“2005 Chang Yu Hao – Essence of Tea 70/100 Price: £0.69 ($1.04) / gram Summary: Sounds good, looks good, taste fails to impress. Dry: Med brown, flat, lots of twigs/stems. Med...” Read full tasting note
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It’s not often that I come across really good quality Yiwu cakes from this period. It’s even less often that they’re available for sale and reasonably priced.
This is the second year of production from Malaysian producer ChangYuHao, who have been pressing old tree puerh tea cakes since 2004. The cake is composed of 100% old tree leaves from the Yiwu area (at a time when maocha from different gardens wasn’t separated and explicitly named as it is today).
The leaves are thick and strong, with large size and thick stems. The tea from the beginning is very smooth, really opening up after 2-3 infusions and becoming thick in the mouth with plenty of strength. It is very elegant, as one would expect from a good quality Yiwu tea and has been well aged in the Malaysian climate, retaining it’s vitality while ageing and developing the deep almond flavours that aged Yiwu tea is famed for.
With 480g cakes of this being priced at less than contemporary 357g equivalent teas and having had the benefit of nearly 10 years of good ageing conditions in Malaysia, I think this tea is very much underpriced in the present day and a good choice for those wishing to grab a fine quality old tree Yiwu cake from this period.
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