Wednesday, March 22, 2006

2000 Cooked Puerh Brick


This 2000 cooked pu-erh brick is a product from the Fu Hai Tea Factory. The leaves are grade 1, 2 and 3.
Brewed in a gaiwan, it is already very round and mellow with earth aromas. There is only a slight astringency. The fragrance is simple, almost unremarkable. It just melts on your tongue like I expect cooked puerh to do. Brewed in my duanni teapot, the resulting sweetness was even more impressive. The tea almost had the body of an old red wine.

Compared to my other 2000 cooked puerh brick from the CNNP (grade 5), the difference in tea leaves grade is quite obvious. The Fu Hai leaves are smaller and clearer. The brew is therefore finer and smoother. On the plus side for the CNNP, it's a stronger and more complex tea. They have two different characters. Also, both have deep, heavy smells, which is what cooked puerh should smell like. These smells remind of earth, not of a wet cave or dry straw, which would be bad smells for cooked puerh.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bonjour Stéphane,

J’ai reçu la semaine dernière dans mon colis ma théière en Duanni 10 cl et, entre autre, ce thé en brique de la firme Fu Hai. Je voudrais maintenant le goûter, c’est pourquoi je fais appel à toi pour m’aider.

Pourrais-tu, s’il-te-plaît, me dire quel grammage environ mettre dans la Duanni et combien de temps je dois compter pour la première infusion ainsi que le temps approximatif pour les suivantes. Je compte sur ta compréhension pour m’éclairer pour ce premier contact et me permettre ainsi de déguster ce nouveau thé dans les meilleurs conditions possible. Cela me rassurerais…

Merçi cordial,
Gérard

TeaMasters said...

Bonjour Gérard,

Je n'ai ni balance au gramme prêt, ni chronomètre. D'habitude, je commence par apprivoiser un thé au gaibei avant de passer à la théière. Cela permet de voir facilement quand le thé fonce et le verser à ce moment-là.

A la théière, verse un peu dans la cruche et arrête-toi si tu trouves le thé trop clair (mais tiens compte du fait que les dernères goutes sont les plus foncées.) Bien sûr, il faudra aussi laisser infuser de plus en plus longtemps après chaque nouvelle infusion.

Quant au grammage, cela dépend aussi de comment tu aimes le puerh. La petite théière duanni permet notamment de faire du puerh bien concentré et fort sans te ruiner, puisque l'on ne peut pas y mettre tant que cela vu sa taille. Personnellement, je la remplit presque de moitié avec des bouts de brique. A la fin, la théière est bien remplie de feuilles (mais sans qu'elles soient compressées). Ainsi, elles peuvent se déployer et révéler toutes leurs saveurs.

Tu peux commencer avec 3 grammes et augmenter d'1 gramme à chaque fois que tu en fais jusqu'à ce que tu trouves le meilleur dosage pour ton goût. Ne t'inquiètes pas si tu fais des erreurs. C'est comme cela qu'on apprend le plus.

Anonymous said...

J'ai reçu ce puerh il y a deux jours,
Pour moi il va vite devenir un companion de toute la journée, son qi que je trouve discret permet de le boire tard en soirée et la saveur ne se dément pas toute au long des infusions, c'est excellent, j'en suis ravi !

Anonymous said...

Un échantillon de ce thé accompagnait ma dernière commande. Premier essai au zhong tout à l'heure... et agréable surprise. Léger mais subtil, son parfum s'est maintenu tout le long des dix infusions effectuées (j'aime quand les pu'ers ne sont pas trop denses).

Anonymous said...

just finished my first brew with this tea. i used a clay tea pot (purchased at a taiwanese night market ~11 cL) and, i think, a fairly small amount of tea (finished leaves occupied 1/5 of the pot at most). a brief rinse and away we went. as this was only the 2nd puerh, and first cooked, i've brewed, i didn't really know what to expect. the cake itself has a delicious hint of vanilla, along with earth and leather; nothing too overpowering to me; i find it quite attractive, really. the first few infusions were thick and rich and at one point i though i was looking at a shot of poorly decanted, slightly sedimented vintage port. the flavour loosely supported this, although the earthiness, that of an undisturbed forest floor in a wonderful state of decomposition, takes main stage throughout. i had a bit of an awkward transition on the tongue (which i account to my brewing inexperience) as the tea settled into its delightful round and mellow groove for the remaining infusions. slowly, i found old leather and a light sweatness presenting themselves discreetly and keeping company til the end. it was a slow and subtle fade out after 10+ infusions and i found the increasing lightness gave a jovial and mannered air that allowed me to quaff the last several potfuls with abandon and a smile. i can't keep my nose out of the drained brew vessel - big old thick supple well-loved leather (from a chair or back of a jacket) like something forgotten found at the grandparents' house. i found that the dry leaves and the finished leaves in the clay pot provided the highlights on the nose. must be late. I enjoyed a rough and ready, abeit pleasant and lasting, qi sensation. I'm quite happy with this tea.

I know it's a ways away, and i don't want to sound blasphemous, but I think this tea would do well in the hot weather, chilled with a drizzle of maple syrup and a squeeze of fresh lemon.

Mike t.

Anonymous said...

just finished my first brew with this tea. i used a clay tea pot (purchased at a taiwanese night market ~11 cL) and, i think, a fairly small amount of tea (finished leaves occupied 1/5 of the pot at most). a brief rinse and away we went. as this was only the 2nd puerh, and first cooked, i've brewed, i didn't really know what to expect. the cake itself has a delicious hint of vanilla, along with earth and leather; nothing too overpowering to me; i find it quite attractive, really. the first few infusions were thick and rich and at one point i though i was looking at a shot of poorly decanted, slightly sedimented vintage port. the flavour loosely supported this, although the earthiness, that of an undisturbed forest floor in a wonderful state of decomposition, takes main stage throughout. i had a bit of an awkward transition on the tongue (which i account to my brewing inexperience) as the tea settled into its delightful round and mellow groove for the remaining infusions. slowly, i found old leather and a light sweatness presenting themselves discreetly and keeping company til the end. it was a slow and subtle fade out after 10+ infusions and i found the increasing lightness gave a jovial and mannered air that allowed me to quaff the last several potfuls with abandon and a smile. i can't keep my nose out of the drained brew vessel - big old thick supple well-loved leather (from a chair or back of a jacket) like something forgotten found at the grandparents' house. i found that the dry leaves and the finished leaves in the clay pot provided the highlights on the nose. must be late. I enjoyed a rough and ready, abeit pleasant and lasting, qi sensation. I'm quite happy with this tea.

I know it's a ways away, and i don't want to sound blasphemous, but I think this tea would do well in the hot weather, chilled with a drizzle of maple syrup and a squeeze of fresh lemon.

Anonymous said...

bon , stephane si j 'ai été aussi long a poster c'est que ton colis je n ai pu l'ouvrir qu'a partir de la saint valentin , soit hier .
donc ce soir a l aide de mon zhong ( vivement une theiere adaptée aux pu erh !! ) j ai testé ce thé qui m'était envoyer en "plus " ( merci d'ailleurs pour ce "plus " qui fait que je repasserai par toi : des thes sublimes , des theieres pardaite , un "vendeur" agreable et dispo , bref que du bon ) ..
premiere approche du thé pour un novice des pu erh :
une sensation de thé fumé mais tres leger , une touche sucrée tres surprenante , des notes boisées, de champignons ( pas de moisissures ) et animales à la fois : bref ca sent les sous bois : que c est agreable .
il reste longtemps en bouche , tres rond .
je n ai fait que 5 infusions pour l instant mais le gout est toujours aussi bon tout en evoluant au fur et a mesure.
j ai deja bu des pu erh , mais celui ci est le meilleur que j ai bu , pour commencer c est une bonne approche je pense . je vais m attaquer a des pu erh plus ager pour voir l evoulution dans le temps .
encore merci stephane et a tres bientot

Anonymous said...

J'ai ce matin passé plus d'une heure avec ce pu er : 5 g en théière Yixing de 10cl. Très très agréable. J'adore le parfum de la brique, encore plus quand les feuilles sont dans la theiere chaude. Une dominante pâtissière pour moi, beurre, chaleureux, réconfortant. Et une belle endurance aux infusions. J'en suis à ma dixième , je pense, j'augmente les temps d'infusion jusqu'à 20 minutes mais il donne encore de belles choses. Bref, une réelle affaire, compte tenu de son prix.
Lionel

Bret said...

I got this tea about a year ago but just now got around to trying it. Sublime! The aroma of carmalized dates and a touch of malt. Nothing woodsy here, the usual smells of a newly made shu have faded and left behind a tea thats as smooth as velvet and fills your mouth with a sweetness that permeates every taste bud. Without a doubt the best shu puerh Ive ever had.