I was cruising Aliexpress looking for trouble and I found this sweet looking raw pu’er cake!

This pu’er is a 2011 Sheng/raw with the leaf that has been twisted or braided and then pressed into cakes! How cool is that? I haven’t seen this style of pu’er cake before and could only find one other on Aliexpress. It was later pointed out there is also a hand braided pu’er at Yunnan Sourcing. I went with the Aliexpress cake as it was $16, which is pretty good for 357g size!

More pics!

Dry Leaf

The twists of grey and greens leaf breaks off easily into twisted chunks.

Steeping Instructions

This pu’er is on the young side so I went with a little lighter on the temperature, 200f and started with a rinse. After that I did quick 15 second infusions, adding additional times as I steeped.

Tasting of 2011 Braided Sheng Pu’er from Aliexpress

2011 Braided Sheng Pu’er steeps up a pale yellow with distinct cigarette scent.

First Infusion: The flavor has a touch of smoke with essence of apricot and butter. The smoke is quite light here, a 2/10 on the Smoke meter. An interesting tea flavor – who butters their apricots and smokes them?

Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Infusion: The braided sheng pu’er got more smokey, 4/10 on the Smoke meter, with distinct charred notes with the apricots, grass and butter. There is also tobacco notes. Hey, who’s smoking the apricots? There is a slight astringency, 2/10 Dryness, that fills the mouth giving me a neat apricot aftertaste.

Each further infusion here gets more smokey reminding me of a lapsang souchong with savory, spicy and pine smoked notes. This lapsang souchong taste is super trippy for a raw pu’er – I’ve had smokey raw pu’er but not to this extent! However, I do think the contrast of savory smoke and stone fruit is neat.

Gaiwan shot!

Yes I play with my food! I took out a braid and untwisted it! Very cool!

As the braided sheng pu’er steeps the twists of leaf swell and unfurl. I think the tea probably would of unfurled slower if I wasn’t playing with them.

Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Infusion: The flavor of 2011 Braided sheng pu’er is still smokey pine and tobacco but also now with vegetal green pepper notes. The fruity apricots flavor is gone, leaving this pu’er completely savory. Each infusion is getting more dry adding a tight dry cheeks and tongue that doesn’t keep a flavor.

At these steepings the leaf in the gaiwan looks like normal pu’er, no longer a braid.

The tea drunk set in late into this pu’er session. Teal “Pu’er pick” Tea Owl and I are dancing for rain! Darn this California drought! After a few dance moves, it turned out it was already lightly raining.

Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth and Thirteenth Infusion: I’m at the end of this tea. The flavor is light vegetal green pepper and savory with a hint of smoke. It has gotten quite astringent, 6/10 Dryness, leaving the sensation that I’ve been drinking grit.

Later that day I was breaking off more pieces of pu’er for the Pu’er Traveling Tea Box and turns out the braided pieces are only on the outside with insides with lots of stem.

Comments

For $16, having a cool looking 2011 Braided Sheng Pu’er 357 gram cake is a decent deal. Appearance wise this pu’er gets a 10/10 for fun steeping adventures!

However, the taste is more suited for someone who enjoys smokey shengs, lapsang souchong blacks, and strong savory Chinese greens with a moderate punch of dryness. The flavor for me isn’t one I enjoy, but I would probably show this cake to every tea lover who stops by my place! A part of me just wants to display this tea than drink it!

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