19 February, 2011

2009 Dianyi "Mahei"

Back when Yunnan Sourcing used to rule the world exclusively (well, along with Houde), I, along with most of us, were thoroughly into Scott's hand-made productions. They have grown and grown, and represent the travels of a man throughout the mountainous province which is his new home.  Trawl through the dank, howling, cavernous nether-regions of the Half-Dipper, and you'll come across many articles exploring each of Scott's hand-made cakes.


2009 Yunnan Sourcing Mahei
Crumbly samples be thy name

I haven't tried any for a while - pu'ercha is a tidal force, and I just go where my interest takes me.  Lately, it brought me full-circle, and I found myself looking at the section for hand-made cakes at Yunnan Sourcing's web-site.  Not having tried much for the last two years, I stocked up my "shopping cart" with samples. 

When I noticed that the total price for the samples was over $100, I quickly clicked "cancel".  It makes sense for Scott to charge good money if everyone is, as they used to be, just drinking his samples without buying the cakes.  The increase is certainly significant since I was last there, though*.

*Scott of YS would like to point out that his margin on samples remains unchanged at 150%-200%.  Perhaps the feeling of expense therefore comes from the fact that most samples are now 25g, rather than 10g.


2009 Yunnan Sourcing Mahei
Decent leaves, a touch broken

Rummaging through my sample box, I found a little bag from Terje, one of my viking readers, who had kindly interrupted his people's seasonal rape and pillage of the north English coastal counties in order to send me some samples.


2009 Yunnan Sourcing Mahei
It looks good - its character is a little more average

I've had some delicious teas from Mahei lately, including some un-purchasable Douji Mahei (more on which later).  By comparison, this sample came out a little humdrum.

The leaves are small and somewhat broken; it opens with a full, buttery-sweet Yiwu character, but this rapidly subsides to be dominated by the base characteristics of lesser leaves.  Tangy and sour, it feels low and "brown" - that limited, rough sensation that I usually associate with plantation leaves.

On a day of rest between a day of housework and a day of research, it is a welcome friend at the tea-table.  It is unremarkable pu'ercha, and not one that I would pursue, but perhaps this is merely a contrast with the more accomplished Mahei cakes that I have been fortunate enough to encounter recently.  Not one to get excited about.



Errata

Scott and Terje have pointed out that this cake is from a minor outfit named the "Dianyi" factory, and is not a Yunnan Sourcing own-label cake.  Thank heavens for that.

Note to self: never buy Dianyi.


2009 Dianyi

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I noticed that Scott has moved this cake from under HLH to under other factories. I tried this sometime ago and still have some sample left, but I decided not to go for a cake as I can sense some roughness underneath the surface.

The Yisheng you talked about in your previous blog, the purple cake has now all gone in the YS site, I placed my bet and grab one before it disappeared. Any things you and MarshalN say it's good always disappear fast from the open market!

apache

Anonymous said...

I too was going to buy a set of samples from YS...but when I saw the shipping costs for 200 grams worth of samples I couldn't believe it. And I also canceled them.

Hobbes said...

Dear Apache,

Ah, it was you! Well, I hope it's good :)

I just bought 17 samples for a shade under $100 from YS, which isn't too bad at all. I found that the price adds up on the 25g samples of expensive cakes; buying 10g samples where possible is definitely the way to go for me, as I usually pass on anything over 10g to the next person on my samples list :)

I recently queued up a few samples from a Canadian on-line shop (Real China Tea, or similar?) and they tried to charge me $30 postage for $50 (250g) of samples - that one got cancelled immediately!


Toodlepip,

Hobbes

Anonymous said...

I've just checked the YS site, I think Scott has just re-stocked the purple one. I would you let you know what I think when I try it.

apache

Hobbes said...

Ah yes, it looks like Scott has acquired another tong since this morning :)

I'm going to wait and see how the samples taste. There are 100s of the purple-label available on Taobao, so I'm not feeling the rush. (I would prefer to buy from Scott, however.)


Toodlepip,

Hobbes

MarshalN said...

Indeed, looks like Scott restocked.

The big question is always storage condition. The taobao cakes may or may not be in similar condition depending on how they have been treated.

Hobbes said...

Unfortunately, the vendors on Taobao selling the purple label don't have samples, so it's cake or nothing, if Scott sells out.


Toodlepip,

Hobbes