Gone Fishing Till Dec
Puerh Junky won’t be able to fill any orders till Dec. You can still place orders, but they won’t get filled till Dec, as I’m going fishing.
But before going, maybe it’s a good idea to share a few impressions on the Collection since it’s been a while. First, as everyone knows, the shipping situation from China has grown increasingly perilous. I’ll leave it at that, as chances are good that you come to the site to forget about “stuff” that otherwise seems almost inescapable.
Perhaps a couple mths ago, I said that I’d do a write-up on the ’12 Dragon, CMS. Let’s say, I’m excited by recent developments. In addition to a characteristic apricoty con grapefruit expression, there is now a thin layer of root beer forming. It washes out after about the first two infusions, but I ‘m expecting this root beer trajectory to deepen. I’ve essentially put this treasure out of my mind now that I know where it’s going and how good it’s going to get.
Let’s take a moment to revere those mid-aged steals from LME shall we? The ’07 Hideout is a comfy chair by the fire. In contrast to the erstwhile Vanilla Palace that navigated its way to the Vanilla Kingdom by way of ferocious Bulang tips, along with two- and three-grade leaves, Hideout has always been a smooth and well polished actor. These attributes have only deepened, with pleasant sweetness and vanilla tones. It’s richer now.
The LME Spring offering continues to stand out for possessing both floral attributes indicative of spring offerings and unparalleled smoothness. It lasts forever and has a heady qi that can easily be discerned by even those immune to the qi sensation.
How now, Horatio? Let’s not forget about the LME Peacock ripe, a humid-stored production that is sweet and rich, with a bit of a camphor flair. One taster remarked that it was the best ripe he’d ever had. It is certainly top-shelf. The ’06 Nannuo is drier-stored perfection, velvety smooth equally straddling the line between camphor and vanilla, with cocoa overtones. Here, “drier” is by means of contrast from the Peacock, where the latter has a pronounced geosmin character and the former is much more agreeable to those who wretch upon the presence of humidity.
If soy sauce with a bit of flowers is your thing, then the ’09 Daxueshan, MKRS is worth checking out. This particular note was something I’d experienced with a Zhengsilong Yiwu production from ’04. After sitting on it for a couple years and a bit of musical chairs in terms of storage, that production has come into its own, fruity and sweet much more similar to the same production from ’11. Stay tuned for that offering. In the meantime, I expect that something similar may evolve with the Daxueshan, but for now it’s in a soy sauce stage.
The Puerh Junky’s impressions toward MKRS’s ’11 Creme Floral are fare more sanguine. It’s about two years away from holy praises. Right now, it is highly drinkable but it’s not as sweet and rich as it should be. This makes sense as it only came into the Puerh Junky’s possession in the early part of this year ’21.
For those keen on Simao burliness with a twist, some mention should be made of the ’08 Buddha Impressions. This is a very good production that has started to express more sweetness along the backdrop of sandalwood and petrol. The petrol is a new development. There’s also a sneaky bitter note and some black pepper. There’s all this complexity without astringency, which might be partly attributable to the healthy presence of saponins which coat the teeth and tongue. There’s even the venerated “throat yun” present. I’d say is a cross between the ’07 Auspicious Dragon (altogether too harsh for my tastes) and ’06 Grenouille (which never disappoints).
Now for a bit on three of the ripes that made their debut this year of ’21: BZ Ripe King, Chameleon, and Drury Lane. The ‘06 BZ Ripe King has been Guangdong stored and hails from a fancy factory. Upon the first sip one fellow puerh junky noted its indomitable qi. It’s certainly the most potent ripe of the collection. Chameleon has unmistakable banana notes and if you let it sit for a good six hours in warm ambient temps it gets all sparky camphory. Otherwise, it tastes of banana and dates, sweet, thick, and full of good karma. 😉 I haven’t listed a year with this little bugger because the vendor made the implausible claim of it being from the late 80s. Nonetheless, it has some years under its belt without expressing any hint of the rather unsavory “old taste” of dusty newspapers. The ’02 Dury Lane is the bomb. It easily qualifies as the best ripe of ’21. Crystal clear and camphory with undertones of sweet vanilla muffins, this treasure is flawless. I think there’s only two of these left.
No review would be complete without a word or two on a few of the Zhongcha offerings in the Collection. Let’s start with ’07 Thick Zen, which has taken a turn for the plum. I noticed that it takes a good three infusions before it thickens up as before. I was almost crestfallen during those first three rounds. Previous expectations were that it would turn to a dark forest root beer extravaganza, but instead the root beer has plateaued along with the emergence of a pleasant plum note. One finicky drinker who had previously found it just ok pronounced it good with the emergence of this fruit element. If Lincang fruity is up your alley then the Top Notch Tuo is a good option, though it’s important to neither over leaf nor over brew as it can easily become overbearing. It should be noted that we’re talking about the Zen side of Lincang and not the floral. A remarkable contrast still exists between the ’07 HK Returns cake and tuo. The former is still very much in the tobacco class, while the latter is bright and fruity. Finally, the last of the lot is the Water Blue Mark. It’s smoky and plumy, sweet and rich. Earlier in the year, I broke off about 100g and placed in a kraft bag, storing it in my ZC container. That move has allowed for some of the roughness and smoke to dissipate while allowing more sweetness and plum to come through. The name Water Blue Mark is definitely a bit of an enigma as there’s no hint of watery Zen in this treasure.
Stay thirsty my fellow puerh junkys.
