The Familiar and Unfamiliar- 2005 Long Yuan Hao Bulang and 2005 Long Yuan Hao Gelanghe

The Bulang is no longer pictured on the website but had a near identical wrapper to the Gelanghe (below) with the only major difference is the area name and color of the wrapper was a blue/green color, I believe.  Actually, I did not receive a cake of the Bulang instead I cleared out their last four large and intact 90g samples (360g in total for $27.96 or $0.08/gram).  2005 puerh with this price tag is seriously cheap!

Please, sit down and join me in drinking this 2005 Long Yuan Hao Bulang…

The leaves smell of lingering cherry fruits.

The first infusion starts with nice cinnamon and slightly pungent note which has a soft creamy, barely cooling aftertaste.   There is a slightly lingering astringency underneath and rounds out the taste.  The monthfeel and thoatfeel is fairly full chalky and smooth.

The second infusion is full of pungent, sweet creamy cherry and notes up front which transition to creamy full sweet aftertaste.  There is a just a noticeable cooling through the profile with the creamy sweetness in the aftertaste.  Underneath the taste there is just barely a lingering resemblance of aged Bulangesque bitterness that very faintly skirts around.

The third infusion has more of that slightly edgy slight fullness over a balance of creamy sweetness and slight strongish taste.  The cherry fruit note is distinct here.  It has a nice opening mouthfeel full of sweet creamy fruits and starts to finish a bit milky-creamy tasting as well. 

The fourth is much the same very long fruity finish now. There is some bitterness to this tea but it is more of a full flavor than a true bitterness.  This is how bitterness should evolve from a fresh newly pressed puerh to an 11 year aged purh.  It is more of a bitter fullness than an intolerable bitter taste.  There is a rubbery feeling left in the mouth.

The fifth and infusion has much less complexity.  Things really fall off and thin out here.  There are still some bright berry tastes to enjoy but they are less vibrant.

The sixth becomes much more of that astringent, barely milky-creamy, bitterness with just slight suggestions of sweetness and even fainter cooling aftertastes.

Any infusion beyond six is just pushing barely milky bitter tastes along.

This Bulang has very classic Bulang tastes but sadly no stamina.  Nevertheless, it is a great daily drinker and a real deal for the price.  More importantly it has reminded me how much I love the Bulang profile.  I have a few Bulang cakes from the 90s that I managed to not drink through that I now have quite an appetite for.  This puerh has also sparked some interest in my next puerh mission- to find good semi-aged Bulang tea.  Any suggestions?

Up next….

A google search for Gelanghe puerh only gets one English hit- a 2003 Six Famous Mountains cake on the Half-Dipper.  This is really a mysterious or forgotten Menghai region.  I paid just $35.50 forthe last 400g cake at Awazon in my second order from them ($0.09/gram).

The dry leaves smell of sweet aged dates.

The first infusion is very watery with a strong sweet sugar cane taste that slowly evolves into soft date tastes.  The mouthfeel is soft and slightly chalky.  The aftertaste is mild with a sweet melon taste slowly evolving minutes later.

The second infusion starts sweet again but has a slight counterbalance of very mild sour and slighty bitter notes that are barely noticeable.  The juicy sweet taste evolves in the mouth and from more sugar to honey to melon fruit.  The mouthfeel remains a touch chalky in the mouth and tongue.  A mild floral coolness faintly skirts the tongue and lingers in the breath.

The third infusion has nice full juicy sweet notes melded with slight bitter.  The mouthfeel is full and chalky the groundwork where the sweet honey taste evolves into floral.  There is a mild coolness on the breath along with a juicy melon finish.  There are interesting minty tastes in this infusion as well.

The fourth infusion is more woody now with suggestions of sweet sugar evolving to melon tastes under the wood notes.  The aftertaste is also woody with a slight cooling mint and cardamom suggestion.

The fifth infusion has a balance of juicy sweet and woody notes with a nice evolving melon taste.  The aftertaste has a nice long cooling almost minty sweetness.  There is some interesting faint suggestions of moss, wood, and even spices in this tea that are more apparent in some infusions over others.  A melon cooling sweetness is left on the breath minutes later.  The qi of this tea is quite mild and has a nice soft sensation in the body and mind.

The sixth infusion presents with a woody and almost spicy taste with the sweetness mainly pushed to the aftertaste as a slow to evolve sweet melon and mild coolness wash over the mouth and breath.

The seventh infusion there is more of a flater, juicier taste than wood but still quite a balance.  The sweet tastes evolve nicely into a juicy melon taste with long cool aftertaste.  The mouthfeel stays chalky and even a bit viscus but not drying.  The throat doesn’t open up to much with this tea.  A sour cherry taste is found on the breath minutes later.

The eighth infusion continues to be more sweet and starts with a nice melon notes over faint wood.  The tastes evolve into something juicier, slightly floral and cool in the breath.  Even minutes later there in a nice fruity taste on the breath.

The ninth infusion has similar profile and is still quite full of nice long sweet flavors.

The tenth starts to lose its tastes but still retains nice juicy fruity notes in slight wood and a long cooling fruity aftertaste.

This tea is steeped into eleven, twelve, thirteen, infusions still yielding quite flavourful and fullish tea with long cooling aftertaste.

This tea has a good taste and excellent stamina and has some decent complexity to it especially for the price.  Overall I’m quite happy with it for its price and age.  If there was more for sale for that price, I would not hesitate to buy a tong of it.  It feels like it could be consumed now or aged a bit longer.

I am also left wondering why there are not more Gelanghe cakes being pressed out there?  With just two reviews on the internet being both favorable for Gelanghe both pre 2006, I wonder why the modern trend for small pressings have passed Gelanghe?  I hope to try to find more Gelanghe puerh in the future.  Maybe one of the Westren producers will read this and press something in the years to come?

Overall, I quite enjoyed both the 2005 Bulang and Gelanghe from Dadugang Long Yuan Hao tea factory.  I have been drinking them on and off.  I hope to age them further but don’t know how long they will last the way I’m drinking them.  If anything they confirm that at least the older puerh of a budget company like Long Yuan Hao should at least be given a chance.

Peace

Introducing the concept of “Evil Qi” and Spotting Heavily and Lightly Sprayed Agrochemicals in 2004 Long Yuan Hao Bama and 2006 Long Yuan Hao “Banna Impression” Brick

I have to say, I was hopeful with this 2004 Bama that I purchased for $35.50 for a 380g cake ($0.09/ gram) in my second order from Awazon.  I have one Bama cake  and its one of my favorites.  Unfortunately there is only about 150g remaining.  I think most puerh drinkers have no idea where Bama is.  Have you ever heard of Bama?  Bet you don’t know where it is.

It’s a small town between Nannou and Menghai.  It is often classified as Nannou because it shares some broad similarities in profile. My logic was this… This cake was simply overlooked because of poor name recognition and was still a good but overlooked cake… what are the odds?

When opening the cake there were two telltale signs of a suspicious puerh cake.  First the Neifi was loose and second there was an unusual sprinkling of a few white buds on the top layer of the bing.  Not good.  I have never known a cake to be of any quality with either one, never mind both, of these indicators.  Another abnormality is that this is a 380g cake- never herd of that one before.

Dry leaves smell of faint fruits- cherry and pear.  Not bad so far…

First infusion presents with cereal and beef jerky-like tastes which transition quickly to mint which disappears quickly into a dry muddy floral fruit sent on the breath.  The taste left in the mouth is a bit metallic and flat tasting.  The mouthfeel is thin, somewhat dry and has a sharp, thin, barely chalky feel at the back of the tongue and into the throat.

The second presents with a long cool taste the trails through the not-so-pleasant profile of this tea.    There are still that beef jerky-like taste mixed with grains but it is quite muted now.  A flat, dry wood taste is more apparent in this infusion.  This infusions’ most obvious flavours are nice sweet, perfume-like sweet cherries in deep floral tastes.  The mouthfeel thickens and becomes less dry and more dense now which holds the long minty note and deep sweet fruity florals.

The third infusion is more astringent and drier than the second.  The dry mouthfeel carries cool tastes and sweet berry florals over a dry wood base.  The beef jerky and cereal tastes are gone now.  There is an uncomfortable dry astringency that is left in the mouth.

My body doesn’t like this tea.  It has gotten to a point from drinking lots of puerh over the years that if I’m drinking puerh tea that is heavily sprayed it will usually react with symptoms such as a feeling that isn’t right in the stomach like a certain tightness, allergy-like runny nose, uncontrollable sneezing and itchiness usually in the legs.  It is definitely doing this now with this tea.  I can be certain that this one had its fair share of chemicals thrown at it because these symptoms are quite strong.

I am unsure whether I am just reacting to one chemical or one family of chemicals or just a certain combination of chemicals or a certain threshold of a chemical or chemicals.  What I do know is that I do react to something and sometimes its almost unnoticeable where other times it causes an extreme reaction.  Most often the reaction is to plantation puerh but not always.  Alternatively, some plantation teas that I'm pretty sure are sprayed I will never react to. This reaction developed a few years ago and it only really occurs for about 1/5 of the teas I try.  But it is a very convenient superpower to have!

In Traditional Chinese Medicine this type of influence is called “Evil Qi” or “Li Qi”.  Evil Qi is a type of pathogenic energy that doesn’t come from a natural source or change of season but comes from an unusual external exposure.  And, well, the name says it all, it has a negative influence on the body.  Agrochemicals fit the bill of containing Evil Qi if exposure to them creates a feeling of disharmony and illness.

Just because a puerh is strong or harsh doesn't mean it contains Evil Qi because this strength could very well be the natural Qi of the tea.  There is a difference between an uncomfortable Cha Qi and Evil Qi and this should not be confused. 

Okay... so reluctantly I go back to this tea a steep up the fourth which is mainly dominated by a dry wood profile and dry mouthfeel.  There are still some faint florals and fruits but they are overcome now mainly by an unpleasantly dry woody profile.

The fifth infusion is much of the same monotone tastes.

No need to put myself through any further, I stop the session here.

Even 4 hours later my stomach can still feel the effects and my left Kidney feels unwell.  Overall I have a feeling of disharmony and feel not as good.

This 2004 Bama has lots of Evil Qi in it for sure.

2006 Long Yuan Yao “Bana Impression” 250g Brick

I picked up a brick of this puerh also in my second order from Awazon for $14.50 ($0.06/gram).

The dry leaves of this likely factory blended Xishuangbanna brick smell of somewhat intense sweet vibrant cherry fruits.

The first infusion presents with nice sweet tobacco wood and hay notes in a creamy sweet mouthfeel.  There is a nice mild creamy-sweet cooling aftertaste.  There is a nice creamy sweet richness that supports this tea though the taste profile but over the taste is a woody hay taste with just a slight bitter edge.  Sweet cherry fruits show up on the breath minutes later.

The second infusion brings smooth creamy sweet tastes with a vegetal sweat wood base.  The sweet cherry tastes are clearer in this infusion.  Overall the mouthfeel is decent and has a soft fluffy, chalky sensation that covers most of the mouth.  The woody hay notes comprise the base of this tea.

Unfortunately, I have some symptoms of a mild-medium sprayed puerh.  My legs starting feeling slightly itchy and my nose starts to run.

The third infusion has many more of these nice sweet round creamy woody notes.  There is a bit of a bread-yeast taste as well as vegetal taste that lingers at the base profile of this tea which later transvers to sweet cherry fruit on the breath.

The fourth infusion has a strong cool sweet aftertaste.  The tastes that precede it are creamy wood tastes, vegetal tastes, and fruits.  The mouthfeel develops a certain chalkiness to hold in the tastes.

The fifth offers much the same with more tobacco notes coming out now as well as more woody-vegetal notes.  The deeper notes start to emerge more in this infusion.

The sixth offers sweet fruit tastes in a slightly juicy, watery soup.  Faint wood notes are apparent but sweet fruits dominate now.  The rounded mouthfeel holds these tastes nicely.

The seventh infusion becomes more watery but still maintains lots of strength with a long muted menthol sweetness.  The cha qi of this tea is nothing too special- a very common feeling of robust alertness and vitality which I expect from a tea.  There is a bit of stuffiness in the head.

The eighth holds much the same the ninth and tenth fade considerably.

There is Cha Qi and then there is Evil Qi.  The 2004 Bama definitely has enough Evil Qi that it overwhelms the Cha Qi in the body.  The 2006 Banna Impression has enough Evil Qi to convince me to avoid drinking this tea.  I actually think the puerh brick is reasonably enjoyable for the price but it has just enough Evil Qi that I can’t ever seeing myself drink it anytime soon.  I place both of these teas into quarantine destine for the garbage dump sooner or later.  Evil Qi can’t be ignored, aged out, nor can it be valued.

Peace

A Strategy of Buying Up Old Forgotten Samples and 2006 Long Yuan Hao “Gold Medal” Cake

Buying up old forgotten samples is a trick that I read in the comment section of a tea blog many years ago (Hobbes’ Half-Dipper, I think).  A commenter noted that you could still buy up a bunch of HouDe tea samples long after the cake is gone.  Very cleaver. 

Sometimes the cakes are sold out a long time ago but the vendor is left with a bunch of weighed and bagged tea samples.  Most people either sample for education or, more often, sample to see if they will purchase a full cake.  So it is reasonable, that some samples might be lingering around for longer than they should. 

 But I think this situation of buying up all the remaining samples only really works in your favor if a few conditions are met…

The vendor sells the samples for the same cost per gram as the full cake.  Most vendors sell samples for a much higher cost per gram than the full cake.  So if you are buying up a bunch of old forgotten samples you have to make sure that the price per gram is low- preferably the same price per gram as the full cake. 

The price of the puerh is now worth multiples more than when it was first sold.  If the samples are old there may be situations where they might still be worth it even if they cost more.  For instance, if the cake is now worth multiples more than what it was first sold as and the price of the sample was not increased, this would totally be worth it.

The samples are either removed from the cake after being ordered or are larger samples.  The theory goes that puerh ages better in contact with more puerh and not as good, say in small 15g samples bags.  So you are better off with lager samples or even vendors which remove them off the bing when ordered.

You are buying to consume immediately rather than age for the long term or resell.  Although aging samples is possible, it isn’t recommended for the reasons above.  You could think of a bunch of samples as Maocha or a mini bing – not the same as aging a full cake or brick.

This puerh was one of two sample buy outs that I made in my second order from Awazon and they met all the conditions above so they both ended up being excellent tea for what I paid.  Awazon sells its samples for the same price per gram as the actual cake and the samples are 90g or 100g (approx ¼ of a cake or the size of a mini-bing these days).  I ended up paying $4.50 for 100g of this tea and I purchased the last two large intact 100g samples ($0.05/gram)- the full cake was long sold out.

My second order from Awazon consisted of five cakes or sample lots with an age range of 2004-2006 from Long Yuan Hao, a puerh factory out of the Dadugang area of Xishuangbanna.  This factory has been around for a long time and I have little memory of ever trying them so this order was a little bit of an exploration of this cheap and often overlooked puerh factory as well.  Awazon as well as another vendor, Green Tea Shop, sells lots of LongYuan Hao- it is terribly inexpensive tea.

I remembered a favorable review of this blended puerh fromway back when from Brett of Black Dragon Tea Bar.  He is doing an aging experiment on this one, so it is interesting to compare notes on his Seattle storage to how this puerh has fared in Awazon’s dry Kunming storage.

The large leaves have a slight fruity fragrance and easily peel away from the large sample chunk.

The first infusion presents with a malty, rich, smooth creamy cherry fruit and jujube sweetness that dominates this first infusion while nicely coating the tongue.  There is a less noticeable aged vegetal note and a baked pumpkin taste underneath.  A nice clear floral and date aftertaste is left on the breath.

The second infusion gives off a clear, if not slightly watery, rich, sweet camphor and slight aged vegetal note.  It has a mild cool finish in the throat and an after taste of subtle sweet berries and floral notes.  This puerh is filled with diverse high notes in a light airy base.  The mouthfeel has medium to mild

The third delivers creamy medicinal-menthol wood notes with subtle sweet berries in the aftertaste.  There is a mild returning coolness in the aftertaste along with florals, surgar cane, and fruit.  The Qi of this tea is happy in some dimension I can’t explain.  It makes the mind happy and care free.  The effect in the body is mild.

The fourth gives of a fruity light initial taste that develops more into camphor wood and finishes with a round cooling taste over camphor wood, slight florals and cherry fruit tastes.

The fifth is much the same notes as above.  This infusion develops a mild cinnamon and clove note and seems overall deeper than previous infusions.  The woody taste is dominant with malty fruity sweetness underneath now.  A deeper date taste is the dominating lighter note now.

The sixth infusion is mellowing out and strings together soft woody, slight cinnamon, notes finishing with a sweet cinnamon taste, slightly floral and barely cooling in the throat.

The seventh has a sweet tropical fruit taste which transitions quickly to mellow, flat wood then to cinnamon on flat wood.

The eighth is much the same but flatter still.  I like the long sweet cinnamon aftertaste here which lingers long in the mouth.

This simple, long sweet cinnamon taste is enjoyed for a few more infusions before these leaves are put to rest.

Overall, this is an enjoyable, mild but flavorful puerh considering the price.  It is very drinkable and enjoyable.  Overall, I am happy with this simple and yummy everyday drinker.  I think I have drank up almost half over the Summer which is a testament to its fruity charms.

Peace