Tag Archives: cnnp

Beijing Olympics: Enigma No More

Posted on by Yang-chu
10 Feb

Cut the Puerh Junky some slack, will ya?  This is a work in progress.  PJ doesn’t claim to know the answers nor does he believe they’re to be gathered instantaneously.  Beijing Olympics: Enigma No More is a crushing and condemning tale of the Puerh Junky’s utter obtuseness, his lack of insight, and his ultimate triumph through no doing of his own.

Over time the ole KMTF has lost a bit of luster in the eyes of our questionable hero.  He would point to the Beijing Olympics as to no small reason why.  Puerh Junky has written numerous times on Beijing Olympics.  One of the prevailing remarks was “fuzziness.”  Perhaps the PJ has not elaborated upon his feelings about fuzzy, but they’re akin to feelings about jagged.  Floral is often jagged; fuzzy is the opposite but no more desirable.  Crayolas, pastels.  Yeah they’re nice (sorta) if you want.

So at fifteen, Beijing Olympics is decidedly out of the fuzzy stage.  Now its seeking to become a contender.  There can be no doubt that the primary reason for this is that it is now sweet.  It’s sweet like sugar-cured tobacco.  There is a depth with sweetness and a fruit accompaniment evocative of the Water Blue Mark and the Top Notch Tuo.  Little wonder.  Many of the KMTF raw productions are variations on a theme, a theme with an unmistakable yet ineffable fruitiness expressing at different stages in aging, presumably due less to differences in material than to differences in processing.

In any event, the Beijing Olympics is serious now, certainly more serious than its ever been.  It can now stand up for itself against the OG Gangsta or the Dali Tuo.  Of course, it has its own kung-fu but at the very least it can stand in the ring.

What struck me most in the latest tasting was the aroma, its depth of sweetness.  There are now no longer any crayolas, which are fuzzy, a taste your humble Puerh Junky doesn’t favour.  Cool, the wet leaves conjure what many call “hay.”  I might detect a faint air of eu de crayola, but wood, sugar, and tobacco now predominate.

Puerh Potion Number 2001

Posted on by Yang-chu
13 Jun

Puerh Potion Number 2001 is a whimsical tale involving the rather drably named Yiwu Huangpian.  It’s an old ’01.  It’s taken a beating with heat and dryness after its brief humid phase.  It’s pure Zen.  Many Yiwus I’m discovering are quite grapefruity, see Dragon or Yiwu Princess.  This isn’t.  It’s not floral either.  It seems to be a benchmark puerh in terms of it’s “old taste”, chenyun.  A very glorified form of newspaper.

There’s really very little use in talking about a puerh like this unless you’re somewhere where it’s chilly.  This is much more an autumn and winter type experience, puerhistically speaking.

So why am I writing on it you ask?  Because I rarely write upon ripes to a fault and this offering is an excellent introduction to raw puerh for the person who fancies ripes.  Yes.  This is an obligatory ripe post by referencing an old taste raw.

I’ve started to sorta suspect that one of the vendors I like doesn’t sell what he says he’s selling.  I’m willing to chalk it up to losing something in translation.  I didn’t buy the cake based upon what was on the wrapper, but this is one of “those wrappers” I was looking to acquire in any event.  There’s a stylistically similar one that reads spring tips.  This one reads top, bottom, then middle gu shu cha.  You simply can’t get more specifically generic than that. I got it because that vendor has excellent taste.

Now I’m looking at this cake and wondering if the wrapper is really what it is on the inside.  I don’t know.  I’ll never know with these iconic wrappers.  The neipiao is one of those horrible CNNP inserts.  I can’t remember what the neipiao was for the other one of “theirs” I had looked like.  I simply thought the vendor was selling something he liked.  He didn’t make any claims.  I ran into the factory in the Puer Yearbook a few days back.  I decide to pry loose the neifei, will it be as generic as the neipiao with a bazhong?

The plot thickens.  The neifei is identical to the wrapper.  Did this factory use CNNP neipiao?  I have to check the puerh bible.  It only lists their ’99 version which also looks to be huangpian but a different neifei.  The difference proves nothing because these matters change from one year to the next.  I snap a shot.

The thing that stands out in this photo in terms of authenticating this production is the fantastic appearance of the lousy CNNP neipiao in the very upper left.  The neifei marks the year of production in all likelihood.  This one is ’99.  The one of “theirs” from ’03 has a different neifei too.  I haven’t heard much about them but I don’t think I knew what I was seeing either.  I tried to get more of their ’03 but the vendor said they were sold out.

If the vendor’s description included the name of the factory, it could be it eluded me due to the trickiness of factory name.

I don’t know what to make of the puerh bible.  The Xinghai offerings included in it are quite skimpy, not remotely their best.

Another look at the puerh bible and I see that the tea’s name is actually gu cha shu, as that’s what the neifei also reads.  I was wrong about its name.

It certainly tastes its age.  It’s looking like what’s in the puerh bible, so this is supposed to be something.  I suppose. It’s the only thing of theirs listed.  This factory has only come to my attention by accident, only by virtue of the wrapper.  The ’03 version of ostensibly the same production but looking quite different is a dank camphor hydra.

With Puerh Potion Number 2001 you’re getting a classic old taste that still exhibits the exalted Zen of Yiwu.  Now when you’re drinking it you can quote chapter and verse about the neifei and neipiao.  I just thought this was a “white label.”  Maybe it’s a white label brand, which is highly likely.  Hard to find a raw closer to a ripe in terms of taste.  You drink this and you know it’s old.  You taste the Yiwu and you’re either bored or brought to tears.

Puersuits or Puerversions?

Posted on by Yang-chu
10 Jun

Puersuits or Puerversions takes the reader into the dark recesses of the Puerh Junky’s cave.  As the drone zooms in he’s seen muttering something about “porcelain” and “volume”.  He’s also distracted knowing that the reader is questioning the absence of the “h” in “puersuits”, given that the Puerh Junky is so fancy as to spell “puerh” with an “h” in the first place.  Trying to not get caught in the morass of how Chinese gets romanized, he glibly makes something up.  “Everyone knows you drop the “h” before an “s”.  That’s the problem.  No one obeys the rules anymore,” condescending to no one in particular.

His distemper was becoming more obvious.    Taking a chunk from a small porcelain “tea jar” he warms up his workhorse zisha.  It’s the ’07 HK Returns cake.   It’s delivering its best performance ever, a tribute to Zhongcha Zen style and complexity.  Never before had the HKRC “turned over”.  Sweetness and volume where all the layers previously formed a cacophony, now they had the space to harmonize.  The fuzzy note that sounds in many ZC productions from this year is much more ephemeral in the taste but totally present in the aroma, like fabric softener or sun-dried bed sheets.

“The small porcelain tea jar seems to been unspeakably beneficial for the HKRC, better than previously zisha stored experiments for longer durations,” he thinks to himself.  Then his mood turns to all the tea he hasn’t drunk.  “Perhaps this puersuit has turned into a bit of a puerversion,” he thinks solemnly, when the thought of the recently acquired HK Returns brick comes to mind.

HKR Square

For whatever reason, each shape tastes different, though there seem to be clues suggesting they’re the same.

The brick is the first wrapper where I’ve seen any indication of the actual recipe, “6581”.  It’s still firmly situated in the tobacco class, signs of petrol forming as well.  Evocative of Grenouille and Buddha Impressions before getting quite a bit more forceful in around infusion five.  Still quite young in some regards.  It’ll be an interesting puersuit getting to know more about it compared to the others.  Perhaps a sampler wouldn’t be too much of a puerversion.

 

Puerh Report: Tin Water Blues

Posted on by Yang-chu
04 Jun

Puerh Report: Tin Water Blues is part of an on-going look at the development of various tinned puerhs.  Here “tinned” is broadly construed to include raw puerhs stored in clay and porcelain as well.  Tin Water Blues is the Water Blue Mark stored about six weeks in a big fancy porcelain vessel with a tight-fitting porcelain lid having a foil underside.

I tested the Water Blue Mark as many as three times in that period, with a stint where the lid was left ajar.  It didn’t gain anything from porcelain.  A case for the blues if I’ve ever heard one.  It seemed to get airier when what it needs is to continue to cook through some of the smoke while letting the more complex spices and fruits develop.

I moved it to a kraft bag seal pouch, which I use for posting larger samples.  I’ve had some success with these storing a few items.  I consider their storage different from clay and perhaps porcelain in that it is sealing in flavor as opposed to seasoning it with a great deal more air exchange through clay.  Porcelain may not do this and might be best for stuff you want to keep as fresh as possible.  Porcelain aside, this vessel is so impossibly large that it might be best for sancha.

One must consider the change in season and variances in brewing vessels and brewing amounts.  The Puerh Junky using a scale much less lately with raws.  A scale still finds use with ripes more interested in testing performance relative others in the collection.  With raws I’m paying more attention to compression and eye-balling.

The most recent eye-balled session with the WBM stored in the kraft bag for around 10 days is a success.  Altogether eight infusions were had on day one.  At the eighth, which got a minute, an interesting thing happened. . . it got sweeter, while the smoke toned down.  Rocks and sugar.  Infusions the following morning were both sweet and savory.  The production has taken on a more serious tone, savory along with petrol, in the vein of the 6FTM Tuo and other considerably pricier items.  By the 12th infusion it got boring, but the shift at eight bodes well for what WBM is becoming.

I guess not all blues has a sad ending.  I’m at a stage now where I’m much more willing to make quick calls in my six-ring circus of storage.  It’s largely a matter of fine tuning given the variations I have at my disposal and what the tea prefers.  Volume and density is a major axis along which storage hinges.  Right now WBM is in a density phase.  We want more depth and richness to cook the fruit and spices not air them.

Puerh Junky Visits Thick Zen

Posted on by Yang-chu
03 Jun

Puerh Junky Visits Thick Zen is one of a catalog of encounters mental and digital with the steal of ’07 and possibly the aughts overall.  We’re talking about Kunming TF’s Thick Zen, a clean and lively Yiwu sensation without the Yiwu price.

Thick Zen called its name for an introduction to someone who has drunk puerh a limited amount and is not altogether clear on the differences between raw and ripe.  With a whiff among the two options, she chose the raw.  Overall, it has good sweetness, thickness, and complexity.  A faint fruity note has fully blossomed.  It lies along the backdrop of root beer with a few bitter notes early.

It got pushed at the sixth infusion holding up very well, a nice brown thickness and sweetness and no bitter.  The next five infusions continued to surprise in that it had more to give.  It is considerably more durable than even a year ago.

This brings up Poison, which is at 18 with as many as five more infusions to go.  It’s still quite round, sweet, and smoky, some surprising minerality that often comes with smokier productions.  The minerality seems to replace the root beer.  Similarly, the fruity note of Thick Zen seems to be creeping in on the root beer but it is hard to say at this point since the fruit seems to be developing independent from the root beer.  Is Thick Zen at its root beer peak?

Puerh Junkosophy: Camphor

Posted on by Yang-chu
05 May

Some will undoubtedly question whether camphor is truly a subject for Puerh Junkosophy.  Such concerns are warranted, but the Puerh Junky has noticed a prevailing confusion about camphor and so some measure of junkosophy is necessary.

There are complex chemo descriptions for camphor that prove utterly elusive to a simple junky like myself. Camphor is simply a sensation.  This sensation can appear in the aroma and taste but it is primarily an aromatic sensation.  Just as chilies impart a sensation that unifies varying types of chilies by their shape and sensation of heat, so too does camphor unify varying profiles by the sensation of cooling.

When but a lad my mother would rub Vicks Vaporub on my chest when I came down with something. Vicks is camphor.  If you don’t know Vicks, then peppermint also qualifies.  I know that chemically camphor and menthol differ but the cooling effect is the same.  Camphor is also present in freshly ground cardamom.  Some others are eucalyptus, tea tree, and pine.  Camphor is that fresca, chilly feeling.

Interestingly, in Chinese medicine camphor is considered so hot it’s cold.  Technically, the camphor you buy as a bug repellant comes from cinnamon.  It’s the crystalized form, a “crackification” of the cinnamon bark.  It’s more pure than frankincense, which also possesses some camphor compounds though in a less concentrated form.  That faint thrilling aspect of chrysanthemum is also camphor.  Now let’s talk about camphor in terms of puerh.

Puerh and Camphor

There’s a book that I caught wind of documenting over 100 camphor attributes in puerh.  In sum, every taste or close to it is a type of camphor.  However, such a declaration clearly only muddies the water.

First, it should be remarked that certifiable medicinal camphor notes express more resolutely in productions with some years under their belt.  This is not to say that camphor is absent in young productions.  Tips, for example, tend to be aggressively camphorous but are of a less medicinal and more minty quality.  This tippy camphor pop may just be a stage in development.  For example, a tinned version of Mangosteen developed an explosive camphor sensation at one stage before transitioning into a creamy, fruity, citric acidy creation.

Mangosteen

Raw camphor notes are familiar to most puerh drinkers.  The bright finish of tippy productions is exemplary of floral camphor.  The Jingmai “003” is a case in point, so are the Rat tuo and the LME Spring.  Here, the camphor is a zing that strikes like a whistle, hands down the most popular variety of puerh.

A more obvious expression of camphor resides further down the register.  Here, tastes are often referred to as medicinal, like cough drops.   For this to emerge the camphor notes age along the backdrop of the raw material to sound a crystal note.  Again, the note is impossible to distinguish from menthol because the effect is essentially the same.  The king of medicinal in the Puerh Junky collection is Quincy, the name taken from the TV show.

Incense, pencil shavings, and to a lesser degree wood evocations are shades of camphor less associated with camphor.  Incense is made from wood or wood sap.  Similarly, incense, petrol, pencil shavings aren’t going to manifest till the raw material gets more woody.  More dry-stored puerhs of this variety can take on perfume and talcum properties, while the slightly wetter-stored and older exhibit sandalwood and other bark type fragrances.  A nice representation of of the former profile is Grenouille, possessing a light incense expression and the jaw-droppingly precocious Jade Rabbit, which has a lot of gasoline going for it.

Jade Rabbit

Root beer is also a camphor expression, particularly raw puerh.  Root beer, the beverage, is a complex recipe containing more than just sasparilla.  Vanilla, ginger, even star anise also contribute.  This is the melange of nuance in the delightful root beer puerhs.  Examples include, Thick Zen, Vanilla Palace, and Poison.  These are easily the favs for the Puerh Junky.

Closing Remarks on Puerh and Camphor

Camphor is a familiar sensation that in the context of puerh has two connotations.  One is nothing short of minty medicine, like Vick’s Vaporub or the inhaler.  The second refers to a broad range of flavor expressions, evident in both raw and ripe puerh.  Attention has been directed solely to raws in this communication as the nuances are more stark in raws than ripes.  Floral, graphite, petrol, and root beer are all unique camphor profiles, some associated less with camphor than others.  On the whole, camphor is as much a sensation as a taste.  This sensation and aroma is cooling, refreshing, and expansive.  Let the Puerh Junkosophy conclude here.

Boiling Ripe Puerh

Posted on by Yang-chu
27 Feb

So, for the past two weeks your trusty Puerh Junky has taken to Boiling Ripe Puerh.  This has become a bit of a morning ritual from the leftovers drunk the previous day.  Most often these have been samples or recently acquired offerings.  There was at least one item from the archives as well.

It started with one such recent Dec ’20 acquisition.  It’s an Yiwu purported to be from ’03 and pressed in ’18.  There’s certainly no wodui to it and seems to be old enough but perhaps because it’s in a plastic-wrapped cardboard gift box it’s been robbed of a bit of umph.  Right now it is very light, and am not sure that it meets any brewing standard, so I decided to give it a boil while I wait for it to come around if ever.  That’s how the Boiling Ripe Puerh routine started.

Over the course of these two weeks, perhaps six or seven productions have been boiled.  The taste of boiled ripes is not the same as brewed.  Without exception, the boiled potions possess a certain cereal quality, some like Wheaties and others like Malt O Meal.

Interestingly, the overly light-brewed ripes take to brewing quite nicely.  In other words, they’re better boiled than brewed.  More richness comes through while never becoming overpowering.  Speaking of overpowering, my wife rarely says a production is too much, but such was the case with a ’04 Dayi tuo, which is very similar to old tea nuggets.  That was a remarkable treasure, with tastes of incense and brine.    Diluted it was dandy and water could be added two more times.

Zhongcha from the Archives

Another unique and especially pleasant experience came from the archives with a “Zhongcha” I picked up back in late ’13 or thereabouts.  This is labeled as a High Mt Wild, the very last of which was sold in Jan.  It has a weird cheesy rubber band taste to it, which I was hoping to no avail would dissipate to an undetectable level.  In any event the Puerh Junky’s wife simply loved it, first brewed and then even more boiled.  She went on and on about how smooth and tasty it was.  I chunked down on a cheesy ripe a couple months ago from Liming, which should become avail in Oct or Nov.

Time to rap up, but not without mentioning the pot.  I’m not much for the teaware fetish when that money could go toward perfectly good puerh.  The thing about the teapot pictured above is that you can place it directly upon a flame, so it’s super convenient.  No doubt these can be found on your regular shopping sites and at a reasonable price.  They’re super handy and well worth having for purposes such as boiling tea.

Boiling Ripe Puerh offers a nice change of pace to the standard gong-fu brewing method.  The cereal notes come through much more strongly with boiling than brewing.  It goes without mention that this allows you to get the very most from your ripe treasures.  Boiling seems to be especially appropriate for light ripes that don’t perform well when infused in the typical fashion.

 

Puerh Tinned Three Years

Posted on by Yang-chu
19 Feb

Puerh Tinned Three Years is about putting to test tin storage in controlled conditions.  The verdict so far is an emphatic “INNOCENT.”  The general advice is to not break up one’s cake/brick/tuo till say a week or two before drinking.  Only then, a drinking portion should be broken endeavoring to keep the cake in form as much as possible.

The Puerh Tinned Three Years in this case is ’12 Fu, ZC.  Upon last tasting from a cake sample stored in the container, I figured that it had gone into hibernation.  This third week of February 2021, the Puerh Junky was gobsmacked by the tin version of Fu.  It was bright and lively.  Furthermore, over the three days in which it was drunk it maintained an intensity and brightness that impressed me as being tea from the very highest quality of leaves coming from Bingdao.  It’s dreadfully good.  It’s as bright as I first got it but the brightness and sweetness continue beyond the superficial infusions.

To test the rectitude of the conclusions regarding tinning, proper junky etiquette (PJE) requires revisiting the cake version.  At least one posting from blog recently has reported problems with cardboard storage.  Results with the tin are the exact opposite.  The direction of cardboard is outward and draining, whereas the tin is inward and boosting.  The metal imparts nothing on the tea’s taste, while doing a stupendous job of cooking the leaves.  Instead of like the container which can be like a roast the tin is slow steam.  The difference is huge.

At least with the tin in the refrigerator, we’re getting neither dryness nor inordinate oxidation.   The leaves are cooking, moreover fairly evenly compared to a cake.  Of course, compression of Fu is quite moderate, so it broke up fairly evenly.

Water Blue Mark: The Woolly Sweater

Posted on by Yang-chu
29 Jan

The Water Blue Mark is a Woolly sweater.  The level of complexity with this raw puerh cake cannot be overstated.  It it is reasonable to call it in the the tobacco class but it is not that simple.  Tobacco class productions although darker by nature aren’t necessarily woody.  There is a real woodsiness to this.

When the Water Blue Mark first posted, it was primarily aggressive and smoky.  It was evident that it was strong but difficult to gain a full sense of its attributes.  This brings us to the obvious fruitiness.  In fact, when the Puerh Junky’s better half smelled the dry leaves she blurted out “fruity.”  It is very fruity.  When she smelled the wet leaves, her eyes brightened in surprise exclaiming, “plums and prunes.”  Yes, it is a very fruity production, but. . .

The fruit so evident in the aroma must contend with wood and smoke.  For being a 2007 production, the material is beyond its age by around three years.  It resides in the low end of the scale, hanging with the bad crowd of the Puerh Junky’s collection, Joey White Tips, Mugsy Dragon, and OG Baby Face Square.  Let’s put it this way, it’s as far from Zen as absolutely possible.  It is very much NOT in the Zhongcha/KMTF house style.

A natural question to ask is whether the cake is coming or going.  That is to ask, “Is it getting stronger or is it fading?”  That is difficult to answer.  The usual thing is to expect the smoke to dissipate.  However, this is not overwhelmingly smoky.  From the time of listing in thsummer of 2020 it has become better.  The fruit note combined with the wood and smoke make it unique.  An obvious association with XG’s Forever Love might be made but the Water Blue Mark is is darker and woodier.  Its not just fruit and ash lie FL.  In fact, there is little ash.  The sense of oak aged liquors comes to mind.

Brandy? Whiskey? These are all too dry given WBM’s sweetness.  Did I mention sweet?  At least for the first four infusions it is very sweet and thick with a bit of frothiness thrown in.  At the same time, it has a warming quality like some kind of spirit.  It’s warming and surprisingly relaxing.  It hangs heavy on the body like a woolen sweater, absolutely appropriate for cold winter nights, eliciting a counterintuitive power that welcomes curling up in the bed with some cozy Beethoven sonata in the background.

After the sixth infusion, it loses most of the woodiness and in contrast to Forever Love, loses all of the smoke.  The production takes on a more characteristic KMTF Zen tone, sweet yet always with a hint of bitterness.

 

 

Puerh Readiness

Posted on by Yang-chu
16 Oct

The Puerh Junky in me got to pondering the determinants of Puerh Readiness.  Surely, this is not a construct.  There must be objective standards upon which to base puerh readiness.  Puerh Readiness is sought after by middle-aged and old puerh drinkers.

So, the Puerh Junky sits to have a second PJRS of Fu.  It is infusion four after two hours.  The infusion is two or one in clarity.  He sits to write notes.  His mouth is full of flowers but pronounces the cake: “NOT READY.”  The taste is good.  It will please the ruffians, but the Puerh Junky is not rough.  There was a time it was quite ready.

Gold Ribbon

Zhongcha ’07 “9611” Peacock Gold Ribbon Cake

After two hours it is evident that Fu is exquisitely good but dreadfully young.  Lack of clarity in a standard Zhongcha production is highly irregular.  Any ugliness in the broth points to the youth of tea.  Clarity is one parameter that the Puerh Junky uses in evaluating the readiness of ripes.  The same can be applied to raws and in cases of Zhongcha the benefit of doubt should be extended because unlike Xiaguan, they specialize in tea clarity.

“9611” Clarity and Beauty

As mentioned, the young tea drinker may be entirely adrift regarding puerh readiness.  The fact is many young puerhs are “ready.”  If they’re oolong processed and sold as “gushu“, then maybe a little too ready.

Puerh Transformation

Puerh readiness is expressed in the fundamental transformation of the raw material under particular storage conditions.  It is a trans-annual phenomenon.  Productions can be initially quite drinkable only to descend to the depths of unreadiness, as the Fu case demonstrates.

Part of readiness is also usually conveyed in the colour.  Light coloured liquor is indicative of young tea or relatively dry storage older stuff.  They won’t taste anywhere the same.  The latter may bear attributes of readiness but reflect a different curing style.

Some productions may be able to progress from one stage to the next without hiccoughs but the hiccoughs are quite common and it often has to do with the tea’s own personality.  For some drinkers these quirks however ephemeral prove charming.  Just because a production dips into a period of unreadiness doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong, particularly if you’re not finding the same problem among the rest of your stash.

A whole treatise could be written on Puerh Readiness.  The Puerh Junky experienced a moment of panic regarding the ’19 Crouching Tiger, but it simply wasn’t ready.  It needed a year, which is hardly atypical.  There is something about mouthfeel that is an indicator.  It is most certainly not astringency.  In fact, too much astringency is dead give away of poor brewing or just not being ready.  The ready mouthfeel is fizzy or like a magic blanket tiny sparkles.  It’s the benchmark of the root beer class.