Puerh Clay Storage
Yesterday one of my chief drinking buddies came by for a shesh. We had some leftovers, a ’18 Bingdao and ’07 Yiwu both huangpian. He was very myeh regarding the latter, saying, “I’ve had it with the fruity and floral and want more like your ’98 Red Mark.” What’s a proper Puerh Junky to do?
Yeah, I have a few late 90s raw puerhs in the stash. One is a “Red Mark.” It is one of those aged raws that have been punished with a good deal of heat and a dash of humidity imparting that detestable dry old-book newspaper vibe. That bugger has been placed in the detention container with the rest of the cardboard-stored creations that have lost their pizazz due to my own dunderheadedness. That Red Mark, however, was none of my doing. The hope is that I can work a little PJ magic on it and something jucier and complex can emerge. Of course, the reader knows that that taste is highly regarded in some circles but in the eyes of the Puerh Junky such storage is deeply flawed. But I digress. . .
I was talking about my tea compadre’s request for that humid aged taste. What better chance to try out the recently “tinned” Lucky 7542 DQZ, but minding my junky etiquette I gave him an option. “Well, I have a wet-stored ’06 Mengku that is aggressive and floral or we can try the wet-stored 7542 from tea meistra Du Qiong-zhi.”
Lucky 4524, DQZ
“Oh, 7542? I’ll definitely take that,” trying to restrain his enthusiasm. “Now, you do know that this isn’t a Menghai TF? It’s from someone who worked her self through the ranks of Menghai TF before breaking out on her own in the late 90s during the restructuring,” I warned. “I’ll have that,” he assured me.
The Lucky 7542 got transferred to a clay caddy around mid-Feb 2021 as part of the tinning project initiated after the fabulous findings from Fu. Whereas most of the productions thus transferred reside in metal, the Lucky got clay. Since I had previously moved a hideously wet late 80s Tulin tuo to a clay caddy with a glazed exterior to great result, Lucky’s humidity informed placing it in clay.
Now the Puerh Junky could regale you with all the details about that ’89 Tulin tuo, but the focus here is regarding the findings from Lucky after only three weeks. For starters, the wet storage smell is evident in the clay itself. My compadre upon one whiff went into a reverie about his childhood, memories of his grandfather. I personally detected a note of cinnamon which is a very good sign in light of storage and age.
Recently, the floral-designated pot (150ml) has been getting quite the work out. It pours slowly, so I only used 4.5g. Far be it from the Puerh Junky to be at a loss for words, but suffice it to say that a production that I found unsatisfactorily stored is now close to perfect. The layers of complexity to the tea are now much more evident. Even the floral notes are more precise. The overall effect results in what tastes like the ideal 7542, the archetypical 7542. Are there better 7542? Well duh, but this captures everything that the 7542 is supposed to be including the humidity.
The Puerh Junky’s wife is keen on the humid productions and just happened upon the scene of the crime to join us right when the first pot was being poured. Both mi amigo and mi wife remarked upon the sweetness. What stood out for moi was the volume in terms of breadth imparted by the clay storage. Imagine Miss Brown Eyes Blue Crystal Gale and her long strait locks getting a good dose of 80s hair mousse. Pour some sugar on me, baby. . . sans the spandex. The interplay between flowers, minerals, and humidity could not be detected in previous sessions with Lucky but with clay storage, I detected such complexity causing me to completely revise my assessment of the material’s underlying quality.
