The “New” Menghai Factory 2007 Recipes Meant for Dry Storage -2007 Menghai 0712, 0752, 0772 Recipes

In 2007 Menghai released a bunch of new recipes and used the Old School numerical system to appropriately number them.  I believe 2007 was the only year these “07” recipes were released.  I remember seeing them in the shops in Korea in 2007/2008 but I don’t think I ever tried them.  Currently, Tuo Cha Tea sells three of these which are still currently available (0712 $36.00 for 357g cake or $0.10/g, 0752$35.00 for 400g cake or $0.09/g , and 0772 for $32.00 for 400g cake or  $0.08/g). Yunnan Sourcing also carries the 0772 for $40.00.

Are you ready to try some Menghai Factory recipes that seem to be totally overlooked?

“0712”

Dry leaves smell of faint distant fruits and deep fresh vegetal notes.

First infusion sends flat, watery, slightly bitter, slightly sour, but nice and creamy fruit notes and dry wood notes into the mouth.  A mild caramel sweetness appears as well.  There is a simple, sharp vegetal feel to the tea- the taste is not long or strong.  A mild cooling appears in the breath with a slightly longan fruit taste.  Overall the taste is nice especially fruit taste which is dominant here and develops nicely over the mouthfeel which makes the tongue tingle.  The qi is strongly alerting.

The second infusion consists of a slightly tart, creamy sweet initial taste, a mild sour middle taste, and a sweet fruit finish.  There are edges of dry wood and sweet fruit in the profile throughout.  The tongue tingles and has a slightly dry and full mouthfeeling and even mild upper throat feeling.  The qi is still too strong on the stomach to drink this tea on a regular basis, it needs a few more years of storage.  This tea has very contained flavours which are not expansive nor complimentary but they are nice and clear and crisp.

The third infusion delivers smoother, less harsh fruit taste.  The initial taste becomes more fruity, if not mildly bitter, and the aftertaste becomes more dry wood now.  There is a nice bright cherry fruit edge to this tea as well as a stronger slight bitter astringency.  The fruit taste becomes long in this infusion with a slight minty coolness.

The fourth offers more in the way of fruitier tastes the bitter and wood tastes now fade a touch allowing for the cherry fruit to be the dominant flavor if steeped lightly.  If steeped more aggressively you will still get a measure of astringent bitter that seems to like to uproot cherry tastes in the profile, either way.  The tastes are simple, singular, and tight.

The fifth has the same but a longer cooler aftertaste now over a mouthfeel of soft and just slightly astringent coating.  The cooling lasts a while on the breath as does a nice cherry powdery taste.  The cherry taste is quite nice here.

The sixth has deeper, almost smokey, woody tastes up front which stretch through the profile of this steeping.  The strong cherry tastes of last infusion more linger in the background now.  The slightly astringent mouthfeel and throatfeel are not too much but root singular flavours firmly in their place.  A returning sweetness is slightly cooling, slighty sweet with a touch of powdery cherry taste.

The seveth becomes more harmonious mx of flavours with dry wood and soft cherry and a general slight woody forest feel now seen for the first time here. 

The eighth and ninth is much the same with a slight coco almost milky slight foresty bitterness that reminds me of Bulang.  The taste profile is very simple.  A cooling sensation is mild on the breath.

The next few infusions don’t hold much more than dry, flat, woody tastes with a barely noticeable cooling aftertaste. 

This tea overall has a standard taste and feel of decent young Menghai Factory puerh.  It still has a great deal of strength in this recipe and needs to age more to be drinkable.  I image this turning out to be a nice standard factory tippy blended tea with another 5 years of dry storage.

"0752"

Dry leaves smell of pungent, deep forest with a slight plum edge.

First infusion is of simple sweet melon tastes, crisp wood that evolves into a deeper cane sugar sweetness and metallic taste.  There is a subtle sour taste throughtout in this first infusion.  There is also a very faint smoke which adds a nice element to the taste.  The aftertaste is slightly cooling, and again clear and almost metallic and apple sweetness.  This first infusion is quite flavourful and has a nuanced layering of different flavours. 

The second infusion is a clear almost absent initial taste that has that same simple sweet onset.  There is flat metallic, dry wood, taste that evolves into a sweet green bean taste in the aftertaste along with a very mild coolness.  There are mild flashes of different faint fruit tastes as well.  Overall, the taste is very clear, pure, but a little lacking.  Some sessions I’ve had turn into a dirty turbid taste here where others do not.  The mouthfeel is quite weak and this is probably why.

The third has a flat single barely wood note than immediately interfaces to a sweet metallic cherry note which fades fast in the mouth.  The mouthfeel becomes just slightly sticky here.  The aftertaste is short and tastes of cherry fruit.  The qi is a very standard alertness.  There is definitely some qi that lingers in the chest opening it slightly.

The fourth has a medicinal onset turning into slight dry wood and then into a barely sweet aftertaste.  There are notes of beans and very mild cherry- more of a choke cherry finish.  The mouthfeel is weak but getting stronger, and is mainly dry and mostly covering the front of the tongue.  There is a very faint, lingering bubble gum and rubbery sweetness that lingers minutes later.

The fifth infusion has a medicinal wood start but the sweet rubbery bubble gum sweetness now lingers throughout the profile.  This note is really not very sweet but noticeable.  The taste profile of this tea is narrow but clear.  The body and mind feel slightly spacy on this tea but the feeling is good… a good spacy qi feeling.

The sixth infusion delivers a metallic sweet profile throughout over a barely medicinal and crisp newly chopped wood taste.  The sweetness swells slightly into a cherry taste in the aftertaste.

The seventh has a tight metallic, sweet, dry woody and slight medicinal taste.  There is still a slight cooling in the breath and slight edge of bubble gum sweetness.

The eighth loses a bit of the sweet flavors, metallic flavours, and medicinal flavours and is more of a thin woody taste with a slight cherry and cooling aftertaste.

The ninth becomes smoother and more round with slightly creamier malty fruit cherry tastes over a thin wood and bean base.  The initial taste is more full in the mouth here and the tastes mingle together much better now.

The tenth starts with sweet clean clear cherry note which lingers throughout the profile.  The taste is light, clear, crisp, and slightly sweet.  This tea is enjoyable and takes a while to get going.  The mouthfeel is now much fuller and leaves a slightly dry and slightly sticky coating on the tongue and even upper throat.  A gummy, rubbery cherry sweetness is left on the breath minutes later.

The eleventh is much the same, quite enjoyable here still a slight coolness in throat.  The sweet taste is now like an icing sugar sweetness with a nice bean and wood barely noticeable base taste.

The twelfth is much the same still quite vibrant, tasty and sweet.  The mouthfeel and throatfeel is a really slow buildup for this tea but now feels nice as flavours layer over top.

The thirteenth still has a long icing sugar and cherry sweetness over wood and slight metallic and flat wood tastes.

The tea is consumed like this for a few more sessions retaining a mild sweet cherry taste.

This tea’s taste is good but overall to muted and weak with still a predominant bitterness apparent.  My wife happen to try some of this tea and exclaims, “This tea is NOT good.”  When this tea is brewed in our large Yixing pot it pours too slowly and pulls too much bitter and dry wood out of the leaves.  Flash infusions from a small teapot deliver more enjoyable tastes. 

It seems like it should be good but its profile is really just too thin to do anything super interesting.  What is best about this tea is the later steeps.

"0772"

The dry leaves smell of distant forest- slight sweet and dry grassy crispness.

The first infusion delivers brisk clean fresh pine/ wood notes along with a slight edge of plums.  The taste is really clean and simple fresh wood and plums in a thin but lightly and airy mouthfeel.  The clean fruit taste strings out faintly on the breath.

The second is much the same with clean tight notes of slight wood to start then it now evolves in to a much longer and defined cherry/ plum taste with just an edge of cool sweetness.  I am already surprised by this puerh- its good.  Its sweetness is fairly strong here and feels like it sticks to the teeth and sides of the mouth.  The qi is clean and offers a clean head feeling, alerting but not overly so.

The third infusion is much the same very clean, crisp, clear, long, simple profile.  There is a certain completeness about this tea that I really like.  It starts with slight wood then is whisked away by long slightly cooling cherry fruits.  The mouthfeel feel is full, thin but has a light airy, satisfying stimulation.  It seems to softly open the upper and even mid throat.  A sweet almost tart cherry is left in the mouth minutes later.

The fourth infusion has a more of a creamier taste trying to attach itself to the long sweet profile of this tea.  The aftertaste becomes a bit rubbery even metallic tasting.  This infusion is a long line of clean cherry tastes.

In the fifth infusion the light, fresh, newly chopped wood taste shares equal space with the sweetness which becomes less vibrant here but just as long.  The rubbery and metallic taste remains in the mouth.  The tea’s qi brings a nice clean clarity to the mind, it seems to effect the body much less.

The sixth infusion is a nice, simple slight woody and watery slight fruit taste.  Traces of cherry fruit linger on the breath.

The seventh gets a bit woodier with a crisp clean cherry finish.  What this tea lacks in depth it makes up for in its simple and clean taste.  The fruity finish starts to kick up tropical fruit tastes on the breath here adding a bit more complexity to the finish.

The eighth gets more woody and flat in the initial taste where the aftertaste continues to offer nice clean sweet taste and slightly cooling aftertaste.

The ninth and tenth and eleventh have a nice long sweet and now even flowery sweet taste.  It taste like green grapes, a nice flavor nuance.  The wood taste is almost non-existent here so long sweet tastes rule. 

The 07 series recipes seem to be designed especially for dry storage and seem to thrive in those conditions.  They all have a clean newly chopped woody feel and crisp cherry fruit taste profile to them.  They all have a similar mouthfeel, taste profile and even Qi feeling.  These tastes remind me of the dry stored mainly 7542 recipes of the 90s that I tried 10-15 years later if you were to completely drop off the deeper base flavor, thin out the mouthfeel, and string out the high fruit note...  Hahahaha… maybe that’s too much of a stretch.  Although these recipes are way simpler in taste, they all have that resemblance.

Out of the three 07 recipes I seem to be drinking the 0712 the most but don’t intend to re-order any of these.

Peace

2008 Menghai 7582 (802) and 2008 Menghai 8582 (806) Are Meant for Humid Storage

I used to drink a lot of these recipes in Korea.  Most of the ones I drank were stored under a humid Taiwanese storage then dried out a bit in Korean storage.  Most were from the 1990s and around 10-20 old.  I don’t ever remember tasting one that was completely stored in Korea.  My memory of these are earthy, dirt tasting, with a cool finish, these are both deep tasting teas, least in my memory.

I picked up both of these sample cakes in a recent order from Tuo Cha Tea ( 7582 357g for $26.00 $0.07/g 8582 357g for $19.80 or $0.06/gram )

Let’s dig into the 7582 (802) first….

The first presents with a sour, almost smoky wood taste.  It is a simple taste with a faint aftertaste transforming into barely coolness in the mouth.  The deeper lingering woody character is throughout.

The second infusion is less sour and has a more woody, barely sweet muted faint cherry fruit taste.  The woody profile is apparent throughout.  The mouthfeel is a slightly chalky and slightly dry on the tongue.

The third and fourth infusions have more of a deep woody creamy initial sweetness with edges of something fruity.  The woody taste is predominant.  It finishes into a creamy slightly cooling sweetness in the mouth and breath with pops of cherry and dates in the deeper profile.  In these infusions things come together nicely and show some glimpses of Classic Menghai Factory.  A sweet deep creamy woody taste is left in the aftertaste minutes later.  The Qi is nice softly alerting Qi. 

The fifth and sixth infusion are a bit more woody and less sweet.  The deeper woody body of this tea is now continuous throughout with a small wave of sweetness rippling through the initial taste.  My body can feel the mild effects of spraying by a slight itch felt on the surface of the skin.  There is a gummy, woody, almost rubbery sweetness that appears minutes later in the aftertaste.

The seventh and eighth mellow out considerably and start to fall into a standard steeped out taste of mild tastes of initial wood with slight edge of cherry fruit then woody dry rubbery sweet barely sweet and cooling aftertaste.

To me, this is very typical or standard puerh taste but these tastes are less full and vibrant than I remember in older 10 years aged 7582- too dry.  The storage of 7582 that I remember back in the day used to be more humidly stored probably from Taiwan then brought to Korea for some time in mildly humid storage.  If you order from Tuo Cha Tea expect quite dry and clean Kunming storage unfortunately this kind of tea will do much better in much more humid conditions.

I steep this one out for a handful more times as this typical puerh taste holds for quite some time.

Due to this tea’s cheap price it could totally be considered if you are looking for a super cheap/ mindless factory production.  A  bit of advice for this one would be to try to add a considerable amount of humidity to it for a few years before drinking it up- this is what I intend to do.

 8582 (806)

Okay let’s switch gears to the 8582…

The dry leaf smells of forested west coast woods.

The first infusion starts off with deep, creamier, throatier wood and slight brown sugar tastes then it hits on a weird sour note which disappears into the aftertaste of flat, almost briny wood tastes.

The second infusion has a dry woody, almost maple syrupy edge that slowly transforms in to a dry, flat woody brown sugary finish.  The initial off notes have disappeared leaving this deeper forest woody profile.

The third infusion tastes much the same with a more coherent and cohesive feel with brown sugar sweetness coming first then into a dry almost date like wood taste then on to the sweet brown suragy aftertaste.  The profile is full but not complex and lacks any off tastes.  It has a deeper autumn foresty feel to it.  This tea is giving me an unusual qi sensation of a stuffy and almost dizzy head feeling.  I take a break from this tea for a short time.

The third infusion is much the same again the taste seems to get more harmonious and have more of a flow but it is still the same initial woody brown surgar/ almost maple sugar sweetness initially then to a date and deep woody autumn leafy taste then the brown sugar again.  The mouthfeel of this tea is thin-medium but has nice coverage in the mouth.

The fourth infusion starts developing a medicinal taste to it which now takes the place of the wood foresty notes there are some barely sweet edges to it but it is primarily that herby Traditional Chinese Medicine taste.

The fifth and sixth is the same woody forest and medicinal tastes.  In these infusions the woody forest autumn leafy tastes and medicinal tastes share the space with the sweeter notes becoming muted in these new flavours.

The seventh and eighth has cinnamon and spicy notes lingering faintly in sweetness.  The woody foresty autumn leafy taste remains dominant.  Different but similar deep foresty notes are pushed out of this one for a handful more infusions.

Overall, this 8582, has a very similar feel to the ones I drank in Korea.  Out of all the Menghai recipes, the 8582 was maybe the one I drank most (that and 7542).  Again the storage was different in Korea and made for a deeper, richer, dirt tasting puerh but overall there is a lot of similarities here.  Out of all the Menghai cakes I tried recently this recipe seems the steadiest over the years despite storage differences.

Of the 7584 and 8582 I much prefer the profile of the 8582 and feel that it’s just a cleaner cake overall.  Both of these guys have some evidence of spraying and both could benefit from more humid storage so I will put these two in humid storage along with the 2008 Menghai “Nu Er Gong Bing”.  I hope to touch base with how these are doing years from now.

Overall, I feel like these are not worth really worth it but the price is so cheap that if your expectations are low enough you will find these to be a deal so really it depends on how you look at it.  For me, I won’t be ordering more simply because I have not really gone back for more since sampling these a month or so ago.  I really didn’t like the way they made me feel.  It goes without saying that “they don’t make em’ like they used to.”

Peace

Why This Tea Will Sell Out First: 2017 White2Tea (Yiwu) “Pussy”

Hi Paul,

After all the hype I have heard about White2Tea I am very excited about
my first order of your tea!

Thanks for presenting such a unique and refreshing perspective on puerh.
I think I am not only speaking for myself, but for many others who love
puerh, when I say how much this means to us.

Peace

Matt (MattCha's Blog)

So I have managed to both break my promise of never owning aheinous xiao bing and avoiding a probably overpriced 2017 puerh season purchase all in one order… Darn.  On the other hand, I have managed to put an order through to White2Tea, a controversial and ingeniously marketed vendor that has a big following and that I had completely missed during my many years absence from puerh.  I said that I was going to test the waters with this ultra-popular vendor to see what they are made of this year and here I am doing just that….

I think I’m a rather impulsive puerh buyer.  Years ago in South Korea I would sit at many tea tables and decide days, weeks, or even months later if I was going to purchase a $20.00 cake only after I really knew the tea.  Online is a totally different purchasing experience.  I mentioned before that I like to buy whole cakes as samples for a variety of different reasons.  But that seems quite unattainable considering the increasingly high 2017 price of puerh that seems to be especially high forWhite2Tea’s offerings and just the volume of cakes would cost a lot of money.  Besides puerh related funds are dwindling after big purchases this year and I keep telling myself that I am trying to spend on semi-aged puerh only.

So acquiring some samples seems like the logical thing to do but I simply can’t stomach paying multiple hundreds of dollars for samples - really I just want someone who knows a lot about tea to tell me which are best and I will buy the cake.  Today, I guess, for you, that person is me.

When White2Tea released their descriptions on their site I was drawn to 2-3 cakes that might meet my tastes based solely on Paul’s one sentence descriptions.  Mainly, I am looking for a thick and fragrant Yiwu to replenish my stash which currently only has a handful of Yiwu left.  The description of 2017 Pussy seemed to best match what I was looking for so immediately I honed in on this cake.

[It was at this point that I discovered another reason Paul no longer includes any relevant info on his puerh, he did this to make people shell out a lot of money on sampling. If people have no idea what teas they are buying they will be more likely to sample many teas.  This is the same reason why Paul will probably always discontinue a cake after a year or so regardless of popularity- so the buyer is left to sample again and not rely on what they already know to be true.  This is not only a slick marketing strategy but also another mechanism by which he encourages hiscustomers to question the construct of “Truth” when it comes to puerh.]

Then something happened that you just know is the beginning of something big.   I’ve seen it all happen before- reviews that have something of an awe inspired feel to them when describing a cake.  These reviews started to roll out for Pussy (here and here).  A brilliantly planned “free shipping” promotion was enough for me to throw 600g (3 x $89.90, 200g demasculinizing xiao beings, $0.42/g) into my cart and check out.  Why 3?  It’s the closest to my single 500g cakes I prefer (this is how I justified purchasing the xiao bings) and besides it might be just enough to dissuade me from buying more if I really do like it.

Okay… enough … let’s get down to business and mediate with this one…

Opening the ziplock which contains the cake overwhelms the senses with strong deep inhuman perfume-like sweet fruit notes.

The first infusion delivers a sweet hay-like initial taste followed by a blast of cotton candy sweetness.  There are already some suggestions of wood or hay underneath.  A long, slow to expand aftertaste takes hold which glows of fruit taste.

The second infusion kicks a straw like sweetness into your mouth.  The sweet flvour expands and unravels slowly to reveal a layering of wood taste as well as cotton candy sweetness which now develops a creamy edge with deeper sweet tastes lingering the background. The sweetness appears in the aftertaste and stretches on.  The mouthfeel here is quite full with a slightly sticky full tongue feel even into the mid throat.

The third infusion delivers very sweet, hay like sweetness which now is strung along a base taste of hay and slight cereal tastes.  The mouthfeel is full and develops a nice sandy texture over the tongue and cheeks.  The aftertaste is a layered part sweet, mildly cool, with a slight sweet hay in there as well.  The qi here is now starting to show some suggestions of a nice body effect as my body feels relaxed and calm.

The fourth infusion the sweetness is now like the sweetness you would get from grains.  The tea has a beautiful way of gaining momentum in the mouth and slowly expands into a long slight grainy, slight cotton candy, slight fruity sweetness all the while being supported underneath by hay like flavours which give a supportive depth and feel.  The qi is felt heavy in the chest.

The fifth starts off with a hay-like cereal sweetness that slowly expands from here to a fruity sweetness over dry wood then to a sweeter cotton candy like sweetness.  In the breath minutes later you can feel a melon, even topical fruit, sweet taste underneath.  This tea is sweet but always seems to have enough depth to hold it down.

The sixth infusion develops a malty almost edges a ghostly medicinal note.  A stronger woody profile is noticeable throughout and the initial body of this tea is now more woody and slight hay/cereal notes rather than sweetness.  The sweet taste lingers throughout.

The seventh infusion a slight cotton candy sweetness reappears briefly before fading into a more woody profile.  The aftertaste slowly builds on itself with crests of grain, hay, wood.  The sweet and slowly morphing taste of this tea makes it an interesting one.  This infusion is much more of that initial cotton candy sweetness even late on the breath.

The eighth has more of this barely medicinal sweetness initially, with the wood base now being secondary to the sweetness in the last few infusions.  The mind is so calm.  This tea has lots of taste and does a lot of things in its long evolving flavor.  The mouthfeel remains a solid soft grainy feel and throat feels even slightly grainy as well with the top throat open.

The ninth infusion starts to water down initially with lots coming out in the mid profile including hay, grains, dry wood, the sweetness is not going away anytime soon.  These flavors prance around then lend itself to a mild coating of cotton candy then melon, then hay, then some other sweet taste.  This tea is really gentle with very very little bitter or astringency and feels relatively harmonious to drink this fresh as opposed to age for those that like that sort of thing.

The tenth is more watery to start then a nice slow to expand middle taste of sweetness and base flavours before a long aftertaste takes hold.  The aftertaste is interesting in that it has not that much coolness but soft deeper flavours of wood and hay as well as fruit.

The eleventh and twelfth infusions develop a different initial taste like a woody type taste which swells in the mid-profile where expansive sweet tastes start to take off.

The thirtieth and fourteenth start with a juicy onset go to a more sweet middle with a creamy and expanding aftertaste.  The woody deeper tastes seem to be more in the aftertaste here as the taste profile is slow to expand.

The fifteenth I push it a bit harder a giving it more time than a flash infusion here and get nice round melon taste and hay in the initial taste here.  The taste here remains full and complex even in these later infusions.

The sixteenth and seventh have a faint sweet start which jumps to wood taste.  Steeped longer here the throat becomes more astringent and the taste seems to linger there more which is of layered sweetness especially of green grapes.  These infusion has a nice green grapes and hay taste that really is a great combination.  There is still a lingering cotton candy taste to it as well.

Eightieth and ninetieth start to fade into a flat wood taste but the aftertaste remains vibrant and active with a longer and stronger cooling and melon sweetness if you stretch the steeping times out.

The twentieth is enjoyed by daughter and wife- they both grab a small ceramic cup and enjoy the nice light flavor that is left lingering after crawling out of bed on this lazy Sunday morning.
 

Overall, this tea has lots of stamina, a long and evolving taste profile, and enough depth that you could probably steep it out for a long time… so I will.

This tea as I predict will sell out first because it is very good, has the catchiest name, is very easy on the system, is ready to drink immediately and is mid-priced for White2Tea’s 2017s.  This first sampling of White2Tea totally checks out- the tea is great!  But no matter how good it is I just can’t justify the price tag.  I keep trying to logically justify buying more than the 600g I own but I just can’t do it.

As for the name “Pussy”, I took the high road and left the way too easy innuendo out of this post (which was very very difficult to do, trust me).  I think the name "Pussy" is a reference to the soft nature of this cake opposite to being as "Tough (Tuhao) as F***".  The name, it’s a bit sexist don’t you think?  You don’t hear of a cake called “Cock” with a man wearing a fedora holding a few rosters under his arm… I guess that’s for Paul’s 2018 wrapper of this exact same maocha.

Peace

Edit June 3, 2019: I pulled this cake out of three cakes Saran wrapped together and then Ziplocked storage and had a great session of this today.  Its tastes are deeper and it pours a brown color.  It still has much stamina in it and a certain strength to it.  The thickness in the mouth is better than I remember a few years ago.  The fruit sweet tastes are  becoming a bit deeper and richer but there are still much high notes in here as well.  I hope to continue to age it this dry sealed fashion as things 2 years in look great.  I added a bit of steam to the bag before sealing it up.  I am happy I bought these cakes and wonder how the 2018 white2tea Pussy would compare?  I am also surprised that none of the 2017 regular run white2tea raw puerh line has sold out yet.

Peace

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