Yunnan Sourcing keeps having these awesome 12-15% off sales the last while. With my last order I wanted to get a couple ripe/shu pu’er cakes as I have mostly raw/sheng cakes or loose ripe in my stash. I’ve been drinking ripe pu’er a lot these days and it is my #1 tea to go to when I’m sick. With the cold season coming, I’m going to need some good tea to keep me well!
I was eyeing this 2010 Haiwan Peerless Ripe Pu’er cake. The price is nice ($20 at the time of this review @ Yunnan Sourcing’s US site/ $18 on the Chinese site) and the reviews looked good. To be honest, I procrastinated on purchasing this pu’er cake as it so large – 500 grams. This is my biggest pu’er cake so far, majority of the cakes I buy are 100g or samples. In the end, I bought the pu’er cake – if the cake is good, I win. If the tea is just okay, I got something cheap to drink everyday or when I’m sick, as well as a pu’er to gift out as samples.
Sadly my tea package got attacked by a small T-rex so the edge of my cake was ripped. The wrapper took most the damage with a some bits of the cake got loose. Whatever, I got 500 grams of this beast of the cake, I only think I lost a couple grams worth. Shrug, the Canadian in me didn’t want to complain over something so small.
Dry Leaf
So this is a BIG cake! The same size as my Pu’er breaking tray!
2010 Haiwan Peerless Ripe Pu’er has a nice colour of rich gradients of chocolate browns. The dry leaf has a dry earth scent.
Steeping Instructions
I steeped my 2010 Haiwan Peerless Ripe Pu’er with boiling water. I used 1 gram of dry leaf per 15ml of my gaiwan’s size. To start, I did 2 rinses, with my first drinking infusion being a 10 second steep, adding an additional 10 seconds as I go on until the later infusions.
Tasting of 2010 Haiwan Peerless Ripe Pu’er Tea
First Infusion: The first infusion of 2010 Haiwan Peerless Ripe Pu’er came out a lovely burgundy brown red cup of tea with a soft earth and cream scent.
The flavor is walnut skin, roasted chestnuts with a really nice creamy mouth texture. The nuttyness invokes a slight dryness in the cheeks, a 1/10 on the Astringent meter.
Second, Third and Fourth Infusion: A colour change – black with a burgundy brown halo.
2010 Haiwan Peerless Ripe Pu’er sips in really smooth and creamy. The flavor is very rich and beastly – almost harsh! The flavor is mostly tobacco, nuts, dark and bitter cocoa notes. Crazy rich flavor, but the great texture really carries these steepings. I am thinking 5 second infusions might of been a better idea instead of 10 second infusions.
Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Infusion: The richness is lifting, making way for a bit of nutty sweetness. With each infusion, 2010 Haiwan Peerless Ripe Pu’er Tea. Totally chestnut in taste. The tea tastes very clean with some light cocoa, tobacco and pine. 2010 Haiwan Peerless Ripe Pu’er Tea is really easy to drink now that it isn’t mega rich. There is still that light dryness, but is a nice contrast to the silky mouth feel.
Ninth and Tenth Infusion: I’ve increased the infusion time by 30 additional seconds per steeping. At the 9th steeping, I get the whole peerless thang. 2010 Haiwan Peerless Ripe Pu’er Tea is clean and crisp with fruity sweet and pine woodsy flavor. The tea feels great to sip with that really silky texture. The switch to crisp and sweet is a big contrast from the beast mode tobacco rich start of this pu’er. It is like this cake gained wisdom over time. Or maybe I did? Owl wisdom. The colour of 2010 Haiwan Peerless Ripe Pu’er is a lovely dark burgundy again.
During these infusions it was like getting hit by a van with that deep breath-pu’er energy-POW feeling! It is like the pu’er is twisting my heart and lungsI feel so freaking bubbly! Oh man sipping this tea feels great. Fools I have 500 grams of it too haahahahahahahahahah!
Eleventh, Twelfth and Thirteenth Infusion: 1 minute added to each infusion to keep the pu’er party going! We got kpop, dancing owls and the tea crazys.
2010 Haiwan Peerless Ripe Pu’er Tea is good stuff, the flavor is similar to the last round, but more sap sweet and getting lighter in intensity. The texture is still there too.
Fourteenth and Fifteenth Infusion: 8 min & 14 minute steepings. I got a bit of a pu’er caffeine overload crash – I dropped my phone twice and spilled tea on it – lucky my phone is waterproof. The flavor is really with the essence of sap sweet and woody. There is more dryness that stick on the teeth, 3/10 on the Astringent Meter. I thought I’d get more out of this tea but peerless wisdom blessed me for only so long. However, I got another 490ish grams of this pu’er cake left! Hahahaha!
Comments
I purchased 2010 Haiwan Peerless Ripe Pu’er as a everyday drinking cake as it is a great price for lots of tea. First few rounds were pretty harsh and rich. I was worried I lost $20 on a giant slab of tobacco tasting pu’er. At around the 6th infusion it got pretty good. 9th infusion the tea drunk hit me hard. I am glad I took a small risk buying this tea!
In the end 2010 Haiwan Peerless Ripe Pu’er is a great deal for a pretty good pu’er cake. I still would consider this a daily cake to drink but me getting raging tea drunk everyday could be problematic. This pu’er needs to be steeped with very short infusions over time to get the excellent middle infusions, so 2010 Haiwan Peerless Ripe Pu’er would be a great tea for that dull, boring early afternoon to jack up your day.
I am planning to do NaNoWriMo this year – I will be drinking 2010 Haiwan Peerless Ripe Pu’er for productivity!
