Puerh Battle Sept 3, 2020

Los Angeles, Sept 3, 2020, the site of a Puerh Battle featuring two up-and-comers from ’07.  It’s the Hideout, LME vs the Bada Peacock, ZC.  Both puerh cakes have been likened to being mirrors of one another in terms of minerality.  Each one, however, untested in terms of aroma, viscosity, and qi.  LME claims that the Hideout has won some awards, while the Bada Peacock has shown itself to be a sweeter representative from the ’07 Kunming Tea Factory class.  How will the pugilistic puerhs fair?

Tale of Neifei

Hideout disrobes showing a neifei that is in the spirit of Fuhai and Dayi.  It has the look and feel of money.  The Bada comes out in the traditional Zhongcha red and white, utterly confident and exuding a sweet faintly fruity aroma.

This Puerh Battle was commissioned by and under the rules of the PRS and presided by the self-appointed official, the Puerh Junky.

Infusion #1

This battle went two rounds.  The looks here are not deceiving.  The Zhongcha Bada Peacock is noticeably darker.  Whereas hideout scored a “4” in terms of clarity its huigan and qi scores had it losing in the first round.  The decisive factor was the heavy “4” in viscosity the Peacock delivered.  The Peacock is rich, sweet, and round out the gate.

Infusion #2

Again it is evident that the Bada Peacock is darker, more mature.  In the second round the Hideout thought it could dazzle with sparkling clarity, “5”.  It overall scored better in the second round than it had in the first.  Bada’s viscosity also took a step back making matters interesting.  However, the leaves had opened up significantly, enough  that by the second round the huigan had improved considerably, “4”, while the qi also ticked up to “3”.

The final tally:  Hideout 39/70; Bada Peacock 46/70

The battle was not close.  The ’07 Zhongcha’s are really starting to come into their own.  It’s becoming increasingly clear that time and storage are hyper critical for these productions and that the difference between their youth and age is considerable. . . to state the obvious but have it really sink in.

Contrary to these findings, the market price for the Hideout has climbed to about three times that of the Bada.  Up about six fold from when originally purchased, it has climbed more than at least one offering I consider better but in an entirely different taste class. The Bada, on the other hand, is an uncommon ZC offering in terms of availability and mineral vibe.  This is mineral note is characterized by rocks and toothpaste.  Both have it and it’s a relatively rare expression in raws, where the Dayi wood and petrol vibe is so religiously imitated.  LME and ZC both tend toward Zen, so they are easy casual drinkers, while cryptic enough to hold your attention if you so choose to give it.

In the subsequent day of testing the two findings were similar, but I felt that there was a bottoming out on the Hideout demonstrated by metallic astringency and bitterness.  Interestingly, a week or so prior I had brewed the Bada with a friend using the tetsubin and he remarked upon what he felt was a displeasing metallic quality.  Don’t brew with a tetsubin unless you’ve practiced with its effects on your production before hand.

Stay thirsty my friends.