Ban Komaen 2017 (Laos) and Nan Mei gushu 2015 tasting

 Ban Komaen (Laos tea) left, Nan Mei right

I'm back to trying pu'er samples generously sent by Olivier Schneider, a pu'er expert and author of the reference page puerh.fr.  That page is in French but automatic translation works well between related languages.  It's a separate subject but I've been noticing that automatic translation from Russian to English goes better than you'd expect.  He's not actually a vendor, in the typical sense, more a researcher who is also involved with pu'er sales in the development and wholesale levels.

This follows on a review of two initial sheng samples here, which lists out details for the two I tried and the rest.  I'll compare these two teas:


Nan Mei gushu 2015 (small production tea)

Ban Komaen 2017 (old tree tea from Phongsally, Laos, so this is "sheng-pu'er-like" tea)


There isn't much reason why I'm pairing the tasting of these two.  The ages are comparable, and they're the next two on the original samples list, arranged more or less by age.  Trying very similar teas together works better but I'm not clear on expectations related to these.  At a guess they won't be similar.

Nan Mei is a village area in Lincang, Yunnan, as described in this puerh.fr article.  Olivier includes a producer profile of a woman tea maker in Laos in another article on sexism in tea  (who may or may not have made this tea; I'm not claiming that connection).  I won't do much for describing those locations or variations in the teas here; the point is just review, conveying an impression, which is already a lot to cover.

In this case comparison tasting is also about getting the tasting and review process moving since I've been off that for the last three weekends related to my son becoming a Buddhist novice monk.  It's the main Songkran weekend here (the traditional Thai New Years), so we're a little busy doing water park outings and errands, but it did work to set aside time for a tasting.  Conditions were not optimal since the two noise-makers were around for it but a long day at a water park the day before had their volume turned down a little.

Tasting notes

First infusion:

Nan Mei:  the tea is nice.  It's complex, well balanced, with good intensity.  The profile includes plenty of mineral depth, well integrated with the other range along the lines of wood tone and leather.  I'd expect some of this taste range matches flavor descriptions that would be familiar to others but I'll need to muddle through breaking them down through other comparison descriptions.  The astringency is limited for as intense and full in feel as this tea is.  It won't really need to transition to soften to be approachable but I expect it will develop over the next several infusions.

Ban Komaen:   this tea is similar in one sense and completely different in another.  It also expresses good intensity, good body, and complexity, based in a lot of mineral range, with very different other primary flavor.  This tasting is going to be tough in terms of description.  With a lot of other teas it's a stretch to pin components and labels on what's going on but this really isn't getting far, and I'm not sure it's going to.  I'll probably keep saying things like "mineral, wood, earthy, tree bark" and it won't convey much.  So goes tea review in general.

I guess the difference might be in some teas tasting more like fruit or vegetables, or at least like somewhat familiar range like hay or fallen leaves.  With these teas so far into mineral range and other flavors that aren't exactly familiar it's not going to be easy.  Some unusual versions of nuts might make for a start, and describe one part, or spice descriptions could tell part of the story.  It might work as a fall-back to describe differences in the two instead of getting to an accurate flavor or aspect list.

Nan Mei 2015 gushu

Ban Komaen 2017 old tree

 Ban Komaen (Laos tea) left, Nan Mei right

Second infusion:

Nan Mei:  The overall effect is really nice; it's probably as well to communicate that before tripping over the details.  The depth and complexity are good, and the flavor range is positive, if hard to describe well, with a nice thickness to the tea and a long aftertaste.  The previous mix of heavy mineral, wood tone, and tree bark (for lack of a better description), are joined by a trace of tobacco.  There's more going on that that; a rich depth that reminds me a little of brazil nut.  The tea is really approachable for being as intense and complex as the flavors are.  It's not especially bitter or astringent but it has a lot of aspect range to give it complexity; it's not soft or thin.

Ban Komaen:  This tea shifted into a sweeter spice range that's a lot closer to lemongrass than I'd have expected possible.  It transitioned a lot in just one infusion.  It's not less approachable than the other tea, in spite of being a year old versus three, not harsh or astringent at all, although maybe a little softer in effect.  Neither are bitter.  There is enough complexity that maybe a little bitterness can be separated out as one part of what's going on but it's definitely not dominant in either tea.  There is a lot of mineral depth and wood range in this tea but that sweetness and lemongrass range really stands out.  It also has a nice feel and again the experience lasts a good while after swallowing the tea.

Some of this range reminds me a little of how Vietnamese snow teas come across, it's just not as bitter as those often are, and not quite as vegetal.  Those don't seem like typical green teas to me but they tend to span a character range in between sheng and green tea.  It's that mineral and earthy flavor aspect range that's common, some parts of which overlap with the other tea, with some parts not.

 Ban Komeun (Laos tea) left, Nan Mei right

Third infusion:

 Ban Komaen (Laos tea) left, Nan Mei right (infused a little longer)

Nan Mei:  a bark spice aspect picks up, a bit like that "darker" version of cinnamon Rou Gui resembles.  A local Chinese vendor said Vietnamese cinnamon tastes like that, but I'm really not familiar with a range of versions of cinnamon.  It could come across more like tobacco (and it did to me more in the last infusion) but it's only a little towards that from the cinnamon.  Or it's just both; usually tea review is presented as an aspects list.

Ban Komaen:  that nice spice range shifted a bit more; it's cool how novel this tea's flavors are.  It still reminds me quite a bit of lemongrass, so I'd say it's mostly that, but of course the mineral depth and earthiness in the wood range isn't common to tisanes.  The wood in both seems like an aged hardwood, if that helps, maybe with a very faint bite of young branch shoot.

The Nan Mei comes across as "drier" in feel when comparing the two; that full feel tightens your whole palate and gives it a dry feel in comparison, which is more noticeable as a contrast with the other tea.  The Laos tea has a good bit of structure and fullness to it (relatively speaking related to teas in general; really moderate as sheng goes) but the finish feels smoother.

Fourth infusion:

On that last infusion I went slightly longer than usual, which I often do to get a better feel for the feel of teas, and to check how the various aspects work out slightly more intense.  In this case it was because my daughter interrupted me, but the effect in tasting isn't so different related to it being planned or not.  I'll try this infusion quite light, which actually can make it easier to notice trace flavor components.

Nan Mei:  this tea is actually nicer brewed very lightly.  There is still plenty of flavor to be enjoyed and the fullness of feel and aftertaste are still pronounced, and the balance works better.  The list of what I'm experiencing hasn't changed, and the gap in describing it.  It's complex; I get the sense there are layers I'm just not getting to assigning a description to.  The woodiness is probably more like leather than wood, which is sweet enough there might be a dried fruit aspect that matches part of it.  Faint prune, maybe?  Possibly something else dried I'm not familiar with, or just not picking up clearly enough to pin down.

Ban Komaen:  the sweetness and lemongrass effect seems to be falling into more of a balance with the earthiness in this tea.  It has mineral range for a base but less than the other tea, and probably in a lighter range.  Neither of these teas express any aspect range that I'd expect would improve by diminishing through aging.  I can't judge aging potential well yet, or how they would change over a few more years, but they're both very nice now, in two different ways.

 Ban Komaen (Laos tea) left, Nan Mei right

Conclusion:

The next infusions will continue to show transitions; these teas are far from finished.  The basic story is already told, and I get bored with review notes that delve into finer and finer details and transition differences.  I expect that few readers want to read further after getting through a full first page of tasting notes anyway.

Both teas were really nice; both somewhat new ground for me.  The Nan Mei was nice for being so complex and pleasant, really solid across the entire range of aspects, and the Ban Komaen for being so novel.  I liked the Laos tea better because that unusual aspects set really worked for me, the unique flavor of the tea, but I guess others with different preferences might feel different ways about it.

It goes without saying but the continuing emphasis on how the teas taste doesn't match the sheng pu'er theme perfectly, for many.  Feel and aftertaste are highly valued aspect ranges for many sheng drinkers, and I'm not even mentioning qi here (drug-like effect, or at least along that line).  Comparison tasting gives up reviewing that as a factor, since tasting two completely different versions together mixes that effect.  I tend to not notice it that much myself anyway, and don't love it even when the effect is so pronounced it can't be missed.  I already put in my time with using recreational drugs and for me tea isn't about that.

There's room for more rambling on about appreciating different aspect ranges in teas, and how to some extent transitioning what one does appreciate could relate to what is experienced.  Exploring that line of thinking works through analogy:  if coffee and beer are acquired tastes, not so delicious or enjoyable when one first tries them, the existence of a lot of coffee and beer drinkers implies that lots of people had to keep trying them after initially not liking them.  Maybe mochas help explain some of the coffee part, or people needing to stay awake late at night.

Maybe I will start discussing how appreciating mouthfeel, aftertaste, and effects of teas are growing on me, or it could go the other way, and I could decide to ease up on exploring sheng because taste alone doesn't make for enough of a draw.  Of course there's no need for a deadline related to that.  It has been interesting getting further with this especially complex and novel tea type.  I doubt I'll part ways with drinking sheng, I just won't drop interest in all other tea types as some do.  I already have one more set of notes on other versions to convert into a post, and more teas to try.

still wearing that novice-monk haircut, which I do like on him

after an 8 hour shift at the water park

two days later, back at that park