2003 Yuanjiutang Ban Zhang Thoughts on the Plum Essence Taste

I got this complimentary sample from Tiago of Tea Encounter (the cake sells for $124.95 for 350g cake or $0.36/g) in a care package a few months ago.  An interesting thing about this puerh is that it has been stored in the drier more Northern Heibei province of China…

Dry leaves are small, likely plantation, and quite tippy.  They have the odour of strawberry yogurt with slight wood.

First infusion has a slightly sour almost fruit like onset, barely dusty old puerh taste before it arrives at a mild almost minty peak.  It then becomes slightly creamy and sweet.  A strawberry fruit note comes to mind here.  The sweetness is long and creamy.  There are pops of various fruit tastes in the aftertaste as well as a bubble gum flavouring.  The overall feeling and tea liquor suggest pretty dry storage.

The second infusion starts off just mildly astringent like the skin of a grape with slight dusty aged note before it becomes barely minty and cool with a nice bubble gum taste in the aftertaste.  The mouthfeel is slightly tight and astringent.  The storage is nicely dry.  The long candy finish is uninterrupted by other nuances and is long on the breath.  The qi is pooling in the head and the body feel relaxed, the joints nimble.  The qi is sedating and tranquil as things slow down around me.

The third infusion starts a touch astringent, dusty, almost sour grape peel before it goes into a short mild mint and long distinct candy breath.  The bubble gum sweetness is long and obvious on the breath.  The mouthfeel is slightly tight and tart.  The throat feels open at the mid-level.  This puerh is not overly complex but rather pure and obvious in its presentation of grape, dust, mint, and bubble gum progression. Almost a red wine like taste and odour in there as well.

The fourth infusion starts off almost legume like, almost coffee or coco mild bitter and oak barrel then transitions to mint and long clean bubble gum finish.  The Qi is real nice I feel a bit euphoric now with my bubble gum breath.  There is a oak aged wine like taste to this, almost alcohol.  The dry storage finish is nice.

The fifth has an almost merlot onset that is simple and pure almost oak barrel then barely/ not really minty then long bubble gum.  The merlot taste is throughout.  The profile is real simple, crisp, nice very dry and compressed storage.  There is some faint floral and fruit that is hard to pin below the surface.   The mouthfeel is slightly astringent and sticky on the lips.

The sixth infusion has a nice oak barrel wine merlot taste, more woody now with a very faint lingering creamy sweetness.  The mouthfeel is a touch tart. Sweet bubble gum finish.

The seventh infusion has a velvety mouthfeeling now, a touch dry.  There is a subtle smoke oak taste in these initial tastes that melt well with mild grape tastes, then mint then a creamy sweetness appears more the bubble gum.  The sweet taste is uninterrupted and long.

The eighth and ninth infusions have an oak barrel merlot taste to it then eases into a long bubble gum sweetness.  Qi feeling is gently sedating here.  The sweetness on the breath is long.  The flavours are simple and enjoyable and clear.

The tenth has a slight pungent medical wood touch under oaked wine, mint, and creamy sweetness. The eleventh is back to the same profile.  The 12^th shows signs of slight medicinal again along with the other tastes. The simple consistent profile is evince of single estate.  The mouthfeel is slight astringent almost velvety.  The tea liquor is slightly thinner but consistent broth.

The thirteenth is similar in profile the grape skin of early infusions is gone and there is a touch of medicinal tastes in there the finish becomes merlot like.  The profile is simple and enjoyable.

In the fourteenth the initial taste is dry wood and slight cherry fruit there is some very mild cooling mint then a long merlot wine sweetness.  The fifteenth is much the same with more of a creamy sweet finish than wine.  The slight bit of astringency in this puerh gives it some substance despite the thinner, dry stored broth.  It feels very pure in the body, the Qi seems to wear off by mid-session.

The next few infusions are dry wood with slight wine profile and long slight sweet finish.  I decide to steep it a few more times.

I enjoy this simple, clean, pure, example of dry storage.  The clean merlot taste and long bubble gum aftertaste is quite enjoyable.

The long dry storage bubble gum sweetness is also described in China as the plum taste but I have tasted plum before and it really is more like bubble gum or cotton candy too me so I usually describe it this way.  A nice long dry machine compressed storage is sure to bring about this note in a reliable puerh.  The last cake I purchased with this note and similar long dry storage was a cake of the sold out dry Shanghai stored 2003 CNNP Small Green Mark Iron Cake from Yunnan Sourcing  which also has this characteristic.  This 2003 Ban Zhang is a bit different in its profile but for those who enjoyed that cake and storage I would recommend this one.

So the question remains: Is this really from the famous Ban Zhang area?  Well, it’s always possible but also probably more unlikely than possible.  Part of these older “Ban Zhang” are just the fun of imagining that they may in fact be from somewhere in or near Ban Zhang… most likely not Lao Ban Zhang but it’s always possible that it is some plantation fixture from nearby, I suppose.   Hahahah…

Certainly this one is much more possible than some Six Famous Mountains Factory Banzhang cakes I have or my cakes from Laomane Menghai Banzhang Factory.  This 2003 is far far more enjoyable that a comparison to these factory cakes doesn’t do this Yuanjiutang any justice!

I actually blind sampled this one that was labeled “2003 Banzhang” and appraised it at $200-300 for 357g cake.  So in my eyes this cake is at least a 30% value.

Peace

Not Alchemy Just Daily Drinkers: 2006 6FTM Yesheng Banzhang and 2006 6FTM Organic Banzhang Raw

These two Six Famous Tea Mountain puerh arrived in my first order from Awazon.   I remember seeing lots of 6FTM cakes in the puerh tea shops in Korea in the mid-2000.  I know that I have tried many 6FTM puerh before at these tea tables but I have no memory or recollection of how they tasted.  This seems to be a theme of the literature online about 6FTM- unmemorable.

But it wasn’t always like that.  Even the western online vendors used to be full of these cakes.  Six Famous Tea Mountain puerh factory offered puerh that was very different than the factory puerh that was mainstream at the time.  It was a response to the overly bitter and strong cakes produced by Menghai and other tea factories which were the most popular at that time.

A few years ago Hobbes of the Half-Dipper re-discovered 6FTM cakes and many are reviewed on his blog at this time.  These two were either discussed positively in the comment section or favorably reviewed by Hobbes.  However, because of differences in the names of these teas, tasting notes, differing wrappers, coming from different vendors, I am unsure if these are the same positively reviewed teas.  This is what makes purchasing puerh online in the West such a gamble.

2006 6FMT Yesheng Banzhang

There is a bit of ambiguity on the Half-Dipper whether this cake is undrinkable or excellent value.  It is possible that it is even the exact same cake wrapper with one cake being a fake and other real or perhaps it is the same cake but one with off storage.  Only one way to know which one this is similar to…

I paid $26.80 for this 357g ($0.08/gram) cake it seemed tobe the last one in stock.

Dry leaves smells of sweat sugar cane and faint plumb.

In the first infusion flatter vegetal notes comes first with a nice leathery taste.  A soft cresting malty caramel sweetness ensues finished by a tobacco taste which stays in the mouth.  The mouthfeel is decent and feels full enough to carry the aftertastes forward.  The mouthfeel has a mild stickiness to it as well.

The second carries more sweet notes of slight plumb in the mix of leathery tobacco.  There are only suggestions of cool menthol on the breath.  This tea tastes is very much good, if not very typical puerh tea.  It has a mild thickness and viscous feel to it in the mouth and carries these standard puerh tastes nicely in the mouth.  The bubbles formed in the liquor stick stubbornly to the cups and pots. The sensation of this tea doesn’t make it into the throat limiting the depth of taste but what it has, it does quite good with.

Third you can really start feeling the qi of this tea- again a very classic puerh tea feel.  The body feels energized and refreshed while the mind feels relaxed and clear.   The sweeter plumb notes are more developed in this infusion and taste nice with leather and tobacco.  There is a very slight sour note indicating its age.  The sweet tastes are the dominant now and the flatter vegetal note is all but gone.

This tea is through and through good, typical, unpretentious big factory tea.  There is nothing amazing about this tea but there is also nothing negative about it either. Its strength is in its better than average mouthfeeling which make simple tastes stick and is limited by not really touching the throat.

The fourth shows signs of starting to level off with less of the evolving layers and gravitating to more of a nice singular note.  There is a nice cohesive leathery and creamy malty date fruit sweetness to the tea here.

The fifth shows more of the mild barely fruity sweat note riding itself into the aftertaste over leathery and even slightly woody notes.  There is some menthol returning in the mouth.  A very stable tea.  For the cheap price this tea, it is very drinkable and I am happy with it for what it is.

The sixth is much the same and I am still not adding any steeping time to the infusions just the 20 second pour of the pot.  Simple, yummy, puerh tastes are delivered.  A soft smokiness is detected in this infusion.

The seventh is extended another 10 seconds but remains simple yummy tea.  The nice part here is the nice simple plumb fruit note.  The aftertaste carries this note for a while.

The eighth and ninth infusions become much flatter with a gummy slight fruit and wood note.  A very mild cool fruit aftertaste is apparent.

2006 6FTM Banzhang Organic Raw

I paid $36.20 for this 357g bing ($0.10/gram).  It was also the last in stock at Awazon and is no longer listed.  There seems to be two different wrappers of the 2006 Banzhang Organic, one has a the Chinese organic certification labelclearly displayed on the wrapper like this one still available for purchase atThe Chinese Tea Shop, and another without such labeling that was for sale at Awazon.  I imagine they are different teas.

Dry leaves are of smoky, almost salty, with a suggestion of pungent deep creamy florals.

The first infusion boasts creamy sweet and more fragrant than expected floral tastes with a nice thin creamy mouthfeel.  There is a significant smokiness to this first infusion that coats the mouth if steeped quickly.  A slightly sweet floral creamy coolness is left in the throat.  The profile of this tea is over a light mild base of creamy, sweet, slightly medicinal tastes.  The smokiness dominates this first infusion.

In the second infusion the same flavours become more bold especially the sweet, creamy, medicinal base holding them together.  There is a soft but noticeable bitter astringency to this tea when steeped with more leaf.  The sweet cooling in the throat lasts longer and is more noticeable now.  Even very soft smoky notes linger in the mouth.

In the third infusion the mouthfeel becomes stronger and the taste develops a soft wood base note along with the sweet medicinal note.  The initial taste is of mild creamy sweet florals. Another note that reveals itself is a mushroom taste as well.  This infusion loses a bit to the higher notes as deeper, aged tastes emerge.  The smokiness is still apparent.  The qi of this tea is weak and gives off a quite unnoticeable and very standard mild alertness.

The fourth the light sweet flavours start to fade and the base notes start to take over.  The mushroom taste is now more prominent.  The cooling aftertaste now has more of a light woody suggestion.  The throat feel improves a bit as a glob of saliva is pulled into the throat expanding on simple flavours.

The fifth becomes more monotone in its initial taste- a sweet woody barely mushroom taste.  The cooling returning sweetness is somewhat more enjoyable and more pronounced here.  A smokiness lingers in the aftertaste.

The sixth is pushed harder but still offers very little in the initial taste with still some enjoyable aftertastes to be enjoyed.  A monotone wood taste now gently cloaks the whole profile of this tea when pushed like this.  A faint flat floral and slight melon taste can still barely be grasped.

In the seventh and eighth this tea is a bit tapped out with mainly a monotone dry wood with barely suggestions of melon and floral over a still smoky base.

The ninth, tenth and eleventh holds these tastes nicely.  It is mild but still has some enjoyable flavor.  Long steeps push out much the same.

It is interesting what the name of a tea does to your mind.  It is possible that this tea could have at least some Banzhang or Nannuo material inside.  But if this was a blind sample and someone asked me to guess where this is tea from I would probably never guess the Banzhang area.  Interesting, how the brain works.

Overall, I am happy with these two 6FTM cakes.  These cakes were both the very last cakes at Awazon which is really too bad.  Out of the two, I wouldn’t hesitate at purchasing a few more cakes, maybe even a tong, of the Yesheng for that price.  It really displays a character and feel in what I look for and love in factory puerh.  The Organic Banzhang is too mild with very little depth.  However, it still has something enjoyable in it and I can see why some people have enjoyed this one as a daily drinker for years now.  Overall, I’m not expecting alchemy with these 6FTM cakes just solid everyday drinkers which is fair value for what I paid.

Peace