2003 Reproduced Dragon & Horse Tongqing Hao

Tracing Photos of The Same Tea Cake

In the last Cloud's Tea Diary, the tea broth and aftertaste of the aged ripe tea (The Purple Ripe Tea Cake) were discussed. Cloud will further reply the remaining questions raised by a tea lover, who asked, "What are the differences between the aged raw tea cakes and the aged ripe tea cakes? What are the good aspects of both kinds of tea? Why is the aged raw Puerh so expensive?"

Cloud is of the view that in order to understand the differences, there must be personal appreciation experiences of both the aged raw tea cakes and the aged ripe tea cakes. Thus, Cloud chose the raw and the ripe tea cakes from the early 1990's for comparison. In relation to the tea cakes from the early 1990's, Cloud has already written three diaries:-

• 2008-07-12 Early 1990's 7542 After A Banquet (Re: Aged Raw Puerh）
  
• 2008-10-25 Early 1990's 7542 with TT & DT (Re: Aged Raw Puerh）
  
• 2008-11-09 The Early 1990's Purple Sky Ripe Tea Cake - 8592 (Re: Aged Ripe Puerh）

What are the differences between the aged raw tea cakes and the aged ripe tea cakes?

Obviously, the major difference between the aged raw Puerh and the aged ripe Puerh is their flavor.

( ... More HERE )

2005 Gua Feng Zhai - Yiwu

The Early 1990's Purple Sky Ripe Tea Cake - 8592(09 November 2008)

During the tea meetings in October 2008 in Malaysia, Cloud discussed several Puerh tea issues with tea lovers. It is worth sharing these discussions over the Internet. Somebody asked, "What are the differences between the aged raw tea cakes and the aged ripe tea cakes?"

Cloud is of the view that in order to understand the differences, there must be personal appreciation experiences of both the aged raw tea cakes and the aged ripe tea cakes. Thus, Cloud chose the raw and the ripe tea cakes from the early 1990's for comparison. In relation to the raw tea cakes from the early 1990's, Cloud has already written two diaries:-

• 2008-07-12 Early 1990's 7542 After A Banquet
  
• 2008-10-25 Early 1990's 7542 with TT & DT

The Early 1990's Purple Sky Ripe Tea Cake - 8592

The trading code of the Purple Sky Ripe Tea Cake was 8592 which was the tea product specifically ordered by Nantian Trading Company, a Hong Kong trading company, in the early 1990's. In order to differentiate it from the similar wrapping raw tea product 8582, they requested a purple-red stamp to be stamped on the wrapper. The Chinese character of the stamp is equivalent to the English word "Sky" (天, "Tian"). Therefore, this cake is also known as Purple Sky Ripe Tea Cake.

( ... More HERE )

Cloud has some purple clay jars for containing the chipped off daily used tea cakes. However, the purpose of using purple clay jars is not for the long term aging. Cloud may discuss this issue in the future tea diary. Generally speaking, the purple clay jars are used for containing the chipped off aged Puerh vintages which are ready for instant appreciation without further aging. Although the degree of air permeability of purple clay jars is low, there is still a little bit permeability which is suitable for gathering the tea flavor, aroma and Qi aging after breaking up the entire tea cake.

Purple Clay Jars are Suitable for Revitalization

The size of this purple clay jar is slightly larger for containing more than one tea cake. It can be filled up with one and a half chipped off tea cakes. However, it is unnecessary to fill up the entire jar because the remaining room between the tea chunks and the lid allows enough air for a little further aging or revitalization (Photo A1083). When you open the lid taking out some tea leaves for brewing, you will naturally stir the tea leaves up allowing some fresh air to go in at the same time. Do you notice that the tea chunks from the bottom of a tea jar are usually tastier than those you brewed in previous sessions even though they are from the same tea cake?




( ... More HERE )

      
It has been 2 months not having a tea session with Collector W since our last tea meeting, appreciating the 1970's Yellow Mark - Conscientious Prescription (See Cloud's Tea Diary: 2008-07-22 1970's Conscientious Prescription). The Conscientious Prescription last time we had was really great. Although Collector W has another piece of Conscientious Prescription, it seems that the aging condition of another piece was not too good (Photo A1011).

      
If Collector W finished the tea cakes one by one, Cloud was afraid that the appreciation value of the second one might not be as high as the first one. If that was the case, there would be no more great Conscientious Prescription (the previous one) to be blended with the second one in order to improve their flavor. Since Collector W has already decided to break up the second one in the near future, it would be fine to chip off a little piece from the second one for trial taste in order to ascertain its aging condition.　　

      
By judging from the status of dry tea leaves (the tea cake itself), the degree of compression of the second piece is quite high (being too hard) although the storage condition is clean. However, by touching and feeling the tea cake, experienced Puerh tea connoisseurs might notice that the water contents absorbed by the tea cake (the second one) was a little bit higher than average (Photo A1011). Certainly, unless the dampness was excessive, the second one was still a good piece of drily stored aged tea cake aging for more than 30 years.

      
Other people joining the tea session could not wait for further moment. The second piece of Conscientious Prescription was chipped off (Photo A1012). The tea session began.

( ... More HERE )

      
It has been 2 years after Cloud's first visit to Malaysia in 2006. In this period of time, Cloud worked hard on A Glossary of Chinese Puerh Tea [First Edition] which records some important Puerh tea terms for tea lovers' reference. After finishing the book, Cloud has time to meet tea lovers and Puerh tea connoisseurs to share Puerh tea experience.

      
It was a great honor for Cloud to be invited by Purple Cane Tea Art of Malaysia to join their tea functions in October 2008. It was a series of tea events. One of the tea parties was to appreciate an Antique Puerh Vintage - Huang Wenxing and a Masterpiece Puerh Vintage - the 1950's Blue Discus.

      
Antique Puerh Vintage - Huang Wenxing was produced from the 1930's. It has been aging for more than 70 years. With its 70 years of age, it was a precious antqiue indeed. The most valuable aspect of this tea cake, collected by Purple Cane Tea Art, to be apprecaited in this event was its dry and clean storage conditions. By reading from the dry tea leaves on the tea cakes, tea connoisseurs could tell its well aging condition and status. Besides, tea connoisseurs could also tell its excellent blending as there were appropriate ratio of tea leaves and tea stalks. The tea buds on the surface of tea cake showed their golden aging color. Since it was a very old tea cakes, the tea buds turned into dark golden color which could normally be found in Antique Puerh Vintage
( ... More HERE )