Merlot Puerh Update

Posted on by Yang-chu
29 Nov

This is a quick Merlot Puerh Update.  It’s good drinkin’.  It strikes me as being a bit of XG Love Forever in its ripe version.  Many heicha have this fruity note but can be rather hit or miss with ripe puerhs.

Although the berry note seemed to have been making an exit, perhaps the expression varies based upon the season.  The berry is back in any event.  Merlot doesn’t strike me as being a grandpa style production.  There are layers of nuance better appreciated through proper gong-fu brewing.  This includes an ever so delicate hint of sourness that fascinates the edges of the tongue.  There’s also an element of minerality, no doubt due to the water I use, that only becomes evident in later infusions.

Merlot should be brewed hot but drunk at moderate temp, as with most ripes.

Finally, Merlot is among a number of Xinghai TF ripe puerhs in offered at one time or another.  Their ripes are categorically satisfying with some like the Operation Macau Tuo being nothing short of amazing.  There’s intention behind each production, as no two taste alike.  Merlot takes the berry crown. The wrapper’s official title translates to “Restoring Tradition”.  This might be why it is evocative of heicha.

Reflections ’10 Tiger, CMS

Posted on by Yang-chu
28 Nov

The ‘10 Tiger, CMS continues to impress me as being the best puerh I’ve ever had.  This is not to be confused for my favourite, which varies on season and mood.  The Tiger simply tastes like no other puerh I’ve ever had.  The leaves in the pot consistently smell like some poisonous herb, strange and offensive, like patchouli and andrographis, something definitely medicinal.  The smell in the pitcher is considerably more intriguing amidst a cloud of butter scotch mixed with a rubber band note, which some call banana or date and usually found in ripes.

The Puerh Junky has been drinking the Tiger since Aug of ’21.  Stunned was my initial impression.  The strange aroma yields a broth that nothing short of moksha.  Put the idea of tasting good out of one’s head and just taste what the tea has to offer.  In the earlier infusions its star anise that is the prevailing taste.  In later infusions the patchouli is more evident.  The first few infusions are quite sweet on day two and the thickness is excellent.  It seems to be around 100yr old trees, there’s still quite a lot of sass in later infusions.

The only other production that even approximates the Tiger is Quincy.  The latter went through quite a spell where its aroma was off-putting.  My last tasting of Quincy started to find an emergent strawberry note on the underside the medicine notes.  The impressions of the Tiger are by contrast much more convoluted given its dynamism.  As session in Oct ’22 yielded a watermelon session, the taste of Jolly Rancher candies.  Other fruit includes cantaloupe, but fruit isn’t its overriding expression.

Even as the taste begins to wane the huigan remains potent, filled with agarwood, clove, and dried ginger.  My wife found it a bit heady qi wise though I only felt a moderate opening in the chest, pleasant and refreshing.  Its effect in stimulating the digestive system was noted even more.

Additionally, the age and quality of material impart durability.  There’s no crash landing while brewing.  Even when pushed toward the end it did not lose character.  The bitter along stride sweetness throughout the second half of the session.  Given that most of these spice notes exist in sweet and savory dishes, the experience is suspenseful.

The Tiger, CMS seems most appropriately placed in the Spirits Class.  It resembles spicy digestives consumed after a meal in the old country.

Gone Fishing Till Dec

Posted on by Yang-chu

Puerh Junky won’t be able to fill any orders till Dec.  You can still place orders, but they won’t get filled till Dec, as I’m going fishing.

But before going, maybe it’s a good idea to share a few impressions on the Collection since it’s been a while.  First, as everyone knows, the shipping situation from China has grown increasingly perilous.  I’ll leave it at that, as chances are good that you come to the site to forget about “stuff” that otherwise seems almost inescapable.

Perhaps a couple mths ago, I said that I’d do a write-up on the ’12 Dragon, CMS.  Let’s say, I’m excited by recent developments.  In addition to a characteristic apricoty con grapefruit expression, there is now a thin layer of root beer forming.  It washes out after about the first two infusions, but I ‘m expecting this root beer trajectory to deepen.  I’ve essentially put this treasure out of my mind now that I know where it’s going and how good it’s going to get.

Let’s take a moment to revere those mid-aged steals from LME shall we?  The ’07 Hideout is a comfy chair by the fire.  In contrast to the erstwhile Vanilla Palace that navigated its way to the Vanilla Kingdom by way of ferocious Bulang tips, along with two- and three-grade leaves, Hideout has always been a smooth and well polished actor.  These attributes have only deepened, with pleasant sweetness and vanilla tones.  It’s richer now.

The LME Spring offering continues to stand out for possessing both floral attributes indicative of spring offerings and unparalleled smoothness.  It lasts forever and has a heady qi that can easily be discerned by even those immune to the qi sensation.

How now, Horatio?  Let’s not forget about the LME Peacock ripe, a humid-stored production that is sweet and rich, with a bit of a camphor flair.  One taster remarked that it was the best ripe he’d ever had.  It is certainly top-shelf.  The ’06 Nannuo is drier-stored perfection, velvety smooth equally straddling the line between camphor and vanilla, with cocoa overtones.  Here, “drier” is by means of contrast from the Peacock, where the latter has a pronounced geosmin character and the former is much more agreeable to those who wretch upon the presence of humidity.

If soy sauce with a bit of flowers is your thing, then the ’09 Daxueshan, MKRS is worth checking out.  This particular note was something I’d experienced with a Zhengsilong Yiwu production from ’04.  After sitting on it for a couple years and a bit of musical chairs in terms of storage, that production has come into its own, fruity and sweet much more similar to the same production from ’11.  Stay tuned for that offering.  In the meantime, I expect that something similar may evolve with the Daxueshan, but for now it’s in a soy sauce stage.

The Puerh Junky’s impressions toward MKRS’s ’11 Creme Floral are fare more sanguine.  It’s about two years away from holy praises.  Right now, it is highly drinkable but it’s not as sweet and rich as it should be.  This makes sense as it only came into the Puerh Junky’s possession in the early part of this year ’21.

For those keen on Simao burliness with a twist, some mention should be made of the ’08 Buddha Impressions.  This is a very good production that has started to express more sweetness along the backdrop of sandalwood and petrol.  The petrol is a new development.  There’s also a sneaky bitter note and some black pepper.  There’s all this complexity without astringency, which might be partly attributable to the healthy presence of saponins which coat the teeth and tongue.  There’s even the venerated “throat yun” present.  I’d say is a cross between the ’07 Auspicious Dragon (altogether too harsh for my tastes) and ’06 Grenouille (which never disappoints).

Now for a bit on three of the ripes that made their debut this year of ’21: BZ Ripe King, Chameleon, and Drury Lane.  The ‘06 BZ Ripe King has been Guangdong stored and hails from a fancy factory.  Upon the first sip one fellow puerh junky noted its indomitable qi.  It’s certainly the most potent ripe of the collection.  Chameleon has unmistakable banana notes and if you let it sit for a good six hours in warm ambient temps it gets all sparky camphory.  Otherwise, it tastes of banana and dates, sweet, thick, and full of good karma. 😉  I haven’t listed a year with this little bugger because the vendor made the implausible claim of it being from the late 80s.  Nonetheless, it has some years under its belt without expressing any hint of the rather unsavory “old taste” of dusty newspapers.   The ’02 Dury Lane is the bomb.  It easily qualifies as the best ripe of ’21.  Crystal clear and camphory with undertones of sweet vanilla muffins, this treasure is flawless.  I think there’s only two of these left.

No review would be complete without a word or two on a few of the Zhongcha offerings in the Collection.  Let’s start with ’07 Thick Zen, which has taken a turn for the plum.  I noticed that it takes a good three infusions before it thickens up as before.  I was almost crestfallen during those first three rounds.  Previous expectations were that it would turn to a dark forest root beer extravaganza, but instead the root beer has plateaued along with the emergence of a pleasant plum note.  One finicky drinker who had previously found it just ok pronounced it good with the emergence of this fruit element.  If Lincang fruity is up your alley then the Top Notch Tuo is a good option, though it’s important to neither over leaf nor over brew as it can easily become overbearing.  It should be noted that we’re talking about the Zen side of Lincang and not the floral.  A remarkable contrast still exists between the ’07 HK Returns cake and tuo.  The former is still very much in the tobacco class, while the latter is bright and fruity.  Finally, the last of the lot is the Water Blue Mark.  It’s smoky and plumy, sweet and rich.  Earlier in the year, I broke off about 100g and placed in a kraft bag, storing it in my ZC container.  That move has allowed for some of the roughness and smoke to dissipate while allowing more sweetness and plum to come through.  The name Water Blue Mark is definitely a bit of an enigma as there’s no hint of watery Zen in this treasure.

Stay thirsty my fellow puerh junkys.

 

 

Getting Orders

Posted on by Yang-chu
05 Oct

The best part about getting orders is that it takes my mind off all the “new” arrivals.  A dragon pearl order had me stumble upon the ’14 Gedeng naked.

Prolly third infusion

Gedeng is one of the six famous tea mountains of Yunnan.  Don’t quote me but all the 6FTM are located in Yiwu.  I’ve had this since ’14 and listed in ’15, essentially.  The pic above is from ’15.

A little comparison in leaves. . .

2015

 

2020

But wait there’s more. . .

2021

Forgive the shoddy portraiture as I capture this Gedeng in its natural setting.  It seems to be a merciless creeper, astringency wise.  Seems to taste like glorified water.  What struck me was that the second and third infusions has a bit of bitterness that completely vanishes thereafter.  I’m about five infusions in and the first got about 3-5m.  It wasn’t overbearing in the least.  The fifth I gave a bit of stirring.  The pic above is infusion number five.

It then goes through a vous ja de aftertaste full of colour but utterly confusing because none of those tastes can be detected in the broth.  The immediate mouthfeel is a low buzz before wicked astringency, from the throat all along the tongue.  I haven’t felt like drinking something to offset that effect for quite a while.  It’s a tea of extremes.  I’m going to test with wife this evening.

 

Puerh Storage Update Jun 2021

Posted on by Yang-chu
26 Jun

Puerh Storage Update is part of an on-going saga involving our villain, the Puerh Junky, and his paltry puerh storage attempts.  Since Feb ’21 he has been engaged in a recovery project: convalescing top-shelf puerh cakes sedulously stored in puerh perfect cardboard boxes, which ended up fiendishly robbing the cakes of flavour and possibly qi, while imparting a cardboard taste.  As our camera zooms in we see the Puerh Junky rifling through his stack of convalescents.

“The 6442 isn’t going to be in here.  It’s not convalescing.  Still, now is a perfect time to balance the ’09 Bluemark, DQZ’s fruitiness, summer sublimeness.” He reaches through and grabs a generic bazhong wrapper, gives it a whiff, is satisfied, and examines what it is.  “Ah-haa!  The 8582 with the sexy aqua blue neifei.”

Aqua Neifei

Later during confession. . .

“I bought this in ’18 under no pretenses that it was real.  It was a ping to the vendor, as well as an opportunity to snatch up a bazhong wrapper with a unique neifei.  It was not up to standard till being stored for one year.  Whereupon it imparted a Zen cum root beer taste with a creepingly wicked qi.  Quickly, I checked to see if any more of that offering was available but it was long gone.

In a puerhitious attempt to baby or otherwise elevate its status, the 8582 was removed from one storage unit, placed in a puerh cardboard box, and stored among the top-shelfers of the Stash.  All the Stash top-shelfers can never become Collection offerings because they’re mostly simply not available.  These can sometimes be sent out as little treats for general edification and to show off some of what I consider top-shelf.

So, from Jun ’19 to Feb ’21 the 8582 lay in that cursed cardboard in my least favourite storage container– the fridge.  Day-after-day, month-after-month, that poor treasure received nothing short of the worst possible treatment.  The worst!  The fridge is essentially suspended animation.  Transformation is slow.  The perfect parameters have not been worked out.  Where things are placed and whether it is in plastic matters.  There are many variables that also depend on where the individual production is and what direction it needs to take.

In the case of the 8582, I was not looking for transformation, just storage.   The fridge is close to ideal for suspension, though it does has some undesired storage effects.   Still, it doesn’t even approach what cardboard does.  Let me say this as emphatically as I possibly can. . . cardboard isn’t ideal.”

By this time the priest is considering calling in for reinforcements.  The Puerh Junky goes on. . .

“Cardboard in the fridge is just a nightmare.  The fridge already does something to make the tea “stuffy” in the first place, and the cardboard worsens matters by bleeding its essence into the tea, while sucking from it as well.

These boxes are Dracula to puerh.!” he expostulates, while the priest reaches for his ultra-tetra-inter-hyper caring science gizmo.  Seemingly oblivious the Puerh Junky goes on. . .

“In ideal conditions perhaps it’s less of an issue.  I nevertheless removed all my tuo from their fancy boxes, despite fantastic storage containerdom.  Most have been stored box free anyway.  The thin box of the Dali Tuo worries me little.  The thin brown paper bags of the same material as cardboard worry me even less.   So, my sleeves of tuo remain in sleeves, much as the rain in Spain, if you catch my drift.

Positively none of the ripes have ever warranted cardboard boxing, but I removed my treasured ripe Monkey from its gift box.  Some Poison is stored in a big gift box and there are a few boxes in which productions arrive that I’ve been storing productions, but not in the fridge.  Some of those have been covered in plastic, as I’ve noticed that can make a big difference.”

Ripe Monkey in Gift Box

Later at the sanitarium in a lecture before no one. . .

“In any event, the subject here is rehab.  Rehab in this case consists of bagging the the treasure in packages that are waxy or plastic lined with the outter covering being white cotton or brown paper bag material, a close relative of cardboard.  I recently placed an order for a bunch of them, which I want to make available.  I think I got the ones that are white cotton.  That’s what the 8582 was placed in, in its original wrapper, unsealed, into the convalescent and archive tomb. ”

At the World Body of Puerh Nihilists, sanctioned and licensed by the world body of sanctioning, we find the Puerh Junky at the sanitarium standing before his gizmo wristwatch, synched with his thoughts through a super-convenient injectable nanobot luciferase care gel in a Zoom lecture.  He’s about to conclude.  . .

Findings

Tomato Shape

Aroma dry and in the heated vessel inviting.  Deep notes of root beer.  Evocations of Imperial Roots and the Tulin tuo that I’ve been tracking for a more affordable price and lost in the water in April.

250g Tulin raw

Overall, its association with Imperial Roots is impossible to avoid.  Hasty conclusions might lead one in the direction of Poison, but the latter is more camphorous whereas the former is peatier.  It’s a bona fide root beer, with more ginseng and less cardamom.

Storage, that’s the focus, determining the results of a four-month rehab for the 8582.  The matter here is not the 8582 itself, but how the findings contrast from before rehab entry. The findings are unequivocally positive, not ebullient but nonetheless unequivocal.

The 8582 is not as stultified as it was before entry.  Beyond that it is now a pleasure to drink.  All the attributes that made this treasure top-shelf are present.  At the same time, it has changed but so have I.  One of my own changes is in finding a more appropriate use for the tomato-shaped pot, which I’d previously believed to be best with tippy teas.  Now I’m thinking the opposite.  Obviously, the 8582 cannot have been changed by its cardboard ordeal.

I’ll keep it in rehab till October when it goes back to the fridge without cardboard (obviously) and in package, probably sealed.

Visiting Silver Pekoe Tuo

Posted on by Yang-chu
15 Jun

Visiting Silver Pekoe Tuo is in reference to an ’06 Tulin raw tuo.  I first purchased a number of these in ’14 and then they reappeared around ’18 at around 3X the price and completely different storage conditions.  I’ll designate the first purchasing date as FP and the one in ’18 as LP.  They’re both the same ’06 production.

For starters FP was much more humidly stored.  Camphor aroma emanated from its pores.  In the early days sometimes the camphor taste was more obvious than others.  There was noticeable bitterness and there was a distinctive orange juice finish.  It went over a rocky path till reaching root beer perfection.

The LP is, how shall you say, fuzzy.  The aroma is something akin to laundry powder or drier sheets, that fresh perfume scent common among soaps.  Maybe that’s lavender.  Sometimes it blends in with a vanilla, as with the sold out Vanilla Palace.   It’s definitely a perfume which could classify as floral but the notes are much deeper.  It’s the difference between striking a sound on wine glass or upon a hide or a gut string.  LP is like the erhu, the stringed instrument that sounds like a stringed instrument imitating an oboe or a duck.

People complain there aren’t enough pictures, so that’s an erhu.  There’s a pervasive sentiment that pictures of ducks are humourous.  I beg to differ.

The taste of the LP is three words: bubble gum tobacco.  It would be four words if I added an “and.”  I’ve learned long ago to not overleaf this production, so I went with five grams in my slow-pouring 150ml zisha for florals.  It’s noticeably thick and dense, an intense wave of the perfume lady at church before your mind grabs hold of the bubble gum and tobacco.

I cannot recall any smokiness or tobacco from the FP.  There isn’t any smokiness in the aroma that I can detect through the church lady perfume in the LP, though it could be perceived as incense or potpourri depending on how much you like that smell.  This is the smoke that some productions take on as they age and what makes them classed as tobacco. These tend to be tastier in fall.

Now the Puerh Junky doesn’t go around listening to such stuff, unless pining over a previous incarnation.  In honest assessment, the LP is a Fruit Monster on steroids.  The material overall is fantastic.  That said, knowing what it was makes me hate it.  I can appreciate the LP for what it is but only to a certain extent, sorta like the Sean Connery people with James Bond.

Le Yinhao Originale

To be fair, the FP was stored four years before arriving, and the LP has been sitting in the very same deep storage for better than two years at least.  My sample notes are from items in the batting lineup.  These are stored these are stored for convenient access.  Humidity and temp are less concentrated.  It’s reasonable to conclude that the deep stored LP are considerably different from the one in the lineup.

Alas dear readers, to share a comparison sampler, if you will, would be an achievement of positive no significance beyond demonstrating the ginormous differences that storage expresses upon the same production.  There is some FP stash but as part of the collection, it indisposed.  Aye, between cataloging and tweaking storage of an ever-growing puerh junkstrosity, an item or two has known to get misplaced.

 

Five Star Puerh Factories

Posted on 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.

Puerh Tea Cake

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 Visits Drury Lane

Posted on by Yang-chu
13 Jun

The first thing that catches you about Drury Lane is how clean it is.  The aroma is remarkably sweet. Chocolate, camphor, and crayolas.  The rinse liquor sparkles the colour of brandy and it tastes like Kalua.  There’s an ineffable breadiness that entices.  At room temperature, camphor taste up from before being drowned out by milk chocolate.  Big time milk chocolate aftertaste.

The first infusion brews up considerably darker but still crystal clear.  The taste of vanilla jumps out with camphor middle and chocolatey tannin finish.  The sense of how clean it is remains.  Cleanliness hasn’t come at the cost of complexity.

Infusion two is doubtlessly darker still, a ruby.  I’m brewing judiciously about 10s but the waking was probably two minutes.  The broth now is almost sticky, conjuring impressions of Tootsie Rolls.  It’s super sweet and milk chocolately with fantastic camphor and vanilla elements.

Infusion three is slightly lighter than two.  It is still totally transparent.  It’s lighter in texture and the vanilla element seems to be taking the fore.  There’s the muffin element, simple vanilla muffins that aren’t too sweet, with just a hint of cardamom.  I think it’s good for two more rounds.  Might boil it tomorrow.  Twigs will like that.

If memory serves this is Xiangming Factory.  Actually, it’s Yongming.  They didn’t get puer bible listed in the ’98-’03 edition.  Either Xiangming or Yongming or both in one of the editions.  I think I’ve seen some of their offerings posted.  It was the first ripe I’ve purchased from the vendor I mentioned previously, the one who seems focused on selling the tea and not the factory.  Consequently, Yongming is more-or-less incidental to the tea itself.  Drury Lane sounds a shade more inviting than Menghai Ripe Brick for some reason.  The vendor actually never showed the wrapper.

Infusion five soaked for a few minutes delivers on par with the first infusion.  It’s quite rich.  Positively completely totally dry stored.  Quite reminiscent of the Langhe house taste for some reason.    Infusion six was possibly 15m.  The color is still remarkably dark but it’s less sweet and rich.   The final sips of a Black Russian.

Puerh Potion Number 2001

Posted on by Yang-chu
13 Jun

Puerh Potion Number 2001 is a whimsical tale involving the rather drably named Yiwu Huangpian.  It’s an old ’01.  It’s taken a beating with heat and dryness after its brief humid phase.  It’s pure Zen.  Many Yiwus I’m discovering are quite grapefruity, see Dragon or Yiwu Princess.  This isn’t.  It’s not floral either.  It seems to be a benchmark puerh in terms of it’s “old taste”, chenyun.  A very glorified form of newspaper.

There’s really very little use in talking about a puerh like this unless you’re somewhere where it’s chilly.  This is much more an autumn and winter type experience, puerhistically speaking.

So why am I writing on it you ask?  Because I rarely write upon ripes to a fault and this offering is an excellent introduction to raw puerh for the person who fancies ripes.  Yes.  This is an obligatory ripe post by referencing an old taste raw.

I’ve started to sorta suspect that one of the vendors I like doesn’t sell what he says he’s selling.  I’m willing to chalk it up to losing something in translation.  I didn’t buy the cake based upon what was on the wrapper, but this is one of “those wrappers” I was looking to acquire in any event.  There’s a stylistically similar one that reads spring tips.  This one reads top, bottom, then middle gu shu cha.  You simply can’t get more specifically generic than that. I got it because that vendor has excellent taste.

Now I’m looking at this cake and wondering if the wrapper is really what it is on the inside.  I don’t know.  I’ll never know with these iconic wrappers.  The neipiao is one of those horrible CNNP inserts.  I can’t remember what the neipiao was for the other one of “theirs” I had looked like.  I simply thought the vendor was selling something he liked.  He didn’t make any claims.  I ran into the factory in the Puer Yearbook a few days back.  I decide to pry loose the neifei, will it be as generic as the neipiao with a bazhong?

The plot thickens.  The neifei is identical to the wrapper.  Did this factory use CNNP neipiao?  I have to check the puerh bible.  It only lists their ’99 version which also looks to be huangpian but a different neifei.  The difference proves nothing because these matters change from one year to the next.  I snap a shot.

The thing that stands out in this photo in terms of authenticating this production is the fantastic appearance of the lousy CNNP neipiao in the very upper left.  The neifei marks the year of production in all likelihood.  This one is ’99.  The one of “theirs” from ’03 has a different neifei too.  I haven’t heard much about them but I don’t think I knew what I was seeing either.  I tried to get more of their ’03 but the vendor said they were sold out.

If the vendor’s description included the name of the factory, it could be it eluded me due to the trickiness of factory name.

I don’t know what to make of the puerh bible.  The Xinghai offerings included in it are quite skimpy, not remotely their best.

Another look at the puerh bible and I see that the tea’s name is actually gu cha shu, as that’s what the neifei also reads.  I was wrong about its name.

It certainly tastes its age.  It’s looking like what’s in the puerh bible, so this is supposed to be something.  I suppose. It’s the only thing of theirs listed.  This factory has only come to my attention by accident, only by virtue of the wrapper.  The ’03 version of ostensibly the same production but looking quite different is a dank camphor hydra.

With Puerh Potion Number 2001 you’re getting a classic old taste that still exhibits the exalted Zen of Yiwu.  Now when you’re drinking it you can quote chapter and verse about the neifei and neipiao.  I just thought this was a “white label.”  Maybe it’s a white label brand, which is highly likely.  Hard to find a raw closer to a ripe in terms of taste.  You drink this and you know it’s old.  You taste the Yiwu and you’re either bored or brought to tears.

Puersuits or Puerversions?

Posted on by Yang-chu
10 Jun

Puersuits or Puerversions takes the reader into the dark recesses of the Puerh Junky’s cave.  As the drone zooms in he’s seen muttering something about “porcelain” and “volume”.  He’s also distracted knowing that the reader is questioning the absence of the “h” in “puersuits”, given that the Puerh Junky is so fancy as to spell “puerh” with an “h” in the first place.  Trying to not get caught in the morass of how Chinese gets romanized, he glibly makes something up.  “Everyone knows you drop the “h” before an “s”.  That’s the problem.  No one obeys the rules anymore,” condescending to no one in particular.

His distemper was becoming more obvious.    Taking a chunk from a small porcelain “tea jar” he warms up his workhorse zisha.  It’s the ’07 HK Returns cake.   It’s delivering its best performance ever, a tribute to Zhongcha Zen style and complexity.  Never before had the HKRC “turned over”.  Sweetness and volume where all the layers previously formed a cacophony, now they had the space to harmonize.  The fuzzy note that sounds in many ZC productions from this year is much more ephemeral in the taste but totally present in the aroma, like fabric softener or sun-dried bed sheets.

“The small porcelain tea jar seems to been unspeakably beneficial for the HKRC, better than previously zisha stored experiments for longer durations,” he thinks to himself.  Then his mood turns to all the tea he hasn’t drunk.  “Perhaps this puersuit has turned into a bit of a puerversion,” he thinks solemnly, when the thought of the recently acquired HK Returns brick comes to mind.

HKR Square

For whatever reason, each shape tastes different, though there seem to be clues suggesting they’re the same.

The brick is the first wrapper where I’ve seen any indication of the actual recipe, “6581”.  It’s still firmly situated in the tobacco class, signs of petrol forming as well.  Evocative of Grenouille and Buddha Impressions before getting quite a bit more forceful in around infusion five.  Still quite young in some regards.  It’ll be an interesting puersuit getting to know more about it compared to the others.  Perhaps a sampler wouldn’t be too much of a puerversion.