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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.
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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.
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the teas kept brewing lots of great infusions |
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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.
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my favorite picture of Cindy |
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