Educational Series - Comparative Tasting of Old & New Ripe Puerh Tea

Gong Ting (aka Golden Needle) is a special grade of RIPE that contains a high content of buds. Only select batches of ripe puerh tea is made in this way. The light brown shimmering on the teacake represents small buds that give a unique appearance to this special grade of ripe puerh tea. LEFT: 2010 Golden Needle White Lotus Menghai TF RIGHT: 1990s CNNP Private Production Gong Ting

2010 Golden Needle White Lotus Ripe (Menghai Tea Factory)

The Golden Needle White Lotus (GNWL) series represent a line of premium ripe puerh produced by Menghai Tea Factory. The production can be traced back to the 1990s when GNWL was initially sold as loose leaf tea. This would later change in 2005 when the leaves were compressed into 200g mini teacakes. Subsequent years have seen the GNWL retain its compressed form with the size of the teacake being increased to the more standard 357g weight as represented by this 2010 version.

Roasting the 2010 Menghai Hong Yun Puerh Teacake

 

The 2010 Menghai Hong Yun is a ripe tea that is compressed into100g mini teacakes. Inset: Roasting requires constant motion of tossing and turning to keep the little chunks of tea from burning.

A Comparative Pictorial of Multi-Year EOT Bulang (2009-2012) - Part 2/2

Measuring out 2g of tea in preparation for a comparative tasting. From left to right EOT Bulangs 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2009. The teas are arranged from the youngest to the oldest so that the tastings can best capture the journey of age.

A Comparative Pictorial of Multi-Year EOT Bulang (2009-2012) - Part 1/2

The range of EOT Bulangs from 2009 to 2012. From left to right is a progression of the oldest to the youngest teacake.

Taking the opportunity to reconnect with a few Essence of Tea (EOT) teacakes in my collection, the popular range of EOT Bulang from 2009 to 2012 needs little introduction for the seasoned tea drinker. The annual pressing of EOT Bulang is perhaps the most discussed and reviewed tea on the Internet to come out from this premium vendor. A lot have been written about the EOT Bulang from multi years and for those looking to dig deeper I will leave you in the good hands of Google.