2005 CNNP Big Yellow Mark

2005 CNNP Big Yellow Mark from Yunnan Sourcing
in ragg paper (uncut edges)

Back off the tea wagon, I resumed my puerh tea habits with a mostly healed up lower back. Tax return time flushed my wallet so I can spend a little bit on tea. One cake I spied during my down time is this 2005 CNNP Big Yellow Mark over at Yunnan Sourcing. I noticed the US site had 20 cakes available and I held my breath nearly a month hoping to score one of these before they sold out. At that time the China site did not have this tea, but I notice that it is available there now too for $2 less, and with more photos than the US site. I tried finding this tea on Taobao before buying, and while Taobao has a number of mark teas I could not find this exact one at the time.

The good news is Yunnan Sourcing’s US site now offers Free Shipping for orders over $75. With this tea at $68, I can easily find something else to toss into my cart to reach that free shipping mark. Recently I noted that white2tea has reduced their flat rate shipping from $14.99 to $9.99. So all the online griping over shipping costs seems to have had some effect on at least two vendors.

My cake arrived during the first hot and muggy spell of the summer. Of the two teas I ordered together, this is the one that stank up the box with minty incense. The beeng is 357 grams with machine compression. Mr. Wilson describes the storage on this tea as “dry Guangdong,” which is more humid than a dry-stored Kunming. I found my cake is definitely on the dry side of humid storage with no off odors and I welcome the bug bites on the wrapper. Overall my cake is drier than, say, the 2006 Chang Tai I bought last year from Yunnan Sourcing. The material in this tea is a spring blend of Bulang and Nannuo leaf with a mix of buds and larger leaves.

No mushy spots on mine.

I leaf this heavy in an early 2000s zisha clay pot, and gave two rinses and tossed the first steeping as it was still too light. The tea smells slightly medicinal, with wood and chicory notes. Viscosity is quite decent with a thick pour and a few small bubbles that do not pop. Early steeps have a slightly sour fermentation note which disappears over subsequent steepings. This is a very actively aging tea, but definitely over the hump of youth as Mr. Wilson states. Leaves are still green but they are turning a pale brown. Liquor is a dark orange and remains so as I steep.

A Bulang/Nannuo mix of buds with larger leaves.

Early flash steeps are bitter with a quick throat and mouth huigan, and the cup retains a floral smell. I am using a brand new cup made by potter pal Inge Nielsen, so no other tea can produce this nose. I taste woody florals, slight medicine, some sour fruit, and the chicory note which increases in later steepings. Some qi and astringency are present with a slight delay. I down six steepings and then went to fold laundry when I got hit with the qi in my eyes and in the middle of my back. After my folding the astringency hit and I coughed a dry mouth and went for a drink of water.

This tea performs very well in zisha/Yixing clay.

The smell of the tea liquid in the cha hai keeps drawing me in. This has just the smell I want in an aging tea, floral and chicory leather like grandpa’s 1940s home office with a big wood desk, dark leather chairs and vintage letter writing set. He has an empty container of pipe tobacco open and the wood pipe long unused in the ashtray. He does not smoke it any more but still likes to chew the mouthpiece a little. Steeps 8-10 I need to extend the brew time a little. This is not a mega steeper but a very pleasant drinker tea that lingers sweet in the mouth for more than an hour.

I agree with Mr. Wilson’s assessment that this tea will be really nice in 8-10 years. The lack of any date stamp knocks the collectors off the buyer list for this tea, leaving it for those of us with a storage hobby. While the price is entry level for a semi-aged tea, I really hope that the storage fiends are the people who go for this. I consider this a tea to put away for that full duration as Mr. Wilson suggests, so you can have a very nicely aged puerh tea in just a short decade, or maybe less if you live in one of those more humid places. This tea has the best possible start and yet is dry enough that I cannot consider it wet stored at all. If someone says to me “oh well this tea did not ‘do’ it for me,” then I think you are missing something. 

Tea is still green but with pale brown aging started.

This is not a tea to drink right now. It is actively fermenting and I taste where the tea is currently going, but it is not yet at the final destination. While the low price might draw some people new to puerh, I think some prior experience in assessing semi-aged teas helps to really appreciate where this tea is at today. Perhaps experienced storage folks probably do not need another drinker tea. But if you do, well here is one to consider with a fine start. If you lack storage assessment experience, perhaps you can give this a try while telling yourself “this is a tea I must put away rather than drink today, a trial cup is merely a test of where it is at.”

Yunnan Sourcing US showed 18 cakes left today, but now it will show at most 17, because I bought another. I cannot tell how many are available on the new China site, and you know what is going to happen. Because the tea lacks a date stamp, Mr. Wilson has somewhat under-priced this little gem and he will figure that out all too soon. A 2005 tea for $66/68? I do not expect this price to stay so low for long.

New spring teas are on the horizon! I notice that Bitterleaf Teas are first out of the gate with 2017 spring puerh tea already. Unexpectedly I received a couple of samples today which I will try next time.