First, I would like to say hello to all the tea lovers out there and
hope that this initiation will lead to further discussions and comments
that will prove informative to all. I am a puerh lover myself and have
tasted over 100 different types of Puerh tea (both black and green
combined). However it is the green puerh that fascinates me with it's
range of flavors and complexity but with so many different brands and
varieties available it has all been quite an adventure, made all the
more confusing by not just the varied processing techniques that are
employed by different companies but by the different types of tea
leaves that are used for making the teacakes. There's the common
cultivated tea leaves, the semi-wild, the wild, the leaves from young
tea bushes, from centuries old trees, and then the highly desired
thousand years old tea trees (this btw is unlikely to be available to
the average consumer like us). Anyway does anyone really know the
difference in taste between these different types of teacakes and if
the taste is often as desirable as the words often employed to attract
buyers?

I can't tell the difference in taste between cultivated and wild
teacakes. I've tasted a lot but the wide scope of flavors appears to
be the same. I would be most appreciative if someone could shed some
light on this. From personal experience I've noticed that teacakes
(same age) from young tea bushes (50yrs) compared to older tea trees
(100+ yrs) have a lighter body and citrus/more acidic notes. The older
the tea tree the more mellow the taste becomes.

James