Category Archives: The Junky’s Log

March ’24 Puerh Musings

Posted on by Yang-chu
05 Mar

March ’24 Puerh Musings must be prefaced by commentary upon the ventures of some individual(s) who thought it necessary to scrawl my personal FB postings to otherwise disaffect those who might be affected by my views on matters entirely unrelated to tea. I’d like to dedicate this post to them and hope whatever ventures upon which they engage beyond defamation do well.  For what it’s worth, I do not retract one scintilla of what I’ve posted.  At the same time, I do not care to belabour matters about which most have very little discernment, which has essentially been my life purpose.  I welcome any interlocutors who are of good faith, but it should be noted that were I a conventionalisto, then that which I’ve been able to offer would be off the radar because I’d be too busy adhering to “herdism,” that which is anathema to my being. . . eh?  (though I’m not Canadian)

We now resume with the third-person lens where we find the Puerh Junky moving from the kitchen of burping cabbage fermented concoctions to the front room alcove, where he crafts his “musings.”  He has designs to discuss the few Zhongcha/Chinatea offerings upon which he’s been sitting as well as some Xinghai and other productions that have been sitting in the cave for a while.  In particular, he feels that there have been some ripes deserving mention.  He’ll start there.

Leap Week LME Ripes

Leap Week LME Ripes occurred spontaneously.  For clarity’s sake, LME stands for the Laoman’e brand and not the terroir, per se, though all of their productions seem to come the three same terroir: Bulang, Nannuo, and Banzhang.  All LME ripe offerings can be characterized as rich and dense, having full fermentation.  There’s full mouthfeel and considerable bitter finish.  This bitterness is likely their most distinguishing feature.  They provide a range of entry points in terms of price.  Prices for widely available productions tend to hold steady, but the Arbor King and BZ Peacock have shown movement to the upside, the latter being a rather extraordinary offering.

The week started out with the ’12 Arbor King, which proved to be its poorest performance ever.  Typically, there’s a cherry note that accompanies its intensity but this time it could not be detected and it was definitely on the flat papery side.  It’s not likely the storage, at the same time AK has not been temperamental.  The best guess is the weather and I’ll be sure to revisit in the next month or two for latest developments.  Overall, I found the visit disappointing and a later visit in the week proved no better, even after airing a bit.

I recently picked up three more ’11 Orchid Vibe.  It’s a good price and I’ve enjoyed the vanilla, along with a fermentation that’s a bit lighter than the others, though by no means light.  I stored it in the ripe big box.  The taste is vastly different from the past with much more wood resin.  It seemed quite similar to the Langhe Ripe Tuo, though they’re stored in different places.  Overall quality and character are solid, but the personality differs greatly from any previous session in tasting for a number of years now.  Again, must be the rainy-season effects.

By this time, the Puerh Junky had a fancy to test a LCGC ripe acquired in Nov ’23.  A more exhaustive write-up on LCGC ripes will be in order some time this year ’24.  The year ’23 had Puerh Junky more curious about their ripes.  It proved a good change of pace, as it brought the LME ripe house style into greater relief.  The greatest difference?  Sweetness.  The LCGC possesses a light molasses and Wheat Chex quality.  The sweetness adds a layer of thickness, though it’s not sticky sweet.  Since Old Geezers which sold out to a local fiend, I haven’t found such a production.

Finally, there was the ’06 Nannuo, LME. It’s in the ripe sampler set #4. This was sampled straight from storage and twice thence in the same week.  Each time, totally blind, PJ’s wife made remarks whereas none of the others elicited a peep.  The Nannuo, of which, I’ve picked up three more in a most recent order (yet to be received), possesses a layer of Vienna Fingers vanilla cookie.  There’s a top layer of this with the LME house bitter finish.  Still is not remarkably sweet.

All were brewed in my ripe pot 10-12g about 3m to start at same or upward with about four infusions.  No vegetal at all.  Prices for these between in the $60s-110.  Samples avail in Sampler U or on respective page.

Zhongcha

Zhongcha is ChinaTea.  I’m trying to get use to using that name more frequently.  They’re a full-range outfit but most of that which Puerh Junky offers is in the “peoples” and midrange priced offerings.  There have been a few individuals who’ve examined the leaves and made critical remarks, then showing me Chenshenghao’s yedi.  I’ve not endevoured to portray my ZC’s on par with CSH’s, but when I look at such monochromatic leaves, I immediately suspect blow drying.  No bueno.  In any event, Zhongcha has presented itself as a volume seller of casual drinkers that “the people” can afford.  Until ’14 they adhered to strict processing methods that didn’t pander to quick-sweet tastes.  Furthermore, they’re iconic and worth visiting for a sense of classic puerh history.   Since ’07 the Zhongcha brand has been synonymous with Kunming TF, though there’s an out layer or two.  Initial forays into Zhongcha were with the ’07 offerings, with a few offered as late as ’16.  In ’23, I ventured into a few ’06 and ’08 with generally positive findings but much different from the ’07s that had served as a centerpiece of acquisition from between ’14-’20.  Astringency is much greater in the ’06 and ’08s.

During the leap week I visited two relatively recent productions, the ’12 Mangosteen and the ’13 Bulang Shengtai.  I had to sit the Mangosteen out for two weeks after first test.  There’s a very high-pitched camphor note that may only be detected by mouth cooling for newbies.  There a middle note of aged fruit, plum possibly, with a zing of erstwhile mangosteen, but a wicked astringency that is altogether not in comportment with the house style as I know it.  I’m still not offering, though I’ve had on hand since ’14, only offering to those confident about their storage.  Having tracked essentially since inception, two more years seems the minimum.  It has maximo classical processing and I’m optimistic given it innate character.  First batch, late March/early April.  It’s bona fide and taking it time.  At least three on hand.

The ’13 Bulang Shengtai has been more fudged in processing if the Mangosteen serves as any comparison  The sugars have already come in, an overall fruity character, having an element of bitterness.  Zen front, fruit second, not unfriendly.  Easy. Everyday drinker.  A good candidate for one unfamiliar with 10yr plus productions that have been only moderately fired.  The wrapper is iconic, but if I’m resorting to wrapper I cannot be all that taken.  It’s very possible that it’s just early.  The 10yr spot is just for starters, nothing negative, seasonal factors included.  Fine.  Much better than two years ago.  Again, the sugars are present but Zen needs some differentiation from bland.  A good conservative starter for testing your brewing method.  I’m expecting more with the the weather changes, say late Aug.  Hit me up.  I won’t raise price in next two years.  I plan to post on a Zhongcha page at the latest by May ’24.

Xinghai

Xinghai grabbing continued afoot in ’23.  Now is a time for proper testing the first stage.  We’ll visit the ’07 Oasis Odyssey, ’07 Paolo Santo, and the ”06 Treasured.  I also tried the ’06 Bulang GS, which is prolly issued under ’07, but I’m willing to give it some time.  Let’s start with the Oasis Odyssey.

Oasis Odyssey seems to have been acquired in May ’23, offered in Nov of the same year.   Over time, it has traversed from oily purple to the typical astringent XH personality with good salivation effect as opposed to drying.  Mostly in the Zen Class.  Compression is massive.  The purple has diminished in expression.  Balanced sweetness.  We’ll have to observe how it evolves in relation to the changes of the seasons.  I’m looking for more oil and purple as last year.

The ’07 Paolo Santo tuo has me rather excited.  It’s a second batch production that has lemon and wood attributes.  I can easily see how the first round would be much more expensive.  No smoke, high limonene wood expression, not too sweet. smattering of bitter.  It’s not available presently, as I only acquired in Nov ’23 but around May ’24 will be.  Bright wood bitter, lemonime, complex, nice.  It’s very promising.  Not sweet but quintessentially Xinghai.  Qi is overall warming and settling.

Finally, there is the Treasured, acquired in Jun ’23.  It has yet to be listed, but one of the projects for the Xinghai Raw page two.  Treasured is the second batch.  It’s in the Tobacco Class, possibly approaching tequila.  Not atomically pressed, with a nice balance of smoked wood, wood resin, sweetness, and astringency.  Probably the most notable element regards storage.  Most productions require the proper treatment that these LA environs provide.  Even then, it takes several months to bring them into a form that make them presentable.  It’s needed every bit of the nine months to come to form.  It’ll appear on the XH second page for certain.

Wrap up

March ’24 Puerh Musings have covered a range of raws and ripes.  The ripes were confined to Puerh Junky’s LME offerings, while raws involved Zhongcha and Xinghai productions.  LME ripes stand out for their bitter finish.  ZC’s ’12 Mangosteen is showing promise, but the astringency is a bit of a hair raiser presently, so it’ll sit at least till after the summer.  The ’13 Bulang Shengtai will be posted soon on a page with a few other others.  The Xinghai visits covered two productions that will also be listed soon.  If all goes well, at the latest mid-May.  Each has a distinctive profile and all being second batches are very reasonably priced:  Oasis Odyssey is Zen with balanced sweetness; Paolo Santo is as the name suggests with remarkable qi; Treasured offers wood complexity of Tobacco Class.  Paolo Santo is also Tobacco Class, but possesses a vastly different quality from Treasured, more closely resembling their Green Peacock.

Puerh Junky’s Xinghai Perseverations

Posted on by Yang-chu
04 Feb

Puerh Junky’s Xinghai Perseverations is the catchy phrasing yours truly came up with to capture the past ten days, which are very much like all the other.  The Puerh Junky is sitting upon a massive load of Xinghai productions, acquired mostly in the past two years.  The past ten days had the Puerh Junky visiting at least four Xinghai TF productions.  Xinghai has a resolute house style with astringency being its key trait, elements of apple of various expression often thrown in.  They adhere to strict processing before ’07 and thereafter begin to ease into more of the new style with reserve.  This to say that their new processing is very skillfully executed. In ’22 Xinghai celebrated their 20th anniversary, but they were bought out in ’18 and no offering after ’16 has me interested.  In this Junky’s Log we’ll visit BZ Wild King, Oasis Odyssey, Naka bamboo, and HK Returns 10th.

BZ Wild King

The BZ Wild King is the late 2nd batch offering from an unimaginably expensive production.  It’s the people’s offering.  As mentioned, the earlier second batch is not time-stamped but this is.  In this latest session of winter ’24 the smoke was far more evident than in most sessions.  I noticed a similar smokiness in the Bulang Shengtai Tribute.  Previous sessions only presented with the smoke once.  I presume that that smoke might become more pronounced.  Stunner is the sweetness and a heretofore novel creaminess totally unknown to Xinghai offerings.  It’s shockingly friendly for Xinghai given the sweetness and cream.  There’s a familiar star anise note that often visits productions from XH specifically and the region in general.

Oasis Odyssey

Oasis Odyssey came into the collection in the early part of ’23 as part of the XH obsession.  It’s on the Xinghai Raw page listing.  Initial tastes indicated need for restoration with an already unmistakable “purple” quality.  As it has come into form, more of the characteristic XH astringency has presented itself.  Let’s be clear, Xinghai is astringent, often punishingly so.  Oasis Odyssey is atomically compressed and there’s zero humidity in the flavour, though it completely reflects proper KM storage,  coolish and dry.  Solid everyday drinker for those favouring astringency.  Seems less oily than it was previously.  This may come back as the weather warms.  The Chinese name actually references a top-tier tribute series that seems to come out on a yearly basis with a different wrapper, but this cake doesn’t endeavor to reach such heights, probably because it’s second batch or later.  Pricing is 100% honest in this regard, a solid intro to XH astringency but the characteristic apple hasn’t come through just yet.  .

Naka Bamboo

The Naka Bamboo will have to sit a bit.  It didn’t come in bamboo and the compression is also atomic.  It doesn’t express characteristic Naka traits in terms of cucumber and perfume.  It didn’t come into reserves till Nov ’23 and it will need at least a year to justify the price paid for it.  Although Xinghai does sometimes venture beyond its primary terroir featuring some prominent Yiwu for instance, this Naka may be a kind of one off.  Needs more time, unlisted.  Right now has an interesting sticky rice note and very interested to see how the initial bamboo stage contributes to a marvelous production.

HK Returns 10th

The HK Returns 10th has been tasted often.  It is also on the Xinghai raw page.  The newest progression is of incense with grapefruit.  Previously described as the Xinghai workhorse, it has taken on a much more interesting character.  It’s in a new stage with previous character still expressing.  Transformation traits are expressing along a promising trajectory with decent with a moderate level of sweetness but an oft highly regarded grapefruit/pumello note.  Not particularly bitter.  Huigan forward.

Wrap Up

Puerh Junky’s Xinghai perseverations continue in large part because beyond offering decent value, it continues to demonstrate promise in underlying material and transformational potential.  Seasonality brings out different attributes in performance, thence this Junky’s Log.  The BZ Wild King showed a smokiness heretofore unknown.  Oasis Odyssey has showed more sassy astringency.  HK Returns 10th expresses a layer of incense along with its grapefruit.  Cannot say much about the Naka Bamboo, but it’s good to know about the stages involved before a production gets listed.  The BZ Wild King and HK Returns were both the most surprising, the smoke and cream with the former and then incense with the latter.  Those keen on aggressive style will need to look no further than XH at this stage of the game.

Puerh: Winter Effects Natural Storage

Posted on by Yang-chu
25 Jan

Winter Effects Natural Storage finds Puerh Junky in a meditative mood.  Here we see him discussing the oft-raised issue of puerh storage.  Specifically, he wants to approach the issue of climate control based upon his findings using primarily natural storage in Los Angeles.  Puerh Junky is agnostic regarding the matter of climate control.  Individuals are welcome to like whatever.  Hard conclusions about the best storage are dicey, for reasons not the least being storage climate and the contingencies of each production.  Here PJ wants to share his own findings at the height of the winter months ’24.  We find him in his silk and velvet smoking robe, resplendent colours of gold, black, and green. . .

Puerh Storage Direction:

When we come to the topic of puerh storage we must consider directionality.  Puerh is dynamic, undergoing a constant state of either expansion (outward) or contraction (inward).  Outward movement means that it is taking in more moisture.  Warmer seasons are the time of expansion.  Conversely, inward movement is when material contracts and thus releasing moisture.  Obviously, the picture is more complicated if one lives in the desert, where summer temperatures may give rise to a measure of expansion but not so much or even contraction if there is little humidity to move in.  Similarly, if winter spells a rainy season then contraction may be greatly tempered despite lower temperatures.

The relative state of each production determines whether it needs to expand or contract.  Dealing with dry-stored productions, it’s fair to conclude that expansion is preferable, but there will come a time when the latter is true.  In a recent conversation with a fellow enthusiastista, we were both rather dreading the customary hibernation that accompanies the cooler temperatures.  However, in the case of some productions, such trepidations proved unwarranted. Let’s take a closer look by examining two LME productions.

Puerh Winter Awakening

For a puerh production to undergo winter awakening, the production must exhibit flat attributes in the warmer months.  Assuming that we’re not talking about dry flatness, then the only other possibility is wet flatness.  Either dryness or wetness can give rise to flatness.  Many GD, HK, and wetter stored productions can exhibit flatness.  It can also be the result of insufficient air exposure or all the above.

Such has been the case of a certain LME production that I’ve had on hand for around three winters now and which I first introduced on Discord of Nov ’23.  Its leaves are uncharacteristically black, suggesting that it underwent a period of considerably heavy storage, though no humidity can be detected.  This heavy storage seems to have been followed up by storage where very little air got to it.  These are conjectures.  At the right spot, it exhibits a bright, high-note and refreshing nature.  By April ’23, storage strategy went whole hog humid with most unsatisfactory results, buy by the uncharacteristically early fall and fall-type weather of climes points east, the cake started to blossom with less fussing on this end.  Presumably this case has benefitted from both expansion and contraction, though it is decidedly performing best in its contraction phase presently.

Hideout, on the other hand, has been written about on the Junky’s Log a few times.  By summer ’23 it had flattened, and it seemed much, to this Junky’s horror, that it had piqued and died.  Subsequently, this wasn’t the case and might be attributable to two factors: one being in a transition phase and the other to requiring the contraction of winter.  Hideout presently doesn’t have the spicy traits as before, having now evolved into a grapefruit stage.  Most distinguishable from summer horrors is that the astringency is back.

Wrap Up

A recurrent theme of discussions on storage in the Puerh Junky Logs (PJL) has been that we’re dealing with a moving target.  There are numerous reports that essentially endeavor to time freeze the natural process of aging.  Perhaps this is possible under certain conditions, not the least being time in which a production is consumed.  Most all Puerh Junky comments regard older productions, i.e., ’14 and prior.

Key to assessing the performance of a production is its specifics relative direction, i.e., expansion and contraction.  Here two LME productions were placed under the spotlight to illustrate storage complexities for which winter conditions served as the elixir to remedy flatness.  Warmer seasons are the time of expansion and cooler contraction.  How a production performs depends upon its particular contingencies, which is why it is rash to make make any dogmatic presumptions about storage in general and even season specifically.

Many puerh enthusiasts are careful to control conditions of storage.  The Puerh Junky cannot speak to such methods, though there’s possible cause for philosophical musings based on his environmental specifics where temps range from the 40s-90s.  It is presumed that puerh is a live product given its production methods and transforming nature.  Within the ambit of puerh, shengtai is considered superior to plantation, and wild superior to shengtai.  This is because the wild plant gets exposed to stressors that make the plant work harder to compete within its environment.  With competition chemical responses occur to boost survivability.  It’s hard to imagine that such a phenomenon could be occurring with an entity that is already picked, but it seems possible that a puerh production constitutes its own micro-environment where an analogous process unfolds.  Subjecting one’s treasures to the same old conditions could end up boring the the micro-climate, whereas the stressors of seasonal variability (under LA condition mind you) could vitalize the micro-climate.  Though this is conjecture, it is not without empirical basis.

 

 

Winter Tasting 2024

Posted on by Yang-chu
18 Jan

Winter Tasting 2024 finds “Peej”, as he’s known on the streets, back to the arduous task of sampling.  His focus goes back to Xinghai factory, in the dispassionate manner of any hoarder.  He recently acquired an edition of the ’06 Bulang GS without the “special” stamp.  I guess this would make it the 3rd or late 2nd batch.  It you drink it like most teas, it’s hideous; if drunk like cognac or ouzo, then at least you’re prepared.

Bulang Old Tree (no stamp)

There’s that hella fennel, star anise, bitter grasses, like golden rod. . . white oak.  I’m using my slow pour floral zisha, 150ml at 6.7g, which I feel is far too much really, but I’m giving this intensity a go.  It’s deathly astringent and drying, but less so in the throat.  I think the easiest thing to call it would be black tea, dianhong, but this species of star anise is particular to Mt Bulang in Banzhang.  It’s a recuring theme in many Xinghai productions and is evident in the LME Quincy, and the Tiger, CMS.

The Bulang Old Tree “Special” ostensibly is the second batch, as the neifei bears no timestamp.  Presumably, there is a Bulang GS “Select”, identical but for the designating stamp on the wrapper as well as the date stamp on the neifei.  The Special strikes me as having notes similar to the MKRS Daxueshan, a Lincang production.  Such are the hazzards of getting too hung up on terroir.  Daxueshan, nonetheless is on the “black tea” side of Lincang in contrast to Bingdao, which tends toward round and fruity, white grapey, pear.   Daxueshan area has a taste like Fengqing, in Simao, home to the largest and most famous producer of dianhong in all Yunnan.  There’s two cakes of this no-stamp version and price is quite modest, under $70usd.

Dianhong also goes by the name Yunnan Gold, or just black tea from Yunnan.  Oxidized productions are a specialty in itself.  The area of Fengqing is thought to be ideal for making black tea.  The puerh from this area tastes the same, with a distinctive rose nose and taste.  The 6FTM Lunar New Year Series possesses at least 30% Fengqing material.

BZ Wild King

The nose on the ’06 BZ Wild King evokes a sense of a spicy Smurfberry Crunch, lots of vanilla and blueberry, some nutmeg.  It hearkens to an era in the 80s, when Post cereals still existed.  While that opens up, should mention the run in I had with the ’07 Imperial Tuo, 250g raw.  It may get posted soon for a short spell.  It’s a very recent acquisition and has now entered a tasting rotation of sorts.  It has a personality akin to the Tiger Tuo.  A citrus pine vibe presents in the nose and liquor, some characteristic Xinghai apple and moderate sweetness with big astringency. Quite similar to the Green Peacock come to think of it.  The Green Peacock is a dreadfully good buy, more oiling, and one of the most well-received of ’23.

Goodness!  The ’07 BZ Wild King is nice in this ceramic shot glass.  It was just as good in the porcelain cup.  Smoke and wood, sweet then red-fleshed plum, super-intense Juicy Fruit factor on back end.  As usual, possesses that bracing astringency characteristic of Xinghai factory particularly before ’07.  There’s that distinctive medicinal note also found in the Bulang Old Tree.  BZWK has a top end note of swiss chard with vanilla, but turning more fully vanilla with spices like ginger and clove.  It’s on par with ’07 Mincemeat in terms of spiciness.  The sweetness is greater than usual for XH, but that’s definitely balanced out by the bold astringency, which is instant and reaching into the throat.  It may be testament to the “wild” in the title.

Stylin

The smoke evident in the first two infusions forms more of an accent than theme in the overall construction of the batch.  Smoke is much more evident in Stylin, from the same year.  Stylin’s leaves seem to be fairly small and expectations are that it will be intense.  The 6.7g used in the second case of BZWK proved more appropriate than for the Bulang Old Tree (special).  The nose is floral and fruity, sweet and the rinse is sudsy.  A definite aroma of honeysuckle and backdrop of smoke in the pitcher.  The smoke hits first followed by creamy and ferment-y butterscotch and then smoky, fruity, mineral-y.  Very nice sweetness.

The brew is lightest and longest-stored of the three sampled.  Intense smoked dryer sheet essence. Definitely more bitter than the BZWK.  The incense/dryer sheet essence fades to Juicy Fruit.  Stylin is first batch with a timestamp on the neifei.  A florid aroma coats the pitcher, there’s that “pissiness” of certain flowers, like magnolias.  The pissiness is disguised by the smoked wood in the broth.  It may be a puerh, but it’s tequila-identified. Puerh Junky knows next to nothing about tequila, but there is one type that is sweet and palatable like amaretto.  They call it “anejo.”

The third infusion appears slightly more coppery with some lasting suds befitting its dish-soap fragrance.  The really perfume-y puerhs are disgusting.  The flowers here are sultry and oppressive.  It’s pure perfume and the smoke is fighting a losing battle.  A bit of wintergreen and bitter grasses.  Astringent.  Cloying, like a woman seeking attention by wearing very loud perfume.  Although the perfume is evident in the nose, the taste is of ginseng, unapologetically bitter, spinach minerals, and a bittersweetness of Sweet-n-Low.  Feels now more like the cheap tequila that you’re just drinking for the hangover the next day.  Feels like it’s at least five years off for the lightweight Junky.

I just made that five-years bit up to make myself sound like a knowledgeable soothsayer.  Stylin‘, despite its cunning that sounds lower on the register, still possesses a rambunctiousness that belies youth.  Right now, it’s quite dreadful.  The smoke and perfume are hideous and punishing, then the bitterness.  Experienced drinkers may enjoy this or prefer to sit this one out till it gets a few more years under its belt.  It might end up being for the ages if you can store on your own for a couple years.

Instagram shots here.

Did Puerh Junky Mention II

Posted on by Yang-chu
08 Dec

Did Puerh Junky Mention II continues its look into the past.  Last time we visited some of the stellar productions.  What distinguished them is the excellent storage.  The subsequent discussion continues by bringing to the readers attention productions that worthy of note.  Let’s start out with the cream note, shall we?

The ’04 Uncle Creme Florale and the ’07 Mengsong are both solid cream-drinking experiences.  Sweet and dynamic with pleasant camphor notes.  These two are great everyday drinkers or newbies who’d like a completely different quality of puerh experience that is free from the heavy muted notes of more humid-stored productions, while still enjoying the benefits of serious age.

Ripes have heretofore gone rather neglected.  The ’11 Peacock Gold, Fuhai is in a good place.  Excellent everyday drinker for those enjoying a balance between viscosity, sweetness, bitter and camphor.  Storage is succulent and composition fully expressed under current conditions and age.

Discerning ripe drinkers have almost universally glowed over ’12 Operation Macau.  Most commissioned productions are far from ordinary and Operation Macau is no exception.  If you’re interested in trying a next-level ripe that favours the palate of discerning Macanese standards, rich, sweet, humid, then this sets a standard against which all others can be judged.  The geosmin note excels.  This is one that people load on.

Those ripe-inclined interested in a bit of history should take note of the ferocious ’02 Purple Mark, 6FTM.  This is the only 6FTM ripe production offered.  It took over two years to resuscitate a production held in deep storage and fairly recently released.  Dark chocolate that seeps through the pores.  Perfect after dinner treat.  Can be brewed heavy handed but forget about thermosing!

The cries of the humid crowd have not gone unheeded.  There’s an entire “Humid Old” category set up for it.  Noticeably absent from the list is the Revolutionary Suspect.  Rested here in LA, CA since ’15, the production is alive with the notes of pine.  Though I recommend the full set among the Humid Old , particular attention should be directed toward the Simao Orange, which hasn’t been listed yet but for which there are a few available.  Acquired in Jan of ’23, it took only a few months for this production to blossom and a handful of others were acquired this (Nov ’23) and are still waiting their turn.  Explosive camphor along a backdrop of heavy humidity.  Compression is stellar and Guangdong storage albeit true to form didn’t rot the underlying material.  Those who like the fast-forward qualities of heavy storage should find this a true pleasure.

Amidst the humid and smoky into just smoky two bear mentioning.  First is ’07 Poison, 6FTM which is humid and smoky, and the ’06 Bulang Wild Big Tree, Fuhai.  Given the colder temps, these two will it the winter spot.  Camphor is prominent in both but through very different characters.  Poison would be characterized as “menthol”, while Bulang Wild would be cast as having a more medicinal quality.  Poison is more bitter, woody and in-your-face with complexity, while the Bulang Wild surprisingly is less bitter and low toned, green.  The latter was characterized by one drinker as being like scotch, which I wouldn’t know.  Sweetness with both is high.

 

 

Wuliang Longevity Ripe

Posted on by Yang-chu
26 Nov

The Wuliang Longevity Ripe came to settle in the Puerh Junky Lair (PJL) in March of ’23.  That makes it a newcomer to the community of LPTAWA, otherwise known as Languishing Puerh Tea Associates With Ambitions.  Dear Reader, don’t fret.  It has plenty of company.

The WLR doesn’t have a page of its own, but can be found on a page  where it clusters among productions from the same factory, Haixintang.   It falls into the category of heavily fermented ripes with an unapologetic fruit expression, in this case cherry, fermented to be precise, but to characterize it as fruity would overshadow its complexity.

Wuliang is in the Lancang/Simao region, whence cometh GPE and Tulin and a region somehow associated with the Xiaguan TF tea region.  This could be a misnomer derived from assuming that the Tulin founder and XG disciple simply picked up shop and moved across the proverbial street.  In any event, Wuliang productions tend to have quite the personality.  The WLR is no exception, particularly in terms of the roast note that comes through, most evocative of coffee.

WLR has a syrupy quality about it.  It is super smooth and coats the mouth with a thick layer of sweet and smoothness.  There’s no doubt that it would perform quite well in thermos.  It doesn’t have the playful fruitiness of Merlot, nor the wicked bitterness of LME’s ripes.  It’s very well conceived, notes of chocolate, orchid, even a suggestion of cinnamon.  It’s sweet and juicy, but all balanced by a powerful roast presence.

Obviously, people looking for their ripes to approximate coffee will love it. Instagram shots.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Junky

Posted on by Yang-chu
09 Nov

Crouching Tiger Hidden Junky finds our hero cum villain engaged in a bit of an autumn reverie.  The occasion is Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, a ’19 production comprised of Guogan material.  Guogan is the Mandarin name for a Burmese border town known for high quality material that can be acquired at rat-killing prices compared to Yunnan side of the border.  Crouching Tiger is a Chinese idiom here meaning “diamond in the rough.”

Our censors have informed that the polite crowd now refers to “Burma” as “Myanmar.”  No one says French Indo-China, Siam, or Rhodesia anymore either. For the record, it’s also now called “Myanmar Shave.”   Anyway, we see that the peevish Puerh Junky is far into his session with Crouching Tiger.  He remarks to the narrator that the autumn weather suits the musky, cologne character.  We zoom in:

“This isn’t one of those piercing perfume productions.  The oils have real earth tones to them, making it one of those appealing unisex type scents not a “church lady” horror. There’s a nice ensemble of vetiver, vanilla, a touch of black pepper, possibly cumin and definitely oak.  The ferment adds a cantaloupe finish that is far better in autumn than summer to this Junky’s palate.  Ferment is to be expected for a production of nearly five year (autumn ’23) and moderate density.  Whether the new processing style exhibits such a characteristic is an open question.”

Mister Junky, that’s all very interesting but when do we get to the kung-fu, some flying kicks, a romantic interest or something?

“I think you’re talking about the movie and not the tea.”

Autumn ’23 Clusters

Posted on by Yang-chu
05 Oct

Autumn ’23 Clusters chronicles the surreptitious dealings of a Puerh Junky, aka “PJ”, also with the street name “Peej”.  Over the past few months he has been found to be “clustering.”  Evidently this is the new hipster term that users are employing to describe groupings of puerhs strongly resembling gangs.  This cast of clustering characters can be found under curious headings, but not too curious to puerh users.  The following report provides an easy list for those on the lookout.  Expect the list of each of the clusterings to shrink and grow depending on circumstances.  This tracking is up-to-date as of Autumn ’23.

’03 Award Winning Ripes

  • Boss Square
  • Langhe Brick

’04 Fruity Ripes

  • Merlot
  • Golden Sail
  • Haiwan Wild Mt
  • Lucky 7572

’05 DQZ Series

  • Bulang Impressions
  • Spring Arbor Tribute
  • Blue Mark Bulang Big Tree
  • Big Cabbage
  • Yiwu Ripe Private Commission

’05 Jinglong Yiwu Series

  • Yiwu Prince
  • Luoshuidong (LSD)
  • Red Ribbon Mountain Melody

’05 Xinghai Raws

  • Xinghai Green Mark
  • Oasis Odyssey
  • Green Peacock
  • HK Returns 10th Anniversary
  • LBZ

’06 Fuhai Raw Series

  • Bulang Wild Big Tree
  • Fuhai Melody
  • Mincemeat

’06 Haixintang Raw & Ripe

  • Grenouille
  • Wuliang Longevity Ripe Cake
  • Jingmai Old Tree Raw 60g
  • Yiwu 7 Sons Ripe

’06 Humid Ripes

  • Banzhang Ripe King, Fuhai
  • 7262, Xinghai

’06 Lightly Fermented Ripes

  • Silver Peacock, Xinghai
  • T8371, Zhongcha
  • Langhe Tuo
  • Macau Brick

’06 LME Brand Ripe Series

  • Nannuo
  • BZ Peacock King
  • Orchid Vanilla
  • Arbor King

Cluster categories clump conspiring characters for purposes of easy identification despite a measure of inconspicuousness.  Efforts have been made to confine clusters on the first two pages.

Clusters are by no means exhaustive of profile types.  There’s some overlap among the lists and other offerings in The Collection may fall into one of the clusters despite listing.  For example “55” is lightly fermented but isn’t under that cluster.  Descriptions tend to specify offering profiles, while clusters highlight certain characters that may be overlooked or are hidden from the menu but might be found through a search.

Clusters are a work-in-progress, so be on the lookout.

Jingmai Tete A Tete

Posted on by Yang-chu
18 Sep

Jingmai Tete A Tete finally gives the Puerh Junky the chance to brandish his nonexistent French.  More importantly, it allows him to discuss an interlude between two Jingmai from 2014, the Guper and Haixintang.  This encounter has been more than a month in waiting, as it took a spell to complete the Haixintang page.  Let’s start there.

Haixintang

Toward the end of ’22 after loading up on Xinghai offerings, the Puerh Junky decided upon a deeper exploration of Haixintang.  Both the brick and tuo forms of Grenouille impressed, but it was time to determine whether something of their production personality could be gleaned by picking up a few of their offerings.  An ’06 tuo from Youle could not make The Collection for the time being.  Its got an unfamiliar Youle expression in the Puerh Junky‘s limited forays with that terroir.  At the same time, it does manifest an aggressive spirit that resembles some aspects of Grenouille.  Conversely, the Jingmai to be discussed and ’08 Nannuo (unlisted) could hardly be viewed in the same light.  Instead of aggression, the focus is on simplicity, a truth to the terroir.  It’s difficult to find a thread uniting them.  Let’s get on to how the Jingmai measures up to the GPE offering.

GPE & HXT (Sitting in a Tree)

Jingmai is often recommended for newbies.  The aroma is bright, fresh, effulgent.  There’s probably a great amount of it that’s given the ole sweet-me-now processing, so brewing tends to be very forgiving.  The terroir is large and it’s also conceivable that by some measure it’s naturally sweet earlier than some others.  It’s also imaginable that there’s a processing style common among many producers that favours woking for sweetness.

The thing is the Puerh Junky never came into contact with such Jingmai between ’12-15.  Large- or small-leaf varieties, they were quite typical of other productions requiring a spell to transform.  One possible exception was the first Jingmai tasted in KM, which was a very early spring, tippy production that possessed formidable bitterness behind the orchid aroma.  These prefatory remarks relate directly to the contrast between the GPE and HXT offers.

Both have a wickedly inviting aroma but the GPE possesses a bitterness, a burliness that is possibly less frequently offered by Western vendors.  The HXT hasn’t even a smidge of bitterness.  It’s perfect for the beginning brewer.  The HXT is one of the most even-keeled production ever drunk.  Though infusion times require building, the taste and character hardly budges.  The sweetness remains about the same, ditto for the very mild astringency.  It’s a light refreshing breeze by a tree-lined brook, a shallow and clean brook streaming over little smooth pebbles, shimmers of sunlight here and there.

Suppose you decide to head downstream and you know that you’re in a Grimm Fairytale.  Since we’re talking about a Jingmai, you know that the story should turn out happily ever after, but not without a bit of drama, a lost shoe, some misbehaving ogre, an unrelenting step-relative.  That’s the GPE.  The travails make the story at the very least more interesting.  There’s a crescendo, it’s going somewhere, that part of Jingmai that your step-uncle didn’t tell you about.

Final Words

The tete a tete between GPE and HXT reveals a remarkable contrast between two offerings from the same terroir.  HXT is definitely best for those averse to bitterness, beginners, and for moods where one can do without the drama.  GPE is for those who haven’t had Jingmai bitterness and depth while still remaining true to the Jingmai spirit.  Thought this clip at 6:41 captured the differences.

Week ‘O Liming Aug ’23

Posted on by Yang-chu
12 Aug

Week ‘O Liming Aug ’23 took on three Liming offerings: ’05 Peacock Country, ’11 Jade Rabbit, and ’07 Golden Elephant.  Let’s not dally and get right down to it.

’05 Peacock Country Morning Light

The Peacock Country Morning Light is a production that has been in the Puerh Junky’s possession since around ’16.  It appears that around ’21 Liming released another cache onto the market, so it can be sourced from numerous vendors probably with marginal differences in storage since they’re all coming from the factory.  There’s a reason why so many have picked up the PCML. . . it’s fantastic.

Watching the evolution of the PCML has been a fascinating experience.  From the “early days”, Puerh Junky found it basically undrinkable: too sharp, tippy, no sweetness.  Every year’s sampling elicited the same response while it’s price climbed before completely disappearing from the landscape by ’19. In ’21 it had completely transformed into a much darker and serious brew: sweet tobacco, leather, durable.

Now raspberry is the prevailing PCML theme along a background of tobacco, maybe some smoke, a bit of leather.  This theme continues throughout the experience with the tobacco diminishing as you go and the raspberry crowding out all other players.  It’s one of the best productions under $90 that you’ll get for a cake this age.

’11 Jade Rabbit

“Guabei” is the Chinese term for when all the good stuff from a tea coats the pitcher and cup.  Jade Rabbit’s most noteworthy feature is that it guabei.  The taste for the first five infusions is ultra Zen, quite a contrast from when first acquired in ’22 and being Bulang material.  Subsequent infusions darken up, while getting bitter and losing sweetness.  Young?  Not really, but this is typical of productions that have more years of storage to go.  So far, storage is solid.  Too much of the wrong kind of bitter at the moment.  No astringency to speak of.  Doesn’t dry the mouth.  Hint of smoke in later infusions.  Jury still out.

’07 Golden Elephant

The Golden Elephant’s crowning virtue is its high drinkability.  Puerh Junky just pulled it down at the time of writing this post to make out like the week was Liming replete.  Broth is fruity and light, whimsical.  Huigan leaves a slight measure of bitterness with a fruitiness that matches broth coating the mouth.  Seems like it would be perfect for a beginner or a child.  One dimensional like single terroirs, quite fitting given the cartoonish wrapper.  It’s not meant to be taken seriously.  Doesn’t dry the mouth and it’s not too sweet.  The bitter finish isn’t shabby and it’d prolly make an excellent cold brew.

Week ‘O Liming Wrap-up

Puerh Junky’s prolly been meaning to getting around to posting the Peacock Country for six months now.  There’s a sample that can be found over on the Sampler page, along with the highly regarded Peacock Brick, Rabbit and a few others.  PCML lasts considerably longer, like forever, brewed in gaiwan.  I have maybe two or three on hand for $89 if you want to email.  Just a reminder about free shipping on all orders over $75.

I notice from the description of the Rabbit that the taste profile has shifted from fruity playful to Zen.  Both it and the Elephant were Liming pings to determine whether more should be acquired.  So far, I’d say they’re “ok” but not as compelling as their OG Square, which has an entirely different personality, and The Collection offerings like the Tulin Tuo and the Dragon Pearls, which are jovial with lot’s of body, sweetness, and stamina.