7.1422/14/06


> Hi all,
>
> I recently tried this cake, "2004 Mengku Wu Chi Dao Wild Large Leaf",
>
> <http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4428079052>
>
> and was just a bit disappointed. I'd be interested if anyone else,
> especially one of the Pu-erh people, has tried it as well, and what their
> reactions were. My tastes are still developing. However, it wouldn't
> come as a terrific shock to learn, for example, that the reason the tea
> is described as "affordable" (is it really a good value for wild large
> leaf?) is because the factory isn't the best, or that 2004 was an
> off-year there, or it really wasn't aged enough, or what have you. (Of
> course, could be that I just prefer cooked...)
>
> My ignorance is formidable, and a knowledgeable response would be helpful in
> reducing it. :-) Thank you.

Ozzy, the cake looks beautiful in the pictures, and I am not afraid of all
that heavy stem, having come to know that stem can at times add a delicacy
otherwise absent. Could you perhaps be a bit more specific about this tea's
taste profile, and describe what it was about the cake that disappointed
you? That would help, as based on the pictures, I'd buy one myself. Was it
for example fruit-like, flower-like, smokey, cigar-tasting, harsh/smooth,
leather-like, musty? Whatever.

A 2004 could well be most excellent, and many I'm drinking now are. Mengku
is, I believe, new, but well enough respected, having roots in Meng Hai --
am I wrong here, Mike? -- and further, "affordable" is what any young cake
should be, even those of good breeding.

Michael