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darkening but not that far along |
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plain labeling, more how that used to go for commissioned teas |
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a little better look, but wet leaves tell more of the story |
Two posts back I'd mentioned a Chawang Shop order set was down to two teas to try (I think it's really 3; the list isn't that long but I keep losing track). They're all so interesting that I'm essentially reviewing every tea, not usually how that would work out.
Whether a vendor sends teas for review or if I buy them--which gets treated in much the same way, beyond mentioning that difference--I review what I like and what is interesting to me, whatever it makes sense to pass on. This rounds out two earlier posts on semi-aged sheng, not exactly my favorite theme for sheng character related to what to drink but interesting to explore.
The theme for purchasing versions was obvious enough: not only do I get to try teas at this middle state to experience where a transition would be I also get to keep checking that, and then drink some of it later when aged. Eventually I really should purchase more of the versions that seemed to work out the best, but I'll see about that later.
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I keep citing this to reference it myself |
Review:
This version is nowhere near as well-preserved as that 2008 Yiwu brick had been; the aging is apparent in the color, even though it's 4 years younger. But the rest of the experience is the thing.
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just getting started; color seems to show limited age input |
A thickness to the feel of the tea hits you just as fast as any of the flavor; that's nice. Flavor range is perhaps a little subdued, as I've went on and on about for those last two posts, but for this being the first round and with expectations dialed down for where this is in an aging cycle it's just fine, plenty intense. Aging related flavors are emerging, darker mineral tones, subtle dried fruit, what could be aromatic spice, or at least towards that. Some of the warm supporting earthiness resembles roasted chestnut. Bitterness hasn't completely transitioned away but this version of it is mild and soft, complimenting the rest. Of course it will probably change in ways lots of people, and me, would see as positive over another few years but it's fine as it is.
All that is just a first impression; I'm not onto the second round yet.
On the second infusion wood tone picks up; in between green wood and a more cured version, or maybe spanning the two. The flavor, thick feel, and aftertaste are all complex though; it's not a simple taste experience or at all limited to that range. All that supporting flavor aspect list I mentioned shifted a bit too. Warm mineral still serves as a base for the rest, and a trace of bitterness rounds out the experience, but a different subtle expression of dried fruit kicks in, and the flavor tied to roasted chestnut seemed to transition to that green and cured wood. More cured hardwood, but there's a touch of vegetal character in this, surely some of the pre-transition range hanging in there. The spice range isn't as pronounced as it could be but it's quite interesting and supports the rest well.
Those same aspects are all present on the third infusion but the balance of them has shifted. Bitterness is fading already, and there wasn't much of it to drop out. What remains kind of helps the rest of the balance, but I'd imagine it wouldn't hang in there through so much additional aging, at least not in the wetter and hotter environment the tea cake is in now. Probably being in a dry and cool place allowed this to retain more youth than it otherwise would have; staying here for some years it might've already been gone, along with the more vegetal part of that wood range.
Wood is probably more of the flavor in this now; some of the rest just dialed back. That pleasant, thick feel and notable aftertaste round out this experience nicely. It's not nearly as subtle as those last three versions I'd just reviewed, across any of the dimensions. I like the tea now but the potential is intriguing; it's not so much rough edges that would need to smooth out as interesting character change that might come up.
Maybe this will develop a lot of spice and fruit over 5 years and become wonderful; maybe wood will shift from green and cured hardwood to the latter along with tobacco flavors, and it won't be that interesting to me. It doesn't seem likely it will fade to nothing given that intensity is this positive so late through the aging transition, but again that's just a guess, not based on all that much. For it to be this interesting, positive in character, and pleasant now seems a great sign.
On the fourth infusion a pleasant spice range picks back up. I'm guessing that slight changes in timing--that I'm not intentionally causing--are shifting how this comes across. As a flash infusion the flavor range won't be the same as using a more standard 8 second or so version, or brewed longer. There's lots to this feel and aftertaste range even though infusion time and strength is moderate.
Sweetness is nice in this; that's a part that I missed in those last three sheng versions, how that makes a tea balance. Someone just commented on a Reddit post discussion about how no teas seem sweet to them, in relation to how sugar is sweet. Of course it's a description for how different compounds come across in a similar way, mostly amino acids, per input from two very good sources.
That spice is in a different form now, closer to a mild and sweet root spice, where before it was more towards a warmer, earthier aromatic bark spice. I'm up against personal limits in being more specific; I went through a very long phase of drinking quite varied tisanes, and odd versions of both came up, but I didn't retain those as a catalog of sense memories to refer back to. Wood tones are dialed back now as well; instead of being dominant they balance with that spice. It's nice how it's a quite different experience four rounds in. Interesting and positive transitions and brewing a high number of pleasant infusions are both great signs for quality in tea, although I don't necessarily see the opposite as a clear indication of a flaw or of a lower quality version--it just varies.
I'll try this as a fast infusion to judge how that changes things, then try a longer one, and then 6 infusions in they cycle will be towards the latter half.
Brewed quite light doesn't change much (now on round 5). Flavor intensity is still good; the thick feel and aftertaste don't change. That root spice aspect could as easily be interpreted as including dried fruit now, but then that's also true of the last round, maybe just evolved a little further in this. It would most similar to a dried longan, maybe; now what is that similar to in Western terms? Dried pear is close enough, but dried longan really is closer.
I think I do feel teas more related to drinking them in a more quiet environment; the kids are out at a Mandarin lesson now (one of them; my daughter joins for a play session held at that local Chinese-Thai school). It's the same school she attended pre-school at, Sitabur, which for Bangkok locals is not far from Sam Yan, kind of the middle of nowhere in an old part of town. It's undergoing urban renewal, that area, although without violent crime as an issue at all, so the form of decay and renewal is different. They don't do that here; they're not so into drugs, there's pick-pocketing and purse snatching but no mugging, and people usually only kill each other for personal reasons.
On round 6 I let the tea brew longer, more like 15 seconds, long enough to get a feel where that heads. It doesn't change much but the feel thickens even more, and flavor experience shifts some. Earthier range aspects stand out more; warm mineral, and back to the wood tones. The milder fruit and root spice range gets crowded out a bit. Since it would be natural to go with longer infusions from around this point on those factors would mix, and the character would change related to using that longer time, even if intensity level was maintained.
I'm not going to do notes on infusions up to 10 or so rounds though; this is long enough as it is, and how that plays out matters but the basic story is already told. Some people feel that infusion count is critical to judging tea quality but I kind of don't; it's one factor that matches together with others related to that, but to me it doesn't work as a single clear marker. I get it why people see it as such; the typical correspondence is there, and a tea brewing half as many positive rounds gives up a lot. It would be normal for me to ramble on in another dozen sentences about how I see quality as a sum of different factors coming together, and positive overall balance, but I'll skip the detailed version of that this time.
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still quite green, the wet leaves |
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2008 Yiwu leaves were further along, just moderately aged for 11 years old |
I did drink a good number more infusions from this, and they did vary some. That same underlying wood tone and very positive feel remained, into a really high infusion count (potential quality marker: check).
Conclusions, other thoughts
Pretty good tea; I didn't mention that for value this seems fantastic (check that price; it's unbelievable). Being at this age it's not as simple to sort out all the related factors (storage input versus original character, general quality level, typical location character, how it will be when more aged / fermented), but it's at least obvious that it's quite decent tea.
As far as fermentation level goes this seems to be slightly behind the two 2011 Tea Mania versions I just tried related to darkened leaf color and still having a bit of vegetal nature, close to on par with that 2008 Yiwu brick, but somehow it's more intense than all three. I'll skip the part about saying more about how cool and dry Kunming storage location slowed the transition, since I've been going on about that. The character works better as a result of not being overly subtle, also due to the pleasant thick feel, and appropriate levels of sweetness and bitterness. I see it as having even more aging potential than those three, but then again that's a guess, and based more on intensity than a specific character difference, which I should be able to interpret.
Unlike in the case of the two semi-aged Tea Mania samples I just reviewed I own a 357 gram cake of this, so I can find out how it will be later, just by waiting. Unlike with some other past semi-aged range sheng versions the good potential in this works well right now too.
I tried looking up notes on earlier reviews to see how the character might have changed but of course it would be impossible to extract out subjective interpretation from any account. All the same there is no Steepster set of comments or review for that. That brought up a couple of tangents I'll hold off on mentioning here since they connect better to another subject I've been writing about, about tea value and another version that's not similar but related in some ways.
Someone mentioned in a comment recently about appreciating a somewhat aged sheng related to being stored on the dry side and retaining a vegetal character. That's what I keep talking about me looking forward to dropping out, right? Hopefully how the subjective parts of these impressions fit together is already clear. Someone else might really love this tea version just as it is and to me it shows great potential to improve a lot over the next few years, or 5. I like it now but I think it will become much better, per my preference.
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Kalani at her new school, the third day |
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Kalani at her new school, second day, adjusting fast |
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first day at a new school; rough seeing her go through that |
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