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2007 Twelve Gentlemen Wei Zhong Wei Menghai

An impressive cake

The 2007 Twelve Gentlemen Wei Zhong Wei Menghai is the last young puer I tried from NadaCha. It is priced similarly to its counterpart – the 2007 12 Gents Yiwu: £28 per cake.

Brewed competition style (3g/150ml for 5m) and then in dahongpao pot (5g/120ml with 25s, 20s, 30s, 40s etc.).
Leaf: A large proportion of large (if seemingly thin) leaf, altogether looking green and healthy. The smell of wet leaves is less exciting than the 2007 Yiwu, somewhat muddy and undistinctive.

This brews a slightly denser apricot colour than the 2007 Yiwu, and clearly packs quite a bit more ku bitterish tannic character (therefore a bit more length on the palate). Comparing to other Nada puer teas I’ve reviewed in the last few days, this one is really structured and needs to be brewed carefully: even something like 30 seconds in a clay pot can result in a hefty dryness. Aroma-wise, it is a bit reticent and undistinctive: very minor tobacco and bean; better on the palate with a pleasant lemony & herbs touch to the finish.
This tea has a particularly active qi: the effect of a session is similar to downing half a bottle of Cabernet. And impressive staying power, the firm ku is not diminishing at all with subsequent brewings, but it really is balanced and integrated into the whole: infusion #4 reveals an impressive sweet-tasting huigan. Length is excellent. This is by far the most expressive and sturdy of the four Nada samples reviewed in this series, and a very competitive cake.

Infusion #1 (20 seconds in clay pot).

Finally, an honourable mention for the Youle Bamboo Wrapped Puer 2008 which NadaCha is selling for a ridiculous £1.50 per 80g bundle (see image below). At this price I have liberally used to season and compare teapots, but it is really giving much more expensive puer cakes a run for their money. High grade leaves with some tips. Compression is rather loose, and separation easy. The aroma is not very complex but noble, dominated by tobacco. Flavour shows a minor kick of ku but there is also quite a bit of sweet fruit (apricot) and definitely some huigan suavity on the finish. Given the balance this could well age, but gives a lot of satisfaction today. If made into a bing this would cost the equivalent of £7.50 – surely with a fancy wrapper it could easily command three times that, based on the quality and consistency of the brew. Bravo!

See also an interesting discussion of this tea here.

2007 Twelve Gentlemen Wei Zhong Wei Yiwu

In the third installment of my review of puer teas from NadaCha, I look at the 2007 Twelve Gentlemen Wei Zhong Wei Yiwu. This tea is a twin to the 2007 12 Gents Menghai which I’ll review tomorow; the following tasting notes are based on a side-by-side comparison in competition brewing (3g leaf, 150ml boiling water, 5 minutes of infusion in porcelain). This cake is moderately priced at £27.

Leaf: A big difference between the two origins, this is far more fragmented, and has apparently opened less in the infusion (hence less power) but don’t ask me why as the dry leaf chunks were looking very similar. Wet leaf smells of energetic mountain-grown sheng.
Tasting notes: A beige, somewhat lifeless colour. There is little obvious aroma, showing withdrawn and low-key similarly to the 2006 vintage reviewed yesterday. Attack is typical of ‘green’ puer (tobacco, minor mushroom) but later there is a bean-like chewiness I find unattractive. Clean and transparent. Medium length and average power. This is really tasting a bit bland compared to the Menghai: the difference in impact is quite vast. Another session in gaiwan (4g / 120ml) confirms this impression, and needs pretty long infusion times at the beginning for the leaves to soften and unfold. Even further brewing (#3 through 6, ranging from 30s to 1m) yield a darkish beige colour but still very little grip. Clean, very dry-stored, with good promise through its leaf quality, but if you like kick in your sheng, this is not for you.

Sharing thoughts.

2006 Twelve Gentlemen Yiwu

The Quiet After the Storm

Oddly for this season here in Poland, today we have had the first thunderstorm of 2009. I like winter, and this has been a colourful, almost symphonic one, but am happy to see springtime arriving with its new vegetables, new teas, and Rieslings of the new vintage on the lunch table.

After 10 minutes of heavy rain and wind this afternoon, a tranquil moment of overcast coolness, mixing memory and anticipation in a way that seemed the perfect setting for the 2006 Twelve Gentlemen Yiwu puer tea from NadaCha. At £43, it is quite a bit more expensive than yesterday’s 2004 Jingmai, and definitely into the ‘expensive’ category.

Brewed in: dahongpao clay pot
Dosage: >6g/120ml
Leaf: A mixture of different colours, with medium-large leaves; loose compression and little damage to leaves apparently; some evolution to the colour. Warmed dry leaves smell sweet, with a little tobacco.

Tasting notes:
25s: Pale apricot colour. Little aroma, but there is surely little tobacco or other herbiness. Disappointing as I was expecting quite a bit more intensity, especially at this dosage. Mouthfeel is harmonious but not particularly long. No bitterness. Some underlying structure perhaps. Clean, post-green aftertaste. Let’s wait and see the subsequent infusions.
30s: This is now a little more assertive but still far from overwhelming. Flavours are fruity (peach and apricot) but not very sweet; tobacco is very minor. Power is balanced and restrained. Still lacking in character I thought, but better. Good length now, some minerality.
60s: Deeper colour now. The aroma is really underwhelming, little happening beside a notional sugary fruit; I even took an aroma cup to double check. Bitterness now seems a bit lower than brewing #2. Good density and length, the substance here is not bad but definitely lacks in incisiveness and expression. Clearly little more can be coaxed out of this batch.
3m: Low flavour, medium length, balanced bitterness. But overall flavour is really quite enjoyable and this is one of top-scoring brewings.
5m: Similarly good impression. The balanced ku is especially noteworthy: it is present but has not dominated in any brewing. Little on the nose, a bit better on the palate, with notes of apple and apricot. Length is good, though perhaps less exceptional than brewing #1.
Another session in gaiwan (4g / 120ml): Remarkable purity and transparency (of both colour and taste) to the initial brewings.

Overall I rate this highly: an obviously noble sheng with balance, potential and some impressive leaf material, but slightly lacks in intensity and personality today to really justify its price tag.

Infusion #1 (25 seconds).

2004 He Shihua Jingmai

Over the next few days I’ll be reviewing some puer teas I ordered from online merchant NadaCha. Tea aficionados will know Nada from his blog A Felicific Life, and the truly interesting range of teas on NadaCha. (One of the best features of which is the possibility of ordering puer teas on a ‘per gram’ basis; a vital one if you want to try that £355 cake before you buy).

The 2004 He Shihua Jingmai belongs to the least expensive teas on offer at NadaCha (£28 per cake). I have very little background knowledge about this producer so cannot say how much credit is to be given to the ‘Millenial Old Tree’ claim on the wrapper.

Brewed in: dahongpao clay pot
Dosage: ~6g/120ml
Leaf: A semi-compact cake with a an amount of tips, and a somewhat aged colour overall (not surprising perhaps for a tea almost 5 years old). Wet leaf includes a lot of chopped fannings, with the occasional wholish leaf; overall colour is rather green (greener than expected from the dry leaf perhaps).

Tasting notes:
45s: This is firmly into orange-beige territory – not yellow – but not very dark. A very clean profile, dominated by a dry tobacco note on the nose and a sweet candy character on palate (ranging from white sugar to banana). No astringency in this brew. Good thickness, even a hint of oiliness. Very good, though not very complex or terribly intense.
45s: Much as before, with minor ku appearing on end. Less oily.
30s, 1m: Two consistent brewings. Astringency now a bit more pronounced but unobtrusive, I find this pretty delicate for a young sheng. Good aroma, good flavour, this is very clean – impeccable storage as always with Nada’s teas IME.
5m: Even when pushed this long there is very little upfront bitterness: this tea has already started to settle. Again very clean and crisp profile, there is not the merest hint of wet storage. Tobacco is now almost absent, profile dominated by white sugar. Medium length. This tea has a lot of qualities but perhaps not such a boatload of expression. Judging by the leaf quality I trust this could improve further, though.

2002 Nanjian Teji

Earth in the cup

Tea Masters is selling this tea for a pittance (6€ per 100g tuo, which at ~20€ per bing would still work out rather cheap for a tea of this age).

Brewed in: gaiwan
Dosage: 2g / 50ml
Dry leaf: For a small tuo like this, leaf seems a good medium size. Semi-aged brownish colour. I detect quite a bit of white frost on the inside. Tasting notes:
20s: Medium brown colour, showing some evolution. Lid aroma is somewhat aggressive and metallic, with a fair bit of wet storage. This tea tastes quite advanced and has definitely had some wet storage (almost tasting like a shupu on attack). Finish is mildly biting, with remnants of past ku. Good personality, but not exactly a mellow or soothing tea.
20s: I kept the brewing time short following Stéphane’s advice (see link above), and the result is pleasant. A lighter colour than before, a mineral-grippy profile on the palate, good length. Flavours are definitely shicang-evolved, but kept lighter than in a shupu.
30s, 40s: This is really biting, grippy tea dominated by wet storage. Lots of expression but also a degree of damp-cellary austerity.
Further brewing are patient (at least 10 are possible with such brewing times) and always a little aggressive; I failed to reach that sweet & smooth stage of truly mature puer.

Looking at the wet leaf, it is for the most part intact and whole or wholish, and good quality. I just wonder about the size. Teji is supposed to be the highest grade of maocha raw material for puer, and I have had some fermented teas (shupu) made of very small new leaves like those used for many Chinese green teas. Yet looking at this 2002 Teji leaves are medium-sized (with some larger ones) and not so different from what is the puer standard. Anyone have comments on this?

Another session in dahongpao clay pot resulted in an even more biting, less friendly tea: I actually preferred the more balanced effect in porcelain. The aggressive dirty earth & damp-cellary character reminded me a bit of the 1990s Loose Yiwu also from Tea Masters, which I reviewed here. Overall this is expressive tea with a very good quality for the price, and useful for people to taste a middle-aged wet-stored puer. I would buy it again.

2008 Bailu

Proud white crane

Taiwan produces so much good oolong that one intuitively forgets about other types of tea from this island. Baihao, Baozhong, Gaoshan (plus the large reserves of aged puer) are enough to keep you running for years of tea drinking.

Within a recent order from Taiwanese specialist Tea Masters, though, I ordered a small pack of a local green tea. Taiwan produces several types: Biluochun is common (an emulation of the Chinese classic from Jiangsu), as well as some greens from the qingxin tea cultivar (widely used in Taiwanese mountain oolongs). This tea, the 2008 Bailu, is made from a recently developed cultivar with the irresistibly romantic name of No. 17, also know as Bailu, meaning white crane.

Brewed in: gaiwan
Dosage: 3.5g / 100ml
Dry leaf: A nice looking tea, with about 20% furry tips, and lots of bright green leaves alongside the more usual dark greens. Smells of summer meadow and toasted bread.
Wet leaf: Impressive quality, with no damage to the carefully selected leaves. They take quite a number of brewings to fully open. I remain impressed by the consistently high quality of the Tea Masters selections. Tasting notes:
60s: A very pale, white-coloured infusion. I find Stéphane’s description of this tea quite spot-on. Nose at first is dominated by citrusy, grapefruity notes, later calming down into vaguer but nonetheless pleasant ‘green tea’ aromas. Flavour is a bit different, mildly grainy, with good length but not enormous intensity.
60s: I like to boost this slightly by brewing in hotter water than I normally would a green tea: there is more citrusy intensity and spritz. At mid-palate it lacks a bit of body and oomph but this is a frequent impression with green tea.
5m with boiling water: Finally some astringency appearing but not distorting the natural expression, and still fairly drinkable.
3m: Still pretty flavourful and good, this tea can go quite far.

Overall this tea has quite a distinctive, grapefruity profile that I find quite unvegetal for a green tea. Original, enjoyable and fairly priced (22€ / 100g).

2008 Dancong Milan AAA

A pretty orchid

Following yesterday’s post, here’a another Dancong from Jing Tea: the 2008 Dancong Milan AAA. Milan = Honey Orchid. A colloquial name apparently, since honey orchid doesn’t seem to be used outside the tea world. Milan Dancongs are usually among the lightest, most floral types as opposed to the darker-coloured, spicy Huangzhi styles.

Brewed in: zisha teapot
Dosage: 2.5g / 120ml
Dry leaf: rather smallish, straight and twisted. Considerably darker in colour than the AAA Yulan from Jing reviewed yesterday. Lovely aroma of orange spice and roasted almonds.

Infusion #1.

Tasting notes:
30s: Aroma cup is unexceptional I must say, pleasantly scented but much less distinctive and intense than the dry leaf. A good depth of orange-amber colour, surprising at this low dosage: apparently a highish oxidation and some roast for this DC (opposite to yesterday’s Yulan). Aroma shows a bit of almond and orange but is a bit generic ‘tea’-like, although the DC character is recognisable. A pleasantly balanced tea, good concentration and intensity, with the aromatic pizzazz blended into a more complete experience. No bitterness, good length, dominated by sweet fruit. Really quite good.
30s: As above, slightly less aromatic as often, but a characterful tea.
3m: Despite the lengthy brewing time this is really unbitter, confirming the excellent balance of this tea. Expressive, typical, utterly satisfying, this is a brilliantly made DC for a decent price ($32 / 100g).

2008 Dancong Yulan AAA

Dancong goes green

I have been drinking quite a bit of Dancong tea recently. This family of oolong tea from the southernmost Chinese province of Guangdong (Canton), also known by the name of Phoenix tea, can boast some of the most incredible bouquets in the world of tea. Indeed, the many tea subvarieties and tea tree cultivars in the area are classified according to the natural aroma they mimic. So we have Magnolia, Orange Blossom, Grapefruit Blossom, Almond etc.

This tea-producing area is also renowned for the large amount of old wild trees still in use (the top teas are allegedly 100% old growth, and some even advertised as ‘single bush’; Dancong originally means just that); as a drawback, prices for the top grades are very high, often pushing $100 / 100g in the West.
This is only a very brief introduction to Dancong; for more info, see here.

Here I look at the 2008 Dancong Yulan AAA purchased from Jing Tea. At $29 per 100g, it can be said to be reasonably priced for an ambitious Dancong. Yulan means magnolia, so we know what aroma to look for. With Huangzhi (‘Orange Blossom’), this is the most popular variety of Dancong.

Brewed in: gaiwan
Dosage: 3.5g / 120ml
Dry leaf: Long and rather straight leaves that are surprisingly green. Usually Dancong is a medium oolong, meaning a moderate (~50%) oxidation. Here, there clearly is less. The aroma is extraordinarily flowery, with a mixture of orange blossom, lilac, and lilies perhaps.
Tasting notes:
30s: A clear, saturated yellow colour. Intense aroma is consistent with the dry leaves, narcotically flowery. Palate also has a flower petal bittersweetness, and an almost buttery texture with no aromatic other elements such as fruits or spices. Elegant, smooth, with good presence on palate and a longish finish. Rather elegant for a DC, this reminds me of Baozhong with its extravagant flowery crest over a rather slim body.
1m (overbrewed): Colour deepens into a yellow+. Interestingly this has not become bitter, but there is a flowery dustiness at the back of the throat.
45s: Now lighter in flavour and a little neutral, as if suffering from the previous, excessive infusion.
1m: Back to shape now. As often with Dancong, the initial top floral notes are gone, but what remains is a solid medium-bodied architecture and a streak of solid, invigorating, elegantly bitterish flavour akin to grated orange or grapefruit zest.

Overall, this is one of the more interesting teas I have tasted lately. It is unlike the majority of Dancongs, with their medium oxidation, medium roast, and a firm bitterish tannic support. This one is lighter, airier, very aromatic, but not weak or slim; green tea it is not. And fairly priced – unlike many Dancongs these days. I really, really like this tea in its style.

2008 Haoya Keemun ‘Nonpareil’

Remembrance of tastes past

As for probably 99% of Europeans, my first taste of tea was black. In the late 1980s, nobody heard of green tea, and ‘oolong’ was a mediocre low-bracket disaster you better steered clear of. In the late 1980s in Poland, there were no teabags (at least I don’t remember them); tea was purchased in small cardboard boxes or loose brown paper bags. Generic geographical names were used – Assam, Ceylon, Madras – with little guarantee of authenticity but a broad consistency of taste: Assam was a very deeply coloured, heftily tannic brew while Georgian tea (very popular in Eastern Block countries) was of the lighter, fruitier, spicier kind. There was not tea connoisseurship; tea was a staple, and left an indelible aromatic imprint on my childhood memories of afternoon meetings of adults.

With the fall of Communism here in 1989, tea became a commodity governed by market forces. Standards fell as teabags came into fashion. There was so little interest in the watery brew they generated that I gave up tea altogether. It was only in 1996 or 1997 that I came back. By then, a couple of specialist tea merchants were operating in Warsaw. They had perhaps 75 varieties of loose leaf on offer. Today, I wouldn’t give a penny for that no-name TGFOP Assam sitting next to a strawberry-scented Gunpowder, but at the time it was a massive change.

‘Black’ (now sometimes defined as ‘red’ following the Chinese nomenclature) tea constituted 75% of my early tea consumption, and I had two favourites: Yunnan and Keemun. The former’s red-fruity, crisp taste on sunny days and the latter’s malty depths on rainy ones.

So it was a kind of sentimental journey to order the 2008 Haoya ‘A’ Keemun ‘Nonpareil’ from Dragon Tea House. This pricy tea ($24 / 100g) is the highest grade of black offered by this merchant (Haoya being a top grade of Keemun and A the highest quality of Haoya). Brewed in: gaiwan
Dosage: 3.5g / 150ml
Dry leaf: Very small – this is clearly a top grade. A uniform dark brown/black with a minor amount of golden tips. (Later a proportion of twig bits will be revealed in the wet leaf). Dry leaf aroma is that unmistakeable Keemun malty smoke spice. Tasting notes:
I experimented with brewing times during several sessions, going from 15s to 60–90s for the first brewings, and continuing pretty much at will. (Patience of this tea is average but three reasonable infusions can be obtained, though #1 is always best). Dark red-brown, this is not a particularly deep colour for black tea. Nose is quite distinctive and immediately brings memories of those inexpensive blended Keemun teas I was drinking as a student: little fruit, lots of maltiness and smoke, some heavier earthy notes. On the palate this again shows that Keemun’s comfortable malty oxidation and few ‘primary’ fruit notes, to use a vinous term. Not very tannic even when brewings are lengthy; finish is firm not drying. If this was a wine, it would be a Madiran or young Cahors with its chewy tannins and earthy fruit. Overall this is a good (perhaps very good) example of its appellation, but not a ‘wow’ tea and perhaps I expected more at this price.

Dancing in the snow

1999 Menghai #7532

Today brought some hilarious news. the mighty British Empire has been brought to its knees by 20 cm of snow. Transport halted, and even banks have remained closed (perhaps they should spend a few pennies from the billions of public help they’ve recently received on a couple of workers to de-snow).

Thank God the subpolar Polish civilisation has learned to cope. By British standards we would need to shut the entire country down from December till March.

Anyway, here’s a tea for my esteemed UK readers to warm up on while waiting for the bus service to resume. This 1999 Menghai Tea Factory #7352 raw puer was purchased from Jing Tea (a full bing costs a hefty $155, but thankfully 25g samples are available for the benefit of the savvy). First brewed in my miniature 50ml gaiwan (2.5g), then with 3.6g in 120ml Dahongpao pot, the following notes are a synthesis of the two.

Dry leaf: It is rare to see such impeccably separated leaves in a tea of this age: Jing Tea assure me the cake was not steamed, so I incur the pressing is loose. Leaves are small and partly fragmented, ranging from light to deep brown. They emit a very clean and apparently dry-stored scent of old wood.

Tasting notes:
20s: A medium brown colour. Nose echoes the dry leaves: a discretly woody scent with minor tobacco and wet earth. Calm but very clean and quite deep, this is a model of old tea elegance. A touch of dryness on the end, not very dynamic but surely not mature or frail.
30s: Deeper brown. Good clean elegant aroma of wood and earth. This is now more powerful, with a bit of bitterish ku appearing on end, adding some zest and length. Power and content.
40s: Same as before but a bit darker and more consistent in colour.
60s: Still going strong. Flavours of old wood and mushrooms, really very clean with (almost) not a hint of wet shicang storage. Integrated but present bitterness, long gan finish.
60s: Less exciting now (perhaps brewed too short): a decent woody nose but palate a bit hollow and with minor sourness now coming up.
2m: Back to good shape, there is a minor post-bitterness on the finish, quite some elegance (this tea’s hallmark) and intensity, a very good balance to the semi-aged character.
As often with older teas, it is the coda – brewings #6 to #10 perhaps – that proves the most pleasant, with a light body and an echo of past glory.

In short, this is an outstanding tea. It shows very good complexity but still has quite a bit of grip to continue improving for another few years. Its aged character – old wood, mushrooms, wet earth, smoke – is balanced by good freshness and considerable finesse; it never becomes heavy or dirty. How sad to see it out of my purchasing range.

First brewing (20 seconds in clay pot).