2000 CNNP "Orange Mark"

I met this little fellow in the park, a Songshu [pine rat!].

We were equally surprised...

This 2000 CNNP comes from a Malaysian outfit, Skip4tea, where it cost 63 Malaysian Ringgits. Amazingly enough, this appears to be the only currency against which the British pound has not weakened, and so the cake still costs the 10 pounds for which I bought it in spring.

Comparing the pound against the US dollar, the British currency has slid such that exactly 1/7th has dropped off the currency: the amount of money for which I could previously buy 7 cakes (in Nov. 2007) now buys me just 6. These are unstable times...

This cake looks old. The wrapper is entirely knackered, and the neipiao [big inner ticket] is darkened and crumbling like an old pirate map.

Here there be shicang [wet storage].

The cake is quite ragged around the edges, and looks a lot older than its 8 years. As you can see from the photographs, it is made from small spring leaves, with a modest portion of tips. The aroma is gentle, but a trace of shicang is clear.

The immense knackerednicity of the wrapper makes it quite difficult to rewrap, and there is a lot of damage to the cake itself. Then again, it has travelled a long way. I remember being similarly knackered and ragged after returning from the East.

Clean and crisp - it is fresh and well-done. I suspect that it has been in drier storage for recent years, given this crispness and the distant nature of the shicang aroma about the dry leaves.

It's a friendly tea, and very hard to overbrew. In fact, it's very easy to underbrew and so requires a very strong hand: lots of leaf, longer infusions.

Using lots of leaves makes its energetic nature obvious - but it sedates me incredibly. Even after a long, deep sleep, after three cups of this I am ready to slumber once more.

I remember Dr. MA commenting that he found some character of Old Tea about this cake. Though it has some bitterness left, I wonder if aging might just make it a bit tame, as it doesn't seem to have the brutal power or rich content I look for in long-term gambles. Having to brew this tea so hard in order to obtain real character doesn't fill me with hope - but I enjoy this as it is, to drink immediately.

I like shicang, and this is a good example of a cake with only distant dampness - if you don't enjoy shicang too much, this might be a gentle introduction to the genre.

Now, if only I could rewrap it without damaging this torn, fragile wrapper or the pretty leaves...