Product Information
The product is said to be composed of pure Yi Wu mountain Spring material taken from the mountain's ancient tea trees. In addition, the cake is said to be special as the raw material is purely Yi Wu old-growth tea trees. Furthermore, the leaves are said to be sun dried which are subsequently hand arranged on the face of the cake making this cake exceptionally beautiful. For more information about YiWU Mountain please read previous post. For further information about the 6FTM Factory
Initial Impressions
Other than the leaf arrangement, (which only went face deep), I had noticed that the leaves are some what long and are more reminiscent of Autumn than Spring leaves. Furthermore, it was difficult for me to locate any buds, which in my humble opinion, is somewhat unusual if it is a Spring cake. On a better note, the cake did smell fantastic with no smokiness.Brewing Parameters
Water - Bottled spring water.
Source of water - Frontier Springs, PA
Amount – 5.3gWater Temp - Boil then cooled for 3 breaths
Brewing Method - Gongfu
Brewing Vessel - Yixing Teapot 150ml
Infusion times
1-15s
2-12s
3-25s
4-35s
5-45s
First Infusion
Aroma - The aroma was full of floral and honey notes albeit disappointingly weak. There were no notes of rubber or smoke that sometimes will find their way into a new puerh.
Taste - Very pleasant taste. However, not very lasting. Somewhat flat with no astringency. Very little if any chayun. A nice pleasant oolong-y after taste.
Second Infusion
Aroma - Very consistent from the previous infusion. Notes of raw sugar with slight hints of dried grass.
Taste - I was hoping that the second infusion would present to be more active, but unfortunately, there was no increase in chayun. The liquor is exceptionally flat with very little acidity. There appears to be a bit more astringency this time. The liquor is still pleasant with the same previous interpretations, but somewhat lifeless.
Third Infusion Aroma - Still again, no variation, but what is good in this tea is all weakening.
Taste - More grass, with a tad more astringency. Still no activity or chayun. The lingering palate, again, is one reminiscent of a non-roasted oolong.
Spent Leaves
The leaves just do not appear to be wild arbor. Of course it is difficult to tell visualy but it has been my experience that wild arbor leaves are much more robust. These leaves are somewhat flimsy with very shallow ribs.
Final Impressions
As you can probably surmise from my notes, I did not like this tea. It did have its moments, but for the most part this tea is a very poor example. The taste nor mouth feel were reminiscent of YiWu or wild arbor as their was just no activity, chayun or huigan. The later infusions were for the most part just like the first three, but just weaker. Of course the price of the beeng is somewhat on the lower side for ancient arbor puerh, but what chaps me the most is that this was the beengs most prominent claim. It is my humble opinion that this beeng is trivially composed of YiWu ancient arbor if any. I wonder if the factory had chosen to hand arrange the cake for this reason as it would be its only high point. I was just getting my hopes up I guess as I already knew that a beeng of this price would not be what it is claimed to be. You can't blame me for trying!
