1996 Menghai 8582

Here is another classic worth mentioning, the Menghai 8582. I have tasted an 80's example before which was sweeter and really wet-stored, and absolutely yummy, and had a balanced qi. Today I'll be sharing my experiences with a 1996 8582.

As you can see the broth is clearly aged with nice clarity, and a ring on the cup that is still slightly green. (In fact, I had ordered enough to really play around with this one and purposefully overbrewed in subsequent sessions, and easily pulled a really harsh and bitter soup as a result, indicating the cake has a lot more transforming to go. This is an interesting tea to play with, it has a surprisingly restless nature for me.)

My infusions were rather quick, close to 10s, 8s, 10s, 15s, 22s, 45s, 90s, 3 min, 3min, 15 min. There is a a strong mouth-coat after only a few sips. The taste is 'Menghai', with a very strong sweetness on the swallow, and an almost industrial scent, maybe of rubber. The later drawn out infusions hosted a malty sweet soup, still with a decent aroma.

As you can see, it looks like pretty standard stuff, not too compressed, appropriate texture for its age, pretty uniform leafs, with a few of much lighter color than the rest.

{Insert wisdom about 8582}

One brewed one gone.

1989 Jiang Cheng

This tea is from teamasters, and came quickly and with some bamboo charcoal that can be added to further purify the water. Pictured is the varied, twiggy, and aged piece.

Upon first brewing I used close to my regular amount of 8-10 grams, you just go by feel anyway. The first rinse yielded a mulchy steam, prepping my senses for the tea to come. The first brew for 30 seconds yielded some dark and complex looking, with a very familiar puerh/forest aroma.


My notes on the session indicate brewing times of 30s, 25s, 50s, 60s, 90s, 120s, 5 min, 12 min. By the second infusion I was sure I recognized the flavor... Hmm... Shupu! Almost exactly like some of the doughy and smooth flavors of the 2008 12 Gentlemen Shu. Why is tea shopping on the internet so difficult (sarcasm) for teas from china (more sarcasm)? The tea had me mad for about 3 more sips when a pleasant wave of qi hit me immediately lifting my doubts of a substandard tea. Its a nice tea, to be sure, it has the elements of being a rather basic puerh in terms of taste, aroma, huigan, transition, and durability, but possessed such a strong qi that I couldn't help but lean back and marvel at the feeling of all my tension melting melting away.

I have added in some close up of the leaves... which may be the most fun leaves I've had to peruse in a while. The variance is pretty incredible; I've had giant wild looking buds, and lots of leaves that just wouldn't unfurl in the gaiwan, and had to be fanned out by me just to see what the looked like. I've heard that leaves that don't unfurl are a sign of bad quality, but my suspicion is that something went wrong during one of the production processes, because I've also noticed all lot of different colored leafs, even one that was half green half brown.
The darker leaf has somehow lost some body but maintained its interior vein structure. It was surprisingly firm and rigid, and like all the Jiang Cheng leafs had trouble unfurling. I thought my picture has better but you can also see a very undecayed and veiny leaf up front with a visible saw edge. All in all, tasty but not too interesting, until the qi makes you not care and just sip away.

Smooth, active, mellow...

1993 Menghai 7542

Everyone knows about this tea. The ubiquitous Menghai 7542. It is a great starting point into the world of puerh... a classic recipe characterized by woody notes and a percolating sweetness. It is a masticated plantation leaf tea, and was made in a time when 'organic' wasn't a phase, but the whole world was probably cleaner. It is also a pre-boom tea cake, which I feel is a good start. This tea feels alive and vibrant, and really makes me question the movement toward single estate products. If plantation tea ages like this, one can only hope for such a bright future for all the beengs out there nowadays.

I'm fortunate enough to own a few of these classic beengs...

Here is my personal experience with the tea:

I usually brew a pretty full gaiwan, probably close to 10 grams, and I'm always tempted to inhale the first wash deeply. The chopped hay fragrance hangs in the air with a hint of sweeter and deeper mulch piles. The infusion times I most frequently use are close to:

Wash, 10s, 8s, 10s, 20s, 35s, 60s, 90, 120...

(I say "close to" because lately I have been experimenting with fewer leaves longer steeps.)

The first sip usually makes me roll my head in goodness like Zimmern does on Bizarre Foods when he's eating some streetfood in Goa. There is a woodsy hay taste, but in good balance with a with refreshing rainwater, and carmelized sweetness.

Unfortunately, the first sip is the highlight of the tea, as it dies a slow dissipating death into rather empty sweetness. However, the vibrancy in the first sip and the dancing hay on your tongue, make this a well appreciated and collectible cake.

Shibumi

Nicholai's imagination was galvanized by the concept of shibumi. No other ideal had ever touched him so. "How does one achieve this shibumi, sir?"

"One does not achieve it, one . . . discovers it. And only a few men of infinite refinement ever do that. Men like my friend Otake-san."

"Meaning that one must learn a great deal to arrive at shibumi?"

"Meaning, rather, that one must pass through knowledge and arrive at simplicity."

I will be commencing this blog with a few reviews that others may find familiar, and were originally posted in a puerh forum. Hopefully, this will became a resource for reviewing and checking the progress of some of the great and accessible puerh vintages.