Tag Archives: xia guan

Puerh Junky Visits Dali Tuo

Posted on by Yang-chu
25 Nov

Puerh Junky Visits Dali Tuo is a deceptively titled journal entry because we find Puerh Junky festively clad sniffing at something in a most indecorous manner.  Aye, he’s at it again, this time confusing Bob Cratchit for Ichabod Crane.  The camera zooms in and there’s something about the dude’s eyes that are certifiably “not right.”  It’s the amulet, yeah the spellbinder he’s pawing and sniffing at that’s got him all in a lather.  No doubt some of it has to do with the incantations scribbled upon the wrapper of the thing, the thing he holds.  The thing they call “a tuo.”

Dun-dun-dun.

There’s the hint of smoke and fresh-pressed cotton clothing in the tuo.  Yes.  It gives off a distinct impression of tobacco, something they no doubt smoked upon the Pequod.  It’s got a warm air about it, dressed impeccably in a fine high-cotton wrapper despite being 15yrs old, in the Puerh Junky‘s clutches for three years, stowed away without the light of day in the PJL, what everyone knows to be the Puerh Junky Lair.

“Seems to have blackened up a bit, it does,” he mutters to himself.

Lid removed, big waft of band-aids in the lid, while berries bubble from the cup.  That’s the five min warm cup warm up.  Wood.  No smoke or sugar jump out.  Still warm, complex, a bit cranky, scruffy.  It all comes together in the aroma of the rinse, perhaps berry predominates but now there’s smoke again.  Or wood.

The taste of the rinse is obscenely delicious.  Super sweet, kerosene and berry.  Smooth.  Slick in fact.  It was a headless move to drink the rinse, but such are the perils of conjuring the spirit of Ichabod Crane.  Besides, it’s a long 15m from the opening to the official first infusion.  The aftertaste is super slick.  Three drinking vessels tried: cracked ice Longquan celedon, porcelain glazed zisha (inner glaze), and glass.  The celedon cup gives an alarmingly sanguine finish.  All the while the wood, kerosene, sweet fester in the aftertaste.  From glass there’s a wicker front, a bit more astringency, which is a bit of a surprise.  The porcelain, wood and spice.

It’s aged extremely well.  The band-aid smell from the first infusion is now oppressive in the cup.  Aroma in pitcher is lighter, more nuanced.  Taste of berries shifts to black pepper in the throat, then to kerosene and band-aids.  Band-aids and berry in the aftertaste, then strawberries.  There’s some elements of the vaunted Forever Love in there, smokier presumably is the Dali Tuo.  There’s a kind of echo of smoke.  The note will bend kerosene or smoke depending on perspective.  Storage still clearly fantastic.

The second infusion has the smoothness and viscosity standout.  It’s more wood and petrol in the taste.  Not as sweet.  Tasting more like it’s done being all fruoux, fruoux.  An image of these dogs sitting about a card table smoking cigars comes to mind.  The Puerh Junky tries to distract himself with nicer thoughts like of Ahab and the Pequod.  There’s a lemon note endeavoring to make itself known, and some vegetal bitterness has definitely made itself known, maybe something like dandelion.  Room temp the sweetness and berry prevail in the porcelain cup.

The Dali Tuo gets more and more serious with each passing year.  It’s in a darker more petrolly place presently.  Maybe a year or two before becoming even more strait berry hard to say.  Instagram fotos.

 

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.

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: 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

Puerh Junky’s First Half of 2020 Best Five Puerh

Posted on by Yang-chu
28 Jul

Just thinking about the puerhs I’m most avoiding drinking because I like them so much, and well because there’s still so many of these other rascals to check up on.  I know they say that it’s a bad thing to go by the wrapper; but who are they?  Really.  I ask.  Is anything really even more important in puerh than the wrapper?  Really?!  I ask.  Of course not!  So what I’m saying is that below is a listing of the five most irresistible puerh wrappers to my mind over the last six plus months.  First the honorable mentions:

Honorable mention #1: ’10 Tiger, MK— They came out with two types of Lunar New Year productions at least this year.  I just sold the last one and I’m pretty shaken.  I was very proud to have found that wrapper.  The raw material of the paper was nothing to sneeze at either.  A production aged magnificently with still some sharp floral notes but coated in deep tones that I associate with root beer.  Such a find.

Honorable mention #2: ’05 Tulin Tuo 250g– That bastard is pricey.  Quite similar to the ’07 6FTM production.  Tulin is hands down the most underrated factory.  Their paper and boxes are the best around. I’ve had this longer than the ’07 but both are effectively new.  Striking is that the ’07 bears maturation a good five to eight years older than to be expected for its size.  The ’05 Tulin Tuo is about where you’d expect given good storage.

250g Tulin raw

Honorable mention #3: ’05 Fohai, 6FTM– I have a few of their tuo which are quite old and very bland no matter how long I steep them.  This cake is positively one of the best I’ve ever tasted in the floral category.   The pitch is high but not sharp.  Not perfumy like jasmine, Jingmai, or many spring teas.  Sharpness is what I associate with the 6FTM house taste, certainly their Lunar Series.  Not this.  It’s bright and soft at the same time.  Very special.  The “Fo” of Fohai is Buddha, so I thought that would be a good wrapper.  This puerh easily could have been in the top five but listing the same factory twice starts to look suspicious.  Besides, I like productions with darker notes.  This is going to be bright floral to its very end.

The “Don’t Even think about it“– I’ve thrown the fake 8582 out of my working memory, even though I’m mentioning it here.  Yeah it had the perfect fake wrapper and a great neifei, which is why I bought it. Yes.  I only bought a tea for the fake neifei.  That qualifies me as faux Puerh Junky, it seems.  Anyway, there hasn’t been a person who has not been brought to their knees by the power of its qi. “Luke, I am your father!”  I don’t even think about it because I don’t want to feel wistful about not having it around.

And now the list– drum roll

#5 —’12 Ripe Brick, XG— Classic gongting material, this comes on with a rush and vanishes just as quickly. Rich, sweet, Guandong stored, dark red beauty. Wickedly lush body feel.

#4– ’12 Peacock Ripe, LME— LME is my new fav in terms of ripes. I have never detected any vegetal notes.  Richness is solid without any paper notes.  Sweet without distracting fruitiness.  Holds up infusion after infusion.

#3– ’08 Imperial Roots— The three of us were sitting in the kitchen. They were yammering but had the time to remark how very good the tea was.  I’m ecstatic watching this XG production mature.  It was flawless in my new pot.

#2 — ’07 Lunar Series II, SFTM— I basically just got this and I’m crushed. It screams outside its wrapper, as if doused in gasoline spiked with peppermint.  I didn’t know 6FTM could do such things.  It’s very naughty.  The wrapper is a destroyer!

1. ’02 Green Mark, “GPE”— I don’t know whether my hate or dread is greater. . . actually it’s dread.  This is a deadly production also newly acquired.  It reminds me of what my ’01 “7532” Du Qiongzhi production is approaching, but this is already there. It’s like drinking tequila.  You might not like it but you know the well-crafted stuff compared to the mass product.  Come to think of it, this Green Mark is quite a bit like tequila.  I had been thinking whiskey.  Taste aside, the qi is Mike Tyson.  Never had I been knocked out in the first round and the same happened in the rematch the following day.  It took me eight days to get through 6g.

The quest for wrapper continues.

Puerh Cake Take: Red Star

Posted on by Yang-chu
05 Jun

This Puerh Cake Take is on Red Star, a ’11 Xiaguan raw iron cake.  I chose it to round out a trio of floral puerhs that I had just written upon.  It turns out that didn’t happen because the Red Star didn’t cooperate.  Shall I proceed?

I remember the Red Star expressing a strong early spring signature with some of the trademark XG smoke.  I didn’t consider it typical of an XG production, not particularly smoky. Now I do. Easily a tobacco class, certifiably middle-age puerh.  The taste is starting to strike me as more like whiskey than tobacco because of the smoke.  There’s something that I suppose is peaty, something minerally, and saccharine sweet, but now that smoke takes a much more center stage.

April ’16 Photo

Red Star now shares the XG house taste typified by the Dali Tuo.  However, where petrol fruit seems to be the theme with the Dali Tuo, Red Star is starting to take on a more medicinal bent.  Along with that is ashtray and edginess that could stand to age out, if it ever does.  As I said, I didn’t really notice the smoke in its first two years.  Stranger still, smoke is one of the attributes that would most predictably age OUT not age in.

It’s been a fascinating discovery aging raw puerh.  This iron cake has been stored in Los Angeles since April ’16.  In that time it has changed in an unpredictable fashion revealing a personality of its own.  Similar whiplash occurred with the Vanilla Palace, but with the Red Star the flowers have transformed into the XG taste as opposed to vanilla and root beer.

Compared to some of the middle-aged raw puerh that I’ve been drinking recently, the Red Star strikes me as a bit more utilitarian.  For a factory that is 50% state owned with a significant percentage designated for Tibet, “utilitarian” probably strikes XG is fine.

Awkward Teenage Puerh

Posted on by Yang-chu
30 May

Awkward Teenage Puerh dampens any puerh tea session.  This morning such was my misfortune with the ’08 Dali Tuo, XG.  On a high note, at room temperature this production tastes perfectly pleasant, spicy sweet.  On a low note, at warmer temperatures it struck me as being thin.

I used close to a nine gram chunk for my eggplant pot, 150ml.  I gave the first two infusions generous amounts of time and the richness of colour had me expecting an experience with a much fuller mouthfeel.  Having this tuo on the heels of the ’06 Peacock Brick earlier in the week brings the contrast in mouthfeel between the two into sharp relief.

First Infusion

Interestingly, my experience drinking the Dali Tuo was like none I can recall having with puerh.  The colour, taste, and texture reminded me of the sugary peppermint tea that N. Africans favour.  Often, that will get spiked with Gun Powder tea.

Then comes this sourness that reminds me of an earlier stage with the Tippy Tuo.  In the case of Tippy Tuo, the sourness was even stronger but a couple years thereafter it blossomed into something remarkable.  My experience with Xiaguan’s transformation under LA conditions has been positive.  The ’10 Nanzhao tuo was positively wretched before maturing into an intensely camphorous, dark, and sweet medicine. That tuo never exhibited any sourness, rather there was an awful dank-like taste that I’ve detected among many Xiaguan offerings.  This points to fermentation and additional processing methods at the factory and not storage through its numerous vendors.

First Infusion II

This recent turn with the Dali Tuo comes just on the heels of better than two years tracking a vendor this March 2020.  The first purchase was made better than four years ago after running into this article.

As I mentioned, I used close to a nine gram chunk.  After about the third pot I started getting that existential anoui from drinking on an empty stomach.  Higher leafage raises gut-busting potential considerably most puerhs.  This is definitely the case with the Dali Tuo.

Puerh Vessel Variants: Imperial Roots

Posted on by Yang-chu
07 Apr

Lately, I’ve been on a gaiwan kick, essentially testing my puerh vessel hypothesis.  It goes something like this: raw puerhs younger than ten years old are generally better in a gaiwan and those older are generally better in clay.  The hypothesis has generally held true for puerhs younger than ten, but I needed to test those older.  Hence, Puerh Vessel Variant: Imperial Roots.

Imperial Roots has been newly christened.  Formerly called  “Gift Box,” such a drab name did this ’08 XG production more than a bit of a disservice.  I started with the gaiwan:  disappointingly flat.  I’ve been drinking this puerh since ’16.  It started out very pepperminty and now has advanced to the vaunted . . . well, it the gaiwan actually there no “vaunt” of any sort.  This was quite surprising because I’d never had a bad session with it.  This was why I knew it was the brewing vessel and not the puerh production itself.

Brewing Imperial Roots in my bell pepper blue clay pot rendered the perfect puerh experience.  Those just starting out might feel that the attention given to teaware is kind of a put on, but it isn’t.  There’s a mysterious alchemy that occurs between leaf and clay.  For some reason, this commingling detracts from young puerh but for old it has the opposite effect.

Bell Pepper Pot with the ’01 GM Puerh

One thing, clay adds volume.  Think of hair mousse.  With young productions, volume isn’t an issue because as with anything young you know it lacks experience.  You’re generally looking for vivaciousness and and purity.  When something you know to be older lacks depth, the experience quickly falls flat because you’re looking for the complexity.  The gaiwan will generally do a poor job of unveiling this complexity.

A treasure like Imperial Roots needs brewing in clay.  It’s not optional.  It doesn’t have to be the fanciest clay by a long shot, but it is essential.  All of the attributes that make it a pleasure only come out in clay.  We’re talking about the sweetness, thickness, mineral notes, the camphor, and yes the vaunted vanilla and root beer.  I cringe at the prospects of someone brewing it in a gaiwan– positive sacrilege!

Just some additional observations about Imperial Roots puerh here in April 2020.  All of the peppermint candy of previous years is gone.  All of the notes are a good octave lower than what they used to be.  This production is trending in an unmistakably desirous direction.

It’s Alive! ’08 Dali Tuo, XG

Posted on by Yang-chu
26 Apr

I recently posted on the ’08 Dali Tuo, XG, expressing disappointment with how it was aging.  It’s been warmer and more humid here recently so I thought I’d pay it a visit to see if my views had changed.  As the title suggests, they have.  My opinion aligns much more with my initial enthusiasm.

Let’s start with the aftertaste.  Intimidatingly astringent, the ’08 Dali Tuo simultaneously expresses sweet florality that lingers for better than ten minutes.  It permeates the mouth and reaches deep down the throat.  There’s a captivating balance between aggressiveness and gentility.  It is more floral than I remember, so I chalking this up to the quality of the raw material itself, part of its transformation.  I previously noted how harsh it was.  It still is quite edgy but the sweetness and richness have returned giving it a balanced quality that makes for a pleasing session.

The liquor starts out thick but thins out quickly.  There’s that trademark Xiaguan smoke and tobacco present.  After a bit of savory dumplings, the same sweetness in the aftertaste is noticeable in the broth.  Upon the sixth infusion, a healthy measure of bitterness emerges.  I might be able to push it for an infusion or two but won’t.

A sweet perfume characterizes the aroma.  It’s not a cheap perfume or a perfume you find in detergent; rather, it is classy and inviting.  In hs, I had a friend who used to wear expensive perfumes that conjured a sense of the Near East. Ones that were not mixed with alcohol, and possessed an alchemical awareness of all the humors.  Such is the ’08 Dali Tuo’s aroma.

Finally, the qi of this production is decidedly in the gut.  It definitely made me hungry.  There may be a slight body feel, but it’s the gut where I feel it most.  It doesn’t seem like a gut buster.  I would have noticed that by now.  However, my intestines are rumbling away.

I’ve been quite fond of the ’08 Dali Tuo and am pleased to find out that it hasn’t flaked out on me.  It’s sweetness and floral character expressed, particularly in the aftertaste, provide a satisfying tea session.  XG productions are notoriously smoky, yet here we find only a hint of smoke.  The ash that I previously noticed is nowhere to be found.  The floral notes are easily an octave lower than certain young spring productions.  Still, the astringency is formidable, and it tops out rather quickly.  Overall, I’m looking forward to how this floral character will develop over the coming warm and humid months.