Tag Archives: smoky puerh

Puerh Battle of Hegemons

Posted on by Yang-chu
06 Mar

Tuesday 2nd of March 2021 witnessed the Puerh Battle of Hegemons.  Both the ’07 Vanilla Palace and ’05 OG Gangsta brought formidable organic credentials to a frenzy pitting two mid-aged raw puerh against each other.  The Silver Peacock ripe agreed to moderate the fracas.

“Puerh Battle of Hegemons?” you ask.  “Yes!” I reply.  You see, one of the descriptions often attributed to big-taste aggressive puerhs is “baqi” (霸气), where “ba” translates to “hegegemon.” This is to say a strong-handed ruler, a forceful customer in puerh terms.

The battle started with the Vanilla Palace.  It bears the name “gongting,” which is usually reserved for the smallest grade ripe.  For a raw puerh to be called gongting is a first. As it ages, the Vanilla is becoming richer and rounder.  The punch from a few years back continues to transform into a delicious vanilla root beer.  The edges continue to transform not flatten and each progressive infusion releases more florality that is in the perfume stage.  The transformation trajectory of the Vanilla Palace is excellent and represents a fantastic value.

puerh tea brick

The OG Gangsta is one of GPEs atomically compressed bricks.  On the heels of the Vanilla Palace, Gangsta‘s sour and subtle fruit notes really jumped out.  Those favouring astringency, we’re talking dictatorial astringency, will lean toward the Gangsta.  The dark root beer expression, however, sufficiently balances the bite.  One recent enthusiast described Gangsta as a smoker who wears perfume to cover the smoke– not in a bad way, he was quick to add.

About six infusions from each elicited the call for food.  Don’t drink either on an empty stomach but especially not the Gangsta.  After a bit of grub the Silver Peacock brought its Zen attributes to wash it down.  The Silver Peacock is at a stage of transition, from pure ripe Zen to the fruitiness common in many aged raws and common in heicha.  Infusions 6-8 at better than a minute, pushed progressively, were surprisingly rich, sweet, and complex– positively nothing challenging about this ripe puerh cake but everything enjoyable.

In the end, the pairing of the Vanilla Palace and the OG Gangsta highlighted their contrasting personalities, despite being in the tobacco cum root beer class.  The VP is round, warming, settling inviting.  The OGG is rambunctious, astringent, slightly fruity, with perfume and smoke.  Both offerings express a good deal of complexity and durability.  Altogether about nine infusions were gathered from each and an additional four infusions or so the next day.  The perfume of each was much more noticeable on day two.  It’s fair to say the OGG proved more hegemonic.

However, in the final assessment pairing these two is a shade excessive.  Both are complex productions deserving of focused attention in their own right.  Moving from one two the other is more a mark of skittish gluttony than pairing.  Contrast to this excess likely accounts for why the Silver Peacock ended up stealing the show.

Puerh Junky Report: Fruit Monster

Posted on by Yang-chu
01 Mar

So on Friday my wife and I were up for some heavy drinking.  I only remember thinking Fruit Monster would probably round the sesh out nicely, since the other offerings were higher on the keyboard.  Fruit Monster, being from 2011 and dry stored, isn’t exactly full of low notes.  However, it does have quite a bit of smoke and grit, along with a bit of incense.  The fruit muskmelon notes of yore are no longer detectable and its bratty finish lead the Puerh Junky to conclude that in some regards it’s about three years off.

The Puerh Junky Report: Fruit Monster concerns leftovers from Friday.  Today is Monday.  A couple infusions consumed on Saturday led to a final infusion forgotten amidst the welter of puerh treasures.  Water remained in the bell pepper pot for two days.  This morning I thought I give it a try, expecting a bitter lesson.

Bell Pepper Pot with the ’01 GM Puerh

To my astonishment, the Fruit Monster tasted of strawberries.  This is a taste usually evident of productions at least fifteen years old.  It portends the return of fruit to the monster, but I will have to wait a while.

This reminds us that puerh is a moving target, particularly raws.   The Puerh Junky found a similar progression with the Dali Tuo, where now enticing strawberry fruitiness starts expressing after about the fourth infusion.  It’s the same fruit note so common to many ripes.  In fact, upon recent tasting only this weekend, the Silver Peacock is starting to express fruit notes as well.

We’ll see how the the Fruit Monster progresses.  Right now the days of musky fruit are long gone.  Its edginess and depth are satisfactory but not where they will be in a few years.  In some cases these variables would have the Puerh Junky state outright that it is not ready, but from very early on Fruit Monster has proven itself a solid tobacco-class drinker.  However, the course of changes from this weekend portend the return of a different fruit to the monster sometime in an unknown future.

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.

 

 

Fruit Monster: From Hyde to Jekyll

Posted on by Yang-chu
27 Jan

The ’11 Fruit Monster first came into the Puerh Junky’s possession in early 2018.  At the time it was aptly named, but three years later it takes considerably more infusions to get to the tobaccoey, smokey attributes.  Furthermore, the tropical fruit like jackfruit notes have all but disappeared.  Yes, the Fruit Monster has turned from Mr Hyde to Dr Jekyll.

Transformation is the name of the game with raw puerh.  Where something is this year doesn’t speak for the following.  A production sharing the same name from the same factory will most assuredly differ from year to year.  So it goes.

For the most part the big and bold Hyde has transformed into something considerably more refined.  There’s lots more vanilla in there.  In fact, vanilla is the overriding taste, not dissimilar from the old school Vienna fingers.

There can be no doubt that Fruit Monster is now a decidedly different animal, far more genteel than earlier in its life.  The broth is rich and frothy with lots of sweetness.  It imparts a filling and enjoyable experience.  The macho fuerte of tobacco is still there but lies hidden for the late infusions to reveal.  Overall, however, Fruit Monster for the time being has turned Zen in 2021.  This is not an awkward phase of expression.  There is nothing off about how it performs.  The contrast from the early stages of drinking and the later ones, however, may leave the impression that the cake is still “young.”  This may particularly be the case if it had not been sampled during its youth.

Dali Tuo’s Fade into Forever Love

Posted on by Yang-chu
26 Jan

The Puerh Junky has been on a ride with the ’08 Dali Tuo for a number of years now.  Yesterday’s weather was quite nippy, so I thought of something from the tobacco class to warm me up.  I first reached for the Fruit Monster but my leaf amount was too little, feeling left unsatisfied.  I’m going to leaf up on that today and issue a report.  My next choice was the Dali Tuo.

The first few infusions were what I had expected but deeper in, a taste I hadn’t noticed before made itself known: tutti-fruti— all Rudi.

So a few weeks ago I tried a sample of XG’s Forever Love, a production comprised of ’03 material and pressed in ’13 if I’m not mistaken.  The similarity between the two is striking.  This particular fruity note is is only evident in productions that have some years under their belt.  As stated, the numerous years of tasting the Dali Tuo, no fruitiness was ever evident.  It was sweet, rich, and warming but never remotely fruity.  The ’06 production under the same name but different box and size (150g) still bears zero marks of fruitiness.  There’s just the solid tobacco grit and ash with peaty minerals laced with sweetness, maybe a little petrol, ya know Xia Guan.

Exactly how many infusions one must dig into Forever Love to get to the sweet I cannot recall but a fellow sampler seemed to note a progression with it that his Puerh Junkiness has discovered with the Dali Tuo.

The real notable is that it doesn’t bottom out.  The ash infused fruit spiked with stevia goes on and on.  Once you get to that stage it stays to the very end.  The color and clarity are superb if not deceiving, as it is hard to imagine hue and clarity could pack so much flavour.

“A bobbabbalubao, a-bob bam…”

 

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

Puerh Rating: OG Gangsta

Posted on by Yang-chu
puerh tea brick
03 Oct

The Puerh Junky Rating System (PJRS) takes on the OG Gangsta, an organic production from ’05.  The factory is Gu Puerh, which the Puerh Junky had erroneously associated with the Simao TF, evidently.  The long name of the factory is Simao Gu Puerh TF.  I’m not convinced they’re not the same.

After three rounds the results were as follows:

  • Aroma         9
  • Clarity        10
  • Sweetness  9
  • Viscosity      8
  • Astringency  4
  • Huigan        10
  • Qi                12

Reflections

The OG Gangsta introduces many nuances to brewing.  This tasting was brewed in gaiwan, contrary to the opening picture.  Second, the opening shot is of a selection that has been more transformed than the 2020 shot.  Let’s take up each matter.

Brewing old productions in gaiwan eventually has diminishing returns.  After eight years of age, irrespective of storage type one needs to consider the employ of a clay pot.  Before posting, I tried the OG Gangsta in the bell pepper pot pictured above.  The astringency turned to glass, what the Puerh Junky describes as a sublime smoothness.  Clay makes young productions rough, but it has a way to do the opposite with older puerhs.  In gaiwan, the Gangsta is noxiously astringent.  This is reflected accordingly in its astringency score.

The second picture shows a deeper progression into the 500g machine-pressed brick.  The material at deeper levels is obviously less transformed as evident from the second picture.  This will also translate into a rougher experience but so perplexed by the astringency experience, I retried within the month.

Conclusions

OG Gangsta is one puerh on its way to full root beer bliss.  Atomic compression spells more root beer at the edges than deeper in.  The ferocity of taste is matched by its qi, It shows a quality of selection that isn’t matched by its cost.  We’re talking a tobacco class selection on the road to root beer.  Qi-geeks who are just looking to get knocked on their you know what. . . This score is deceptively low.  Puerh Rating: OG Gangsta

62/105, C

Puerh Rating: Red Star

Posted on by Yang-chu
20 Sep

The Puerh Junky Rating System (PJRS) takes on the ’11 Red Star Iron Cake.  It’s one of a few Xiaguan TF (XG) productions offered.  There are so many XG productions available that I tend to venture elsewhere.  When I do venture into the XG terrain, I’m looking for something aesthetically captivating.  The Red Star certainly captivates.

After three rounds the total was as follows:

  • Aroma            6
  • Clarity            9
  • Sweetness     7
  • Viscosity       10
  • Astringency  14
  • Huigan           9
  • Qi                  8

Reflections

Ancient Shot

I wrote “peat” in my notes.  It comes up in reference to puerhs on occasion.  Is there any relationship to astringency?  The Red Star performs outstandingly in the astringency category.  Is “peat” the same thing I associate with soda?  Not what right-minded folks call pop.  I mean soda as in baking soda, sorta salty.

In a fairly recent post I wrote about how the Red Star Iron Cake has transformed.  One of their more popular productions is the Gold Ribbon.  What accounts for its popularity eludes me.  It doesn’t possess the smoke of some of their other Crane icon productions, I suspect.  Smoke will usually be some aspect of their offerings.  The Red Star is no exception but it doesn’t adversely affect the taste in the least.  It also transforms in a way that marks a dynamic process in the leaves.  It’s not about tastes softening but actually cooking into something unrecognizable from the outset.

Conclusions

In reviewing the results, I felt I might have been a bit overly critical on the aroma score.  This is probably because when I first got it, the aroma was at least twice as strong.  Whatever is left in my stores has been here since May of ’16.  I’ve never felt it needed punishment.

XG is an immensely interesting operation.  I’ve previously mentioned that they are still about 1/2 state owned.  Last I heard 50% of production is still reserved for Tibet.  At the time of writing here in 2020, it is a sold everyday drinker in the tobacco class, with strong soda/peat notes.  Classic XG expression, 5000X more than the Gold Ribbon.  Puerh Rating Red Star

63/105, B

Poisonous Puerh

Posted on by Yang-chu
07 Sep

Yesterday my wife got a chance to sample the “poisonous puerh,” what I think might have been the last infusion of ’07 Gold and Jade Filling the Mansion.  I started talking about it in terms of the shortcomings of the PJRS.

Her reaction was somewhere between a four and a five positive.  I didn’t prime her.  In fact, I had planned on having her try something else.

Every time I ask her what year it is, she guesses right.  She was surprised however to discover that it was toward the end of life.

The last infusion I let sit for about five minutes and it was quite strong.  There was more sharpness, but that could easily be attributable to over brewing.  At that infusion, I guessed 12, it still possessed a remarkably sweet huigan that lingered ever so pleasantly in the mouth.

She picked up on smoked wood notes, but couldn’t identify any spice, of which there is loads. Clove, ginger, and cinnamon just hang in the mouth.

As she went upstairs, she gave a giggle, smacking a bit as she continued to savor the lingering effects.

That Bel Biv DeVoe song comes to mind.  It’s that poisonous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0QIrGy3tFg

Peacock Puerh Brick Tasting

Posted on by Yang-chu
26 May

In my previous missive reference was made to the Liming TF, which prompted my tasting of their ’06 Peacock Puerh Brick.  It has a classic lemon, smoke, and petrol aroma. . . not necessarily in that order.  Whereas many tuo and brick require bionic strength to extract the right amount, the Peacock Brick is pressed in a manner that would please even Goldilocks.

What I had mentioned was that Liming bricks contrast greatly from the general personae of their cakes.  The latter is aggressively floral, and even as they age the flowers still punch you in the face.  The bricks, on the other hand, possess a deep tonality that is of a wider in range: vanilla, citrus, petrol, tobacco.

The Peacock Puerh Brick is a tobacco class production, I suppose, but compares more favourably to dark spirits like spiced rum or brandy.  It’s too sweet for whiskey but has that smoky quality.  The petrol taste here is more interesting than in other puerhs I’ve tasted, in part due to the sweetness of the material.  Also, the absence of any bitterness with an assuring measure of astringency makes for a rounded drinking experience.

Infusion Three 20s

The quality of Liming puerh material tends to be very good and this brick is no exception.  This is evident in the richness of taste, without any jaggedness that requires future storage.  At the same time, as it stores its shining attributes continue to develop.  One of these is its qi.

The qi of the Peacock comes on in the mouth with smooth roundness before a rush enters the chest.  Then an overall calming extends from the chest out to the limbs.  Without the ensuing calming, this production would be too abrasive, not in terms of taste, which is perfect, but in terms of excessive excitement of the nervous system.  Still, I wouldn’t have this after 3 pm.

Just a final comment about bricks. . . They’re kinda neglected.  Recent trend has been to produce smaller cakes than to offer bricks.  Maybe this is aesthetics.  The smaller-sided productions naturally age at a faster rate than larger cakes– all things being equal.  A 250g brick from ’07 for example, is older than a 357g cake from ’05– all things being equal.  This often means that bricks offer a unique aged-puerh experience without much of the fanfare directed to cakes.  The Peacock presents well beyond a standard usually confined to bricks.