Tea in the ancient world: Hatvala Vietnamese Oriental Beauty

a local holiday theme; more to follow at the end on that

It'll be nice getting back to this familiar tea type, to do a review of a tea that's very pleasant, complex and subtle, but not challenging on those other levels (combined or blind tastings and such).

Geoff of Hatvala sent a few Vietnamese sheng to try, along with this version I'm reviewing (which is also from Vietnam). I've tried previous years of their OB before, which were great, so it'll be interesting to try this one. If it's the same version another friend talked about it's different this year, more subtle, complex and pleasant, but not as intense and forward related to the fruit and spice notes.

There is back-story to ramble on about related to the potential range of this tea type, how much versions vary, but I've been through all that. Protests about Taiwan sharing the term "Oriental Beauty" do come up, but regardless of where someone stands on those naming convention issues the teas don't change. Tea experience itself is more interesting to me than naming conflicts, history, and related rituals (even teaware, and that scope is completely functional). Other functional issues like cultivar background or processing seem more interesting to me, since they're direct causes of how the teas turn out, but they can be hard to gain a clear picture of.

At best the debates over names and categories can be territorial disputes that are a bit irrelevant, people marking out their own space as special through holding onto their own words (beyond actual "counterfeiting" issues). At worst it seems to just be trolling, about getting conversation stirred up versus actually making any point. Language can be like that though; there is plenty of room for people to take use of labels differently than I do. I suppose that relates to me not wearing that many labels myself. I'm an American, and self-identify as a tea enthusiast, and beyond that different categories often get a bit hazy.

Review

On first sip it's clear the tea is great. I can see how this comes across much differently than I remember the last version. Some OB is bright and sweet, heavy on muscatel or other citrus. Other versions can show more spice, earthy but in a sweet way, with lots of cinnamon and the rest showing up. Both ranges tend to be more intense than subtle. This is different.

Cinnamon does stand out; that is common with a familiar range. Beyond that the main aspect seems to be a subtle melon range. I don't like melon, any versions but watermelon, so it's odd that it tends to work for me in the more rare cases where it makes it across in teas (and I identify it; more rare yet). Bai Mu Dan can include melon as a flavor aspect, for example, and that tends to seem pleasant to me. Mineral plays a larger role than it often does for OB. It's still soft, easy to drink, and very approachable, so it's not mineral as pairs with astringency and malt in a black tea; far from that. It does include some corroded iron bar range though, which is common in teas that are typically a lot edgier.

The taste is still clean. Really how well this particular tea works out, working from that aspects range, depends on that factor. It will evolve and flavors will shift but it wouldn't take much tree-fungus or fermenting peat aspect to totally throw off other really pleasant effect. I don't think this will go that way though.

That first infusion I went a bit over 15 seconds to get things started fast, to avoid saying "it's too light to be sure but..." All that just depends on preference; that makes for a nice start to experiencing a tea too.

I was just thrown out of my tasting space by the family making too much noise, putting a new steam iron together nearby. It's a nice change, to taste tea outside instead. It would be nice if I were a full kilometer away from that home appliance project since some people have quieter fights than my wife talking through interesting things going well. Luckily my wife has Keoni in there for common sense and mechanical aptitude; it'll still be loud but at least it will work out with him helping.

Keo made me this breakfast, French toast

somehow we had made it to a Tefal warehouse outlet sale

The way these aspects balance together have me not missing the more intense, brighter, and sweeter character of the earlier versions of this tea as much. It seems closer to a soft, sweet, rich Chinese black tea in character, where fruitier OB might share a little space with second-flush Darjeeling (just not the tannin edge; even for soft versions of those Darjeelings there's a lot more structure to them than in the softer Taiwanese--or typically Taiwanese--more-oxidized oolongs). The tea didn't transition that much in this first round; it still comes across as cinnamon, subtle but pronounced melon, probably a touch of citrus (just not a lot, maybe along the line of dried blood-orange peel), and mineral, in the range of corroded iron with rocks, I suppose.

That last mineral part has so much depth and complexity it comes across as a natural well spilling out of the side of a Pennsylvania hill does. That's how my parent's house gets water, by the way. It's filtered by miles of hills that it falls on as rain, and picks up the taste of the rocks it runs through. One particular mineral is stronger in their source, but I forget which (which has little to do with this tea, it's just a tangent). It may be that range that could make this tea very appealing to someone, or it might not if that doesn't click for them, and the brighter orange and other spice range is missed. Either way it's not hard to relate to, to "get," unlike some subtle teas or intense teas that take more processing.

The idea of alternative interpretations of flavor aspects has been coming up, a little. Not in online discussions so much, but as something that keeps occurring to me. Someone could see this as floral in nature. It's not a stretch at all to shift interpretation from melon, subdued citrus, and cinnamon, over mineral, over to including or being based on a rich, sweet, complex floral tone instead, maybe in orchid range. Or I suppose it would be more natural to just add it to a list.

That cinnamon tone with mineral leans towards what people tend to identify as toasted pastry. It's not like croissant, in this case, but more like a good version of danish, or even matching sticky-bun. As to the fruit I'm interpreting as melon a different part of the range reminds me a little of dried longan, which has a sweet, rich flavor that's hard to describe. Given all that the melon could be interpreted as an anomaly, a part that doesn't match the rest, but to me the tea including that range lends the experience complexity.

The tea isn't thin, and it doesn't leave your mouth as soon as you drink it; it's just not so noteworthy in those regards that I've ended up going on about that range. If someone really valued full feel this might seem a little thin but it's not thin at all. The aftertaste isn't localized or intense as it is for sheng, or even bright-stone mineral in Taiwanese high mountain oolongs, but that interesting mineral range stays with you, sweetened and deepened with the cinnamon doing the same.

However many infusions in it's not transitioning much. Some teas do and some don't; at least it had nice complexity and balance going for it all along, and it seems to be holding up well across the first 4 infusions or so. I've got things to do though, so I'll grab a couple more fast infusions and then get back to this later, leaving off taking notes for now.

That friend who had tried this mentioned he liked last year's version a lot better at first, since it's more typical of OB range: brighter, a bit sweeter, more intense, heavier on fruit aspects like citrus. He also said that after drinking this a few times he appreciates it more, as different instead of inferior. I'd tend to agree. I did like the version and set of aspects better from the version I tried before but this is interesting, well-balanced, and quite pleasant, just different.

As with any of the Hatvala teas this version is a good value for what it is. Their rolled oolong versions sell for less but that's how the types work out in Taiwan too; this type is a lot more rare (good versions of it are), and in higher demand. Versions from Taiwan vary so much it doesn't work well to say if it's typical of that general range or not. To me it seems so, and it seems above average related to what I've tried of those, but again with a high degree of variability any one person's personal judgment about that means less.

Sharing Thai culture theme images

On a completely different subject I recently attended a traditional Thai version of a wedding, and on the same day the US celebrated Thanksgiving Thailand observed Loy Krathong. It's probably closer to Easter in underlying theme than Thanksgiving; the idea is to float small "boats" (kratongs) made of bread or leaves and flowers to carry off your sins. Originally it tied more to appreciation towards nature, per my limited and likely flawed understanding (so getting back towards being thankful), but it seems to relate more to personal observations now.

At any rate I'll share some pictures of both.