Tag Archives: kunming tea factory

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.

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 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.

Puerh Update: Jade Mark

Posted on by Yang-chu
08 Feb

This Puerh Update is on the ’14 Jade Mark, Zhongcha.  This factory constantly merits reminding the reader that all Zhongcha after ’06 refers exclusively to the Kunming Tea Factory.  As a whole KMTF is more highly regarded for their bricks and ripe productions.  They do and have been making raw cakes but have been overshadowed by Xiaguan and Dayi.

KMTF has continued with producing “mark” category productions, though their recipes aren’t the same as back in the day, and experts will tell you that all the classic recipes are marked by periodicity, that is they change from time to time.  KMTF also added “marks” that never existed, such as the Jade Mark.

The Jade Mark has distinguished itself from most ZC productions in that it presented itself as a vivacious sweet and citrusy raw that was immediately drinkable.  Obviously, this raised the issue of whether they had succumbed to the bad practice of oolong processing, a sleight of hand that provides a certain immediate gratification to the drinker but possesses zero storage potential.

Jade Mark is aging properly.  It is lasting now for more infusions, meaning the sweetness lasts longer.  There is a sturdiness of character that comes with some bitterness; it strikes of good quality Bulang.  At the same time and especially in later infusions, the huigan is simultaneous with the liquor, along with an aftertaste of tangerine peel.  None of this is evident with oolong processed productions.

I’ve always liked the Jade Mark.  I like to see how it was never overly sweet but that as it ages the sweetness is deepening.  It speaks to the quality of the underlying organic material.  I’ll post some shot later.  At only six years old it still qualifies as a very young and green raw puerh.

 

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.

 

 

2020 Puerh Reflections

Posted on by Yang-chu
14 Dec

As is customary during the long dark days, opportunity for reflection on the year past presents itself.  I thought it might be nice to contrive a list of what I found to be the best five performers for the year 2020.  Since we’ve had plenty of drama this year, I’ll display my impressions as concocted sans the drama.

First Tier Puerhs of 2020

There shouldn’t be any doubt that “Poison” is the best performer of 2020.  It has completely destroyed my conceptions about 6FTM. I’ll go into why this is such a slam dunk (yeah I remember sports) in part two.

The Yang Pin Hao Lily of the Valley is the perfect counterpoint to Poison.  “Counterpoint” seems the trap into which Bach has been placed, but this does both him and counterpoint a disservice.  In any event, some puerhs definitely express counterpoint within the class they exist, but here counterpoint is taken as the balance across class, floral vis mineral, tobacco vis Zen for example.

As far as the Lily of the Valley goes it is clearly a Mozart concerto.  It isn’t trite, but it is clever with a sophistication that surprises.  Poison, despite prior references to Bel Biv Devoe, is Rachmaninoff— yeah it’s that serious.

Bridge

This year, the local classical station had a Top 250 List as determined by voters. (ahem)  I listened to a great deal of it with great zest only to be crushed that my boy JS tapped out in the 30s or 40s with the Phantom of the Opera.  Gimme a break!  The Mass in B-Minor was in the 70s while Star Wars was in the teens.  I know that my Bulgarian, French, and Lebanese readers are gripping their sides with guffaws of incredulity.  Show some sympathy for your humble Puerh Junky why don’t cha?

Second Tier Puerhs of 2020

Now by second-tier, the Puerh Junky doesn’t mean to imply that these productions are in the least second-tier.  In fact the ’10 Bingdao, YP could easily contend for THE very best production of the year.  It’s simply fantastic.  One of the most disappointing and expensive at the time of purchase six years ago, it turned out to be amazing after considerable neglect and abuse.  And were you to taste it, you’d guess it was maybe from ’14 at the latest.  I cannot say what a big deal this treasure is and haven’t because it’s not for sale and the Puerh Junky isn’t one for rubbing it in your face.  This is not a sales job but an honest record of the year’s puerh experiences, so it had to be mentioned.  No puerh experience exceeded the ’10 Bingdao, YP, which lasted five days.

The Thick Zen has produced the greatest gratification this year.  It blossomed to root beer and tastes so alive.  It maintains the Zen but brings the zing.  It’s so warm and stirring.  Yes Smetna.  It’s an Yiwu that didn’t just fall from the radar but is cloaked from detection altogether.  There are some things that one could nit pick about but comparatively speaking, productions thrice the price aren’t this sweet, smooth, and root beery.

Here’s why Thick Zen is so special.  Upon acquisition it was completely straw Zen, much like the “dirtier”, i.e., more humid productions from generally ’03-’99, without any hint of dirt.  These productions command a very handsome price, but to the Puerh Junky’s mind they’re a shade ho-hum, like many of Beethoven’s sonatas where he continuously plagiarises from himself.  Many of those older dirtier productions seem to have a ways to go or have gone and went.  Thick Zen is at a point where it is very alive in the mouth like. . . root beer, sweet and. . . I want to say David Sylvian.

Third Tier Puerh 2020

Grenouille blew my mind.  It doesn’t bear this name beyond Grenouille being a master at his skill.  It’s not about how he produces the most magical of perfumes.  Perfume can be interesting but the term should be defined.  “Perfume” usually stands an octave above floral.  When a perfume is an octave below floral it is incense.  Incense possesses wood notes, sometimes sap which ventures into petrol and various “camphorols” like mint, toothpaste, borneol, cinnamon, which a wood-grade camphor.

Grenouille expresses incense AND perfume along a substrate of Zen.  I’ve always considered it good but most recently discovered that it had evolved into something truly exceptional, literally transitioning from tobacco to Zen class.  At least one other person believes Grenouille still to be decidedly tobacco, but the difference might reflect the Puerh Junky’s fortunes to track Grenouille’s development over time.  Penitence perhaps?

I Haven’t Mentioned. . .

The Tiger, CMS.  I’ve only shared with two others.  Sublime and defies conception.  Absolutely the best tea I have EVER had of any sort.  I have mention the Simao Green Mark (7542) petrol qi destroyer, which as tamed a bit.  Simao is bad-azz when they choose to be.

In the next missive, I’ll take up the Puerh Junky’s Top Five Flavour preferences.  Upon reflection, three tiers emerge from this year; the first two tiers are counterpoint to one another, each at different ends of the tonal range.  Grenouille is probably more “trans” but now functions as a fulcrum balancing the two upper levels, an ineffable middle c . . . in the minor key.

 

 

Puerh Rating: Fu

Posted on by Yang-chu
09 Oct

The Puerh Junky Rating System (PJRS) takes on Fu.  This is a ’12 Zhongcha/KMTF raw cake that has been storing in Los Angeles since ’15.  This cake harkens back to a simpler time in purchasing puerh.  Then Zhongcha offerings sold for easily one-third what they do now.  The “Fu” character on the wrapper is not the new year “fu” (福) but conveys a similar sense of fullness and richness through fragrance (香).

After three rounds the results were as follows:

  • Aroma        7
  • Clarity         9
  • Sweetness  8
  • Viscosity
  • Astringency 12
  • Huigan         10
  • Qi

Reflections

April 2016

Zhongcha‘s Fu rates highly in terms of viscosity and straight average in terms of sweetness and clarity.  The sweetness holds steady from one infusion to the next.  Clarity increases while viscosity wanes slightly.

Conversely, there isn’t much of a huigan.  This proves a poor trade-off because the astringency is fierce and greatly displeasing to the Puerh Junky.  It does have a noticeable qi that is steady and smooth.

The Kunming Tea Factory (KMTF) productions after ’11 seem to fall into the category of too young and undrinkable or young and soon-to-be undrinkable.  This is all in the evolution of raw puerh.  It is an unfolding mystery.  With Fu an interesting progression is noted in the lack of clarity of the broth at the third infusion.

Infusion #3

This lack of clarity is neither indicative of processing or material flaws, but rather of the tea itself being in the midst of cooking.  At an earlier stage, factors had yet coalesced to enter the cooking stage.  Now Fu is cooking and it tastes raw as raw can be.  It’s not exactly like a “recipe” formula but has many nods to the concept.

All attributes considered, this tastes its primarily comprised of Bulang material.

Conclusions

In 2020 Fu has entered it 8th year.  It is not the same joyous production that it was initially.  There is lots of fruit and sweetness in the liquor but a pronounced bitterness on top of astringency make this puerh cake enter the “too young” for drinking stage.  This is not a Zen category production but an anti-Zen.  I is not macho.  The tastes are too playful, the aroma floral and fruity.  There is no hint of smoke, petrol, or darker notes to suggest macho.  No.  Fu is that brat that needs to go to “time-out” (for five years).  Some people like bratty: bitter and astringent.  Those constantly drinking young tea might find appealing.  The Puerh Junky on this account must graciously defer and consider it nothing better than a gut buster.  At a minimum three years TTP.  Puerh Rating: Fu

56/105, C

Puerh Rating: Water Blue Mark

Posted on by Yang-chu
04 Oct

The Puerh Junky Rating System (PJRS) takes on the Water Blue Mark.  This is the Kunming Tea Factory’s (KMTF) reproduction of a Menghai TF creation from, as early as I could tell, ’98.  The purpose of the PJRS is to objectively adjudge a production based on seven criteria, otherwise minimizing subjective preferences.  It comes in handy for an atrocity like the Water Blue Mark.

After three rounds the results were as follows:

  • Aroma        10
  • Clarity        10
  • Sweetness 12
  • Viscosity      9
  • Astringency 11
  • Huigan        11
  • Qi                 4

Reflections

Water Blue Mark: Cashed Leaves

The Water Blue Mark’s highest score was in sweetness.  It is surprisingly sweet.  This attribute says nothing about it’s taste profile however.  It is very, very heavy tobacco.  More on that in the conclusion.  All of the scores appear to be conservative, particularly the qi score.   Even the Puerh Junky has better qi days than others.  In assessing the score sheet, it is evident that the Blue Water Mark has staying power in terms of sweetness and viscosity, while the huigan and clarity improve.

Now the obligatory ’07 KMTF refrain. . .  The reputation all for 07 Zhongcha productions have been written off by the experts.  Another man’s trash is the Puerh Junky’s treasure.  The fact is that in ’07 KMTF went bankrupt but the factory kept churning, even more furiously.  In terms of its role in the development of ripes they deservedly hold their demarcation as Factory #1.  Almost all their other classic raw productions seem to have some history with Factory #2, Menghai, modern day Dayi.

In assessing a range of Zhongcha/KMTF productions from ’16-’06, Zen seems to predominate their house style.  The Puerh Junky associates this primarily with eastern Lincang material, Bangdong etc.  One would expect the Water Blue Mark to not deviate much with a name like Water Blue Mark.  Wrong. And herein lies the atrocity.

Conclusions

The Water Blue Mark comes at you more like the OG Gangsta or the Longevity Tuo.  Brewed in a gaiwan, this puerh exhibits NO mercy.  Perhaps this is what prevented detection of qi.  It is wicked strong, but not harsh and edgy.  Deep to medium notes, something that must be brewed in clay.  It has a petrolated and woody taste with the absence of rockiness that I most strongly associate with Dayi. It’s dry burning, hot wood, not foresty moist and minty. Yeah!  It’s dry-stored but not dried out.  It’s active as all getout.  There is nothing Watery or Blue about this offering.  It’s Green Mark, some iteration thereof, all the way.  Macho con tobacco. Puerh Rating: Water Blue Mark

67/105 B