Learning about puerh can help you save a lot of money

Aged sheng puerh is the Holy Grail of gongfu cha drinkers. As prices of cakes from the 1970s reach 20,000 to 30,000 USD, they have become the dream of all the serious puerh drinkers. And for this class, I have prepared some sheng leaves from the 70s to show my student what such tea is all about.

But before that, I wish to show the difference between a real aged sheng and a well made imitation. So, we compare these 2 teas: a 1999 and a 1985 sheng.

Can you spot which of the 2 was actually made in the 2000s and is faking its age?

We use gaiwans to brew the 2 teas. And 2 sets of ivory porcelain cups. The color difference is more obvious in the singing cups, but the flower cups are more suitable for the cold weather. Here, the answer is much more obvious, but only if you know that one is a fake.

First brew

Below are the 2 puerhs. Any idea which one is genuinely aged?

 Maybe you wish to have a look at the spent leaves to identify them:

1985

Spotting a fake can help you save a lot of money and it will prevent you from purchasing tea pretending to be older than its actual age.

1999

Of course, the biggest difference is in the taste (and especially in the aftertaste or its lack of aftertaste) and in the fragrances. But this is easier experienced than explained in an article. That is why I have created this puerh sampler in order to taste both teas, s shu puerh as well as the next one:

Below and cup: 1985 loose sheng puerh.  Above: 1970s puerh.

Spoiler alert! The answer is about to be unveiled. In order to show that the first 1985 was a fake, we brew a real 1985 loose sheng puerh. The color of the brew is lighter. It has more aftertaste, but that aftertaste is more refined than the 1999.

1970s sheng puerh

After that, we move to the 1970s loose sheng puerh. We brew it once in a gaiwan to compare it fairly with the other 3 puerhs. Then, we use a small shantou teapot in order to get more out of the leaves. And we are surprised by the fact that the brew from the gaiwan came out very clean and beautiful, almost like from the teapot. It's as if it doesn't need to have its edges polished by the porous clay of the teapot.

The other advantage of the clay teapot over the porcelain gaiwan is that it keeps the brew at a higher temperature on a cold day. This means a better extraction of flavors.

I can't start to explain the pleasure we enjoyed with this 40 + years old puerh. Antonio said that this is a tea that makes you meditate. It overwhelms you with its peaceful force and brings quiet to your mind.

The color of that second brew in the flower cup above is very dark. In the singing cup below, it seems to shine. What a beautiful tea! No wonder it has become a holy grail for which rich Chinese are willing to spend a lot of money despite the risk of getting a fake! The most common way they make sure is that their puerh tea is old is by trusting the packaging. An old wrapper gives the customer a certain reassurance about the age of the tea. However, it's relatively easy to forge a wrapper and I don't recommend trusting the packaging. The best is to learn how aged puerh taste and then trust your own taste to recognize genuine aged from faked leaves!

This tea feels like Christmas!

Anji Bai Cha

Printemps 2019

Ce thé vert en forme d'aiguille n'a pas seulement la taille fine: ses saveurs sont aussi fines et légères. Par une belle journée d'automne, quoi de plus beau de se sentir déjà au printemps!

Un des avantages du thé vert par rapport au Oolong, c'est qu'il convient bien à l'infusion en bol. Et comme ces feuilles ont une couleur vert très clair quand on les infuse, le contraste est particulièrement saisissant dans un bol noir de Michel François.

Et c'est l'occasion de me servir de cet reproduction de l'ancêtre aux Chatuo (chataku): un socle à bol en bois. On s'en servait à l'époque Song pour présenter les bols après avoir fouetté la poudre de thé vert. Ne dirait-on pas une grande fleur? C'est vraiment impressionnant de voir le thé s'élever si haut au-dessus du sol. Non seulement il se rapproche de notre bouche, mais il se rapproche aussi du ciel et on dirait l'offrande d'une cérémonie silencieuse.

Et cette touche de bleu dans le bol est de toute beauté! C'est original de n'avoir ces variations bleues sur une petite portion du bol. En plus, elles ont l'air naturelles, pas réptitives. Et le contraste des matières entre le tissu du Chabu, le bois et la céramique ajoute de la variété à la sensation très pure et uniforme de l'Anji Baicha.

The Gushu Puerh Conundrum

2019 loose raw gushu puerh from Lancang

Teas differ in intensity of taste. The lightest teas are the least oxidized: green and white tea. In the middle, we have Oolongs, which are naturally sweet and therefore can be brewed more concentrated without tasting bad. And the most powerful of all teas is sheng old arbor puerh! These leaves grow wild at high elevations and are by nature full of flavors. This different degree of taste explains why many green tea drinkers feel that puerh is too aggressive to their taste, and why many puerh drinkers feel that white/green tea tastes weak like scented water.

For that reason, and I generalize a little bit here, puerh drinkers will also tend to brew their teas with more and more leaves, because they are particularly enjoying the punch, the kick in the (taste)buds! Bitterness isn't feared, but expected and ridden like a mighty dragon jumping on the tongue.

The paradox with gushu puerh, especially single origin -not blended-, is that its beauty isn't simply more power. After all, power is rather easy to obtain: more leaves and/or longer brewing time and the result is more concentrated flavors. No, the beauty of a gushu puerh (= tree that is over 100 years old) is its purity and thickness in scent and taste, even when brewed lightly! Or I should even say especially when it's brewed lightly. Because that's when you can experience the amazing purity and long aftertaste of a tea that should be light. Any other tea brewed with so few leaves would have little taste.

And it's not just the taste that is thick, coats the palate, evolves from bitter to sweet and feels very pure, natural. By reducing the power, you are taming the wild beast. Everything feels more relaxed, less aggressive, clean and pure. Instead of a rock concert, it feels like the solo piano of Ludovico Einaudi in Seven Days Walking.

This is gushu puerh conundrum: many tea lovers drink it for its immense power (a tea friend told me once that he got so tea drunk on one occasion that he felt physically ill) and thereby they are missing its other, even more amazing quality, IMO, its purity and deep finesse! A good example of such a gushu puerh is this loose sheng puerh from 300+ years old trees from Lancang from spring 2019. It's the puerh I'm having in this zhuni teapot! And it's amazing!

Oolong de très haute montagne en HD

Dans mon article précédent, je vous ai fait découvrir le Oolong d'Alishan d'hiver 2019. Ce thé a toutes les qualités d'un Oolong de haute montagne et un super rapport qualité/prix. La question se pose donc: pourquoi payer 3 fois plus pour un Oolong de très haute montagne planté 1000 mètres plus haut?

Qu'est-ce qu'ils ont de plus les grands Lishan, Fushou Shan, Da Yu Ling ou Tian Chi?

Pour moi, la différence est celle de la clarté et de la pureté. Ces photos illustrent bien cette impression de passer d'une définition moyenne à de la haute définition! Pour réussir des photos d'une telle précision, il faut que toutes les conditions soient remplies: bon appareil, bon objectif, sujet attractif, belle lumière.

Pour ces Oolongs de très haute montagne, il n'y a pas non plus de maillon faible: plantations très bien entretenues, moins d'insectes en haute montagne, des conditions météo excellentes (soleil et fraicheur), des producteurs très expérimentés et une sélection rigoureuse.

Cette quasi absence de maillon faible et tous ces plus en termes de qualité permettent d'obtenir des Oolongs encore plus purs et précis, surtout si on les infuse bien, avec une belle théière en zhuni d'Yixing!

Winter 2019 Alishan Oolong

The winter harvests for Qingxin Oolong in Alishan are almost done already. Most of the plantations I saw last Friday have been picked and the tea processed. This last harvest of the year takes place in similar conditions as the spring harvest, the first harvest of the year: the weather is warm enough during the day for the leaves to grow slowly, but the afternoons and nights are cold and preserve the freshness of the leaves. (In summer and autumn, there's much more sunshine and heat, and shorter, warmer nights).

New plantation of Qingxin Oolong where the selected tea comes from

That's why winter and spring high mountain Oolong have a similar finesse and light notes. But there's still a difference: spring has higher notes in the scent, while winter has more sweetness in the taste.
Compare the next picture with the first and you'll see how quickly the weather can change between noon and afternoon:

Luckily, the sun comes back half an hour later and let me prepare this outdoor Chaxi in the midst of ChangShuHu's tea plantations.

This is my front view from this spot:

And this is when I sit down:

Naturally, I choose to chose winter Alishan Qingxin Oolong I have selected. It was harvested by hand on October 20th, 2019 in ChangShuHu in a new plantation (see the second picture of this article).

The leaves have a light color, because the way this plantation is oriented means it doesn't get much sunshine (the photo shows that half of the trees are in the shade at noon already). White buds are visible on some of the dry rolled leaves: this is a characteristic that only winter high mountain Oolong has.

The dry scent is lightly fruity and completely fresh, of course!

A warm sunset shines on the Chaxi and emphasizes the sweetness of the brew. My aim of brewing this fresh tea here is to see if it really conveys the terroir, the surrounding smells and flavors. And it does perfectly! It's difficult to imagine a more harmonious feeling!

Brewing at an elevation of 1300 meters means the water boils already at 95.7 degrees Celcius. And since it's quite cool outdoors in the late afternoon, one has to be very careful brewing rolled Oolong. If the gaiwan isn't properly preheated, the leaves won't open well and release their flavors. Then you don't know how good your tea is! As you can see, I avoided this problem and got my leaves to open beautifully and fill the gaiwan evenly:

The leaves are quite typical for high mountain Oolong: 3 big leaves, a small leaf and a bud. They are quite thick, because they come from young tree bushes. This probably explains the long, complex and sweet aftertaste.

The feeling couldn't be better!

The brew has a good clarity and the open leaves are so tender that it seems they have just been picked from the plantation!

Winter high mountain Oolong has a sweetness that fits nicely with the cooler and drier weather of November/December. This winter 2019 Alishan is my new flagship, since the spring version sold out faster than expected, 2 weeks ago!

Wenshan Baozhong in the Wenshan forest

When I take tea friends to an outdoor spot in the south of Taipei, I always treat them to a brew of Wenshan Baozhong (here, the subtropical forest of spring 2019). The number 1 reason is that when you are outdoors there, you can smell the same air, experience the same environment as the Baozhong leaves. And when they release their flavors, you realize that these flavors are like a mirror of the surroundings here! That's how you connect your tea experience with nature! The explanation is that tea leaves are so sensitive that they absorb many scents that surround them.

There's a second reason why Wenshan Baozhong is such an important tea in Taiwan and it has to do with history. Wenshan Baozhong existed long before the rise of Dong Ding Oolong (the competition only started in 1976) or High Mountain Oolongs (in the early 1990s). Baozhong dates back to the end of the Qing dynasty, end of the 19th century, even before the Japanese occupation of Taiwan (1895-1945). Baozhong started in the Nangang mountains, east of Taipei, then spread all around the city and then to Shiding and Pinglin. There was easier to move the tea to DaDaoCheng (the former name of Taipei) for roasting and then to the port of Tamshui and later Keelung for export. And when the Taipei Tea Merchants Association showcased its 'Formosa Oolong Tea' at various international exhibitions (Paris, Milan) in the first part of the 20th century, it is Baozhong that the people tasted and that collected first prizes!
Baozhong tea used to be processed very much like WuYi Yan Cha. We can still partly see this from the twisted shape of the dry leaves. What has changed, though, is the roasting level. Most modern Baozhongs are not roasted, but simply dried.

And I could verify on my German friends that the fresh, unroasted Baozhong pleased my younger guest the best, while the older guest preferred the roasted version! In any case, they enjoyed drinking tea in this outdoor mountain restaurant both before and after lunch! First to open up the appetite and later to help digest the meal!

Accessories: Yixing zhuni teapot, celadon singing cup, late Qing dynasty qinghua tea boat, Michel François jar and bowl, green variation Chabu, Japanese Chatuo.

La foire aux 20! Tea Sale!

20 thés et
20 accessoires sont actuellement en PROMOTION sur tea-masters.com dans la limite de mes stocks ou jusqu'à la fin de l'année!

Do you feel the gloom of November 1st? Here's a news to cheer you up:
20 teas and 20 accessories are currently ON SALE on tea-masters.com, as long as I have inventory or until the end of the year!

This year, for the first time, there are a great number of Chabu for sale. These tea ceremony fabric are great to create a specific atmosphere, feeling for your tea. They also help you to brew and pour more carefully and slowly, because you'll want to avoid staining the fabric. And these Chabu are all made by hand and exclusive creations of tea-masters.com. You won't find them anywhere else! And here's a tip to further improve your fall Chaxi: add some dead leaves on your display! See in the above pictures how well they match my cup of aged puerh!
(By the way, did you notice that I've recently added a spring 2004 Xiaguan raw Tuo Cha for 10 USD only, and a spring 2007 raw Peacock cake for USD 40 only!)