Video: unwrapping and breaking down the cake
A 2025 sheng (raw) puerh from DaYi: "7542", offered as a 357g cake.
Tea Profile
At a glance: 2025 · Sheng (raw) puerh · 357g cake · grade 4 leaf · Menghai Tea Factory · 1st batch
- Compression & dry leaf: It is a tightly pressed 357g cake. The dry leaf shows grade 4 leaf, visible buds and some stems.
- Liquor: In the cup it shows a golden yellow color, clear and bright throughout.
- Taste: The first steeps are fresh, with a strong bitterness. Through the middle infusions, floral, fruity and smoky notes and hints of honey and plum come forward over a sweet and rich base. The flavor shifts a little from steep to steep.
- Mouthfeel & body: The texture is thick, full-bodied and smooth.
- Aftertaste: Swallow and you notice plenty of salivation and a lingering sweetness.
- Best for: everyday drinking without fuss. Suitable for first-time puerh drinkers as well as regular sheng drinkers.
Tasting Notes
DaYi’s official tasting notes, infusion by infusion:
- 1st infusion: Pale yellow liquor with subtle sheen; soaring honeyed smoke like a gentle spring breeze, faint powdery sweetness; smooth, full, fragrant entry; rapid sweetness and salivation; honey lingering on lips and tongue.
- 2nd–4th infusions: Bright yellow, flowing with luster; floral and fruity notes blooming in layers, honeyed smoke rising; powerful and thick; honeyed sweetness and smoke flooding the mouth; swift, lasting sweetness and salivation; robust energy, abundant layers.
- 5th–7th infusions: Golden yellow, radiant and clear; elegant floral-fruity scents with lingering honeyed smoke; silky, refined, sweetly moist and balanced; clean aftertaste, ceaseless salivation, protracted throat resonance.
- 8th–10th infusions: Clear, bright yellow; persistent clean sweetness with subtle floral echoes; refreshing and lively; enduring sweetness, an infinite afterglow.
Brewing Guide
- Water: fully boiling, 100°C (212°F).
- Steps:
- Add tea (about 5g per 100ml).
- Rinse once: 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. Sheng 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.
- Bamboo powder (zhu fen): a natural sign of traditional bamboo-husk packing. In Guangdong's warm, humid climate, tiny bamboo insects can make their home in the husk, nibbling the husk and cotton paper wrapper while leaving the tea itself untouched. What they leave behind is a fine powder, seen only on certain teas and more often on aged ones. It is harmless to hygiene; a few strokes with a clean toothbrush or soft brush before brewing is all it takes.
- 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.
