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1970s Loose Pu

35 years on…

This is the second of four samples kindly sent by Tea Masters (see here for the first). As usually the Tea Masters website has a comprehensive review and background for this tea.

As the leaves were just enough for a single serving (2.8g) I decided against a competition-style single brewing and opted against for a full-length gongfu session in dahongpao clay pot. As the best Polish mineral water is slowly brought to a boil in my earthenware kettle, I sit down to this session with a sense of humility and alertness.

Early 1970s Loose Puer
Leaf: A relatively light to medium brown colour to these reasonably large leaves. Almost no aroma to the cool leaf (due to sample size?). When put in warmed pot, this smells very aged and earthy with a decomposed vegetal / forest floor character, however no shicang (wet storage) pungency.

Brewing no. 1 (15 seconds), 2 (20 seconds)
and 7 (11 minutes total).

Tasting notes:
15s: A medium brown colour no more. Aroma is very calm with distant echoes of generic aged ‘tea’ and no wet storage in sight (always a positive aspect for me, as I find shicang robs many teas of clarity and depth). Beany, boiled-vegetabley, earthy, perhaps woody. The tea enters the mouth with some peppery spice, and that earthy textural grain is present throughout. Not very high in flavour, made of one block; sedate, calm, aged. Rather clean, although due to that above-mentioned texture, it lacks the crystalline character of teas such as the 1984 shu coin from Tea Masters. This tea is in harmony with itself, more so than the analyst perhaps.
20s: Extraction is now boosted: a considerably darker brown colour (if without the pruney purple hues of some other aged puer). Similar register to the first brewing but more of everything. Earthy, mealy, cerealy, all fused into a single aromatic note. On the palate this now even shows a bit of tannic grip: it must have been a monster in its youth. (Many 2006 puers already have less bite than this at 35 years of age). By now this tea is fully active on the palate, making one salivate and feed on the dense mealy character.
20s: Very similar to brewing #2, with two changes: less mealiness and intensity, and the appearance of a firm, stoney (‘mineral’) character. For its age this is really impressive through its power and intensity. Showing why aged puer enjoys the status it does: no other tea can approach this dimension.
20s: Darker than expected. But with a less extracted flavour, the mineral-cellary notes are more subdued now (though not absent), and there is a bit of sweet-textured huigan for the first time. Very active, almost digestive qi.
5m: Pushing to see how much power can be extracted. Colour however stays a medium dark brown similar to brewing #2 perhaps. A masculine if rather simple aroma of earth and wood. Really similar to the previous brewing. Very good length, balance of sweet and earthy elements, still some power but clearly little more has been (can be?) extracted from these leaves. Though far from pale, of course.
90s: Colour and register are considerably paler with the flavour now simplified, but there is an attractive oiliness of texture at mid-palate.
3m: This is now really light in colour and I think going down. One aromatic note: recognisable, enjoyable, cellar floor-dirty agedness.

This is a special tea, and I surely have no competence to assess it fully. I obviously killed it with that overenthusiastic fifth brewing, and would probably have reached ten comfortable infusions with shorter steeping times (though I honestly expected more patience here). But there’s no denying its excellent vigour and cleanliness. It gives the impression of having the potential to improve further with age. Hats off to Stéphane for (literally) unearthing this brilliantly cellared tea.

2005 Yongde Wild Arbor Brick

Relaxingly average

It’s interesting how seasonal your consumption patterns can be. A few days after the last attack of winter on which I’ve reported here, the spring is in full swing here in Poland, with temperatures reaching +18C in the afternoon. Immediately, I feel less thirsty for tea in general, and my choices tend to be more and more green. On the other hand, I can’t quite imagine brewing those high-roast Wuyi oolongs or ripe puer.

Between sessions of Longjing and sencha, I decided to have a look at a tea I haven’t reviewed here yet, and in fact haven’t tasted in quite a while. The 2005 Yongde Wild Arbor Brick is the sort of upper lower middle range tea I never feel urged to drink but that is always a safe choice for a ‘normal’, weekday cup of tea.

This puer is compressed into a brick instead of the more usual cake. Somehow, I don’t really like bricks. I can’t explain it, since bricks have many qualities: easy to store, I get the impression they are also a bit tidier than cakes when you have consumed more than 70% of the tea. Yet there’s something about the shape that doesn’t attract me. Bricks are quite thick and I have encountered a ‘dressing-up’ strategy more often than with cakes: there is a pretty layer of large leaves on the outside but underneath, the brick is made of lesser material.
2005 Yongde Tea Factory Wild Arbor Brick
Merchant: Yunnan Sourcing
Price: $13 / 250g brick
Brewed in: gaiwan
Dosage: 5g / 120ml
Leaf: Large leaves on front of brick but speaking of dressing up, there is indeed a bit. Leaf colour is rather dark and untippy. Pleasant, aged aroma: dried leaves and tobacco.

Infusion #1 (25 seconds).

Tasting notes:
25s: Pale colour. Not much aroma, echoing the nose with tobacco and dried leaves; uncomplex and calm. Not a lot of body on the palate. Finishing definitely a little bitter (vegetal juice of chewed branches coming to mind); a little unbalanced or perhaps just austere.
45s: A darker (if not terribly attractive) beige-brown. To its credit, the tea hasn’t turned bitter with this longish infusion. A moderate intensity of low-acid tobacco, beans, and barnyard; perhaps some huigan.
40s, 45s, 1m: Consistent and fairly stable, building a more bitterness-driven balance than initially. Some content here, and could improve with time.
Brewing #6 is already a little light, with decreasing interest. The profile is not very young but not really aged either. Dry-stored (this was purchased in 2008 from Yunnan Sourcing, who are still offering this brick)

In essence, it is not a great tea, but surely good for the price. It has some content and personality, though not exceedingly much. The disappointing factor is the grandeur of its description: I can hardly detect much old-tree material here, and for a high-mountain spring tea, it tastes a little light and bland. If you forget that, it is a relaxing pleasant puer that’s just fine for Monday like today.

1990 Fuhai Wild Tuo

Abundant snowfall on Warsaw on 26th March. How to survive? Fermented tea (shu puerh) gives a helping hand. And this 1990 vintage (yes that’s a 19-year-old tea) is excellent.

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 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.