Category Archives: The Junky’s Log

Wet-Stored Zhongcha Puerh

Posted on by Yang-chu
07 Peacock 9611, CNNP
14 Jan

Two shots of the same production from ’07 brewed in different vessels. It’s been wet stored, so it’s much darker than usual. The gaiwan shot was taken at night, the clay pot shot in day. The latter is much sudsier and sweeter, with some cooling camphor notes that can be felt at the end of each sip.

Night shot

When I first got it I couldn’t drink it, so I stuffed it away for six months, a fairly short spell actually. A friend recently sent me a sample of the Global Tea Hut “tea of the month,” which was a Blue Mark, same factory as below, from 2000, stored in Taiwan for 18yrs. It smelled like it too.

Day shot

Anyway, one wet stored production begets another. This ’07 production is better than the Blue Mark. It’s thicker, sweeter, and more complex, even though both are very much in the Zen vein of puerh, either Lincang or Yiwu material.

Two Puerh Peacocks from ’07

Posted on by Yang-chu

These two puerh peacocks couldn’t be more different from one another.  The ’07 Bada is complex, minerally, medicinal, sweet, and floral.  The ’07 Peacock is pure Zen, thick and wheatie with almost no taste.

Both brew to a rich golden hue.  The leaves of Peacock are considerably larger.  It also has more froth than the Bada, but to call it frothy would be an overstatement.  Astride a slight sweetness is a pinch of bitterness, quite similar to Sweet-n-low.  Overall, it possesses a character similar to a roasted barley tea, only thicker and sweeter.

The Bada is in company with some older spring teas in the Junky’s collection, such as the ’05 Peacock Puerh, LM, ’06 Gold Ribbon Tuo, XG and the ’05 Yiwu, YPH.  However, the Bada’s taste is altogether more complex.  There’s some mild camphor and sweet cinnamon notes.  The aged floral huigan is noteworthy and lingers.  You can smell the cinnamon too.

Pushing the Bada in later infusions only makes the brew thicker.  It never bottoms out, as signified by a bitter-metalic taste. The spice notes gain prominence the further one advances in the session.

Puerh Cashed Leaves:
Left: Peacock; Right: Bada

It is not possible to say that one production stands head-and-shoulders over the other.  They’re not comparable, because they fall into different classes.  The Peacock is in the Zen class.  As far as some similar Zhongcha productions, like the Blue Mark, it is even better tasting and a superior value, a diamond in the rough.  The Bada falls into a category that I might most associate with the ’08 Gift Puerh, from Xiaguan, at least as far as some of the mineral notes are concerned, but as noted above old flowers and spice figures prominently.  It is quite in a class of it’s own.

The Dark Side of Puerh: Wet Storage

Posted on by Yang-chu
08 Jan

The dark side of puerh refers generally to storage methods associated with Taiwan and HK.  There’s also Malaysia and some outliers in Yunnan itself, but these tend to be quite a bit less common.

I was recently gifted a sample of the 2000 Blue Mark, CNNP, which had been Taiwan stored for 18 years.  It was proudly being offered by The Global Tea Hut, an outfit that takes a decidedly spiritual approach to tea.

Just one whiff of the Blue Mark gave the impression of a pretty darn wet storage.  I was excited to give it a try, since I’ve tasted a few Blue Marks that were younger and Kunming dry stored.  The Blue Mark is the epitome of a Zen production, a reference that means the bulk of the material hails from Yiwu.  Yiwus have a reputation for getting better with age, perhaps more so than others, where the focus tends to be more on the settling of the aggressive notes.  This applies particularly to Menghais and Jingmais.  As far as any of this is concered, we’re talking about plantation puerhs, as the profile of ancient arbors vary greatly.

The storage effects from Taiwan and others are very popular among some puerh enthusiasts.  Heat and humidity expedite the transformation process, while adding a microbial profile that is highly desired and usually absent from KM productions of a similar age.

This microbial profile can vary widely, but it accounts for a bona fide “dirt” taste.  Profoundly wet stored productions not only taste dirty but also possess a dankness or rottenness, sometimes straight up moldiness.  And before one shutters in horror, perhaps bleu cheese might offer some perspective.  Executed well, wet storage can offer an added depth to a production.  That said, seriously wet stored offerings are far from my favourite, as the microbes often distract from the tea itself.

A final point on wet-stored puerh involves a discovery made when storing here in LA a filthy late 80s production.  In short, the filth can be “cooked” out, giving rise to rich cinnamon notes and a complete fusion between the storage and the raw material itself.  “Cooking” here is long term storage under the varying intensity that productions receive here under the LA seasons.

Now to my findings on the 2000 Blue Mark. . .

  • Clean dry dirt with a hint of cinnamon.
  • The liquor is stunningly beautiful, glimmering and crystal clear
  • Full-body qi effect, particularly around the chest, back of neck, and top of head

As far as the effects of Taiwan storage on Yiwu material, I can’t say that it changes it much if at all.  There aren’t any camphor or petrol notes that develop, for example.  It doesn’t appear to be any richer than the younger Blue Marks, though it is likely less astringent.  These changes or lack thereof as the case may be may only be applicable to the Blue Mark itself and not to Yiwus in general.

 

 

 

Puerh and the Progression of Glee

Posted on by Yang-chu
07 Jan

Glee is a production that entered the market in ’15 but was formed and pressed in ’05.  For those 10 years, rest assured it received the most conservative of Kunming storage conditions.  Previous reviews can be found here and here.  I thought I’d make a couple updated observations after having just visited it here in the new year of ’19.

  • Glee is getting sweeter.  It’s not knock-your-socks sweet, but it is pleasantly sweeter nonetheless.  There’s a bit of brown sugar in the aftertaste.  The broth itself has a tame honey sweetness.
  • The astringency is waning.  What used to be a remarkably astringent huigan is beginning to express much more moderately, even when pushed.  This astringency is a common trait among Yiwus, which is whence this production hails in all likelihood.
  • Camphor notes are emerging.  Mid-session, some surprising camphor notes are starting to make themselves known.  They are evocative of the ’07 HK Returns brick, though nowhere near as strong.

Did I mention, still looking quite gorgeous?

Two Puerh Flavor Giants

Posted on by Yang-chu
Mincemeat puerh
02 Jan

For the past three days, I’ve been imbibing of two puerh flavor giants imminently appropriate for the winter season:

The Bamboo puerh possesses a highly distinctive taste: dry-roasted rice or barley and strawberry, evocative of Franken Berry or some other fake strawberry-flavoured breakfast cereal.

Most puerhs aren’t very roasty.  Usually, there are variants of smoke and ash.  Here, the roast is like genmaicha.  Strawberry is also a rare encounter.  On every tasting of this production, I’ve had since ’13, the strawberry just shine through.  The two tastes meld together nicely, with a fait bit of flowers on the top, finished with a great deal of astringency.  It’s a bit of a gut buster, at least on this third day.  Over all, an infusion or two is more than sufficient, as it is filling and easily spills over into the “just too much” terrain.

The ’07 Mincemeat is a puerh that I’ve been waiting for till this time of year.  It still strikes meas being very mincemeaty.  Perahps, it’s not as warm and spicy as previously noted, but there’s still a dash of clove in there.  Now, there seems to be a very noticeable taste of fresh bay laurel, if not bay laurel then distinctly evocative of a Christmas aerosol my mom had back in the day.  It has some resonance with one of my favs, the ’07 Wuliang Rhyme, a now long gone production.  The leaf material of the Mincemeat is of decent quality, and it’s a reasonably famous production that stands to age well.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any of the bamboo on hand and it isn’t available anymore.  The Mincemeat is a recurring formulation, coming out maybe every other year.  Productions older than ’07 start to get up there in price, and I surmise that in a year or two the same will apply for the ’07.  I still have a few on hand.

 

Mid 90s Wild Puerh

Posted on by Yang-chu
15 Dec

In the hot loaner teapot, the dry mid-90s wild puerh iron cake smells strongly of vanilla.  Wet, the vanilla mellow against a symphony of balanced aromas.

Brewing requires a measure of light-handedness.  Five seconds for the first six infuisons proved sufficient for me.  That’s because this production comes with some serious bitterness.  Unmistakably bitter.

Bitterness is not the most prevailing note, just the most daunting.  It’s definitely present in the aftertaste, along with vaguely mineral-graphite-petrol notes.  Still, that bitterness lingers.  All those complexities are present on the back end.

The main taste is a rich cream soda, with elements of spiced wood.  In terms of age-expressed herbal complexity, it shares an association with ’10 Year of Tiger, MK, though the Mid 90s wild has no floral notes.  All told, I get more than 12 infusions on a consistent basis.

It’s not uncommon to conjecture about the actual age of a production.  The best way to judge is by the colour of the leaves.  Storage conditions vary wildly.  It makes a huge difference in terms of how the tea expresses over time.  Here, the leaves are certifiably red, though the liquor is not particularly deep in hue.  At the same time, from one infusion to the next, it does not get lighter, perhaps even darker, as oxidation has penetrated evenly through the leaves, not just the superficial layers and at the edges.  Even though in many regards the ’10 Tiger, MK is more aged in some regards, the notes are significantly brighter, something only expressed in “young” teas.  In this case, I’ve an ongoing relationship with this seller.  Their storage is consistent and prices reasonable, so I don’t feel cause for there to be unreasonable suspicion toward their claims.

I’ll be posting sometime next year.

Hard Pressed: Three Puerhs

Posted on by Yang-chu
08 Dec

Hard-pressed puerh productions require “chunking” and long infusion times.  Here we are visiting three hard-pressed puerh productions that have been sampled in tandem over the course of a day or two.  Here we’ll be visiting three high-compression puerhs:

  • ’07 LME Early Spring
  • ’07 Beijing Olympics, Zhongcha (KMTF)
  • ’12 Wuliang Brick, SMTF

First, I must say that all three glimmer with clarity.  Each strikes a different note.  Possessing smoke, the Beijing Olympics strikes a low note relative the Wuliang and Early Spring.  Still, it is not possible to speak of brightness among any or this trio.

Some may differ in this regard when it comes to the Wuliang Brick.  Although the fruit notes of the Wuliang provide a measure of cheer, its complexity is greater than mere cheer.  Over several brewings, I detected a cherry liqueur cough medicine taste.  Infused boldly (i.e., with much time), it proves to be a challenge: bitter and aggressive.  A conservative brewing of around 30s offers tastes of brandy, fermented raisins, and “purple,” a la Fago Grape Pop.  The other two are far less dynamic when it comes to the effects of varied brewing times.

Hard-pressed productions are machine made.  On the one hand oxidation, occurs very slowly; on the other, all the leaves are subject to great stress, i.e., cell wall breakage, upon formation.  This should translate into a species of oxidation that differs from lightly or stone-pressed productions.  What does it all mean?

Least pressed among the lot is the Beijing Olympics. . . and that’s not saying much.  The leaves are quite indicative of the recipe productions with numbers for names.  It tastes alike a variant, maybe a rougher 7532.  For whatever reason, the wax taste, of which I’ve written regularly in the past, is not as prominent, though the hallmark of this particular puerh type is its wax, paraffin, kerosene, petrol.

Glass.  That’s the principle association with the Early Spring.  Smooth and clear.  It has a deceptively potent and expansive qi and a building huigan.  It presently seems to be expressing “that awkward adolescent sourness”, as one fellow drinker calls it, something that I’ve never previously noticed in this genteel and somewhat wheaty production.

All three high-compression puerhs span the range of flavour: fruit, wax, wheat and aged flowers.  The main thing about tight compression is that it yields numerous infusions, at least 10.  Safe for a really heavy hand, the brew turns out mellow and flavourful without excessive bitterness or astringency.

November Tri-Tip: Three Tippy Puerhs

Posted on by Yang-chu

Here we’re visiting three tippy puerh productions from ’04, ’05, and ’07:

  • ’04 6FTM (6GTM) 100g tuo
  • ’05 Jingmai “003” LCGC 125g mini-cake
  • ’07 Tippy Puerh Tuo, Tulin

I was curious about how the ’04 6FTM tuo tasted relative their Lunar Series.  Storage was faintly humid and cool.  The tuo is tightly pressed, breaking off crispy flecks and chunks.  After several sessions, so far I don’t feel it is very good.  There is a bit of funk, neither dank nor clean.  Possibly old taste.  The spring notes are greatly muted.  They’re there but don’t rise above other equally muted tastes.  Seems to need about two years in LA storage to come around.  No memorable qi.  Fengqing material like the Lunar Series, just no where near as resolute.

There’s no way to put it but that the ’05 Jingmai “003” is high class tea.  The storage is perfect.  The cake is stone pressed with care.  The taste is high and assertive.  The notes struck are sure and clear.  In contrast to their Tiger, which is woody with incense notes and rougher edges, “003” is essentially a silver needle processed as puerh.  It’s more aggressive than silver needle but with the same florality.

A step up in aggressiveness is the ’07 Tippy Puer Tuo, Tulin.  I got this about three years ago when I was in my Tulin stage.  Clean processed and stored, it possesses much qi and astringency.  High floral notes accent the aftertaste.  Robust and flavourful, it has a recognizable “tea” sharpness which makes it popular.

None of these three have all that much in common beyond being small productions.  The two tuo vary widely in terms of aggressiveness.  The Tippy Tuo and “003” both have pronounced floral notes, though the “003” tastes truer, clearer, and more refined.  Already stored for 6m here in LA, the 6FTM tuo still needs a couple years of storage for me to form a more definitive opinion.  So far it seems bland, not in a good way.

’16 Bulang Business

Posted on by Yang-chu

It’s been deathly dry these past days.   The young raws are hitting the spot again.  Here’s a couple shots of the ’16 Bulang Business in it’s original habitat.

’16 Bulang Business

 

’16 Bulang Business #2

Take a stick of Juicy Fruit, some rocks from a mountain stream, add some stevia and you’ve basically got yourself the Bulang Business.  Throttle the thickness and bitterness with your infusion time.  This is true high-quality Bulang bitter.  The edges are not sharp and astringent.

All in all, it’s a very cheerful production.

Huigan: Puerh Mysteries #187

Posted on by Yang-chu

’10 Year of Tiger MK

I’ve been pondering this concept of “huigan” lately.  Specifically, I’m wondering about what it might really mean in the context of raw puerh.  Huigan is generally translated as “aftertaste,” literally as “returning sweetness,” or not at all.  In Chinese, the huigan is said to “arrive quickly” or “to have huigan.”

I think it’s fair to conclude that it is a figure of speech, a compliment, but that would be a mistake.  It doesn’t even seem to me to be the same as aftertaste either, because there’s already a phrase for that.

’06 Menghai Tuo

I’m wondering if huigan has anything to do with the astringency that characterizes raw puerh, but ripes are similarly described and they do not have much astringency.

Astringency seems to be an alien concept to many.  Often it is associated with bitter.  Often the terms are used together.  When huigan is mentioned, it’s not necessarily in the context of bitterness and astringency.  Hmmm.

Maybe it encompasses all of these.  Again, the question is why would such a term be particular to puerh but for the fact that gan returns from somewhere.  Is that somewhere bitterness and astringency?

07 Spring LME

For certain huigan has nothing to do with the broth.  Maybe it’s the mouthfeel after the broth.  Some productions have very activating effects on the tongue, cheeks, and throat that are not attributable to the drying-effects of astringency.  To me it very much conjures the effect of the Sichuan pepper.

Anyway, I’ve posted some pictures of productions that I believe capture huigan.  In later infusions, in productions that express a quick huigan, the huigan will naturally take longer to develop.  Gradually an echo of one cup to the next creates a constant buzz in the mouth.