Winners and binners

 It’s no surprise that my tea collection includes a number of lackluster teas. “Tuition teas” I’ve heard them called on other tea blogs. Some were gifts from friends, most were purchased based on someone else’s review, or my own naïve gullibility for a vendor’s marketing hype. Up until now I’ve kept them all owing mostly to my desire to learn how a tea will change through the years. But it’s time to start culling them (is that my overfull tea cabinet applauding in the other room?). They’ll be added to the compost pile which is, I think, a noble ending for a cake that once held high hopes for someone. I’ve always been reluctant to publish tasting notes for a tea I find lacking, not wanting to contribute damage to a vendor’s or manufacturer’s reputation, but there’s a lot of puerh out there and not all of it is good, at least not to my preferences. Maybe I’ll break off a chunk of these cakes to keep for future comparison? I do find it instructive to sample these on occasion, testing my own skills of discernment, but not enough to take up valuable space in the cabinet. 

But first, a couple of winners –

2003-2004 Dual Secret Stamps Brown Changtai, dry storage

What a classic and enjoyable tea this is! The aroma is all sweet berries on a woody base, maybe a little spice thrown in at times. This tea shines on all fronts. Its classic profile reminds me a lot of some Wistaria teas I’ve had. The aroma has great strength, the flavor is pronounced and classic, and as the session moves along the energy and qi of this tea grows and fills the body. There’s nothing not to like about this one. Glad I picked up a couple of cakes of it, from Clouds Teahouse. 

1997 Tung Ching Hao (Tong Qing Hao), Chi Chang

I pulled this one from the very back of the cabinet this morning. It seems after purchasing I must have been re-organizing the cabinet and it got buried on the bottom, never opened or tasted. This will be my first tasting of this tea, purchased from what appears to be a now-defunct vendor, Tea Classico. The English on the wrapper makes me smile – “To be sure it is ‘Tung – Ching’ trademark when you get it”. Okay then.

 

1997 Tung Ching Hao, Chi Chang

The compression of this cake is intense, reminding me of the 2000 Kunming Lan Yin Tie except this cake has rounded edges while the Kunming’s edges are sharp. The initial aroma off the leaves after the first rinse is decidedly smokey with a woody base. It’s not as smokey as the Kunming, but there’s clearly smoke there. The rinse water is a deep mahogany color, too, making me wonder if this might actually be a shou. Curious now, I look up my notes on when and why I purchased this. I picked this one up thanks to a review from the Half-Dipper’s blog back in 2014. 

The smokey aspect of the aroma disappears with a second rinse, settling into one of my favorite aromatic profiles in an aged puerh, full of sweet ripe berries on a strong woody base. As the session continues I’m increasingly impressed with the strength of this tea. It has a clean edge to it and a body-filling energy and qi that I almost never find in a shou. It must be that Hong Kong storage mentioned in Hobbes’ review. This tea just keeps going strong, infusion after infusion. I think I stopped after 10 or so even though it hadn’t slowed down yet. A wonderfully enjoyable tea. 

Alright then, onto the binners. It’s goodbye to the 2011 Gao Shan Zhai “Ancient Arbor” raw from Yunnan Sourcing, and the Autumn 2011 Three Peak from McIntosh Tea. No need to go into tasting notes. Maybe these are winners for other folks, but my garden will get more use from them than I will. 

There’s one, though, I think I may keep even though it scares the bejeezus out of me. But it’s just so damn perplexing and unique. It’s the 1998 Gan Xiang Jiu Yun purchased from ChaWang Shop (my only purchase from them). I think I’ve written about this one here before. The aromas from it are reminiscent of a make-up counter in a drug store in the 70’s, all granny face powder and cheap waxy lipstick, sometimes with a little hint of Bandaid from the first aid aisle. The leaf in this tea is low grade stuff, full of stripped-off leaf veins and twigs. Taste-wise it leans almost toward sour with a funky sweetish aftertaste that’s definitely not huigan. Honestly, I take only the tiniest sips from it just to learn what’s present, fearing what toxic chemicals might be in the mix. 

So I’d like to put a question out to you readers (the few still left – lol!). It’s a longshot, I know, but does anyone know of any chemicals that could be added to a cheap puerh that would give it that strange sweet aftertaste? I’m wondering if there was something being used back in the 90’s for this sort of thing. Also, being a no-name puerh it’s probably a longshot, but does anyone have any more information on this tea? It’s such a strange bird, I’m curious. Here’s what ChaWang Shop wrote about this tea, and the reason why I even bought it in the first place back in 2011:

This 400g aged raw puerh cake is little bit rare and interesting. Using Yunnan large leaf tea harvested in the late 1990s as material and storing in cool, dry place about 6 or 7 years. In 2004, some Kunming tea businessmen found this tea in Lincang, after two years - 2006, they made the tea into 400g cakes and 250g bricks.

The material is not select - leaves with long stalks. Open the cake, the leaf surface is shiny and smooth, that's a good sign, it means the tea is rich in pectin. The taste is very unique for raw puerh tea, a bit like 1990s aged oolong. Flavor of raisins and some dried fruits, sweet with comfortable aftertaste, the liquor has very nice orange brown color. Maybe loose leaves kept for a long time and later pressed to cake caused the taste so unique and different from other aged raw puerh tea. What a magical fusion!

1998 Gan Xiang Jiu Yun