the beeng smells very good. A pleasant woody aroma surrounds the cake. As Guang states, the producer agreed to make the tea from single-estate MengHai big leef mao cha.

Hard part is to extort a piece to brew, small enough to fit in teapot and still without leaves damaged too much.



Also you can notice on bigger picture how nice hairy the leaves are. The liquor is nice yellow-orange, very clear, aromatic. I found in this beeng trails of some nice Yi Wu cakes, like 2004 Yan Ching Hao. No smokiness at all – that’s surprising for such young pu-erh. It taste very clear, very gentle with hint of leather, sweet honey and small fruits. The durability of that cake was good, surviving more than 10 infusions with loosing too much taste and strength.



As you can see from leaves, there are tons of stems. These stems looks OK, they are flexible and definitely not too woody. The leaves are broken, but as I said on the beginning, it's really hard to get decent leaves from cake solid like this one.



The 2005 Pu-erh Trade Cake beeing $30 per piece is very nice drink-me-now tea. I do not think it's ageable here, but it's ready to be enjoyed right now.

Also, check out Hobbes review.

2005 Menghai Golden Needle White Lotus

The 2005 Golden Needle White Lotus is maybe the most famous and most appraised shu pu-erh made by Menghai factory in last few years. It won the 2005 China Tea Industry Exposition Gold Award. So is this tea really that good?



I read somewhere that this tea is of "medium compression". If that's true, what is heavy compression? I was able to cut off enough tea from the sample, but also I made a pretty deep cut with my pu-erh knife into the surface of my table and I'm lucky that I still have all ten fingers. Certainly a hydraulic press was used to make this beeng!

The leaves are small, consistent, with some yellow buds. The dry sample emits very strong aroma - partially it reminded me of bacon, with a certain earthiness (reminded me the smell a dry cellar with some wood deposited in there).

The brew is beautiful - clear, dark, in direct sunlight it changes color into ruby.

The taste - well, probably now is the perfect time to tell you, that I'm not a big fan of shu pu-erh. I drink shu in work, when there is no time to brew something better, but I do not seek it. Why? Maybe because I know, how shu is produced, and also here in Slovakia only pu-erh available was very, very bad shu, so I somehow disliked that kind of tea.

Back to taste - the taste is smooth. Nice. Mellow. If you like the mustiness or fishy tastes in shu pu-erh, you will not find them here. Instead, the taste is sweet, woody, and earthy. In some reviews I read about floral notes - well, I do not found any of them. Just a very good shu, that last 8-12 infusions.

Wet leaves were dark and broken - probably as the result of my humble attempt to break the sample into pieces.



I tried a sample I got from Hou De (sold out). I also have two minibeengs (200g) I accidentally purchased just before the pu-erh bubble, but I decided not to open them, because of their quality. Let them sit at home and age.

The tea itself is probably sold out anywhere for a pretty long time, you could try its two years younger cousin from Yunnan Sourcing - but at your own risk, since I do not know, how tastes the fresh one. Or you can try the more expensive aged loose variant.

2005 Yan Ching Hao Yi Wu Cha Wang

Today I tried the last 7 grams of my Yan Ching Hao sample I got from Hou De. Hou De lists three different Yan Ching Hao products - 2004 and 2005 Yi Wu and 2006 blended beeng. The 2006 blend got some mixed reviews (check out Half Dipper). Mixed reviews for mixed cake... how poetic :-)

The 2004 and 2005 beengs are supposed to be pure wild arbor material from YiWu Mountains. The price of cakes reflects that fact - the 2004 beeng was sold for $90, and then price rose to $137. Still, the beeng sold out. The 2005 beeng was "only" $75 - maybe because it was sold out long before the 2007 pu-erh price bubble.

Fact is, that the tea is beautiful, both the 2004 and the 2005 one. Love in the first sight. The leaves are uniform big, bold, strong. They are slowly turning brownish.

The liquor is orange with the typical Yi Wu taste - sweet, lingering with fruity background. No smokiness, at least I cannot detect any. Complex, yet still very tasty - this is the tea you can offer to your friend who does not drink pu-erh and he still will like it. The aftertaste is very good, too.

The tea last about 8-10 very very good infusions, then it slowly gives up.

Also check out about this tea : Pu-erh Community.