 |
Wuyi Origin Jin Mu Dan right; the comparison DHP on left looks ok too |
This is the last of a few teas that Cindy, of Wuyi Origin, passed on for me to drink last year. It seems those were more intended to share tea as a friend than for review, but of course it works for both, since discussing interesting tea versions is my hobby interest. That reminds me, Cindy described some changes in tea awareness, demand, and vending patterns in China in an online meetup last year (not so directly related to this tea or a review theme).
We visited the local Buddhist temple we go to most regularly recently (2 weeks ago now, and also since) to check in with an astrologer monk (a long story), and he gave me some tea that someone gave him a lot of, a Da Hong Pao. I've tried it; it's good, better than I remember trying from him a few years ago. One might wonder if it's not a problem for monks to receive that sort of a gift, well above average tea, that has considerable value (not like 50 cents a gram; it's not that good), in some quantity. It's not a problem. Monks live by a broad set of rules (227 or so?), and owning much of any value isn't allowed, but as far as grey areas go they're fine, and possessing tea is ok. He would just share some with other monks or visitors if it was more than he would drink, as I experienced.
I never look up tea details before reviewing them but I thought maybe I'd make an exception, just to change things up. It balances things a bit, since I've actually drank that second tea I'll use as comparison (the Da Hong Pao). The Wuyi Origin listing:
location : Shui lian dong (水帘洞） zheng yan garden
Picking date: 2021.April 28th
Roast level : Medium (roasted on June 23, July 7, and August 10)
Feature : Golden Peony is a new type of tea developed by the Fujian Tea Research Institute in the 1970s, with Tieguanyin(铁观音） as the female parent and Huangdan （黄旦）as the male parent. Growing in the protected area of Wuyi Mountain,the soil is rocky and rich in minerals. The soil is loose, conducive to water transportation.
The dry tea sticks are tightly tied, the color is dark and the aroma is restrained. The tea soup is orange-red and bright, the soup is clear and transparent, and the tea aroma is perfectly integrated into the tea soup. The entrance is smooth and thick, the rhyme of rock surrounds the throat, the sweetness is long-lasting, and the lips and teeth retain fragrance. Smell the fragrance of the bottom of the cup, such as honey, the hanging cup is long-lasting and full of tea. Very obvious taste of ripe peaches.
Interesting, that background. The plant hybrid type is interesting, and I can see how it goes with picking up peach flavor. This really should be better tea than the other, but that's part of the point, to pin down how it varies. Style will be relatively completely different too, given that is within the normal earthier, slightly heavy, mineral intensive range of a blended DHP (maybe Shui Xian with a little Rou Gui, or it could be anything).
Review:
Da Hong Pao (left in photo): much darker than the other tea. Flavor is pleasant, as I'd experienced before, not so far off normal Shui Xian character, that one mineral and wood flavor range, with one inky sort of effect tying more to mineral. The wood range isn't a conventional hardwood sort of effect, or aromatic wood, like cedar, but more like the smell of a wet-environment tree bark, or even tree bark in curing cut wood. It tastes fine until you try the other tea, then not as good in comparison.
Jin Mu Dan: wow that's good. Cinnamon, floral tones, and fruit really jumps out, with the overall character just on another level of the other tea. It's easy to try pretty good wuyi yancha, as this example is, or one I've recently bought for gifts from a local Chinatown shop, and say this is good enough, I can really appreciate this. Then when you try a good example from a much higher quality level it's something else altogether, and what really didn't seem like limitations in the other range of versions stands out.
The flavor profile is completely different, and the feel, and aftertaste experience. The roast level in the first example is fine, kind of medium, something that complements that tea, but this comes across as absolutely dialed in. It's a lower level of roast, just perfect for highlighting the strengths of this tea. There's no flaw to compensate for; it's not masking that kind of thing. I really love their Rou Gui, for balancing fruit, warm tones, and mineral input, and this is a completely different expression, only sharing a vague general tea category range. Floral tones are strongest, at this infusion, but there is plenty there that could emerge through later transitions.
Da Hong Pao, second infusion: slightly better; the mineral that was a bit dry, or just not so pleasant, mellowed, and sweetness increased. Depth picked up, and that towards-ink aromatic range contributes more. It's picking up more of a perfume-like quality.
Jin Mu Dan: it's not fair, trying an ordinary quality DHP along with this tea. Depth picked up in this tea too, warmer tones, but the heavy floral aromatic range is still really impressive, very pleasant. Peach starts to pick up, from range that was just non-distinct fruit in the first round. A warm tone I interpret as cinnamon, but that's not a given, it could be interpreted in different ways, or just described as a general underlying warmth. Someone could see that as connecting to the floral range, with heavier floral tones like lavender or rose petals included. I don't see it as related to mineral range, which is evident, but that would also make sense.
The main thing that stands out is how intense all of these positive aspects are, how complex the tea is, and how it all balances together. It's less unusual for a few very positive aspects to be expressed by a tea, but when it comes together as an integrated set and experience that's something else. You could try 1000 wuyi yancha versions from other kinds of sources and never encounter a version as novel, high in quality, and well-balanced as this one. The best of what I tried from my favorite local Chinatown shop wasn't so far off this, but the limited difference, the extra refinement, really sets this apart.
It makes you think about how cost ties to those issues, doesn't it? This sells for $22 for 50 grams, so on towards 50 cents a gram, but not there. If I remember right the best I bought from that Chinatown shop had sold for about $30 for 100 grams, so less, but the move up in quality level might seem like money well spent. Then when I buy teas I have to also factor in that my own budget is limited. I could buy a good value sheng cake for not much over the $44 100 grams of this would cost, or quite decent Dian Hong (my favorite black tea category) often costs $10 per 50 grams for pretty good versions. It would be nice to not worry about whether I spend $300 a year on tea or a couple thousand.
Da Hong Pao, third infusion: really not so different than the last round. Since this is about comparison to the other I'll not add more.
Jin Mu Dan: cocoa flavor seems to pick up a little, as it warms and fills in yet more complexity.
Keoni joined and asked what smelled like chocolate in here, and smelled the empty cup from last round, and said that's it. He tried both teas and really loved this version, and didn't care for the other. He even passed on an assessment that this is one of the better teas he's ever tried, and I agree that the quality level does stand out. Kalani tried both and like the other better, the DHP; personal preference can be like that. It is a lot closer to this other in general level of appeal in these rounds, for evolving to drop out most of a heavy tree-bark range flavor, with pleasant aromatic inky mineral picking up. I'm adding this during editing, but after another couple of infusions they kind of evened out more, since the bright and intense flavors in the Jin Mu Dan kept fading, and the Da Hong Pao retained its depth and kept seeming more pleasant.
Later infusions: peach may well stand out more in the next couple of infusions for the Jin Mu Dan, and some of the most striking floral aromatic range fades a little. It's still great for picking up a little more warm depth. The Da Hong Pao works as well as it has across any rounds, for that inky mineral range and some vague floral tones hanging in there. Aftertaste is pleasant for both, it's just a matter of which flavor range carrying over one prefers. Both could be a little richer in feel but they're definitely not thin, so it doesn't come across as a flaw.
Both kept going for lots of additional infusions, more than four extra shown in pictures and mentioned here. Both stayed pleasant too, fading in ways that didn't shift feel or flavor balance into a negative range, maintaining enough intensity and complexity to still seem nice. For the Wuyi Origin tea starting out so clearly high in quality that seemed normal, and versions backed off a little in terms of oxidation and roast level might last a little longer. For the DHP it was more of a surprise; it seemed to be better quality tea than I had expected, or noticed in the first rounds of the two sessions I tried it.
No comments:
Post a Comment