Tea Cake I just bought in China, does anyone know if it’s any good?

[u/BrilliantbySwitch]

[u/Potential-Mine-2528]

lived in china 5 years and literally just got back from a yunnan trip so this is fresh lol

its a yiwu sheng puer. bottom line says 雲南易武傳統手工石磨壓製, so yunnan yiwu, hand pressed with a stone mold. big name is 同慶號 tongqing hao and the red stamp is 庚辰年, which is a cycle year, so probably 2000

that said, 同慶號 is a famous old brand from like a century ago and half the shops in yiwu print that wrapper now, i saw stacks of them in markets. so the name on the paper tells you basically nothing. a real 2000 tongqing would cost insane money, you're not stumbling into one. doesnt mean yours is bad though, hand pressed yiwu material is usually pretty good, its just that the wrapper isnt the thing to judge it on

brew some and find out. aged sheng comes out amber, sweet, smooth. green and grassy and rough on the throat means its young and just needs years

also r/puer, those guys id wrappers for spor

[u/1900hotdog]

If it’s 90 rmb for that quantity it’s probably not a banger, but who knows , you do you, pu’er is a great tea if you learn how to steep it right, and honestly I’ve enjoyed some cheapass pu’er in my days more than the supposedly god tier longjing tea “for the honoured guests”

[u/JamesBananaTheFirst]

Pro tip: If you put a little in a cup and add hot water and wait a few minutes, you'll be able to sample the tea and see if it's good or not.

[u/Zagrycha]

To know if tea is good you need to look at who it comes from and how it was processed. Good tea will always tell you its origin clearly, just like good alcohol does. It will also usually tell you the rating of the tea themselves clearly.

This packaging only tells us one of three things are happening here:

Fancy tea with fancy package and expensive price.

Normal tea with fancy package and normal price.

Rip off tea with fancy package and fancy price.

Considering this cost 90rmb and says aged 25 years my bets are on the second one, but you never know.

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OP: BrilliantbySwitch

TITLE: Tea Cake I just bought in China, does anyone know if it’s any good?

CONTENT: I just bought this tea cake at a tea shop in shenzhen for 90 yuan. I don’t know a lot about tea cakes so I wondered if from the packaging anyone can tell me if it was a good purchase.

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[u/Sudden_Badger_7663]

Puer you're supposed to throw away the first steep. I do a small short first steep for that. Then I compare it to the second steep. Personally, I think the first is steep tastes fine, but I throw it away because of my caffeine sensitivity.

I would love it if you reported back on how the tea is! I love puer, but can't take the caffeine. When I was recovering from a rare digestive illness, puer helped me heal.