Full Frontal Floral Puerh

Full Frontal Floral Puerh references the Lunar Series of our puerh cakes offered by the Six Famous Mountains Tea Factory (6FTM).  Here, we are visiting the ’09 Ox.  This raw puerh’s storage differs from all the other productions in the series.  Let’s start with the storage then.

Slow Elusion First Infusion

All of the 6FTM lunar series productions until acquisition have been Kunming stored.  Additionally, up until 2009, cakes were pressed tightly.  The Ox then marks a change in terms of compression density and processing.  I’ve tried the Ox from two different vendors four years apart but the storage was identical, suggesting inputs by the factory and not just storage conditions alone.  This input involves heat and humidity.

These stressed conditions give the impression of Guandong storage.  Its tonality is lower than the Rat or the Pig, one and two years older respectively.  The warmer storage mutes some of the aggressiveness while still full frontal floral.

Just yesterday I sat with six grams in my designated floral production pot, 150ml.  The experience was surprisingly thin.  Today, I added .5g and the experience was considerably richer and fuller.  After the fourth infusion the roundness thins out and a mineral taste vies for attention with the flowers.  There is a measure of bitterness throughout and considerable astringency.

The aftertaste in the Ox is sweet and floral in the initial infusions but quickly fades compared to productions from other years.  Consistent with all from this series, the qi is formidable.   You can feel this in the stomach, chest, and eyes.

The 6FTM floral does not seem to develop into root beer.  In this regard it is similar to YPH productions.  However, whereas the lunar series possesses an aggressive nature possibly approaching Zen, the YPH trademark is universally Zen at every stage.  By contrast, the Tiger MK is macho floral and root beer, but is not part of a bona fide series as with 6FTM.