pidyon hachallah- 2007 bonan mountain from yunnan sourcing

12 tevet 5781

to put the Puerh Shop dayi 7542 i tried in context, i wanted to drink a puer i know the best. this is one i bought from Yunnan Sourcing as my first bing. it was cheap and i didn’t know enough to buy a sample first to give it a try. oh well (a phrase which im sure appears many times on this blog).

ive had this cake for about a year and i keep it in a plastic ziploc which i add some steam to every now and then. the dry leaves still give off a nice aroma so i don’t think it has dried out too much.

 

it is a better tea than the PS Dayi i tried. whether this is because of storage conditions (traditional vs dry storage), storage quality, or some other reason, i prefer the 2007 Bo Nan. but why?

 

the flavor is better. it is less bland, has more middle and high notes (still not many deep notes and not a lot of complexity, but more than the PS dayi). the mouth feel is better. it has a little more texture, is a little smoother, and has a lil bit of returning sweetness, and leaves a teeny breeze on the roof of the mouth. the Bo Nan is invigorating and stimulating and it imparts a warming in my lungs. it also has a social energy making it a nice tea to share with others. i had to pause from my tea drinking today so i didn’t get overstimulated. what it doesnt have is a lot of staying power. by steep 7 it was pretty much done.

 

turns out, this cake at $40/357g was a good first puer purchase (not counting that 100g bing i bought in Seattle which was probably not good and made worse by living in my converted bus). overall, the 2007 Bo Nan lacks a super complex flavor profile, but has nice stimulation, a comforting broth, and a very good price point. look out reddit-ers, i will probably be wanting to trade chunks of this on the teaexchange page in the future.