Three favorite sheng

Someone mentioned in a Facebook group comment that it might be interesting to hear my three favorite sheng, related to suggesting one.  It's an interesting idea.

I responded that it seems trickier for aged sheng, because it adds the extra dimension of someone else trying the same tea and experiencing something else, unless the storage was identical.  Somehow beyond that consistency issue it's a bit harder to evaluate aged sheng, for other reasons.  

I've tried enough that the general type is familiar, but not in the sense that I can easily place what's going on, and how it relates to a broader range, for area-specific character, aging inputs, guessing back to starting point aspects, and so on.  Aged versions are more subtle, but just as complex, with my own preferences still evolving.  I can appreciate some that have a lot of wet storage input, that have fermented to a high degree, and in that particular typical way, but I'm still working out what I like best related to that.  And also related to the drier storage range, and what's in between, what most people would see as more an optimum.  Just sorting out how those terms are used, or others like "natural storage," takes some doing, and that use wouldn't be consistent.

To avoid that and other complexity I'll limit this to young sheng, to relatively new versions, not overly adjusted by aging / fermentation.  I won't necessarily try to frame this as either absolute favorites or best examples, since I can't commit to making those distinctions.  Different teas are nice for different reasons, and my preference is a moving target.  But I will pick some that are interesting for different reasons.  

In the end this becomes more about me liking variety and novelty of experience than about the best teas. Ordinarily this should relate to naming a village area and specific producer, and a different kind of answer related to judging quality levels might have fallen closer to that.  If I had included most favorable impressions related to samples the list would also be completely different, but it's a different experience drinking teas you have more quantity of, to try over and over, to become familiar with.  I just don't buy $.75-1 / gram versions of sheng; it's not in the cards related to my limited tea budget.

Tea Mania Lucky Bee Yiwu (2016):  that link is actually a re-review along with the next tea on this list, a Nannuo version, which was also reviewed earlier in a different post.  This Tea Mania Yiwu probably isn't the best tea I've ever tried but it's definitely one of my personal favorites.  It was nice when I tried it initially, a couple of years ago, and seemed like it would be really exceptional with more age.  And then it was more exceptional, and still is.  Sometimes Yiwu can be light in terms of structure (feel, astringency) with intense and sweet flavor, typically over floral range, but this had some structure.  Of course Yiwu is a big place; it kind of doesn't make sense to expect teas from a very broad area to be all that similar, so that is about what one often tends to experience, but that varies with lots of factors as inputs. 

There's not much more to add about why I like this so much.  Feel really picked up a nice richness, creamy and thick, and flavor is very positive, and intense.  It all balances.  I can't really project ahead to its future, after further aging, when it will be best, but this post isn't about that anyway.  In terms of value this punches way above it's weight, as I mentioned in a review of a later version recently.


Moychay 2017 Nannuo sheng (also reviewed in the last link):  I liked this tea for a completely different reason, because it not only needed no aging (fermentation), it was probably going to suffer from experiencing any of it.  And it did change in that way; it's not as good as it was when I bought it two years ago, per my personal preference.  It was intense in flavor, covering fruit range, something along the line of pear and white grape, and very approachable, not astringent at all.  Intensity and sweetness were really nice, and freshness.  It's still really nice, I just liked it better with that earlier character.

the label was really cool as well (not the most critical factor, but why not)

It had leaned a little away from conventional sheng character for not including much bitterness or astringency, but as it was presented that really worked.  I guess that relates to a post about "oolong style pu'er." I could imagine lots of sheng enthusiasts seeing it as not what sheng is supposed to be about at all, but I absolutely loved it.  I picked it at random in the shop too, based on a hunch, without trying it; that's not how that outcome usually goes.

that St. Petersburg shop; small, but packed full of interesting offerings

Jip Eu in-house produced Northern Thailand wild sheng:  this is one of the strangest versions of sheng I've ever tasted.  It's an especially odd inclusion on this list because it's hardly similar to sheng at all.  When I first tried it the tea tasted odd, a bit sour almost, or maybe just strange in a way close to that.  Without all that much aging it picked up a lot more sweetness, in floral range, then a good bit of autumn leaf character.  I don't think it's finished yet; I'd be surprised if it tasted anything like it did the last time I tried it not so many months ago 

I've only owned this tea for about 10 months, so it's really strange that it's changing that fast.  Not so much the first change; at that shop they tend to store teas a bit isolated from air contact (I think), which works for aging them, but then they need a few months of higher degree of air contact to clear up a bit in aspects range.

That Jip Eu owner actually made it (he's from a tea producing family), but he still placed the origin date between 2012 and 2014 (so this is older tea than the post framing described).  For anyone else saying that they produced a tea but lost track of the year that would be absurd, but for Kittichai it makes sense.  And unfortunately for me as well too; without an email trail or dated Google photo reference who knows when different things I've done happened.

It seems possible that part of the reason it varies is for using a range of different plant-type inputs.  At a guess they all really are Camellia Sinensis variety Assamica, but even that might not be true.

I might have bought it that day, visiting with Ralph

I love the tea for being novel.  Just judged on match to preference it's not all that far above an average, compared to the rest of what I have around.   For being unique it really stands out.  For not costing much at all it was one of the better value purchases I've ever made.  To some extent that's here nor there, since you can't experience that value in the brewed result, but it's still a cool part of it.

Additional mentions:

Yunnan Sourcing Impression cakes:  returning to the value theme, the two versions I've tried of this I really liked (a value-oriented in-house produced version).  Not enough that "favorite" enters as a theme, but there is something about a really solid, well-balanced "basics" cake.  It could work as a favorite in terms of that type-range and value.  

I suppose per my main preference I like single-origin themes better than the balance blending can achieve, but then I might lean so far into experiencing mostly narrow origin types that this actually seemed novel to me.  I do like some Dayi and Xiaguan versions, and went through a CNNP phase, but this is slightly better, or at least just different.  Gambling on buying cheap cakes from unknown producers in different places is something else; those tend to be flawed enough that these others stand out all the more in comparison.

2018 Impression; another nice label

gambling on grocery store tea in Shenzen; it was ok, not above average

Chawang Shop maocha:  there's something interesting about a really fresh version of sheng.  Maybe it improves further after a few months of settling; I suppose that could be a matter of preference, or could depend on the version.  But it's cool tasting that difference, how it is at first.  This post compares two versions from last year, 2019 Guangbie and Hekai (related local areas), and this one compares a Mengsong version with a fresh Laos sheng, a combined tasting that may or may not have made sense. 

those Chawang Shop sheng versions, Guangbie and Hekai

Myanmar / Laos / Thai / Vietnamese versions:  there were way too many of these reviewed here to cite distinctive examples, but it definitely works to say that trying outside of Yunnan origin SE Asian versions has been a favorite experience.  Sometimes these seem non-standard, sometimes in exactly the same character range as Yunnan teas, and sometimes they're way off.  I just saw an interview with Anna of Kinnari Teas (a Laos source, and a friend) about how teas from just outside of Yunnan often make the trip across the border to "become" Yunnan teas.  It's not fair, right, that they can't be sold as pu'er, since that's a regional designation, but once they make that trip it's really easy for resellers to just skip the part about mentioning where the tea is really from, or blend with it.

a Laos version passed on by the owner of Kinnari Tea

a Hatvala Vietnamese sheng version

2018 Kokang Myanmar sheng

Often these are "wild origin" teas; the plantation theme common to Yunnan just doesn't copy over so directly to these other countries.  Thai oolongs are produced in plantations, just not so much the sheng.  The stories about tea tree ages probably typically don't mean much, but I think they're usually not making it up that it's not farmed tea.  

Non-standard processing is an odd twist; it's not unusual for a version to seem like green tea, or lean a little towards white character, or to be a little more oxidized than seems normal.  Since I value variety in tea experience as much or more as zeroing in on trueness-to-type and highest quality level even all that can work well for me.  I suppose that's why this might as well have been presented as about seeking value and variety in sheng experience instead.

I'd mentioned in an off-theme post about not having a picture of Kapil, my yoga instructor

a better shot of Kalani

I don't love the experience of yoga but it seems to help