Puerh Junky Visits Drury Lane
The first thing that catches you about Drury Lane is how clean it is. The aroma is remarkably sweet. Chocolate, camphor, and crayolas. The rinse liquor sparkles the colour of brandy and it tastes like Kalua. There’s an ineffable breadiness that entices. At room temperature, camphor taste up from before being drowned out by milk chocolate. Big time milk chocolate aftertaste.
The first infusion brews up considerably darker but still crystal clear. The taste of vanilla jumps out with camphor middle and chocolatey tannin finish. The sense of how clean it is remains. Cleanliness hasn’t come at the cost of complexity.
Infusion two is doubtlessly darker still, a ruby. I’m brewing judiciously about 10s but the waking was probably two minutes. The broth now is almost sticky, conjuring impressions of Tootsie Rolls. It’s super sweet and milk chocolately with fantastic camphor and vanilla elements.
Infusion three is slightly lighter than two. It is still totally transparent. It’s lighter in texture and the vanilla element seems to be taking the fore. There’s the muffin element, simple vanilla muffins that aren’t too sweet, with just a hint of cardamom. I think it’s good for two more rounds. Might boil it tomorrow. Twigs will like that.
If memory serves this is Xiangming Factory. Actually, it’s Yongming. They didn’t get puer bible listed in the ’98-’03 edition. Either Xiangming or Yongming or both in one of the editions. I think I’ve seen some of their offerings posted. It was the first ripe I’ve purchased from the vendor I mentioned previously, the one who seems focused on selling the tea and not the factory. Consequently, Yongming is more-or-less incidental to the tea itself. Drury Lane sounds a shade more inviting than Menghai Ripe Brick for some reason. The vendor actually never showed the wrapper.
Infusion five soaked for a few minutes delivers on par with the first infusion. It’s quite rich. Positively completely totally dry stored. Quite reminiscent of the Langhe house taste for some reason. Infusion six was possibly 15m. The color is still remarkably dark but it’s less sweet and rich. The final sips of a Black Russian.
