Video: unwrapping and breaking down the cake
This 357g cake is DaYi's "7552", a ripe (shou) puerh from 2008.
Tea Profile
At a glance: 2008 · Ripe (shou/shu) puerh · 357g cake · grade 7 leaf · Menghai Tea Factory
- Compression & dry leaf: The tea comes as a 357g cake. Breaking it open reveals grade 7 leaf and an even, dark fermentation.
- Liquor: It brews a deep-red liquor.
- Taste: From the first steep the taste is mellow. Through the middle infusions, earthy notes come forward over a sweet and rich base. There is more to notice as you keep brewing.
- Mouthfeel & body: The texture is full-bodied, smooth and mellow.
- Aftertaste: Swallow and you notice a lingering sweetness.
- Best for: improving your tea experience. Take your time with it — a good choice once you are no longer a first-time puerh drinker.
Brewing Guide
- Water: fully boiling, 100°C (212°F).
- Steps:
- Add tea (about 5g per 100ml).
- Rinse twice: cover the leaves with boiling water for about 5 seconds, then discard. Put the lid on and let the leaves rest for about 10 minutes to open up.
- Steep for 10–15 seconds for the first rounds, adding about 5 seconds each round.
- Pour into a sharing pitcher.
- Serve. Ripe puerh resteeps well for many rounds.
- Treat these as starting points rather than fixed rules. Try high or low pours, fast or slow, and brew in different seasons to find the method that suits you. Brewing the same tea well in any year, season, weather or place takes practice, and that skill is the real goal.
Storage
Keep the cake ventilated, cool and dry, away from sunlight and strong odors (kitchen spices, smoke). For long-term aging, paper or clay containers breathe better than sealed plastic.
A Note on Appearance
Not every cake shows these, but they can occur, especially in teas with more years of storage.
- Small dark specks: tiny dark specks may appear on the wrapper or cake edges of naturally stored puerh. They are harmless and can be brushed off before brewing.
- Tea oil spots: yellowish spots may appear and can come from natural tea oils. They are not a flaw.
- Torn wrapper: small tears or holes in the cotton paper may happen during storage and handling. The tea inside is unaffected.
