Tag Archives: Pu erh Junky

12 Wangong and Yiwu Puerh in General

Posted on by Yang-chu

Sitting on this for four years has seen a good deal of transformation.  Autumn tea.  Some light fruitiness.  Typical astringency for Yiwu material.  It really is the case that Yiwu productions do benefit from years of storage.  It’s gotten sweeter sweeter.  The astringency is not as wicked as I recall.  Here’s a shot from ’14:

Shot in ’14

Big difference in terms of color.  There’s no old-taste to it yet.  The fruitiness of the aroma seems to build as the session progresses.  As luck would have it, it’s the third “Zen tea” I’ve visited this week.  By “Zen tea,” we’re essentially talking about the gentle productions that taste like very lightly sweetened water.  There’s no flash and pizzazz.  You’ve got to sit with it a bit and try to figure it out.  Most of the figuring will be around the astringency, which by the 9th infusion really starts churning in the stomach.  I certainly would not drink this in the winter, though it seems fine enough on an empty stomach.

All of the Zen productions reviewed earlier this week are from ’07.  They all possessed some measure of old taste.  The most surprising was definitely the the Prince with a developing berriness that was nowhere detectable earlier.  None possess any bitterness to speak of but the astringency is something to contend with.

Infusion 8ish

Wan Gong material’s price has gone through the roof since ’14.  So far my reaction to Yiwu has been highly variable, even the same production.  I feel that it has been me more than any particular production.  The jury is still out on Wangong.  I feel that this Wangong is getting better, sweeter and less astringent.

Cashed leaves

I’d say about five more years.  I’ve had some of these Yiwus from the late 90s.  Spring tea, even some blend thereof, tends to be the best imho.  These light ones strike me as being extremely challenging in some regards, especially if there aren’t any flowers to offset the subtlety of the autumn material.

A Fuzzy Enigma: ’07 Beijing Olympics

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’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.

Smooth as Glass: ’07 Thick Zen, CNNP

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9th Infusion

The ’07 Thick Zen is smooth as glass.  At room temperature, very subtle camphor notes are detectable.  Overall, however, Zen is an apt description of this middle-aged puerh.  Juicy Zen: feint fruitiness, wheat, and a gentle old taste without any hint of any off odors or stale storage.  It smells a bit like a horse stable dry.  Wet more like lightly roasted barley, what they call “ku-qiao.”

The qi of the Thick Zen is very much in the stomach.  It really stimulates the appetite pre-meal and post-meal produces a warming ball of heat in the stomach.  Over all the qi is quite relaxing and seems quite a bit stronger in terms of these effects after eating than before a meal.

12th infusion 3 minutes

Even pushed it exhibits neither bitterness nor excessive astringency.  Part of it has to do with being very moderately pressed even for a CNNP ’07 production.  The photo doesn’t do it justice in terms of just how transformed this here’s a shot of the cashed leaves anyway.

To the naked eye the cashed leaves look much redder.  Anyhoot, the transformation is coming along nicely.

 

 

Berryland Ho!

Posted on by Yang-chu

The ’07 Prince is aging up nicely.  It’s starting to have an old taste.  Not noticing so much vanilla in there as before.  Seems to be working nicely in the warm weather.  The huigan is still hanging on 10 minutes after the fact.  Fruity.  Berries.  You’ve got to wade through at least four rounds before you get to it.  The taste is remarkably light.  Lightly bitter and sweet water.  The broth on the thin side.  By the 8th infusion the fruitiness of the aroma jumps out.

Here’s a shot taken 28 months ago.

Looks about the same, but the taste is quite different.  Here’s a shot of the cashed leaves from today.

Here’s from 28 months ago.

It seems that the one from today is darker.  I’m really surprised by the fruitiness, which makes me think of two things: Kunming storage and the original material.  For 11 year-old puerh, overall it appears that the material has undergone remarkably little transformation.  The thing is, I don’t taste any vanilla or camphor as my write up from two-plus years ago indicated.

Second, Yiwu material is known to be very light in taste with often a no-joke astringency.  It is also known to get richer as it ages.  The difference from say the Bulang or Wuliang is that these are very aggressive where aging is partly aimed at waiting for these productions to settle down.  I can now descry the path upon which the Prince has embarked.  Berryland ho!

Rock Sugar Bulang– and a Dash of Fruit

Posted on by Yang-chu

I picked this Bulang production up when I was in my Du Qiong-zhi phase.  She’s one of the “refugees” from the vaunted Menghai TF, back when the state tea monopoly began to dissolve in the mid-90s.  As a free-agent, she had her hand in the development of several Xinghai TF and Pengcheng TF productions, among others.

The 2011 Peacock S Puerh is not going to be something to write home about, but as a daily drinker in the scorching hot days of summer, it turns out to be quite refreshing.  I think it might be perfect chilled and I plan to cold brew the cashed leaves, as the rock sugar sweetness with fruity and astringent kick should be perfect in these conditions.

I believe I’ve noticed this cake getting richer and sweeter in the two years I’ve had it, more sweet than rich.  The huigan builds to a slow crescendo with rock sugar being the most outstanding trait.  Five minutes post drink you’ll be tasting much sweetness with saliva stimulation.  I went with 10s infusion for the first 7 passes before increasing the time.  The rock sugar never fades and there’s no pronounced bitterness even as the astringency builds.

Sweet Roasted Hay: ’12 Cultural Revolution Series

Posted on by Yang-chu

I’ve had this ’12 Cultural Revolution puerh brick sitting out in the kitchen now for easily nine mths now.  My record keeping being what it is, I cannot say it’s been longer but not likely shorter.

I first picked these up purely for wrapper appeal in Kunming in ’13.  Two years later I got some more.  I know the general word on the street is that after about a year ripe puerh productions are ready for drinking.  There seem to be some people who are actually fond of the the strong tastes and smells of young ripe puerh me not among them.

This 100g ripe puerh brick never expressed particularly strong odors, but it nonetheless did not taste so ready, rather bland.  Now it has transformed into a very sweet production in terms of both the liquor and aftertaste.  There is an astringency I hadn’t noted previously.  Pouring the first infusion I noticed a vegetal aroma, which expresses as sweet dry slightly malted hay.  Some vanilla notes in there.  Some might detect a bit of chocolate.  By the third infusion the brew gets murkier than its clear initial rounds.  Drinking at room temperature, I can tell it would be quite tasty cold-brewed.

The ’12 Cultural Revolution Series puerh brick has deep-roast straw properties of the ’07 Boss Square, though it is not as rich and the latter has a more obvious chocolate tone.  The astringency is similar to ’06 CNNP “55”, though the “55” is more bitter and less sweet with noticeable camphor notes.  The ’09 Qing Beauty compares favourably in terms of sweetness and clarity, but it is much, much more floral, with heavier fermentation, and sour notes.  In other words, it contrasts greatest in terms of the other two comparisons.

 

 

Sandalwood and Soap: ’06 Tippy Tuo

Posted on by Yang-chu
30 Jun

There’s a much greater taste of something like sandalwood starting to express in this treasure.  The camphor and woodsy quality seems to have vanished.  Several years ago, there was an orange-juice quality, replete with sourness that has sense vanished.

Spring tea.  A strong and lasting aftertaste.  That’s where the sandalwood is most evident.  Flowers, that aroma and aftertaste of many spring productions is straight sandalwood.  There’s also some humidity and minerality.  That comes on the front end.  The humidity used to be more pronounced, not in a dank fashion, but that which gave the long gone woodsy vibe.

Ahhh.  Sometimes it seems that the puerh pursuit is one of nostalgia.  There’s still quite a bit of attack on the tongue.  I noticed that this one consistently leaves a qi-effect.  Not all qi-effects are heady, however.  This one has “gut qi.”  I’m not saying it is a gut buster, because it doesn’t land exactly in that fashion.  A gut buster elicits the urge to eat, just like one that has gut qi.  The difference is that gut qi doesn’t give you cramps.

Nothing about this production feels green anymore.  As you dig deeper in later infusions, bitterness definitely starts to assert itself.  A zinging astringency attacks the tongue throughout.  There’s something in there that evokes a sense of soap powder.  Certainly the woodsiest of spring productions I’ve had.  Quite similar to this in terms of the sandalwood.  The ’07 Tippy Tuo is an entirely different production, which tastes much more like Lin Cang, Fengqing, of the Yunnan black tea vibe.  This has the true minerality of Wuliang material.

Bubble Gum Tiger Puerh

Posted on by Yang-chu
25 Jun

I don’t know how it is that today I’m picking up notes of bubble gum in 10 Tiger Puerh, MK.  I’m getting it in the aroma and taste, along with angelica spiciness.  It’s Bazooka bubble gum, not “chewing gum” like Juicy Fruit.   The gan is instant with this raw puerh tea.   It is very sweet.  The aftertaste is sweeter, sugary like stevia.

There’s some bitterness in the broth, enough to give it an edge.  Previous sessions have typically conjured a sense of root beer.  The 10 Tiger MK is unmistakably herbal, not vegetal.  There’s no hint of green taste.  I keep thinking sassafras.  There’s much to be said for the moderate compression and decent warmth of the initial storage.  This is a color and taste well beyond its years by 6-10 years.  At the same time the brew has lost NO qi or flavor.

There’s some aggression to it.  It’s not passive aggression nor is it out of control.  Just letting you know it won’t be pushed around.  No smoke.  Maybe that bubble gum is flowers.  Maybe.  Little doubt this is Mengku material, like that weird cousin in the movies who grooves to the beat of jazz-inspired house, as opposed to, say, Chopin.  Maybe.

Naked Ma-hei ’14 Dragon Pearl Update

Posted on by Yang-chu
08 Aug

The other day I was reading about a particular production when the common adage about Yi-wu teas was repeated:  Yi-wu teas should be soft, not bitter, and a bit more astringent.  The Naked Ma-hei has now hit this mark.  Most all of the dragon pearls are by one measure or another soft and Yi-wu is not the only area of soft expression.  Bang-dong, Xi-gui, and Bing-dao are all smooth operators from Lincang.

Ma-hei is one of the Six Great Tea Mountains.  Its name is a transliteration from the dialect of the local Yao or Yi tribes, as is the case with most of the tea-growing areas in Yunnan.   The SGTM were the officially recognized mountains tasked with producing tea for the Qing court in the north.

Whereas Xi-gui and Bing-dao provided immediate appeal, it took a spell for me to get my head around Yi-wu.  With the exception of Yi-bang, fragrance is not its thing, but smoothness, fruitiness, butteriness, and thickness.  I see that my notes said something about slight bitterness.  That is gone.  The puerions are active in the huigan.

A bit about brewing… Unlike many dragon pearls, the Naked Ma-hei is not so tightly rolled.  The light storage taste disappears by the second infusion.  After the first few infusions, it’s ok to push the leaves with longer infusion times as opposed to hotter water.  The leaves are big and fat and release evenly from one infusion to the next.  Overall, it doesn’t disappoint in warm summer days.