Kind of a new kind for me, from a large set of teas sent by Moychay for review. I've tried falap before, an Assam, Indian version of what I take to be the same thing, but it may not be identical. The same processing, of course I mean; being from a different region even if processing and plant genetics were quite similar the tea leaves might still be different.
Moychay has no description of this on their sales site page; odd. It lists for $16.95 but doesn't include a tea amount, which probably varies slightly. A similar pressed black tea claims there is an average of 180 grams per stick / tube, so maybe comparable? That description means very little in relation to this different version, but it is interesting to hear what they thought of it, since it's all there is to go on, beyond customer comments:
Red tea rammed into a segment of a bamboo stem. Made in 2020 in Wenshan County, Yunnan Province. Tea in bamboo is a traditional way of storing tea among small peoples of the province.
The average weight of one bamboo stalk is 180 g. Inside the stalk: tightly pressed, brown tea buds and leaves. The aroma is restrained, fruity. The infusion is transparent, with a yellow hue.
The bouquet of the ready-made tea is vivid, fruity-and-woody, with biscuit, mint and honey notes. The aroma is deep and warm, fruity with a woody accent. The taste is rich and sweet, a bit tart, with berry sourness and minty nuances in the aftertaste.
It's that "traditional processing and storage" part I'd like to hear more about. Yunnan Sourcing sells a related tea that can help fill that in, even if it really could vary:
Meng Song Bamboo Roasted Raw Pu-erh Tea
The Dai people in Xishuangbanna have been making bamboo roasted tea for centuries! Our offering was made from 2019 Spring harvested Meng Song village tea that was processed first into sun-dried mao cha, steamed to soften it and then tamped into sections of a unique varietal of aromatic bamboo (that is found only in Menghai county of Xishuangbanna) and then roasted in a fire pit!
The blackened outer part of the bamboo is cut away and then lightly sanded so that it's not sooty, and the open end of the bamboo section is closed off with paper and piece of string for storage and aging!
This is a lovely aromatic tea with a fruity thick character and an incredibly unique aroma that is imparted to the tea from the bamboo during the roasting process. The result is something very tasty and rich in flavor, which is certainly more than just a novelty!
Each bamboo section holds roughly 200 grams of tea (+/- 25 grams).
This review post of a version of Indian falap cites a passage from this Tea Leaf Theory vendor page (selling a similar tea) about that background, related to that tea type:
The Singphos, a tribal community residing in parts of Northeast India, Myanmar, and China, are believed to be among India’s first tea drinkers. To this day, they continue to process tea by first heating the leaves in a metal pan until they brown, and then sun-drying them for a few days. To make the more flavourful, smoked tea, the sun-dried leaves are tightly packed in bamboo tubes and smoked over a fire. After a week of storing these bamboos, the processed tea hardens to take the shape of the tube.
It can then be preserved for up to 10 years, with small portions sliced off with a knife to brew a fresh cup of tea. Like wine, the smoked flavour of the tea matures more with time and we choose to pick up the ones which were aged for 4 years. When processed and brewed correctly, a cup of Singpho tea, which is had without milk or sugar, is a lovely golden-orange colour.
Review:
First infusion: interesting! It tastes a little like how one would expect bamboo to taste. I've last eaten cooked bamboo within the last week (the softer center part); it comes up here. But this is different, a roasted version of the outer wood part, not the softer center that can be cooked and eaten.
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bamboo is in the center on the left |
That one flavor is a bit woody, but in a sweet and fragrant sense, not unlike how a wicker basket might smell (which could be woven from all sorts of different palm materials here). This isn't as harsh, bitter, or astringent as I would expect, without any trace of smoke. The roasting step would have changed the character, but how I could only guess at how. Maybe it destroyed a lot of the normal form of aging potential, or maybe this would keep changing over time in different but positive ways. It doesn't need to transition away from being astringent and bitter anyway, aspects which I'll say more about in the following rounds.
Second infusion: similar, maybe a little more complex, drawing out more flavor as it infuses more completely. That woody, towards-nutty range is interesting. It's odd how the rest is so mild and pleasant. It tastes a little like sheng but that would never be this mild and approachable, even in modern "oolong pu'er" style versions, processed to be pleasant when very young but not to age as well.
There's a little bitterness and dryness to it, just not much, enough to round out the feel and experience. In general it's soft and rich, with that bamboo-wood tone standing out, and some other range beyond it, but nothing too complex or refined. It comes across as a mix of a range of faint inputs, with some hard to pin down floral tone included, and a light lemon aspect, with deeper fruit flavor along the line of dried apricot (so not that deep and rich, more light and sweet).
All fairly subtle, mind you; the bamboo flavor stands out more. It's all probably closer to dried persimmon, if that's familiar, and if it's not you might want to snag a few the next time you are in a Chinatown. It's kind of in between dried apricot and fig in flavor range.
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dried persimmons; the color can vary |
I don't get the impression that this is going to transition a lot, given how it comes across as a bit simple in character, but that touch of bitterness, wood-tone, and other range might shift in relative balance. I hadn't mentioned that I'm not brewing this light, letting it infuse for around 15 seconds, or maybe just over that, so it's not approachable related to being brewed light.
Third infusion: I let that brew around 20 seconds, to see what it's like slightly stronger. It's probably a little over optimum; bitterness comes out more that way. That does help identify potential flaws in the character though, and sort out feel and aftertaste better. I'm not sure about all that though; it's just not as good when more bitter and dry (astringent). A roasted flavor stands out more; that probably was playing into the overall balance more than I had described, pulling the flavor towards warmer and sweeter tones. It still tastes like bamboo but the fruit and other range is much harder to pick up brewed strong.
Fourth infusion: much more pleasant again; brewed just under 10 seconds this round. That balance did shift, of the aspects present earlier, but not in a way that will be easy to describe, the relative levels are just different. That is an odd seemingly vegetal range, roasted bamboo as a primary flavor. It's a bit like toasted rice; I'd imagine that people who love genmaicha might really like this. It's slightly more bitter but the vegetal range more common to green tea, grassiness or seaweed, umami and such, isn't present. Or maybe a trace of umami is adding to the complexity; if you think of sun-dried tomato while drinking and interpreting it that could be a partial match.
I think dryness and bitterness picked up more this round than the other fruit, floral, and roasted tone range. Some of that would relate to progression through infusions, and some from brewing it at different intensities. Completely different flavor balance would come across at different infusion strengths. Not the flavor aspects themselves, that would be consistent, but the relative levels.
Fifth infusion: slightly better in terms of richness of feel; something shifted. But the light range I was describing as close enough to lemon, floral tone, and dried apricot is heavier now, more centered on the dried persimmon range, without the lemon and floral parts. Warm mineral tones seem to pick up; that increase in feel is seemingly paired with a shift in flavor as well. Roasted bamboo is still present as a main flavor aspect but no longer dominant, now more integrated in other range.
To be clear I don't think this is refined and complex enough that someone who loves really good sheng would see it as comparable, or as good. It comes across as simpler, and less refined. Feel is fine, and there is some aftertaste experience, but it's just not comparable to how that goes in well above average quality sheng. I don't mean factory tea; those tend to take a dozen years to be drinkable, and only become approachable with a lot of age transition. I mean good sheng versions that are quite pleasant with just 2 to 4 years of age exposure, softening and deepening a bit, but not requiring a more complete fermentation cycle to be enjoyable.
I'd meant to leave off taking notes at this point but having said all that I should check one more round to see where it's headed first.
Sixth infusion: not so different. I really like it; that last part about it not stacking up against good sheng was about meeting limited aspect range expectations, and also just being a different tea type. After a couple more infusions the flavor effect shifted more towards pine, but otherwise just thinned, with astringency picking up a little due to stretching the timing. All in all not bad; pleasant, approachable, and interesting.
Further conclusions:
I liked the tea, and won't add much to the description here. It was different.
I also wanted to mention that some review comments were negative on that sales page, that one version seemed too roasted, and there were storage issues for others. Ordinarily I wouldn't bring that up, but I was talking to a friend who reported having negative experiences with different versions of bamboo sheng, so it seems relevant to include more on that.
Of course Moychay would probably sort out resolution if problems came up with any tea, beyond someone just not liking that tea version, so this is about background for why this tea type may be more inconsistent or problematic than others. There's always a chance for a problematic grey area to come up, for a tea to not be destroyed by mold or whatever else but to have lost positive flavor character, which could set up aspect interpretation and resolution coordination problems between any vendor and customer. It might not be practical for tea vendors to refund every case of someone not liking a tea type, but resolving issues related to something being wrong is different.
Although I'm mostly guessing myself, it seems obvious enough: this adds a cooking step, and for versions that are aged storage concerns come into play, both of which add risk of something not being right. If the tea was too roasted that would negatively affect flavor, and not roasting it enough could leave extra moisture present, which would really be even worse. Over-roasted tea might just taste like an oolong with extra char, but any mold on a tea would render it undrinkable. I'm not warning people to not try this type of tea, since I'm two for two for experiencing good results with similar versions, but it does seem like a relevant part of the story.
It's important to take sales-page comments for what they are worth, too. Any comments relating to a similar but different version are completely irrelevant, and anyone expecting the type to be different than how it tends to be is an expectation problem, not a problem with the tea. It probably doesn't help that there is no description on that sales page; the tea just is what the heading says it is. If there are more than 2 or 3 comments on any given product then that works as a survey of input, but if there are few then people tending to report negative impressions more than positive ones would probably skew feedback range. I've mentioned an impression of Moychay teas on sales pages before but tend never to, for spending so much time on these write-ups; I should probably add some of that.
I can't really place this tea any better, related to saying what it reminded me of, or being clearer on quality level or style than I was in the notes. It's probably quite similar to that one falap I tried, maybe with a bit more bamboo flavor, for whatever reason. For novelty I would recommend this tea at that price range, but then I love trying teas of different types, and this stands separate from everything but that one falap version for being different. That falap reminded me more of a sheng with some hei cha-range mellowness, and this seems more between mild sheng and approachable light rolled oolong, with bamboo taste input present in both.
Some completely unrelated photos follow; just sharing Bangkok family life images.
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a birthday event photo; my kids and I all had birthdays this month |
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at a local mall, decorated for Christmas |
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a second play area in three days; making the most of the last of a school break |
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it's a little odd how the pandemic isn't present here, but we still wear masks |
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