Tag Archives: year of tiger puerh

Tuo for Two

Posted on by Yang-chu
28 Sep

Tuo for Two is a modern-day reverie.  Don’t laugh.  You should be crying.  The three tuo consumed over the past two days are a cryin’ shame.  Before the gory details, a pressing grammatical question should first be laid to rest.  The plural form of “tuo” is tuo.  If you see “tuos” written somewhere, try to be kind.  Even the “your/you’re” dragon has resisted the slings and arrows of correction.  What chances does tuo, much further down on the list of grammatical grievances, actually have?  Now that we dispensed with that there’s something else. . .

Given the title of this missive, chances are good that many readers are harboring suspicions that the Puerh Junky considers cornball allusions to Cole Porter cutting edge.   If you don’t know who Cole Porter is, you still might harbor suspicions but of a different sort.  Mind you, I have it on good authority that one should never let a Cole Porter allusion slip by, even if he didn’t write the lyrics.

Two Days of Tuo-ture

Recently the Puerh Junky posted an easy-listing page.  No, you won’t find Christopher Cross or Steely Dan, but there’s a slew of raw tuo.  One is the T861, Tulin which has been in the Collection since ’15.  There are two remaining.  At one time it bore the name AMT.   Comments there are interestingly honest however aberrant that sesh was.

Dry T861 gives off limestone, honey, and a slight hint of newspaper.  Brewed in red clay, the mineral notes stand out, while in the gaiwan it is sweet and smooth with a hint of humidity.  The astringency attacks the blade of the tongue, lips, and deep in the throat.  The Chinese call this “ghost pinching the throat,” 鬼掐喉咙。 Overall, the taste is what is associated with peat.  The huigan is nicely complex with light humidity, honey, and minerals chatting on in unison.  The seriously sweet broth possesses complimentary thickness.  Beware!  There’s lotsa camphor to this.  Upon exhalation even a hint of something floral can be caught.  As one progresses in gaiwan this floral element becomes more pronounced.  Zero smoke, even a bit of sour.  Deeply satisfying, really the epitome of what a recipe puerh should be: cured with character.

Infusions 2 and 3

I accidentally left the 6.3g of the Red Mark Tuo in the same 100ml red clay pot too long.  Out poured a syrupy decoction.  I was certain that it was going to be horrible but ended up horrified.  I’ve been drinking this since Jan ’20 but in Sept ’22 it is not just the best its been but a serious contender for one of the best offerings in the collection.

Foto from early 2022

It’s so smooth and balanced.  Dense petrol, wood, and incense characterize the broth.  It’s not remotely pencil shavings, caustic, or for want of any additional note.  There is a subtle camphor note tying everything together keeping it from becoming oppressive, excessively unctuous.  The summer has been very good to the Red Mark Tuo.

First acquiring the Tiger Tuo sometime in early ’16, it ended up aging quickly into a root beer-y delight.  I decided to reup on the order in the ’20 and then found it at a better price later in the year.  There’s something to be said for slow storage.  In this case, the sharpness has receded while the interesting pineapple and other fruit notes have been preserved.

Summer has also been very good to the Tiger Tuo.  It’s super sweet, thick, and fruity, with a thread of pine sap that makes it distinctive.  A fellow drinker called it the best she’s ever had like “paint thinner”.  What a compliment.  Tiger is light years from the treasures mentioned above.  It hasn’t entered into the transformed state where the camphor comes in and the liquor turns reddish, but it’s transformed sufficiently to allow the sap and sugars to emerge.  There’s no telling how long it will remain in this state.   V. slight smoke and comprised of about five terroir including a Jingmai backbone, along with Bangwei, Bingdao, and others.

 

Endangered Species Puerh

Posted on by Yang-chu
18 Oct

Endangered Species Puerh isn’t what you think.  This is a nostalgia piece regarding a tuo, a lunar tuo to be precise, that has long vanished.  It took about four years from my acquisition for it to express root beer notes.  At the outset, in ’14, it tasted like pineapple and Granny Smith.

I ran across this post from ’12 and thought I’d share.  It’s in Chinese and for your convenience, I through it through “translator.”  I didn’t tidy the rendering.  It’s good for the pics at the very least.

Tiger is the king of the forest, tea is also the king of the forest
The raw materials are selected for the large-leaf ancient trees and the old sun-dried green tea in the Lancang River Basin, carefully blended by the tea craftsman, and picked by hand. The new and old match, high temperature autoclaved. The soup is yellow and bright. After tasting, the mouth will stay fragrant. Strong taste. pure. With a long aftertaste, it is an excellent product worth collecting and drinking.
I kept it at home for half a year, and I started the soup today. I feel that the raw materials do have the ingredients of ancient trees. I don’t know how much, but the price is still very close to the people and very attractive. In terms of taste and color, after nearly 3 years of transformation, the color of the soup turns yellowish and brighter and slightly red, and there is no longer the green and astringent feeling of new tea. The taste is strong, the bitterness comes and the bitterness is very fast, the sweetness is strong, pure, and the aftertaste is long-lasting, and it is very comfortable in the mouth for a long time. In 3-5 years, Lin Zhongwang must be a good tea.

One of the advantages to tuo is that they’ll get up to speed much faster than a cake.  This particular tuo which was stored conservatively but raced to root beer faster than any amidst the treasure.  This was when I realized that the aggressive taste of Lancang TF was worth enduring.  Still I have an ’09 Ox from them that I’m still waiting on.

Maybe ’10 was one of those “good years.”  I say this because when I got the Mengku Tiger in about 16, I couldn’t believe how positively mature it tasted. . . an looked.

Unbelievably from 2010.

The conditions were magnificent.  It didn’t taste as if it had been pushed too hard in storage.  The root beer was there along with typically floral and burly notes characteristic Mengku/Daxue Shan.

Alas.  They come and they go.

 

Beginning Root Beer Notes: Tiger Puerh Tuo 250g

Posted on by Yang-chu
21 Mar

Beginning root beer notes are emerging in the Tiger Puerh Tuo 250g.  What began as an overly aggressive, feisty production which transformed to incense is now mellowing.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s not mellow but I did move up from the typical 6.5 g to 8.  Today, I also tried it in the gaiwan .

I’ve been storing this since about Aug of ’16.  I’ve not made it through the first tuo I opened as it was too strong for my tastes.  Now is a different story.  The direction it is changing speaks to the promising prospects for it future.  There’s still quite a bit of astringency, but interestingly the bitterness is fading along with the floral notes.  The astringency has a kind of siltiness to it.  All of the macho seems to be converting into root beer.  All of the apple notes from its youth are gone as well.

Let’s take a look at an earlier shot of the liquor

Year of Tiger Puerh Tuo in ’16

Here’s a shot from 21st Mar ’19

Here’s a close up from a couple years ago…

2010 Tiger Puerh Tuo Closeup

Here’s one from 21st Mar ’19

2010 Tiger Tuo Closeup ’19

Now about the huigan and qi.  The liquor goes down smooth with that silty astringency at the edges.  As the liquor vanishes down the throat the cooling sensation of camphor and flowers emerge.  This sensation builds to a crescendo, reaching into the throat, and leaving the mouth tingly.  Some might find it a shade drying, while others may find that its cheekiness promotes salivation.  Perhaps both.  As for the qi, a pot or two should make you sufficiently stupid.  I felt both very extra-sensory and high from it.  It also produced an exceptional diuretic effect, whereby I p%%ed as if I’d drunk a gallon of beer, with just as much force!

At a cooler temp and a higher measure of tea, I’m picking up on some of the bitterness, pineapple/granny smith.  There’s also just a hint of petrol developing.  This production is no slouch.

Two Root Beer Puerhs Five Years Removed

Posted on by Yang-chu
05 Jan

Here I want to take a look at two root beer puerhs five years removed: ’10 Tiger, MK and the ’05 Qizibing, XH.  The root beer class of puerhs express vanilla tempered by herbal notes that give the impression of that hallowed beverage of 19th-c cowboy saloons.

The Tiger typifies MK’s quality productions.  Stone pressed, The Tiger shows that the factory exercised an added measure of care to make it aesthetically pleasing.  Hailing from the aggressive side of the Lincang region, The Tiger’s notes are floral, characteristic of productions from Fengqing and DaXue Mt.  The hallmark Fengqing offering in the Puerh Junky collection is the Lunar Series from 6FTM.  These are feisty puerhs that’ll grow hair on your chest.  By contrast, MKs tend to be softer around the edges, much more refined, less astringent, with a more complex ensemble of flavours.

Xinghai TF productions seem to be all over the map.  The nondescriptly titled Qizibing is a recipe about which not much information is provided beyond being from Menghai.  I’ve rather concluded that it is an assortment of Bulang villages given it’s straightforward presence and lack of florality.  The cake itself looks like a standard recipe cake that been thrown together with some buds, some leaves, and stems.  The compression is perfectly appropriate, flecking apart easily with the knife.

Generally, root beer doesn’t express, if at all, until a production has quite a few years under its belt. Both productions have been Kunming stored, but the Tiger is one of the most aggressively aged KM productions I’ve encountered.  That said, it’s lost none of character and depth or if it has still possesses a great deal mellowed by a great deal of heat.  The QZB’s age is what’s to be expected of a properly KM aged ’05.

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.