I made it to a new Bangkok (Asok) branch of Monsoon Tea shops I'd been meaning to visit just prior to the pandemic. The chain is based out of Chiang Mai. They sell flavored teas, with particular focus on "forest friendly" naturally grown versions, using old tea tree plant material from old forest areas.
I've met Kenneth a couple of times, the owner; he's nice, as the staff were very pleasant and helpful. I'll leave the rest of the background as linking to parts of that tea experience. The shop is nice, a bit off the main Asok area, where Terminal 21 is located, not so far from one of the main Bangkok red light areas, but definitely not close to it. That part of town has a lot of Japanese influence; the Fuji grocery store not far from there, but really beside Phrom Pong station, is great, worth checking out.
For background this tea matches a coconut black tea from them I reviewed long ago (Christmas 2015; the time just flies), and I've tried a Dhara white and Choaphrya River fruit flavored oolong since, all of which were great. In turning up those links I was reminded that oolong was from an Assamica plant type; interesting. That would match up with the old-plant local-source theme.
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that tea had reminded me of Christmas, and it was Christmas time, so it really worked |
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trying an oolong there; the quality was good, the style just wasn't a preference match for me |
Thai coconut black tea review:
In looking at the brewed tea it's not uniformly oxidized or mostly oxidized, as black tea often is. There's no need to be concerned the tea won't be good based only on appearance, because brewing it and trying it tells that story. Inconsistent oxidation or lower levels of oxidation could work out really well, if the inputs just happen to work out that way. Or maybe not. But only the brewed results tell that story, not leaf appearance.
Upon trying it I wouldn't say that the tea is good. The balance is unusual when I first taste it, and given in what sense I can't imagine that could shift. It's interesting, and novel, but slightly sour, and that flavor aspect stands out most. The version I had tried years back was a conventional black tea, relatively fully oxidized, with a very positive and balanced contribution from the coconut flavor. It was like coconut in a Mounds bar, really sweet with a slight toasted edge. The coconut flavor is hard to pick up in this, although it is there.
I'll often not review teas I don't like, and this is right around that threshold. It's interesting, and pleasant in a sense, it's just not really "good tea," with a lot of room for improvement. The input of the leaf not being fully oxidized, or at least mostly so, probably isn't helping this tea.
That brings me to the second reason I would review a tea, if it wasn't to talk about what I like about it, for the novelty in style being interesting. This is novel on a few levels, for being a flavored tea, for being from Thailand, as a follow-up to one of the best flavored tea versions I've ever tried. And for considering how varying levels of oxidation in black teas works out, which turns out to be overshadowed in this version by a different concern. I'm probably judging this more negatively because it's not nearly as good as that earlier version, or at least related to how I remember it.
Next relationship to a vendor comes into play. I really like Kenneth (the owner), and want to support his business, and Thai tea development in general, and the "forest friendly" theme. I don't blindly buy in but I accept there's something completely valid there, especially as a long-term direction that food production really needs to go in. A long term transition like sustainable food production needs to start with initial steps, and there would be positive and negative parts to the early development, aspects or forms that work better than others.
Back to this tea, sourness isn't normal; that's typically seen as a processing flaw, that a tea stayed too moist after the final drying stage, and picked up that flavor later on, after it was finished. This being partly oxidized could pair with that, but of course white or green teas are also left unoxidized when dried, and need to complete a drying cycle to be stored properly. Finished moisture content and oxidation level don't necessarily link together.
All the same there is promise in this tea's character; some parts work. To the extent I can pick it up the coconut is positive, again a very pleasant flavor addition version. It's a shame it's not an addition to a better tea version, that this picked up the sourness that it did.
When first brewing it I had considered that results might be more positive if I used less tea and moved away from my normal Western practice of brewing three infusions, versus two longer ones. I'm guessing but I'm probably using 5 or 6 grams of tea to produce just over 250 ml (one cup) of brewed tea, infused for about 3 minutes. I'm not using completely hot water since the thick ceramic cup took away a lot of the initial heat, and the water was a little off full boiling point to begin with. For some what all that means is clear, and it would be hard to break it down fully if not, how proportion, water temperature, and timing tend to map together.
I'm using a hybrid approach, really; true Western brewing would back that off to 2 1/2 to 3 grams infused for 4 to 5 minutes, using a second longer round (so maybe 4 at first, then 5). For a flavored tea the concern is that the first round "rinses off" the flavor; obvious enough, right? For this coconut being too strong isn't the issue, it's that sourness. It's conceivable that the coconut flavor input wasn't right, that it "went off" slightly for some reason, and it's that I'm tasting, not a flaw in the processed tea leaves. But it probably just wasn't dry enough.
I tried an oolong version at the shop that I didn't like as well, something atypical, which I think was their highest end version (selling for the most, something with "forest" in the title, maybe). It wasn't flawed tea; that was a style issue, about personal preference, not matching any range I like. That was selling for such a high per-gram price that I would've had harder feelings about buying a significant quantity of that, where this coconut tea was pretty reasonable, something like 280 baht per 50 grams, or $9 for that much tea. That's still a lot for a flavored tea, about double a more typical outlet price. That's another part I wanted to address here, how sources and types affect pricing levels.
You can't compare the pricing with a market standard when there are no other options for the type. These teas are unique; there are no alternatives out there like them. That's just as well for this coconut black tea, and the oolong that I didn't like, but the Chaophrya Blend tropical flavored oolong I just reviewed was really novel and positive, as were those other two.
Cost also relates to supporting a local physical shop. Pricing is usually higher in brick and mortar shops versus online outlets; their overhead is higher. And I'm fine with that. If you don't support your local tea shop it won't be there for you later (in general; if enough people don't). It feels a little unnatural buying tea for twice as much as I could spend through a separate outlet, if there are equivalent options out there, but in some cases I'll do just that. When a tea type isn't available elsewhere that's just what that type happens to cost.
For local Bangkok Chinatown shops all that doesn't apply; their overhead is low, because they're out there in Chinatown, where rents are low. They cover their overhead through volume sales, not tea enthusiasts dropping buy to pick up 200 grams. I just visited my favorite shop right after making these notes and bought 400 grams of tea (4 tuochas of 2012 Xiaguan sheng puer) and 3 small porcelain gaiwans for a bit less than these 200 grams of flavored teas. It's much better and more interesting tea, per my preference, and it cost less than half as much. Getting there towards completely aged Xiaguan sheng wouldn't be for everyone though; it tastes a bit like tobacco, a little on the earthy side, quite intense in an unusual sense.
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with Kittichai at Jip Eu, from a few days ago |
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my wife was my driver that day so she finally met those shop owners (she's on the left) |
I'm still suggesting that Monsoon teas are worth trying; diverse experience is a big part of what makes drinking tea so interesting, and these teas (the others) are unlike any other types I've tried, positive in novel ways. If spending 1600 baht ($45--what I paid for 200 grams) throws off your tea budget then if you live in Bangkok go to Chinatown instead. Just be careful there, because teas are even less consistent if you just visit random shops. Even in my favorite shop, Jip Eu, quality level, styles, and relative value varies a lot.
Monsoon sets pricing lower as you buy in larger volume amounts. Of course if you don't like a tea that's a bad thing, "getting through" half a kilo of one. Tasting teas in the shop would be the easy way to avoid that.
The second round is much better; sourness is much diminished. This is quite pleasant. Maybe the coconut oil had "went off" somehow; that would explain how the rinsing function improved it. For drinking this as a sequence of Gongfu style rounds it might have worked well, throwing out the first two infusions and then enjoying the rest. It's a bit faded in character, and coconut barely comes through, but the balance is still pleasant.
Intensity being faded makes it hard to review. It tastes like good black tea and coconut; that's it. It's not as strong as the Mounds / Bounty bar effect in the one I tried years ago, but it contributes in a positive way. There's a trace of sourness but after finishing half that first cup, and throwing away the rest, it seems to not even be present in comparison, at this level.
Now I'm closer to recommending this tea, but I'd stop short of that. The concept works, and the execution has positive merits, but that one flaw makes it not worth it. Drank as this round it's entirely positive, for what you do experience, but not very intense.
Mango and sticky rice black tea
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definitely fully oxidized, going by dry leaf appearance |
Blogger didn't save the notes I made for this so I'll finally achieve a short review version, related to re-producing the notes from memory. I liked the tea. The type is a reference to an herb tasting a little like sticky rice, with more on that effect and input related to a Laos white tea version here.
It wasn't bright in character as one might expect from the name and description. The mango aspect seemed more like dried mango, or really as close to dried apricot, which is close enough. Sticky rice effect is contributed by an herb that really does taste a bit like sticky rice, and that part worked. I would have expected this to be brighter, sweeter, and more intense like the Chao Phyra oolong version I reviewed not so long ago was. Of course light oolong is a different thing than a black tea; those are going to be warmer in tone, expressing a less "bright" flavor range.
That description reconstruction:
-seemingly good black tea; no flaws, no pronounced astringency, decent complexity.
-the second infusion gave up a bit of intensity but both were quite pleasant, and a third was still good too, just dropping out quite a bit of intensity.
-anyone looking to re-create the effect of a mango and sticky rice desert wouldn't experience that, but the balance and complexity are good. Sweetness wasn't as notable as it could've been, and it didn't seem like they tried to add the coconut sauce flavor aspect part. The bright citrus note in the one type of mango used to make the sticky rice desert wasn't in this version either.
-flavor range was good and the balance worked well, but both intensity and complexity could've been better. Some plain black teas I've tried in the past have seemed to surpass this across a lot of that range. Mixing the tea and two other flavor inputs probably made it seems a bit non-distinct, compared to a really good black tea where all the flavor is a natural input.
This might have worked really, really well with a touch of coconut, based on a flavorful and fruity version of white tea. But that's asking a lot, getting all that to balance.
Next steps:
I have a plain black tea and oolong I bought yet to try; I'll see how those work out. Given that I didn't like either of these as much as that earlier flavored oolong (Chao Phrya blend) eventually I might stop back to buy some of that. I keep giving tea to our "family monk" and I think he would really like it.
Kenneth will be presenting at an online conference, the Nomad Tea Festival, a theme the pandemic helped originate (or at least expand on, but I don't remember those turning up in the exact same form before). That's at 1:30 - 2 AM local Australia time on July 26 (seemingly with scheduling set to make sense in the US instead; just make sure you get the date right if you plan to watch it, since it's often "tomorrow" already here).
That's at 10:30-11 at night here; I'll be out of town for the weekend but still might catch it. I suppose there's a decent chance they will make the videos available later if you miss it.
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