Puerh Junky Under Dynamic Moon(cake)

Posted on August 2, 2023August 3, 2023 by Yang-chu

02 Aug

Puerh Junky Under Dynamic Moon(cake) attempts to capture a Sunday-morning moment. It involved the notorious Puerh Junky and a Menghai ripe in The Collection since ’16, the Mooncake. Here the focus is on the word “dynamic.” Much digital ink has been spilled over both this offering and its maker, Yangpinhao YPH. No need to go there. Today, it’s about “capturing”, “focusing”, and “dynamism.” Nonetheless, a tale of the tape is in order.

The ’12 Mooncake is a 200g square, embossed with the fancy YPH logo. As of ’23 it’s 13yo. In light of the absence of any petrichor or other humid notes, it’s fair to call it dry-stored; but it’s not dry. It’s hard to put a finger on how it’s evolved over time. The silty mouthfeel for certain has diminished, as has the baby powder fragrance. In its place, perhaps more incense and dark chocolate. A perfume character has held steady throughout the years

It changes much during the session. The huigan is the star. Here is where a mélange of taste sensations come through. Wood prevails, if that tends toward oak or sandalwood is going to depend upon the drinker. There’s sourness, wood sour that lingers, but not sharply. Everything about the experience is refined. A glassy quality in the broth remains throughout, but as it cools more chocolate milk notes appear. At room temp, it’s pure squeeze bottle Hershey’s without the milk, drizzled over sandalwood powder, topped with half a cherry. It’s not fruity, but there’s a dash in there to add to the artistry. There’s quite a bit of vanilla.

This is not they type of ripe that is going for ripe thickness. Pushing in the early infusions frankly will only ruin the refinement. There’s certainly no need to push to get the feeling. The qi is exceptional. It’s a real nape-necker that spreads along the traps to the back of the arms, another wave up to the ears, eliciting stretches that advance to headrush, Ultraman hand gestures and imaginings, before the urge to seriously lay down, yawns, itchy eyes. Super, duper relaxing. No inkling of unsettled feeling in the chest.

Mooncake has entered its next stage of development. Does this place it in company with the light-fermented ripes that age out over time to approximate raws? Perhaps, but there’s no raw that I’ve ever tasted that is this dark. For fun, the thought occurred to compare Mooncake with the Langhe Ripe Tuo, since both have pronounced wood notes.

Mooncake is much more “floral” or “perfume.” The perfume note of the Mooncake is its most distinguishing feature.
Mooncake has a much fruitier nose in the late infusions, day two.
LHT is sweeter.
Mooncake is more bitter.
Mooncake’s huigan is perfume and late infusions enter the baby powder zone.
Both achieve best results when brewed as if raws, meaning extended infusion times at outset are not ideal.
LHT is much more sour than the Mooncake.
LHT has a smoky hickory finish that’s like bacon.
Mooncake tastes heavier.

Instagram shots.

Puerh Junky Visits Sweet Richness

Posted on July 25, 2023May 21, 2024 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.

Five Star Puerh Factories

Posted on June 14, 2021 by Yang-chu

This is a feeble attempt to introduce five bling Chinese factories that you find on the Puerh Junky site. These factories came into the fold less as a result of their reputation than how they fit around a thematic imperative, peacocks. This ended up making Fujin a rather obvious choice. Similarly, there’s a curious fascination with the Yang family. Therefore, Yang Pin Hao is another obvious choice. The iconic prehistoric entity of Lancang Ancient TF would certainly fit the bill. Shujian is not a factory but a vendor. Their dragon pearls from ’14 are fascinating. They capture the bougie terroir focus among the boutiques of the current era. Finally, Chamasi which fell into the lunar category with altogether killer wrappers.

Here’s the Fujin icons.

Here’s a page to their Chinese site. What’s so interesting is the factory is stated to have started in ’06 but they are clearly listing their productions from as early as ’02. The number of high-level factories that produced under the ZC label boggles the mind. Such totally generic wrappers.

The site states that the factory founder is responsible for developing the Big Cabbage production and Peacock series. Fujin is quintessentially Bulang/Menghai raw material. The Puerh Junky frequently replaces “Banzhang” for “Bulang” in an effort to evade claims of exaggeration. The puerh from this terroir has less of a black tea (i.e., dianhong) taste as in some Lincang. There’s less of an aggressiveness than Simao/Lancang. If a younger Bulang is confused for an Yiwu then it might be too young. Bulang shouldn’t be Zen, fruity or floral will depend much on the picking. Bulangs keep it real. It’s the Midwesterner of terroirs. There is a stratosphere where differences elude me. Fujin comes with a clear sense of what it offers and doesn’t stray.

Yangpin Hao is a brand going back to the early Republican era but traversing a number of historic, ownership, and administrative changes since its founding. There are quite a few very obvious fakes of this brand on the market. The obvious reason is that the brand goes back to the Republican Era. So, YPH evokes nostalgia. Most of their productions originate from Yiwu and tend to be very slow bloomers. Prices for modern YPH are outrageous. Their older ones? Some have fallen between the cracks or I was able to acquire before the craze.

Yang Pin Hao in traditional characters flanked by two dolphinlike serpents.

Although their raw productions are most famous, they possess a distinctive ripe puerh processing craft that is far better than average. Their ripes definitely improve with age.

Lancang Ancient Tea was established as its current brand in ’98 but with a legacy back to ’66. The primarily produce caustic Jingmai. They have been known to print Lunar series productions, more with regularity the past four years. Their Ox and Tiger tuo are comprised of material from five villages.

Lancang Ancient Tea (LCGC)

Shujian is a vendor that sells under its own label, similar to most Western vendors. It does raise some concerns around the consistency of productions from one year to the next. I’ve been storing a few of their dragon pearls of ’14. Those puppies are a good way to get one’s head around the hallmark tastes of each terroir.

Shujian Logo. Shujian means Book and Sword.

Chamasi has the absolute best wrappers. They’ve been around since ’06. They’re an Yiwu, specifically Yibang, operation but it’s likely that they have other offerings. Full disclosure, Chamasi has produced unquestionably the best puerh I’ve ever tasted, if only by distinctiveness. Their offerings have a consistent and pervasive Zen vibe. Their gargantuan 500g Dragon is offered in the Puerh Junky collection.

CMS neipiao w/ logo

The scholar dude is one of their logos. They also have one featuring with a horse and dragon as below.

Little need to belabour how cool the wrapper is.

And speaking of wrappers, that just about ends this chapter in the chronicles of puerh factory lore. Fujin is Menghai, Lancang is Simao, Shujian is just a vendor, Yangpinhao and Chamasi are basically Yiwu, the YPH does have at least one Menghai production from Nannuo. Some of these outfits have become extremely popular, with mind-boggling prices. Occasionally one falls through the cracks and the Puerh Junky is able to snatch it up.

Puerh Junky’s Glee

Posted on May 18, 2021June 10, 2021 by Yang-chu

18 May

No, Puerh Junky’s Glee is not about schadenfreude nor is it about how well the Ox performed this morning. It’s about Yangpinhao’s 200g raw tuo entitled Glee. This offering was purchased in early ’16 or late ’15 back when I kept lousy records, records that I’ll have you know are probably just as lousy but which I’d like to think are far improved.

A perusal through the annals of the Puerh Junky’s Log will reveal a few meditations on this monstrosity. Yes. It’s become a monstrosity, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s first give a tale of the tape.

Glee is a tuo that came onto the market in ’15, when it was pressed from ’05 material. In contrast to the tuo that YPH released in ’05, Glee has visually always been much darker. It has also been much more Zen and astringent. As late as ’18, it was still powerfully Zen while at the same time powerfully astringent, wickedly so. None of the YPH offerings in the Puerh Junky’s stash or collection exhibited such overbearing and uncharacteristic astringency.

Glee‘s Zen was prototypically YPH but it didn’t seem to come with much else, till ’19 when incipient signs of root beer started to emerge. Glee seemed to be fronting as one of those luxury productions in name only, a challenger that you drink and just tell yourself, “It’s not you, it’s me.”

It’s not you; it’s me.

Fast forward to the present, mid-May 2021. The bad news is that Glee never turned into root beer. The good news is that the astringency has all but vanished. However, there’s even better news– it’s stfu noteworthy. Not in the least Zen anymore, it’s inconceivable how material that had very little pizazz could morph into such a complex and deeply petrolated creation.

The name Glee evokes a sense of playful and fruity puerh, a ha-ha school-kid charm, easily forgotten. That’s not where it is now by a long shot. There’s not an ounce of joy to it now. It’s a grizzled old mechanic with snaggled teeth in greasy gray overalls.