We talked to someone new to vending tea in Laos not so long ago, Danang Thorphialuang. He's working on a vending site that I'll mention in a later review post. This is a review of two of his teas, versions of sheng (just not sheng "pu'er," since it's from Laos).
For most of those meetups I wrote a summary of the discussion but in some cases people didn't want any exposure, or in very few the discussion didn't include central themes that made for a good story. Laos tea in general is one of my favorite themes in tea exploration, but that discussion just didn't narrow down to a few central subjects well. One of my first introductions to interesting tea related to visiting a coffee farm in Laos and buying some tea too, about 12 years ago. Anna of Kinnari is one of my absolute favorite tea contacts, and Somnuc (a personal contact) passed on really interesting samples, and meeting Alexander of Laos Tea was a wonderful highlight in visiting Moscow.
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with baby Keo visiting a Laos coffee and tea farm |
Danang talked about his experiences with Laos tea, and we talked about Laos tea in general, and different trade and development issues. I suppose I've covered those kinds of themes in more detail in lots of posts here. We talked about a tisane he helps produce and sell that were new to me, a dried gooseberry version. I'll review that again in another post, since he sent some to try (and these teas; many thanks to him for that). It just didn't come together enough, without repeating a lot of what I've said about Laos tea development. This is in a different area in Laos, towards where the "plain of jars" is, per my understanding.
Danang seems like a nice guy. That may seem beside the point, since this post is about teas, but to me it's really not. I've tried to do meetups with people that I deeply respect as individuals more than those I respect as authorities on tea, and it has worked out well to combine the two contexts. It's idealistic to think that more people who share a beverage choice are more exemplary individuals than average, but in a better world than this one that would be universally true. As it is I take comfort in it being mostly true.
Review:
#1: The initial flavor for this includes characteristic bitterness, moderate in level, and complex somewhat earthy and vegetal range beyond that. This includes a touch of mushroom, but the form seems to be of a type that might transition off after the first round. I don't really love mushroom flavor in sheng but this is generally positive, and it will probably be much better next round, the typical initial "opening up" cycle. I'll save the flavor list breakdown for then.
#2: this is unique in style, in between a lot of other type ranges. A warm sweetness and richness leans towards black tea and a vegetal edge, stronger than tends to come up in sheng, is more like green tea. It's even more bitter than the other version, so it's clearly sheng. I think it will also be much better the next round, but for a different reason, for allowing that bitter edge to settle a little. I brewed these much longer than I tend to for first infusions, not in the 10 second or so range that might be optimum for a high proportion, but well beyond that to not be mentioning a slow start, and how I can't tell yet how they will develop. Results were pretty similar for how much I'm getting covered in review notes anyway, just for a different reason.
When people mention bitterness in sheng that's really talking about a range of aspect experience and intensity. A most familiar form is from not yet aged, chopped leaf factory teas (Dayi or Xiaguan, or like that); those can be a little harsh. Then a much milder form can complement typical above average quality sheng, balanced quite differently, or some better versions really are quite bitter, as this is. It would only work well brewed fast, so I'll try that next round.
#1, second infusion: a little light; I erred on the side of brewing these a bit fast, 5 seconds instead of longer than 15 the first round, maybe a little overshoot. That mushroom is already almost completely dropped out. For this being faint it won't be ideal for complete description, and a slightly heavier round will work better next time. The rest balances. Sweetness is ok, at a good level, and feel works, with other complexity supporting the experience. Refinement and balance are good; for local made teas that's often not the case. I think this is probably as good as versions presented with all sorts of quality level and style claims. What I mean will be clearer in description next round.
#2: sweetness and a floral perfume character really ramped up. I knew this would improve but not like this. It still has a bit of extra vegetal edge leaning towards green tea style but this is closer to standard sheng range (to me; I suppose that part is a judgment call). Sometimes good versions of sheng that lean towards green tea style seem like they would work well as a replacement for green tea, an improvement on that range of experience, and this is like that. Probably conventional Western brewing wouldn't get great results from this, until someone could really dial in infusion strength. For this range I think it's much better to use hotter water and then low infusion times to adjust infusion strength; results are much better.
The richness of that floral tone includes so much range and depth that it might include some fruit too. Interpretation of which fruit is probably meaningless, given that heavier bitterness and floral intensity mask that part. It's mostly floral, by a large margin, with rich and heavy floral tones, like lavender, and lighter and brighter range, like plumeria. The point was that it's so complex and has so much depth that it seems like there's more to it. It's interesting how proportion is similar for these (but this may include just a little more leaf) but this is on the strong side, while the other is light. It might have to do with transition pattern as much as anything else.
#1, third infusion: this is coming in nicely. A bit of warm tobacco range picks up, adding to mild floral tones present before. When a mediocre quality sheng ages significantly to taste a lot like a cheap cigar smells that's something else, related, but quite different. Tobacco range is really complex; it covers a good bit of scope. Probably somewhat mixed or non-distinct floral range stands out most. Then a warm tobacco range joins that, which could easily be interpreted as a wood tone. It's not mushroom; that faded away, or changed to be something else.
#2: floral range is really complex in this, and it comes across as much sweeter. The vegetal range of that has all but faded away now, adding more depth across warmer range. It's still mainly complex floral tones. The rich feel complements that rich flavor profile, along with a relatively high level of sweetness. It's still bitter, but in a much more moderate range, not even all that high as young sheng goes. Faster (appropriate) brewing probably offset that as much as transition.
#1, fourth infusion: not so different than last round. The warm tobacco oriented range along with subdued floral tones is nice. It's odd how this is a relatively subdued flavor intensity tea with the other on the opposite side. I suppose for this including that other range it works better, that slight wood tone background and aspect category complexity works well as a lighter tea, where if the other was dominant floral but light it might seem thinner, or more limited. Where the other is rich in feel this has some slight dryness and structure to it, again which I see as working well for matching both types.
#2: also not so different than last time. Sweetness difference stands out a lot in contrast, higher matching floral range flavors for this. There is a background edge of warm bark spice that gives this complexity, that makes that one heavier dimension of complex floral range work all the better. Mixed together these might be nice; for experimenting with adjusting proportion it could balance. I poured the last of these two rounds into one cup and it does add up to a nice middle range. The more forward floral tone and sweetness in this version probably stands out more but the other gives it better depth than just drinking the second alone.
#1, fifth infusion: I'll probably drop taking notes here, since I tend to get bored with review process prior to a 10 round cycle. As I always say late transitions can be very positive and interesting, so it's not about that lack of potential, I'm just over it, and putting readers through an 1800 word review is too much. It's nice the way that in Mattcha's blog he lists out 14 or so infusions, with a different 3 or 4 flavor description for each round, but I never tend to notice that much shift.
Tobacco range really bumps up in this, a factor for giving it a much longer infusion time, again between 15 and 20 seconds (due to writing a bit and not minding the time, not so much a planned alteration). It works well for there being other range. Floral tone underlying that is mild, like chrysanthemum, but it plays a nice supporting role, acting as a base. I could relate to people interpreting fruit aspects in this like raisin or dried orange peel, but they are subtle in comparison with floral and tobacco range, which I take to seem like a spice scope input. No one is mixing part of a cigarette into their soup to season it, but the range and profile role is comparable in this.
#2: again a little strong for using the longer time; the other version is well suited for this infusion time but this isn't. It's a cool effect how rich the feel is. Sweetness is a bit much in this too, at this strength, a little cloying. Again for mixing the two the effect might be better than for either, although the first worked better brewed stronger than for the lighter rounds.
This reminds me of running across a typical idea about how blended sheng versions were traditional in the past, and the push towards narrower and narrower area and character type sourcing is new, and maybe not well-suited for aging transition. I'll drop descriptions here, and never do much with conclusions, since my impression was probably clear enough already. These are really nice, much better than I would've expected, as good as a lot of South East Asian sheng that I've tried adjoined with a lot more hype about quality and interesting background.
Tangent about narrow origin versus blended source sheng
This idea was expressed by Lawrence Zhang, in podcast interview with the owner of Crimson Lotus, and re-summarized in a blog post summary in Mattcha's blog (so with a extra layers to this citation, since it's a transcript from a summary):
33:35 “What young sheng puerh characteristics and qualities characteristics are best for aging?” “Most of the good stuff gets made into single origin puerh which is mostly a function of cost. It’s very hard to find anyone who wants to put some Laobanzhang material in a some regular old blend… because you can’t sell it for that much because no one will pay for that much (see my post on Extinct Blends)… after 10 plus years of experience with some of these teas, I’m not convinced that single estate puerh will age that well… or not that interesting…. Old cakes are all blends.” Old schoolers generally prefer factory teas and blends over single estate. 80% of what I buy and consume are blends.
This reference to "single estate pu'er" is only part or one description of that paradigm. These two teas I'm trying are from two different production batches that might have come from a relatively limited and nearby source area. I highly doubt this material was grown on any sort of "estate." It's not as if re-planted tea farming is unheard of in Laos, but production from older naturally growing material is a common paradigm. Not that the plants these were from were necessarily all decades old; it grows as a now-wild or feral plant type, so some plants are older and some younger.
Back to the blending versus single-origin theme, a producer could balance inputs in teas by combining versions from any scope of range, from different parts of Yunnan, or just from different relatively local production sources (as I would imagine these two teas are). Of course lots of inputs like plant genetics, growing conditions, and processing factors all mix. The paradigms people tend to be familiar with are wild origin tea versus plantation grown versions, differences related to broad or smaller source area regions, processing style varying (including how whole the leaf is), harvesting season related (mainly spring versus fall tea), and plant type age varying. The "factory" part is about larger producers like Dayi, CNNP / Zhongcha, Xiaguan and many others sourcing tea from lots of places and mixing it.
It could be a little misleading, what that says. One might take it as an implication that 20+ year old teas all being blends, almost all made by large tea producers, is an indication that in the past this was regarded as the best approach. It was just what sheng pu'er was, how it was processed and then sold. Sheng was also a cheaper version of tea; there was no comparison 20 years ago to most of it now costing between $50 - 100 (standard sized 357 gram cakes), or for "gushu" material now typically being priced in a $1 / gram range, with high demand versions much pricier. Sheng pu'er is a different thing than it was. In another 10 years what Lawrence is saying will either be confirmed or proven false, about aging potential tied to styles, but with this "narrow origin" trend largely starting in the last decade it's too soon to call. Of course since the pu'er boom was in the mid-2000s there would be plenty of exceptions to use as examples that are around 15 years old now, but it's my understanding that the broad style shift occurred a bit after that.
He seems to have addressed that; the claim is that he's already had 10+ years experience with some of these teas. Fair enough; he's been at this awhile, so his personal experience is as good as any as an indicator. Let's check for how long, since if it's 12 years that's cutting it close, but over 15 that's easier to accept (not that he couldn't have been drinking aged "narrowly sourced" teas 10 years ago). This July 2007 Chadao blog post sets his public discussion of pu'er timeline:
The 'Constant Tea Meeting': MarshalN on Blogging about Tea
...It's been almost a year and half since I started my blog.
So early 2006; almost 16 years ago. He helps frame where blogging and tea discussion stood at that time:
Initially I had no idea how many people would read it. I figured that if I get 10 readers a day, I would be doing well, since according to some study the average blog is visited by 7 unique visitors every day. While my blog has certainly exceeded that expectation, the fact remains that it is merely a small project, comprising mostly of notes for myself and observations I have gathered along the way.
During this time, however, the blogosphere has blossomed. When I first started, only four of the links on the blog existed -- Babelcarp, CHA DAO, La Galette de Thé, and the LiveJournal Puerh Community. The rest, as far as I am aware, were still in gestation. Now any visit to any of these sites will bring you to even more blogs and journals out there, composed by dedicated tea drinkers like you and me. Just keeping up the reading would mean visiting a dozen or so blogs every week, at least.
So tea blogging and tea discussion really came online in a developed form between 2006 and the middle of 2007; odd that it seemed to shift so fast. Given people weren't limiting that discussion to brand new teas then we are at a good place for lots of people to have developed impression of teas from 15 years ago, a typical threshold for relatively fully aged teas. And again no one needs to limit what they try to what was produced right when they entered tea exploration; aged versions of these teas were a common theme in the last century, just not as developed.
The main problem then is going to be sorting out a consensus take on this issue ("after 10 plus years of experience with some of these teas, I’m not convinced that single estate puerh will age that well… or not that interesting..."). He's definitely one of the main experts to listen to for a developed opinion, but he's still just in possession of one more subjective preference. Two different people could judge the exact same tea differently, based on varying preference patterns. Lawrence Zhang is credited with accurately representing a traditional Hong Kong perspective and preference for tea styles, but I can't even guess at how accurate or limited that really is.
My son tried these teas with me and I was mentioning to him how that early bitterness in one version would fade and change over even 5 years, but that no one is going to age this particular tea to experience that, and become clearer on effect. Probably mixing these two together would make sense, then aging that, and that won't happen either. I did eventually pour the last of two rounds together and maybe they are better that way, more balanced. I suppose something must get lost in the experience too, the distinctiveness.
Surely a broad range of sheng versions we come in contact with offset initial input limitations in such a way, and were blended from different sources to create a more balanced and seemingly higher quality final version. Not just "factory blends," I don't mean; it must occur with what is presented and sold as narrowly sourced off-area versions like these, again created by as simple an extra step as mixing these two types together.
Again many thanks to Danang, for providing a much more interesting tea experience than I expected. Sheng from outside China can be pretty good, but higher quality, distinctive, and pleasant versions like these are really nice to experience. I expected them to be a lot more ordinary.
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