2006 Longyuan Yi Wu Aromatic Pu-Erh

The tea is dead. Not all the tea, but some of my tea already deceased. Last time I drunk some powerless mao cha and I found some similarities with this 2006 Longyuan Yi Wu Aromatic beeng. Now is the time to confirm my findings.

The beeng isn’t single region but is a blend of Yi Wu (third) and Jiang Cheng (two thirds) leaves. But why is it called Yi Wu Aromatic Beeng instead of Jiang Cheng Aromatic Beeng? This is the manifestation of true power of trademarks.



I purchased this beeng alongside some others when I decided to try various loosely compressed beengs, see if they are suitable for long term storage. The beeng itself is beautiful, loosely compressed with small leaves on the surface. But the clothing sometimes hides a hideous body, so it should not distract me.

I don’t enjoy this tea. The liquor is slight orange, but it smells like a chemical substance with smoky undertones. Taste a bit like hay. There is some aftertaste, but the liquor itself lacks the power, the ability to age, the qi.

I’m very upside down with this tea. It’s not nasty, yet it’s not very good or cheap. Two stars out of five, max. Drinkable, but not much more. Maybe some wetter storage may help, but with my wet storage disaster I cannot try it myself.

This tea is available from Yunnan Sourcing.

2004 Yan Ching Hao Yi Wu Cha Wang

It’s a late summer night. Monday, day after the weekend. I should go to sleep, but I cannot. So I’m just sitting, drinking tea and listening to Bonobo. The windows are wide open, the chill of night slowly drives the fiery sun out of the room.



On table steam arose from the cup of tea. It’s my favorite – four years old Yi Wu pu-erh, one that just left the ferocity of youth, one that started to ascend the devious road to maturity. Born from mountains of Yi Wu under skilled hands of tea crafters.

I know that this tea is hand made – just today I found a long black hair in it. I quickly disposed it, before my girlfriend starts to ask hard-to-answer questions.

This is one of the first beengs I bought from Guang long, long ago in January of 2007. That is past long gone, the ancient time before the pu-erh bubble exploded. And this is the first whole beeng I drunk and shared, except of last small chunk.

The seventh infusion does not loose it’s strength nor taste. The rafined sweetness of Yi Wu shows promises of what it would become if I hadn’t drunk it. If I could just wait another fifteen years. But it’s hard to resist.



Last chips of formerly half kilogram beeng are observing me from wrapper. It’s a farewell to a good friend, farewell that leaves memories of beautiful times.

2003 Wu Liang Wild Arbor Xiao Beeng

According to legend, Wu Liang was a man, who invented oolong teas by accident by neglecting to dry tea leaves promptly. But Wu Liang is also a mountain in Simao region where mao cha is harvested for producing pu-erh.

This 100 gram only xiao (small) beeng is of private production using pure sun dried mao cha and traditional processing. I got a sample of this tea from owner of www.longfeng.cz – the 2003 Wu Liang pu-erh is one of his exclusive selected teas.



As it’s clearly visible from the leaves, the compression of this minibeeng is very loose; it’s probably stone-molded. Also, the tea is nearly five years old, but from the color of leaves and their smell I can deduce, that it was stored in dry environment all the time. There are mostly green leaves with few tips.

When I prepared this tea for the first time, I used boiling water. The brew was yellow with some chemical smell; the taste was heavy and sharp. I definitely disliked the tea – it’s certainly a good candidate for aging because of the strong taste, but I like somewhat more gentle teas to drink right now.



Since I got a sample only, I couldn’t let this tea age. So next time I prepared it with only 90 Celsius (194 F) water. First two infusions were somewhat smoky, but smokiness dismissed in third infusions and citrus aroma showed up. This tea actually tastes like tea should – the taste is very pleasant, full and round, filling the whole mouth leaving very long fruity sweet and slightly acidic aftertaste.

Using the cooler water this is a very good drink-me-now tea, but thanks for the power of mao cha it is made from it’s also a good candidate for aging. From 5 grams I made 10 very good infusions and I have to admit, that I gave up earlier than the tea.

2001 Chung-Hwa Yi Wu "Jin Yeh Hao"

The spring is finally here! The weather is of typical April, in the morning rain falls like during monsoon and after lunch it’s sunny and warm out there. Two weeks ago with Xi Zhi Hao minibeengs shipment from HouDe I also received a sample of 2001 Chung-Hwa Yi Wu "Jin Yeh Hao". Today is the right time to try it.



The tea is from Yi Wu area, it’s said to be counterpart of 2001 MengHai "Old Tree Tribute Cake - Jin Yeh Hao" using the same mao cha. Guang wrote, that one half of the mao cha was pressed by Menghai, the rest by Meng La Tea Factory. My speculation is, that it’s for the high royalty fees Menghai asks. Similar thing (probably) happened with 2003 Menghai BuLang beeng, check the whole story here.

The tea smells slightly aged with a touch of wet storage in the aroma of dry leaves. The sample I got shows nice leaf structure and stone-molded compactness.

The liquor is clear and turns orange. Smell of the tea reminded me for old books, but the smell merrily turned into incense-like smell – exotic woods and aromatic spices.
The taste followed the smell, sweet, slightly aged with a touch of acidity. After the fifth-sixth infusion the spicy, woody character of liquor gradually turned into sweet, plain fruity taste. This may be grim to those who are used to strong, harsh pu-erhs, but I like it for calm late night tea sessions. Especially when I want to sleep that night.



This tea reminded me of 2004 Yan Ching Hao Yi Wu Cha Wang in means of taste and smell. This is what I believe is the typical Yi Wu mountain taste. The beeng is sold out for long time, but I believe I would buy one or two, if they are available.

In next few days I will try to compare this tea to 2000 Yi Wu Zheng Shan sold by Scott – you will see why.

2006 Ming-Yuan Hao "Yi Wu - 858 Puerh Museum"

Even with the spring knocking on the door, it’s still dark outside when I come home. As I took photo of church outside my window, I noticed, that its clock isn’t adjusted. The weather was today sunny and warm, so I wanted to try some tasty tea today. So I ended up with sample of Yi Wu tea, that was produced by Ming Yuan Chung Guang Tea Factory with cooperation of 858 Da Yu Pu-erh Museum following traditional processing skills.



The leaves of the sample are nice, still green and young with few yellow buds. Some of them are quite hairy. The sample included lots of stems – it’s a good sign, at least the good teas I drunk before were full of stems. I’m not sure; maybe they give power to the tea broth.

The broth is dark orange, much darker then I could expect from less than two years old tea. One fact is important – I have this sample in airtight small plastic bag for about 4 months by now, so the tea can be affected/aged a bit more than a whole beeng would.

When I washed the tea with boiling water, it gave up a bit metallic smell. Later I used about 95 Celsius (205F) water. The broth smelled a hint of tobacco (a rare smell, at least in my teas), little smoked with very gentle touch of apples. The taste was free of any smokiness; instead it was sweet with acidic ending, very fruity and refreshing. There was no mouth-drying effect at all.



This tea is very pleasant to drink. If prepared properly you can serve it to guests that are not used to powerful and harsh taste of some of the pu-erhs. It’s more like a real pu-erh gentleman, with good manners and behavior.

I already got one beeng from HouDe (thanks, Guang!) and maybe I will purchase some more to store. This tea was created from sun-dried and stone molded mao cha to pursue and re-produce the glory of 50's Hong Yi cakes and it behaves like that.

1993 Da Li Nan-Jian Phoenix Tuo Cha

Today at evening I decided to taste something older. Unfortunately, I learned about pu-erh in late 2006, just before the big pu-erh market madness. So I missed the opportunity to buy some good aged pu-erh. All I have are few pieces – and today I decided to drink the 1993 Phoenix from Da Li Nan-Jian Tea Factory.


The tuo-cha is compressed just ok, not tight like the Xiaguan products, but still much tighter than average beeng. I had some problems break it, so I used one bigger piece and few smaller leaves – those leaves should add flavor to first few infusions, until the bigger piece will fall into separate leaves.



First, that catches my eyesight is the absolute clearness of the brew pointing to good kill-green process. The color is beautiful dark ruby. I prefer lighter teas, but the smell is still pretty heavy, clearly aged. The tea is 15 years old now, so it passed its juvenility and is becoming young adult.

The taste is aged yet energizing. There are hints of wood and a subtle touch of camphor in the taste. Huigan is strong and long lasting. In this small tuo we can see the big difference between aged raw and shu pu-erh. There are nearly no flaws in this tea. At least I cannot find any.

This small aged tuo, originally from Hou De is one of my all time favorites. Unfortunately, it’s sold out, as all good aged pu-erh is today. But if you accidentally find it somewhere, buy it!

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.