“Had a sample of this a few weeks ago, did not review because I should have let it acclimate. It was a bit watery and flat, curse me for being impatient. First sip this time around had me dizzy for...” Read full tasting note
“I had high expectations after reading the other reviews but my experience is for some reasons a bit underwhelming. I’m getting a lot of camphor, medicinal and honey flavours that don’t like so much...” Read full tasting note
“Overall not bad, but too smokey for my taste. The smokiness overpowered everything else for me. I am a pu noob, but I was surprised by how green this tasted for its age. YS says dry-wet guangdong,...” Read full tasting note
“This is a fairly simple semi-aged tea with a warming cha qi and an earth/fruity profile. It has aromas of cranberry, smoke, decaying wood, wet earth, and autumn leaf pile. In the taste I could then...” Read full tasting note
8891 Red Mark is one of two 8891’s released in 2007 by the China Tea Co (aka Zhong Cha/CNNP). The other 8891 is a brown label and is identical in all regards to the red label. We love confusing stuff like this. I tasted both side by side and could not tell them apart. I like red on pu-erh wrappers better!
Most importantly this tea is incredibly good tasting and has a very unique flavor profile. It’s been stored in Guangdong since 2007 in a dry-wet storage condition (wet stored but on the dry side of the wet storage spectrum). The raw material is from Nan Jian area of Yunnan which is technically part of Dali prefecture. I suspect the given the name “Da Li Cang Shan Xue Yin Yuan Cha” (Dali Town, Cang Mountain, Snow Mark Round Cake) and the font used that this was pressed for the CNNP company by the Nan Jian Tu Lin tea company. The material is fairly tippy, large leaf and obviously pure assamica. Not only that, but the raw material used is not from young plantation bushes as it’s quite burly and large in scale.
Compression is medium, not too tight at all and the leaves easily separate in layers from the cake. The tea brews up an orange-red tea soup with a pungent aroma of flowers, mushrooms and earth. The taste is clean with no musty wet storage notes, but does have some some earthy notes. There is a kind of pronounced spice and cloves taste and aroma with a strong viscous sweetness throughout. I have a hard time putting words to this experience, but I find myself wanting to drink it again and again.
500 grams per cake
Company description not available.