Mystery Sheng

My great friend Henry just returned from a trip to China. He brought me back three cakes. Two cooked and this raw beauty. It brews to a delicate yellow and it's taste is subtle adding complexity with each brew. I love the leaf pattern and how long and graceful they lie on the cake.

Henry bought it in a small independent tea shop in Beijing. Cost about $100. From 2004. Apparently they started dating in 2005 on the wrapper.

Does anyone know anything about this tea?

In terms of the wrapper: of course, it's got the Menghai "Dayi" brand label. The characters down the middle are "arbor wild-tree" (qiaomu laoshu) bing, while the stamp reads "Yiwu". The stuff down the left just says Yunnan Menghai Tea Co.

The leaves look lovely and long, and have an appealing black sheen to them.

I haven't seen this one before, and it sounds lovely. A $100 price-tag is probably a bit more than I'd like to pay for it (buying in Beijing is no fun, though), but the results look good!


Toodlepip,

Hobbes

The Puershop sells a 2003 version of the Dayi Yiwu Arbor cake for $99.

http://www.puerhshop.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_94&products_id=316

Yes, I just noticed that - which suggests that the Chinese price must be < $50, if you're going back to negotiate for more =)

P.s. Reading the product description on that site gives me a headache 8(

Hobbesoxon said:

In terms of the wrapper: of course, it's got the Menghai "Dayi" brand label. The characters down the middle are "arbor wild-tree" (qiaomu laoshu) bing, while the stamp reads "Yiwu". The stuff down the left just says Yunnan Menghai Tea Co.

The leaves look lovely and long, and have an appealing black sheen to them.

I haven't seen this one before, and it sounds lovely. A $100 price-tag is probably a bit more than I'd like to pay for it (buying in Beijing is no fun, though), but the results look good!


Toodlepip,

Hobbes

Click to expand...

Thank you Hobbes. I did not know this was Dayi brand label. From the sounds of it, buying in Beijing was great fun, worth the $100 price of admission! I can't wait to do it someday myself Nevertheless, it was a bit of throwing my friend to the wolves, as he is a green and oolong drinker primarily, not schooled in the ways of puer. I think, though, he has caught the bug.

Erik said:

The Puershop sells a 2003 version of the Dayi Yiwu Arbor cake for $99.

http://www.puerhshop.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_94&products_id=316

Click to expand...

Thanks Erik

What is so interesting to me is how different these two cakes appear. The leaves in the 2004 are long and graceful. The same cannot be said for the 2004. I do not know how different they taste, but would have thought year to year there would be consistency to appearance.

You can also buy it for $75 on Skip4tea.com:

http://mymall.netbuilder.com.my/index.php?domain=skip4tea&doit=cat3&cat3=2003

...which further suggests < $50 from China.

Anyway, pricing aside, that's your tea =)

Glad it turned out to be a good'un. I rarely get good deals buying in Beijing, btw. Haggling is not my thing.


Toodlepip,

Hobbes

I shared this thread with Gordon from Dragon Teas and he thinks this is a counterfeit sheng. His point, which I noted as well, is that the leaves look quite different from the authentic one.

What do you guys think? Counterfeit or authentic. The wrapper looked intact. It was shrink wrapped and in prestine condition?

David

Well, the leaves look pretty decent - whether or not they're the same as "the original one", and it's not entirely sure which the original one is, given that it could be 2003 or 2004... Fakes are usually obvious - they're bad, more often than not. If this is a fake, it's a good quality one! The leaves have a nice luster.

Admittedly, the two leaves you singled out for the shot look a bit rough, but we'll see!


Toodlepip,

Hobbes

It's a fugazi.

this is not a genuine piece... quite obvious from the tea leaves on the surface of the tea cake and the fonts on the wrapper are slightly off

Sp1key said:

this is not a genuine piece... quite obvious from the tea leaves on the surface of the tea cake and the fonts on the wrapper are slightly off

Click to expand...

You know, the wrappers from other versions sold by Skip4Tea and Puerh Shop are similarly awry in wrapper-printing and look identical to the above, so I respectfully disagree with that one (though who knows about the leaves).

Most fakes obtain wrappers, then rewrap substandard tea for a high price - I'd consider it fairly unusual for fakes to try and copy the wrapper style, when they are so easily obtainable.

Whether or not the leaves are fake - it certainly doesn't look like the usual blend, but I'm looking forward to trying a sample, thanks to TacoBell! Some fakes can be good fun and decent in themselves - have you ever found such a thing?


Toodlepip,

Hobbes

TacoBell said:

It brews to a delicate yellow

Click to expand...

Hmm. not sure I would want to try it. Never know what the counterfeiters may have done to it

What about the internal label embedded in the cake? It has the same characters as the wrapper and, from the pattern of the leaves hugging it, obviously original. How could this be counterfeit? I am beginning to doubt this hypothesis

What an interesting thread! I have not encountered any counterfeits but then I have been dealing with folks that know their way around the market.

Embedded ticket (neifei) argument is same as the wrapper. From what I understand it's fairly easy to get your maocha pressed at a small factory with whatever wrappers, neifei, and neipiao necessary. Also this form of pressing (the whole leaves striped along the surface of the cake) seems fairly easy to do as well, and would probably only take a couple second longer during pressing. IMHO, it's still 50/50 on whether it's a counterfeit, I'd have to sample it to see if it's a poor fake, or a really good fake/authentic. If it's a really good fake or authentic, it's money well spent!

I don't trust anyone. (Well, almost anyone.)

When I drink 20 year old sheng, it will be authenticated by the same foolproof process I've been using for a long time to verify the provenance of rare Burgundy and Bordeaux.
When I retire, I plan on having a lot of old sheng to choose from.

Hobbesoxon said:

You know, the wrappers from other versions sold by Skip4Tea and Puerh Shop are similarly awry in wrapper-printing and look identical to the above, so I respectfully disagree with that one (though who knows about the leaves).

Most fakes obtain wrappers, then rewrap substandard tea for a high price - I'd consider it fairly unusual for fakes to try and copy the wrapper style, when they are so easily obtainable.

Whether or not the leaves are fake - it certainly doesn't look like the usual blend, but I'm looking forward to trying a sample, thanks to TacoBell! Some fakes can be good fun and decent in themselves - have you ever found such a thing?


Toodlepip,

Hobbes

Click to expand...

I notice that some strokes of the fonts on the wrapper are thicker in this piece, the 'yi' word in the dayi logo has thinner strokes which is seen in some other dayi fakes I've seen. Maybe its just the angle of pic taken? The type of wrapper is also different, looks like thick paper.
More notable are the leaves and how they are being pressed definitely uncharacteristic.

On the other hand, skiptea's only a platform for trading so we've to treat each cake individually. Check out they're 03 silver dayi, login and see the nei piao... prints Enghai instead of Menghai

yes I've heard of some fakes being quite good but haven't tried much of them to find a good one =)

The eagle has landed.

Per request, no comment.

Teaser:

Here's a pic of a leaf from the mystery sheng, next to an itty bitty leaf from an '05 Xiaguan Cang 'Er tuo.