Old Tea Granny

Laochapo, the Old Tea Granny

Liubao Tea and the Old Granny

Every region in China has its own nomenclature for the big, thick 4th and 5th leaves on the tea plant. Puer drinkers most commonly refer to it as Huangpian. I am a champion of huangpian. In tea circles it doesn’t get enough respect. Well aged huangpian can be good in their own rite – sturdy and affordable.

Tea Field Guangxi
A tea plantation bordering a forest outside of Liuzhou, Guangxi

On a recent trip to Liubao, Guangxi I encountered a different tea culture. The people of Liubao are staunch defenders of huangpian, which they call “Lao Cha Po” [ 老茶婆 ] literally translated this means “Old Tea Granny”. Laochapo was held in a spot of reverence. When I asked one Liubao-ite about his favorite tea, he immediately grabbed a handful of brittle orange laochapo and tossed it into a pot.

Laochapo Aged
A 15-20 year old Tea Granny

The tea was about 15 to 20 years old, although he said he could not pinpoint an exact date. The flavor was similar to brown buckwheat honey. Grainy and sweet. No arguments about the merits of this tea.

Laochapo Tea
Younger Laochapo leaf
Lao Cha Po
Young Laochapo soup

We also had a 3 year old Laochapo. It’s scent and flavor was reticent of freshly cut pumpkin meat. If you have ever made a jack-o-lantern and smelled the fresh pulp, this younger Laochapo had a similar flavor. The leaves seemed very lightly cooked and they were not rolled, so the leaves were not bruised as they usually are during the rounian [rolling] process of puer making.

Rotted Aged Tea
The inspection of old leaves, brought in for sale by a farmer

During our session, a tea farmer entered his house to bring in a bag of old Laochapo. She had a bag of Laochapo that she claimed was 20 years old which she wanted to sell him. She said she was remodeling her house and found the bag stashed underneath floor boards. We were all greatly anticipating the tea, but after she opened the bag our hopes were dashed. The tea smelled like decaying fall leaves on a forest floor. The leaves were bug bitten and falling apart, revealing their veined structure. The seller smiled politely, even as he rebuked her offer saying something in Cantonese I couldn’t understand. He then looked at me and said, “This tea is filthy – nobody would drink this. Let’s brew it.” Lovely idea! Like when an older sibling takes a bite of the blue plate special liver and onions and snorts, “This is terrible…try a bite!”

Dank tea
The rotted Laochapo

Despite my better judgment, we brewed it up. Sure enough the tea yielded a disgusting pitch black tar. The smell was repugnant. PSA kids, store your tea well, or it will turn into the rotted leaves below. Protip: Do not put it underneath the floorboards for two decades, unattended.

Tea gone bad
Black tar that quickly found the drain

Should you want to try some (none rotten!) Laochapo, you can buy online here.

CYH Banzhang

2007 CYH Laobanzhang

 When to buy Gushu?

The other day some tea drinking friends of mine were having a conversation about how to optimize timing when purchasing gushu [old arbor] teas. Opinions around the tea table differed, as they always do, but the general consensus was that there are two strategies. Either get in early and hope, or buy late resign to forfeiting half of your mortgage payment for puer tea. In the case of Banzhang teas, even news tea carry a hefty pricetag, so maybe neither strategy is optimal.

Since acquiring a ten year old Banzhang cake of any quality is already completely out of reach of most smallfolk, I’d say one ought to buy good tea right away (1 – 3 years old), rather than when it has enough age (8 – 10 years old). There is a tradeoff. Buying young tea can be difficult because how it will age is anybody’s guess. However, this risk is outweighed by the alternative, which is paying far too much for tea that is difficult to know much about. Questions like where was this stored? and Is this really from Spring on that mountain? are easier to answer in the year of production. But, unless the leaves were picked, processed, and pressed by the hands attached to your body, there is always a little mystery.

A dry piece of the Banzhang cake
A dry piece of the Banzhang cake

The 2007 CYH Banzhang is in a transition stage from strong youth to strong maturity. The kuwei [bitterness] flashes in front  of you with a quick gesture, and then quickly turns into sweetness that sits down in the mouth. There are some woody flavors emerging, but it is still in between feeling like a young tea and a middle aged tea. Some sort of tea Freshmen year.

Fledgling soup of Puer Tea Ban Zhang
Fledgling soup

The body is thick. Even 6.5 grams (about 20% less than I normally use) still makes a compelling brew. The depth of flavor and qi [feeling] is admirable. Even though this cake is in the middle ground of its age, still a worthy investment. Thanks again to Origin for the sample.

Spent leaves
Spent leaves
Yang Qing Hao

2007 Yang Qing Hao – Qizhong

Another sample from Origintea, the 2007 Qizhong from Yang Qing Hao.

YQG Qizhong
A dry piece of the YQH puer tea

The Qizhong is a balancing act of soft, smooth entry and thick lingering body.

Most lightweight teas are agile and soft. Their counterpart heavyweights are strong and intense. The Qizhong is riding the line in between the two, with an emphasis of strength.

It is a nimble heavyweight. Both aggressive and graceful at the same time.

Qizhong puer tea
The golden soup of the Qizhong

The Qizhong is durable. Stamina abound, it became clear that the first four rounds were merely a warm up. The leaves kept giving late into the bout.

The retail price around $270 for a 400g cake, this is a good value for this quality of aged gushu puer. Another fine tea from Origin.

Puerh Tea and Yixing pots
Spent tea from Origin
Tea Blog

2007 Wistaria Blue Mark (Menghai)

More Brief Tea Bloggery

Another quick and dirty snapshot of a Wistaria tea – the 2007 Blue Mark.

loose pressed puer tea
A handsome piece of loosely pressed puer tea

Ben Folds once sang that ” fortune depends on the tone of your voice. ” I have no idea how that line relates to this post, other than Mr.Folds joining me on random in my iTunes – it’s been a long time since I have heard from him.

Perhaps it is a sign. I will sing about this Wistaria tea in a tone of praise. The 2007 Wistaria blue mark is loosely pressed. There is something very pleasing about pulling apart the interlocked fingers of  the leaves with only a gentle nudge of the tea needle.

Puer Tea Blog Wistaria Tea
Young, but not too young soup

The soup is a light copper color. The material was labeled as Menghai area, which rings true from the first slurp. This cake has an unmistakeably Menghai nature about it. Tobacco, malt, and a little bit of body. More body than say, a lower quality Menghai production, but less than a higher quality Menghai production. Middle of the road in terms of body – without a lot of fireworks. But overall, a very pleasant session.

2007 Wistaria Blue Mark Menghai Puer Tea
Spent leaves
booze on the tea tray

Tea PTQ Report

This is the last of my nostalgic holiday time posts. I am currently back in China, but before I left I participated in some much needed gaming. This post will recount that experience, in the traditional literary style of a Magic: The Gathering tournament report. I heard it is a bad strategy to write blog posts that alienate and confuse 99.8% of your audience, but we will be back next post with regularly scheduled programming.

Tournament Report

I didn’t have much time to prepare for the Type Tea tournament. I’ve been out of the game* for awhile, but was ready to make a triumphant return to the DCI. I grabbed some old decks that had been sitting in my closet and mixed them together. My deck was not potent. A shabby compilation of common garbage thrown together last minute. I grabbed a 2012 Dayi Chatou brick for a shu, a crappy Bulang from 2007, and a Xiaguan 2012 Yiwu tuo. My veteran experience would have to compensate for my decks overall crapulence and lack of play testing.

Round 1: Xiaguan/Bulang vs. 15 Year Old Scotch

Bad Bulang
Not-so-great Bulang

I sit down for round one and some balding guy sits across from me. I figure he probably has some experience, because he is one of the older guys at the tournament. I start shuffling, he wins the roll and decides to play. I mulligan to 6, but decide to keep because I draw a demon Bulang combo.

His first turn he drops a swamp, mox diamond, pitching another swamp, and casts a Glenlivet 15 year old scotch onto the table. I immediately call for a judge. I was under the impression this was a type tea tournament, where does he get the idea he can maindeck a 15 year old scotch? The Judge, a portly gentleman, waddled over and leaned on the table, which could barely support his weight.

“What seems to be the problem?” he wheezed.

“Scotch is banned in Type Tea.”

“This is a vintage tournament. Scotch is perfectly legal.”

This is going to be a rough match.

I drop an tea kettle and start heating some water, but I can’t match his early scotch.  0-1

Game 2, he gets another early jump, dropping a Jura  on turn 3. I get a couple of steeps in with my Bulang, but the scotch has a much better finish. 0-2. That was a quick round and my sideboard didn’t have much to deal with the scotch. I decide to get some D&D in before round two.

Games: 0-2

Match: 0-1

Glenlivet Scotch
Scotch

Round 2:  Xiaguan/Bulang vs. Apple Pie

My opponent this round was also unaware of the Vintage format and brought a newly brewed Apple Pie deck. He looks like a bit of a scrub, I figure I can take this round and still Top 8 if I win out.

Win the roll, decide to play. Keep an opening round Xiaguan Yiwu Tuo draw. He drops an early Battleflight Eagle, which is going to be tough to deal with. He insisted it was a valuable card, which seemed like nonsense. It’s a 4W  2/2 flier and its common. They have never even printed an eagle rare. In any case, I didn’t have many main deck fliers, so I am peeling for a prayer. The eagle keeps swinging in for two shots and I scoop. 0-1

Eagle Rare
The only Eagle Rare

Game two. I sideboard in some brats to deal with the Apple Pie/Eagle Rare non-bo. I get mana screwed against an early Apple Pie. This is a homemade combo if I have ever seen one. If there is one thing I hate losing to, it is scrubby decks with 5 drop 2/2 fliers and homemade combos.

The 1/1 Apple Pie swings in for one shot after another, I underestimate its impact on the match. After a few turns, I still can’t peel an answer and the Apple Pie damage is starting to add up.

Apple Pie
Deceptively smooth Apple Pie (with classy printer label)

I drop a gaiwan to block, but I am already at 8 life.  The gaiwan makes short work of the apple pie, but he shatters my gaiwan and I only have two in hand. At this point I need to topdeck an answer.

gaiwan bulang
Too little, too late
booze on the tea tray
Classier yet

Next turn he drops a 1/1 Smirnoff and a 1/1 PBR. I am not too worried, I’ve got answers. I peel an island, go. He casts overrun and swings with both.  I cast dizzy spell, -3/-0 on the PBR, I refuse to take that damage. It buys me another turn.

I peel another blank. He casts Shred Memory and swings for 2. (Side Note: why was he maindecking this? 3 colors with maindeck overrun and splash for shred memory, why am i losing?) I reluctantly take damage from Smirnoff & PBR, putting me at 1. I scoop and decide to get some cake and water to take the sting off the loss.

Games: 0-4

Match: 0-2

Drop.

I figure there is no way I make the top 8 starting 0-2, so I drop.

Props:

– The Apple Pie / Eagle Rare was a spicy combo. The damage adds up a lot faster than you think. Still don’t know about 3 color overrun.

Sullivan Library – so much good deck advice. Please update soon

– French Oak, what a fine tree

-The judge for running an efficient tourney and ingesting his own body weight in cake

Slops:

– Should have known it was a vintage tournament

– Lack of early round french toast brats

– Anybody who went to the Chiropractor instead of attending

– The owner of the store for passing out drunk before 10 P.M., is that any way to run a business?

*I just lost the game.

 

 

cheap shu puer

2007 Liming Golden Peacock Shu

Cheap Shu Puer for Daily Drinking

It has been a few months since the beginning of my blog, and I have yet to mention much shu [cooked, ripe] puer, aside from these lousy teabags. It is not because I never drink shu, but within my puer drinking, it probably only constitutes 5%-10% of my overall consumption. (Or in the last two months, maybe 1%) I do enjoy shu puer, but find it less engaging than sheng [uncooked, raw] puer, so I usually drink it less often. I also tend to drink teas that are redder in color in colder weather, so when winter hits, I drink a lot more aged sheng and shu than in spring and summer, when I tend to drink younger teas. With old man winter announcing his presence this last week, it was time to bring out the cooked pu. (Although these pics are from a couple months ago)

Liming Puerh
Dry leaves

In the past, I felt like I have crapped all over Liming Factory, due to this Qiaomu Chawang, which is mainly their own damn fault, for naming such an average tea the “arbor tea king”. Where is the humility?! But, a little bit of the blame rests on me for being picky and demanding. The price of the tea king isn’t reasonable, but I don’t hate Liming. And to prove I don’t completely hate Liming, I present this cheap shu puer. A similar shu is floating around Taobao and can be bought for anywhere between USD5- USD15, a totally reasonable price for a very drinkable everyday shu. (The shu below is a bit more expensive, but very similar, I have had both) If you are a fan of shu, I recommend you pick some up. If only their “arbor tea kings” has a similar price tag.

Liming Puer
Shaky hands and clear soup
Liming Ripe Puer
More soup witcha meal

Now, Liming factory is sort of a copycat, and these cakes are far from the best shu puer you can get, but they are decent for their price. Having a cake of shu around which can be chipped into 15 gram chunks without fear of being decadent is a blessing. This is a solid shu, with a classic woody flavor and some  medicinal kind of flavor floating around. A warm friend to help welcome winter.

Li Ming Puerh
Leaves in the Gaiwan

 

Xiaguan Puer

2007 Xiaguan Teji Tuo

Xiaguan Tuos: Rough and Rugged

Xiaguan – the workin’ mans’ puer. This little chunk of coal has fueled many late afternoon meetings at the office. The compact nature of the tuo makes it ideal for chucking into a bag or stuffing into a desk, to be summoned when energy is needed. This is the first real session* I have shared with this particular tuo. Prior to today, it was mostly a way to cut through Chinese business lunch or to kickstart a drowsy afternoon.

*real sessions include real or at least feigned efforts of analysis, attentiveness, gaiwans, an air of smug knowitallism, general indulgence
Xiaguan Dry Puer
A close up of the dry chunk

Blue collar affordability makes up for the shortcomings, at just a few dollars for 100 grams of tea, it is utilitarian puer. It has plenty of strength and character; also, hot pink packaging.

Xiaguan tuo
Tightly packed tuo, reluctantly breaking apart
Xia Guan Puer steep
Further steeping of the rock

The liquor is a copper color, showing a little bit of age, but the age does not show up  in the cup. It is still very youthful and dirty. At times that youth shows up as an impudent lack of grace, but that is what keeps the party going. Afterall, dinner parties with mannerly guests are boring and uneventful. A little ruckus keeps the host on their toes. Think of young Xiaguan like a dinner guest who insists on fervently espousing their political views during the opening course.

After a rinse, the combination of tobacco and smoke on the gaiwan lid smells like a hotboxed dorm room, but that goes away after the first steep or two.

Xiaguan Puerh
Xiaguan soup

I had a flashback to a particular pipe tobacco a friend of mine used to smoke, called Black Kathy. ( a quick google search told me that is was a black cavendish with vanilla flavoring). This tea has transported me several times to that flavor of dark tobacco and vanilla (kind of) sweetness that lingers in the mouth.

Xiaguan spent puer
Don’t let anybody tell you Xiaguan tuos lack big leaves

Despite a young Xiaguan tuos inability to win a popularity contest, I enjoy them from time to time. They are inexpensive and don’t require a lot of fuss. I’ve definitely got plenty in my storage stash, which I will look forward to enjoying a decade from now, with a similarly nonchalant attitude.

 

 

Puer tea

2007 Bai Cha Tang 3rd Generation Iron Cake

Bai Cha Tang Puer

Bai Cha Tang (百茶堂) is a brand that I had yet to delve into, until a suggestion from Shah (of teachat fame). From what I have read, this cake is a middle of the road entry point to their productions – not old or precious, but still quite good. This cakes proper name is sandai [third generation] tiebing [iron cake] , which boasts gushu [old arbor] material. As you can see from the leaves below, they are typical of an tiebing (see: pressed into oblivion).

Baichatang Puer
Dry leaves from the tight iron cake

Sweet aged smell coming off of the leaves. The friend who sent me this puer was in Guangzhou, but I think this cake spent some of its life in Kunming. The Guangzhou storage shows, as its age is more apparent than say, this 7542 i recently reviewed, with twice its age.

Bai cha tang Puer
The medium aged soup

As one would expect with a tiebing, it takes a little while to gear up. The aged flavor is accompanied by balanced kuwei [pleasant bitterness] and a thick coating in the throat and mouth. The tea also had a noticeable qi [mystical voodoo magic or body calm].

Baicha tang Puer
A view of the gaiwan and a later steeping

As you can see, the gaiwan was stuffed. The tea carried on for an impressive 20 steeps, which was partly due to the 10g-12g in the gaiwan and partly due to the puer itself. Midway through this marathon session there was a vibrancy on my lips and huigan [sweet aftertaste], both of which were pleasant. This tea just marked its fifth birthday and seems to have plenty of potential for further aging.

wet puer tea leaves
The spent leaves

The tea is not exactly pretty, but when the tea is good, I tend not to care about such superficial things. I will keep an eye out  for some Baichatang cakes to add to my own coffers, they are fairly reasonably priced and well made.

A random note: this blog post of a 2008 Bai Cha Tang 3rd Gen Tiebing turned up in my searching and it interested me because the author’s leaves were so much larger than mine and mostly unbroken! It could be that the samples I had were broken off haphazardly or that my cake was just more heavily chopped. Who knows. Seems that author of the seemingly defunct blog  enjoyed the cake too.

2007 Dahei Shan Wild Purple

I came across this 250g  Dahei Shan [big black mountain] wild purple puer cake at a vendor recently and thought I would write about it, not because the tea was interesting, but because it served as an interesting price vs. tea quality comparison.

Dehong Wild Puer Tea
Dahei Shan Wild Puer Tea

This puer tastes remarkably similar to Yunnan Sourcing Dehong purple. Smokey and savory, but unfortunately, with very little of the character that was so expressive in the YS Dehong. (It’s not a direct 1:1  comparison, there was some difference in the huigan [sweet aftertaste] and astringency as well) The cake has been stored in Beijing, leaving it noticeably dry on the surface, as pictured above. The leaves border on an inky purple,  lovely how they produce the unexpected golden liquor pictured below.

Puer Tea Soup
The bright gold soup, showing what 5 years of Beijing aging can (or can’t) do

As is typical of Beijing aging (see: bone-dry), maturity is earned slowly. The soup is gold, reflecting what I guess is very little change from its young state. For a 5 year old tea, this tea has remarkably little maturity. It is a bratty five year old with no manners. Somewhere in the world I suspect this tea has a cousin who grew up in Guangzhou and is well behaved at the dinner table. I’d like to meet him. Whether the lack of character in this tea was due to its storage, or the material itself, is difficult to say. In either case, what struck me was the price tag.

Cup of puer tea
A look at the soup in a glass cup

As I noted above, this pretty little cake is 250 grams, but it carried a price tag of 400 RMB (~ USD 63 ) , which is a bit high for my taste. The tea was quite pleasant, but when you consider the YS Dehong is 400g and less than 1/2 of the price (not to mention better tea, in this writer’s humble opinion), it is not worth it. I am not sure where this price tag comes from, but it seems to be related to the labels wild and purple. I have seen some other cakes floating around that are 100g of wild purple this and that for absurdly high prices. The only time something wild and purple should realistically hit this price range is if the cake shows interesting age or if you are at a Phish concert.

In some alternate universe where I had no other purple teas to compare this to, and the price was more towards USD 45, I might consider buying a cake out of curiosity to how it would develop.