Category Archives: The Junky’s Log

Puerh Junky Quelled by Hideout

Posted on by Yang-chu
13 Mar

Puerh Junky Quelled by Hideout poses an interesting tale, whereby a slinger from the American SE sent him some very bad shiiii… Shut cho mouf!  I know that fellow Junky’s be wanting it real, and it is such reality. . . realness, if you’ll indulge me, that brought about the circumstances.

Recently, the Puerh Junky has been inveigled into joining Discourse under no pseudonym.  It is under such conditions that I encountered the aforementioned individual.  It is from said individual that I tasted one of the top five productions ever tasted.  Cherry and leather ’03.  The ’05 Peacock Country Morning Light enters the leather range for those interested in the Liming Sampler.  The more recently sampled ’05 Twin Dragons, Jianmin also lands exceedingly well on the leather front, but lacks any fruit. Enter the Hideout.

This March ’23 makes it close to half a year since Hideout has been visited.  Toward the end of winter: cherry, leather, vanilla, cream, witch hazel, butterscotch.  The cherry is immediately at the front and vanishes in the presence of the other impressions, leather and vanilla being strongest in the aftertaste.

I used 12.5g in the bell pepper pot, which holds about 150ml.  True to ’07 form, Hideout has atomic compression, which lends itself to longer infusions and heavier leafing.

 

PJ Restocked

Posted on by Yang-chu
26 Feb

PJ Restocked takes us to a less-than-frantic scene of the Puerh Junky in The Puerh Cave moving boxes about, handling gigantic zip-loc bags, and administering the rack.   As the title suggests, more of some of the popular productions have made their way back to the blustery climes of Los Angeles and he’s making a note of which items those are.  Let’s take a look, shall we?

  • ’07 Thick Zen, Zhongcha remains to be the price performer par excellence.  Expectations for this treasure were that it would transform into a woodsy root beer, but it has detoured into a heicha-type expression with a strong berry note.Right now it’s too early to tell what to make of the latest shipment.  I’ve done three sessions over five days, two in clay.  The storage appears to be consistent with the previous incarnations, not the least being a ratty-azzed wrapper.  At the same time, we’re dealing with a moving target and I’ve been acquiring since ’16.  This is my third, and likely last purchase.  I’ve bought more of it than any other production with the exception of the Merlot, which is a ripe, and the Operation Macau, also a ripe and both Xinghai productions.Thick Zen is temperamental and thoughts have occurred to just revert it to its given name “Peacock”.  Yeah, I’ve been holdin’ out.  The latest incarnation is consistent with a sassy trajectory, something very much like Hunan and Shaanxi black teas, which are not dank and carry a berry vibe.Thick Zen has wavered from stewed raisin, to prune, to Lipton Brisk, lemony, black tea, honey.  Today, I was gifted with the vaunted notes of the obvious root beer, evanescent suggestions, and cave.  Hopefully this is the trajectory, because otherwise the sassy straw-cranberry is going to bum me out.  That’s strawberry and cranberry for those wondering.
  • ’10 Tiger Tuo, LCGC.  My buyer actually contacted me before shipping about this order because the wrappers are horrifically tattered.  It’s beyond comprehension how a wrapper can be so appallingly cashed.  I don’t think I’ll be searching for more of this, but it’s not for any reason of its own.  I don’t know of a better production, let alone tuo. I’ve known of this production since ’16, watching its development through the various vendors and stages, including the varying years here in LA.  LCGC is effectively a woman-led boutique, but I didn’t learn that till late ’22.  Their iconic identity is captivating and taste doesn’t pander.It’s rare that a production will hit on every level.  In terms of taste, the Tiger Tuo is an unflinching champion with killer texture.  My initial concern was that with such a tattered wrapper that it would be garbage, but my buyer said he could detect no off odor. . . and he hates humid stuff.  hahahahaSo, here’s the scoop.  I cannot sell these tuo at proper price, no matter how good they are, so I’m taking 36% off them and they’re not going to be listed.  Just specify your preference in the comments of your purchase and the difference will be refunded. There’s only six on hand.Think of honeydew melon, pineapple, and pine sap.
  • ’08 Vanilla Palace is another production with a “junkified” name because nefarious forces have led me to deceive you.  There’s no production for which there’s a greater love-hate relationship.  Yeah, you’re wondering why someone would have a “relationship” with a tea.  What’s with this backwoods bumpkin in Los Angeles talking nonsense about a tea relationship?There’s these guys, harassing Puerh Junky, thinking him weak junky because Junky Collection not complete repository of stuff that tears stomach and mouth to shreds.  Vanilla Palace expresses shameless bitterness with smile on face and salute to Junky Flag of self-abuse.  No cause to call Mr Junky abuse-insensitive with Vanilla Palace.

 

Xinghai Releases 2023

Posted on by Yang-chu
06 Jan

Xinghai Releases is a rather prosaic arising from an incident already shared among a few of you.  A snafu arose with the shop pics that only happens if something new is posted.  Instead of the headache of trying to fix that, already attempted with “the fixor“, items will be posted behind the scenes.  A simple word search for item will suffice and missives of this sort will be issued replete with links as well.

The Puerh Junky project is more a study than curation.  This is mentioned because evidently a large catalogue suggests haphazard buying.  That’s never the case, and as mentioned previously, usually only a few items are acquired and those are sat upon till they’re fit for immediate drinking by the buyer. . . unless otherwise notified.  In any event, having items off page so to speak keeps the shop in the moderately overwhelming zone, as opposed to causing outright apoplexy.

As a study, focus is narrowly centered about specific factories and many only within themes encompassing usually Chinesey stuff like the Lunar New Year and peacocks.  Xinghai is a rather convenient factory of attention, as their logo often includes a peacock and the founder has a solid reputation.  That said, in a recent post on top puerh purveyors from various sites, they didn’t appear once, in contrast to say Fuhai, Zhongcha, and Liming, which are also included in the shop.  Below are links to the current Xinghai raw additions for the first part of 2023:

  • ’14 Xinghai LBZ— Have a whole tong arriving this Jan ’23 (OSTENSIBY), but have one or two now.  Recent price check on this shows it’s doubled and I won’t be getting more.

  • ’05 Xinghai Green Mark— This is the second batch.  Prototypical XH offering.

  • ’07 HK Returns 10th— Low risk intro to Xinghai TF, also second batch.  Well stored.

  • ’06 Bulang Old Tree—  Second batch with first more than twice the price.  Extremely interesting production in the vein of Quincy and Tiger.

  • ’05 Bulang Shengtai Tribute— Requires time and attention.
  • ’06 Stylin‘– I forgot to add talcum in the description.
  • ’07 Green Peacock— The perfect juncture of character and economy.

Xinghai’s practice is to not date stamp their second-batch productions, which are priced about half of the first run.  As a whole, their productions are not especially sweet.  This could be because they’ve adhered to a very traditional processing and the sweetness has yet to arrive.  Stylin‘ and Green Peacock are on the sweet side.  HK Returns is in the most advanced stage of maturation, while the others are in varying stages of wood and usually apple.  The real outlier is the LBZ which differs greatly by virtue of its Guangdong storage and in all likelihood quasi-Lincang processing.

Puerh Junky Visits Fohai

Posted on by Yang-chu
03 Jan

Puerh Junky Visits Fohai turns out to be the first missive of 2023, all fresh and shiny with the resolve a new year.  Ole PJ decided on pulling down a couple 6FTM productions for the first week of limbo, that period between the calendrical new year and its lunar consort.

The ’06 Fohai, 6FTM rests broken up a bit in a tin, doing so for the better part of two years.  The lid is not afixed, an accommodation which presumably affords brewing on moment’s notice.  As previously noted FH is next to the opposite of Poison, the latter being smoky, camphor-y, bitter, some sour.  Now, FH is mostly Zen, at least the broth is.  The brightness of this tinned version is completely gone.  The end result is a broth with texture, sweetness, and bitter edges but nearly no taste.  Then. . .

It’s not an uncommon feature of some puerhs to showoff more after having been swallowed.  The huigan on the Fohai expresses a fascinating degree of complexity, part of which sheds light upon the broth.  Perhaps initially there is orchid but deeper in there is the unmistakable “delight” of fresh narrow tan rubber band that’s been chewed prodigiously.  This note lingers. Furthermore, it’s important to note that it’s not the broad white dura rubber band.  It’s the thin tan translucent fresh rubber band.

Next is its intimidating qi, rating 5 on a scale of 5.  Early heart pound and pleasant warming sensations quickly take backseat to a serious and enduring headiness, the kind that makes the eyes itch.  The qi sensation overall seems to be more keenly observed in the morning irrespective of production.  That said, it is exceptionally strong with the Fohai, lasting strong more than an hour on only three 150ml pots.

Fohai Yedi 2023

Finally, Fohai possesses noteworthy expectorant properties.  Sometimes the inner ticket/neipiao of puerhs will include health information referencing fat and digestion, less often phlegm.  I generally take such info with a grain of salt and cannot recall Fohai‘s neipiao;  you’ve read one neipiao, you’ve essentially read them all.  When a raw starts to exhibit behaviors more commonly associated with ripes, well it’s distinctive at the very least.  Fohai sits very nicely in the stomach, while scouring a good deal of muck.

Fohai is a next-level puerh.  It doesn’t cater to taste, rather delivers hugely on huigan and qi.  A sweet Zen broth with slightly bitter edges has usurped its former spry orchid broth.  With age has also come durability.  It continues to perform well at each stage of its evolution.

 

 

Puerh Junky’s Ripeliday Season

Posted on by Yang-chu
31 Dec

Puerh Junky’s Ripeliday Season takes the reader through the mind of Puerh Junky during a time most generically called, “the holday season.”  PJ thinks that the dark seasons are for dark tea, go figure. This 2022, as people busy for the arrival of the Rabbit, finds matters no different.  Below he busily jib-jabs about a few ripes in the Puerh Junky Collection, aka shop.

’06 Old Geezers is the stout of the PJ Collection.  It’s probably more dense than even the Boss Square.  Stouts aren’t clear.  Old Geezers is a stout, with a taste as you dig deeper of Chocolate Malt-o-Meal.  Camphor fades, after first infusion, into a very slight hint that some may associate with cardamom.  Camphor haters who don’t know what camphor is call it “hospital”, “linnament”, “medicinal” or “band-aid”.  Great sweetness and lasting aftertaste that is sweet and sticky.  Yields 4-6 long infusions of 2m.  There’s only three in storage and won’t be replaced, last I remembered it was no longer avail.

With the ’05 Lucky 7572, meistra Du Qiongzhi ostensibly takes her cue from her ancestral factory, Menghai TF/Dayi.  Having no experience with that production from Dayi and having drunk her ’01 Red Mark, fermentation seems light.  This will have appeal for those keen on experimenting or in Du Qiongzhi productions.  Strawberry Qwik that fades fast.  High degree of clarity.  Dryer storage, even though the paper is tea stained. Two on hand.

The ’11Peacock Gold, Fuhai leaves the mouth with a faint taste of band-aids after coating the mouth and throat in velvety milk chcolate.  Respectable sweetness, chestnut color and high clarity.  Silt and baby powder.   Not as thick, sweet, or malty as Old Geezers.

The ’12 Arbor King, LME provides a study in schizophrenia.  The upfront notes surprise with cured fruits before quickly shifting to dark cocoa.  Real bitterness, with a light geosmin and camphor finish.  The huigan is sticky bittersweet, as thick and enduring as the Old Geezers, with clarity about 3-5.  However, it doesn’t have the longevity of Old Geezers.

Winter brings a heavier hand in brewing, with expectations of a heavier brew.  Old Geezers stands out among the group for its ability to holdup and its coating huigan.  The Arbor King hits a bittersweet spot and would be as good were it to last as long.  It’s only an ’11 and closer examination reveals a good deal of “greenage” to the composition, so there’s reason to believe it will develop further.  Fuhai’s Peacock Gold excels in clarity with milk coco, light geosmin and talc.  It’s not as sweet and the huigan fades rather quickly.  Finally, the Lucky 7572 is not so wintry, with strawberry malt in a comparatively light broth.  It’s a prime candidate for summer cold brewing.  Some of these samples can be found on the Ripe Sampler page.

 

 

 

Water Blue Mark Comments

Posted on by Yang-chu
13 Dec

Water Blue Mark Comments pertain to the timeliness of this production given the need for a woolen sweater.  Puerh Junky scored just the last of this production from a particular vendor, so more was able to be procured. . . at a good price.

Water Blue Mark is a Green Mark of a certain character that merited another name.  It has a smoky fruity flavour and depending on certain variables like season, infusion methods, and aging varies in its expression.  It’s one of the few KMTF expressions that I though was Dayi in nature.

It seems others have picked up on this.  The offerings still avail are more than 3X than when originally offered perhaps around ’19.  I won’t be able to speak for the next round arriving; my buyer sent pics of seven separate cakes that should have otherwise been in tong.

I can speak for the four still on hand.  It’s a good tea for the winter.

Puerh Junky Visits Thick Zen 2022

Posted on by Yang-chu
08 Nov

Puerh Junky Visits Thick Zen 2022 continues the saga surrounding one of the plethora of Zhongcha’s ’07 offerings looked at askance by puerh snobs too smart for their own good.  The Puerh Junky has written about the Thick Zen on numerous occasions and now, alas dear reader, we’re at the point where due to forces beyond his control Thick Zen has outlived its name.

Thick Zen continues to evolve.  Zen is more of an afterthought.  There’s all this tartness in it now, picking up in intensity.  As of Nov 2022, there’s orange spice bitter fusing with its Zen past, not terribly sweet but dreadfully interesting.  The shift with the season is magical.  The  once-lauded Yiwu vibe is about one quarter present, as bitterness and sour take the drinker to the Menghai zone, a nice Menghai not trying to intimidate but at the same time comfortable with being itself.  The qi numbs the entire face, makes you feel as though you had a halo beginning at the shoulder.  I read that the a ’21 production by the same name comes from Lincang, entirely possible with here.

Thick Zen is egregiously undervalued given just how dynamic the material is.  The persistent perception that ’07 productions are bad is gradually starting to lift.  The year ’07 witnessed a speculative blowout and specifically an administrative restructuring at Zhongcha that had zero to do with anything related to tea.  Somehow, word on the street became ’07 offerings could not be drunk.  This absurdity turns out to be a fortune for the value hunter.  Thick Zen is value amidst value, highly representative of the KMTF processing style, and over time far more engaging than most any other puerh.

Puerh Junky Visits Chameleon 2022

Posted on by Yang-chu
17 Oct

Puerh Junky Visits Chameleon 2022 pays some much-needed attention to Chameleon.  It’s not brewing crystal clear anymore.  Oh well.  However, the Puerh Junky finally found the words for Chameleon‘s banana aroma. . . fried banana.

Chameleon is an excellent drinking experience.  It is now at a stage where the ’06 Bulang Thick Brick, GPE was when first purchased in ’14.  However, Chameleon is not humid stored. It lacks the cinnamon aroma too.   Those looking for ripes that approximate coffee should consider the Ripe Sampler, but not this brick.  Similar to the Thick Brick the huigan lasts forever.  Comprised of fried banana, yam, lacquered wicker furniture in a Florida July, sweet roots like burdock and angelica, and a piquant kick of juniper, Chameleon is a lot like a Tootsie Roll beverage that changed its formula to sell in China.  Very much in the tradition of Chinese tonics or if not the neighborhood of Dr. Pepper certainly its zip code.

This round, Chameleon brewed in the red-clay gaiwan at near flash brew durations till the fifth infusion, whereby it lasted for another three rounds with considerable pushing.  The huigan, fragrance, and colour lasts through, though the texture and sweetness dissipate quicker thereafter.   Unexpectedly exotic, terranean, and complex.  Since acquisition it seems that the tastes have melded to make for a ripe experience beyond the ordinary.

Sweet Mesquite: BZ Peacock Autumn 2022

Posted on by Yang-chu
06 Oct

Sweet Mesquite: BZ Peacock Autumn 2022 comes with yet another enigmatically titled blog entry about the ’06 BZ Peacock, XH.  Quite a bit has been blogged about this.  As of autumn 2022, it earns another entry to chronicle the results of the summer.  Autumn is harvest time.  In Los Angeles it’s the peak time for capturing the results of summer storage.

BZ Peacock is now noticeably sweet.  It’s not entirely the sobering whiskey/tequilla of even a few months back.  The sweetness commingles with a bitter/dry mesquite and fleeting fruit notes.  A few infusions in, this fruit takes on the character of apple pie from slightly sweet and sour apples baked in a wood-fired oven.  The sour detected in couple previous sessions hides less now, though it doesn’t overpower the overall composition.  Altogether, it an impressive combination of dish detergent and laundry after a hike that included a campfire.

It’s not ashy or sooty.  Furthermore, it’s fair to make associations with kerosene and pencil shavings along with lemonene.  It’s still a little bit jagged, but that is how many people prefer their tea.  Comparing it to the Green Mark A, Wang Xia it is still a shade clumsy, like a tequila or whiskey you can tell that’s good but just needs a little more time.

The qi is still notably aggressive, particularly in the head.  It is very heady.  As far as other Xinghai productions go, the BZ Peacock is highly representative, though it may be a factor more intense.  It’s hard to say because all Xinghai productions around this time are burly and complex.  It’s price is certainly intense. . . presumably because of its qi and direct Peacock lineage.

 

Puerh Junky Visits Hideout

Posted on by Yang-chu
02 Oct

Puerh Junky Visits Hideout marvels upon a recurrent 2002 phenomenon: the reversed-aging process of some moderately stored raw puerhs better than 15yrs old.   By “moderate”, we’re talking about a reasonable amount of heat and humidity for transformation without humidity affecting the taste.

Not long ago, there was a time when Hideout seemed headed for deep, dark forest.  The prevailing vanilla, with a matching ruddy liquor, presumably should have continued onto roots and spice.  Instead, a second spring has emerged and it takes better than six infusions to get to the vanilla.  The coppery taste noted two years ago has completely vanished.

It doesn’t just turn to vanilla. Powerful floral and lemonene notes gradually merge with the deeper stage.  It’s an extremely sophisticated expression.  Previously, Hideout offered a nice mellow experience.  As of early autumn 2022, its spectacular raw material and processing really shines, imparting a depth and liveliness.

No doubt some dedicated readers of the Puerh Junky will feel the urge to retort, “But PJ, you said you don’t like floral.”

That’s usually correct, especially when talking about young Menghai and Fengqing, Lincang florals.  They’re too brash.  Here, there is nothing brash.  It’s intense but refined through age, Gore Vidal instead of Sam Kinisin.  Hideout is next level good.