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Mao Jian left, Meitan Cui Ya right. it's partly a focus issue but that Mao Jain is also fuzzy. |
There's unusual context for these two teas; they're from a sample set sent from Moychay for review last year, so 2021 green tea versions. So ruined by aging, per one take on how green tea storage works out. They'll definitely have lost a lot of the freshness that marks most green tea appeal, so that wouldn't be completely wrong. Then green tea also just transitions to deeper, warmer, more mineral intensive flavors, so in a different sense they will just be different than how they started out.
In partial explanation, I had a lot of samples to get to (many thanks to them for that), and green tea isn't a favorite range. I helped out with some editing and those were a thanks, it seemed, which I really valued, but it's been a lot to get to all of them, even over time. I had planned to just drink through one version this morning, not reviewing it, but it reminded me of one of the first teas I bought that I couldn't identify early on in my tea journey, a pine needle looking version only sold as "mountain tea" in a Beijing old style market. Not exactly a sign from the universe but still interesting.
I just mentioned in a post on Gong Fu brewing about how in general Western approach could be as good or better for many green teas, but I'll brew these Gong Fu style. It seems more respectful to the tea, and it will tell a slightly different story. I'll use water well off boiling point (with temperature not measured), so it's not about dialing in precise parameters, just what intuition dictates in this case.
Trying dated green teas before should help a little with guessing about transitions that have occurred in these, but that short summary of changes is going to be most of it. Since the form of both is quite different it may require adjusting brewing to be different (adjusting timing), but that's easy enough to do on the fly.
The vendor input is a bit limited in relevance since these should've changed some since last year, and may not be available, but I'll still look them up:
Duyun Maojian Ban Shougong Cha (partly handmade) , march 2021
«Hairy peaks from Duyun» is the famous tea of Guizhou Province. It was made of the very first spring tea shoots (early March 2021).
In appearance: small, thin flagella of green buds, abundantly covered with fuzz. The aroma is fresh, herbal. The liquor is transparent, light greenish color.
The brewed tea has fresh, airy, herbal-floral bouquet with nutty hint. The aroma is tender, herbal-floral. The taste is refined and full-bodied, juicy, sweetish, with fine berry sourness and lingering finish.
Brewing suggestions. Brew tea with hot water (70-75°С) in a porcelain gaiwan or in glass tea ware. The proportion is 3-4 g per 100 ml. The time of the first steeping is about 5-7 seconds. After that do short steeps (just for 1-2 seconds), increasing steeping time for each subsequent step, if necessary. You can repeat this method up to 7-8 times.
Parts of that match these tasting notes; the mention of it being "nutty" worked out as an unusual and pleasant theme. It's interesting that they brewed it not so differently than I did, just at a lower proportion, since I definitely wasn't using flash infusions (1-2 seconds plus adding some time). I did try one really fast round, and liked it; odd that matched up (I only read this kind of content during editing, typically, and this time).
It's not available on that main site now, so there was no price to check, but I checked their Netherlands (Amsterdam) site to see if they still list it and they do; it costs 10.50 Euro for 50 grams, which is $11. What's up with the low Euro? That actually sounds like a great price, for this, even for one year old green tea, based on writing this after I've tried it.
Meitan Cui Ya Shougong (Emerald Tips from Meitan, handmade) , march 2021
“Meitan Cui Ya Shougong” ("Emerald Tips from Meitan, handmade") is a green tea from Guizhou province. Made in early March from the very first spring buds. Harvest 2021.
In appearance: select, glossy green buds. The fragrance is fresh, floral-herbaceous. Tea infusion is transparent, with a light green shade.
The bouquet of the ready-made tea is fresh, floral-herbaceous with notes of baked chestnuts and sweet peas. The fragrance is tender, floral-herbaceous. The taste is full-bodied, sweet and smooth, slightly tart, with a delicate berry sourness and long, refreshing finish.
Steep the tea in a hot water (70-80°С) in a porcelain gaiwan. The proportion is 3-4 g per 100 ml. The time of the first steeping is about 20 seconds. After that do short steeps (for 3-5 seconds), increasing steeping time for each subsequent step, if necessary. You can repeat steeping up to 6 times.
It's odd that this was probably the singular most floral green tea I've ever tried and that didn't get emphasized more in that description, even though it was repeated as "floral-herbaceous." The color of these buds may have darkened some, based on that description. It is what it is. Again no price was listed, because that's from an archived listing, and this time it didn't turn up on the Netherlands site.
It's interesting how many aged green tea versions they have on their sites. That's a subject I've been meaning to get to, because Moychay sent some unusual old teas and some really, really old versions last year, even back from the 70s. At least it's a non-issue giving those an extra year to get to. I'm not nervous about trying something outside a normal range but I still don't look through samples on a Saturday morning and essentially never think this is the day to try that 50 year old tea. I was really moving through a lot of aged sheng samples too, the main type they sent, which matched an exploration phase I was most focused on, so just ideal in that regard.
People might wonder if aged green tea is really "a thing." It's rare, but it comes up as a novelty experience. Within the first half dozen years of being produced old green tea is still just seen as ruined, but double that to a dozen years or more and people could get curious about how it might have changed, or even more so at around the two decade mark. I'll pass on what I experience when I get to that. I'm curious myself. I just missed trying some 40 year old green tea when my favorite Chinatown shop owners had tasted some with guests quite a few years back, and never returned to that theme again.
Review:
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Mao Jian left (in all photos), still a bit light, but novel and interesting in spite of that |
Dayun Mao Jian: lots of trichomes in this already, fuzz that you can see on the surface when you brew it. That's not surprising given the appearance.
I really wasn't expecting this much umami in this tea; it's in a Japanese tea range for that. The warm mineral tone I mentioned, related to natural flavor drift over time, especially for storing tea in a hot place, like Bangkok, kind of works well with that. A fresher and more vegetal range being more pronounced last year would've been a different effect, the way that combined. This is kind of cool though. Mineral is so bumped up that it's a little towards salt or metal, in a nice sense, like sucking on a penny. Sweetness ties those parts together nicely.
Meitan Cui Ya Shougong: I didn't see that intensity coming; it's even stronger than the other. It includes a hint of smoke, lots of vegetal depth, mineral, sweetness, and some vegetal range, and floral tone. That's a lot going on for a buds based tea, and dialed up to an intensity that's atypical. Definitely strong floral tone, but a different kind of mineral stands out more, even though that kind of range usually takes up a background / base context form. This has an interesting aftertaste carry-over, related to being that complex and intense. Proportion is a bit higher for this tea, bumped a little since whenever I see plain buds I expect intensity challenged tea, but the opposite happened in this case. Floral tone is nice, heavy, towards lavender, a nice fit with the rest.
Neither of these are similar to the character ranges that put me off a lot of green teas, heavy seaweed, grassiness, or vegetal flavors. I like Longjing, but that's more in a toasted rice / nutty range, with other tones including vegetal range, but not typically a blast of it that ruins the effect (for me). I get it why people might like other styles and aspect sets than I do, it's just personal preference varying.
Dayun Mao Jian, second infusion: this shifted a lot. Umami is still present but a lot of vegetal tone picked up, warmer range, and mineral ramped up quite a bit. On the "is it ruined?" theme I would imagine all this was tied to a brighter, fresher floral range when first made last year, or at least lighter vegetal tone. So maybe; it would be a judgement call about tea style and aspect forms. This tastes a good bit like roasted sunflower seeds; that doesn't come up so often in tea tasting. I like it, but then I've been sorting through varying styles, quality levels, and age-transition level versions of sheng for awhile, so I'm probably more open than average to atypical tea experience range. Even that metal edge, now overtaken by sunflower seed general flavor, works with the rest.
The brewed liquid isn't completely clear, slightly cloudy instead, but it's covered in trichomes, and those mixed in with the infusion might also be causing that.
Meitan Cui Ya Shougong: the exact opposite shift occurred in this, making for an unusual experience. I brewed it little faster to account for intensity being high last round and it's much less intense now, lighter on the heavier and deeper flavor range, more onto a mild and sweet but still complex floral range. This could be a good version of a tisane and tea blend at this point; it could have a floral input. It doesn't, because there's no way you could make that mild in a first infusion then have it come out more in the next. And they're just not on that page; Moychay isn't that kind of vendor source. Their tea quality level and value can shift quite a bit version to version but it's all what it's supposed to be, per my impression.
A strong perfume-like effect comes across for floral range being so heavy in this. I don't remember ever drinking a green tea that expressed this much of that, actually seeming like a tisane blend. The warmer tone and mineral base works well with that, rounding it out. Aftertaste experience didn't drop out but it is a lot lighter for going with a lighter infusion. And I think this tea started brewing much faster than I expected, maybe related to me associating buds form with white tea, of course in error, at least related to this case outcome.
Dayun Mao Jian, third infusion: this is settling into a range closer to Longjing than it had been before, with that sunflower settling back to a toasted rice or nutty range. Cool! I love that aspect set. If you would try this you would think it is a heavy, mineral intensive, maybe slightly age transitioned (not so fresh) version of Longjing, but still a pretty good one. Intensity is good, flavor is clean, sweetness is nice, and mineral base gives it great complexity. A bit of background floral tone adds even more complexity and depth; there's a lot going on.
I always thought I'd probably get around to trying more green tea range that would make it all make more sense, it's just odd exploring it in this form, and adding in a completely atypical aging factor. Of course I have tried a lot of versions of green teas, maybe even a couple hundred, but I mean expanding that into even more Chinese types I've yet to run across. It's my impression that it's impossible to try half of all there is for Chinese tea types, all the more so for trying good versions of those.
Meitan Cui Ya Shougong: it shifted again, no doubt related to going back to a slightly longer infusion time. This could be a white tea, for expressing this profile, heavy on mineral, with a bit more depth and structure to it, but mild at the same time, expressing quite a bit of floral. It's like a silver needle that's seen a bit of age, in between being fresh and bright and transitioning to much deeper and warmer tones much later on. There's even one way that a warm mineral tone and towards-lavender flavor set comes across in silver needle that this matches. The feel structure too, the way those start in on astringency fullness in an unusual way, not in the sense of having an edge, or seeming dry, but full in a way that starts towards dryness.
I know it seemed like these were just starting to get interesting but I might do one more round and leave off the notes. I only have so much attention span to work with, related to combining tasting and writing notes.
Dayun Mao Jian, fourth infusion: odd the trichomes keep extracting out in this tea version; it was absolutely loaded. This is heavier in tone than it has been yet; strange. For both of these teas I think minor changes in infusion time would shift their character, and to some extent did. Or temperature probably would too, if that had applied, but I'm using water from a thermos, all the same across these rounds.
This tastes a little like fresh popped popcorn, that heavier taste, maybe even including the edge that enters in when you burn a few kernels. Both of these teas might have transitioned a significant amount from storage, but it's hard to say for sure. Most likely there is a quality issue behind that; I've probably been exposed to generally lower or average level green teas before, maybe with exceptions entering in related to gyokuro, sencha, or longjing, so I'm accustomed to a rough edged, vegetal aspect range.
Meitan Cui Ya Shougong: this includes a bit more of that feel edge I mentioned, taking a short step further into dryness, with the heavy floral tone clearly evident beyond that. Finally there's not much to say about dramatic transitions beyond that change. I've probably been "pushing" both these teas further than they really needed, not using long infusion times, a bit over 10 seconds, maybe 15, but at this brewing proportion they might've been fine brewed lighter and faster, maybe even better. Backing off proportion is the obvious way to adjust for that, making 15 to 20 seconds relate to the same infusion strength range, making it easier to dial in an optimum, or at least a better range. No regrets though, not even about not trying these teas last year, as I should have; it has been an pleasant and interesting experience.
Duyun Mao Jian, fifth infusion: I tried a bit faster infusion, probably using a little cooler water, to see how that changed things, related to considering that last time. It works; intensity is much lighter, but profile is shifted to a standard light floral and vegetal range, just quite light. A light perfume-like nature comes across better, this is just a bit faint, it is so light. It would probably still be quite pleasant to brew 20 rounds like this, to do a whole long cycle of very light infusions, instead of the less than 10 this sequence is headed towards.
Meitan Cui Ya Shougong: for floral tone, warmer range, mineral depth, and feel intensity all being so strong this works well brewed very light. It's not that different, the general impression just changes. It's odd how an aftertaste carry-over still happens, a faint impression that keeps trailing off, but doesn't actually seem to stop. People really into one range of white teas might absolutely love this. It's nothing like I expected but quite pleasant. That's true of both of these, really.
Conclusions:
I always kind of expected that I would get back to trying green teas that were more novel and better than what I've tried before, I just never sought that out, since it's my least favorite general category. Here they are though.
It seems like soldiering through a broad range of sheng pu'er has really prepared me for this experience, which isn't what I expected. For those you tend to value complexity and uniqueness, sure, and intensity, and unending new range, and these cover some of that scope, without the heavier feel, and without coming across as grassy or vegetal. I can eat seaweed and vegetables, like anyone else, probably appreciating that more than most for spending 17 years as a vegetarian, and eating a broad range of Asian foods. That's just not a range I prefer in tea flavor experience, so it was nice for these to not emphasize that.
It probably really is that I've tried more moderate quality green tea than better versions, with the exception of some decent Longjing and Japanese versions, and the odd "wild" SE Asian version, or Darjeeling. It was nice taking a step in an unexpected direction like that. I don't expect the impact of aging (one year) was an overly negative input for these teas, but standard expectations about them being very fresh in character probably wouldn't have been met. To me that might not have even been negative, based on trying an awful lot of aged sheng over the past year, so that transition effect has been a big part of what I routinely experience.
It's different in sheng and green tea, for sure, but I think that one generality might tend to get overstated, that sheng is completely separate in that way (aging potential), and green teas absolutely must be drank within six months. When I've heard of people going through and throwing away lots of dated green tea versions because the flavor faded or shifted it has seemed a bit odd to me, that perhaps with a shift to their expectations the tea really wouldn't have been that undrinkable, or even unpleasant. People associate green tea with freshness though, and who am I to say that's objectively wrong, overly rigid, or unreasonable. Tea experience is what you want it to be, with broad expectations as one input to that. If you think that all shu pu'er tends to taste the same (which I'm more guilty of) then experience can confirm that, more so than experiences would without that rigid expectation factoring in.
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