Tag Archives: aged puer

Riper Puerh Gaiwan Challenge: Day III

Posted on by Yang-chu
23 Dec

For the Ripe Puerh Gaiwan Challenge: Day III I chose the ’06 Black Brew Tuo.  I had it with a patient.  We both found it dreadful.  The taste was flat and gave the impression of puerh that had been stored in conditions that were too dry.  We only got through two infusions before moving on to some raw puerh.  At the very end of the second I brought out the clay cups and that made a positive difference.  Several hours later, I decided to give it another try and it was much improved.  The brew had depth and sweetness, more closely resembling its traits when brewed in clay.  The aftertaste didn’t last so long.

Ripe Puerh Gaiwan Challenge: Day II

Posted on by Yang-chu
21 Dec

For the Riper Puerh Gaiwan Challenge: Day II, I reached for the ’07 Mushroom Tuo Puerh.  Most notable are the mineral and clean dirt notes.  The aftertaste faded rather quickly.  The gaiwan revealed that the Mushroom Tuo might have been stored at the very driest edge of humid storage.  Sweet without the impression of a certain vegetal quality I pick up with clay.

Ripe Puerh Gaiwan Challenge Day One

Posted on by Yang-chu
21 Dec

It’s damn cold these past few days so I’m going with ripe puerh more than usual.  It dawned on me that perhaps a ripe puerh gaiwan challenge was in order.  For the next five days, I figure to sample some ripes and offer my impressions.  We’re starting with the ’07 Silver Peacock, XG.

The ’07 Silver Peacock, XG is already a very Zen ripe puerh.  Brewing in the gaiwan mutes a certain zing imparted by the clay.  At the same time, certain fruit notes that have been remarked upon by others was more evident.  The most surprising aspect of the experience was the contrast between the Zen broth and the strength of the lingering aftertaste, which is deeply satisfying and calming.  The experience seemed lighter than in my clay pot.

 

Update II: 07 Peacock Puerh Cake

Posted on by Yang-chu
05 Oct

Alas, it seems only a month ago I reviewed the ’07 Peacock, ZC.  I wanted to see how it was doing after the span of the the summer.  You can gander the review here.  The root beer notes that I mentioned have intensified.  This taste isn’t for the initial infusions anymore either.  Root beer has permeated the taste.

Zen Puerhs

The ’07 Peacock puerh used to be a Zen production.  The taste used to be gentle, soft, and evocative of misty clouds with a bit of Wheaties.  It is hard to conceive of how such a taste can transform into what it is now.  There isn’t much astringency.  Even beyond the root beer tastes of roots and vanilla is some bitterness.  There are are even pronounced floral notes which could easily be mistaken for being in the original profile– which couldn’t be further from the truth.  The zing of “puerions” on the tongue indicates top quality material.

Such night-and-day transformation of the raw material usually points to productions hailing from the Yiwu region.  That would be my best guess for the Peacock.  Yiwu puerhs are known to get better with age, a truism that I took to be more folklore than fact.  It is still quite difficult to get my head around how something ever so subtle in taste could change so remarkably only through aging.

Not all Zen puerhs, it should be noted, make this type of transformation.  Not all Yiwu offerings will transform into a zingy, rooty, vanilla melange of sweet with a splash of bitter nectar.  Some rather old YPH productions, for example, only begin to taste old or clean-old.  They never exhibit that particular zing.  One exception is the Glee.    I do not know if this is attributable to processing or terroir.  Others that do not transform is due to less than ideal quality.  This points to both soil quality and tree age.  Older trees have a more extensive root system drawing more minerals from the soil.

Peacock Puerh Photos

Autumn ’19 Infusion 6 and 7

Different Angle of Peacock Puerh

A couple times people have asked a question that suggests that they believe that “Peacock” is a particular puerh type.  It isn’t.  Peacocks are just an icon popular among the puerh producing tribes of Yunnan.

Applicious Yiwu Puerh from ’03

Posted on by Yang-chu
14 Sep

It took five months for the Applicious Yiwu from ’03 to come into form.  Form doesn’t necessary mean Root Beer class, however.  This is decidedly not of the Root Beer class.  It’s more of the Yang Pin Hao vibe: forever Zen.  As I say this, I instantly recall that Glee is turning Root Beer.

I’ve been tasting this since April ’19.  Rare is the instance where a puerh ships and is ready for drinking in short order.  The Applicious Yiwu has had the opportunity to benefit from humidity at least 70% in temps well above 60 these past few weeks.  Sometimes the temps are over 30c but the humidity doesn’t go below 62% and be as high as 85%.  The tea loves this.

The Applicious’ huigan is mac.  Basically everything about it from when I got is is a testament to proper storage on the front and back end.  The dry storage ensures no stinkiness while age sets end; the back end brings out the life in the leaves through humidity and temperature– without the stank!

The Puerh Junky’s Spidey senses didn’t fail him here.  The real gem is its sneaky sourness.  This isn’t orange juice sour.  It’s not in the liquor.  It sneaks up in the huigan giving rise to an amazing cheeky sensation that is closest to the “salivation” sensation so oft mentioned.  It isn’t astringent, just a sneaky sour, surprising and pleasant, a squeeze of lemon so to speak.

Those familiar with Yiwu productions might be surprised.  I’m familiar and certainly surprised.  If you want to understand the quintessence of fruity Zen then try this, but otherwise don’t bother.  Many people like to be smacked with obvious sensations and that’s not the vibe of this production.  It is of exquisite quality and typifies the “gentle” (柔) class of puerhs.  No Root Beer treasure can be considered gentle.

Latest 19年 中秋: Puerh Hoarding

Posted on by Yang-chu
04 Sep

Many people write upon “puerh hoarding.”  Let me join the fray.  Most of these items will be available eventually, but they’ll have to sit for a year or so and by then I’ll have pretty much forgotten about them.  Thence, this is more or less a logging the reason for Chinese characters in the title.

Today I got three Du Qiong-zhi’s ’03 7542 from a different vendor from the first.  At first blush, I don’t like the storage as much.  I’m apprehensive, as the other, Guandong, was offensive but in the right wet storage way.  This one not so much.  I don’t think after the dank wears off that it will have as much life to the leaves.  I have a Mengku Rongshi Daxue Shan from ’06 that strikes me as being quite similar.  A Simao ’03 7542 struck me as being quite similar, but seems to have been fearsome enough to overcome its storage.  The Du Qiong-zhi is definitely fierce.

Since I try to keep attuned with ripes, I was curious whether the ’06 Langhe Tuo of 250g was as good as the 100g offering of the same name but the latter with the magnificent peacock and an individually packaged round box.  As an admission, the peacock box offering was under Guandong conditions.  The 250g offering has been under Kunming conditions.  There’s little comparison at this juncture.  Time will tell, but for the record the peacock box is one of the best finds in the stash.   I will say, however, that there’s still the crystal clarity and beauty in the 250g.  Look for updates.

I had the ’09 Gongting for fully two years before I could make a pronouncement about it’s value.  When I could, I tracked it down.  I got it when I was in Kunming back in ’17.  These have been dry and very tidily stored.  I’m impressed.  I know it will be repulsive now, but at least not because of its storage.  Besides, I already know what it is and its damn good.

I have a vendor whose taste and storage I trust, so I bought a tong of an Yiwu from ’03.  They have a high regard for the gentility of YPH and I broke my cherry on the Dahongyin from ’99 or so with them.  I’m still sitting on that.  When I first got it, it was mellow enough.  Now it has some manner of explosive dankness, even under moderate storage.  I’m thinking.  The Yiwu changed in a matter of four days, from good enough to a lively, minerally, humid-stored promise.  I’ve got their ’03 YPH 200g tuo, which is exquisite.  The YPH mo is decidedly Zen and floral.  They’re not as evasive as Manzhuan productions but close.

Yesterday, I gave a patient a 7g sample of the ’11 Fruit Monster by GPH.  I sampled it as well on my own.  It’s not nearly as smoky and the fruit notes didn’t jump either.  However, the patient reported to me that she noticed the fruit notes, entirely unsolicited.  GPH is short for GuPuer, which is the new name for the Simao TF, one of the classic numbered factories.  Let’s say #5, maybe #7.  It’s one of the factories that I find interesting enough to follow.  Their ’05 Organic Brick is capturing my fancy presently.  Shared it today with a patient who like it over a ripe that I was quite enamoured with.

Made my first Haiwan/Laotongzhi purchase.  I got it because it has the tea master’s signature on it, Zou Bing-liang.  It’s also purported to have the cinnamon vibe.  I’ve tasted it a couple times.  It’s from ’06 and still needs a spell, no particularly negative views, rather fruity.  I only have one of these avail.  Storage is inoffensive, on the dry side.  I’ve no cause to be anything other than optimistic, though it is mighty dry.

The octagonally shaped ’10 Nanzhao by Xiaguan is stupid good, but it takes much punishment to get there.  It has this horrible dank that makes it undrinkable before its ready.  Many XG productions have this.  It’s not smoky like others, just putrid.  Then it blossoms into its extravagance.  I’m not selling this not because I’m hoarding, but because storage is crucial to proper appreciation. The ’08 Gift Box has the same name.  I don’t think they’re the exact same.  In any case, I’ve been cooking in LA storage since ’16.

Puerh Study, Not Hoarding

Though there is a tendency among some to hoard, puerh seems more to be a study.  Given its variability, the study requires suspending judgement to, as someone else noted, “understand the leaves on their own terms.”  Once those terms are understood and appreciated, it makes sense to want to acquire more.  That seems more like collecting than hoarding, the latter being indiscriminate in nature.

 

Update: ’07 Peacock Puerh Cake

Posted on by Yang-chu
03 Sep

Here’s an update on the ’07 Peacock puerh cake, by Kunming Tea Factory, i.e., the venerable Zhongcha, aka China Tea.  It just dawned on me that Zhongcha means China Tea.  Anyway, the ’07 is one among three ’07 Peacocks edition in my possession.  The only one for sale is this, though it is arguably the least tasty of the three.

Puerh Nostalgia

When I first acquired the ’07 Peacock, I drank quite a bit of it.  It called my name regularly, not because it was particularly delicious but because it was just that cryptic.  I’ve called it “Thick Zen” in another post.  One of the things that particularly struck me about it was just how waxy rich the leaves were.  It just looked like it had a lot of stuff in it, though the Zen taste did seem more than a shade incongruous.

It seemed plausible that the Peacock would age into its puerh relative the Blue Mark.  This means it would develop into a more aged-taste Zen treasure.  This week it started showing signs that it would actually transform into the Root Beer class.  Hooray!  It’s still at its incipient stages.  At the end of the hot season, by Dec ’19, it’s possible that it will be a degree or two deeper.  Another 12 to 16 mths, I anticipate that the root beer will be much stronger.

 

 

 

Gongting Sheng Puerh?

Posted on by Yang-chu
20 Aug

I picked up this ’08 Gongting Sheng puerh back in ’17 when in Kunming, even though I’d never heard of gongting sheng. “Gongting” translates into “palace” and is a designation for the smallest leaf size and highest grade (ostensibly) of ripe puerhs. This is the second organic production I’ve encountered from this no-name factory that I’ve been following since the time that I started my puerh project.  I wrote something about a 250g tuo of theirs that I’ve been sitting on since about ’15.

Until the spring of this year, ’19, the Gongting sheng puerh was simply not ready.  I’d been baby storing it in conditions between 60-73% rh with temps ranging from 13-25c based purely on conditions here in the heart of Los Angeles.  The conditions proved sufficient to allow it to transform into it next stage, seemingly forgoing the awkward teenage years characterized by a displeasing measure of sourness.

Tiny Leaves

Puerh Transformation

There’s much to be said for mid-aged puerh that gets the austere treatment of Kunming before landing in the impressive conditions of coastal SoCal.  To be honest, tasting puerhs in Kunming is by and large a gut-wrenching experience– literally.  Even the older productions are too dry get beyond the astringency.  The thing is however, that these conditions do a great job of preserving the essential personality of the tea itself, which when livened up with humidity is still present.  I’m noticing that with wet-stored productions these essential elements are cooked out of the cake, making the predominating taste essentially that of dirt, not bad dirt but dirt nonetheless.

The Gongting has all of its complexity.  As it has transformed, it is quite evident that it is comprised of superior raw material.  There are tastes of root beer, toasted honey, Chinese licorice, fennel, melon, and explosive camphor.  There’s some bitterness in there as well.

One thing possibly related to transformation, or the lack thereof, is just how murky this puerh cake is. . .

Infusion #3

I think the murkiness might relate to a stage.  In the case of ripe puerhs, murkiness often indicates that the microbes and enzymes responsible for transforming the production have not finished eating.  It’s possible that the same logic applies to some raws.

Puerh Class

Our ’08 Gongting puerh cake is decidedly in the Root Beer class.  For the next few years the camphor and root beer will only get stronger.  It seems as though the ’08 and ’07 cakes are starting to come into their own.  I also wonder how much the leaf size and the chopping factors into this progression.

Cashed Chopped Leaves

The appearance of these cashed leaves greatly resembles the cashed material of the ’07 Beijing Olympics, which I also recently reviewed.   The Gongting, however, is not nearly as tightly pressed as the Beijing Olympics, however.

Quesadillas and Zhongcha’s “55”

Posted on by Yang-chu
18 Aug

This Sunday morning, my wife whipped up some quesadillas that had sausage, pepper jack, zucchini, and scallions.  After a bite or two, I thought some ripe puerh was in order.  I wanted something that could hold up to food.  Zhongcha’s “55” called my name.

Let’s start at the end.  Bam!  Two pots shared between my wife and me and we were definitely feeling the qi.  I’m still feeling it.  Maybe it’s the chemical reaction between Italian sausage and puerh that’s producing this wooziness, kinda like the two herbs mixed together to make ayahuaska.  Warmth swirls in the chest and throat and the hackles at the back of neck and arms go into full effect.  I was asked just last week if it was possible to get high from a ripe as with a quality raw.  The ’06 “55” puerh cake emphatically answers this question in the affirmative.

Thick and Complex Ripe Puerh

We only drank those two pots.  It’s that satisfying.  It’s sweet like molasses.  Imagine Postum, if you can, with molasses.  I’m quite fond of postum, as my mom used to make it for me when I was but a lad back in Detroit.  It tastes like a very close approximation, a taste that’s still echoing in the flavour chambers of my mouth 45 minutes after the fact and with food!

But there’s more: light camphor in the aftertaste, incense in the front of the mouth, and baby powder in the back.  There’s also smooth chocolate candy, a la Tootsie Roll, notes.  This accounts for much of the sweetness.

Fourth Infusion 10s

Aging and Ripe Puerhs

There seems to be a consensus that ripe puerhs only require a year or two of settling before they’re drinkable.  I haven’t found this to be the case.  When I first got the 55, from the Kunming Tea Factory (KMTF)/Factory #1, it was overly astringent.  Perhaps it was two years ago that I began to detect the camphor and baby powder notes; only today the incense.  I understand that it may be a year or two (allegedly) for the wodui odor to dissipate.  However, there is more to a good ripe than dissipating the “fishy smell.”

In the world of puerh, what the “7542” is to Dayi, the “7581” is to the KMTF.  The older a “7581“, the higher the market price.  If the matter is simply wodui, then the market is either crazy or the older productions possess some distinguishing property that makes it more valuable.  It turns out that even though the “7581” is a ripe production, part of the secret recipe includes raw puerh material.  Perhaps this is the modus operandus of for most of their ripes.  Anyway, this is the first year in which I can say the “55” is really good, raw seasoning or not. It’s from ’06.

I don’t think I imagined reading something about ripes topping out.  Maybe this is a phenomenon akin to the wretched “oolong processed” so-called “gu-shu” puerhs peddled by some boutique sellers.  It sorta makes sense that the recipe and processing would contribute to the shelf-life of a production.  Dunno.  There’s a lot of boring ripes out there after sifting through the hideous.  The thing is some of those after 2 yrs in the wondrous environs of LA might turn out to be a delight.  I just can’t tell. .  . most of the time.

Similarly, some of the best raw puerhs are those that transform into something almost unidentifiable from its youth.  Maybe there’s something similar going on with the good ripes.   That something can only be attributed to boss source material, I suppose.

Secret Recipe

Food and Puerh

I’ve never been to any of those Yam Cha places in Hong Kong where they are purported to drink puerh with their dim sum.  I’ve done a little travel through SE Asia and I never encountered puerh.  I guess that means that if I want to kick my quesadilla with a treasure like “55”, then it’s only evidence of how adaptable tea culture is.  Let’s talk details.

Italian sausage and pepper jack cheese possess traits that greatly compliment a complex production like the “55”.  The fennel of the sausage, the fat of both the sausage and cheese, the smoothness of the toasted tortilla and cheese, all find correspondences with the brew.  The remaining astringency and the emerging camphor cleanse the palate and opens the breast, while warming the gullet and belly.  Grease and astringency are a perfect pair.

That’s enough for now.

 

Wow! Beijing Olympics Puerh Cake Update

Posted on by Yang-chu
13 Aug

The ’07 Beijing Olympics puerh cake is a Kunming TF (KMTF) production from ’07.  I’ve been drinking it from one season to the next since its acquisition in ’13.  Whereas many productions from that period have jumped rather high in price and there has been a prevailing sense of disparagement toward ’07 more than any other, this puerh gem suggests this viewpoint is more urban legend than truth.

Puerh Cake Stats

The Beijing Olympics is a commemorative puerh cake for the ’08 Beijing Olympics.  It’s pressed mercilessly and comprised of chopped leaves.  Infusion times are consequently much longer than is generally the case, but standard for the “atomic” pressed cakes, bricks, and squares.

I generally refer to KMTF productions as Zhongcha.  This is because until quite recently I only dealt in Zhongcha productions from that factory, the factory designated #1 by the erstwhile state monopoly.  KMTF has always seemed to take a back seat to factories #2 Menghai TF (Dayi) and #3 (Xiaguan).  Each “house” has its own processing methods and natural material preferences.  I had taken it upon myself to focus on KMTF in part because shysters didn’t find it economically feasible to fake their productions and because they maintained ownership of the iconic 茶 symbol displayed from days past.  Yes.  Total frivolity.

Puerh Progression

The house taste of Zhongcha productions tends to be very soft, in great contrast to either of the other two.  I’ve a few posts on the Beijing Olympics.  The gist is that until this May ’19, it could only be characterized as Zen with peachy, waxy notes.  Now, there is no Zen.  The wax has transformed to petrol.  The first infusion is unbelievable, a sandalwood depth that is extremely exciting about its future.

Let’s face it, its very difficult to divine the future of a puerh.  There are Zen productions that will transform into the forest and ones that will just turn out ok.  The same applies to sweet, floral, sharp, and astringent productions.  How a production ages is a huge factor in assaying its quality and also a great mystery.

This Beijing Olympics has been babied.  Most of the six years in which its been stored has been under very moderate Los Angeles conditions.  There’s just no mistaking that Hong Kong and Guandong/Taiwan stored items, albeit transformed, lose loads of character and complexity over time.  Nothing has been lost here.  In fact, the Beijing Olympics is gaining a head of steam, getting stronger and more complex.

Puerh Class Transition

Whereas the puerh class into which the Beijing Olympics had been placed was Zen, now it now more squarely falls into the Petrol class.  Additionally, it is now ridiculously sweet, even as you plow into the deeper infusions.  It’s a saccharine sweetness, which combines with petrol that might be confused with smoke.  Consequently, the huigan is instantaneous, sweet from broth to aftertaste.  Thrown in are tobacco notes and tropical fruit.  Imagine a pack of sugar-free juicy fruit soaked some kind of dry oak-aged whiskey.

Here’s the kicker. . .

All these flavors despite the evidently light colour.  Above is more than the 8th infusion.  Even as it fades with long infusions better than four minutes, it never stops being very sweet and fruity.

This is a hugely underrated puerh production.