Tag Archives: Pu erh Junky

Visiting ’07 Thick Zen Puerh

Posted on 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.

 

 

 

Beginning Root Beer Notes: Tiger Puerh Tuo 250g

Posted on by Yang-chu
21 Mar

Beginning root beer notes are emerging in the Tiger Puerh Tuo 250g.  What began as an overly aggressive, feisty production which transformed to incense is now mellowing.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s not mellow but I did move up from the typical 6.5 g to 8.  Today, I also tried it in the gaiwan .

I’ve been storing this since about Aug of ’16.  I’ve not made it through the first tuo I opened as it was too strong for my tastes.  Now is a different story.  The direction it is changing speaks to the promising prospects for it future.  There’s still quite a bit of astringency, but interestingly the bitterness is fading along with the floral notes.  The astringency has a kind of siltiness to it.  All of the macho seems to be converting into root beer.  All of the apple notes from its youth are gone as well.

Let’s take a look at an earlier shot of the liquor

Year of Tiger Puerh Tuo in ’16

Here’s a shot from 21st Mar ’19

Here’s a close up from a couple years ago…

2010 Tiger Puerh Tuo Closeup

Here’s one from 21st Mar ’19

2010 Tiger Tuo Closeup ’19

Now about the huigan and qi.  The liquor goes down smooth with that silty astringency at the edges.  As the liquor vanishes down the throat the cooling sensation of camphor and flowers emerge.  This sensation builds to a crescendo, reaching into the throat, and leaving the mouth tingly.  Some might find it a shade drying, while others may find that its cheekiness promotes salivation.  Perhaps both.  As for the qi, a pot or two should make you sufficiently stupid.  I felt both very extra-sensory and high from it.  It also produced an exceptional diuretic effect, whereby I p%%ed as if I’d drunk a gallon of beer, with just as much force!

At a cooler temp and a higher measure of tea, I’m picking up on some of the bitterness, pineapple/granny smith.  There’s also just a hint of petrol developing.  This production is no slouch.

Visiting the 05 Peacock Puerh, LM

Posted on by Yang-chu
25 Feb

Visiting the ’05 Peacock Puerh, LM is not what I’d consider to be the most memorable experience.  I’ve been sitting on this for about three years.  It is tightly pressed early spring material from what seems to be Daxue Shan or Jingmai material, but this is only a guess.

A few weeks ago, I took it out of storage.  I has a session with it about two weeks ago, where I noted strong green floral notes quite similar to 6FTM Lunar Series productions.  However, the Monkey is far superior to this production. . . at least what I’ve tasted of it.

Infusion #6

Infusion #6

For starters the ’05 Peacock takes two infusions not counting the rinse to get beyond a storage taste, one that it had upon acquisition.  None of the 6FTM Lunar Series have a stale storage vibe.  The ’05 Monkey upon acquisition four years ago already had some distinctive spice notes.  The ’05 Peacock is starting to develop a hint of petrol, but only for the second and third infusions.

The aftertaste of the ’05 Peacock is its greatest attribute.  Usually by now, a production of this age has floral notes that are more chrysanthemum or dandelion in nature not orchid.  In this regard it is quite similar to the Jingmai “003” from the same year, though the “003” has a young floral zing in the liquor as well as the aftertaste.   In some regard, both possess aggressive attributes.  The robustness of the ’05 Peacock’s liquor fades quickly before expressing Zen characteristics.

Aged appearance, some froth.

The body feel and effect of the Peacock is non-existent.  The “003” and the Lunar Series are both far superior in this regard.

I’ve tasted the ’05 Peacock, LM on numerous occasions.  I find it disappointing and overrated.  The ’06 Peacock Brick, also by LM by contrast, is rich, spicy, and durable.  They’re qualitatively different productions.  The ’05 is decidedly spring tea, which is what accounts for it valuation.  The Lunar Series and the “003” are two better productions that fall within the same floral class.

 

 

Puerh Aging: Two Years in the life of Green Mark

Posted on by Yang-chu
16 Jan

Time for a little puerh nostalgia, by examining the aging of a “Green Mark” that I liked enough in ’15 to get a tong in ’16.  At the time, I was most impressed by the delicate touch of humidity that had been added.  There’s enough to where the “golden flowers” of fungi were visible through the aid of my camera.


Though the storing touch was impressive, I quickly surmised that it was more than storage that was responsible for it color and quality.


Regard, an obvious blend of raw and ripe.  Obviously, not a real Green Mark but interesting execution nonetheless.  The tastes were always quite complex, rich, sweet, and inviting.  The kick of astringency as in later infusions was always a bit of a bummer but certainly not the end of the world.

April 2016 shot

This shot shows a fairly handsome brew, but as noted always had a bit of tweaking astringency.

Bell Pepper Pot with the ’01 GM Puerh

This is a shot from Aug 2018.  It is quite remarkable how much darker it is.  The astringency has pretty much faded.  It’s expressing that glassy effect evident with productions have oxidized a great deal.  The contrast between the raw and ripe material isn’t there anymore.  The camphor may not be quite as punchy as it was.  Overall, it’s still quite pleasing.

There are some “real” productions that are blended.  They are usually ripes.  For example, the “7581” is mostly ripe material.  LYH has a ripe production called Auspicious that was positively undrinkable when I first got it a few years ago.  A few year later, it turned out to be nice and glassy.  I noticed that YS introduced a raw/ripe blend of some sort in the past year or two.  It seems all the rules are being broken.   Ultimately, the proof is in the taste and effect, which is an ever-moving target.

I find this Green Mark to be very good, and is aging along quite nicely.

Two Root Beer Puerhs Five Years Removed

Posted on by Yang-chu
05 Jan

Here I want to take a look at two root beer puerhs five years removed: ’10 Tiger, MK and the ’05 Qizibing, XH.  The root beer class of puerhs express vanilla tempered by herbal notes that give the impression of that hallowed beverage of 19th-c cowboy saloons.

The Tiger typifies MK’s quality productions.  Stone pressed, The Tiger shows that the factory exercised an added measure of care to make it aesthetically pleasing.  Hailing from the aggressive side of the Lincang region, The Tiger’s notes are floral, characteristic of productions from Fengqing and DaXue Mt.  The hallmark Fengqing offering in the Puerh Junky collection is the Lunar Series from 6FTM.  These are feisty puerhs that’ll grow hair on your chest.  By contrast, MKs tend to be softer around the edges, much more refined, less astringent, with a more complex ensemble of flavours.

Xinghai TF productions seem to be all over the map.  The nondescriptly titled Qizibing is a recipe about which not much information is provided beyond being from Menghai.  I’ve rather concluded that it is an assortment of Bulang villages given it’s straightforward presence and lack of florality.  The cake itself looks like a standard recipe cake that been thrown together with some buds, some leaves, and stems.  The compression is perfectly appropriate, flecking apart easily with the knife.

Generally, root beer doesn’t express, if at all, until a production has quite a few years under its belt. Both productions have been Kunming stored, but the Tiger is one of the most aggressively aged KM productions I’ve encountered.  That said, it’s lost none of character and depth or if it has still possesses a great deal mellowed by a great deal of heat.  The QZB’s age is what’s to be expected of a properly KM aged ’05.

Mid 90s Wild Puerh

Posted on by Yang-chu
15 Dec

In the hot loaner teapot, the dry mid-90s wild puerh iron cake smells strongly of vanilla.  Wet, the vanilla mellow against a symphony of balanced aromas.

Brewing requires a measure of light-handedness.  Five seconds for the first six infuisons proved sufficient for me.  That’s because this production comes with some serious bitterness.  Unmistakably bitter.

Bitterness is not the most prevailing note, just the most daunting.  It’s definitely present in the aftertaste, along with vaguely mineral-graphite-petrol notes.  Still, that bitterness lingers.  All those complexities are present on the back end.

The main taste is a rich cream soda, with elements of spiced wood.  In terms of age-expressed herbal complexity, it shares an association with ’10 Year of Tiger, MK, though the Mid 90s wild has no floral notes.  All told, I get more than 12 infusions on a consistent basis.

It’s not uncommon to conjecture about the actual age of a production.  The best way to judge is by the colour of the leaves.  Storage conditions vary wildly.  It makes a huge difference in terms of how the tea expresses over time.  Here, the leaves are certifiably red, though the liquor is not particularly deep in hue.  At the same time, from one infusion to the next, it does not get lighter, perhaps even darker, as oxidation has penetrated evenly through the leaves, not just the superficial layers and at the edges.  Even though in many regards the ’10 Tiger, MK is more aged in some regards, the notes are significantly brighter, something only expressed in “young” teas.  In this case, I’ve an ongoing relationship with this seller.  Their storage is consistent and prices reasonable, so I don’t feel cause for there to be unreasonable suspicion toward their claims.

I’ll be posting sometime next year.

’16 Bulang Business

Posted on by Yang-chu

It’s been deathly dry these past days.   The young raws are hitting the spot again.  Here’s a couple shots of the ’16 Bulang Business in it’s original habitat.

’16 Bulang Business

 

’16 Bulang Business #2

Take a stick of Juicy Fruit, some rocks from a mountain stream, add some stevia and you’ve basically got yourself the Bulang Business.  Throttle the thickness and bitterness with your infusion time.  This is true high-quality Bulang bitter.  The edges are not sharp and astringent.

All in all, it’s a very cheerful production.

LM Square Puer: Reflections

Posted on by Yang-chu

Let’s do a bit of a retrospective through some photos of the ’06 LM Square.  Pretty harmless looking box.  LM stands for Liming Tea Factory.  One of their brands is Ba Jiao Ting.  The names can be used interchangeably.  Here’s a link to write-ups and products related to this factory.

I want the pictures to do the talking:

At the very least there were two pressings of this production ’06 and ’07.  The best pressing is shown above.  The level of detail is exquisitely expressed here.  Other pressings, though they may taste identical by my standards is decidedly of poorer quality.

Here’s the reverse side.  I just talked about the compression yesterday.  Below is a shot from two years ago.  I didn’t specify which infusion.  Notice how turbid it is in terms of clarity.  Lotsa tasty stuff in there.

Since I know it is a brick, I engaging with it on different terms from a cake.  Sorta like the difference between consume and stew.  Bricks and tuo tend to fall into the stew category.  Stewed fruit to be precise.

’06 LM Square, 10th Infusion

This is a shot taken in late Aug of ’18.  I guess my record keeping is getting better.  Let’s look some more.

Cashed leaves take one.

Here’s from two years ago.

Really tough to differentiate.  One thing I notice is that the shot from June of ’16 has more bitsy material.  I’d rather go with a chunk 10g than to have precisely 7.5g of bits.  No bueno.  If the production comes apart easily, that’s a different story.  In general, we’re not drinking matcha.

I came to Liming because many of their productions possess a peacock emblem.  My peacock category is not just with peacocks or “phoenixes.”  Many cakes boast of being from Peacock Country.  Among those in the know, these are unassailable braggin’ rights.   Pengcheng and Xinghai also avail themselves of this reference.  In terms of consistent high standard, Liming is the best among them.

 

LM Square: Atomic Compression

Posted on by Yang-chu

’06 LM Square, 10th Infusion

The ’06 LM Square is a serious treasure that lasts forever.  The huigan is outstanding.  Its aroma is pleasant and noticeable.  Atomic compression.  Before going into this, let me relate a few thoughts about what I remember it to have been.

Liming productions can come with quite a bit of smoke.  I remember this square to be solidly representative: smoky, sweet, thick, and durable.  I didn’t think it lasted forever.  I hadn’t noticed the aroma or been of the impression that it was spring tea, which it is.  I can’t say that I noticed any light brown sugar, which is one of the pervasive themes from one infusion to the next.  The broth presently tastes like Wheaties.

Now about the atomic compression. . .  As a puerh genre, squares are most likely to be pressed into oblivion.  I have a Liming cake from ’05 also pressed to smithereens.  I do not crumble these productions.  I aim for one or two shards measuring between 8-10g.  The rinse is one minute at 208.  I let it sit for five minutes with the lid on.  Infusions 1-6 brew between 30-1m.  Rounds 7-15 according to your preferences.  208 is the ideal temp for certain.  If it seems too astringent lighten your hand, though this production is very kind to those brewing with a heavy hand.

The surprising thing is that given such compression, I would think that the smoke should still be prominent.  But it’s not.  The first part of the session has deep plum aroma and a light plum taste mixed in with the light brown sugar I mentioned above.  Later infusions reveal the underlying spring nature.

Puerh Cake Take: Jade Mark and Pots

Posted on 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.