Category Archives: The Junky’s Log

Puerh Clay Storage

Posted on by Yang-chu
07 Mar

Yesterday one of my chief drinking buddies came by for a shesh.  We had some leftovers, a ’18 Bingdao and ’07 Yiwu both huangpian.  He was very myeh regarding the latter, saying, “I’ve had it with the fruity and floral and want more like your ’98 Red Mark.”  What’s a proper Puerh Junky to do?

Yeah, I have a few late 90s raw puerhs in the stash.  One is a “Red Mark.”  It is one of those aged raws that have been punished with a good deal of heat and a dash of humidity imparting that detestable dry old-book newspaper vibe.  That bugger has been placed in the detention container with the rest of the cardboard-stored creations that have lost their pizazz due to my own dunderheadedness.  That Red Mark, however, was none of my doing.  The hope is that I can work a little PJ magic on it and something jucier and complex can emerge.  Of course, the reader knows that that taste is highly regarded in some circles but in the eyes of the Puerh Junky such storage is deeply flawed.  But I digress. . .

I was talking about my tea compadre’s request for that humid aged taste.  What better chance to try out the recently “tinned” Lucky 7542  DQZ, but minding my junky etiquette I gave him an option.  “Well, I have a wet-stored ’06 Mengku that is aggressive and floral or we can try the wet-stored 7542 from tea meistra Du Qiong-zhi.”

Lucky 4524, DQZ

“Oh, 7542?  I’ll definitely take that,” trying to restrain his enthusiasm.  “Now, you do know that this isn’t a Menghai TF?  It’s from someone who worked her self through the ranks of Menghai TF before breaking out on her own in the late 90s during the restructuring,” I warned.  “I’ll have that,” he assured me.

The Lucky 7542 got transferred to a clay caddy around mid-Feb 2021 as part of the tinning project initiated after the fabulous findings from Fu.  Whereas most of the productions thus transferred reside in metal, the Lucky got clay.  Since I had previously moved a hideously wet late 80s Tulin tuo to a clay caddy with a glazed exterior to great result, Lucky’s humidity informed placing it in clay.

Now the Puerh Junky could regale you with all the details about that ’89 Tulin tuo, but the focus here is regarding the findings from Lucky after only three weeks.  For starters, the wet storage smell is evident in the clay itself.  My compadre upon one whiff went into a reverie about his childhood, memories of his grandfather.  I personally detected a note of cinnamon which is a very good sign in light of storage and age.

Recently, the floral-designated pot (150ml) has been getting quite the work out.  It pours slowly, so I only used 4.5g.  Far be it from the Puerh Junky to be at a loss for words, but suffice it to say that a production that I found unsatisfactorily stored is now close to perfect.  The layers of complexity to the tea are now much more evident.  Even the floral notes are more precise.  The overall effect results in what tastes like the ideal 7542, the archetypical 7542.  Are there better 7542?  Well duh, but this captures everything that the 7542 is supposed to be including the humidity.

The Puerh Junky’s wife is keen on the humid productions and just happened upon the scene of the crime to join us right when the first pot was being poured.  Both mi amigo and mi wife remarked upon the sweetness.  What stood out for moi was the volume in terms of breadth imparted by the clay storage.  Imagine Miss Brown Eyes Blue Crystal Gale and her long strait locks getting a good dose of 80s hair mousse. Pour some sugar on me, baby. . . sans the spandex.  The interplay between flowers, minerals, and humidity could not be detected in previous sessions with Lucky but with clay storage, I detected such complexity causing me to completely revise my assessment of the material’s underlying quality.

 

 

 

 

 

Puerh Battle of Hegemons

Posted on by Yang-chu
06 Mar

Tuesday 2nd of March 2021 witnessed the Puerh Battle of Hegemons.  Both the ’07 Vanilla Palace and ’05 OG Gangsta brought formidable organic credentials to a frenzy pitting two mid-aged raw puerh against each other.  The Silver Peacock ripe agreed to moderate the fracas.

“Puerh Battle of Hegemons?” you ask.  “Yes!” I reply.  You see, one of the descriptions often attributed to big-taste aggressive puerhs is “baqi” (霸气), where “ba” translates to “hegegemon.” This is to say a strong-handed ruler, a forceful customer in puerh terms.

The battle started with the Vanilla Palace.  It bears the name “gongting,” which is usually reserved for the smallest grade ripe.  For a raw puerh to be called gongting is a first. As it ages, the Vanilla is becoming richer and rounder.  The punch from a few years back continues to transform into a delicious vanilla root beer.  The edges continue to transform not flatten and each progressive infusion releases more florality that is in the perfume stage.  The transformation trajectory of the Vanilla Palace is excellent and represents a fantastic value.

puerh tea brick

The OG Gangsta is one of GPEs atomically compressed bricks.  On the heels of the Vanilla Palace, Gangsta‘s sour and subtle fruit notes really jumped out.  Those favouring astringency, we’re talking dictatorial astringency, will lean toward the Gangsta.  The dark root beer expression, however, sufficiently balances the bite.  One recent enthusiast described Gangsta as a smoker who wears perfume to cover the smoke– not in a bad way, he was quick to add.

About six infusions from each elicited the call for food.  Don’t drink either on an empty stomach but especially not the Gangsta.  After a bit of grub the Silver Peacock brought its Zen attributes to wash it down.  The Silver Peacock is at a stage of transition, from pure ripe Zen to the fruitiness common in many aged raws and common in heicha.  Infusions 6-8 at better than a minute, pushed progressively, were surprisingly rich, sweet, and complex– positively nothing challenging about this ripe puerh cake but everything enjoyable.

In the end, the pairing of the Vanilla Palace and the OG Gangsta highlighted their contrasting personalities, despite being in the tobacco cum root beer class.  The VP is round, warming, settling inviting.  The OGG is rambunctious, astringent, slightly fruity, with perfume and smoke.  Both offerings express a good deal of complexity and durability.  Altogether about nine infusions were gathered from each and an additional four infusions or so the next day.  The perfume of each was much more noticeable on day two.  It’s fair to say the OGG proved more hegemonic.

However, in the final assessment pairing these two is a shade excessive.  Both are complex productions deserving of focused attention in their own right.  Moving from one two the other is more a mark of skittish gluttony than pairing.  Contrast to this excess likely accounts for why the Silver Peacock ended up stealing the show.

Puerh Tin Report

Posted on by Yang-chu
06 Mar

The Puerh Tin Report takes the reader deep into the doings the Puerh Junky.  This time it involves testing the effects of tinning of two productions after only two weeks.  Well, more precisely one after a week and the other after two.  They are both 6FTM productions: week one ’06 Fohai and week two ’07 Pig.  Sooner or later the the Fohai will be offered, whereas the Pig is part of the Lunar Series.

Recently yours truly raved about the findings from tinning the raw puerh cake Fu for three years. Would it be necessary to tin for such a long time to obtain the same results?  The Fohai and the Pig struck me as good candidates for different reasons.  The former didn’t possess the same zing as when originally purchased, and the latter has always struck the Puerh Junky as too zingy.

I tried the Fohai after a week.  The tin above is one that I found on a dock in the marina after returning from a three-day sailing trip about eight years ago.  I figured it must have been a gift from the gods and it contained chun-mee that I’ve possibly had three times.  The tin has double-lid action.  Something might have to be done about that.

The first thing this Puerh Tin Reporter noted was a storagey aroma that also affected the taste of the first two infusions.  This will have to be watched.  Nonetheless, the liveliness initially found had returned much to my delight.  Preliminary findings are cautiously optimistic and remarkable after only one week.

Week two featured the Pig from a Folger’s tin from the 60s.  I got this from my since-passed 90 something neighbor, who was storing some black tea in it also from the 60s.  You can tell this tin is old and actual tin because of the visible seam.  Would it impart a metallic taste?  Kazaaa!

For the first time the Pig was spectacular.  I used a conservative 4.5g in my slow pour, florally designated zisha.  The piercing edginess was not only no longer there but the same lively tangerinesque attributes also present in the Fohai.

Puerh Tinned Report tentatively reports overall very positive findings from the tinning of two raw puerh cakes from 6FTM.  These are two floral offerings, but it is doubtful that tinning in anyway is better for one type of expression over another, say tobacco vs Zen vs floral.  We’ll have to wait and see.

Yeah, I still have that black tea from the 60s, in case you were wondering.

Puerh Junky Report: Fruit Monster

Posted on by Yang-chu
01 Mar

So on Friday my wife and I were up for some heavy drinking.  I only remember thinking Fruit Monster would probably round the sesh out nicely, since the other offerings were higher on the keyboard.  Fruit Monster, being from 2011 and dry stored, isn’t exactly full of low notes.  However, it does have quite a bit of smoke and grit, along with a bit of incense.  The fruit muskmelon notes of yore are no longer detectable and its bratty finish lead the Puerh Junky to conclude that in some regards it’s about three years off.

The Puerh Junky Report: Fruit Monster concerns leftovers from Friday.  Today is Monday.  A couple infusions consumed on Saturday led to a final infusion forgotten amidst the welter of puerh treasures.  Water remained in the bell pepper pot for two days.  This morning I thought I give it a try, expecting a bitter lesson.

Bell Pepper Pot with the ’01 GM Puerh

To my astonishment, the Fruit Monster tasted of strawberries.  This is a taste usually evident of productions at least fifteen years old.  It portends the return of fruit to the monster, but I will have to wait a while.

This reminds us that puerh is a moving target, particularly raws.   The Puerh Junky found a similar progression with the Dali Tuo, where now enticing strawberry fruitiness starts expressing after about the fourth infusion.  It’s the same fruit note so common to many ripes.  In fact, upon recent tasting only this weekend, the Silver Peacock is starting to express fruit notes as well.

We’ll see how the the Fruit Monster progresses.  Right now the days of musky fruit are long gone.  Its edginess and depth are satisfactory but not where they will be in a few years.  In some cases these variables would have the Puerh Junky state outright that it is not ready, but from very early on Fruit Monster has proven itself a solid tobacco-class drinker.  However, the course of changes from this weekend portend the return of a different fruit to the monster sometime in an unknown future.

Puerh Tinned Three Years

Posted on by Yang-chu
19 Feb

Puerh Tinned Three Years is about putting to test tin storage in controlled conditions.  The verdict so far is an emphatic “INNOCENT.”  The general advice is to not break up one’s cake/brick/tuo till say a week or two before drinking.  Only then, a drinking portion should be broken endeavoring to keep the cake in form as much as possible.

The Puerh Tinned Three Years in this case is ’12 Fu, ZC.  Upon last tasting from a cake sample stored in the container, I figured that it had gone into hibernation.  This third week of February 2021, the Puerh Junky was gobsmacked by the tin version of Fu.  It was bright and lively.  Furthermore, over the three days in which it was drunk it maintained an intensity and brightness that impressed me as being tea from the very highest quality of leaves coming from Bingdao.  It’s dreadfully good.  It’s as bright as I first got it but the brightness and sweetness continue beyond the superficial infusions.

To test the rectitude of the conclusions regarding tinning, proper junky etiquette (PJE) requires revisiting the cake version.  At least one posting from blog recently has reported problems with cardboard storage.  Results with the tin are the exact opposite.  The direction of cardboard is outward and draining, whereas the tin is inward and boosting.  The metal imparts nothing on the tea’s taste, while doing a stupendous job of cooking the leaves.  Instead of like the container which can be like a roast the tin is slow steam.  The difference is huge.

At least with the tin in the refrigerator, we’re getting neither dryness nor inordinate oxidation.   The leaves are cooking, moreover fairly evenly compared to a cake.  Of course, compression of Fu is quite moderate, so it broke up fairly evenly.

Big Leaf Sancha Puerh

Posted on by Yang-chu

A few years back I picked up some big leaf sancha advertised as wet stored.  Sancha is also maocha, i.e., loose leaf.  Although there was some wet-stored quality to it, the overriding sense was that it was too vegetal and just not very tasty.  Sunday 7 Feb 2021, I thought I would give it a try.  What a difference.

This ripe sancha is no longer vegetal.  Sancha (散茶）shouldn’t be confused with the Japanese sencha (煎茶）; the former references how the production looks at market, whereas the former references a processing method particular to green tea.

This particular Wild Big Leaf sancha purported to be from ’03.  Maybe.  Items of this sort, however hard to find, I can’t imagine being the ages they purport.  It’s often hard to tell given storage conditions but even so, I’d say that many are as off as many as seven years but usually 3-5.  This “offness” in years makes it difficult to determine how good the production actually is either at the time of tasting or in the future.

The blackness of the leaves here are indicative of a shou.  The taste and colour are more deceptive.  Furthermore, there is zero humidity or old taste, a la newspaper, to tip the hand one way or another.  This is a faint cinnamon, however, suggesting aged raw and a superior ripe accomplishment.

The overriding expression of berry, reminiscent of some raw and ripe productions in the ’99 to ’07 range is exhilarating.  At the same time, the light cinnamon note makes it extraordinary.

It brews crystal clear.  There is nothing murky or dank or “ripe” about it.  This is mandarin ripe, not a coffee substitute.  It doesn’t angle toward coffee but toward old raws, the way real ripes should.

Puerh Update: Jade Mark

Posted on by Yang-chu
08 Feb

This Puerh Update is on the ’14 Jade Mark, Zhongcha.  This factory constantly merits reminding the reader that all Zhongcha after ’06 refers exclusively to the Kunming Tea Factory.  As a whole KMTF is more highly regarded for their bricks and ripe productions.  They do and have been making raw cakes but have been overshadowed by Xiaguan and Dayi.

KMTF has continued with producing “mark” category productions, though their recipes aren’t the same as back in the day, and experts will tell you that all the classic recipes are marked by periodicity, that is they change from time to time.  KMTF also added “marks” that never existed, such as the Jade Mark.

The Jade Mark has distinguished itself from most ZC productions in that it presented itself as a vivacious sweet and citrusy raw that was immediately drinkable.  Obviously, this raised the issue of whether they had succumbed to the bad practice of oolong processing, a sleight of hand that provides a certain immediate gratification to the drinker but possesses zero storage potential.

Jade Mark is aging properly.  It is lasting now for more infusions, meaning the sweetness lasts longer.  There is a sturdiness of character that comes with some bitterness; it strikes of good quality Bulang.  At the same time and especially in later infusions, the huigan is simultaneous with the liquor, along with an aftertaste of tangerine peel.  None of this is evident with oolong processed productions.

I’ve always liked the Jade Mark.  I like to see how it was never overly sweet but that as it ages the sweetness is deepening.  It speaks to the quality of the underlying organic material.  I’ll post some shot later.  At only six years old it still qualifies as a very young and green raw puerh.

 

Lonely Days: Fuhai’s 7536

Posted on by Yang-chu
06 Feb

Lonely Days takes up the baffling disregard for Fuhai’s 7536 recipe.  On the one hand, that’s a relatively good thing because the price hasn’t exploded for still relatively aged material from a well-recognized brand.  On the other hand, it seems a same that it doesn’t get the love it deserves.

I’ve only tasted the ’07 version of the 7536 but have purchased or sampled a few of their other offerings.  The 7536 is their benchmark raw recipe, as they’re known for raws and ripes.  I read somewhere that it was supposed to be Fuhai’s take on the 7542 (maybe the writer meant the 7532), but their 7536 is decidedly less floral, which might account for its tepid reception among Western drinkers in particular.  This Fuhai has considerably less petrol than the standard, with more sweet roots and aromatic pods.  Cardamom and bay laurel  also come to mind.

I took it out on Sunday (31 Jan ’21) and had a very enjoyable session with it for two days.  I left it out and now is much bolder aromatically, with a waft of smoke as it’s taken from the plastic.  The cake smells like smoke-cured wood, deep.  From the dry heated clay comes a burst of fruitiness, the bay laurel.

Even the rinse is ready and tastes sweet.  The aroma from the leaves is rich, sugary, spiked with light spices.  There is NO hint of any floral.  A lot of sugar cane, brown sugar with top notes of sandalwood that just fade away into the sugar.  The smoke is evident in the broth, but it is a nice complement.  The aroma in the cup is also of incense.

The second and third infusions are visibly frothy, which carries over into mouthfeel.  The wood starts to make a considerable presence along with the smoke and you start to ask yourself whether you hang with the hounds or piss with the pups.  The sweetness is very addictive; it coats the mouth, lips, and throat, such that all questions of philosophy are lost.  The astringency has never been an issue with this production and now is quite lubricious on the lips and teeth.

No matter how many years drunk, this production still evokes a sense of Christmas.  It’s very warming and cheery, like Christmas.  It exudes the smell of a fire and Christmas spices, hence its name Mincemeat, visions of Tiny Tim and Tchaikovsky all in one.  It forms an interesting contrast to the Water Blue Mark, which is also sweet and woody, but with strong plum notes, whereas 7536 is more incense and spice.  Neither are remotely floral.

 

Puerh Storage Horrors!

Posted on by Yang-chu
04 Feb

Puerh Storage Horrors– Realtime tales from the Puerh Junky Crypt

Last time we left our villain, the Puerh Junky, he was lamenting the performance of his totem-totaling icon ’04 Monkey, 6FTM.  That was in summer of ’20.  At the time it was removed from the box and placed in plastic upon the top-shelf of the somewhat controlled conditions of the unplugged refrigerator.

In the meantime, an entire stack of boxed cakes all ’04 and younger were getting the life sucked from them through those damn boxes.  Maybe if wrapped in plastic then enclosed in the box. . .  but otherwise a big thumbs down on boxing.  Certainly cardboard boxes.  If you had a nice clay box, that would be another story.  Cardboard is a horrible storage vessel.  It sucks moisture from the tea while imparting a deadening taste.

Using the boxes was conceived with keeping the fancier productions all nice and tidy.  You can write the name and year on the box and quickly identify what you want.  But it’s horrible.  It makes the tea horrible and robs it of qi.

Case:  I tasted three of my most powerful productions after finding my ’03 7532, DQZ turned horrible.  I put it in a plastic baggie and it’s now in the TTP.  The three from yesterday were not as wretched but that 7532 has been stored since ’15, where the others from around ’17.  Each of the three showed marked dimunition in expression, while being rather dead.

“8582” Blue Lable Big Qi, Root beer/Zen

One basis of direct comparison was between the ’03 Lily of the Valley,YPH, one stored in container and the other in a box in the fridge.  The former has gotten much more succulent and refined in its floral presentation, where the latter is muted and is flatter than it should be.

The final test was with the ’04 Monkey, which had been destroyed by the box but wrapped in plastic and kept on the top-shelf of fridge in an effort to resuscitate it.  It is now fine but quite different from what I ever remember it being, particularly in the later infusions where there is much more apple and sweetness.  The floral has definitely entered a different stage.  There’s still much bitterness if over brewed and drunk hot, but as it cools the bitterness mellows and the astringency is not worth mentioning.  After six months removed from the box much more life has returned to the cake, though its expression either much different due to age or what was removed by the time in the box.  None of the other lunar productions are expressing fruitiness of this order.

All of the box-abused have been placed in plastic and in a container.  In July I’ll test a few.  Fortunately, only the most unique of the generic label productions were affected.  I used to think plastic was a bad thing.  That’s much less a concern than protection of wrapper, conserving leaves that escape from the bag, and additional transformation capacity.  Some bags are lined in what in a waxier plastic than the plane cellophane but they all work far better than boxes.

Boxes are a horror for storage but it doesn’t spell the bloody end, only a few months in plastic with some likely changes in character.

 

Marquis’s Floral Puerh

Posted on by Yang-chu
31 Jan

The Puerh Junky finds most floral productions too ostentatious for this tastes.  There’s something about flowery productions that sound an off note.  There are some notable exceptions, like the Lily of the Valley, YPH and the Banzhang Organic from ’08, neither of which listed, but you can message if interested.

Liming and MKRS cake productions really push the limits of cordiality as do 6FTM‘s.  These are all floral productions in the stash but not ones that ever beckon beyond mostly for purposes of checking in on how they’re possibly toning it down. . . which they’re not, except the Monkey.  Then there is the Marquis du Green Mark, quite urbane and agreeable in every regard.

Could the reason for the Puerh Junky’s love for the Marquis have to do with storage?  Probably not.  The ’09 Ox, 6FTM for example is also more humidly stored but but it doesn’t hit like the the Marquis.  No doubt sweetness plays a factor. Many report such productions as Tulin’s T868 or the Lancang Jingmai 003 as sweet, though they strike me as being more like that woman at church who wears loud perfume that oppresses the senses, so much so that the sweetness is muffled.  Those two are both very tippy and could be a very telling factor.  Let’s continue. . .

There’s something about where most florals strike on the scale that poses a challenge for the Puerh Junky.  That  place is about two octaves above middle C.  The Marquis and Yiwu Princess seem to sound an octave lower, and alas, their leaves are considerably larger, as is also the case with Lily of the Valley and the Banzhang Organic.  With the Marquis, perhaps leaf size is also that which provides the overlay of vanilla and undertow of minerals.  In other works, there’s something about the leaf size that not only tames the scream of flowers but also provides additional layers of complexity and deliciousness.

Still, Liming and MKRS offerings aren’t always comprised of little leaves though they almost always pack a very serious punch.  Here’s where age seems to factor in, at least to some extent, perhaps also terroir and production style.  MKRS/Daxue Shan, just isn’t a terroir style suiting the Puerh Junky, though there are always surprises.  The MKRS ’10 Tiger was simply fabulous, a creation where the root beer formed very early and throttled the flowers forming a fantastic experience.

The Marquis is not the DXS flower.  It isn’t in DXS sharp and the Puerh Junky is just not one to know flowers like that.  Yes, with some it’s obvious, Lily of the Valley, Jingmai 003’s honeysuckle, but with many other’s its a toss up.  The DXS and Fengqing floral definitely resonates with black tea floral.  Low and behold, that’s where much black tea actually hails.