Puerh Junky’s 2022 Visit Olympics
Puerh Junky’s 2022 Visit Olympics presents us with a tidy way of distinguishing this missive from those of previous years. Suffice it to say that the ole Beijing Olympics has thrown yours truly yet another curve. Beijing Olympics still proves to be one of the most enigmatic among the Collection. Let’s begin.
Previous posts have noted a waxiness and fuzziness in Beijing Olympics taste. The last tasting did not demonstrate this and anticipated a transition to dark fruit notes and wood. In that session, Puerh Junky noted that the BJO had definitely turned a corner toward an generally more pleasing and less cryptic experience. As far as being a tastier experience, this remains true but in terms of the direction it is taking. . . well.
Let’s back up. Today 17 Aug 2022, I broke into a new cake which has been considerably drier stored than the cake from which I’ve been drinking the past few years. Yes, it takes several years to get through a cake, as most drinking is dedicated to monitoring recent arrivals’ transition to their new climes here in LA. I’m lucky if I get to productions that have been on hand for a spell more than twice a year.
A gander at BJO‘s leaves bore the appearance of a production from about 2014, making up some arbitrary year to fully convey just how young these leaves look. Accordingly, the liquor is nearly clear with some vivid yellow. The infusions 2-5 were about 3-3.5 in terms of clarity with the sixth being crystal clear and and a darker yellow. The liquor seemed considerably lighter than any of the previous sessions. I’ve begun to notice that some productions can actually go from dark to a lighter colour, which strikes me as super curious to say the least.
The taste and body mirror the colour. There’s no flavour that jumps out and the tastes that are there are hard to identify. It would be fair to say that the broth is not only Zen but thin. Then the huigan kicks in. I’ll get to that later. The broth is definitely sweeter than ever. It doesn’t have to compete with fuzziness, so it definitely stands out more than anything else. It’s not super sweet but the sweetness is definitely pleasant and lasts throughout. Regarding the blandness, I had two thoughts: maybe brewing in clay and/or more leafage would have been better. I used about 5.5g in 90g gaiwan.
The aroma and taste sync at the early stage. After about the 8th round the aroma takes on a vegetal character common with some ripes. At the early stages, however, there’s a clear resin note that I can only most closely associate with hyssop and lemonene. There is some citric acid sour in there but it’s hard to pinpoint the fruit, maybe about 25% apricot. The lemonene note is not of lemons or other citrus. Many other plants have that molecule, which is why I refer to the molecule and not lemons.
There’s other associations, cinnamon, marshmallow, vanilla, the usual cast of characters, later on Juicy Fruit. You won’t taste much of it in the broth. It’s all in a simply marvelous huigan. Also, I tasted something like split pea or mung beans at infusion 7. Is that the “yam” that people reference? The Juicy Fruit made wonder if it’s a slight variant of the vaunted ZC Jia-Ji.
Back to the huigan and the hyssop. Granted, you might not know that aroma. It’s somewhere between 65% tea tree and 35% eucalyptus. It’s camphor but it’s not the camphor of heavy storage. The effect aggressively cools in the mouth, then you have all those flavours coming in behind it, with the sweetness and bits of sour. This behavior continues from one infusion to the next. Each cup you try to identify what you cannot taste in the broth and then sit there for a spell feeling the tingle in the mouth before the dryness passes, the sour and sweet kick in, and those complexities of flavour emerge. Wash-rinse-repeat.
The qi become fully apparent at around infusion 4-5, heady and uplifting in the chest. As the session continues and the brew is pushed, the qi sensation increases accordingly. Although the colour darkens only marginally, BJO‘s age shines through as the session increases by never bottoming out. The complex tastes in the huigan continue throughout without ever becoming astringent or signalling that you’ve reached that immaturity point. It seems in fact, that the cinnamon becomes even more pronounced in later stages along with the Juicy Fruit. There is “that veggie note” of ripes that is obvious in broth but thankfully it doesn’t carry over into into the huigan. I really like how it feels in the chest. The overall personality is cheerful and even expansive. Even made me stretch my back a few times.
Beijing Olympics is a good time. The material is clearly mostly eastern Lincang from the Bangdong area.
