What Pu'er Are You Drinking

[Sunyata]

Currently drinking 2023 Fenghuangwo Yiwu and a Lengshuihe 2021/2(?). Distinctly differently micro-terroirs within the broader "Wangong" region. Fenghuangwo is more "yellow" fragrance while Lengshuihe is more "green" fragrance. Nevertheless as gushu material, both are never in-your-face or sappy/perfumey like the majority of xiaoshu, dashu from Gaoshan, Luoshuidong, Tongqinghe that is lying around my house. Dare I say, this Fenghuangwo is my favorite tea of 2023 period. Let's hope this year I will find a better Yiwu puerh!

[Sunyata]

Starting to drink this year's (2024) spring tea from Yunnan... Apparently this drought-ridden/low rainfall year is even hotter than last year (recalling the spectacular vintages since 2017-2019), resulting in less yield but higher quality tea across the board. Definitely really excited to be trying teas from this year.

First up, some Gedeng single trees which my trusted tea supplier says is better than the usual 2022 gushu maocha (which I have bought ALL of at $2/g because they are simply the best Gedeng in my experience, besides my semi-aged 2014 cake). Flavor is more subtle, but still have the typical Gedeng explosive flavor (as compared to the other teas in the 6FTM) in the mouth. Smoother, slightly less astringent, and definitely can torture brew without the liquor turning dark yellow, a good sign that its from even more pure, older tree. Did not end up purchasing it as I still prefer the 2022 which is less subtle and more luxurious. Price wise the single trees cost twice than what I got ($4/g), which is near the limit of what I'm willing to spend.

Next up, had 2 different Guafengzhai "xiao gaogan". Heard from my tea guy that recently, due to overharvesting in Yiwu wangong region, even the older trees are more plucked and hence, theres more value in finding younger trees which are less harvested. These are what the locals refer to as "xiao gaogan", trees which are left to grow and the locals hope will reach maturity so they can quickly harvest and sell as gushu at higher prices. As for the flavor, I'm not a GFZ fan as the teas from the area tend to be higher fragrance than northern wangong (bht, fenghuangwo, duo yi shu, tianmenshan) area. These xiao gaogan are certainly durable but one must bear with the noticeable astringency. Ended up buying 100g (at $1/g) just to keep and drink at home.

Finally, tried some Bada single trees. Now, Bada is a very remote mountain and the chaqi is certainly different from the Bulang/BZ/Pasha/Nannuo mountains. But sharing the same "Menghai" character of low fragrance and deep low notes throughout. Being single trees, these have a quiet sweetness and cleanness which translate in the cup. Chaqi does not give me the same "nervousness" as I get when I drink BZ, but I notice more "alertness". Its definitely NOT the yiwu calm relax chaqi. I'm still a Fengqing/Baiyingshan/greater Yiwu simp because I prefer the introspective, cerebral chaqi that those teas impart.

[mbanu]

More tinned Nor Sun; did the Hong Kong blender go out of business? The supply seems to have evaporated... fortunately I had a habit of buying extra tins when they were easy to find, so I still have a bit left.

Tried some of this after a bit of "Taste of Hong Kong" from Yee On. Interesting contrast, because you can taste how the raw pu'er has faded away but the "traditional storage" smell and taste has remained in the Nor Sun. It wasn't a formal side-by-side, which I should probably do.

I think that that Nor Sun isn't a "traditionally stored" cooked pu'er, but a cooked pu'er/traditionally-stored raw blend, but because the tins have stuck to the same design for so many years, it's hard to tell how old a tin is. There's a picture of the tea in All the Tea in China from 1990 and the design is exactly the same. I have the feeling the only way to date a tin is that some time in the past they switched to metric, having the weight in both ounces and grams instead of just ounces, but even that isn't very helpful because I don't know when it happened.

[LeoFox]

2021 Wu Jia Ping Zhang sheng puerh from hojo.

[Sunyata]

Drinking a Hua Zhu Liang Zi danzhu. The key difference in altitude is in how fine yet thick the tea soup is - think of drinking a baihao yinzhen vs a shou mei, the former has a more viscous mouthfeel. Or when one drinks a lishan tea vs alishan tea - the lishan feels more milky and creamy compared to alishan. Hua Zhu Liang Zi belongs to a famous Menghai mountain, Mt. Mengsong. Yet, it feels strangely different from other Menghai teas... even BaDa has those deeper, low, grounded notes that one can anticipate in a BZ/Bulang/Pasha/Nannou tea. Oweing to the high elevation, this feels very un-Menghai, with a penetrating fruity sweetness (think ripe fruits rather than cooked or dried fruits) which you do not normally find in Menghai. The fragrance is upper palette; it rises in the mouth and throat. Very unique and also super drinkable as a daily tea, albeit it is not exactly affordable.

[teacreacha7]

Drinking 2010 7542 from Teas We Like. I haven't had this tea for a while, and as soon as I rinsed it I was reminded how much I love it. The aroma is sweet, with a pretty prominent "barnyard" smell akin to hay. Maybe it's because this was the first Pu'er I ever tried, but this remains a 10/10 cup! I would love to try some older examples of this recipe eventually, but for now this is a great age/price balence.

[Sunyata]

Lao Ban Zhang 2017 - laoshu and gushu blend, but 100% Lao, no other material which will just make it "only" Banzhang. $4/g

Realized im down to 40g (from 100g cake) of this potent stuff. Now, I profess outright - LBZ, or Menghai teas in general, just aren't my thing/go-to. The cha qi that I seek is the cerebral, introspective, pensive kind... and that can be found in Yiwu. Here, the cha qi I get is energetic, oftentimes excessively so (lots and lots of sweating), sometimes nervous, anxious, keeps me on my toes. I'm someone who isn't as affected in terms of body reaction to teas (or coffee, etc.) but here I feel it even more so. I drink this once every few months to remind myself what the reputation of the so-called "King of Pu-erh" is. Flavor wise, I actually like this one more than other Menghai teas. BZ is like the jack of all traits - its never supposed to be just bitter, but also sweet (like a good Mengsong), floral (like a good Pasha), vegetal (like a good Hekai), and grounded (like a good BaDa). It's so well-balanced, nothing really stands out - except for the pure unadulterated chi. Heck, I've had way more bitter and unpleasant (but boring and one-dimensional) teas from Bulang and Lao Man-Er. Contrary to popular opinion, I don't think these generic Bulangs will age into anything more worthwhile - a flatness in taste, no depth just a punch but where's the power behind the punch? Back to this LBZ - its so damn durable it rivals the top tier Yiwus that I have. 10 steeps in and I quit. I admit. This tea is special. Will I be getting more of the 2017 LBZ cakes from my supplier? Doubt so... this is not something Im looking for on a regular basis.

[Vinski]

Pu'er tea from Mannong Village in the Bu Lang Mountains of Menghai to cooling (yin) on a hot summer day.

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[pepson]

Yue Guang Bai
"White" pu erh
I bought new agate tea cup on my holliday in Cyprus and I am testing it. Tea is known for me I like it. Some photo :

[OCTO]

OCTO’s quirky blend ala Kenyir 2024.

80s shou brick + 2009 shou beeng (80s aged leaves) + 2005 sheng beeng from 3 mountains.

Sweating droplets as the chaqi circles around our body from head to toe.

Cheers!!

IMG_1584.jpeg (269.51 KiB) Viewed 29020 times

[Sunyata]

2021 Wu Jia Ping Zhang sheng puerh from hojo.

As much as I adore Hojo's other teas (from whites to dancong to red), his style of puerh is just not my cup of tea. It's not that lincang teas tend not to age as well as Banna teas, but moreso the fact that he chooses for the redder/pulong style which is the modern way of producing accessible and friendly puerh. In other words, super fruity and high fragrance. The trade-off is that such teas lack depth. With extended period of withering (anything more than half-a-day is not good already), and prolonged but lower temp of sha-qing (to compensate for loss of moisture), only to be finished with aggressive rou-nian (a big no!!), we get teas which won't age into anything appealing 5+ years down the line. This is coming from someone who enjoys super young sheng puerh, but also recognizes the need for slow but steady aging that preserves the integrity of the cha-qi.

[OCTO]

I very much agree @Sunyata’s observations. But I do subscribe to a thought that there is a tea for every occasion, moment and mood. I find that i do enjoy the floral presentation of Hojo’s tea in the mornings rather than at night.

Cheers!!

2021 Wu Jia Ping Zhang sheng puerh from hojo.

As much as I adore Hojo's other teas (from whites to dancong to red), his style of puerh is just not my cup of tea. It's not that lincang teas tend not to age as well as Banna teas, but moreso the fact that he chooses for the redder/pulong style which is the modern way of producing accessible and friendly puerh. In other words, super fruity and high fragrance. The trade-off is that such teas lack depth. With extended period of withering (anything more than half-a-day is not good already), and prolonged but lower temp of sha-qing (to compensate for loss of moisture), only to be finished with aggressive rou-nian (a big no!!), we get teas which won't age into anything appealing 5+ years down the line. This is coming from someone who enjoys super young sheng puerh, but also recognizes the need for slow but steady aging that preserves the integrity of the cha-qi.

[Sunyata]

But I do subscribe to a thought that there is a tea for every occasion, moment and mood. I find that i do enjoy the floral presentation of Hojo’s tea in the mornings rather than at night.

Yes, I also agree that perhaps for certain types of tea it is better to process in this way (ie. more oxidized, less astringent). I think if the leaf material is already very good (gushu danzhu) then the astringency is low and hence the traditional way of processing with light sun-drying and fast/high sha-qing will result in a vibrant and fresh "green" sheng that is so delightful to drink young and old. However, if the leaf material is less than ideal (and that is totally fine because there will always be this big market for blends and "recipe"), then to minimize the stomach-churning astringency of xiaoshu tea it is more appropriate to process in the modern style. I believe Hojo has made the right decision given the circumstance and he is not afraid to call out those who have been misled by many wet storage advocates that tea needs to be aged in order for it to be drinkable. Isn't it a coincidence that HK merchants in the 90s, in the attempt to offload their large stash of low-quality factory blends, decide to convince and dupe most of the western (and eastern) world that bitterness and astringency will resolve themselves with age? I've had 20-30yo teas which are so bitter and astringent, so that goes against common "wisdom", and if I have to wait for years before something is drinkable then it's likely that the tea isn't good to begin with. Like a good First/Second Growth Bordeaux is pleasurable now AND also can be aged. Factory pressings from the 70s-00s have plenty of taidi/xiaoshu material blended in it. Even the so-called "best" Changtai (Yi changhao) productions of 2001-2003 that I've had cannot compete with pure gushu which rose in prominence over the past 15 years. You see, the really really good "old" factory pressings are not from the 60s-00s, but are from the "hao" era in early 20th century. These are worth a fortune, if one is lucky enough to encounter in one's life. We are fortunate that the puerh industry is now emerging from decades of dogmatic slumber and making stuff that is comparable to how the early 20s,30s puerh was like in quality and taste.

[Sunyata]

Anyways, long musings over. Time to post some of my thoughts about what I've been drinking recently. Inspired by my impression of this year's guafengzhai teas in general is that they are more fruity sweet and punchy, so whether its a good representation of Yiwu is debatable. Quality in GFZ is quite sucky for the past few years. For the past years I'm looking away from (central) Yiwu (Gaoshan, Luoshuidong, Manxiu) in favor of the more subtle (floral) side of Yiwu and those are generally northern Wangong such as Fenghuangwo, Zhangjiawan, Tianmenshan... Then theres also good Xiangchunlin (mine was mislabelled as a Yishanmo, but my tea supplier said its roughly similar as both are close proximity). Apparently he also has a Duoyishu, which I'm looking forward to trying. DYS is near Tianmenshan. Southern Yiwu also is gaining traction, particularly from Baihuatan. Oh, and re-tasting Yunnancraft's Baihuatan 2024 confirms that it is by-far the best that I've tried from that area. It forces a re-evaluation of Southern Yiwu - what I normally associate as wild, more foresty/earthy side of Yiwu is mainly due to the impressions of all the Tongqinghe that I've had. Yet, Baihuatan despite being almost in close proximity geographically tastes totally different. It is surprisingly elegant.

Deciphering Yiwu terroir is hard.

[OCTO]

You see, the really really good "old" factory pressings are not from the 60s-00s, but are from the "hao" era in early 20th century. These are worth a fortune, if one is lucky enough to encounter in one's life. We are fortunate that the puerh industry is now emerging from decades of dogmatic slumber and making stuff that is comparable to how the early 20s,30s puerh was like in quality and taste.

Do ping me ahead if you’re planing a trip up north to Penang for a cross-island tea session… and perhaps a brew or two of OCTO’s quirky blends… hahahaha….

Cheers!!