Tag Archives: ripe puerh

March ’24 Puerh Musings

Posted on by Yang-chu
05 Mar

March ’24 Puerh Musings must be prefaced by commentary upon the ventures of some individual(s) who thought it necessary to scrawl my personal FB postings to otherwise disaffect those who might be affected by my views on matters entirely unrelated to tea. I’d like to dedicate this post to them and hope whatever ventures upon which they engage beyond defamation do well.  For what it’s worth, I do not retract one scintilla of what I’ve posted.  At the same time, I do not care to belabour matters about which most have very little discernment, which has essentially been my life purpose.  I welcome any interlocutors who are of good faith, but it should be noted that were I a conventionalisto, then that which I’ve been able to offer would be off the radar because I’d be too busy adhering to “herdism,” that which is anathema to my being. . . eh?  (though I’m not Canadian)

We now resume with the third-person lens where we find the Puerh Junky moving from the kitchen of burping cabbage fermented concoctions to the front room alcove, where he crafts his “musings.”  He has designs to discuss the few Zhongcha/Chinatea offerings upon which he’s been sitting as well as some Xinghai and other productions that have been sitting in the cave for a while.  In particular, he feels that there have been some ripes deserving mention.  He’ll start there.

Leap Week LME Ripes

Leap Week LME Ripes occurred spontaneously.  For clarity’s sake, LME stands for the Laoman’e brand and not the terroir, per se, though all of their productions seem to come the three same terroir: Bulang, Nannuo, and Banzhang.  All LME ripe offerings can be characterized as rich and dense, having full fermentation.  There’s full mouthfeel and considerable bitter finish.  This bitterness is likely their most distinguishing feature.  They provide a range of entry points in terms of price.  Prices for widely available productions tend to hold steady, but the Arbor King and BZ Peacock have shown movement to the upside, the latter being a rather extraordinary offering.

The week started out with the ’12 Arbor King, which proved to be its poorest performance ever.  Typically, there’s a cherry note that accompanies its intensity but this time it could not be detected and it was definitely on the flat papery side.  It’s not likely the storage, at the same time AK has not been temperamental.  The best guess is the weather and I’ll be sure to revisit in the next month or two for latest developments.  Overall, I found the visit disappointing and a later visit in the week proved no better, even after airing a bit.

I recently picked up three more ’11 Orchid Vibe.  It’s a good price and I’ve enjoyed the vanilla, along with a fermentation that’s a bit lighter than the others, though by no means light.  I stored it in the ripe big box.  The taste is vastly different from the past with much more wood resin.  It seemed quite similar to the Langhe Ripe Tuo, though they’re stored in different places.  Overall quality and character are solid, but the personality differs greatly from any previous session in tasting for a number of years now.  Again, must be the rainy-season effects.

By this time, the Puerh Junky had a fancy to test a LCGC ripe acquired in Nov ’23.  A more exhaustive write-up on LCGC ripes will be in order some time this year ’24.  The year ’23 had Puerh Junky more curious about their ripes.  It proved a good change of pace, as it brought the LME ripe house style into greater relief.  The greatest difference?  Sweetness.  The LCGC possesses a light molasses and Wheat Chex quality.  The sweetness adds a layer of thickness, though it’s not sticky sweet.  Since Old Geezers which sold out to a local fiend, I haven’t found such a production.

Finally, there was the ’06 Nannuo, LME. It’s in the ripe sampler set #4. This was sampled straight from storage and twice thence in the same week.  Each time, totally blind, PJ’s wife made remarks whereas none of the others elicited a peep.  The Nannuo, of which, I’ve picked up three more in a most recent order (yet to be received), possesses a layer of Vienna Fingers vanilla cookie.  There’s a top layer of this with the LME house bitter finish.  Still is not remarkably sweet.

All were brewed in my ripe pot 10-12g about 3m to start at same or upward with about four infusions.  No vegetal at all.  Prices for these between in the $60s-110.  Samples avail in Sampler U or on respective page.

Zhongcha

Zhongcha is ChinaTea.  I’m trying to get use to using that name more frequently.  They’re a full-range outfit but most of that which Puerh Junky offers is in the “peoples” and midrange priced offerings.  There have been a few individuals who’ve examined the leaves and made critical remarks, then showing me Chenshenghao’s yedi.  I’ve not endevoured to portray my ZC’s on par with CSH’s, but when I look at such monochromatic leaves, I immediately suspect blow drying.  No bueno.  In any event, Zhongcha has presented itself as a volume seller of casual drinkers that “the people” can afford.  Until ’14 they adhered to strict processing methods that didn’t pander to quick-sweet tastes.  Furthermore, they’re iconic and worth visiting for a sense of classic puerh history.   Since ’07 the Zhongcha brand has been synonymous with Kunming TF, though there’s an out layer or two.  Initial forays into Zhongcha were with the ’07 offerings, with a few offered as late as ’16.  In ’23, I ventured into a few ’06 and ’08 with generally positive findings but much different from the ’07s that had served as a centerpiece of acquisition from between ’14-’20.  Astringency is much greater in the ’06 and ’08s.

During the leap week I visited two relatively recent productions, the ’12 Mangosteen and the ’13 Bulang Shengtai.  I had to sit the Mangosteen out for two weeks after first test.  There’s a very high-pitched camphor note that may only be detected by mouth cooling for newbies.  There a middle note of aged fruit, plum possibly, with a zing of erstwhile mangosteen, but a wicked astringency that is altogether not in comportment with the house style as I know it.  I’m still not offering, though I’ve had on hand since ’14, only offering to those confident about their storage.  Having tracked essentially since inception, two more years seems the minimum.  It has maximo classical processing and I’m optimistic given it innate character.  First batch, late March/early April.  It’s bona fide and taking it time.  At least three on hand.

The ’13 Bulang Shengtai has been more fudged in processing if the Mangosteen serves as any comparison  The sugars have already come in, an overall fruity character, having an element of bitterness.  Zen front, fruit second, not unfriendly.  Easy. Everyday drinker.  A good candidate for one unfamiliar with 10yr plus productions that have been only moderately fired.  The wrapper is iconic, but if I’m resorting to wrapper I cannot be all that taken.  It’s very possible that it’s just early.  The 10yr spot is just for starters, nothing negative, seasonal factors included.  Fine.  Much better than two years ago.  Again, the sugars are present but Zen needs some differentiation from bland.  A good conservative starter for testing your brewing method.  I’m expecting more with the the weather changes, say late Aug.  Hit me up.  I won’t raise price in next two years.  I plan to post on a Zhongcha page at the latest by May ’24.

Xinghai

Xinghai grabbing continued afoot in ’23.  Now is a time for proper testing the first stage.  We’ll visit the ’07 Oasis Odyssey, ’07 Paolo Santo, and the ”06 Treasured.  I also tried the ’06 Bulang GS, which is prolly issued under ’07, but I’m willing to give it some time.  Let’s start with the Oasis Odyssey.

Oasis Odyssey seems to have been acquired in May ’23, offered in Nov of the same year.   Over time, it has traversed from oily purple to the typical astringent XH personality with good salivation effect as opposed to drying.  Mostly in the Zen Class.  Compression is massive.  The purple has diminished in expression.  Balanced sweetness.  We’ll have to observe how it evolves in relation to the changes of the seasons.  I’m looking for more oil and purple as last year.

The ’07 Paolo Santo tuo has me rather excited.  It’s a second batch production that has lemon and wood attributes.  I can easily see how the first round would be much more expensive.  No smoke, high limonene wood expression, not too sweet. smattering of bitter.  It’s not available presently, as I only acquired in Nov ’23 but around May ’24 will be.  Bright wood bitter, lemonime, complex, nice.  It’s very promising.  Not sweet but quintessentially Xinghai.  Qi is overall warming and settling.

Finally, there is the Treasured, acquired in Jun ’23.  It has yet to be listed, but one of the projects for the Xinghai Raw page two.  Treasured is the second batch.  It’s in the Tobacco Class, possibly approaching tequila.  Not atomically pressed, with a nice balance of smoked wood, wood resin, sweetness, and astringency.  Probably the most notable element regards storage.  Most productions require the proper treatment that these LA environs provide.  Even then, it takes several months to bring them into a form that make them presentable.  It’s needed every bit of the nine months to come to form.  It’ll appear on the XH second page for certain.

Wrap up

March ’24 Puerh Musings have covered a range of raws and ripes.  The ripes were confined to Puerh Junky’s LME offerings, while raws involved Zhongcha and Xinghai productions.  LME ripes stand out for their bitter finish.  ZC’s ’12 Mangosteen is showing promise, but the astringency is a bit of a hair raiser presently, so it’ll sit at least till after the summer.  The ’13 Bulang Shengtai will be posted soon on a page with a few other others.  The Xinghai visits covered two productions that will also be listed soon.  If all goes well, at the latest mid-May.  Each has a distinctive profile and all being second batches are very reasonably priced:  Oasis Odyssey is Zen with balanced sweetness; Paolo Santo is as the name suggests with remarkable qi; Treasured offers wood complexity of Tobacco Class.  Paolo Santo is also Tobacco Class, but possesses a vastly different quality from Treasured, more closely resembling their Green Peacock.

Puerh Junky Visits Sweet Richness

Posted on by Yang-chu
25 Jul

Puerh Junky Visits Sweet Richness finds our “hero” making strange contortions with his mouth.  He’s drinking ’10 Sweet Richness, YPH.  Summer ’23 is upon us and many productions in The Collection are reaching their yearly peak, like those tiger lilies and roses that make their yearly performance.  But what gives with the Puerh Junky’s own dancing-mouth performance?

In previous sessions during the dry season, Sweet Richness received infusions of a heavier hand.  This gives rise to an imposingly bitter brew, but not in a sense that it had been over brewed.  The presumption that the dryness perhaps necessitated more umph informed the move.  This summer session in which the leaves were fairly separated invited a different approach.  No doubt maturation plays a role, but the summer humidity makes a considerably favorable impact.

After a quick rinse and rest of seven minutes, infusion one received five seconds.  Light marshmallow, a note previously undetected.  The aroma expressed a vaguely chocolate, moist humus character.  This humidity is not front-and-center like where the 55 is now or Xinghai’s 7262 and Fujin’s BZ Ripe King have been.

The second and third infusions of about 10s excelled at mouthfeel and sweetness, demonstrating high-quality material.  Most ripe puerhs land on the tongue, which is to say there’s varying degrees of a silt-deposition effect in the mouth.  These infusions jump-slicked.  I cannot recall ever having this happen with a ripe.  It’s as if the huigan begins the instant it hits the mouth.  “Jump-slick” would stand in contrast to “coat”, as in coating the mouth.  Thus, the sweet effect and mouthfeel weren’t cloying.  In fact, the speed and strength of salivation come quickly and strong.  Again, can’t recall this type of action with a ripe.

Infusion four?  Probably the best, also about 10-15s. There was some drop off with five, so true to form six got over brewed.  Regarding six, the traditional bitterness associated with ole SW appeared.  Cereal and vegetal notes also make their presence known.

Images here.

 

Puerh Junky Visits Drury Lane

Posted on by Yang-chu
13 Jun

The first thing that catches you about Drury Lane is how clean it is.  The aroma is remarkably sweet. Chocolate, camphor, and crayolas.  The rinse liquor sparkles the colour of brandy and it tastes like Kalua.  There’s an ineffable breadiness that entices.  At room temperature, camphor taste up from before being drowned out by milk chocolate.  Big time milk chocolate aftertaste.

The first infusion brews up considerably darker but still crystal clear.  The taste of vanilla jumps out with camphor middle and chocolatey tannin finish.  The sense of how clean it is remains.  Cleanliness hasn’t come at the cost of complexity.

Infusion two is doubtlessly darker still, a ruby.  I’m brewing judiciously about 10s but the waking was probably two minutes.  The broth now is almost sticky, conjuring impressions of Tootsie Rolls.  It’s super sweet and milk chocolately with fantastic camphor and vanilla elements.

Infusion three is slightly lighter than two.  It is still totally transparent.  It’s lighter in texture and the vanilla element seems to be taking the fore.  There’s the muffin element, simple vanilla muffins that aren’t too sweet, with just a hint of cardamom.  I think it’s good for two more rounds.  Might boil it tomorrow.  Twigs will like that.

If memory serves this is Xiangming Factory.  Actually, it’s Yongming.  They didn’t get puer bible listed in the ’98-’03 edition.  Either Xiangming or Yongming or both in one of the editions.  I think I’ve seen some of their offerings posted.  It was the first ripe I’ve purchased from the vendor I mentioned previously, the one who seems focused on selling the tea and not the factory.  Consequently, Yongming is more-or-less incidental to the tea itself.  Drury Lane sounds a shade more inviting than Menghai Ripe Brick for some reason.  The vendor actually never showed the wrapper.

Infusion five soaked for a few minutes delivers on par with the first infusion.  It’s quite rich.  Positively completely totally dry stored.  Quite reminiscent of the Langhe house taste for some reason.    Infusion six was possibly 15m.  The color is still remarkably dark but it’s less sweet and rich.   The final sips of a Black Russian.

Boiling Ripe Puerh

Posted on by Yang-chu
27 Feb

So, for the past two weeks your trusty Puerh Junky has taken to Boiling Ripe Puerh.  This has become a bit of a morning ritual from the leftovers drunk the previous day.  Most often these have been samples or recently acquired offerings.  There was at least one item from the archives as well.

It started with one such recent Dec ’20 acquisition.  It’s an Yiwu purported to be from ’03 and pressed in ’18.  There’s certainly no wodui to it and seems to be old enough but perhaps because it’s in a plastic-wrapped cardboard gift box it’s been robbed of a bit of umph.  Right now it is very light, and am not sure that it meets any brewing standard, so I decided to give it a boil while I wait for it to come around if ever.  That’s how the Boiling Ripe Puerh routine started.

Over the course of these two weeks, perhaps six or seven productions have been boiled.  The taste of boiled ripes is not the same as brewed.  Without exception, the boiled potions possess a certain cereal quality, some like Wheaties and others like Malt O Meal.

Interestingly, the overly light-brewed ripes take to brewing quite nicely.  In other words, they’re better boiled than brewed.  More richness comes through while never becoming overpowering.  Speaking of overpowering, my wife rarely says a production is too much, but such was the case with a ’04 Dayi tuo, which is very similar to old tea nuggets.  That was a remarkable treasure, with tastes of incense and brine.    Diluted it was dandy and water could be added two more times.

Zhongcha from the Archives

Another unique and especially pleasant experience came from the archives with a “Zhongcha” I picked up back in late ’13 or thereabouts.  This is labeled as a High Mt Wild, the very last of which was sold in Jan.  It has a weird cheesy rubber band taste to it, which I was hoping to no avail would dissipate to an undetectable level.  In any event the Puerh Junky’s wife simply loved it, first brewed and then even more boiled.  She went on and on about how smooth and tasty it was.  I chunked down on a cheesy ripe a couple months ago from Liming, which should become avail in Oct or Nov.

Time to rap up, but not without mentioning the pot.  I’m not much for the teaware fetish when that money could go toward perfectly good puerh.  The thing about the teapot pictured above is that you can place it directly upon a flame, so it’s super convenient.  No doubt these can be found on your regular shopping sites and at a reasonable price.  They’re super handy and well worth having for purposes such as boiling tea.

Boiling Ripe Puerh offers a nice change of pace to the standard gong-fu brewing method.  The cereal notes come through much more strongly with boiling than brewing.  It goes without mention that this allows you to get the very most from your ripe treasures.  Boiling seems to be especially appropriate for light ripes that don’t perform well when infused in the typical fashion.

 

Puerh Rating: Peacock Ripe

Posted on by Yang-chu

The Puerh Junky Rating System (PJRS) takes on the Peacock Ripe.  This is a 357g ripe cake from the LME TF, produced in ’09.  They have other production years for this treasure, ’06, ’08, ’09, and ’11.  They’ve been in the game of making puerh since 1984, focusing primarily Bulang, Banzhang, and Lao Man E.  The link provides guidance for pronunciation of that letter “E.”

After three rounds the results were as follows:

  • Aroma        10
  • Clarity        14
  • Sweetness 11
  • Viscosity      9
  • Astringency 11
  • Huigan        10
  • Qi                 7

Reflections

The Peacock Ripe distinguishes itself from the Silver Peacock in being richer and deeper.  As the picture shows it clarity is is most outstanding attribute, followed by pleasing sweetness and little astringency.

The qi and viscosity rank lowest, with viscosity being a solid average and the qi expressing itself but not something that’s going to make you crazy, hungry, or frequent trips to the WC.

Conclusions

The Peacock Ripe’s profile is vanilla with some geosmin.  No fruit and despite wikki’s definition, no mustiness.  The Puerh Junky finds LME ripe productions to be outstanding in respect to possessing positively ZERO detested vegetal notes.  The effects of age are evident in its richness and depth.  One drinker who comes to ripe puerh from a wine background noted sustained character even when drunk from a thermos at work. Subjected to the GSM its score would undoubted be higher.  The camphor would pop more. Puerh Rating: Peacock Ripe

72/105, B

Ripe Puerh Double Take

Posted on by Yang-chu
28 May

I’m indulging you in a Ripe Puerh Double Take.  These are the notes I wrote today for the Sweet Silt Puerh Brick.  I though it wasn’t listed.  It’s spooky how similar these notes resemble the initial listing.

Sweet Silt Puerh Brick is a 2015 commission by the Macau brand I follow for ripes.  This 250g brick is absent any wet-pile taste or aroma.  A ineffable sweetness is the overriding theme: perhaps dry sweet hay with the slightest dash of alphalpha.  Whereas some light fermentation styles come with a measure of tannins, Sweet Silt is round Zen without the hint of tannins.  No black tea cross over here.

In fact, Sweet Silt has no woodiness, no camphor, no thickness, no fruit, no forest, no earthiness, no humidity, just a hint of vanilla.  It yields few infusions with longer than normal infusion times.

May 2020

Silt refers to the mouthfeel and the baby powder essence characterizing this ripe puerh experience.  This effect is most evident in the aftertaste.  The brew’s nature resembles hojicha, with less roast, but with a sweet stem quality and no fermentation notes.

Sweet Silt can be brewed to oblivion and it maintains its crystal clarity.

Ripe Puerh Gaiwan Challenge: Day IV

Posted on by Yang-chu
25 Dec

For day IV of the Ripe Puerh Gaiwan Challenge, I reached for the ’14 Macau Puerh Brick.  Whereas I felt that the gaiwan muted the vegetal notes of the ’07 Mushroom Tuo, those same notes seem ever more present in the Macau Puerh Brick.

The gaiwan effect for this ripe puerh doesn’t seem as noticeable as with some of the previous samples.  Even after revising this production the following day I didn’t catch much change.  There is no pushing the Macau Puerh Brick beyond any acceptable point.  The aftertaste is long and vegetal.  There are no deep or humid notes detectable.  The glass vibe might be the most prevailing attribute.

’11 Rich-n-Mellow Puerh: Cherry-Vanilla Coke

Posted on by Yang-chu
19 Jul

The ’11 Rich-n-Mellow Puerh lays to rest the assertion that age doesn’t factor into ripe puerhs.

You can smell the minerals and cherries in the lid of the clay pot.  It still stinks out of the wrapper.  I got this because the wrapper was sufficiently curious.  Dry in the pot, there’s the light smell of cherries along with something that I can’t place: the sea, old coffee, feet?  As it cools, different notes become apparent while others fade.  The target moves so quickly that one is afforded no measure of certainty, though such mysteriousness grows upon this sniffer with each sniff.

Cashed Leaves

Rich-n-Mellow’s minerality is present in the aroma of the broth too.  The cherry taste, also in the broth, fades to vanilla.  In the rinse, gorgeous I might add, there’s a bit of sourness, along with incense and talc in the huigan.  Immensely interesting.  The huigan with this puerh potion is real.  The fading of the liquor down the throat is followed by a sweet and dynamic coating that stimulates saliva.

By the third infusion, it becomes apparent that this ripe puerh cake isn’t exactly “ready.”  Oh yes, by then the sweetness, the cherries-fading-to-vanilla, and the Coke fizz on the tongue and throat are all there, but it’s not the taste.  It’s the clarity or the lack thereof to be precise.  This should clear up in a few years.  I’m moving the remainder of this cake to more intense conditions to see if it can get there in 18 mths or so.  Otherwise, a rough guess is that it’ll be there in three years.

Rich-n-Mellow 6th Infusion

The Rich-n-Mellow is surprisingly tasty, seemingly perfect for summer.  It’s qi is warming in the belly and tingly in the upper shoulders and back.  This Kunming Tea Factory offering differs from the standard bearing 7581 formula in its lightness, cherry-vanilla, and Coke fizz.  It’s taken all of eight years and four here in Los Angeles for it to take on a character befitting its name.  I down to my last cake and will probably retire it by months (Jul ’19) end because restocking this is impossible and it’s turning out to be a hidden treasure.

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.

 

 

Coming of Age: ’12 Cultural Revolution Series

Posted on by Yang-chu
13 Jun

Finally.  The Cultural Revolution Series 100g ripe puerh mini-bricks are ready to be enjoyed.  Until now, this production hasn’t done much for me.  Not bad, just nothing to write home about.  I know the general sense that most ripes are pretty much ready for drinking after a year or two.  That gives it sufficient time for the wodui, i.e., the fermentation smell and taste to wear off.  Wodui, however, is not the only consideration with the aging of ripes.

Some say clarity of the brew offers some indication of whether the ripe is ready.  The cloudiness seems to be an indication that microbes are still at work transforming the stuff that comes from the fermentation.  That seems plausible.  There is also the matter of tannins, which is indication of how much the oxidizing needs to happen.  Aging sweetens, softens, and develops tastes.

The Cultural Revolution Series wasn’t so clear earlier, perhaps more tannic than desirable, and definitely lacking a certain roundness.  That’s no longer the case.  You remember “moonpies” or the “choco pie,” the chocolate coated marshmallow cookie?  There you have it.  Lot’s of vanilla with a thin layer of chocolate.  It’s reminiscent of the ’12 Moon Cake by YPH without the talc and 1/2 the price.