Puerh Junky Visits Making Tea

Puerh Junky Visits Making Tea involves a CMS series by the same name.  I’ve gotten my hands on a few of the series from the year ’16, even posted fotos of on Instagram to make it official.  CMS is technically Yibang CMS and that detail is critical as they possess either material or a processing style that is very Yiwu. . . Yibang being in Yiwu.

The style goes beyond just the stone pressing to encompass the overall softness of taste.  Here, the dry leaves give off a slight smoke and kerosene nose that is mostly candy fruity.  The candy fruity is very similar to the recently listed Jade Mark, a nose of something like Jolly Rancher watermelon.  That kinda fragrance is certainly more Menghai or Lincang.

Making tea Nov 2022

The first real infusion gives off clarity of about 2.5 outta five.  I’ve drunk about 3/4 of this cake and it’s never left any impression.  Based on the intensity and height of the aroma, the ole Junky‘s luck may have changed but while sniffing the cloudy brew the thought to lower the water temp occurs.

Consistent with Yiwus, the taste doesn’t jump out at you.  It’s still too young to have any of the smooth vanilla or thick texture, but the qi comes on powerfully in the head and chest.  Overall, there wasn’t enough to sustain even a modicum of interest.

Several hours later. . .

“It’s good at any temperature,” comments the wife.  The hiatus has helped harness hiding sugars.  There’s a bit of kerosene, ever so slight.  Zero bitterness, even when pushed. Nothing to be said of astringency either.  There’s nothing to sink one’s teeth into.  Zen brutality.

Day two is much of the same.  A thread of freshly mowed grass can be detected in the pitcher, but doesn’t convert into the taste.  Pure rock sugar, a very faint sense of something floral, but all completely fades after taking a piece of buttered bread.  The following taste is of an insipid green tea.  Qi goes to the head in a comprehensive manner, not jagged but with full self-assurance.

Reading through the ’09 comments on an ’08 CMS production that I drank this ’22, one commenter said the tea was “moderately floral and lacking in complexity.”  Thirteen years later, the floral note sounds with great perfection, with nice sweetness and thickness.  The difference is age.  The Puerh Junky assumes Making Tea is in a similar boat.  Realistically its about six years away from hitting a decent stride, optimistically three.

 

 

Replicating Puerh Brewing Results

Replicating Puerh Brewing Results extends a conversation regarding Drury Lane at the end of June ’22.  In late Aug of the same year, Puerh Junky endeavored to replicate the splendid results.  The upshot?  Setting the brick out for a few days before brewing reproduced the desired results.

Although it would be nice to just grab from the stash and brew something up, each treasure has its own personality that will be greatly influenced by storage conditions and season.  Only you know your storage and climactic conditions.  Relating my own only demonstrates that there are no hard and fast rules and you’re only going to find what’s right for you through experimentation.

This time Drury Lane sat out for about three days before being brewed.  The results were superb.  It’s fair to say that any brewing without sitting out a few days would be a waste.  One caveat: so long as it remains in the same storage space, the fridge.

Since April ’22, the fridge has become a power-storage space.  Whereas previously, some humidifiers were placed here and there in the fridge, the current setup has a shelf where a tray of humidification resides.  It consists of a simple large plastic take-out food container with two florist sponges about an inch thick.  The tray is filled with water mixed with perhaps 1/8th, maybe less, of food-grade propylene glycol, used to discourage mold.  If I see mold growing on the sponges, then I add a more concentrated mixture.  I don’t just pour the pg into the tray.  It needs to be mixed.

Precision Humefaction

The tray sits uncovered because there is no risk of spillage and because it diffuses faster than if it were covered.  Most all the other storage containers have a similar setup but with lids that have numerous holes melted into them.  I heated a big screw with a kitchen torch to make them without cracking the plastic.  Two of the very big containers have one-gallon jugs cut to accommodate a big sponge and a good amount of water.  Both containers are accessed frequently and allow more airflow than the fridge, so this seemed to be the best way to get lotsa humidity into the containers.

Dodger tape optional

One such container holds ripes.  The morning of Sept 2nd, ’22 occasioned its opening to sample Snake.  The blast of air upon opening promised good “juice-ification” for the treasures therein.  It’s been hot and humid these past few days.  This setup makes for power humidity, enlivening the ripes, making them richer and sweeter.  Right now it’s ultra primo storage, as the air flow and heat is much greater than the fridge.

Already, 2022 has been the Snake‘s best year, so checking in on it was simply to determine whether it would also require a few day’s airing given the difference in storage.  Findings?  No airing necessary.   The plastic container provides nearly ideal conditions with this humidifier during the hot season.

The most current stint of heat has been quite humid so the amount of water that the fridge has been drinking is actually less than June and July.  It could also be that the tea has reached a certain saturation level, but I’m guessing that it has more to do with ambient humidity.

In general, I’m not worried about mold.  It’s never been a problem and the returns are huge in terms of how happy it makes the puerh.  This applies to both raw and ripes.  From mid-Nov to the beginning of July, temperatures will normally only get into the 90s (27c?) maybe a total of 15 days.  September and October will be burners, but usually the humidity will be quite super low.  Perhaps this newly outfitted humidifiers will work with the dry heat to keep up a juicy cooking, but the main purpose is to prevent excessive drying.

Much could be said on these seasonal changes, but the focus here is on reproducing the same effects for an excellent ripe which had started to drop off from excessive dryness and didn’t impress after conditions had switched to greater humidity.  It turns out, the original charm blossomed after sitting out for a few days.  Visiting the Snake confirmed some of the weaknesses of storage in the fridge.  As an aside, it should be noted that there are other items stored in the fridge that don’t seem to need any airing.  Again, each production has its own personality, shaped by material, compression, and mysterious variables necessitating constant fiddling to bring out the best from each.  Don’t be afraid to experiment.  Puerh is super forgiving.

 

Visiting Grenouille and Aging

Visiting Grenouille and Aging tackles two subjects: the first is an update on the ’06 Grenouille, and the second compares Grenouille to the considerably younger ’16 Bulang Shengtai, Jindafu.  Let’s begin

Grenouille’s Developments

Grenouille hails from Wuliang Mt, in Simao.  The most famous of Simao mountains by far is Jingmai.  Wuliang Mt could well be the second most famous.  The terroir profiles of the two are distinctive. Where Jingmai are know for their florals, often described as orchid, Wuliang can be minerally or peppery.  The pepper profile is extremely common among Simaos that do not bear the appellation Jingmai.  These often hail from Jinggu.  There is also Ailao Mt possessing a pepper note.  Simao is synonymous with Lancang, cf Lincang, and Puer City.  Jingmai, Wuliang, Jinggu, and Ailao are the commonly recognized names of the productions associated with Simao.

There will be a quiz so pay attention.

Grenouille typifies the Simao essence.  Where Jingmai should sing in a high register, other Simao brood.  There’s nothing pitchy.  Rather, there’s a complex melange of medium to dark notes, notes that are difficult to identify beyond Simao itself.  Think of an attar of oud, vetiver, and vanilla, the hand of a fiendish perfumer.   This is not your mother’s Menghai.  It takes some sessions to get one’s head around what the terroir communicates.  Similar offerings in the the Collection include Buddha Impressions and Auspicious Dragon, both from Jinggu and the Cherry Blossom, also from Wuliang.

Grenouille came into the Puerh Junky’s possession in early ’19.  Up to that point, it had been conservatively dry stored, perhaps a bit warm.  Such conditions can give rise to a baby powder cum old church lady perfume quality that appeals to many drinkers.  The transition has been from subtle to insufferable to settled, where it is now this Jul 2022.  There’s a touch of bitter and an even smaller bit of sour.  Quite sophisticated it is.

By “settled,” the Puerh Junky means to convey something about that layer of baby powder.  At the insufferable stage, it is the prevailing note constituting an intensely sweet attar.  This is where increased humidity of LA conditions heighten the top layer of expression.  At the settled stage, that trait percolates into the overall character of the tea.  This indicates transformation beyond the top layer where the deeper layers have also had a chance to cook.

Aging: Grenouille vs Bulang Shengtai

Grenouille is from ’06 and Bulang Shengtai is from ’16.  Ten year difference.  I’ve been storing the latter since ’17 and the former, as mentioned above, since ’19.

Grenouille 2022 Foto

Shot two:

Bulang Shengtai 2022 Foto

Here’s another:

Bulang Shengtai 2017 Foto

Let’s let the pictures speak for themselves.  It’s clear that Grenouille is darker, but the question is whether it appears ten years darker.  The answer lies in understanding the relative nature of aging.  Obvious, right?  Still, it’s good to have a side-by-side gander to determine just how difficult it is to tell the age of a production by the leaves themselves.

The darker the leaves the older the tea.  Again obvious.  The darkness of the leaves relative the production date indicates storage conditions.  The difference is apparent in clearly humid versus dry stored productions.  However, there is a good deal of gray, especially among mainland offerings, so the colour provides an additional indicator of just how dry relative what’s being tasted.  This provides some clues regarding what to expect given one’s own storage conditions and transformation prospects for the production itself.   Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like I snapped a shot of Grenouille‘s cashed leaves when first acquired.

 

 

 

Shocking Puerh Changes

Shocking Puerh Changes relates the on-going observations of the Puerh Junky with his pre-2016 purchases.  Specifically, it involves the dangers of classifying productions, which are wont to transform into an entirely different category.  It is also part of a saga of discovering erstwhile duds were nothing of the sort, but processed in such a way where they only have come into form after a great deal of time.  Let’s begin.

Shifting Puerh Class

The ’07 Prince of Vanilla came into the Puerh Junky’s possession in ’15.  It hails from the Longyuan TF, which produces an awful lot of tea, many with super fancy wrappers.  In the year of its incarnation, ’06, the PoV won some type of metal at some competition that was essentially ignored upon acquisition.  The wrapper captures a theme of a continued Dai/Thai tradition thus comprising a thematic “fit.”  Compression is one of the most noticeable features of the cake.  Whereas most Menghai productions from this era have been machine pressed with serious zeal, the PoV is quite moderately pressed.

Nothing impresses more than the ability of competition tasters.  Over the years, it is hard to say any thing had particularly stood out about the PoV and for copetition tasters to detect award-winning traits hot off the press boggles the mind.  In one missive, I mentioned that Prince of Vanilla made for good bowl drinking and that the qi was stout, a great firm drink in the Tobacco Class for the morning.  At one time, there was a vanilla note, which earned it its name, but after some time faded residing rather humbly in the Tobacco Class most distinguished by its wrapper.

As such, it never garnered any special storage attention and could said to have been relegated to quasi-purgatory treatment.  Special attention means more humidity and purgatory means getting whatever humidity possible, which isn’t a whole lot.  This could prove positively disastrous in the desert, but Los Angeles isn’t exactly a desert climate given the famous marine layer that adds a bit of humidity to the air for about three of the four seasons.

As of the summer of ’22, the Prince of Vanilla’s Tobacco Class days are very behind it.  It is now a Fruit Class bomb.  It’s not like the Thick Zen where there are just fruit notes.  No, it is screaming blueberry, a taste which lingers and lingers long after done drinking.  It’s as though this is the material from which the mercurial Merlot was taken.  Merlot is a ripe which was originally going to be called Crunch Berries because it was so fruity but then settled into something more like Merlot before shifting back into to a voluble fruity expression. . . with more qi.  It seems sometimes that consistent dry storage will develop this fruit character, instead of strong camphor and tree roots.  The storage is certifiably dry but it isn’t in the least dry tasting.  That occurs when storage is too dry and too hot, which in any event result in different notes.  Here, nothing about the PoV is dry.  It’s super summer fun.

Jingmai Puerh Awakens

Another ’15 acquisition was a Jingmai with a stunning wrapper from a now either defunct or reorganized outfit called Mountain Top TF.  The fate of such a factory is quite telling.  To wit: the ’09 Jingmai is only now starting to show signs of promise in ’22.  A new factory faces a serious uphill batter for survival if their processing required waiting a good 15 years before coming into form.  This is a battle that Mountain Top appears to have lost, but there’s still its offerings for evaluation and enjoyment.

Perhaps most surprising about this Jingmai was its utter absence of the signature Jingmai florality.  Youth and processing notwithstanding, Jingmai are still expected to possess a floral character.  Without any particular character or floral expression, this production was nothing short of a major dud, especially given its exquisite wrapper and very careful pressing.  As such, it was set aside and essentially given the purgatory treatment: dry and given little if any fuss.

The July ’22 tasting proved surprising.  There is a hint of flowers starting to emerge amidst a very sweet broth.  It’s hard to imagine how such tastes and aromas age into a production, but this is what makes puerh aging so interesting.  Also shocking is the virtual absence of colour in such an old production.  By all accounts, I would have guessed that this was a ’20 Lincang processed for young consumption, the exact opposite of the facts.

The caste of the broth stays this colour throughout.  There may be a hint of pink in there which is supposed to a mark of the absolute best.  It could also be from the time of day the photo was taken.  I paid more attention to whether the floral note would express more strongly, how long the sugariness would continue, and whether the broth would darken up or go through a cloudy stage than the nature of the hue itself.  It never went through a cloudy stage nor did it get darker.  The richness and sugar start to fade in the 6th and 7th infusions.  Clearly its most humbling feature involves the colour, as a typical barometer of age.  Curve balls of this sore make the Puerh Junky all the more apprehensive in doubting some age claims.

The remaining cakes were resting in more humid climes for a few months, but there’s a measure of storage orchestration with which I’m currently contending, so they’re back to purgatory for at least the next week. The Jingmai will be sampled again at the end of the summer.  I’ll be particularly interested in how long it lasts and whether the floral note continues to develop, as I’m finding with the Bulang Shengtai.

 

Getting Orders

The best part about getting orders is that it takes my mind off all the “new” arrivals.  A dragon pearl order had me stumble upon the ’14 Gedeng naked.

Prolly third infusion

Gedeng is one of the six famous tea mountains of Yunnan.  Don’t quote me but all the 6FTM are located in Yiwu.  I’ve had this since ’14 and listed in ’15, essentially.  The pic above is from ’15.

A little comparison in leaves. . .

2015

 

2020

But wait there’s more. . .

2021

Forgive the shoddy portraiture as I capture this Gedeng in its natural setting.  It seems to be a merciless creeper, astringency wise.  Seems to taste like glorified water.  What struck me was that the second and third infusions has a bit of bitterness that completely vanishes thereafter.  I’m about five infusions in and the first got about 3-5m.  It wasn’t overbearing in the least.  The fifth I gave a bit of stirring.  The pic above is infusion number five.

It then goes through a vous ja de aftertaste full of colour but utterly confusing because none of those tastes can be detected in the broth.  The immediate mouthfeel is a low buzz before wicked astringency, from the throat all along the tongue.  I haven’t felt like drinking something to offset that effect for quite a while.  It’s a tea of extremes.  I’m going to test with wife this evening.

 

Puerh Junky Harassment!

Seems Puerh Junky Harassment is omnipresent these days.  Your Puerh Junkyness can’t go anywhere without being hectored by the rabble about my tinning developments.  “Yo PJ!  What’s up with the ’06 Fohai you still haven’t posted?” shouts the bedraggled woman with the big nose and colourful shawl covering her greying hair.  “PJ, hey PJ!  Are you ignoring my texts?  What the word with the Lucky 7542, DQZ you’ve had in clay well nigh two months already?  Why you ghosting me?” read the email from someone in some place called “Topeka.”  Some dude with his eyebrows tattooed, one reading “Puerh” and the other “Junky,” in a pink Dodgers baseball cap in a big red Dodge Ram rolls down his window at a stop light asking, “Hey man, you still got the Water Blue Mark in porcelain?”  How did he know that?!!

I tell ya, it’s getting hectic out there, a real cramp to my Puerh Junky anonymity.

As luck would have it, there is word on a few productions that I can share.  Speaking of luck, lets start with the aforementioned Lucky 7542, DQZ, which has been in zisha since late Feb/early Mar 2021.  If you’ve had occasion to gander this production, you’ll know that there are two storage options avail, wet and proper.  Yes.  If it’s called wet, the storage is the opposite of proper, so the objective of claying it was to do something about the detestable dank oppression.  Findings are highly favourable.

There’s zero dank in the first five infusions.  There’s a nice balance, thickness, and sweetness that didn’t previously exist because the garbage taste was too loud.  It’s about half way seasoned presently, part of the age and nature of 7542 also factoring.  It was set aside for the next day, which produced even more sweetness and pleasantness for an additional 6-8 infusions.  Clay seems to be the very best way to season wet-stored puerhs where they can actually become drinkable.  At six weeks storage give or take, the effects are quite pleasing, sufficient to make it a top-shelf offering for puerh drinkers with fairly high standards.

Since we’re on the topic of clay, it’s worth noting that the ’01 Yiwu Huangpian has received similar treatment but for different reasons.  If I were to guess, it was subjected to a period of heavy wet storage and then a very long period of dry storage.  Upon taste, the Yiwu Huangpian receives high marks for storage and taste but some finishing touches never hurt.  Claying in this case provides volume that takes a good production to the next level.

Oh yeah, the Fohai, 6FTM.  It’s coming along in the tin.  The first couple weeks it was bright, ebullient even in the vein of the Fu or the Bulang Business, which I delisted, as somehow I’m only down to one left.  Anyway, about two weeks I checked in on the Fohai, which is the old name for Menghai, and it’s changed dramatically.  There’s much more petrol, the taste is much more serious in a scotch kinda way, even though I hate scotch and find the petrol vibe far more interesting.  Findings for the Pig, 6FTM have been similarly positive.

Fohai’s Tin

I’ve been letting those productions just have their way in the tins.  I’m not taking pains to manage air exposure, for example.  I am wondering how such measures will influence their root beer potential.  The ’04 Monkey, for example, is in full root beer glory.  It’s never been broken up and all dalliances with it have only involved moving it from one ring of the storage circus to the other– and out from the cursed cardboard, sometime relatively late in the game.   The Monkey has hardcore compression, as do all the 6FTM offerings up til 2010.  The ’11 Rabbit is shockingly agey, with a petrol expression that emerges much later in its tightly pressed predecessors.

I’ve referenced a few unlisted items here. Just touch base if you’re interested in any samples.

Puerh Junky Report: Fruit Monster

So on Friday my wife and I were up for some heavy drinking.  I only remember thinking Fruit Monster would probably round the sesh out nicely, since the other offerings were higher on the keyboard.  Fruit Monster, being from 2011 and dry stored, isn’t exactly full of low notes.  However, it does have quite a bit of smoke and grit, along with a bit of incense.  The fruit muskmelon notes of yore are no longer detectable and its bratty finish lead the Puerh Junky to conclude that in some regards it’s about three years off.

The Puerh Junky Report: Fruit Monster concerns leftovers from Friday.  Today is Monday.  A couple infusions consumed on Saturday led to a final infusion forgotten amidst the welter of puerh treasures.  Water remained in the bell pepper pot for two days.  This morning I thought I give it a try, expecting a bitter lesson.

Bell Pepper Pot with the ’01 GM Puerh

To my astonishment, the Fruit Monster tasted of strawberries.  This is a taste usually evident of productions at least fifteen years old.  It portends the return of fruit to the monster, but I will have to wait a while.

This reminds us that puerh is a moving target, particularly raws.   The Puerh Junky found a similar progression with the Dali Tuo, where now enticing strawberry fruitiness starts expressing after about the fourth infusion.  It’s the same fruit note so common to many ripes.  In fact, upon recent tasting only this weekend, the Silver Peacock is starting to express fruit notes as well.

We’ll see how the the Fruit Monster progresses.  Right now the days of musky fruit are long gone.  Its edginess and depth are satisfactory but not where they will be in a few years.  In some cases these variables would have the Puerh Junky state outright that it is not ready, but from very early on Fruit Monster has proven itself a solid tobacco-class drinker.  However, the course of changes from this weekend portend the return of a different fruit to the monster sometime in an unknown future.

Puerh Rating: Silver Pekoe

The Puerh Junky Rating System (PJRS) takes on the 06 Silver Pekoe Tuo.   The Silver Pekoe is one of the most ferocious of the Puerh Junky offerings.  It also happens to be one of the oldest.  It is a Tulin TF production, which carries a solid reputation for their puerh tuos.

After three rounds the total was as follows:

  • Aroma          12
  • Clarity           11
  • Sweetness     8
  • Viscosity         7
  • Astringency   10
  • Huigan          14
  • Qi                  10

Reflections

2020 Shot of the ’19 Purchase

Ferocious describes the Silver Pekoe, even after 14 years.  Needless to say, if you like a big bite in the mouth, then this is the tuo for you.  In terms of qi, it is also no slouch.  Now a matter of disclosure. . .

I originally purchased the SP in 2015.  At the time, it struck me as “interesting” but with a pronounced orange-juice finish that make me feel there was something wrong with the storage.  It always struck me as dynamic and sometimes the aroma was plain wicked, so I sampled it frequently, while stashing the store away in the container with extra heat and humidity to get the sour out.  The end result was nothing short of spectacular. . . after 3.5 yrs.

In 2019 I was able to source it again.  There is a considerable difference between the ’19 and ’15 that can only be attributed to differences in storage.  The most alarming difference to my sensibility is the degree of bitterness that can be detected in the ’19.  I find it a major put-off.  Second, the ’19 tastes much more petrolly and feels hotter.  This also the taste of dry wood, like in a wood shop or the taste of tequilas and whiskeys.

The outstanding huigan  of the ’19 stored is brashly floral, present instantaneously and demanding of your attention.  The ’15 stored is damp moist forest, expressing cooling and commingling alchemy.  There’s no wood or fire, just mint and roots.

Conclusions

The differences in storage are stunning, sufficient for me not recognize the same production.  It’s not just a muting of notes that occurs with the variance of conditions, so the process cannot be analogized to Davis’ use of the muffler tin or plastic when creating a mood.  This is because Davis will still hit all the notes, but storage determines largely where in the range tastes will develop.  Nothing has made this more apparently clear than the ’06 White Tips.

Whether subsequent heat and humidity deepen the range remains to be seen.  The ’19 version was reviewed and is presently the item offered.  The Puerh Junky Rating: Silver Pekoe

72/105, B