2013 Xiaguan Fei Tai blend, Love Forever

"Love" version right; the FT iron cake is much more compressed

This post is a bit different, reviewing a tea version with an interesting back-story.  That relates to there being a slight complication over two different versions of the same tea turning up.  Since I'm breaking with standard form and not describing the vendor source here (I just came by a sample) it could be clearer what this even is. 

This description from the Teas We Like vendor page (not the source this is from) offers more background that explains a variation difference:

Pressed in 2013 with older material, this Xiaguan Feitai blend is believed to contain some 2003 material from the Banzhang area.  Of the two versions produced, this is the significantly better one, packaged in a paper tong.  The tea has a thick texture, full satisfying and sweet flavour, lots of resinous aroma, and gives a very intense but comfortable experience.  Taiwan natural dry storage.


So far so good.  It's my understanding that this is the paper tong version.  But then a running sub-theme here relates to citing different reviews, and those don't really match this account, which could seem to call that into question.  This "Love" version doesn't come across quite that positively, and the aspects don't match that or other descriptions.  I'm not sure if the character difference couldn't relate to storage conditions input, versus this being that other "not significantly better" version, but it's not the type of variation I would expect to relate to a storage issue.  We'll get to that part.

The background between this tea version and US tea enthusiast interest relates to James Schergen of TeaDB being given a tong of this type for a wedding gift.  Somewhat related, TeaDB reviewed that tea here in 2017, and again in 2019.  Typically I wouldn't know or really care how many times teas have been reviewed elsewhere, but after checking back in on a review that split in the two versions drew my attention, and differences in review accounts seemed puzzling. 

As a start on that the tea sounds a lot different in the 2019 TeaDB review video version (just cited), compared to the 2017 one, but then sheng can evolve quite a bit over even two years time. 


Per normal practice (here, at least) I'm comparing it to a 2011 Xiaguan FT "Yun Mei Chun" mini iron cake, one I've reviewed here, with the Chawang Shop vendor listing here.  It seems much younger, and it is, so it sort of works for comparing general character but not really so well for considering aging / storage conditions input.

Review:

"Yun Mei Chun" FT left; more bits from using a tightly compressed version

Xiaguan FT Iron Cake (2011):  warm, rich, sweet, and complex, relatively clean for the range of flavors present.  This could be aged further; it's not even close to finished yet.  Astringency and bitterness aren't issues but a touch of green wood in the background remains.  I do like this tea; it's been my favorite among trying a round of Xiaguan tuos and small cakes, along with Tulin and other comparable versions.  To be clear all that was limited sampling, not a broad scale exploration.  This recent post covers review of three relatively young versions (2012-2015, to identify starting points), with other posts covering older related versions scope.


Xiaguan Love Forever (2003 material, at least some of it, pressed in 2013):  mushroom stands out at first; that changes a lot.  I think that's just from the tea input, probably not related to a storage effect.  The other 2010 Xiaguan tuocha I bought from Chawang Shop is heavy on mushroom too.  We'll see if that fades or shifts in proportion a bit; these aren't even completely opened up yet.  The mushroom is interesting for being in the range of those tree fungus, the white half-moon versions, not so much shitake or the rest.  Beyond that the flavors are clean and positive, with reasonable sweetness, and no notable mustiness.

Second infusion:

This was brewed longer, probably a bit too long, but that will help identify character and flaws (that's one theory and approach used, anyway), and will push through the rest of the opening up phase.

Iron Cake:  too strong like this; not unexpected.  The astringency works well for being a bit much; it's a little dry, and warm mineral comes across as strong, seemingly tied to feel, but the feel isn't bad.  The sweetness seems to evolve towards a dried fruit, maybe along the lines of dried dark cherry.  Mineral is at the other end of that, for flavor, a bit towards a warm version of corroded metal.  Green wood isn't pronounced but is present in mild form, to me signifying that the level of fermentation isn't relatively complete.  The overall balance really works, but trying it light next time will determine more about a match to my own preference.

In comparing it with the other version a turpentine sort of effect comes across.  It's hard to place where that fits within other flavor or character range, if it relates to storage (probably not), how it will age, or how negative it is (closer to neutral but not positive).


Xiaguan Love:  mushroom is easing up but that's still the main flavor aspect present.  Other warmer, sweeter, complex range fills in beyond that.  If that pattern holds and mushroom drops away further over the next two rounds this will be easier to appreciate.  Mustiness or geosmin (like beets, or dirt) can relate to storage conditions input and degree of fermentation (supposedly the main theme of this tasting set, kind of lost for trying these three weeks apart, or whatever it is), but dried mushroom flavor is something else.  Beyond that warm complex flavor range fills in, maybe dark wood, or maybe cured hay, with plenty of mineral range grounding that.

It's not really vegetal, beyond the mushroom and cured hay sort of being vegetal; I mean it's not in the sense of greener wood and the rest.  Both of these are pretty clean, both relatively positive.  Feel has decent fullness in this, and aftertaste adds complexity.

Third infusion:

Iron Cake:  a little smoke showed up; strange.  I guess that extends from the warm, corroded metal mineral and turpentine, as a variant of that range.  It works better for being located within a clean, sweet, well-balanced aspects context.  The feel is much improved, thicker and rich, even though this is brewed lighter.  That seems to relate to the prior astringency working well and coming across differently at a different level, in addition to infusion round transition, normal changes.  Fruit isn't heavy in this but that range works well to balance the earthier aspects.


Xiaguan Love:  continually improving; mushroom keeps falling into a lighter balance.  For someone who loves a mushroom consume (broth) maybe this would be a positive aspect, instead of a limitation or flaw, as I'm sort of assuming here.  The overall balance of the rest is good; the tea is nice.  It's clean in effect, with no problems or mustiness related to too-wet storage, and without a pronounced vegetal edge that mid-level aging can bring across.  It's probably not that far off the other Xiaguan tuocha I bought from Chawang Shop in character; heavy on mushroom, clean and reasonably well balanced beyond that, including a good bit of other range.  I just don't love mushroom.  Sauteed wild mushroom added to a grilled cheese sandwich I do; I mean how it tends to work out in tea.

The green wood / touch of turpentine effect in the other version is much more pronounced comparing these two directly.  To some extent knowing initial aspects would help out, but that green-wood tone seems to definitely be a vegetal range that fermentation would cause to drop out.  Feel should shift comparably, and the Love version is a touch softer.  But then it also gives up a little in richness, as I interpret these.

There's another significant input I've not mentioned yet:  the "Iron Cake" version is more broken.  This will change results in a way that's a bit complicated.  Astringency will pick up related to that; different compounds will extract, with flavors shifting some along with it.  In general more whole-leaf tea presentation is just better, it works out more positively, but to some extent it's also just different.  Aged versions of more broken teas can transition in ways that offsets that clear value judgment final assessment (being not as good); those same compounds can be more positive at higher proportions after significant age transition.  I'm not sure that it would ever be preferable to convert a whole-leaf tea source into a more broken or ground version, that results would ever improve in a way to support that being a positive factor.  There's also a related commercial concern, beyond that outcome difference:  more whole leaf tea is more desirable, and would sell for more.

Fourth infusion:

Iron Cake:  the balance of these aspects is the most positive thing, it's just the kind of effect that won't come across well in flavor-list description.  Sweetness, warm tones, rich feel, complex flavors; it all works.  On the downside the turpentine edge, tied to green wood effect, isn't necessarily positive.  It's my impression that this represents further aging potential, that it will actually be a positive factor in another 4 or 5 years once that transitions further.  If that was just missing instead the tea would probably have less aging potential; it would simply fade more, versus change in positive ways.  It's nice as it is now though; I do like it.

The way the warm mineral comes across reminds me a little of how Liu Bao tends to work out; that slate-mineral effect, that can trail a little into charcoal, corroded metal, or other range.


Love:  this is softer, and less complex and intense.  It definitely seems further age-transitioned, but then it should, being 8 years older (at least some of the material; that part could be clearer).  The leaf color also indicates the "iron cake" version isn't even close to as aged; it has retained a lot of greenness, with the "love" version moving on to a uniform brown color. 

There's a sweetness and richness in the other version this doesn't quite match.  I suppose if the mushroom aspect was present in a lower level (now much more balanced) then pushing it for infusion strength might allow the rest to come across stronger, without it turning into more of a blast of mushroom flavor.  I'll try letting this brew just a little longer than the other next round and compare results.

I had really expected this "Love" version to be a slightly higher quality version than the other, to be more positive.  That's not based on much; maybe just hearing something about the unusually branded version in passing and the "love" theme itself being catchy.  It's pleasant tea, just a little flatter than the other, seemingly more age-transitioned but not picking up deeper complexity to compensate for leveling out general intensity along with initial vegetal range.

Fifth infusion:

Iron Cake:  the way those warm flavors combine somehow shifted a little to come across more as spice in this round, a little towards clove, or in between that and an aromatic wood tone.  Fruit range always seemed a potential interpretation of a supporting aspect that never really developed enough to be clear.  It's still present, still open to being interpreted in different ways, and potentially tied to what I'm describing as spice now.  Or more likely the green wood / medicinal / turpentine range shifted a little to come across more as that.


Love:  Drawing out the infusion time just a little (to 15 seconds or just over) has improved results.  Astringency wasn't an issue, and that bumps up thickness of feel and intensity.  Mushroom (the story of this tea version) is still relatively moderately balanced, but still the main aspect present.  Sweetness ramps up along with the rest of the flavor intensity, giving it a nice balance.  Mineral undertone and an aged hay sort of effect fill in intensity.

Tied to a lack of astringency and overall intensity, this is seemingly far enough along in age transitioning that it would smooth out and deepen from here, lightening up a little in terms of flavor, but perhaps the main shifts in character have already occurred.  Of course that's just a guess; I'm in the process of sorting all that out.

Sixth infusion:

I'll probably let this go after this; writing or reading a page of text is enough.  This "iron cake" version seems to have the potential for late-stage twists in changing character but the "love" version seems inclined to just fade, since it hasn't really been changing as much between rounds.

Iron cake:  this seems to be fading just a little, losing some intensity already.  General character hasn't changed much, and being as intense as it had been it's not overly subtle brewed lightly for that, just not quite as intense, and a bit thinner.  It's a couple of infusions ahead of schedule for thinning like that but at least one was brewed stronger than optimum by a good bit.  It hasn't transitioned much from the prior description otherwise.  I like this tea like this but to me its real potential lies in aging more.


Love:  again not so different than last round.  It's really clean in effect, and flavor intensity dropping back can occur in a relatively long aging process, ideally with the tea picking up substantial depth to compensate, or subtle flavor range that is present being especially interesting.

I like this tea too but it really doesn't stand out related to others in a similar range, beyond offering a more fermented character example.  Thickness of feel could be stronger, aftertaste range could stand out more (both intensity and type), flavor complexity and balance could be improved.  One might naturally criticize that I'm mixing how lesser aged teas should be, in relation to fully transitioned versions; flavor intensity and complexity isn't necessarily a main part of that relatively fully fermented theme.

I'm not mentioning body-feel aspects, the effect of the tea, and that is something that is said to change over aging, in more optimum circumstances.  I tend to not "get" that, and combined tasting gives it up as something one could notice.  Doing a lot of combined tasting would explain why I'm never evolving that capacity, in part.  I'm not aiming to develop it; not enabling noticing it more.  I drink teas alone every work-day morning, so five days a week, but tend to rush that.  And I'm a little hazy around 7 AM too, not as open to minor shifts in internal state.

Further conclusions:

I really thought this tea would stand out as a higher quality version than the 2011 Xiaguan FT sheng cake.  Comparing 2003 and 2011 versions would tend to make aging concerns stand out a lot more than quality or other character differences, which is probably what happened.  Both are so clean in effect that the mustiness, geosmin, or heavy mineral range marking potentially problematic or undesirable input in the other two examples just didn't come up.

To some extent I like the FT version better, but that doesn't completely take into account that it's sort of not ready to drink yet, probably needing another 4 or 5 years of somewhat humid storage to show it's true potential (per my preference; some people might like it just like this).  This "Love" cake seems to more or less be where it's going to be now, close to an end point.  There is a huge convenience advantage to not waiting 5 years after you buy a tea to drink it, especially if someone lives in a place where dry climate would involve a lot of messing around just to get a tea to age transition at all, or waiting another decade instead if it's stored in a cool, dry environment.

Some of this "FT version" interpretation probably involved hopefulness; I'm expecting only the most negative aspects (the green wood bordering on turpentine) to switch to something I like even better, eg. fruit and spice to develop, and not expecting any positive aspect to fade at all.  Of course both are probably going to happen, and some degree of change I don't see coming.


To me if this "Forever Love" version swapped out some of the dried mushroom range for just about anything else that would shift this overall impression a lot, but then that's how personal preference goes.  I have a relatively high tolerance for some degree of storage mustiness, geosmin, or heavy mineral range that some might see as off-putting, but don't really love mushroom or smoke aspects as primary flavors.


It's not just that, related to not matching those other review takes.  Flavor intensity and aspect range, thick feel, and no mention of mushroom doesn't match.  I'll cite another review example from a source that seems pretty solid, M Gault's Late Steeps blog (the 2017 review summary):


What’s not to love? Thick texture, strong aroma with high perfume resin and low notes of tobacco and woody incense, flavour in spades, productive bitterness and extra juiciness on the cheeks, and intense but extremely comfortable energetic effects.  No off notes, no geosmin, no funkiness, and no smokiness.  It does have some astringency, which does not bother me.  It isn’t an extra-late steeper, perhaps this is due to the slightly chopped nature of the material (which is actually quite nice looking overall).


2 1/2 years later the tea would be different but that doesn't sound like what I just reviewed.

It seems odd that mushroom could be an effect from storage, as mustiness and some types of mineral scope definitely can.  I guess it's conceivable that it ties to a varying form of the tobacco M Gault mentioned in Late Steeps.  I'm just accustomed to teas stored here in Bangkok coming across as musty for the first couple of months, not to other types of flavor aspect changes, adding or taking away a main flavor component.  Bitterness dropping out is normal, and warm fruit tones (or menthol, or whatever else) picking up over a longer period of time would also seem normal, but not dominant mushroom being added.

There's no conclusion here; the idea was to pass on those findings.  If I were reading this I would either assume that one or more of the tea interpretations was way off, or that the tea isn't the same version, but I'm not sure of that myself.

Wild grown Thai sheng

just a wrapper he bought; no real meaning to this

In visiting that Chinatown shop I keep bringing up, Jip Eu, along with the fellow tea enthusiast I also keep mentioning, Ralph, it came up that I never try the same teas twice there.  Sometimes we try versions of what are standard for them, Wuyi Yancha oolong versions, inexpensive ones that are sometimes better than you'd expect, or moderately higher cost versions that vary a lot in character.  Or other more unusual teas they happen to have around; that included a Japanese version of sheng not so long ago.  I've tried and bought decent Dan Cong and Longjing there, and sometimes it's tisanes instead, or teas they don't even sell, an unusual hei cha or whatever else.  Once they had just finished trying a 40 year old version of Longjing when I stopped by.

Ralph--who also writes a tea blog--kept asking about different local Thai teas, leading to us exploring more of those.  Sometimes Kittichai even makes local Thai tea versions, not usually to sell, as a side project on an outing, but sometimes for selling them too.  They're usually pretty good; he comes from a tea producing family and made teas in Anxi and Wuyishan in his younger days.  He mentioned making cakes of sheng some years back, and we tried one, this tea I'm reviewing.

inexpensive Thai oolong, a shu pu'er (the mini bricks), and Chinese pastry

This is most of it for back-story; I don't even remember the age.  I asked Ralph again and he said that he thought it was picked in 2012 and pressed in 2014, or at least close to that.  7 year old tea can be relatively lightly fermented, depending on storage conditions, but here in Bangkok that's a long time.  Kittichai said more about harvesting the tea, about the source, but even that day I don't think I had a good feel for plant types or ages or the rest.

The character was really unusual; it didn't taste like sheng I've had before, any type of it.  It was a bit closer to sheng pu'er character than that Japanese version was (which I'll get around to reviewing; Kittichai gave me some).  I'll let the review describe in what sense that applies, and why I liked and was curious about how it would develop further.

Review:

First infusion:  part of the appeal and downside (both) of this tea is that it's unconventional, which already comes across clearly in the first infusion.  It's good, just unusual, and good is always relative.

Where to start; it has some thickness, but the rich feel is both less structured (toward dry) and full.  That aspect is sort of like how oolongs are, but present in a slightly different sense in some sheng.  Then it does include a slight resin-like feel, maybe closer to how some Yunnan black teas come across.  There is very little astringency and bitterness in this tea version, which could tie to age.

Flavor includes pleasant sweetness and decent balance.  It's further towards autumn leaf than sheng tends to get, not quite warm enough to match black teas with similar range.  There's a slight spice or medicinal edge to it.  I'll try to break that down further in later rounds.  It's there to be tasted now, it's making the association that's an issue, along with some background noise factoring in.  My wife thinks we should go see a Frozen 2 showing in one hour, but I think seeing one in 2 hours and 20 minutes makes more sense.

I think this unusual character must relate to using a mix of wild tea plant types (he harvested it himself, along with help, in the North of Thailand, from wild growing plants).  Those growing conditions probably affect flavor profile too.  And processing would factor in, but I'm definitely not going to guess further, and say which input led to what.  I try a lot of old-plant natural-growth sheng from a lot countries, kind of regularly even, and it can be essentially identical to Yunnan versions, this just isn't.

Second infusion:  that shifted a lot.  For someone not expecting that it could be off-putting, since the character is even more unusual.  When I tried this in the shop I was wondering if it would age well, and I really don't know, but curiosity got the better of me related to buying it.

What had been a dried leaf effect with a bit of medicinal edge turned into even more of an edge, not exactly conventional bitterness but towards that.  It reminds me of the smell of fallen and fermenting wet leaves, but leaves that are still in that process, like the smell of a very wet fall day.  What I'm calling a medicinal edge could be interpreted differently, as a slightly sour food item, as something lightly cured.  I tend to not use "sour" as a tea description much, and it would seemingly be negative if I did, but it fits here, since this is moderately sour.  It all still kind of works, although I expect later infusions to be cleaner in effect, and somehow suspect this will transition into something else over a few years.

At this particular infusion this doesn't work well.  The effect in between sourness and bitterness isn't way out of balance but it's unconventional and not necessarily positive.  I think it will improve, although I don't clearly remember a particular transition cycle.

Third infusion:  brewed slightly faster (a bit under 10 seconds) the balance is much nicer, although some of that still could have been early-round transition, since that comes up a lot with sheng.  The sour / bitter effect is diminishing, pulling closer to a light bitterness.  A vegetal range (the wet but not fully fermented tree leaf) is in a nicer balance, with sweetness and warmth picking up.  It's clean in effect; it would seem natural for this mix of flavors to not be that way.  A warm spice note picks up, not so far off clove, or really most people would probably just say that it's clove.


Fourth infusion:  even better, although not so different.  Rich feel picks up; the structure (feel) is novel but not far off that of quite nice Yunnan sheng versions.  A dried leaf version warms, shifting to be closer to a drier version of autumn leaf.  Spice is interesting in this, the "towards clove" part.  Mineral is pronounced, more so now, like a light stone (limestone?) leaning just a little towards corroded metal, but in a generally pleasant sense.  As is typical flavors being clean, sweetness helping, and feel-balance complimenting the rest makes it work.  It's a completely different tea than it was two infusions ago, although that unconventional range (slight sourness, unusual bitterness, partly fermented leaf vegetal range) only faded and expanded to balance better; it's still a part of it.  It'll be interesting to see how late rounds go; we didn't get to that in the shop.


Fifth infusion:  this shifted a little to include a different spice range.  It's towards a very aromatic wood, past cedar and redwood, onto closer to incense bark spices, frankincense and myrrh (which I can't distinguish separately; my own hippie days are pretty far back now).  Sourness has faded just a little more, still a contributing aspect that some people could find either pleasant or objectionable.  Related to expectations across other sheng it's not normal, and therefore mostly negative, but aside from that, tied to just how it comes across, it's closer to neutral, just different.  Related to considering how this will age, it would seem to be anyone's guess.

Sixth infusion:  it keeps improving slightly, becoming catchier.  The warm, novel spice range keeps ramping up, thick rich feel improves, and the touch of sourness and odd vegetal range fades as a lighter and lighter contribution.  To me this is quite pleasant just as it is now.  I could relate to a sheng purist not really relating to it; it's unusual.  Aftertaste is even pronounced in this, not at the far end of the spectrum as sheng goes, but above average.


Seventh infusion:  I'll have to leave off drinking this to go see Frozen 2; not such a bad thing.  It's quite pleasant at this round.  I did get back to trying it later but it seemed to mostly just fade past that.

Conclusions:

I'm not sure what to make of this tea, or where it will go from here, related to ongoing transitions.  For any sheng pu'er in a more typical range I can compare trying versions of different characters to older versions that I expected had been similar.  Not for this.

It's odd that the flavor isn't diminishing, if this had been closer to green tea at the start, or even black tea, for that matter.  It does seem like sheng pu'er, related to feel and aftertaste, and the way versions can be so complex across all levels.  The flavor range just isn't familiar, and the feel / astringency isn't identical, with no significant bitterness present (normal for sheng this old and fermented to this degree, depending on the starting point).  I wouldn't be surprised if that somewhat odd initial character diminishes, and flavor gains warmer tones and depth, with feel thickening.  I guess we'll see.

Video interview with the Russian Tea Lovers founder

I just did a video interview with Alexander Vorontsov, the founder of the Russian Tea Lovers group (one founder, at least), with that video here.   I just realized that I'm sideways in that, checking it out to post about it.  It's always the little details.

I've met him before, and discussed Russian tea culture, most of which is summarized in this post.  It's a bit redundant to say a lot about the video since that content stands alone, but I'll introduce who that group is and what we talked about in order to help people determine if watching it would be of interest.

meeting Alexander at the one local shop I always go to, Jip Eu

That group holds local tea tastings, with members sharing both tea and information about exploring tea elsewhere.  Chinese teas have the most influence in Russia, I think, but there is local Sochi area production, and a deeper history of tea production in Georgia (with more on that history here). 

On my end we visited Russia a couple of years ago, with a travel oriented post about that here.  Russia is amazing, and the local tea culture runs deeper there than here in Bangkok, even though Chinese culture is the main influence on Thai culture, with Thais mostly descended from multiple waves of Chinese immigrants.  I've reviewed a lot of tea from Moychay, one of their main suppliers, who also runs tea clubs there (something different).  Their one Nannuo sheng pu'er I bought on that first trip was one of my overall favorite tea versions.

tea tasting in Moscow with Dasha and Alexander, the Laos Tea founder

In that video we talked about international tea culture themes, and how local perspectives go back in the US.  I mentioned what I'm up to related to tea, and my own favorite other tea blogs (Steep Stories, Tea DB, Tea Addict's Journal), and we discussed why Tea for Me Please is probably the most influential US blog, and how that subculture works out.  Then onto organic themes related to tea, online group culture, sourcing, and so on, pretty much all what one would expect.

so many cool places to visit there

Assam Teehaus orthodox Assam versions

orthodox Assam (left) and blended orthodox Assam

more sharing tea than samples in this case

I'm reviewing two more of the Assam versions passed on by Maddhurjya Gogoi, related to his cousin Chittaranjan recently visiting here to drop them off, and the earlier review of two others.  There's more on what they are doing, and photos of tea growing and production on his related Facebook page, and a vendor profile in this review post from last year.  The short version is that they're focusing on changing over to organic production methods, and using a local co-op style processing model.

I don't have more to share as an intro; these are presented as orthodox Assam and blended orthodox Assam.  Teas are ordinarily grown and processed by relatively small origin local lots and harvest seasons, and that must be what's going on here, just without those specifics.  They could as easily be presented along with invoice numbers or brand names, as the Enigma version was, but that doesn't change how they come across when brewed anyway.  Maddhurjya is probably selling more of this tea in a small wholesale vendor capacity than as an end-point seller, which would naturally relate to doing less with an online sales outlet site and branding themes.

Review:

blended orthodox right

Orthodox:  pretty good orthodox Assam.  Malt stands out, of course, but as is typical for better orthodox Assam it's moderate in intensity, balanced by other flavor aspect range.  A pronounced dark mineral tone grounds the flavors.  Sweetness, balance, and complexity are fine.  I'll do more with splitting out an aspects list next round.


Blended orthodox:  this is similar, it just has a different flavor aspect to it, some sort of spice or herb range.  It's hard to tell if it's identical to the other wild version I had already tried, which struck me as closest to fennel seed.  It might be that, or it may not be.  This version seems a little drier than the first.  The mineral effect is similar but the feel aspect is different.  Dryness is moderate for both, the way the feel structure extends to include that.

Second infusion:

Orthodox:  it's quite nice; the level of malt, feel structure, clean flavors, and overall balance.  It could be a little sweeter and a little more complex.  The flavor intensity coming across as malt and a warm mineral undertone is pleasant but more range would be more positive. 

At some point these descriptions and interpretations end up splitting hairs, pitting quite good versions of teas against the best versions that I've ever experienced.  This tea would be a revelation for a lot of black tea drinkers, breaking into new ground for striking the overall balance it does.  It's much better than any blend, Assam, or Ceylon that ever finds it's way into a mass produced commercial tin or grocery store shelf.  I'd probably like their Enigma version better, at a guess; I should try those two together sometime.

Blended orthodox:  again a different flavor aspect in this stands out, something else along the line of herb spice, which may be towards green wood, or really could be something closer to the fennel seed notable in the other tea.  It's not strong enough to be easy to identify.  It makes it seem like this might be slightly less oxidized but that flavor shift could come about in other ways (using a different tea plant type input, for example). 

The body seems lighter than the first in this round, as if part of the structure and dryness is common and another part is missing, so softer.  It's odd that I'd interpret that feel difference in two completely different ways across subsequent infusions.  This round I brewed a bit lighter, and that would shift how both come across, but it shouldn't relate to any secondary aspect inversion like that.  That could be tied to review error, or maybe just related to one brewing slightly faster than the other.  Bud content shifts feel quite a bit, along with changing flavor; that may be a difference between these.

Third infusion:

I'll try slightly longer to get a feel for how these come across at an infusion strength that might be more conventional for most people.

Orthodox Assam:  flavor complexity is really nice for this; the description so far hasn't done that justice.  Beyond the malt a citrus-like aspect seems to be picking up.  It's on the sweet and warm side, so may be in between tangerine and red grapefruit.  Warm mineral range still stands out.  Feel has softened just a little, with that moderate dryness easing up, settling into an even better balance.  Now it's more just full.  An aftertaste effect rounds out the experience, a trailing on of the malt and citrus.

Blended orthodox:  wood picks up; that herb spice like aspect seems more solidly within slightly cured hardwood range now.  A reasonable amount of sweetness offsets that, although a bit more sweetness and flavor complexity would really shift how this comes across.  There is a warmer spice aspect that seems to be picking up, not the "greener" or more herb range fennel seed as prior, towards an aromatic wood tone, or related bark spice.  It's not really cinnamon, or towards frankincense / myrrh, somewhere in the middle. 

Fourth infusion:

Orthodox Assam:  not so different than last round; citrus might have bumped up just a touch.  This is much nicer than in the first two rounds, with that touch of dryness shifting to rich fullness, and with sweetness and flavor complexity evolving.  Even a warmer touch of spice tone adds a bit of extra range.  This is on par with the better versions of Assam I've tried, probably with final judgment about it relating as much to personal preference for aspects and style as to quality level.

Blended orthodox:  also not different.  I don't care for the pronounced wood-tone as much as the added sweetness and fruit in the other version, but to some extent that's probably about preference too.  Feel still gives up just a little, with decent fullness and richness, just slightly less so in comparison with the other version.


Of course the teas were far from finished there, four rounds in using Gongfu style brewing, maybe about halfway through a typical cycle.  A couple of rounds later it seemed like I probably should have been adding cocoa to the flavor description list, but that doesn't change the overall account by much. 

Usually transitions vary less in the second half, so only covering the first four infusions gets the general idea across.  A tea brewing a large number of positive infusions is one sign of quality, and these did keep going, but it's a fine point trying to judge count and late steep changes as that kind of indicator. 

Conclusions:

I'm thinking that trying two of the best Chinese black teas I've yet to experience yesterday is coloring this interpretation (a Fujian Lapsang Souchong and Jin Jun Mei).  These teas are good, just not on that level.  There's no shame in that; almost no Chinese black teas are on that level either.  Those expressed incredible complexity and balance, novel fruit and honey flavors, and a really refined nature.  They were the product of generations of selection of plant types, growing and harvesting inputs, and processing skills, and also relatively ideal growing conditions for those plant types.  These two Assam versions probably stand head and shoulders above almost all the Assam tea versions produced a decade ago, helping set a new benchmark, holding their own ground against the progress other better local producers are making.

To some extent that's comparing apples and oranges anyway, since Assam tea styles are just different.  It's also true that I'm most attached to Chinese style teas, even though I can appreciate and enjoy Indian tea versions, black teas from Assam, Darjeeling, and other areas, and what other South East Asian countries produce.  One might wonder to what extent I'm mixing up "objectively better" and personal style preference, and I may not be able to draw that line myself.  These Assam versions would be perfect with food, a great breakfast tea, and are good enough that thorough experimenting with optimizing brewing results would still make sense.

I think it will help trying these alongside other Assam versions, to really place them.  I'm not going to review these samples every weekend for three weeks in a row but at some point it would be interesting doing a direct comparison, or maybe with a Darjeeling sample I have yet to get to. 

I'll try to get back to that, but there are some other really interesting teas around to try as well.  I picked up a really novel Thai version of a sheng ("pu'er-like tea") about a month ago, and I've had some aged sheng and shu to get to, and a Yunnan Dian Hong Chinese black tea version.  That might be interesting to use for comparison too.

I was talking in the last post about how people seem to fear tea supply running out too much, keeping sources a secret so that what they like is there to buy when they get back to it.  One part of that was the idea that other tea growing regions are developing better and better processing methods and tea quality output.  These teas represent part of what I was talking about.  These versions are really pleasant now, and given where they stand in relation to the last I tried from Maddhurjya--which were already quite nice--they'll probably just keep getting better.  Anyone who hasn't tried Assam in awhile probably isn't familiar with what the better orthodox version range is like now.

Wuyi Origin wild Lapsang Souchong and honey Jin Jun Mei

Lapsang Souchong left (or both, in a sense, but JJM is on the right)

I recently mentioned using a Wuyi Origin Rou Gui version in a water type comparison test, which sort of worked as a review, but not as an overly detailed account.  That kind of made sense but kind of didn't; to a degree that was disrespectful to that tea version.  Here I'm trying two really exceptional black tea versions from them (provided for review by Cindy, or really probably more related to sharing tea to try, since she is an angel among tea producers and vendors).

For anyone familiar with their teas or really exceptional versions of these two tea types these need no introduction, but I'll add their descriptions all the same:


Wild Lapsang Souchong 2019

Location: Tong Mu guan (桐木关)
Harvest date: 4/10/2019

This  harvest we did a more standard  picking, one bud and two leaves, more uniform  looking. It is from a more late harvest than most normal Lapsang souchong, so the leaves are quite thick. Using the traditional un-smoked Lapsong souchong processing skill we kept its natural essence.

Feature: Un-smoked with a ripe peach aroma, it has a very obvious Milky flavor. It last more than 10 infusions. There's no bitterness even when you steep the tea for a long time. It has a quite bright tea soup that's orange color.  


Thinking back on my review description(during the editing) I bet "caramel" would describe part of the range I didn't do justice to capturing, the warm, mild sweetness along with that creaminess.


2019 Jinjunmei (honey aroma)

Location: Huang gang shan (黄岗山)  of Tong mu guan 
Harvest time: 2019.3.19th
Cultivar: Fu yun #6  
Fermentation level: full-fermented 
Picking standard: Early spring buds ,using all the first infusion buds to be processed 


Feature:  Huang guang shan is the highest moutian in Tong mu guan (桐木关）which is the original place of the Jinjunmei and Lapsang souchong. It is about 1600m height, the whole year with foggy weather.  The special growing environment  creates this very exquisite tea.

Carefully picked and processed, each leaf is compact.  The liquid is bright orange color. With strong fragrance of Orchids, and the sweet "charm of Honey" after taste. Enduring many infusions, and stand steep, no any bitter feel. This is my competition grade Jinjunmei of 2019 harvest in my family. In 2017 and 2018 harvest this one Jinjunmei won different Titles in USA and Australia Tea Competition. This one 2019 Harvest I  think it  is excellent, from the looking, aroma, tasting, brewed leaves looking. Very delicate and exquisite tea. 

4.5g -5g  tea  into 100-110ml gaiwan  by 85-90 C water to brew.


Even though it might not seem possible both are a lot better than the descriptions make them sound, even the second.

These list for $18 and $16 for 50 grams of each, and as I see it that's almost giving them away.  Selling for double that these would be a great value for tea this good.  On my limited tea budget ordinarily I can't relate to spending 50 cents a gram and up on tea versions, even if variations in quality level and demand have that make sense for some versions, but these are that good but still selling in a different pricing range.  I just hope the people who buy it can appreciate what these are.

Reviews:

Lapsang Souchong:  it's always surprising how good this tea is; maybe it would be no matter how many times I tried versions of it.  Talking about tea quality levels drifts into discussion of versions being true to type, expressing clean and balanced flavors, appropriate sweetness, or thick rich feel, maybe onto aftertaste effect, or related to quality markers, aspects that serve as an indicator for that type.  Beyond all that teas that are truly on a next level just come together, and breaking it down doesn't explain anything, if anything leading away from describing the actual experience for boiling it down to a word salad of descriptions.  This tea is like that.

A primary aspect is a rich, warm sweetness, a fruitiness paired with a really well balanced lighter earthy range.  The fruit isn't so far from a warm version of citrus, not identical to the chen pi effect, but not so far off it.  It extends into something like ripe peach, just richer and warmer than that.  The earthiness is so clean, well-balanced, and distinctive that it's hard to describe.  It's a little towards a malted grain, leaning from there to a lighter cured leather, but it's none of that.

I'll do more with describing aspects next round, or take the opposite approach and switch over to writing poetry, describing only indirectly related experiences and feelings.  This tastes like a warm fall day feels; something like that.

JJM (right) brewed slightly stronger, but looked similar first round

Jin Jun Mei:  this has more body and warm mineral than I expected.  It's still sweet, similar to honey, and the closest aspect description I could give to that is the scent of fresh bees' wax.  Processed bees wax smells kind of the same, in a candle or a lip balm, but when you are near a piece or a large section of honeycomb a kind of different impression comes across.  Again this is clearly one of the best teas I've ever experienced.  It's funny how that's hardly even about subjective preference or a judgment call with these, it's just what they are.  If you don't absolutely love them then you just can't relate to that type range, but it's not a shortcoming on the tea's side.

This is slightly overbrewed, per an optimum.  I was thinking that as I was starting, that I've roughly matched the amount of dry tea but this will come across as more intense, throwing off a parallel approach to brewing.  It doesn't matter since this isn't that kind of comparison anyway; I just happen to be tasting them together.  I brewed these for around 10 seconds or so, which was roughly ideal for the first, but too long for this one.  It's not ruined, or off, or astringent, but an optimum would be slightly lighter.

Honey and bees' wax stand out, with a warmth and sweetness similar to malted grain beyond that.  It's not the malt in Assam, or Ovaltine, but still related to that broad set.  The feel is a bit thick in a unique way, that's not the exact same form you usually experience in other teas.  The body hints towards a light form of dryness but stops short at just being full, perfectly balanced.  Level of sweetness, overall intensity, complexity; as with the first tea version it's all perfect. 

Going back and trying the first version again it's nice how it trades out some of that warmth for a fruit tone that really pops, but both are amazing in their own ways. 

This is the kind of tea that people buy but don't talk about, loving it but not saying a word online, because there's only so much out there.  As demand goes up and it sells out faster pricing would probably creep up too.  I've reviewed these before; I have no concerns about letting the cat out of the bag.  Some of those people have me to thank for letting them know about it, not that I ever hear much of that kind of feedback. 

A bit on my understanding of how all that goes: Cindy (and her family) are selling most of what they produce within China, probably not really for any less than what these are selling for, because demand and awareness of tea is much, much higher there.  It's not as if the wealthiest level of society there can't afford tea that costs a lot more than this, or if that's a very small set of people.  Price could go up a little if level of demand shifts but producers like them could just sell more to "the West" instead. 

Related to an online discussion subject I didn't add a lot of input to, there's a different story about how there are other types of producers out there who could ramp up production if demand shifts a lot more than I'm talking about.  Countries like Vietnam, Nepal, and Indonesia are making a lot of quite good tea, but it would be possible for them to ramp that up fast.  The amount of old-tree tea that's growing wild and unharvested throughout South East Asia is only now coming to a lot of small producers' attention. 

No other country will be producing tea as good as these versions any time soon (except Taiwan and Japan; different cases), but it's just a matter of time until growing, harvesting, and processing skills draw closer to even, a trend that already shifts a little year by year.  This one Laos black tea was a bit stunning but that had to be a fluke.

Second infusion:

Lapsang Souchong:  this is brewed a little light, using a fast infusion time (maybe 8 seconds), and the balance is still great.  Probably closer to 15 seconds would be optimum, but this tea will work well at a range of intensities.  Feel is still full even brewed light, not structured, dry, or astringent, just with a light fullness.  I'm not really doing that fruit aspect range justice; it seems complex, but at the same time simple.  I just had a nice ripe mango with breakfast; those are similar, covering bright citrus range and deeper warm fruit.  It didn't taste that much like mango though, the comparison works better to describe the general range and complexity. 

There's a distinctive light wood tone that comes across in better Lapsang Souchong that this includes.  It's a little like balsa wood, a warm, kind of muted tone, hinting towards dryness, not far from aged hay.  In some versions without as much sweetness and fruit range that can make the tea seem a bit flat, emphasizing that particular aspect, in a less pleasant form.  In this it balances really well.  There is mild, underlying mineral range as well, and a darker wood tone closer to a spice or tree bark.  It comes across as simple but also complex, in a different sense, very clean and well balanced.

Jin Jun Mei:  warmth picked up even more in this.  It's still closest to bees' wax, along with a dark version of honey, but there's something else to it, another way to describe that.  Malted grain kind of works, it just seems a bit non-specific, and it's more helpful to use descriptions of actual common food items.  It starts in towards the rich depth of molasses, it's just hard to describe how that works at a much lighter level, well-integrated with other subtle flavor range.  It's interesting how the warm honey and wax range extends in one direction and a separate brighter tone gives it lots of range and complexity.  It doesn't quite extend to citrusy but part might relate to a warm, light floral tone.

Third infusion:

I'll try to brew the Lapsang a little longer and the Jin Jun Mei shorter this round, optimizing both.  To some extent one could arrive at similar results by adjusting proportion but for me it works well just varying infusion time round to round to get the level right.


Lapsang Souchong:  the balance of the earlier aspects may have shifted a little but this is most changed for getting infusion strength right, letting go just over 15 seconds.  The hit of well-balanced flavors is a great experience.  This isn't really what I'm talking about when I'm telling people still on tea bags or grocery store teas about how good better specialty / orthodox teas can be; it's at least a full level above that.  It would almost be a waste to even try this before exploring more of a medium level range of teas.  One wouldn't appreciate it in the same way, and then later on other teas wouldn't be on the same level (in some ways) before it was possible to even appreciate why it is exceptional.

I tend to recommend Dian Hong (Yunnan black tea versions) as a good starting point for better black tea instead, because those span a range of character types, are positive in lots of different ways, and lots of decent versions don't cost a lot.  Pretty good unsmoked Lapsang Souchong that doesn't cost very much would turn up but versions that taste more like cardboard would probably be more common.

Jin Jun Mei:  this does work better slightly lighter, although a balance right in the middle would be better yet.  It's a forgiving tea in terms of being very pleasant slightly too strong or too weak, without astringency as a concern, but optimizing it relates to letting it shine brightest.  There's a lot going on that could strike a great balance when dialed in properly, not just work well.  Buds-only black teas can not only be intense (although the opposite can be true, often more so for large bud versions) but they can also usually produce a lot of pleasant infusions, so this tea should be far from finished, probably not even half finished.

I don't intend to keep describing rounds though; aspects tend to shift in later rounds for black teas but it's typically not as with sheng pu'er, where transition can move into different ranges (or become far less pleasant, depending on the tea).  I'll try a couple more and if anything stands out I'll note it, but let the round by round approach drop.

the teas kept brewing lots of great infusions

I did brew more Lapsang Souchong leaves, but the JJM was more intense

Conclusions:

Not much to add; these did produce a lot of additional amazing infusions, but it was nice drinking those without making notes, focusing on the experience instead.  I've lost count and the teas aren't finished; it must be around 10 infusions already.  Out towards that the character changes a little for drawing out infusion time to keep the intensity up but they're both still exceptional.

I don't regret focusing a lot more on sheng pu'er over the last two years; it has been nice getting that partly sorted out.  I would've expected to get further so many examples and reviews along but exploring that range takes some doing.  Teas like these are great for cutting out that sort of process.  There are some variations for aspect range within these two types of teas but the main thing is trying higher and lower quality versions.  No tea is ever the best possible example of a type, there's always something else out there, but these are towards the high end for sure. 

my favorite picture of Cindy

Water testing, Alishan oolong using Volvic versus filtered local tap water

This is a follow-up to the prior water input testing, using Volvic and filtered tap water to brew both Rou Gui and sheng pu'er (a Lao Man E version, not the best choice, sorting out results past that bitterness).  In that testing Volvic brewed infusions were clearly better for both types in the first and second infusion, and not quite as positive as the filtered tap water versions in the 4th and 5th infusions.  I guessed about why in that post, but I'm really not certain.

It seemed better to try this using a mild tea version, something flavorful enough that results in that range would stand out, with feel and aftertaste aspects to evaluate, but with a generally mild tone making finer distinctions stand out better.  Alishan oolong should work better.  I had a couple of samples of what should be pretty good oolong left to try from Song Yi tea, the Taiwan based vendor source I'd reviewed a Brown Mountain (Bulang) sheng pu'er and Mannuo sheng from.

Those both were a lot better than I expected, and a good value for the quality level, so it seemed the two oolong samples they sent would probably be even more interesting, for actually being Taiwanese teas.  I just never got back to trying them.  Those reviews were in July and September of this year; it can work out like that, when lots of vendors send samples to try.

The earlier post on a water input testing outlines Volvic details, and as much as I know about the local municipal water.  I cited a lot of real-time testing (monitoring) results in that post, from over last weekend, but I'll skip that here.  Since it didn't list out mineral content as grams / liter amounts by type the half dozen factors they do monitor aren't really of as much interest.  Ph is always around 7 for that; it should be fine (although it is 7.25 right now at the station nearest to home).


I'm filtering this local water too, so whatever is in it is reduced, but I don't have measurements for anything but free chlorine and total chloride levels.  I'm more concerned with calcium, magnesium, and total dissolved solids measurements, which they don't provide.

the ph monitoring result just now

I did turn up a dated 2014 study of mineral content of water sources in Thailand, including Bangkok tap water, which may or may not pass on some idea of what was in that water:

There's really no guarantee that's at all relevant to what I'm using to make tea five years later, and again to repeat, whatever had been in that water was partly filtered back out.  The last water test review post included some real-time measurements (of free chlorine, chloride, and turbidity), just not including calcium, magnesium, and total dissolved solids values.

Background on the Song Yi Alishan oolong:

It would work to cite more input about the tea, even though I tend to see light Alishan as varying more by quality level than other factors, so basically it's something you judge for yourself once you try the tea:

Origin ：Tea-growing region with gravelly soil
            Camphor Tree Lake Stone Table, Alishan, Chiayi County

Altitude ：1,500 to 1,700m above sea level
Cultivar ：Qingxin (Green-Core) Oolong
Flavor ：Orchid aroma, Almond Peach scent
Fermentation ：30%
Roast ：Light


On their sales page 150 grams of this is selling for $45, so $15 per 50 gram amount.  In retrospect, after trying it, that sounds about right; the version quality is pretty good.  It would be a lot easier to find versions selling for in that range that weren't as good than it would be to find a better quality example selling at the same price, which would seem unlikely.

Versions can get better than this, emphasizing floral range just a little more, dropping back the limited vegetal range, bumping intensity or thickness a little, or that one characteristic mineral aspect, but this one seemed pretty far up the scale.  For sticking within a moderate price range this is good quality and type-typical, just what you'd hope it would be.

Review:

Volvic: flavor is nice; it includes that nice floral range that signifies Taiwanese high mountain oolongs. Mineral undertone is nice, pronounced.  This includes a little vegetal range that distinguishes the best light oolongs from quite good versions, or at least that's my take.


Filtered Bangkok tap water: not all that different. There might be a trace more vegetal range, slightly less high note floral, and a little more perfume base. For those minor differences it's about the same. Trying a faster infusion might help to tease out minor differences. Thick feel and pleasant aftertaste is common to both.

Volvic left, filtered tap water right

Second infusion:

There is a slight brewed color difference; the tap water version is slightly darker.

Volvic: slightly improved; floral range hits even harder, perfume like base is even stronger. Vegetal range is still notable, a touch of green wood. Feel is thick, and mineral and floral both trail after as aftertaste.


Tap water: maybe slightly less high end note, slightly deeper perfume base, more mineral tone. Those last two differences I'd expect related to brewing the tea slightly longer, just probably not the first. That one almost odd, characteristic mineral taste is stronger, not completely unlike new car smell, a unique mineral range. It's flinty, as much as anything.

Making a "better" judgement is tough; they're just different. The Volvic version is better for being slightly sweeter with a touch more floral high note. The tap water version has a lot more mineral base and perfume depth, a less bright floral range closer to lavender. Vegetal range shifts in form a little in each, slightly stronger and just different in the tap water version.

Third infusion

I think the tap water may be brewing stronger, based on color and also taste and feel aspects, but I'm not sure why. Proportion, temperature, and timing are definitely all identical, or at least very close to it, so it's not one of those.  The proportion is too high; I'm not as accustomed to judging rolled oolong amounts these days, and used the smaller version of tasting gaiwans, but didn't bump down the amount (probably a 60-70 ml version, versus the 80-90 ml versions I use more frequently).


Volvic: pleasant; sweet, rich, soft, intense but not overly so. Floral range is slightly different, but the difference is so subtle it is hard to pin down.  The point here isn't to derive a flavor-list as much as specify differences anyway.


Tap water: more intense; it pops a little more. A touch more vegetal edge goes along with that, and more mineral. It comes across as creamier. These are definitely different, but again which is better would be a judgment call. The higher intensity is nice but a touch more vegetal range comes with that.

Fourth infusion:

More of the same, and I won't trail this tasting out to 8 or 9 rounds to see the whole cycle. It's interesting that the prior pattern of tasting two other teas didn't hold, that the Volvic didn't seem clearly more positive early on, and then the tap water better after the 4th infusion.

I thought I probably did like the Volvic version slightly better on this fourth infusion, that being a little lighter and sweeter worked out better, versus there being a bit more vegetal and mineral range in the tap water version.  But the tap water version was fuller in feel, and on the fifth infusion I thought it was more positive for that reason, with flavor differences secondary to that distinction in that round.

Potential next steps:

Not much to conclude; the two outcomes were different, but neither was really notably better.  The Volvic version was a bit lighter and sweeter, the tap water outcome richer in feel, heavier in mineral, and in some cases it had slightly more flavor intensity.  More than that flavor aspects just shifted slightly, in ways that was about as neutral as related to being positive or negative.

I suppose it's some comfort that it seems to not make much difference.  Using Volvic, cited as some people's favorite in online discussion (which of course others disagree with) didn't prepare notably better tea than filtered local tap water.  Oddly it was a lot more positive for the first two rounds of brewing the Rou Gui in the last post.  And it was probably slightly more positive early in the infusio cycle for the Lao Man E sheng as well, but for both that bitterness hit so hard "better" was about sorting past that in those two infusions.  This oolong never really matched that outcome, or the tap water version becoming notably better in later infusions.

I think people could have expected one or the other to be better, and based on that expectation and a positive interpretation could have judged that either one of these outcomes was clearly better.  It seems natural to say "depends on preference" instead, but it's not as if flavor was better for one and feel better for the other, as if an aspect category worked out better using one of the water sources.  Although these seemed relatively different prepared side-by-side I think for tasting them days apart prepared using the two water versions it would be hard to separate out that difference.  The basic character and aspects profile was the same.

I could keep going, trying other versions of water.  This didn't cover RO (reverse osmosis) water, a version stripped of almost all mineral content.  There are other types of water at home (my wife is into mineral water these days, for whatever reasons), and I could run this again prepared using a number of different versions.  It would be interesting checking out results using a water type that's very high in mineral content, with this Volvic seemingly on the moderate end of the scale, especially related to calcium and magnesium levels.  I'm not sure that I'll keep on with this for now though; it adds a good bit of messing around to tasting, and I have teas around to try that deserve more attention than this tasting format allows for.