’04 Bulang Series

‘04 Uncle Creme Florale, Macau 357g

Uncle Creme Florale soothes the palate with a warm sweet creaminess amidst a dense rich texture.  A bit of a traveler from Guangdong, to Kunming before its resting place in Los Angeles, Uncle originally received conservative storage conditions.  The Uncle is pure Bulang spring material, d finally Los Angeles since Mar ’22.  Shows good dark colour but no humid notes.  Not the astringency of Creme Florale, but by third infusion the bitter character definitely asserts itself.  Possesses true early spring character through floral huigan emerging once the cream fades.  Cream and flowers throughout the session.  Moderate qi.

Stored in LA since Mar ’22. 30g sample.

27¢

’06 Bulang Old Tree, Xinghai batch 602, 357g

Floral, huigan forward production, coming with dense sparkling liquor.  Characteristic Xinghai green apple aggression.  Astringency turns slick, eternal sweet impression on tongue.  Vanilla orchid in the nose.  Resolute qi that feels like old tree.  Sweetness nicely balanced.  Overall, the Bulang Old Tree strikes a pleasing balance between ferocity and sweety-sweet pandering.  The huigan is killer.

Dry stored, tattered wrapper.  Early second batch, no date stamp per Xinghai standard.  Wrapper stamped with “extra-special green cake” seal.   Stored in Los Angeles since Sept 2022. 30g sample.

36¢

’09 Blue Mark Bulang Big Tree, DQZ 357g

Stored in LA since April ’21, the Blue Mark assumes a full-on mushroom note with a building citrus top note, Meyer lemon.  The lemon and mushroom meld, with the mushroom taking the fore.  It’s not humid-type mushroom, but mushroomy mushroom.  Texture is on the  medium thick side, smooth.  Huigan is sweet with lemon taking the fore.  Mouth-coating sugar. Durable with light honey mostly rock sugar sweetness lasting better than 10 infusions.  Very mild astringency throughout and balanced qi. Only a thread of Bulang bitterness coming through, as this material typifies the happy-cloud Zen expression.  30g sample.

25¢

’13 Bulang Shengtai, ZC 357g

The year 2013 seems to generally mark the final year in Zhongcha’s strict adherence to traditional processing methods.  Thus, the Bulang Shengtai is embarking upon a much slower journey toward unabashed sweetness than productions just a year younger.  One can pick up a hint of greenness in the aroma, which seems normal enough.  There is no hint of green in the taste.  The absence of piercing floral bitterness along with an emergent vanilla character indicates a selection of material picked fairly late in the season, corroborated by a time-stamp of early June.

Bulang Shengtai consists of material from elevations of 1400-1600m.  At 11 years of age as of ’24, it possess sufficient sweetness to be drunk now.  The vanilla forward expression makes for a very friendly everyday drinking experience.  Legendary Bulang bitterness forms a thready backbone adding character to the early infusions.  That said, gripping astringency makes its presence known by the fourth flash of infusions with waning sweetness reflecting still a very youthful production that will require an additional four years of maturation, if Zhongcha’s processing history holds true to form.  In those infusions the vanilla orchid aroma opens considerably making for a promising future.  Qi is strong and warming, inducing a hint of “tea sweats.”

First batch.  Dry-stored, zero humidity.  In LA since Mar ’16, with no storage push on this end.  30g sample.

19¢

’14 Bulang Peacock, ZC 357g, pictured above

became quite drinkable only after a year or two.  Double wrapped. Tastes of turbinado sugar with umami, vanilla, and minerals.  Sweet vanilla predominates with fresca huigan lingering a good spell.  Thick mouthfeel.

After a great deal of recitation of necessary incantations about puerh in general, the neipiao reads as follows, “This production is comprised of high-altitude Bulang big tree material…” Such vagueness with effulgent sweetness at such a youthful age suggests modern processing, making it excellent for drinking now.  However, no hints of green tea, sencha, green beans, or anything remotely green.  Thick creamy vanilla, touch of spice and roots.

First acquired in ’15, this round was acquired in Sept ’22.  Storage is excellent, no humid notes but fully developed.  Foto still from ’15, much, much darker now. 30g sample.

18¢