7572, 1601

This tea is from the first batch of 2016 (hence 1601). I bought this from moylor.com, just to see how they operate, and I must say I’m impressed: speedy delivery, nice packaging, no nonsense. I was more of a raw pu er fan till now, but I am becoming addicted to ripe pu er too. My references are Hong Yun and 7562, both from Menghai. This tea comes fairly close to either of these references: creamy, with hints of red berries, no astringency to speak of, no bitterness even when you drive it a little too hard. And this is from 2016!
It is a little less sweet and red berries-like than Hong Yun. It’s a little rounder, sweeter and creamier than 7562. A very nice tea for the price (I got this for 27 euros, it’s cheaper now). Some hints of camphor can be found, but I’m not sure whether they come from the tea itself or if they are due to how moylor store their tea. I’ve noticed incense on other tea cakes from the same vendor, but it might not be their fault, since they probably acquired a lot of tea from many different operators. No wet pile taste at all. Hints of sticky rice or purple rice.
The good thing is that you can still find 7572 cakes at affordable prices, though Hong Yun is hard to come by, and 7562 seems generally more expensive.
My brewing method of reference is gongfu style, with a smallish gaiwan, 6g to 60 ml. I like to sip this tea, not gulp down a whole mug of it. This tea is pretty easy going: you can get away with sloppy timing of the steeps and just concentrate on enjoying the whole thing.

I would highly recommend this tea. I’m not sure storage will really improve this tea, therefore I would classify this as a “drink now”, though it could probably be stored for some time, in a proper environment. But why go through all the trouble?