Tag Archives: Pu erh Junky

Puerh Junky Studies Leaves

Posted on by Yang-chu
10 Aug

Puerh Junky Studies Leaves continues an on-going discussion regarding the task of determining age of certain productions.  A recent entry compared leaves spanning 10 years in age difference but seemed may just a few.  A similar format of mainly pictures will be employed here involving a ’96 raw brick acquired spring ’22 and a ’98 7542 acquired in May of ’18  included among the Bazhong in Sampler U.

Here’s the first image taken.

Side-by-side

Don’t forget one of the nifty features of wordpress is that you can click the images for close ups.  Both have been dry-stored and you get to guess which is which.

Old productions such as these often require some type of preparation.  The ’98 received no preparation but it literally took more than five years to come into form.  All the while, I sat skeptical about the production’s actual age and drinking potential because the three other cakes from that vendor had all shown considerably more life after a year in LA. Upon tasting of the ’96, I immediately broke about half for storage in porcelain because I didn’t want to wait years before it would become enjoyable.

Side-by-side flipped

So there’s a difference in hue depending on where they are.

Side-by-side original

Something younger but more humidly stored, the ’03 Yiwu Princess. . .

Yiwu Princess 2020 foto

I immediately noticed a redder red.  Let’s look at the cups:

’96 ZC Brick

Now for the cake:

’98 Bazhong Cake

There’s a fair measure of light that factors.  Several shots in as similar a light as possible.

Revolutionary Suspect 8972

I conservatively guessed the Revolutionary Suspect to be about the late aughts, but it was pure speculation.  From among the four, it is clear that the Yiwu Princess is the darkest.  It is also the most humidly stored.  Yes, the RS 8972 certainly got something like wet storage but a year after receipt in ’14-5, it got bone dry indoor storage in clay for six years.  Given all the redness, it appears that the RS got a good deal of heat at one point. . .  or dryness?  I’m beginning to think that red indicates something other than age, maybe heat or dry heat but not age.

’09 Ox, 6FTM Guangdong storage 2022 foto

Are you getting the picture?  Determining age by looking at the leaves appears to be a challenging task.  I recall sometime back reading the comment section of a vendor in the UK.  The post alleged that the vendor was pawning young tea for old.  I immediately thought, “given the range in storage conditions how does he know that?”  Of course the accuser offered no basis for the allegation.  It’s pretty easy to get “caught up” in aspects of the puerh game that are ancillary to puerh drinking itself.  Aging variable vary widely and when it boils down to it, each production must be evaluated on its own terms.

The more I drink puerh, which is now a decade, the more I learn.  The more productions acquired in the early days age, the more I learn about how a production was conceived and crafted.  In the end, it seems that a gander at the leaves says more about how a production was stored than it does about actual leaf age.  Leaves will always be just a relative indicator, along with the specifics of storage itself.  I’m now at the stage where I doubt the years of productions less and less because I simply have no way of knowing and have witnessed some of my own long-stored items actually get lighter, at least in terms of liquor, over the years.  So, we’re back to evaluating productions on their own terms in light of years of drinking experience.

Visiting Grenouille and Aging

Posted on by Yang-chu
27 Jul

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.

 

 

 

Puerh Junky Visits Yiwu Gratitude

Posted on by Yang-chu
20 May

Puerh Junky Visits Yiwu Gratitude should be a a tidy communique about just how tasty this offering is.  It is very, very good.  It tastes very, very good.  The storage on it is spectacular, really the epitome of ideal storage.  It comes from a preferred vendor, whence many of the offerings constituting the Puerh Royals sampler hail, who has a keen sense for storage.

Storage of this sort might be characterized as juicy.  There’s plenty of humidity and heat but neither excessive, so the underlying character of the puerh is in no way tainted.  It only brings out the best that each production has to offer.  Storage of this type would understandably be classified as dry because dry storage has no humid notes.  However, the range of dry storage is wide.  Besides variations in humidity there are variations in temperature.  Cool and dry storage obviously transforms quite slowly.  Dry and hot storage transforms quickly but at the expense of aroma.  Hot and dry storage also accentuates a perfumy-dryer-sheet-type expression that would otherwise transform into wicked camphor explosiveness.

Different cakes under the same conditions may also transform quite differently depending on product compression.  There’s also air flow.  Juicy storage checks all the boxes in terms of having everything necessary to be perfect.  The second even a hint of humidity is detected, it’s no longer juicy but humid, no matter how light that humidity might be.  Humidity is clearly a matter of preference with similar gradations.  The point here is to just distinguish juicy from humid.

Yiwu Gratitude has juicy storage.  It allows for maximum appreciation of what Gratitude TF is throwing down, and what they’re throwing down is every bit as good as the cake looks.

The Yiwu Gratitude Factory opened their doors in 2004.  They primarily craft raw cakes from wild material, using traditional of sun drying and stone pressing procedures.  The Puerh Junky’s Yiwu Gratitude features a wrapper that’s a cross between two productions listed in the 2007 Pu-erh Yearbook.

This is the exact same production being offered from the following year.  Instead of the title including qiaomu  as with the PJ offering, it’s included in the the green strip to the right.  The block lettering at the bottom is identical to the YWG.  The flanking blocks, the right stating raw puerh and the left ten great tea mountains are identical with both cakes.

This ’07 Banwei includes mingqian springtips in green lettering to the far right, whereas this data is included in the green strip with the PJ listing.  The Banwei and the YWG have the same neifei, whereas the Yiwu from ’07 is more generic.

Here’s the PJ’s Yiwu Gratitude for comparison’s sake.

The use of traditional to describe their way of doing things, goes beyond just the pressing.  They wrap their tong traditionally as well.

The super traditional tong are branded with the name at the top.  They don’t go that far, as you can see:

At the bottom of this sticker, the phrase mingqian springtips is included.  As mentioned in the original listing, wispy Yiwu effect notwithstanding this is legitimately “springy.”  It’s one of the most floral Yiwu productions I’ve tasted.  There’s more “spring” to it than the Dragon, which is comparable in terms of the type of floral expression.  It could be described as having an apricot cum grapefruit nature.  It isn’t lilac, honeysuckle, jasmine or any of those other really loud perfumy florals, which at fifteen years of age aren’t that bad anyway.

But wait!  There’s more.  That more is the hallowed root beer, which to be honest is much more cream soda here, as there’s no spice to emerge just yet.  This type of offering usually doesn’t go the spice route.  That’s fine.  The creaminess and richness is good enough.

Yiwu Gratitude is sweet and durable.  All of the attributes that are evident from the outset last throughout the life of the tea session.  That includes the sweetness.

Puerh Junky Discusses Peacocks

Posted on by Yang-chu
06 May

Puerh Junky Discusses Peacocks because in the course of searching for interesting Xinghai productions, the Peacock comes up often.  Well, while looking at interesting pictures I clicked upon a site heretofore unknown to me that serves up a bevy of interesting articles.  One of them read An Explanation of the Banzhang Ecological Big Cabbage, and Peacock Series; Banzhang Old Tea Big and Small Cabbage (班章生态茶之大白菜·孔雀系列详解！班章老茶之大小白菜！).

In it, the role of the founder of Jindafu, He Baoqiang, is discussed in light of the emergence of the “organic” and “green” certifications.  These certifications were marked by a cabbage seal.  Long story short, the Banzhang shengtai materials that Mr He produced in cooperation first with Menghai TF and subsequently Xinghai became known as Big Cabbage and Peacock, the former because of the certification insignia and the latter the wrapper.

Big Cabbage Insignia

Now it may be just a coincidence but if it is, that sir name He seems to be extremely common among the well-regarded puerh.  Curiously, the pricey Fujin also has a similar Dayi and Xinghai history and their founder also bears the sir name He.  There is also a Mr He Shihua who is recognized as a tea meistro who is commissioned in the making of a few productions, has productions listed in the Puerh Yearbook, and has even ascended to the level of having some of those productions faked.

Here, copycatting must be distinguished from fake.  One of He Shihua’s production line is unmistakable, featuring red traditional Dai tribal script along a white backdrop.  I acquired one such production, not because of any He Shihua awareness at the time, but because it was from Gupuer, a factory I follow.

Here, we have a copycat because Mr He’s name doesn’t appear on the wrapper and the GPE logo is emblazoned within the ring of bazhong.  Fakes, also known as tiepai, don’t have their own logo.  Years later when I stumbled upon Mr He through searches on Fujin, I ran into this wrapper without any logo but essentially similar enough to create confusion were one haphazardly scouting for He’s productions.  This doesn’t entirely resolve the matter.

From its early days, GPE commissioned some heavy hitters in the production of offerings, sold during the early naughts under the bazhong wrapper.  It is quite plausible that the wrapper above from ’13 is actually a reflection upon both their Zhongcha and He Shihua history.  The jury is still out.  This is a huge but worthwhile digression as wrappers are often telling a story that eludes those of us with only a scad of knowledge about the history.  Here we’ll depart from the He part of the discussion to address a couple peacocks in the Puerh Junky Collection: the BZ Peacock and the Peacock Brick.

BZ Peacock and Peacock Brick

The BZ Peacock’s real name is BZ Old Tree.  If you recall the opening paragraph about the title referenced, the name BZ Old Tree should ring a bell.  The name BZ Peacock was only given to reference the wrapper, but clearly Xinghai was varying a theme in which it played no small role in developing.  Xinghai has quite a few of these peacocks from this era. Here’s a pic of the one most highly prized, the Banzhang King:

The presentation here is iconic Xinghai.  The peacock is an image that is used by several other factories, Xiangming and Du Qiongzhi’s Pengcheng to name just two.  The center varies from one factory to the next and you can see Xinghai’s logo in this one.  Usually, the images will read Peacock Country at the bottom.  It’s the Puerh Junky’s guess that this Peacock Country logo references the Dai hill tribe/nationality, but this is only a guess.

Here’s the same icon but at the bottom reads Silver Peacock, the name of the production. It doesn’t appear that in terms of the vaunted peacocks that ripes factor at all.  That makes sense, as ripes by and large are not taken very seriously no matter how good or expensive they become.

’06 BZ Peacock

At least some of the vaunted peacocks are noted for possessing a smoky character.  In fact, it appears that these were the productions that put smoke on the map, something that seems strange since Xiaguan is known for their smoky offerings.  Perhaps it has something to do with smoky productions from Banzhang and the Bulang region more broadly.

Factoring greatly into the fame of the peacocks has to be qi, though I’ve not read anything about this.  When the name Banzhang comes up instantly there are expectations, positively none which interest the Puerh Junky.  Once queried about whether I thought the BZ Peacock had real BZ, I replied that I didn’t care because I only got it for the wrapper from a factory I follow.  It should be noted, however, that among those who have tasted it and are not inclined to comment upon the qi, remarks were volunteered about how “warming” it was.  Onto the brick.

Recent discoveries on the vaunted peacocks has afforded the Puerh Junky even greater appreciation for Liming’s Peacock Brick, which bears neither the shengtai nor gushu additions.  There’s no reference to BZ either.  It does have the smoke, however.  It also possesses great sweetness, texture, and durability that distinguishes it from most ripe bricks.  The smoke is not heavy and there’s no char effect.

Here’s a write up on my qi experience with the Peacock brick.  I originally picked it up in ’15 and after the few I had for offer were snatched up by one buyer, more was purchased in ’19 at more than twice the ’15 price.  Perhaps the peacock craze started to sift down into other factories beyond Dayi and Xinghai.  After my readings, I decided to check the box for any telltale signs tying it to “the peacocks.”

Little Cabbage Insignia

There it is.  The haloed cabbage insignia, the independent verification of being a “green product,” which certifies legit production and environmental standards but not the soil, a step down from but often a stage toward organic.  In short, this little Peacock Brick checks all the boxes for being a legit peacock.

Wrap up

Aside from tasting for yourself, this post should go quite a distance in shedding light upon the subject of famous peacocks from the naughts.  A nice tidbit on the origins of the Jindafu and Mr He Baoqiang tied in Xinghai’s role in the formation of a now legendary series copied far and wide.  Finally, Liming got its two-cents worth in as to why it at least deserves a seat at the table among its more celebrated relatives.

Puerh Perplexity

Posted on by Yang-chu
06 Mar

Can you help a Puerh Junky out?  The Puerh Junky finds himself twisted in knots over what it means when one says “They don’t care for factory productions.”  Does that mean they don’t like recipes?  Maybe it means they like young productions.  Perhaps it means they only go for small factory productions.

As you’ve already discerned, the Puerh Junky is clueless.  He’s read of famous puerh vendors who’ve bought tea here and there, only to take it to be processed at reputable factories.  What does it mean to not be a fan of factory teas?

Factories often have so many selections, styles, and grades.  Even if it means not caring for a particular house style, this still confounds.  House styles vary, so it’s impossible to speak of factory productions as a monolith, unless there is some elusive trait that they all share.  It is true that among the factories emerging on the scene since the late 90s that they overwhelmingly descend from the Menghai TF.  Still, these meistras and masters bring their own touch to productions and are frequently commissioned to oversee special offerings by vendors.  What on earth is “the factory style”?

Maybe it’s the pressing and aesthetics, but pretty much all productions since ’14 have gone the way of Yiwu in making their teas look pretty. . . except for recipes.  This leads back less to factory productions per se than to production styles of a particular era.  Even so, there are plenty of old Yiwu offerings hailing from the factories that are gorgeous.

Maybe it’s the quality, but this is a very tricky matter, especially if one is tasting a five-year old recipe and expecting it to taste like a similarly aged production from some Lincang village.  “Factories” have been offering more and more of these type of selections, and the question begs to what degree these bear the classical factory traits.  As the market has evolved, offerings and production styles have evolved.  Surely, these factors enter into the calculus of one who doesn’t like “factory productions.”

The best bet is that “factory” is shorthand for “recipe.”  Certainly, “8582” doesn’t have the curb appeal of say, Cosmic Bitch Slap or Orgasmic Shortcake both with histories reaching as far back as 2016.  Are these even puerh, really?  And how is it possible to have any reasonable clue about a five-year old recipe?

Now before casting the Puerh Junky as an inveterate curmudgeon, understand that he likes a young production as well.  However, it seems that age is the crux of puerh.  Only factories have productions old enough to determine the spirit of an offering.  Factory productions come from a lineage that is true to either the region or school or both.  What you end up getting then is a factory’s rendering, not dissimilar to the differences in pianists playing Schubert.  Such renderings make it nigh impossible to be categorically dismissive without sounding a smidge inexperienced.

Puerh Junky Inventory 2021

Posted on by Yang-chu
10 Feb

The Puerh Junky Inventory 2021 is the unfolding of a continuous saga of a puerh nerd referring to himself in the third person, yet the facade must continue.

These past couple weeks have witnessed a cataloging of the Collection, items for sale, and the Stash, those not for sale.  The inventory project involved evaluating current productions in light of their aging trajectory here in the climes of Los Angeles.  The Puerh Junky hardly drank everything, only the things piquing his curiosity, understanding that every production has its own personality requiring evaluation on its own terms.  Brewing and preparatory measures can greatly affect how a tea performs in light of judging a production  Blog entries posted by the Puerh Junky largely detail these nuances.

There is much that goes into a fantastic puerh, not the least being time.  In this regard, the ’12 Gentleman deserves mention.  At its current stage it is spectacular.  Previously, it was nice for the wrapper and intriguing, not exactly bad but not spectacular or even showing such signs.Gentleman sold out a few years ago.  A spectacular performance involves great taste over numerous infusions, at least 10.  Gentleman now fits the bill because it has the staying power that it previously lacked, not due to any fault of its own but because it’s been processed to blossom over time.  That time has come and is consistent with experiences with other productions that in the first five years of possession were not up to snuff but later turned out to be far better than average.

I delisted the ’05 Gushu, YPH sometime in the last two years.  It’s not affordable anymore and people would think I was crazy for posting.  Pricing goes by somewhere between purchase price and market demand.  The enthusiasm around this production has not flagged. This production is a real superstar and not just by reputation.  Yes root beer.

Here’s where an aside should be made for Xiaguan, which is the splendid decision for wintry weather.  Their ’08 Dali Tuo is a very nice tobacco production.  It’s not overly smoky and has a good deal of sugary roundness.  It’s a great everyday drinker.  XG should not be overlooked for making extremely strong performers, with both classical and flashy presentation and great pricing for the quality.

Dali Tuo Wrapper

I might have made a mention of LME’s Quincy recently.  I’m basically stunned.  I’m consistently impressed by LME’s productions.  Quincy has evolved into an exceptional production.  The weird taste of Raid has morphed into complex fruit and camphor expression that is altogether a delight.  LME is an operation that seems quite proven in its native areas.  The jury is still out on their Yiwu offerings.

Cashed leaves from ’19

Junkified attentions to Bazhong productions have involved gauging rehabilitation efforts of expensive offerings erroneously stored in cardboard and the year’s transformation.  Quite recently I gained a new insight into “fakes.”  It has to do with vendors trusting you recognize rappers while their verbiage says nothing of the sort to evade bots.  The vendor of the ’03 Marquis sells real productions but employs the bot-evading technique, for example.  The instance of the Marquis has nothing to do with fakery as such.  After all, the vendor is totally transparent about factory origins, but in other cases, as with the Yiwu Prince, it is intentionally misnamed.  They practice the same sleight-of-hand with the Green Mark A stamped, which my wife remarked was possibly the best puerh she’s ever had.

As far as I’m concerned any purchase of Bazhong involves fakery.  This matter requires some understanding of how the market has evolved, how branding was alien to most producers until about ’05, and how smaller factories fed into the overall production of the big three, particularly Menghai TF.  In some regards fakes are the most fascinating aspect of mid-aged puerh.  That said, there are certain hard lines that I have and date faking is an unforgivable party foul.

Back to the Yiwu Prince, which hails from he factory of the year, Jinglong.  When the rainy weather started to get to me, the Yiwu Prince showed all his impeccability.  In terms of smoothness, texture, and root beeriness, it’s comparable to Zhen Silong with more camphor.  Regarding the latter, I notice a clear difference in the rapidity of transformation from the ’05 and ’11 treasures I have.  The ’11 is far more expressed and reminds me of the ’10 Tiger, MKRS in terms of early maturation.

Yiwu Prince

I guess that enough for now.  There’s only so many amateurish fotos that one can stomach in one sitting anyway.

 

Classic Tobacco Puerh

Posted on by Yang-chu
19 Dec

The ’08 Dali Tuo is a Classic Tobacco Puerh, and very good one I might add.  It’s on par with the Water Blue Mark and the Cherry Blossom in terms of tobbaccoey tastiness.

This raw Xiaguan TF treasure has been written up several times.  One occasion lay witness to a distraught Puerh Junky who thought that the DT had gone south.  Truth be known, it has a great intensity: smoky, sweet, woody, spicy.  Sure, it’s in “7536” (’07) company, but the absence of any playfulness up front makes it a kind of paragon of the Tobacco Class.

Productions seem to vary wildly from year-to-year.  It’s been some since I’ve had the ’06 version of the same production but it’s always seemed to be a peaty animal, whereas the smaller ’08 is more petrol.  Similarly, the ’04 version of the 7536 by Fuhai is vastly different from ’07.  The 7536 has been penned as a 7532 imitation, which is conceivable with the ’04 production but inconceivable with the ’07.

Oops.  At about the fifth infusion a fruit note does come out.  It’s what made me liken it to the ’13 Forever Love, which I do not own.  The fruit is certainly not its feature but it is expressing in a fashion consistent with puerh of this age.  By contrast the WBM and CB exhibit their fruitiness up front alongside the tobacco and sweetness.

Tobacco is naturally bitter.  Dali Tuo’s bitterness nicely balances the other more prominent notes.  Yeah, there’s astringency but it isn’t drying, leaving a nice zing in the mouth.

Imperial Roots Puerh Insurrection

Posted on by Yang-chu
08 Dec

An Imperial Roots Puerh Insurrection is presently afoot.  This is your intrepid Puerh Junky reporting live at the site of the second batch of the Imperial Roots, acquired in ’19.  The second batches are never as good as the first.

Yes, this is another storage lament.  The original Imperial Roots came into the Puerh Junky’s possession in late ’15.  Even though it was young, it was minty and lively.  This present cake, even after two years in my possession is stunted.  It’s not sweet.  The root beer darkness is nowhere to be found.  Instead, it is super minerally.  It tastes like coloured rock water with a considerable lichen influence.  That lichen taste is nearly absent in the original.

This is the most Zen Xiaguan production to come come under my radar.  It’s super Zen and must be drunk at moderate temperatures lest you be bored to tears.  Looks like some tinning is in order.  It’s already been moved to what I hope are more agreeable storage conditions.  There is no hope of recreating the original Imperial Roots, but I can still do some coaxing.

Right now, this is an absolute must for the mineral Zen lover.  The storage conditions have stunted the camphor, sugar, spice notes making it steely, like a medieval knight.

Puerh Junky Harassment!

Posted on by Yang-chu
23 May

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.

Curses, Puerh Junky!

Posted on by Yang-chu
14 May

Curses, Puerh Junky!  Your collection of mid-aged puerhs has ruined my tastes.  I can’t drink my young puerhs anymore.  You’ve ruined me!  You’re a villain, an apostle of unspeakable foulness, a criminal of the first order.  You’ll pay, you. . . you. . . Puerh Junky you!

Alack!  Alack!  What’s a Puerh Junky to do but sound fair warning to stand clear of the collection lest you too should fall prey to the wiles of mid-aged puerh.

Seems like the Puerh Junky isn’t the only one offering advice these days.  One piece went something like, “only buy and drink the stuff you like now, because. . . ”  I can’t remember the rationale because I fell from my chair hitting my head upon the glockenspiel and went unconscious.

Many have neither the patience nor conditions for storing puerh.  Nonetheless, it is very hard to believe that one could possibly gain any real sense of what puerh is actually about by drinking offerings under ten years old.  Actually, there’s considerable banter about a offerings with fewer than five years age.  The perception, based almost wholly on ignorance, is that puerh and aging is some type of marketing ploy.  I used to think the same, especially when it came to Yiwus.  Then I tasted some older ones and realized I wasn’t having my leg pulled.

The best way to not have that bubble shattered is to heed the Puerh Junky’s warning.  I want you to continue to cherish that 2017 you’re drinking.  The Puerh Junky is just bad news for any young collection.