- Declared “100% pure 500+ year old trees” (from secret location in Xishuangbanna)
- Chen Sheng passion project to produce a “rock flavour” (YanYun) puerh
- Intense Qi, strength, bitterness and huigan
- Great aging candidate, unique tea, great now if you like bitter strong puerh
Mr. Chen Shenghe, who has been into tea for 40 years and is renowned as true master for his work at Chen Sheng Hao (CSH), said: “I named this series of tea ZhengYan, which means that it is the best Pu’er tea that Chen Shenghao has made so far.”
As experimental tea lovers ourselves we can’t help by being moved and having to feature on our selection those who innovate and push their limits of what’s possible in Puerh, and this cake certainly is groundbreaking.
My personal impression is that you’ll love this tea now if you like bitterness, otherwise you may want it either a bit aged or brew it with a lot of gentleness (like its brother 2017 Chen Sheng Hao Banzhang Pure Ancient Tree Brick I’d suggest to use about 50-75% of your usual amount).
357g cakes, approx. 80g 1/4 slices and samples.
Robert Clarke –
I like this very much !
1st a very quick wash , 2nd for 10 sec @100 , a little bitterness comes through but NOT too much. Then a sweeetness and a watering mouth.
3rd for 15 Sec at 100 , more bitter ,but not over powering and again watering mouth. Lots of flavour !
4ht for 15 Sec again at 98 / 99 .Bitterness better balanced for myself. Still watering mouth.. sweetness coming through with each steep.
All in my clay pot. ( 7g !)
Nick M. (verified owner) –
This is very good. Great purity of aromas, evolving slowly but surely from the bowl as the tea cools, and which express exquisitely in the pot, continually changing and showing the tea’s complexity. There’s a fine intensity to the tea, with an insistent firmness. It goes very deep into the throat. You can feel it, almost anaesthetising, minutes later, but it’s a testament to how refined the polyphenols are that the soup is so balanced and comfortable. All-encompassing Qi. A tea that I can imagine will develop for many years, with a profile that is very hard to put into words, yet is deeply absorbing.
Anonymous (verified owner) –
Guillaume C. (verified owner) –
Remarkable. Since it’s still young (10 years) it has fruity flavors still, but at the same time it develops a non-aggressive but powerful bitterness, and rich rocky aftertastes that become more and more interesting as the steepings go. Very patient, fascinating texture, that’s really something.