Five Star Puerh Factories

Posted on June 14, 2021 by Yang-chu

This is a feeble attempt to introduce five bling Chinese factories that you find on the Puerh Junky site. These factories came into the fold less as a result of their reputation than how they fit around a thematic imperative, peacocks. This ended up making Fujin a rather obvious choice. Similarly, there’s a curious fascination with the Yang family. Therefore, Yang Pin Hao is another obvious choice. The iconic prehistoric entity of Lancang Ancient TF would certainly fit the bill. Shujian is not a factory but a vendor. Their dragon pearls from ’14 are fascinating. They capture the bougie terroir focus among the boutiques of the current era. Finally, Chamasi which fell into the lunar category with altogether killer wrappers.

Here’s the Fujin icons.

Here’s a page to their Chinese site. What’s so interesting is the factory is stated to have started in ’06 but they are clearly listing their productions from as early as ’02. The number of high-level factories that produced under the ZC label boggles the mind. Such totally generic wrappers.

The site states that the factory founder is responsible for developing the Big Cabbage production and Peacock series. Fujin is quintessentially Bulang/Menghai raw material. The Puerh Junky frequently replaces “Banzhang” for “Bulang” in an effort to evade claims of exaggeration. The puerh from this terroir has less of a black tea (i.e., dianhong) taste as in some Lincang. There’s less of an aggressiveness than Simao/Lancang. If a younger Bulang is confused for an Yiwu then it might be too young. Bulang shouldn’t be Zen, fruity or floral will depend much on the picking. Bulangs keep it real. It’s the Midwesterner of terroirs. There is a stratosphere where differences elude me. Fujin comes with a clear sense of what it offers and doesn’t stray.

Yangpin Hao is a brand going back to the early Republican era but traversing a number of historic, ownership, and administrative changes since its founding. There are quite a few very obvious fakes of this brand on the market. The obvious reason is that the brand goes back to the Republican Era. So, YPH evokes nostalgia. Most of their productions originate from Yiwu and tend to be very slow bloomers. Prices for modern YPH are outrageous. Their older ones? Some have fallen between the cracks or I was able to acquire before the craze.

Yang Pin Hao in traditional characters flanked by two dolphinlike serpents.

Although their raw productions are most famous, they possess a distinctive ripe puerh processing craft that is far better than average. Their ripes definitely improve with age.

Lancang Ancient Tea was established as its current brand in ’98 but with a legacy back to ’66. The primarily produce caustic Jingmai. They have been known to print Lunar series productions, more with regularity the past four years. Their Ox and Tiger tuo are comprised of material from five villages.

Lancang Ancient Tea (LCGC)

Shujian is a vendor that sells under its own label, similar to most Western vendors. It does raise some concerns around the consistency of productions from one year to the next. I’ve been storing a few of their dragon pearls of ’14. Those puppies are a good way to get one’s head around the hallmark tastes of each terroir.

Shujian Logo. Shujian means Book and Sword.

Chamasi has the absolute best wrappers. They’ve been around since ’06. They’re an Yiwu, specifically Yibang, operation but it’s likely that they have other offerings. Full disclosure, Chamasi has produced unquestionably the best puerh I’ve ever tasted, if only by distinctiveness. Their offerings have a consistent and pervasive Zen vibe. Their gargantuan 500g Dragon is offered in the Puerh Junky collection.

CMS neipiao w/ logo

The scholar dude is one of their logos. They also have one featuring with a horse and dragon as below.

Little need to belabour how cool the wrapper is.

And speaking of wrappers, that just about ends this chapter in the chronicles of puerh factory lore. Fujin is Menghai, Lancang is Simao, Shujian is just a vendor, Yangpinhao and Chamasi are basically Yiwu, the YPH does have at least one Menghai production from Nannuo. Some of these outfits have become extremely popular, with mind-boggling prices. Occasionally one falls through the cracks and the Puerh Junky is able to snatch it up.

Bowling Puerh

Posted on May 24, 2021 by Yang-chu

24 May

Bowling Puerh takes on the topic of puerh vessels. It’s an important point for discussion because the cruddy experiences you may be having with a few of your tobacco class puerhs may not be due just to a heavy hand, aging, storage, or even the weather. Yes, some productions are decidedly more sensitive than others and just as some offerings must be served gongfu style, others are going to be much better served grampa style or if you’re particularly mack, in a bowl.

For the record, the Puerh Junky very rarely bowls his puerh. However, the Puerh Junky isn’t calling the shots. It’s the tea itself that determines whether it should be bowled and you’ll know when varying attempts at brewing gaiwan or pot prove fruitless. If you’re finding that your treasure is not getting sweeter with a few years of storage, then it might be a good candidate for bowling. I’ve found this to be the case with a couple productions, particularly Beijing Olympics and Prince of Vanilla.

Bowling has it virtues. First, it completely takes the intricacies usually required with brewing raws out of the equation. A bowled puerh stands up well to protracted soaking in water in other words. Second, bowling means fewer occasions reloading water. The quantity is obviously greater than even customary pot size. It’s a considerably more casual drinking engagement. Third, it turns liabilities into assets. The mild sweetness that fails to build with years of storage isn’t an issue when bowling. The touch of sweetness with tobacco seems particularly satisfying from a bowl. The Puerh Junky has only bowled tobacco class productions, though it’s possible that it might work with other classes.

The first time the Puerh Junky saw drinking from a bowl was in the movie Betty Blue, a French film seen as a university freshman. Besides the heroine being clearly off kilter, the main thing I remember is those Frenchies drinking coffee from bowls. I can’t drink from a bowl now without thinking of that movie. Before seeing that movie, the though of drinking from a bowl never crossed my mind.

So bowling puerh increases the ole savoir faire quotient, something the Puerh Junky desperately needs. One of the most surprising discoveries from bowling has been an appreciation for the qi of productions that I couldn’t enjoy for their subpar taste. Both Beijing Olympics and Prince of Vanilla have heady qi expressions which previously were not noticed because they weren’t bowled. . . must be some ancient trade secret that the French aren’t letting on to.

The idea behind any brewing of puerh is to do as the tea instructs. Some productions are quite versatile in terms of brewing times and vessels but some are not. I imagine that there are many in the tobacco class that would lend themselves to bowling. Just as some productions must be gongfu in clay for the best experience, the same applies in the case of bowling.

Puerh Junkosophy: Camphor

Posted on May 5, 2021May 5, 2021 by Yang-chu

05 May

Some will undoubtedly question whether camphor is truly a subject for Puerh Junkosophy. Such concerns are warranted, but the Puerh Junky has noticed a prevailing confusion about camphor and so some measure of junkosophy is necessary.

There are complex chemo descriptions for camphor that prove utterly elusive to a simple junky like myself. Camphor is simply a sensation. This sensation can appear in the aroma and taste but it is primarily an aromatic sensation. Just as chilies impart a sensation that unifies varying types of chilies by their shape and sensation of heat, so too does camphor unify varying profiles by the sensation of cooling.

When but a lad my mother would rub Vicks Vaporub on my chest when I came down with something. Vicks is camphor. If you don’t know Vicks, then peppermint also qualifies. I know that chemically camphor and menthol differ but the cooling effect is the same. Camphor is also present in freshly ground cardamom. Some others are eucalyptus, tea tree, and pine. Camphor is that fresca, chilly feeling.

Interestingly, in Chinese medicine camphor is considered so hot it’s cold. Technically, the camphor you buy as a bug repellant comes from cinnamon. It’s the crystalized form, a “crackification” of the cinnamon bark. It’s more pure than frankincense, which also possesses some camphor compounds though in a less concentrated form. That faint thrilling aspect of chrysanthemum is also camphor. Now let’s talk about camphor in terms of puerh.

Puerh and Camphor

There’s a book that I caught wind of documenting over 100 camphor attributes in puerh. In sum, every taste or close to it is a type of camphor. However, such a declaration clearly only muddies the water.

First, it should be remarked that certifiable medicinal camphor notes express more resolutely in productions with some years under their belt. This is not to say that camphor is absent in young productions. Tips, for example, tend to be aggressively camphorous but are of a less medicinal and more minty quality. This tippy camphor pop may just be a stage in development. For example, a tinned version of Mangosteen developed an explosive camphor sensation at one stage before transitioning into a creamy, fruity, citric acidy creation.

Mangosteen

Raw camphor notes are familiar to most puerh drinkers. The bright finish of tippy productions is exemplary of floral camphor. The Jingmai “003” is a case in point, so are the Rat tuo and the LME Spring. Here, the camphor is a zing that strikes like a whistle, hands down the most popular variety of puerh.

A more obvious expression of camphor resides further down the register. Here, tastes are often referred to as medicinal, like cough drops. For this to emerge the camphor notes age along the backdrop of the raw material to sound a crystal note. Again, the note is impossible to distinguish from menthol because the effect is essentially the same. The king of medicinal in the Puerh Junky collection is Quincy, the name taken from the TV show.

Incense, pencil shavings, and to a lesser degree wood evocations are shades of camphor less associated with camphor. Incense is made from wood or wood sap. Similarly, incense, petrol, pencil shavings aren’t going to manifest till the raw material gets more woody. More dry-stored puerhs of this variety can take on perfume and talcum properties, while the slightly wetter-stored and older exhibit sandalwood and other bark type fragrances. A nice representation of of the former profile is Grenouille, possessing a light incense expression and the jaw-droppingly precocious Jade Rabbit, which has a lot of gasoline going for it.

Jade Rabbit

Root beer is also a camphor expression, particularly raw puerh. Root beer, the beverage, is a complex recipe containing more than just sasparilla. Vanilla, ginger, even star anise also contribute. This is the melange of nuance in the delightful root beer puerhs. Examples include, Thick Zen, Vanilla Palace, and Poison. These are easily the favs for the Puerh Junky.

Closing Remarks on Puerh and Camphor

Camphor is a familiar sensation that in the context of puerh has two connotations. One is nothing short of minty medicine, like Vick’s Vaporub or the inhaler. The second refers to a broad range of flavor expressions, evident in both raw and ripe puerh. Attention has been directed solely to raws in this communication as the nuances are more stark in raws than ripes. Floral, graphite, petrol, and root beer are all unique camphor profiles, some associated less with camphor than others. On the whole, camphor is as much a sensation as a taste. This sensation and aroma is cooling, refreshing, and expansive. Let the Puerh Junkosophy conclude here.

Floral Class Puerh II

Posted on April 10, 2021 by Yang-chu

10 Apr

Puerh Picking Season

We left off talking about age and terroir as indications for floral class puerhs. Season also factors greatly. The earlier the picking, the more likely it expresses high-pitched florality. “Early spring” is the puerh term most usually used to describe “first flush” selections. Pickings are differentiated in spring by those picked before or after Qingming Festival in early April.

Many puerh offerings are sold by designation of season picked. “Spring tea” implicitly means Floral Class. Some recipes may have a preponderance of spring tea to be in the Floral Class. Maybe many versions from the late 90s to early aughts of 7542 fall into this category.

Puerh Leaf Picking

A significant factor in floral expression is the actual leaves picked. The closer to the bud/tip, the more floral the expression. There’s some famous British brand of black tea sporting the name “Tips.” Ostensibly, this is a very floral and energizing beverage. Similarly, small grade puerh leaves size 1-3 (from 1-9) are bright and bracing. Conversely, small leaves are usually flashes in the proverbial pan, being less durable than larger leaf sizes.

Conclusions on Floral Class Puerhs

Really the only true grip one can gain on the subject of Floral Class Puerhs is to drink and and lots of them. The quality of flowers is going to vary upon age of production, terroir, season, and leaf picking. Some Chinese factories have floral notes serve as signature of their house taste; Liming, MKRS, and Tulin are factories to look out for in this regard. Of course, there’s always 6FTM.

Boiling Ripe Puerh

Posted on February 27, 2021 by Yang-chu

27 Feb

So, for the past two weeks your trusty Puerh Junky has taken to Boiling Ripe Puerh. This has become a bit of a morning ritual from the leftovers drunk the previous day. Most often these have been samples or recently acquired offerings. There was at least one item from the archives as well.

It started with one such recent Dec ’20 acquisition. It’s an Yiwu purported to be from ’03 and pressed in ’18. There’s certainly no wodui to it and seems to be old enough but perhaps because it’s in a plastic-wrapped cardboard gift box it’s been robbed of a bit of umph. Right now it is very light, and am not sure that it meets any brewing standard, so I decided to give it a boil while I wait for it to come around if ever. That’s how the Boiling Ripe Puerh routine started.

Over the course of these two weeks, perhaps six or seven productions have been boiled. The taste of boiled ripes is not the same as brewed. Without exception, the boiled potions possess a certain cereal quality, some like Wheaties and others like Malt O Meal.

Interestingly, the overly light-brewed ripes take to brewing quite nicely. In other words, they’re better boiled than brewed. More richness comes through while never becoming overpowering. Speaking of overpowering, my wife rarely says a production is too much, but such was the case with a ’04 Dayi tuo, which is very similar to old tea nuggets. That was a remarkable treasure, with tastes of incense and brine. Diluted it was dandy and water could be added two more times.

Zhongcha from the Archives

Another unique and especially pleasant experience came from the archives with a “Zhongcha” I picked up back in late ’13 or thereabouts. This is labeled as a High Mt Wild, the very last of which was sold in Jan. It has a weird cheesy rubber band taste to it, which I was hoping to no avail would dissipate to an undetectable level. In any event the Puerh Junky’s wife simply loved it, first brewed and then even more boiled. She went on and on about how smooth and tasty it was. I chunked down on a cheesy ripe a couple months ago from Liming, which should become avail in Oct or Nov.

Time to rap up, but not without mentioning the pot. I’m not much for the teaware fetish when that money could go toward perfectly good puerh. The thing about the teapot pictured above is that you can place it directly upon a flame, so it’s super convenient. No doubt these can be found on your regular shopping sites and at a reasonable price. They’re super handy and well worth having for purposes such as boiling tea.

Boiling Ripe Puerh offers a nice change of pace to the standard gong-fu brewing method. The cereal notes come through much more strongly with boiling than brewing. It goes without mention that this allows you to get the very most from your ripe treasures. Boiling seems to be especially appropriate for light ripes that don’t perform well when infused in the typical fashion.

Puerh Junky’s Lincang Lament

Posted on February 26, 2021 by Yang-chu

26 Feb

The Puerh Junky’s Lincang Lament may arouse giggles, perhaps even guffaws among readers. Don’t. No giggles or guffaws allowed. The Puerh Junky in me needs your commiseration. Regard (that’s French for “check it”)! The perils of hanky-panky processing have proliferated and no region is more guilty of such crimes than Lincang.

“Oh, you’re just a strung out Puerh Junky,” retorts the skeptic in you. Perhaps, but that has nill to do with hanky-panky processing (HPP). By this I mean the so-called “new processing.” This sleight-of-hand affords vendors and farmers to sell “gushu” to enthusiastic buyers many with no intention of storing long term. Still, some do think they can take their sugary prizes and store them for some later date.

What sugar cereal is this?

This won’t happen. They’re not “gushu.” They’re oolong processed. They’re that sugary breakfast cereal that you can eat a box of, only filling up on the milk. They are a scourge to the real puerh drinker. That’s right, I have drawn that line in the sand between the real and the faux puerh drinker, and more than a handful fall into the latter category.

But we’re talking about Lincang. . . There are two types of Lincang roughly speaking, western which is floral and eastern which is fruity. It’s the eastern, with names like Qianjiazhai, Bingdao, and Bangdong being some of the frequently listed offerings. Oh, let’s not forget Xigui!

Come to think of it, many Kunming TF’s productions are western Lincang blends. Thing is they can never be accused of HPP, certainly not before ’15, when I stopped buying them because their prices started exploding. I got burned once by a very high-end vendor in ’15, whom I surmise were themselves burned; they’ve never offered from that village since. Around the same time, I found another Lincang vendor that went belly up last in 2020, as far as I can tell. I’ll have to collaborate more closely with my buyer with this one if there’s any hope, as they have a Bingdao Huangpian that after two years settling is spot on.

However, there’s still one of their Dahuzhai available in the shop. I’ll admit I went through a stint of serious anxiety around that offering. Still another caused even greater angst and turmoil because it was from the same village that had burned el-fancy vendor. In this last week of Feb of 2021, your trusty Puerh Junky is happy to announce that although that little treasure did go through some adjustment period where it started to fall off, it has entered a phase where it is picking up. More importantly, it can be drunk through.

What is drinking through? It’s that your puerh never starts to taste of sencha after two or three infusions. Excessive sweetness with a back end of sencha is a dead giveaway that you’re drinking an HPP offering. A flat taste isn’t the clearest giveaway because that could just as easily be poor storage. I had started to suspect the worse, as this sparkling cake started to express some bitterness, not astringency but bitterness. The progression struck me as strange, but each offering has its own personality that’s going to evolve. Throughout its brief life, however, it has never EVER expressed sencha notes. Any of these sweet productions that leave that sencha impression (ahem), are gross offenders.

So, sometime before the cake of non-mention (because none are available anymore) took its turn, I picked up that vendor’s Xigui, a Lincang village that I’ve followed probably more than any other. That one was about twice the price of the other village. Well, it is Xigui. What could I expect?

What a dud it was. I started to reflect upon my furtive readings of discussion boards about so-and-so’s one or two year production being “so delicious”, utterly amazed by people’s ability to score such fantastic productions at such young ages. Had I been foundering in a puerh-addled Chinese factory hell? And what with all this talk about good for aging? I mean a puerh that doesn’t age isn’t a puerh, right? RIGHT?!! Where had I gone wrong? Whom should I blame: politicians? parenting? that English teacher in 10th-grade? Clearly, I was loosing my mooring, and there was only Lincang to blame.

Btw, you ever had a real Bingdao? But, I digress. I was talking about that dud of a Xigui, which has actually turned out to be fantastic. That vendor, which I suspect was a maker of sorts, is now defunct, as I said. I fear I won’t find another like it given the prevalence of HPP these days. Such are the travails of the Puerh Junky. I’m going to talk to my buyer, maybe he can help a Junky out.

Square Deal: Puerh Tea

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Yang-chu

07 Feb

Square Deal: Puerh Tea visit a particular ’07 Square, by GPE. If you get a chance to try or buy it you should. GPE came on the scene in the late ’90s. In the first year, their ripe puerh square (fangcha) won a best in show award. That ’99? production is highly valued. As late as 2018 productions could still be found fairly easily but after then not so much.

That tight embossed kinda brick

The GPE square was probably the second most popular ripe square on the market next to Zhongcha’s. ZC’s square is hand’s down the most popular square with a number of fakes out there. Here’s a closeup of the iconic tea character associated with ZC displayed on GPE’s square:

The GPE icon is the “cha” character surrounded by 12 (haven’t counted) “gu” characters. “Gu” means old or ancient. The most popular gu in puerh circles is “gu-shu” (old-tree).

The GPE Square didn’t have camphor, humidity, fruit or anything to make it stick out beyond a richness reflecting the generally sturdy material from which they derive their products.

You can see the liquor has some clarity but it also looks darker than most Puerh Junky offerings. Anyway, there’s no need to carry on about this square since it’s no where to be found. In fact, no occurrence of any other GPE ripes even come to mind.

Puerh Physio-Psycho-Somatics

Posted on October 22, 2020 by Yang-chu

22 Oct

It’s not rare that an individual will confide to the Puerh Junky that they experience certain phenomena that can only be reckoned as being a case of Puerh Physio-Psycho-Somatics. It’s a topic that the Puerh Junky tends to avoid. The fact is that the dynamics of a production have everything to do with the vessel in which it is served. This doesn’t just deal with the pot, ahem.

This is basic chemistry and biophysiology but the reductionistas somehow don’t get this.

Puerh Suggestion

“Is what I’m feeling from drinking this due to suggestion? Have I been hypnotized by the machinations of the Puerh Junky’s or Global Tea Hut’s wizardry?” you may ask yourself. I’d ask you, how much you relied upon my performance? Was it about me or the tea? Of course, we want to create space for the tea but when it’s real, it will interrupt everything.

Each treasure speaks for itself in it own measure– when it’s ready. Some are always ready to show you what’s up. That doesn’t mean that the material has caught up to it’s expression. This results in the quality of expression. A gut-buster isn’t necessarily a bad tea. The effects it produces upon the drinker is it’s “qi.” Not so esoteric, huh?

It’s not likely that someone is going to suggest “gut-buster”, but people often remark about laxative effects. These occurrences positive or negative not only reflect something about the personality of the tea but the condition of the drinker. Not everything, just possibly some things. Each individual is of a unique makeup, so general truths are difficult to derive.

Impediments to “Qi-gan”

So far, the Puerh Junky has avoided use of “chee,” what us smarities write as “qi.” Because of the mystique around qi, it is greatly misunderstood. When most people say “caffeine”, they actually mean qi. People attribute far more to caffeine than what puerh conveys, however. If you think I’m mistaken, go take whatever pills of caffeine and report back that your effect was similar any good tea.

There is a certain disconnect about the simplicity of qi. In fact, wine have their own qi. Qi is simply an effect or quality. Qi does have resonance with essence, but it can refer to overall effect. Usually, qi is about how it makes you feel, what is called “qi-gan.” “Chazui”, tea-drunk in an effect that differs from invigoration or relaxation.

Qi Is A Fiction?

Those who can’t or refuse to feel qi may be suffering from a number of problems listed below

Can’t Dance
Eat Greasy, Potatoey Type, Microwave, Boxed Food
Poor Breathing, Sleep Apnea, Nasal/Sinus
No Exercise or Mind Exercise

It’s important to note that qi isn’t one thing– if that hasn’t been made abundantly clear. However, those whose qi flow is better or know how to manipulate it will possibly experience more nuanced or greater qi force than those relatively inert eaters congestive food. Otherwise, all things being equal, different teas have differing qualities of qi. Those will not just be focused on drunk feeling but also effects like laxative, gut-buster, palpitations, malaise, and sleepiness.

Conclusion

The gist of dabbling into the Physio-Psycho-Somatics of puerh requires reshaping one’s understanding of the word “qi” in the context of the puerh drinking experience. Secondarily, if you’re qi challenged, stop drinking or start moving.

Puerh Rating: Fu

Posted on October 9, 2020March 28, 2022 by Yang-chu

09 Oct

The Puerh Junky Rating System (PJRS) takes on Fu. This is a ’12 Zhongcha/KMTF raw cake that has been storing in Los Angeles since ’15. This cake harkens back to a simpler time in purchasing puerh. Then Zhongcha offerings sold for easily one-third what they do now. The “Fu” character on the wrapper is not the new year “fu” (福) but conveys a similar sense of fullness and richness through fragrance (香).

After three rounds the results were as follows:

Aroma 7
Clarity 9
Sweetness 8
Viscosity
Astringency 12
Huigan 10
Qi

Reflections

April 2016

Zhongcha‘s Fu rates highly in terms of viscosity and straight average in terms of sweetness and clarity. The sweetness holds steady from one infusion to the next. Clarity increases while viscosity wanes slightly.

Conversely, there isn’t much of a huigan. This proves a poor trade-off because the astringency is fierce and greatly displeasing to the Puerh Junky. It does have a noticeable qi that is steady and smooth.

The Kunming Tea Factory (KMTF) productions after ’11 seem to fall into the category of too young and undrinkable or young and soon-to-be undrinkable. This is all in the evolution of raw puerh. It is an unfolding mystery. With Fu an interesting progression is noted in the lack of clarity of the broth at the third infusion.

Infusion #3

This lack of clarity is neither indicative of processing or material flaws, but rather of the tea itself being in the midst of cooking. At an earlier stage, factors had yet coalesced to enter the cooking stage. Now Fu is cooking and it tastes raw as raw can be. It’s not exactly like a “recipe” formula but has many nods to the concept.

All attributes considered, this tastes its primarily comprised of Bulang material.

Conclusions

In 2020 Fu has entered it 8th year. It is not the same joyous production that it was initially. There is lots of fruit and sweetness in the liquor but a pronounced bitterness on top of astringency make this puerh cake enter the “too young” for drinking stage. This is not a Zen category production but an anti-Zen. I is not macho. The tastes are too playful, the aroma floral and fruity. There is no hint of smoke, petrol, or darker notes to suggest macho. No. Fu is that brat that needs to go to “time-out” (for five years). Some people like bratty: bitter and astringent. Those constantly drinking young tea might find appealing. The Puerh Junky on this account must graciously defer and consider it nothing better than a gut buster. At a minimum three years TTP. Puerh Rating: Fu

56/105, C

Hawt Puerh: Monkey 6FTM

Posted on October 6, 2020 by Yang-chu

06 Oct

On Monday to mark Labor Day 2020, I decided on Hawt Puerh: Money 6FTM. I didn’t subject it to the PJRS. I just wanted to check in to see where it was, already having ascended to the top-self of Puerh Junkiedom by virtue of its collectability.

Monkey Closeup

The ’04 Monkey is the first in an extremely popular Lunar Series by 6FTM. It’s made from early spring material. The recipe has never changed. It’s a punchy floral qi-heavy, mouth-blasting forbearance. It expresses the quintessential Fengqing character.

This rascal has been aging in Los Angeles since ’14. It probably is responsible for the wrapper fetish. It has been stored between the controlled conditions of the fridge and hot/variable container. Maybe two years ago, to baby the wrapper, I placed it in a cardboard box, one slightly different from the normal puerh boxes but one used for that very purpose nonetheless.

Untattered Wrapper

Reflections

First, that box has contaminated some of the taste. I’ve placed the Monkey in plastic and back in the box and will check in on at end of year. The taste isn’t particularly strong, but I don’t like it. On writing this, I’m going to take it from the box and keep it in plastic and check at year’s end.

Second, it is simply not possible to drink this and not compare it to Poison. Both are 6FTM Lunar productions. Poison came into my possession in Jul 2020. It is Kunming stored but by people who really know what they’re doing. Poison is more aged and as active as Monkey. Monkey has old-book (can you say cardboard) note with root beer, as the floral notes emerge with each infusion. Poison is pure root beer and there isn’t any other layer. It’s pure Poison.

Infusion 3

Third, the durability of the Monkey is a great disappointment. I only goes five infusions before starting to fade and it actually bottoms out in the 7th or 8th. Poison doesn’t bottom out, EVER.

Conclusion

The ’04 Monkey is a “hawt” puerh commodity. It has a pleasing depth of flavor and dynamism in the mouthfeel. Still, five infusions is a shade short for most productions, particularly of this age. I don’t ever recall noticing such a short lifespan previously. It was brewed in gaiwan and infusion times were the typical flash-10s. In short, Poison casts such a shadow over Monkey that it is only possible to be mildly entertained by it, not floored. If one is a committed wrapper junky or a collector it’s worth having, otherwise its price extreme for the judicious junky.