A Tea Addict's Journal

This is another one of those old samples that I never quite got around to drinking last year. The reason I have so many of them is because 1) my tolerance for young puerh at that point was lower, 2) It was near my moving date — after which all of them got packed, and 3) there were even more samples that I did dispatch at that point. So…. now I’m trying to at least give them all a fair go.

Anyway, this is a sample provided by Toki, and although labeled as Menghai Factory Anniversary cake, reading the packaging and the neipiao, it seems to actually say this is a Longyuan Hao cake and made by “Yunnan Xishuang Banna Old Tea Mountain Tea Industry Co. Menghai Tea Factory”. Which I think isn’t actually the same thing as Yunnan Xishuang Banna Menghai Tea Factory, i.e. the one we usually just refer to as Menghai. It’s one of those things that newer companies do to make you think it’s the grand old factories….

Of course I only got a little piece of the 2kg bing

Not too compressed, although given other opinions, it seems mine is the exception rather than the rule.

The liquor is clear and medium in colour

The initial infusion was remarkably light, deceptively so, but there’s a deep aftertaste that lingers, and which I like. The next few infusions, oddly enough, reminds me of beer. It’s a strange thing, but perhaps it is the hops of a beer that it is reminding me of. Bitter, grainy… something like that. Not too bitter, mind you, just enough to make me feel like I’m drinking a non-bubbly version of some malted beverage or another. The colour deepens. Aftertaste still strong, and I can feel a little bit of a caffeine buzz. It then progresses on to something else, perhaps more tea like now, sweeter, but strength remains. In fact, overall the tea lasts quite long and I gave up before it did.

Toki says there’s old tree leaves in there. I think it’s entirely possible, given the deeper aftertaste and the lingering effects that I found. Normally plantation teas tend to be more immediately stimulating but without the long tail. I’m not sure I detected very strong qi — certainly a buzz, but it doesn’t quite do the warmth thing to me. I think this is definitely good tea, and if the whole 2kg cake is made with this stuff (as in not just the front and back with a covering of good leaves) this can make a pretty interesting drink down the road.

A mixture of leaf grades, mostly larger. Some are stiff yellow leaves, a good amount of stems, and some smaller leaves. No buds in sight.

Unfortunately, one can’t say the same for many other anniversary cakes. Most of them I find to be overpriced versions of other cakes simply because they’re anniversary cakes of one sort or another. Some are merely very standard factory issues type cakes with some excuse or another to commemorate — be it the opening of a new mall or the 10 years return of Hong Kong to China. Some factories, such as Six Famous Tea Mountains, tell you every single cake they make is a limited edition — which is of course logically true, since no production is going to be unlimited when it comes to agricultural products…

While yesterday’s tea’s origins are not very well known, today’s tea’s source is obvious. I got it from Phyll, who in addition to blogging just helped organized the puerh tasting that happened in Pasadena a month ago, and also helps write (and edit?) TChing and moderates (?) Winexiles. A busy man. 🙂

Unfortunately, however, I got this tea more than a year ago. That itself is not a big problem. The problem is it was labeled simply as “1”. Nothing more. I think there was an email as well as a little note of paper that came with the package, telling me what they were (there were 1, 2, 3, 4, and I think I drank two before I left for China). I asked Phyll today, who couldn’t recall off the top of his head. So… it’s a guessing game.

So this is the tea

A closer shot of the other side

I used half the leaves, which might have been a tad low on the leaves, but I didn’t want to overstuff my pot again like the last two times. The tea is obviously a little aged — maybe 2-4 years? It’s lost some of the initial harshness, and some of the bitterness is gone. Now the tea is not too bitter, instead it comes through with a minty type of stimulation on the back of the throat and a muted sense of fruity taste. It’s slightly similar to the Mengku Rongsi 2005 mini bing that I tried a few days ago, but different. This one’s definitely less bitter, but that’s not saying a lot. It’s also less astringent. It’s hard to say which one’s more powerful, as the amount of leaves used was quite different so it is difficult to judge. This tea does taste like a plantation tea, but it is not difficult to drink. In fact, given the amount I used today, I think anybody can enjoy this cup.

I would wait a few more years before doing so though, because I think this can get better. Later infusions yielded a nice sweet water without being too bland. It held up well enough to keep things interesting. I don’t think it is particularly complex a tea, but again, I probably didn’t put quite enough leaves in there. Had I thrown in the whole piece, however, it would have been far too much.

The wet leaves look mostly big

But among them are tiny buds as well. The leaves in general don’t look or feel like spring tea. There’s a certain stiffness to some of them.

So… does this jog your memory at all, Phyll?

Dear Davelcorp,

Thank you, very belatedly, for sending me this sample. It’s been more than a year since its arrival, and only till now have I found time to drink it. I’m sorry it took so long, but I’m sure, as you know, I went to Asia shortly after your tea arrived, and in the rush to pack things up, move, and… move again, I haven’t found time to drink the tea. I suppose since it’s puerh, it doesn’t matter so much how it was stored. In fact, your smell-neutral paper bag probably worked pretty well since it allowed some air exchange for the bits of tea in there.

So I finally opened the well-labeled packet today, complete with your name in the bottom

These are not all — there’s a bit more tea in there, loose leaves, mostly, but the small bits make picture taking easier. Here’s a closeup

Mengku Rongsi factory is one that I’m somewhat more familiar with, having visited their factory store in Maliandao multiple times, and having tried quite a few of their products, young and old. Their young teas I found to be somewhat floral, at times quite bitter, but always possessing some strength and complexity. The older teas are a bit more of a mixed bag — some turn out a little like a dianhong, but retains a chocolate/nutty flavour that can be quite interesting, even only after 4-5 years of aging. I myself bought some of their teas, and have hopes that they will, at least, turn into something interesting.

These mini-bings I did see in Maliandao, but I’ve never tried nor bought any of them. I’ve found that many of their products, despite their different names, often taste quite similar. No doubt this is partly due to their use of maocha from generally the same area.

This tea therefore didn’t surprise me with the way it tasted. There’s something vegetal and slightly floral, without an initial bitterness, but it shows through after it’s been in your mouth for a little bit. After swallowing, at least for the first few infusions, there’s a throatiness that lingers, which is nice. The flavours are almost sort of subdued — it’s light in a way, but heavy in another. Perhaps elusive is a good term. It’s not bad that way — just the way it behaves. The bitterness doesn’t last very long, which is good. The tea, however, stays quite potent through many infusions. I liked that about this tea, and I find it to be generally true of their productions. For the price, at least at the time (it seems it’s gotten pricier) it was probably a very good buy. I’m not sure if it’s as good a purchase now, but it might be interesting to see how these age compared to a big bing.

The colour of the tea is a little dark, but not too unlike the young puerhs I’ve been having the past few days

The wet leaves are quite thick, compared to what I’ve been drinking. They’re also mostly whole buds or small leaves. Some are broken, others whole. Some stems too, but not a whole lot.

On Chinese forums such as Sanzui (which has strangely been hard to get to these days) some have pondered whether the new products from Mengku Rongsi has been processed at too high a temperature. It doesn’t seem this tea has that problem, given that it’s been about two years since its production. I can’t say for certain, but I’ve had much nastier teas that are two years old.

I very much enjoyed this tasting, and I look forward to trying this again perhaps a few years down the road with a sample exchange with you for something else.

Yours,

MarshalN

Continuing the parade of 2006 Tasteoff leftovers

This is one of the older teas that was passed around for tasting, and judging from everybody’s comments, including mine, it was not too well received.

I must say I have to revise my statements a bit. I think it has to do with the amount of leaves I used.

I used up the rest of the sample, which must be around 7g of leaves. I brewed… and what I tasted was something that could credibly be a Yiwu. It’s a bit cloudy, it’s a little mellow, but I don’t think it was mellow in a bad way. There’s bitterness in there, if you brew it longer. There’s also some nice floral notes, much sweetness, although not much of the minty flavours I found first time around. I think there’s even some throatiness, although not too much. This is not a great Yiwu, but it probably is one. I must say I liked it, not a lot, but I liked it enough. There might be some less-than-perfectly processed tea in there, as there’s a bit of sourness and a bit of an unsettling taste… but it’s not fatal.

While I wouldn’t say this is a great tea, I don’t think it’s a bad tea. Whether I would buy it or not depends entirely on the price, but it’s not something I’d categorically rule out. I don’t think it’s that bad, and I think it’s turning a corner in its aging process.

The tea does brew a bit cloudy… might be a storage issue, or something.

The leaves are a mixed bag… some large, some small. On the whole it’s a bit on the thin side, and a little limp. Not the greatest leaves, I don’t think, and claims of old trees is a little doubtful — perhaps summer picked?

Whatever it is… it’s at least more enjoyable, I think, than the teas I tried the last two days.

Another dug up sample from the 2006 Tasteoff… this one thanks to BBB.

I brewed it again in my new pot. I am having some adjustment issues with the pot — namely I am putting in far too much leaves. I haven’t been able to gauge how much leaves I am actually putting into the pot versus the volume, and both yesterday and today I think I have basically overstuffed the pot, making it very strong and slightly difficult to swallow at times.

The dry leaves didn’t smell like much of anything, having resided in the plastic bag for the whole year last year. The piece I got was pretty compact, and obviously made of small buds, as the name “First Grade” bing suggest. In Chinese the cake is actually called “Jia Ji”, or better translated as “A grade”. I think it is safe to say that the leaves are not indeed all first grade leaves, but instead a mixture of high grade (i.e. small) leaves.

It brews an orange infusion. No doubt, the high leaves to water ratio has something to do with the saturation….

It was bitter. Quite bitter, but not so bitter as to be entirely unenjoyable. It’s not bitter in the way a green tea puerh is bitter. There is a huigan, albeit a slow one. In fact, this tea tastes rather similar to the tea I had yesterday. The tea I had yesterday was a little mellower, whereas this one’s a little more punchy. Taking into account the age difference and the slightly higher amount of leaves I put in today (as I discovered halfway into the brewing) I think it explains pretty well what’s going on. It does hold up better than the tea yesterday, but that might also have to do with the higher amount of leaves present. It’s not a great tea, I think, but it’s a regular puerh made by Menghai. Retail for this on Taobao is 230 RMB, which translates into something like 30 USD. BBB said he got it for 18.50, but probably won’t buy it again at that price. At $30… it’s not worth it at all.

The leaves, as you can see below, are very small, and quite chopped up

They are mostly small, under 3cm in length. There’s some variety in how they look like when unfolded… but nothing too exciting either way

A factory tea through and through. I think what factory teas do well is consistency… at least before the whole craze really got to them. With enough blending, you can come to expect a certain type of taste from a certain factory. Small producers don’t have that consistency, but that’s part of the fun in trying the differences and to see how different people make them differently. It’s also more of an exploration… whereas I’ve had many Menghai cakes that are very roughly similar (especially the newer productions) with differences that are usually relatively minor. There are exceptions, of course, but by and large, that’s been my experience.

Again going back to the old stash I have here, I dug up a cake of the Fengqing mini cakes that I own. Last time I tried this was before the 2006 Tasteoff, at which point I sent samples of this tea out to various people. It’s time to try it again, a year later, to see if I can find anything I missed. I probably would, because at that point I haven’t tried all the young puerhs that I’ve recently tried in Beijing…

Small cakes always look rather cute.

The liquor seems to be darker than I remember

But then, I added quite a bit of tea today. The taste is mellow, but with a bitter edge. The bitterness dies a bit, but it never quite goes away entirely. There’s a strong initial rush of flavours in the first few infusions, but it drops off a bit after about 5 infusions and then seems to skate on a lower plane of flavours — more subdued, less bitter, colour obviously weaker, but despite its light colour, taste is there. Clearly this is plantation tea, but not horrible, I think. At least I don’t think it’s been weirdly processed. There’s just a hint of age in there, but it’s still pretty raw. It’s got some time to go yet… I think I’ll let it sit some more before trying it again.

Worth mentioning though is also the christening of a new teapot — my friend L gave it to me as a parting gift of sorts. This is a prototype that was made for him to inspect before they make a larger production of the pots, and through him I’m ordering some pots for myself as well as some members of the LA group. He had a few of the prototypes sitting around, so he gave me once since it was going to be the last time I see him for a long time.

Unfortunately, I chipped the pot a little yesterday when I boiled it in water to clean it. I think initially the boiling was a little too vigorous and it bumped the pot I was boiling it in….

Sigh… luckily, it doesn’t really affect the pouring at all. The stream is still rather clean and crisp, and so for that, I’m thankful. It did do something that I haven’t really done before with my own pots though

When I poured I noticed the lid wasn’t really coming off. I suppose that’s a good thing, despite the rather short “legs” the lid has. I do wonder if the tea tasted different given my use of a pot. It probably did — pots seem to soften the teas that are brewed in them. Chances are the tea today would’ve been more stimulating if I brewed it in a gaiwan.

The wet leaves are mostly broken

And tiny

A pretty mediocre tea all around. At least it was cheap. I don’t think I’d buy this again, but it might be ok 20 years down the road…