Tag Archives: 6FTM

Five Puerh (Im)Possibilities?

Posted on by Yang-chu
03 May

Puerh Junky got to thinking of Five Puerh (Im)Possibilities.  The title sounded nice, so why not just run with it?  They’re puerh musings upon offerings currently feeling neglected (CFN).  You see, most of the newer arrivals receive the bulk of attention. Listed puerhs have already gained storage stability, so attention naturally goes toward actively evolving items (AEI).  AEIs necessitate more drinking to ascertain their level of readiness.  It’s less about drinking for pleasure than for readiness.

So below, CFNs are given their day in the sun.  Many of these have been visited in the past 10 days (today is May 3, 2024).

’04 Uncle Creme Florale vs ’11 Creme Florale

Somewhere in an imaginary universe, Uncle Creme Florale and Creme Florale meet.  Unfortunately, poor Uncle had not been visited for the better part of a year (presently spring ’24).  It has always performed consistently, exhibiting a strong yet soothing presence.  Conversely, the nephew has been one of the better sellers.  A recent shipment necessitated adjudging relative differences in storage.  This latest iteration (Mar ’24) expresses a greater underlying humid character than the previous two.  It doesn’t reveal itself till after the fourth infusion.  Astringency is also greatly diminished, making for a far smoother drinking experience.  I got it at such a good price, I put it on sale.

The greatest difference between the two is that despite its chronological age, Uncle is younger. . .  not by a whole lot.  Both are super delicious.  The Uncle is shrouded in sultry vanilla. There’s also some anise with just a vintage Lily-of-the-Valley kiss coming emerging on the back end.  The sweetness level and the lasting vanilla in the mouth will make it your favourite Uncle for sure.  It’s now more  even more of what made it so delicious to start.  ’11 Creme Florale has matured greatly.  There’s more roundness and complexity in a humid orchid waltz.  MKRS vibrancy emerges with each infusion.  It’s starting to reflect attributes of the vaunted Tiger.

’07 Mincemeat vs ’07/’08 Water Blue Mark

Whereas PJ is less certain about the batch processing of Fuhai, maker of Mincemeat, at least the procedure for designating batch differences with Zhongcha (aka ChinaTea) maker of Water Blue Mark, is presumably understood.  The last tasting of both Mincemeat and ’08 WBM was shortly before the new year ’24, both being backorders from different but familiar vendors.  The vendor of the ’08 audaciously claimed “first batch” (charging as much), but only being second.  Pretty infuriating.  There’s a significant difference between batches and the only reason for venturing into ’08s in the first place was because first batch ’07s couldn’t be sourced.

Pouting aside, WBM ’08 is mossy, with camphor, hidden spice notes, and a lingering vanilla and minerality.  Durable, nice texture and sweetness, not garishly sweet.  It is nothing like the ’07 or Mincemeat.  The comments on astringency in the product description no longer apply.  It’s very balanced in this regard.  The descriptor “peat” is often used to describe a mineral, vegetal quality, “mossy” takes this expression another level altogether, lichens by a forest brook, if you will. Petrichor isn’t just for ripes anymore.  That’s the taste!  A seriously wet petrichor note, i.e. moss.  Vastly different from the ’07 and actually in the neighbourhood of the ’03 7536, Fuhai.The spice from Mincemeat is now more an afterthought, as either this batch or due to evolutionary forces it’s moved into the plum zone with a blend of wood and kerosene in the aftertaste.  There’s no pencil shavings and the kerosene simply constitutes a nice compliment to the plum.  Mincement continues to impress, though Puerh Junky cannot help but feel a bit wistful for the complex spice symphony it previously expressed.

If a Jade Mark Falls in the Woods. . . 

Would anybody buy it?  In the course of the never-ending shuffle and reconnaissance that is the Puerh Junky Cave, a single Jade Mark turned up.  Right about May ’24 marks its 10th anniversary.  It’s also included among the “Most Popular” sampler set.

What if the Silver Pekoe from Tulin, 6FTM, and MKRS had a Battle Royale?

Tales of the tape: Tulin ’06, 100g, tuo, Wuliang; 6FTM ’06, 357g, cake, Menghai; MKRS ’09, 150g, mini-iron cake, Mengku.
What on earth is “silver pekoe” anyway?  It’s the hairy buds, Igor.The Tulin and MKRS have very similar profiles, being dry-stored and packing a punch that many find appealing in terms of mouthfeel and aftertaste.  The taste itself is something PJ associates with dryer sheets, something “church lady” perfumy with fleeting hints of cantaloupe and maybe strawberry.  That fleeting berry is more notional in the MKRS.  The emphasis is church lady, with a fair measure of church-lady bitterness, and an impression that stays with you long after she’s left your presence.   This trait is an aspect of camphor, which when subjected to more heat and humidity orange-juice sourness before becoming explosively menthol-y (i.e., camphory).  MKRS isn’t listed yet but you’re welcome to ask.

The first two sips of the 6FTM initiates the qi response.  The 6FTM storage box is accessed less than any of the other, allowing for serious storage action to set in.  There an immediate mushroom note billowing from the gaiwan as the water is poured.  It’s not humidity.  It’s mushroom.  By the time the liquor is poured, honeysuckle billows from the pitcher.  The texture is light, the huigan intense, honeysuckle reverberating.  Very pleasant huigan, sweetness.  Cheese in the first infusion before assuming a more aggressive posture, thicker texture, more bitterness, much stronger floral force in the mouth with the mushroom singing harmony.

Last Orange Mark Standing

I wouldn’t call Orange Mark (BZ OG) citrus.  Citrus expresses varying degrees of florality and sourness.  Jade Mark, for example has expressed citrus notes and I often pick up grapefruit notes in various productions.  Orange Mark, on the other hand, is “orange” flavour.  After opening and sitting for about four hours the thickness is greater and the sweetness is at candy level, coating the tongue in orange-y sweetness.  There’s only one remaining.

Wrap-up

So there you have it.  The Currently Feeling Neglected (CFN) have had their chance to show their stuff.  The ’08 Water Blue Mark was definitely the biggest surprise, though hardly should have been complaining about neglect having only arrived in Nov ’23.  Perhaps had we been moving into autumn the Uncle would have beat it out.  The aged vanilla intensity is. . . intensifying.  Orange and Jade Marks and the Silver Pekoe, 6FTM strike this drinker as more in tune with the melody of spring.

Cheers!

Did Puerh Junky Mention II

Posted on by Yang-chu
08 Dec

Did Puerh Junky Mention II continues its look into the past.  Last time we visited some of the stellar productions.  What distinguished them is the excellent storage.  The subsequent discussion continues by bringing to the readers attention productions that worthy of note.  Let’s start out with the cream note, shall we?

The ’04 Uncle Creme Florale and the ’07 Mengsong are both solid cream-drinking experiences.  Sweet and dynamic with pleasant camphor notes.  These two are great everyday drinkers or newbies who’d like a completely different quality of puerh experience that is free from the heavy muted notes of more humid-stored productions, while still enjoying the benefits of serious age.

Ripes have heretofore gone rather neglected.  The ’11 Peacock Gold, Fuhai is in a good place.  Excellent everyday drinker for those enjoying a balance between viscosity, sweetness, bitter and camphor.  Storage is succulent and composition fully expressed under current conditions and age.

Discerning ripe drinkers have almost universally glowed over ’12 Operation Macau.  Most commissioned productions are far from ordinary and Operation Macau is no exception.  If you’re interested in trying a next-level ripe that favours the palate of discerning Macanese standards, rich, sweet, humid, then this sets a standard against which all others can be judged.  The geosmin note excels.  This is one that people load on.

Those ripe-inclined interested in a bit of history should take note of the ferocious ’02 Purple Mark, 6FTM.  This is the only 6FTM ripe production offered.  It took over two years to resuscitate a production held in deep storage and fairly recently released.  Dark chocolate that seeps through the pores.  Perfect after dinner treat.  Can be brewed heavy handed but forget about thermosing!

The cries of the humid crowd have not gone unheeded.  There’s an entire “Humid Old” category set up for it.  Noticeably absent from the list is the Revolutionary Suspect.  Rested here in LA, CA since ’15, the production is alive with the notes of pine.  Though I recommend the full set among the Humid Old , particular attention should be directed toward the Simao Orange, which hasn’t been listed yet but for which there are a few available.  Acquired in Jan of ’23, it took only a few months for this production to blossom and a handful of others were acquired this (Nov ’23) and are still waiting their turn.  Explosive camphor along a backdrop of heavy humidity.  Compression is stellar and Guangdong storage albeit true to form didn’t rot the underlying material.  Those who like the fast-forward qualities of heavy storage should find this a true pleasure.

Amidst the humid and smoky into just smoky two bear mentioning.  First is ’07 Poison, 6FTM which is humid and smoky, and the ’06 Bulang Wild Big Tree, Fuhai.  Given the colder temps, these two will it the winter spot.  Camphor is prominent in both but through very different characters.  Poison would be characterized as “menthol”, while Bulang Wild would be cast as having a more medicinal quality.  Poison is more bitter, woody and in-your-face with complexity, while the Bulang Wild surprisingly is less bitter and low toned, green.  The latter was characterized by one drinker as being like scotch, which I wouldn’t know.  Sweetness with both is high.

 

 

Puerh Junky Visits an ’05 and ’04

Posted on by Yang-chu
12 Jul

Puerh Junky Visits an ’05 and ’04 begins with LCGC’s 125g Jingmai “003” and ends with 6FTM’s Tuo.  It’s the 2023 All-Star Game today, mid-Jul in a summer that has not been particularly warm.  Both have been stored in just about the same conditions for the better part of five years here in Los Angeles.  Original storage conditions were moderate to conservative.

The 003 came directly from storage with no preparation.  The title of the mini-cake has the character rui  (蕊), which is comprised of one major component xin (心), which is “heart.”  What’s all this about?  Well the ole Junky has no recollection of ever seeing this character with any other production.  A few years back, 003 had an appearance resembling yinzhen/silver needle, but smaller leaves and much sassier than a silver needle.  Ostensibly, this is evidence of rui material.  In contrast to gongting, quite rare for raw, the leaves are whole and as mentioned resembling yinzhen.

For an 18yo production the aroma of the 003 is nothing short of startling.  It is super aromatic, floral, bright but for some reason it doesn’t possess an oppressive perfume, none of that cheap church lady perfume vibe.  It’s bright and fresh.  Frankly, it seems like it is brighter and fresher than it in previous years.  Wife thought it was a new tea.  Adding to mystery is a broth that has virtually no colour.  Despite this lack of colour, the transformation bears no signs of being stunted.  The storage is flawless.  The fragrance is not only outstanding reflective of the tiny spring leaves, but the astringency has melded to create a rich texture.  This makes it major-league enjoyable, now imparting the smoothness expected from well-aged productions.  Of course, the astringency picks up a bit in later infusions, but it’s always along a sweet backbone that gives active saliva provocation as opposed to dry mouth.

The 6FTM Tuo presents a more complicated tale.  Sampled a month ago to a drab performance, it blossomed to an expression quite different from its product description after sitting out.  Sweet berries and apple take center stage now, along a subtle petrol and graphite backdrop.  Que sophisticado.  hehehe.  The play between the fruit and oil in the huigan pleases, with the fruit acid tweaking the cheeks.  It’s very cheeky, with the sensation lasting a good slobbery spell.

This tuocha is edgier than the 003, probably thicker too.  The qi is characteristic of 6FTM offerings.  The qi of the 003 is very much in the aroma, along with strong chest opening attributes.  Conversely, the 6FTM Tuo comes with a heaviness that pushes down at the back of the neck before imparting a bit of wooziness.  This is the first time that the full character expected of a 6FTM production has come through.  The crux of this treasure has been and always will be storage.  Periodically, old productions are released from deep storage that require a number of years to meet a high standard.  I know of three 6FTM productions between ’02-’04 that fall into this category and this tuo is one of them.

Puerh Junky Visits an ’05 and ’04 offers contrasting styles of puerh from two highly regarded factories, LCGC and 6FTM.  The LCGC is deceptively young for its age, but the age is evident in its texture and sweetness, something noticeable when drinking it through the years and understanding something about aging under mostly moderate conditions.  Similarly the 6FTM is dry stored but it has a broth hue that one could more or less expect under dryish conditions.  Neither production is by any stretch dry tasting.  However, the 6FTM required sitting out a month before it performed anywhere close to standard.  If it isn’t sweet, with an excessively peaty and boring expression it’s because it needs to sit out to wake up.  For a Jingmai, the 003 has some qualities reminiscent of a white tea or silver needle.  This is evident in aspects of its outstanding aroma.  The 6FTM Tuo is a fantastic entry-level (if price be any indication) offering from the highly regarded early days of operation.

 

Puerh Junky Occasions Forever Zen and Ox

Posted on by Yang-chu
18 Apr

Puerh Junky Occasions Forever Zen and Ox is a drive-by missive on two productions from ’09 and ’10 respectively.  We’re now in the spring of ’23 and the tea is beginning to waken from the winter hibernation.  Winter poses quite a challenge for many of the treasures, though it’s not possible to ascertain which.  One solid point of note emerging from winter is that the items receiving oppressive humidity over the warm months improve from the respite.  In fact, the cold gave these brutalized buggers a chance to dry out and brighten up. Such conditions did not apply to either of the abovementioned.  Puerh Junky’s general take is variance in storage is actually a good thing, but it does make for seasonally variablity productions  Thence, when a treasure is imbibed upon will elicit wildly varying results that may not necessarily reflect the intrinc charm.  The challenges of winter in short are a good thing, but must be appreciated within seasonal context.

Forever Zen

An order for the ’09 Forever Zen during the week of April 9th greeted the opportunity to pull a new cake from the Yiwu storage bin, one which is rarely opened.  Clear humidity had settled and panic set in.  Getting Goldilocks storage is the Puerh Junky’s raison detre.  As mentioned previously, the Forever Zen hailed from conservative storage, still quite young but likely to mature relatively quickly.  It’s been in LA better than two years now.  The idea behind the Yiwu storage is beyond just preventing the tea from drying out.  There needs to sufficient humidity to allow for transformation to continue, whereby sweetness and flavour will continue to evolve.  At the same time, the ole Junky doesn’t want humidity to settle into the flavour.

Initial impressions where that that humid aroma was undeniable.  Frantically, I tried the FZ and boy was it ever humid.  Fresh from storage, it was too humid.  Perhaps too hastily a total revamping of storage began, while leaving the lid of the Yiwu container off for a couple days.  The rearranging changed little, but it will necessitate more frequent visits to each container.  The greatest advantage of this approach will be that there will be next to no difference between samples and cakes.  This will come at the cost of sustained humidification.  C’est la vie.

This 16th April Forever Zen received a second visit.  A huge sigh of relief.  The vanilla shines through and the Manzhuan minerality emerges with subsequent infusions.  Sweetness is now deeper and the course of treatment appears rightly Los Angeles.  I regularly see the posts about storing in the States that are wholly perplexing, a kind of view that presumes that storing in Seattle is the same as Olympia, Phoenix, or Augusta.  I don’t get such takes.  There’s a vast difference between Oakland and SF.  What gives with conflating Omaha with Tampa?  Ho-hum.

Forever Zen is for those who know their Yiwu, specifically know their Manzhuan from their Yibang.  FZ is not the product of sheisty processing.  The sugars have emerged in a manner consistent with proper processing.  It’s getting sweeter.  The variegated color of the leaves reflects what appears to be layered transformation.  Uniform aging doesn’t altogether make sense, as the cake itself is layered.

Where the FZ will go is anyone’s guess.  Manzhuan typically do not turn to wood.  They just evolve to ever more aged expressions of Zen.  FZ is now is sweet vanilla with slight minerality.  There is an faint undertow of green, but which could only be detected when tasting side-by-side with the wet-stored Ox.

Cashed leaves.

Ox, 6FTM

The Ox, 6FTM no longer possesses any of the humidity of its early storage conditions.  It’s actually moving into the heicha zone.  An apricot note, heretofore absent, is now front and center.  It’s a surprising development but a tribute to the masterful stages of storage.  A marked difference between heicha and puerh of a certain age is zing, a fizziness.  Heicha never zings, but zing is a trademark of puerh enjoyability.  The Ox is beyond its fizzy stage, particularly because it was previously wet stored.  It’s not flat and the qi is characteristic of the 6FTM Lunar Series of being remarkable, but it doesn’t zing.

None of the other Lunar Series have been humid stored.  It’s plausible that the Ox was a singular year of experimentation by the 6FTM.  All Ox versions purchaed have been humid, caveate being that the Tiger has never been sampled and those before the Year of the Rat have tended toward conservative storage.  Compression from year-to-year has varied in this series; the composition has remained the same.  By ’11 Rabbit, compression had morphed to qualitatively looser.

The pressing of the Ox is not a compressed as its predecessor, Rat.  Given its age and storage, Ox is now more rarefied. None of the humidity presents itself now.  It is clean and fruity, reflecting an offering about ten years older than its age of production.  All of the offerings of the 6FTM Lunar Series represent collectors’ items.  There’s maybe one more Ox left.

Wrap Up

The Forever Zen and the Ox represent two qualitative different puerh productions in terms of terror and in the eyes of the market.  Forever Zen is a Manzhuan, an Yiwu terroir probabably more Zen than an any other.  The condender is Mansa/Yiwu Zhenshan.  With Mansa the transformation is decidedly toward petrol, where Manzhuan maintains its Zen nature.  I have a late 90s Manzhuan that has only transformed into a chrystaline Zen, and this may be the long term for the FZ.

The Ox is a recipe comprised of material from three terroir, Fengqing, Simao, and Menghai.  It is now supercedes any of the other productions in terms of aging.  This has manifest as apricot.  The character is of an aged heicha.  The qi is uplifting and immediately present.  For serious quality aged puerh drinkers, it’s undoubtedly next level.

Both productions have great longevity.

 

Puerh Junky Visits Fohai

Posted on by Yang-chu
03 Jan

Puerh Junky Visits Fohai turns out to be the first missive of 2023, all fresh and shiny with the resolve a new year.  Ole PJ decided on pulling down a couple 6FTM productions for the first week of limbo, that period between the calendrical new year and its lunar consort.

The ’06 Fohai, 6FTM rests broken up a bit in a tin, doing so for the better part of two years.  The lid is not afixed, an accommodation which presumably affords brewing on moment’s notice.  As previously noted FH is next to the opposite of Poison, the latter being smoky, camphor-y, bitter, some sour.  Now, FH is mostly Zen, at least the broth is.  The brightness of this tinned version is completely gone.  The end result is a broth with texture, sweetness, and bitter edges but nearly no taste.  Then. . .

It’s not an uncommon feature of some puerhs to showoff more after having been swallowed.  The huigan on the Fohai expresses a fascinating degree of complexity, part of which sheds light upon the broth.  Perhaps initially there is orchid but deeper in there is the unmistakable “delight” of fresh narrow tan rubber band that’s been chewed prodigiously.  This note lingers. Furthermore, it’s important to note that it’s not the broad white dura rubber band.  It’s the thin tan translucent fresh rubber band.

Next is its intimidating qi, rating 5 on a scale of 5.  Early heart pound and pleasant warming sensations quickly take backseat to a serious and enduring headiness, the kind that makes the eyes itch.  The qi sensation overall seems to be more keenly observed in the morning irrespective of production.  That said, it is exceptionally strong with the Fohai, lasting strong more than an hour on only three 150ml pots.

Fohai Yedi 2023

Finally, Fohai possesses noteworthy expectorant properties.  Sometimes the inner ticket/neipiao of puerhs will include health information referencing fat and digestion, less often phlegm.  I generally take such info with a grain of salt and cannot recall Fohai‘s neipiao;  you’ve read one neipiao, you’ve essentially read them all.  When a raw starts to exhibit behaviors more commonly associated with ripes, well it’s distinctive at the very least.  Fohai sits very nicely in the stomach, while scouring a good deal of muck.

Fohai is a next-level puerh.  It doesn’t cater to taste, rather delivers hugely on huigan and qi.  A sweet Zen broth with slightly bitter edges has usurped its former spry orchid broth.  With age has also come durability.  It continues to perform well at each stage of its evolution.

 

 

Found: Tinned Pig

Posted on by Yang-chu
08 Sep

Found: Tinned Pig casts a glimmer of light upon the travails of the Puerh Junky, a foundering soul amidst a sea of puerh containers, wrappers, boxes, struts and frets.  As we zoom in, the camera has a retro filter.  We see the Puerh Junky in the cave on the Sunday before Labour Day 2022.  Hair amiss and sweat pouring from his brow and neck, he’s looking for his Gedeng dragon pearls.

Some moody Philip Glass music, monotonous and foreboding, sounds in the background.  A rudderless skiff at night fades in and out between shots of PJ searching.  A thought as to the whereabouts of the missing Pig pops to his mind.  The narrator vanishes and we see him in an interview with a reporter from the world-famous Puerh Storage News. . .

Piggy Went Home

I’m estimating that ’07 Pig sat in its secret location in the cave since May ’22, as that’s around the last time I appear to have last written about it.  At the time, I recall a measure of consternation because it was starting to taste metallic.  Immediately lay to rest the idea that the Puerh Junky listens to this type of music. (note: even in interviews he has this bad habit of referring to himself in third person)  It’s just a serendipitous funny occasioned by the word, and Mariano Rivera’s walk-up tune.  Fact is, I wouldn’t even it know the tune but for Rivera.

For four months it had sat cooking with the lid.  Immediately, I removed the lid and placed in the raw side of the fridge.  It sat there for two days and was sampled on the third.  The results?  Forget you Philip Glass!

Pig Unfocused

This is the sweetest and thickest the Pig has been, but what jumps out immediately is the pallor.  This is consistently the colour the brew throughout.  Where is the aged colour?  I mentioned something about this conundrum when looking at leaves.  May have even gone into the colour deception.

I’ve had the Pig since ’15.  In another post, I discussed the pleasing changes of the Zhongcha Pig, acquired around the same time.  Now, the 6FTM Pig cannot be said to not have transformed, because it has.  All of the edginess, the piercing attributes of a young tippy production have vanished.  There is notable drying astringency as well that takes hold for a spell before releasing the mouth watering.  The floral has transformed to fruity and it resides in the mouth for a pleasant duration.

’07 Pig, 6FTM Cashed

Everything about the taste matches its colour but the age.  I would easily guess that this is a puerh at least ten years younger, except that it doesn’t infuse to a layer where the sweetness dissipates.  I would also identify it as a Lincang, but from the Bingdao side not Fengqing.

Anyway, as far as the ongoing tinning experiment, it appears when the tin is outside the fridge that the lid does not affect the taste.  Inside the fridge, the tin starts to bleed into the taste.  Again, this goes back to the matter of air flow.  The Pig is now happily resting in the fridge without its lid.   Pig isn’t for sale, but a sample of the quite similar Fohai is avail in Sampler U, along with samples of the Lunar Ox and Monkey.

 

 

Ox, 6FTM Follow Up

Posted on by Yang-chu
14 Aug

Ox, 6FTM Follow Up finds the Puerh Junky serving it up for a visitor impressed by the neifei image posted on Instagram.  If you’re asking yourself, “What?!!! Ox, 6FKNTM again?!!”  Don’t worry.  This post won’t be long.

Huge neifei

Just two days ago, the official Puerh Junky Visits Report (PJVR) noted a few things that make the Ox different from the past.  These were sweetness, flawless clarity, and no qi of note.  Hmmm.  Hold the presses.  After two or three days of sitting out of storage, all three of these variables changed.  Still, 5.5g in slow-pour zisha, 150ml.

The rinse.  Sparkling clarity and lively taste.  Light liquor colour.  I took one cup and saved the rest to cool, splitting it when the guest arrived.  She didn’t taste much, but I could sense the qi already.

The next infusion went strait to my head and our visitor poured sweat: head, arms, and legs.  “I feel like I’m in Miami,” she said.  I hand her the box of kleenex.  She’s not impressed with the taste which she feels is mottled compared to say the BZ Peacock (coffee) or the Fujin Green.  To me it’s great and the huigan is bangin’.  Clear broth, about a four out of five.

About 3.5 clarity

Next infusion is more intense and she warms up to the taste.  All infusions are “flashed” but again, it’s the slow-pour pot.  The huigan excels.  Mouth full of roses.  The ole Fengqing attribute stands out as it has customarily.  There is zero sweetness to speak of.  Clarity about the same.  The qi is working full force in my head, though it is sedating the guest.

The next infusion is a catastrophe in terms of clarity, a one.  Guest appreciates the building intensity, but her eyes are starting to roll to the back of her head.  I’m holding my head very still to keep by brains from rattling in the noggin.  Again zero sweetness but explosive huigan that those craving tippy productions seek.

Tap out.

The difference two days out of storage makes. . .   Puerh Junky preferred the experience earlier in the week, but the contrast is quite instructive.  On this 13 Aug ’22, it tasted every bit its age, whereas earlier it tasted about seven years older.

Puerh Junky Visits Ox, 6FTM

Posted on by Yang-chu
12 Aug

Puerh Junky Visits Ox, 6FTM forms part of an on-going saga.  Perhaps the Ox has occupied more digital space than any of the other 6FTM Lunar Series offerings.  It made a quick cameo in a recent post on leaves, occasioning this update.  It’s included in the Six Famous Tea Mountain sample set of Sampler U and is also one of the few samples available from the 6FTM Lunar Series.  Enough with the preliminaries. . .

Flash Rinse

A total of 5.5g were placed in my 150ml slow-pour zisha teapot reserved for floral productions.  Compared with previous experiences, the Ox appears to have turned the corner in two regards: humidity and sweetness.  The humidity has now taken a significant backstage.  Even though one can detect the humidity, it is obvious that the microbial vibe is significantly less than what it was previously.  This concept is known as tuicang, though no intentional effort was made to retreat the humidity.  This is just the product of normal LA storage, no tinning or nuthin’ was involved.

Infusions 10 and 11? One minute soak.

Concomitant with humidity’s retreat arises sweetness heretofore absent.  It’s quite interesting how the sharper attributes have all softened with the emergence of the sweetness.  It’s not sugary sweet but it is sweet and mellow with a subtlety and character of a production that has been carefully aged.  Elegant and refined.

The huigan is stellar, evoking a sense of a sweet flower like honeysuckle.  If you know what you’re tasting for, you’ll find an interesting expression of the Fengqing terroir which was much more noticeable at an earlier stage and tends to be the overriding character with the Pig and Rat.  Most all Yunnan black teas (hongcha) hail from Fengqing.  That’s the note.  Now this note is much more inconspicuous, more in harmony with the Hekai and Jingmai material.

 

Two different angles of light demonstrate the marked differences in the same production at the same time of day.

The Ox presently at an early old stage, where most of the youth has aged out while the sweetness has emerged.  More intense brewing will give a bit of astringency on the tongue but the real gem is the floral huigan.  More intense brewing also magnifies the huigan.  Perhaps the qi to this is relaxing.  It certainly didn’t inhibit sleep as it was drink right before bed.  It’s fair to say that the Guangdong storage has taken a bit from the qi side of the production.

Heavier stored productions that leave a taste of the tea and not the effects of storage are very highly regarded by the Puerh Junky.  Needless to say that the transparency ranks highly as well.

 

Lifting the Lid on Tinned Puerh

Posted on by Yang-chu
09 May

Lifting the Lid on Tinned Puerh marks an episode in the puerh storage saga of the Puerh Junky.  About a year ago, I took a few productions and placed them in various vessels, some tins, some glazed caddys, and others in porcelain.  Seals on the vessels varied in tightness and material.  The main reason for this experiment had to do with a desire to hasten transformation and adjust for what I noticed to be a bit of drop off in the pizazz primarily of the Fohai.  Altogether, I placed about five different productions in five different vessels and then proceeded to compare the performance of the vessel-stored productions against the cakes.  The caddies are stored mostly in the door of the dead refrigerator, which seems close to ideal.

 

Findings: May 2022

After better than a month with the lit removed, the Fohai was back to its original sparkle.  Notable for the Cherry Blossom was greater sweetness and a stronger fruit nose.  All of the items improved from removal of the lid with the actual vessel being of no discernible significance.  The exception being the items stored in porcelain.  None of the porcelain-stored treasures had their lids removed because they did not exhibit the same undesired tendencies.  If anything they got better.

It’s difficult to say that any of the the tinned have aged appreciably more than their respective cakes.  What can be said, however, is that their performance is noticeably better than the cakes.  Whether lid-free tinning produces appreciably better effects than setting the cake out for a few days before drinking probably depends on the production itself and the conditions in which the tea sets out.  It’s my suspicion that the Fohai probably fares better in the tin than if it were just set out, but this is merely a hunch.

Ox 6FTM Retrospective

Posted on by Yang-chu
06 Mar

Let’s take a journey, an Ox 6FTM Retrospective if you will.  It’s the ’09 offering in the 6FTM Zodiac/Lunar Series.  The Puerh Junky is in possession, covetously I might add, of them all, though some have never been touched.  If memory serves, the Ox may have been the first in the series acquired back in ’15.

The Ox is the first year of the series that was moderately pressed.  It was also wet-stored.  Here’s a shot from 2016.


Here’s a shot from 2020.

That foto includes the pot reserved for floral productions.  It’s 150ml.  The pour is fairly slow, so I go with less leafage, perhaps about five grams.  Here’s a shot from 5 March ’22, evening sesh.  It’s actually as dark it looks.  I was shocked.

Yeah, it’s a bit blurry.  Opening infusions are very smooth.  There’s something quite genteel to it in contrast to the Rat and Pig.  Here’s a couple shots from the morning, 6 March 2022.  The first about 15s and the second a good push of a minute or so.

Nice sparkle, matched in taste.

Light doesn’t catch the same here.  Same clarity actually.  Not as floral as the evening before with more minerality along with tame humidity.  Here’s cashed leaves from ’16.

Here’s the same leaf action in ’22.

There you have it. The ’09 Ox, 6FTM.