I bought a whole slew of these in the early part of the decade. Today according to TaoBao I am rich. The tuo is about that dark. I remember when it was bright green. Im going to crack open one of these this weekend at our monthly puer tasting. Ill follow up with more pictures of dried and inflused leaves along with tasting impressions.
Just in case anyone cares. Here is a picture of the millenium Xiaguan tuocha broken apart:
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There is no remaining green color of the leaf. The color is accurate under the flash. I would describe the texture as dehydrated almost petrified. The tuo was too brittle to pry which wasnt a problem in the beginning. I ended up using a nut cracker to break the edge. I would describe the taste as dried without any sweetness. There was no harshness which was there initially back when. The infused leaf showed some signs of red coloration. I didnt taste any notes of shu if that can be used as an aged reference. Something happened to this tuo the past ten years in a low humidity climate but I wouldnt describe it as aging. I can say the taste isnt worth the wait so far. That was the concensus at the monthly puer tasting. It might be more noteworthy if you think as I do aging isnt proven. I have a
2001 stoned pressed large leaf Mengku that shows more promise.
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