Famous Puerh in the West: 2013 Xiaguan Love Forever Paper Tong

 

Sometimes there are puerh productions that become so famous they are simply know in the puerh world by their acronym.  So is the case with LFPT (2013 Xiaguan Love Forever Paper Tong).  This production has been everywhere, I mean EVERYWHERE, since I got back into the puerh scene in 2017.  I’m not 100% sure but it might have first gained prominence in the West by Toby of the Jade Leaf?… there was an early group order of this one around this time.  Since then the Jade Leaf, King Tea Mall, TeasWeLike, and now Puerh.uk has offered it but I am unsure if some have been sourced from the same wholesale dealer with the same storage??? And more importantly… what the fuck ever happened to the bamboo tong version of this production????? I really want to know!  I have only read reviews of the cakes which come from the paper bag tong which would offer more of a sealed storage option but not airtight compared with the bamboo.  Not one comparison tasting between the two… I want to see that- we all want to see that.  I think Shah8 maybe thought he did a bamboo tong version tasting but he could not say for certain.  Anyways there is a crazy amount of reviews on this puerh.  Surprisingly, I have never tried this  before dispite my general enjoyment of Xiaguan puerh.  I’m thankful for the free sample that came from one of these Puerh.uk 2013 Xiaguan Love Forever Paper Tong which goes for approx $100 for 357 g cake or $0.28/g.

The Super chopped up factory style dry leaves are a nice floral sweet smell.

First infusion has a strong floral sweetness with a strong body underneath of woody thickness.  There is a pungent woodiness type of menthol and underling bitterness in there.  A really strong punch start!  Nice creamy sweet floral taste to it.  Very full slight puckering chalky feel to it.

Second infusion is a strong floral creamy sweet with a deep woody almost bitter base taste.  Lots of mouthwatering saliva returning after a menthol taste.  There is a pungent menthol onset with thick woody creamy floral sweet finish.  Very tasty and satisfying.  Tastes very much like Laobanzhang.  Strong focusing but deeply soothing feeling with some shoulder heaviness and chest opening feelings.  Very sweet finish in the mouth with layers of sweet floral candy released.  Nice dense layered tastes.

The third infusion has a thicker menthol woody sweet taste.  Some candy, floral, caramel, wood, menthol a layered and dense sweetness.  Full fluffier chalky fullness with a salivating returning sweetness which releases a very sweet floral candy sweetness.  Nice focusing energy with some shoulder heaviness and chest opening.  The storage is a bit humid and reminds me of Guangdong or Malaysian storage maybe a bit of Taiwanese as well but not completely natural Taiwanese stored… hard for me to place exactly.

The 4^th infusion has a strong sweet floral initial burst then a woody menthol before a saliva gob turns things very creamy candy sweet and long…  Deep focusing feelng with shoulder and open chest sensations. Nice full lighter fluffy chalky mouthfeeling.

The 5^th infusion has more woody menthol initiaily with candy floral creamy strawberry sweetness more at the end of the profile or mid profile.  The saliva gob comes and goes with creamy floral and strawberry sweetness.  Feeling a bit focused, a bit floaty.

6^th has a woody menthol onset with lesser sweetness kind of a roasted woody bean taste under some lesser floral and creamy sweet and strawberry.  Deep focus and relaxing.  The cooled down cup has a woody menthol creamy almost bitter-astringent sweet taste.  Saliva returns to push out an almost bready creamy floral candy sweetness.  Nice focused feeling.

7^th has a woody almost soapy floral with a thinner woody taste and longer thin candy taste from onset to aftertaste.  There is a woody thin and fine candy sweetness here throughtout with lots of the more dense and layered tastes falling off.

8^th has a woody and a bit mildly astringent sweet candy taste.  Its thinning out but still some longer lanky woody and candy tastes with more pronounced but only slight pucker dry mouth.  Nice productive focusing today!  Shoulder heavy and chest expanding.

9^th has a soapy floral woody pungent brackish woody almost dirt taste with cool throat and some faitn sweetness returing.

I mug steep out the rest…. And it gives off woody bitter brackish notes with hardly any sweetness left that kind of lingers faintly on the breath and creamy sweetness trails away.  I enjoyed this one a lot! This one tastes like it was stored briefly in Malaysia or Guangzhou before a longer period of Taiwanese storage or could just be a deeper natural Taiwanese storage.  I can totally see the appeal of this uniquely floral factory tea- a great option for the price.

Order of preference for these 6 recently sampled semiaged Banzhang-

#1- 2006 Zhi Zi Hao Black Wrapper / Yin (not pictured) this was probably the best deal from Western facing vendors in 2020 when Houde sold this cake for $595.00 for 400g cake- vibrant powerful, elegant, and brilliantly stored!

#2- 2005 Greatful Tea Factory Zhengshan (middle top)- the most LaoBanZhang out of the bunch in its wine like presentation with full mouthfeeling and Qi sensations also has some nice dryier natural Taiwanese storage on it that goes well.  Nice full leaves and buds.

 #3- 2013 Xiaguan Love Forever Paper Tong (very bottom )-  a powerful blend of small factory chopped leaves with layered dense strong flavours of florals, strawberries and some woody heft some faint bitter, strong immeditate presence with strong focusing Qi and shoulders and chest opening, nice fluffy full mouthfeeling.

#4- 2005 Banzhang Macau Hualian Small Buds (middle bottom)- single estate, grape, bitter fruity explosion of taste that slowly builds and has amazing strength and stamina especially for such little buds- mug steeped this one out for a few days and powerfully fruity sweet bitterness even days later!  Reminds me a bit of Lincang and not as much Banzhang.

#5- 2003 Yuanjiutang Ban Zhang (from Tea Encounter)- nice banzhang character in taste, nice stoning Qi, saliva producing pops, not as great stamina with a touch of astringency, a lesser version of the 2005 Greatful Tea Factory above but really good for the price.

 #6- 2005 Lao Ban Zhang Sheng Tai Toucha  (very top) - deeper smokier old school Laobanzhang, I like the old schoolness but its depth is lacking.

Peace