Sweet Roasted Hay: ’12 Cultural Revolution Series
I’ve had this ’12 Cultural Revolution puerh brick sitting out in the kitchen now for easily nine mths now. My record keeping being what it is, I cannot say it’s been longer but not likely shorter.
I first picked these up purely for wrapper appeal in Kunming in ’13. Two years later I got some more. I know the general word on the street is that after about a year ripe puerh productions are ready for drinking. There seem to be some people who are actually fond of the the strong tastes and smells of young ripe puerh me not among them.
This 100g ripe puerh brick never expressed particularly strong odors, but it nonetheless did not taste so ready, rather bland. Now it has transformed into a very sweet production in terms of both the liquor and aftertaste. There is an astringency I hadn’t noted previously. Pouring the first infusion I noticed a vegetal aroma, which expresses as sweet dry slightly malted hay. Some vanilla notes in there. Some might detect a bit of chocolate. By the third infusion the brew gets murkier than its clear initial rounds. Drinking at room temperature, I can tell it would be quite tasty cold-brewed.
The ’12 Cultural Revolution Series puerh brick has deep-roast straw properties of the ’07 Boss Square, though it is not as rich and the latter has a more obvious chocolate tone. The astringency is similar to ’06 CNNP “55”, though the “55” is more bitter and less sweet with noticeable camphor notes. The ’09 Qing Beauty compares favourably in terms of sweetness and clarity, but it is much, much more floral, with heavier fermentation, and sour notes. In other words, it contrasts greatest in terms of the other two comparisons.
