Visiting Zhongcha’s ’55 Ripe Puerh

Posted on April 28, 2019 by Yang-chu

28 Apr

Since the request was something with camphor and chocolate, I gave my wife the option of either the Langhe Ripe Tuo or Zhongcha’s ’55 both from ’06. She chose the latter. The ZC ’55 is in its 13th year. It has transformed from surprising astringency to velvety smooth, especially in the first infusion. The first infusion, about a minute, is definitely the best. Deep medium note camphor permeates the broth. It’s my guess that it would perform even better grampa style.

Altogether, there were four infusions from the session. As the camphor and thickness wanes, black tea tannins come through. For the first time I noticed a hint of dried cherries. By the last infusion, about four minutes, much of the viscosity vanishes, despite remaining a dark caste. I also picked up some vegetal notes, which aren’t my favourite.

Infusion #2, 10s

The ZC ’55 is an exceptional ripe puerh. Its strongest attribute is how it has been transforming. The tannins continue to mellow, making the brew richer. The camphor is much more evident now. The chocolate appears more evident when the brew temp lowers. Two pots in, the qi kicks in. It warms the chest. A slight sweat broke out on the brow. It also stimulates the appetite. Again, it’s not advisable to have on an empty stomach.

Visiting ’07 Thick Zen Puerh

Posted on April 26, 2019 by Yang-chu

26 Apr

The review I gave on the ’07 Thick Zen puerh is accurate. Since offering it, I’ve had it many times. It’s most striking attribute is how rich the leaves look. Excellent storage, glistening in its black brownish splendor. The liquor produces a decent thickness and there is little astringency to speak of… or sweetness… or flavor… or qi.

I was hoping the a little time would bring out some interesting flavours, but it doesn’t. It is very much in the vein of the Blue Mark. It can be brewed as heavy-handed as you wish and it will never get bitter. There’s no bottoming out either. That is to say, there’s no point at which Thick Zen looses its initial character or turns undrinkable.

Depending upon what you have it with or your habit for sweets, you may be able to detect some apricot sweetness. I’ve definitely found the peacock more pleasing in warm weather. If it had more qi, I’d classify it as an amazing production… possibly. It’s lack of transforming into a more complex expression makes it a larger leaf, autumn Blue Mark: quintessentially Zen, quintessentially Lincang. I find the 9611 Gold Ribbon more interesting.

Wet-Stored Zhongcha Puerh

Posted on January 14, 2019 by Yang-chu

14 Jan

Two shots of the same production from ’07 brewed in different vessels. It’s been wet stored, so it’s much darker than usual. The gaiwan shot was taken at night, the clay pot shot in day. The latter is much sudsier and sweeter, with some cooling camphor notes that can be felt at the end of each sip.

Night shot

When I first got it I couldn’t drink it, so I stuffed it away for six months, a fairly short spell actually. A friend recently sent me a sample of the Global Tea Hut “tea of the month,” which was a Blue Mark, same factory as below, from 2000, stored in Taiwan for 18yrs. It smelled like it too.

Day shot

Anyway, one wet stored production begets another. This ’07 production is better than the Blue Mark. It’s thicker, sweeter, and more complex, even though both are very much in the Zen vein of puerh, either Lincang or Yiwu material.

Two Puerh Peacocks from ’07

Posted on January 12, 2019 by Yang-chu

These two puerh peacocks couldn’t be more different from one another. The ’07 Bada is complex, minerally, medicinal, sweet, and floral. The ’07 Peacock is pure Zen, thick and wheatie with almost no taste.

Both brew to a rich golden hue. The leaves of Peacock are considerably larger. It also has more froth than the Bada, but to call it frothy would be an overstatement. Astride a slight sweetness is a pinch of bitterness, quite similar to Sweet-n-low. Overall, it possesses a character similar to a roasted barley tea, only thicker and sweeter.

The Bada is in company with some older spring teas in the Junky’s collection, such as the ’05 Peacock Puerh, LM, ’06 Gold Ribbon Tuo, XG and the ’05 Yiwu, YPH. However, the Bada’s taste is altogether more complex. There’s some mild camphor and sweet cinnamon notes. The aged floral huigan is noteworthy and lingers. You can smell the cinnamon too.

Pushing the Bada in later infusions only makes the brew thicker. It never bottoms out, as signified by a bitter-metalic taste. The spice notes gain prominence the further one advances in the session.

Puerh Cashed Leaves:
Left: Peacock; Right: Bada

It is not possible to say that one production stands head-and-shoulders over the other. They’re not comparable, because they fall into different classes. The Peacock is in the Zen class. As far as some similar Zhongcha productions, like the Blue Mark, it is even better tasting and a superior value, a diamond in the rough. The Bada falls into a category that I might most associate with the ’08 Gift Puerh, from Xiaguan, at least as far as some of the mineral notes are concerned, but as noted above old flowers and spice figures prominently. It is quite in a class of it’s own.

Hard Pressed: Three Puerhs

Posted on December 8, 2018December 9, 2018 by Yang-chu

08 Dec

Hard-pressed puerh productions require “chunking” and long infusion times. Here we are visiting three hard-pressed puerh productions that have been sampled in tandem over the course of a day or two. Here we’ll be visiting three high-compression puerhs:

’07 LME Early Spring
’07 Beijing Olympics, Zhongcha (KMTF)
’12 Wuliang Brick, SMTF

First, I must say that all three glimmer with clarity. Each strikes a different note. Possessing smoke, the Beijing Olympics strikes a low note relative the Wuliang and Early Spring. Still, it is not possible to speak of brightness among any or this trio.

Some may differ in this regard when it comes to the Wuliang Brick. Although the fruit notes of the Wuliang provide a measure of cheer, its complexity is greater than mere cheer. Over several brewings, I detected a cherry liqueur cough medicine taste. Infused boldly (i.e., with much time), it proves to be a challenge: bitter and aggressive. A conservative brewing of around 30s offers tastes of brandy, fermented raisins, and “purple,” a la Fago Grape Pop. The other two are far less dynamic when it comes to the effects of varied brewing times.

Hard-pressed productions are machine made. On the one hand oxidation, occurs very slowly; on the other, all the leaves are subject to great stress, i.e., cell wall breakage, upon formation. This should translate into a species of oxidation that differs from lightly or stone-pressed productions. What does it all mean?

Least pressed among the lot is the Beijing Olympics. . . and that’s not saying much. The leaves are quite indicative of the recipe productions with numbers for names. It tastes alike a variant, maybe a rougher 7532. For whatever reason, the wax taste, of which I’ve written regularly in the past, is not as prominent, though the hallmark of this particular puerh type is its wax, paraffin, kerosene, petrol.

Glass. That’s the principle association with the Early Spring. Smooth and clear. It has a deceptively potent and expansive qi and a building huigan. It presently seems to be expressing “that awkward adolescent sourness”, as one fellow drinker calls it, something that I’ve never previously noticed in this genteel and somewhat wheaty production.

All three high-compression puerhs span the range of flavour: fruit, wax, wheat and aged flowers. The main thing about tight compression is that it yields numerous infusions, at least 10. Safe for a really heavy hand, the brew turns out mellow and flavourful without excessive bitterness or astringency.

Puerh Cake Take: Jade Mark and Pots

Posted on August 27, 2018June 10, 2020 by Yang-chu

27 Aug

My last two sessions with the ’14 Jade Mark raw puerh cake were rather disappointing. Brewing it in the spring-tea pot mutes its fruity appeal and the elusion rate is too slow for such young mostly autumn material.

’14 Jade Mark photo Aug ’16

Today I got nine spectacularly fruity and sweet infusions, from 4.5g in my little red zisha. Water temperature ranged from 212 to 195. As I extended the brewing time, my water temp lowered. Ten second infusions at 200. Simply delicious.

Elusion is the rate of pour. Different pots obviously drain at different rates. This difference will greatly affect final results, particularly affecting the sweetness/astringency ratio. I hadn’t really settled which pot was best for what until quite recently.

My black zisha pot is for spring tea, old or young. Slow pour rate.
There’s goofy green clay pot that isn’t green inside gifted to me. I use it for XG productions, smoky and sometimes spicy productions, like some Liming and Xinghai productions. Medium pour rate.
Bell Pepper Pot with the ’01 GM Puerh
Eggplant-shaped red zisha. Fast pour rate. Referenced above. Young raw high quality productions.
Glazed teapot for Dragon Pearls. Fast pour rate.
Big red clay gifted to me for autumn teas of any age. Medium fast pour rate.
“Big” red clay, 170ml
My mineral pot, a pot I hated till I found the type I believe it performs with best. Slow pour rate.

Pour rate is a big deal. Whenever you cannot affect the quality of taste and astringency through parameters like pour rate and temperature, then chances are good the the raw material itself is of questionable quality for drinking purposes. These can be repurposed for topical application.

I cannot over emphasize how impressive I found the Jade Mark. Whatever tweaks I made in storage and brewing proved consistent with the earlier deeply satisfying sessions.

A Fuzzy Enigma: ’07 Beijing Olympics

Posted on August 16, 2018September 2, 2021 by Yang-chu

’07 Beijing Olympics Neifei

The ’07 Beijing Olympics puerh cake is a fuzzy enigma. I can’t put my finger on the recipe. I guess it’s most similar to the Blue Mark, but the leaves are more broken. It is certainly every bit as genteel as the Blue Mark. There’s also a similar waxiness.

4th 10s Infusion After Eight Hours

The aftertaste is very fruity and somewhat astringent. There’s no detectable bitterness. Maybe you can tell from the pic that the ’07 Beijing Olympics is pressed super tight. The lightness of the brew is a mark of how slowing it opens up.

Infusion 7, still 10s

One writer described it as cottony. Seems about right. Here’s a shot from 28 months ago:

Here it is two years later:

Transformation has been steady as she goes. The broth seems to be getting clearer. At the same time the hue is brassier than before. The aroma is noticeably fruity. The fruitiness is apparent in the huigan, otherwise the liquor is mildly sweet with some hints of petrol in the early infusions. It’s a real Zen production.

’07 Beijing Olympics, Zhongcha 357g cake

Posted on November 11, 2017 by Yang-chu

After two days of concerted digging, our excavation team reached the stratum of 2007. A veritable forest of Zhongcha productions could be found, many commemoratives too boot. Beneath a well preserved Year of the Pig, I uncovered a tattered Beijing Olympics. It’s a chopped cake that has been dry-stored. Quite unsightly, especially on the reverse side.

I threw 6g into a small yixing: wax, straw. Sour stage? No fragrance. Orange juice. Astringent. Wax paper. Tastes like what I imagine some of their younger Yiwu productions might age into. There is no punch to this production and strikes me as lifeless.

Days two and three it is significantly tastier. Same leaves. The aged layers have melted away to reveal a little peach, with the fuzzy, mild astringency, remarkable qi emanating from the Iron Man point at the center of the chest.

Longhorn orange, opaque, pours up sudsy, with a liquor evocative of dishwater. Very deceptive, for every bit as subtle its flavour, every bit as intense is its qi.

Two days later, I switch to a gaiwan, again using 6g. Aroma is much more inviting, sweet mellow fruit and dry sweet straw. The taste is evocative of the Korean yellow melon, with a distinctive sour finish, consistent with earlier in the week. No bitterness. The huigan is more pronounced and very pleasant. Five infusions of varying degrees, higher temp is perhaps better. Liquor is much clearer. The next two days of about five infusions each are more of the same, with a light essence of bubble gum. Remains consistently sweet, never bottoming out into bitterness. The sour seems to disappear after about 7 infusions in. Lasts and lasts.