2014 Yunnan Sourcing Year of the Horse Menghai Ripe Puerh Tea Cake

The liquor is medium bodied and has a very nice dark burgundy colour. Leaves’ smell is predominately reminiscent of prunes, but there are notes of peat, blueberry pie and in later steeps some smokiness as well. I could also identify some mushroom aroma in the liquor itself.

The taste has nice coffee bitterness and is quite varied. Up front, it’s mostly sour. The finish is fairly sweet, but then the aftertaste becomes somewhat savoury. The later steeps become even more sweet and nutty (walnuts and brasil nuts).

The mouthfeel is slightly mouth-watering, powdery and coats the mouth quite well. There is a little bit of astringency too. The cha qi is warming and seems to defocus the mind, probably better for relaxing than working.

Dry – Sweet and bittersweet earthy notes, no real ‘off’ notes, some persimmon/other fruit.
Wet – Sweet and very thick with earthy notes followed by bitter/bittersweet ‘shou’ notes, molasses and dark fruits, somewhat starchy.
Liquor – Burgundy to a Red-ish coffee-brown.

The tea starts bitter/bittersweet with earth notes that wear some musk, but as a very apparent molasses note to it. It has some darker notes of raw cocoa/coffee in the middle that is a pleasant bitterness, medium body and hints of persimmon at the end.

The steeps evolve into a sweeter and less complex liquor that is still pleasant, and some of the after taste reminds me of drinking a strong sweet coffee such as Turkish coffee or something in those lines.

Very pleasant for the age, but it is very young still. I’d say for the age it has it is a strong 80/100, specially considering for the age there is not fermentation scent at all.