Tag Archives: zhongcha

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: Mangosteen

Posted on by Yang-chu
05 Jun

This Puerh Cake Take is on Mangosteen, a ’12 production from the Kunming TF.  This raw cake is interesting because it was made from ’07 raw material before being steamed and pressed in ’12.  The cast of the liquor is inordinately light, resembling something from the ’14-16 range.

Mangosteen has undergone marked transformation since ’15 and the most possibly in the last six months.  It used to be high pitched.  Evocative of black tea.  There was a sparkling camphor finish.  The viscosity was light and by the fourth infusion it was on its way out.  It maybe lasts a couple infusions more but the mouthfeel is much rounder.

Mangosteen is the new name for this raw Zhongcha organic puerh because that’s what it tastes like.  Mangosteens are an intensely creamy-vanillay-juicy-sweet experience with quick citrusy kick.  There was nothing that struck me as fruity about Mangosteen in the past, but the aroma is quite clearly very much of berries.  In the first few infusions the fruit taste only comes on the back end.  At the front is a thick cloud of creaminess and siltiness.  The sensation is luxurious.  Actually, a note from a year ago mentioned the creaminess.

One consistency with this treasure is its throatiness.  I noticed this this morning with the first pot and saw that I mentioned it in the product description.  There’s a term for it called “houyun,” which is considered a particularly noteworthy trait since better productions have it.

House Mark Puerhs

Posted on by Yang-chu
21 May

Today I drank the ’07 HK Returns 100g tuo and got to thinking about House Mark Puerhs.  It’s a hard thing to get one’s finger on it, but it exists, so why don’t I explain through the HK tuo.

The year 2007 marked the production of many Zhongcha series.  I just recently learned the English is simply “China Tea,” as so clearly present on many wrappers, I suppose.  I’ve not noticed to be honest, though maybe so on products from the past year or two.

Many of the ’07s I’ve tasted are offered.  I continue to gather them.  Some of them are exceptional, but over all what stands out is the consistency from one production to the next.  The HK Returns tuo embodies the Zhong Cha raw taste, which surprisingly enough is soft and fuzzy.  Presumably that taste is the presence of Lincang material.

This taste can range from pencil shavings and wax to peach fuzz.  It is not harsh or abrasive.  There’s fruitiness.  They can be drunk young but by all accounts even at 13 years, most of them still strike me as being quite young.  I’ve personally been storing this tuo since ’16 and were it served to me blind I’d guess this production in the ’12-14 range.

2018 Shot

7th Infusion May 2020

I felt by the seventh infusion that the production was starting to bottom out, flatness astringency.  The two prior were sweet and playful, more so than is typical of the Kunming Tea Factory (aka KMTF, zhongcha).  At the same time there is some citrus reminiscent of the ’14 Jade Mark.  There’s no tobacco, fire, roast, smoke, leather, chicken as with Xiaguan.

Overall, the Zhongcha profile is quite Zen, raw or ripe.  There’s wood vanilla Zen, wax Zen, playful Zen, like the HK Returns tuo, or the why-the-fk-you-serve-me-water Zen.  There’s an ’07 HK Returns iron cake that is bursting with the taste and aroma of black grapes, very much an outlier even within a series comprised of a tuo, 100g square, 250g brick, a raw and ripe 357g cake.  I’ve sampled a few and it’s hard to believe that each shape consists of the same material and the factory and those who know aren’t saying or don’t think it bears mentioning.

It makes sense that some houses would vary style based on production shape.  I’ve seen this to be a clearer objective with Liming than any other factory.

Puerh Tea Report 2020

Posted on by Yang-chu
12 Mar

As the new puerh tea begins to hit the market, it might be interesting to reflect upon recent developments, so here it is your Puerh Tea Report 2020.  Naturally, items and factories in the Puerh Junky’s stash will be the focus.  Ripe puerh will be given a bit of attention, with the bulk on raws.

Ripe Puers

The year 2019 had the Puerh Junky bidding a fond farewell to the ’06 Boss Tuo, an item that scored highly on every count.  I’m furiously searching for its replacement, something with the same explosive camphor notes and sweetness, along with a the deep tones of humid storage.  It’s larger brother with the same name doesn’t hold a candle to it; storage plays such a critical role in the expression of a production that it is usually impossible to tell that the same material under different conditions are actually the same.

Anyway, Xinghai (XH) and Zhongcha (ZC) have formed the backbone of the ripe stash.  Surprisingly, the Silver Peacock, XH has held relatively stable, with older productions, say before ’14, rising in price rather incrementally compared to ZC’s 7581 brick, which is now about three times the ’16 price.  Interestingly, the Lunar series has averted the frenzy, so constitute a relatively good value.  After years of being virtually overlooked, the ’06 “55” has started an advance.  This is ZC’s (aka CNNP/KMTF’s) best ripe production.  I expect that this will be the last year that it will be available from any vendors on the Chinese side.

Aside from these two factories, another general observation concerns ripe bamboo productions.  To wit: bamboo ripe productions have appreciated considerably more than ripes as a whole.  Puerh Junky has one ripe bamboo offering that is exceptionally clean and bright, with hints of humidity and cinnamon.

Raw Puerhs

The world of raw puerhs has been more dynamic.  Generally, it seems the smaller productions like tuo, bricks, and small cakes have averted the frenzy of cakes.  Since ’16 ZC’s new offerings have been handsomely priced.  One exception has been the Lunar Series but that looks to have come to an end this year, with about an 70% increase in price over last year.  The weird thing is that the older productions, those that can be found, are still priced along earlier lines.

Factories like LME (Lao Man E) and GPE (Gu Puerh) have held steady, so they constitute relative steals.  The only exception is ’07 Hideout, which in just one year appreciated more than 200%.  A more than reasonable alternative to it is the 2008 Gift Puerh, which has the same sweetness and camphory goodness.  Up until this year, there were still quite a number of very good Tulin productions that were plain ole cheap, but not so much anymore.  Oh well.

Though there may be exceptions, the scene with LM (Liming), YPH (Yangpin Hao), and 6FTM (Six Famous Tea Mountains) has been hawt to say the least.  YPH prides itself as a top-tier purveyor of Yiwu productions.  Prices for their older  productions (before ’12) have essentially trebled in the past year and a half.  For those keen on the Yiwu Zen vibe do not seem to have been deterred.  I must confess that much about brand is going into the pricing, as I find productions like the ’07 LME Spring Puerh every bit as tasty if not more so.   Some LM productions have consistently been favoured by collectors, but there are still plenty that are quite tasty priced quite reasonably, in the $55-$75 range.  Newer productions, however, are now in the ZC range.

As for 6FTM, well it isn’t a factory that I pay much heed to, with the exception of their Lunar Series.  This is because I’m not the craziest about Fengqing puerhs.  That said, I did take a liking to the their Lunar Series for their v. fancy wrappers.  Others have been very keen on the big taste and a big qi that’s made believers of even the greatest of qi skeptics.  Anyway, this series has turned out to be of great interest to collectors and as a result even the late productions like the Ram and Snake are now sold at near 10 times their original sale price– if you can find them.  The ‘05 Jingmai “003” is actually on par in terms of ferocity and qi at a fraction of the 6FTM Lunar Series prices.  The factory that makes the “003” specializes in very aggressive productions not altogether dissimilar from LM’s cakes.  However, the raw material seems even better.  The ’10 Tiger, for example, which sold out this year showed remarkable transformation from when it was first acquired.  It ripened from a bright pineapple-like monster into a husky root beer in the first two infusions before gradually fading into its original greenness.

Enough with the nostalgia for now.   Hope you find this missive somewhat helpful as you continue your own puerh tea pursuits.

Cheers,

PJ.

 

Ripe Puerh Gaiwan Challenge: Day V

Posted on by Yang-chu
25 Dec

For the final day of the Ripe Puerh Gaiwan Challenge, I reached for Kunming TF’s “55“.  What can I say but that Day V was definitely the best.  First of all, the camphor notes sounded more resolutely.  The tannic attributes quite common to the 55 were not detected.  The brew comes out very round and sweet.  It compared quite favourably to the Boss Tuo in regards to the sweetness, fullness, candy like qualities along with a sparkling clarity and redness of hue.

By day three, I had begun to do the test using a porcelain and a clay cup.  There is a qualitative difference between the two.  The porcelain has a rounder quality which is more muting, whereas the clay is the opposite more amplifying.  The clay enhances minerality and can be the difference maker for a brew that might otherwise taste flat from gaiwan brewing.

I can see the virtues of brewing ripe puerh in a gaiwan depending upon one’s preferences.  I prefer clay because it produces a fizzier brew with more depth, something necessary for optimal appreciation of Xinghai productions like the Silver Peacock.  The notable exception was how the 55 performed, which was nothing short of stellar.

Update II: 07 Peacock Puerh Cake

Posted on by Yang-chu
05 Oct

Alas, it seems only a month ago I reviewed the ’07 Peacock, ZC.  I wanted to see how it was doing after the span of the the summer.  You can gander the review here.  The root beer notes that I mentioned have intensified.  This taste isn’t for the initial infusions anymore either.  Root beer has permeated the taste.

Zen Puerhs

The ’07 Peacock puerh used to be a Zen production.  The taste used to be gentle, soft, and evocative of misty clouds with a bit of Wheaties.  It is hard to conceive of how such a taste can transform into what it is now.  There isn’t much astringency.  Even beyond the root beer tastes of roots and vanilla is some bitterness.  There are are even pronounced floral notes which could easily be mistaken for being in the original profile– which couldn’t be further from the truth.  The zing of “puerions” on the tongue indicates top quality material.

Such night-and-day transformation of the raw material usually points to productions hailing from the Yiwu region.  That would be my best guess for the Peacock.  Yiwu puerhs are known to get better with age, a truism that I took to be more folklore than fact.  It is still quite difficult to get my head around how something ever so subtle in taste could change so remarkably only through aging.

Not all Zen puerhs, it should be noted, make this type of transformation.  Not all Yiwu offerings will transform into a zingy, rooty, vanilla melange of sweet with a splash of bitter nectar.  Some rather old YPH productions, for example, only begin to taste old or clean-old.  They never exhibit that particular zing.  One exception is the Glee.    I do not know if this is attributable to processing or terroir.  Others that do not transform is due to less than ideal quality.  This points to both soil quality and tree age.  Older trees have a more extensive root system drawing more minerals from the soil.

Peacock Puerh Photos

Autumn ’19 Infusion 6 and 7

Different Angle of Peacock Puerh

A couple times people have asked a question that suggests that they believe that “Peacock” is a particular puerh type.  It isn’t.  Peacocks are just an icon popular among the puerh producing tribes of Yunnan.

Quesadillas and Zhongcha’s “55”

Posted on by Yang-chu
18 Aug

This Sunday morning, my wife whipped up some quesadillas that had sausage, pepper jack, zucchini, and scallions.  After a bite or two, I thought some ripe puerh was in order.  I wanted something that could hold up to food.  Zhongcha’s “55” called my name.

Let’s start at the end.  Bam!  Two pots shared between my wife and me and we were definitely feeling the qi.  I’m still feeling it.  Maybe it’s the chemical reaction between Italian sausage and puerh that’s producing this wooziness, kinda like the two herbs mixed together to make ayahuaska.  Warmth swirls in the chest and throat and the hackles at the back of neck and arms go into full effect.  I was asked just last week if it was possible to get high from a ripe as with a quality raw.  The ’06 “55” puerh cake emphatically answers this question in the affirmative.

Thick and Complex Ripe Puerh

We only drank those two pots.  It’s that satisfying.  It’s sweet like molasses.  Imagine Postum, if you can, with molasses.  I’m quite fond of postum, as my mom used to make it for me when I was but a lad back in Detroit.  It tastes like a very close approximation, a taste that’s still echoing in the flavour chambers of my mouth 45 minutes after the fact and with food!

But there’s more: light camphor in the aftertaste, incense in the front of the mouth, and baby powder in the back.  There’s also smooth chocolate candy, a la Tootsie Roll, notes.  This accounts for much of the sweetness.

Fourth Infusion 10s

Aging and Ripe Puerhs

There seems to be a consensus that ripe puerhs only require a year or two of settling before they’re drinkable.  I haven’t found this to be the case.  When I first got the 55, from the Kunming Tea Factory (KMTF)/Factory #1, it was overly astringent.  Perhaps it was two years ago that I began to detect the camphor and baby powder notes; only today the incense.  I understand that it may be a year or two (allegedly) for the wodui odor to dissipate.  However, there is more to a good ripe than dissipating the “fishy smell.”

In the world of puerh, what the “7542” is to Dayi, the “7581” is to the KMTF.  The older a “7581“, the higher the market price.  If the matter is simply wodui, then the market is either crazy or the older productions possess some distinguishing property that makes it more valuable.  It turns out that even though the “7581” is a ripe production, part of the secret recipe includes raw puerh material.  Perhaps this is the modus operandus of for most of their ripes.  Anyway, this is the first year in which I can say the “55” is really good, raw seasoning or not. It’s from ’06.

I don’t think I imagined reading something about ripes topping out.  Maybe this is a phenomenon akin to the wretched “oolong processed” so-called “gu-shu” puerhs peddled by some boutique sellers.  It sorta makes sense that the recipe and processing would contribute to the shelf-life of a production.  Dunno.  There’s a lot of boring ripes out there after sifting through the hideous.  The thing is some of those after 2 yrs in the wondrous environs of LA might turn out to be a delight.  I just can’t tell. .  . most of the time.

Similarly, some of the best raw puerhs are those that transform into something almost unidentifiable from its youth.  Maybe there’s something similar going on with the good ripes.   That something can only be attributed to boss source material, I suppose.

Secret Recipe

Food and Puerh

I’ve never been to any of those Yam Cha places in Hong Kong where they are purported to drink puerh with their dim sum.  I’ve done a little travel through SE Asia and I never encountered puerh.  I guess that means that if I want to kick my quesadilla with a treasure like “55”, then it’s only evidence of how adaptable tea culture is.  Let’s talk details.

Italian sausage and pepper jack cheese possess traits that greatly compliment a complex production like the “55”.  The fennel of the sausage, the fat of both the sausage and cheese, the smoothness of the toasted tortilla and cheese, all find correspondences with the brew.  The remaining astringency and the emerging camphor cleanse the palate and opens the breast, while warming the gullet and belly.  Grease and astringency are a perfect pair.

That’s enough for now.

 

Wow! Beijing Olympics Puerh Cake Update

Posted on by Yang-chu
13 Aug

The ’07 Beijing Olympics puerh cake is a Kunming TF (KMTF) production from ’07.  I’ve been drinking it from one season to the next since its acquisition in ’13.  Whereas many productions from that period have jumped rather high in price and there has been a prevailing sense of disparagement toward ’07 more than any other, this puerh gem suggests this viewpoint is more urban legend than truth.

Puerh Cake Stats

The Beijing Olympics is a commemorative puerh cake for the ’08 Beijing Olympics.  It’s pressed mercilessly and comprised of chopped leaves.  Infusion times are consequently much longer than is generally the case, but standard for the “atomic” pressed cakes, bricks, and squares.

I generally refer to KMTF productions as Zhongcha.  This is because until quite recently I only dealt in Zhongcha productions from that factory, the factory designated #1 by the erstwhile state monopoly.  KMTF has always seemed to take a back seat to factories #2 Menghai TF (Dayi) and #3 (Xiaguan).  Each “house” has its own processing methods and natural material preferences.  I had taken it upon myself to focus on KMTF in part because shysters didn’t find it economically feasible to fake their productions and because they maintained ownership of the iconic 茶 symbol displayed from days past.  Yes.  Total frivolity.

Puerh Progression

The house taste of Zhongcha productions tends to be very soft, in great contrast to either of the other two.  I’ve a few posts on the Beijing Olympics.  The gist is that until this May ’19, it could only be characterized as Zen with peachy, waxy notes.  Now, there is no Zen.  The wax has transformed to petrol.  The first infusion is unbelievable, a sandalwood depth that is extremely exciting about its future.

Let’s face it, its very difficult to divine the future of a puerh.  There are Zen productions that will transform into the forest and ones that will just turn out ok.  The same applies to sweet, floral, sharp, and astringent productions.  How a production ages is a huge factor in assaying its quality and also a great mystery.

This Beijing Olympics has been babied.  Most of the six years in which its been stored has been under very moderate Los Angeles conditions.  There’s just no mistaking that Hong Kong and Guandong/Taiwan stored items, albeit transformed, lose loads of character and complexity over time.  Nothing has been lost here.  In fact, the Beijing Olympics is gaining a head of steam, getting stronger and more complex.

Puerh Class Transition

Whereas the puerh class into which the Beijing Olympics had been placed was Zen, now it now more squarely falls into the Petrol class.  Additionally, it is now ridiculously sweet, even as you plow into the deeper infusions.  It’s a saccharine sweetness, which combines with petrol that might be confused with smoke.  Consequently, the huigan is instantaneous, sweet from broth to aftertaste.  Thrown in are tobacco notes and tropical fruit.  Imagine a pack of sugar-free juicy fruit soaked some kind of dry oak-aged whiskey.

Here’s the kicker. . .

All these flavors despite the evidently light colour.  Above is more than the 8th infusion.  Even as it fades with long infusions better than four minutes, it never stops being very sweet and fruity.

This is a hugely underrated puerh production.

 

 

Another Zhongcha Peacock Puerh

Posted on by Yang-chu
23 Jul

There are two excellent Peacock productions from ’07 Zhongcha, otherwise the Kunming Tea Factory #1.  Today I had the one that reminds me of a perfected Xia Guan offering that I’ve never quite had.

This production isn’t for sale; just thought I’d share that today three people other than myself all remarked positively.  It’s damn good.  Sweet and minerally.  Clean stones and camphor, with a mellowness of age.  It’s too damn tasty to be Zen, yet it possesses that Zhongcha Zen.

One perspective was that it was floral.  She admitted to lacking the vocabulary for tea.  She also noted that it had tastes that she most associated with white tea, but was surprised by what she  thought were black tea characteristics later.  Astringency.  One day I shall write a treatise.

It might be classed as a medicinal root beer.  It is herbal without being the least bit herbaceous.  Its certitude expresses with each infusion, revealing a darker liquor from decent storage.

Let’s get to the serious matter, however.  The wrapper…

 

Zhongcha’s ’07 Peacock Bada

 

If you can’t dig this wrapper, then I can’t help you.  Then again, maybe I can…

 

Anyway, I mentioned that this is like the Xia Guan that never was. This brings us to the ’09 Gift Puerh. Much bosser in cover…

The Gift Box is an enticing Xia Guang production that has morphed from a peppermint pitch to mid-note medicinal camphor.  Both the Bada and the Gift Box are sticky sweet.  Very not Zen.  But in the Gift Box there is a slight thread of dank.  It’s at such a subtle level that the dank lover won’t notice it, but the dank hater will eventually detect.  This one kinda snuck up on me to my indignance.  That seems to be a trait among this production because it was evident to a putrid level in the ’10 Small Gift Box, which I tortured till it became a most root beer manufacture. . . sans the dank.

Dank is not necessarily humid.  There is a measure of humidity in the Bada, evident in the smell, what one patient noted in the taste.  Minerals suggest good humidity.  It also suggests a level of liveliness in the leaves, in addition to how they’ve been cared for.  These all rank highly here.

I happened upon a vendor of a Blue Mark engaged in a bit of puffery but nonetheless a good price, so I gambled.  It’s ridiculous how powerful the qi is on that one, light years better than any Blue Mark I’ve had.  Vanilla, mostly.  There’s vanilla in the Bada as well.  The Bada is delicious but the qi of the “Blue Mark” blows it outta da water.  You just never know.

Cheers folks.

 

 

’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.