Follow the Puer Brick Road
Yunnan wasn't the only province exporting tea to Tibetans who relied on it to help digest all the meat and dairy they consumed. Black tea, referring to the post-fermented tea made in Sichuan, Hunan, Anhui, and Guangxi provinces as opposed to that which is taken with milk and sugar, made its way westward in significant quantities to the rugged mountains and plateaus. My observation is that most Sichuan and Hunan black tea went to Tibet, while Anhui and Guangxi black tea ended up in Southeast Asia.
1992 Kang Brick (康砖)
Ok, so I've misled you with the title of the article. This isn't puer, rather a black tea from Sichuan province. Kang is the Mandarin transliteration of Kham, an area that historically spanned across the southeastern region of modern day Tibet and western part of Sichuan province. The tea is named for its original destination, before it found its way to the warehouses of collectors in mainland China's eastern seaboard and Taiwan.
It's an interesting tea. Very different from both raw and ripe puer. The packaging and tea itself is rather coarse, as you can tell from the pictures. The matte yellow wrapping paper reminds me of big ol' blocks of yak butter (酥油), which will inevitably be mixed in with the tea per Tibetan tea drinking custom. The butter will round out the sourness and bitterness and smooth out the slight stickiness.
The first few infusions emit a very strong smell, quite harsh on the nose... similar to the effect of non-freshly grated wasabi. Later infusions have a distinct light plum flavor (青梅子), different from a dark plum flavor (乌梅子) that seems to always be accompanied by a smokiness of varying degree. Ripe puers of this age have an earthy taste and raw puers have a mellow floral quality, but I struggle to come up with natural world descriptors for the '92 Kang brick.
There is a Kang brick from the 80s as well. Though produced by a different factory, the raw material is similar to the '92. However, the flavor profile and texture have a medicinal quality and smoothness not found in the '92.
Cooking the Kang brick from either time period over a low fire rather than infusing it in quick succession enhances it immensely. Some of the less desirable flavor components and edge boil off, leaving a very palatable liquor. It has recently piqued the interest of some collectors, but prices remain reasonable. I'm not sure it will ever gain meaningful hype (not that hype is necessarily good) amongst non-Tibetans.
In the Shadow of Menghai Tea Factory
While on the topic of brick teas and non-Menghai Tea Factory teas, I'll briefly cover the 7581 ripe brick (熟砖). The 75 tells us the year of conception. 8 tells us the leaf grade (3-4 being young tea buds, 8 being large leaves often accompanied by substantial stems). 8s tend to be sweeter, 3-4s rather bitter and astringent, requiring more time to mellow. The last digit indicates the factory. 1 = Kunming Tea Factory. 2 = Menghai Tea Factory. 3 = Xiaguan Tea Factory. 4 = Puer Tea Factory (rarely encountered).
The Kunming Tea Factory was only called this beginning in 1960. When first established in October 1937, it was named Fuxing Shiyan Chachang (复兴实验茶厂). Historically, its primary line of business was sales of green tea in mainland China. However by 1975, records indicate Kunming Tea Factory was exporting limited quantities of red tea to the Soviet Union and refining its ripe puer methodology.
Along with Menghai Tea Factory, Kunming Tea Factory was a pioneer in mastering the art and science of "ripening" (accelerating fermentation) in the 1973, a technique developed in Guangdong Province. However, Kunming Tea Factory does not have much of a presence in the world of old tea aside the the Iron Pressed Bing from the mid to late-60s (昆明七子铁饼). I suppose they get partial credit for the Guangyun Gongbing (广云共饼).
Onto the teas! I did a side-by-side comparison between an early and late-90s 7581. Not a whole lot of depth. Naturally, it would be unfair to demand the same amount of complexity as a raw puer, but if it's just a sweetness and light earthiness, life is too short for mediocre tea. There are grassy notes in the 1990 Yellow Glossy Paper Brick that made me question whether it was 100% ripe puer or with some raw puer mixed in. Textbooks indicate all ripe. Time seems to have taken care of that undesirable piling (渥堆) taste, so that's a plus. Both are very drinkable with that reddish, amber-ish semi-transparent glow characteristic of aged ripe puers or very well made young ripe puers.
