A Tale of two Bricks (Review)

I'm finally getting around to doing reviews on my pu-erh collection.

Tea: Banzhang Wild Brick '04
Source: Yunnan Sourcing LLC
Leaf Description: Mostly big gnarled leaves. No tips noticeable.
Quite stemmy.

Method: 3g in 5oz gaiwan. Two rinses @ 160F x 30sec ea

1: 170F x 45sec. Light and fresh. Hint of sweet. Not much aroma.
2: 170F x 1min. Still fresh and clean. More sweetness. A hint of
popcorn tells me I'm pushing oversteeping it.
3: 170F x 1min. Much sweeter now. A bit of bamboo shoot taste.
Faintly citric.

Comments: the tea could have gone for more steeps, and was in fact just
getting better. The leaves look alot like yard rakings in fall, but
the taste is remarkably clean and delicate, at least at these
parameters. It left a very nice feeling in my mouth. No smokiness.

Tea: Haiwan Factory Lao Tong Zhi '04
Source: Yunnan Sourcing LLC
Leaf Description: beautiful higher grade well-compressed leaf. Very
aromatic.

Method: 4.5g in 5oz gaiwan. One rinse at 180F x 10sec.

1: 170F x 45sec. Warm wood, extremely round empty cup fragrance.
Light but hints at complexity. A bit of sweetness and some eucalyptus
on the finish.
2: 170F x 45sec. As above but stronger and with some sandy soil and
green twig notes. Quite astringent.
3: As above, but a bit muted.

Comments: This is a very nice tea, very aromatic, and without smoke.
It is, however, much to astringent to drink young. I'm not sure
whether the mutedness of the 3rd steep was the fault of the tea or the
tanning of my tongue.

More to come,

Cameron

Alex Chaihorsky <noperson@nowhere.com> wrote:
> because puerh never (even in China, let alone Tibet
> or Mongolia) was an everyday tea.

Wait a minute, Alex. In ordinary cafes in Hong Kong the standard drink,
served like water without ordering it, seems to be lukewarm very weak
pu erh (bo lay). My guess is that it's a tradition from the times when
all drinking water should be boiled. Also, dim sum restaurants there serve
a lot of pu erh.

On the other hand, a Chinese colleague gave me a can of what he said was
"purple noble lady" and it turned out to be oolong, though he said it was
pu erh. So I thin there is a lot of confusion (but I know what I drank in
HK).

Best,

Rick.

Rick -

Ordinary cafe (let alone Dim Sum restaurants) in HK expects you to spend at
least $10 with average probably closer to $15.
Cheap black puerh costs about $5/cake (say, $7/lb) Average "dose" would be
5-10 grams, ie. a quarter.

An average person in China makes about 800 ($100) Yuan/month (4 times that
in large cities). That averages to $3/ day for food, apartment,
transportation, etc. a quarter is 1/12 of that or approx. 10%. Now ask
yourself if you can afford 10% of your income to be spent on tea and you
have an answer why puer never was such in China even in large cities, let
alone countryside and Tibet.

Sasha.

"Rick Chappell" <chappell@becrux.biostat.wisc.edu> wrote in message
news:dgucqa$52v$1@news.doit.wisc.edu...
> Alex Chaihorsky <noperson@nowhere.com> wrote:
>> because puerh never (even in China, let alone Tibet
>> or Mongolia) was an everyday tea.
>
> Wait a minute, Alex. In ordinary cafes in Hong Kong the standard drink,
> served like water without ordering it, seems to be lukewarm very weak
> pu erh (bo lay). My guess is that it's a tradition from the times when
> all drinking water should be boiled. Also, dim sum restaurants there
> serve
> a lot of pu erh.
>
> On the other hand, a Chinese colleague gave me a can of what he said was
> "purple noble lady" and it turned out to be oolong, though he said it was
> pu erh. So I thin there is a lot of confusion (but I know what I drank in
> HK).
>
> Best,
>
> Rick.