Puerh Tea Report 2020
As the new puerh tea begins to hit the market, it might be interesting to reflect upon recent developments, so here it is your Puerh Tea Report 2020. Naturally, items and factories in the Puerh Junky’s stash will be the focus. Ripe puerh will be given a bit of attention, with the bulk on raws.
Ripe Puers
The year 2019 had the Puerh Junky bidding a fond farewell to the ’06 Boss Tuo, an item that scored highly on every count. I’m furiously searching for its replacement, something with the same explosive camphor notes and sweetness, along with a the deep tones of humid storage. It’s larger brother with the same name doesn’t hold a candle to it; storage plays such a critical role in the expression of a production that it is usually impossible to tell that the same material under different conditions are actually the same.
Anyway, Xinghai (XH) and Zhongcha (ZC) have formed the backbone of the ripe stash. Surprisingly, the Silver Peacock, XH has held relatively stable, with older productions, say before ’14, rising in price rather incrementally compared to ZC’s 7581 brick, which is now about three times the ’16 price. Interestingly, the Lunar series has averted the frenzy, so constitute a relatively good value. After years of being virtually overlooked, the ’06 “55” has started an advance. This is ZC’s (aka CNNP/KMTF’s) best ripe production. I expect that this will be the last year that it will be available from any vendors on the Chinese side.
Aside from these two factories, another general observation concerns ripe bamboo productions. To wit: bamboo ripe productions have appreciated considerably more than ripes as a whole. Puerh Junky has one ripe bamboo offering that is exceptionally clean and bright, with hints of humidity and cinnamon.
Raw Puerhs
The world of raw puerhs has been more dynamic. Generally, it seems the smaller productions like tuo, bricks, and small cakes have averted the frenzy of cakes. Since ’16 ZC’s new offerings have been handsomely priced. One exception has been the Lunar Series but that looks to have come to an end this year, with about an 70% increase in price over last year. The weird thing is that the older productions, those that can be found, are still priced along earlier lines.
Factories like LME (Lao Man E) and GPE (Gu Puerh) have held steady, so they constitute relative steals. The only exception is ’07 Hideout, which in just one year appreciated more than 200%. A more than reasonable alternative to it is the 2008 Gift Puerh, which has the same sweetness and camphory goodness. Up until this year, there were still quite a number of very good Tulin productions that were plain ole cheap, but not so much anymore. Oh well.
Though there may be exceptions, the scene with LM (Liming), YPH (Yangpin Hao), and 6FTM (Six Famous Tea Mountains) has been hawt to say the least. YPH prides itself as a top-tier purveyor of Yiwu productions. Prices for their older productions (before ’12) have essentially trebled in the past year and a half. For those keen on the Yiwu Zen vibe do not seem to have been deterred. I must confess that much about brand is going into the pricing, as I find productions like the ’07 LME Spring Puerh every bit as tasty if not more so. Some LM productions have consistently been favoured by collectors, but there are still plenty that are quite tasty priced quite reasonably, in the $55-$75 range. Newer productions, however, are now in the ZC range.
As for 6FTM, well it isn’t a factory that I pay much heed to, with the exception of their Lunar Series. This is because I’m not the craziest about Fengqing puerhs. That said, I did take a liking to the their Lunar Series for their v. fancy wrappers. Others have been very keen on the big taste and a big qi that’s made believers of even the greatest of qi skeptics. Anyway, this series has turned out to be of great interest to collectors and as a result even the late productions like the Ram and Snake are now sold at near 10 times their original sale price– if you can find them. The ‘05 Jingmai “003” is actually on par in terms of ferocity and qi at a fraction of the 6FTM Lunar Series prices. The factory that makes the “003” specializes in very aggressive productions not altogether dissimilar from LM’s cakes. However, the raw material seems even better. The ’10 Tiger, for example, which sold out this year showed remarkable transformation from when it was first acquired. It ripened from a bright pineapple-like monster into a husky root beer in the first two infusions before gradually fading into its original greenness.
Enough with the nostalgia for now. Hope you find this missive somewhat helpful as you continue your own puerh tea pursuits.
Cheers,
PJ.
