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Ai Lao left, Yiwu right, in all photos |
I'm reviewing two Yunnan black teas from Tea Tracks, sent by the owner Jan to share and for review (many thanks). Since Dian Hong means Yunnan black (/ red) tea in a sense these are definitely Dian Hong, but people also use that as a more limited style designation. To me they're both Dian Hong.
Then Shai Hong, which means sun-dried black / red tea, is more or less a subset of that, or overlapping category, often used to identify versions that are backed off in oxidation level just a little, and more suitable for aging transition, deepening in flavor over a few years of storage time. This post isn't mostly about all that; just mentioning it.
These are really nice. I'll skip saying more and cite the vendor descriptions, what they are:
Yi Wu Black 易武晒红 (19.62 Euro for 100 grams, $21.92)
Ai Lao Wild Black 哀牢红 (19.62 Euro for 100 grams, $21.92)
This black tea comes from wild trees that grow in a protected forest near Ai Lao Shan. This tea has a clean taste with notes of berries. It's amazing to see what a fragrance and flavour this tea can produce without any flavouring.
It was a bit tricky to take a good picture of the cake. It's really that dark.
This tea has been pressed into 100g cakes.
Trees: Wild tea trees growing in a protected forest
Origin: Ai Lao Shan, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China
Harvest: Spring 2023
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the color difference is really something |
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separated out for brewing |
Review:
Ai Lao: tartness stands out first. I dislike most tartness in black teas, but in some versions it can balance with the rest in pleasant ways. The rest of this does integrate well with it, and is pleasant. There are plenty of other layers to experience. Sweetness is good, and general tone is quite rich.
There's a typical malty sort of black tea base flavor, even leaning just a little towards that one orthodox Assam malt flavor aspect, and decent fruit tones beyond that. Mineral is nice, a pleasant supporting aspect. There are warm mineral tones, and also a touch that's a little sharper that's almost towards salt, giving it a savory edge. It works well with the sweetness, fruit, and other complexity.
It's odd that this dry leaf is so much darker in appearance and then the brewed tea is lighter. There may be meaning in that, but I don't know what it is if so. When I first saw the dry versions I thought maybe the Yiwu was oxidized less, but for it brewing to a darker, redder liquid I'm not so sure.
Yiwu: that is interesting. A pronounced mineral range also stands out in this, also leaning a little towards salt. Maybe there's something going on with my palate? It's possible. I had oatmeal for breakfast, along with two fried eggs, and some longkong and banana, with the banana mixed with chocolate protein powder, milk, and ice to make a smoothie. A bit much, but a normal range; it shouldn't have thrown things off.
The aspect I described as malt in the other is a little drier in effect here, or so it comes across (nothing like Assam, but a short step towards that). Feel structure is still fine, and sweetness provides a nice balance. Both of these were brewed a little long; I went with lower proportion to stretch a large sample to two rounds, and they're probably about 6 grams worth (just a guess), so it's strange that is a low proportion, for me. I tend to max out what the gaiwan will hold more often. Brewing them longer related to not commenting that they'd really open up and brew next round, but it's hard to dial that in to an optimum level, the slowish start for all compressed teas.
These are compressed as tea cakes; that's interesting. Or rather they're chunks that indicate that shape. I suppose I should say something about aging potential along the way, or input, if these aren't relatively new. Aging black tea doesn't change all that much, but if a version is oxidized less to begin with, as Yunnan Shai Hong style tends to be, then initially subdued flavors can pick up more over 2 or 3 more years, and then it seems to level off some. Or maybe that's all wrong; it's just my current understanding. I retried a pressed Shai Hong brick I bought 7 or so years ago not long ago; it might've changed some, but it seems pretty similar to me to how it was back then.
It would be easier to blind guess sheng inputs based on a version being 1 to 3 years old, since that pattern is more familiar, but starting points vary a lot for those, as can occur some in black tea, so it would still be guesswork.
Ai Lao #2: brewed faster and lighter; it's interesting how much difference that makes. There is still plenty of intensity to appreciate, it's just on the light side. Tartness fades back to a more even and integrated part of the rest; it's not at all objectionable at this level of input. It's hard to describe the dried fruit input that I didn't put words to last round; maybe along the line of dried tamarind, or really it could be complex, a few different flavor aspects mixing. Rich feel is nice, for it being a bit light.
It's hard to describe why this captures why I love simple black teas so much, even though this isn't any more interesting or complex than a lot of other range. There's just something simple, balanced, and pleasant about it.
That simplicity is actually misleading; there are a few layers of aspect range going into making this experience have depth, so it's actually not simple in aspect range. It comes across as integrated, and less intense than sheng pu'er experience, and also less refined than higher end oolong, so I guess to me that leads to an effect related to simplicity, even though the complexity and balance is making it pleasant.
Yiwu: a spice note picks up in this. Fruit is still more dominant, but it's interesting the way the two ranges play off each other. Then warmer mineral tones and that malt-like depth balance nicely, just not exactly malt, that one aspect. Somehow I expected the other version to be more intense and complex, and for this one to have good depth but to be subdued, and in a sense that's reversed. The fruit seems to shift towards a berry-like range, maybe in between dried blueberry and dried dark cherry, a nice range. There is a touch of tartness in this, if you look for it, but it's a minor supporting aspect, not the main flavor as in round one for the Ai Lao version, which dropped back to a contributing aspect in the second infusion.
I suppose I like this one more, at this point, but these are both pretty good. They're good enough that it makes me start thinking about optimums, about how they relate to a quite ideal range, or how they could be even better. To me Dian Hong isn't really about that, the aspects matching a certain style form, and reaching towards an experienced aspects optimum. It's great because pleasantness and depth carry the experience, regardless of what aspects are included or not so pronounced. It makes more sense to go on about most preferred or more ideal narrow sheng pu'er types, or oolong variations, what the best Mi Lan Xiang Dan Cong is like, related to a range of styles of those, and so on.
Related to that perspective I'll continue on with describing aspects, and leave off with comparison to some type-typical or ideal form, or aspects set. I should look up the age of these during this tasting, and try to guess more about that input. Maybe after next round.
Ai Lao #3: not so different. It's a little subtle but complexity and depth is still really nice. I brewed these for about 20 seconds, using what to me is a moderate proportion, again probably about 6 grams (which I don't weigh out), and it would work to push them harder, brewing them for over 30 seconds.
Balance of flavors is nice. It's complex but hard to break down as a list. I already have, and I don't suppose it has transitioned, but it's even harder to sort out those aspects now (fruit tone, warm mineral, a mild malt-like aspect). I could relate to someone interpreting this as floral range; somewhat mixed and vague dried fruit and warm floral tones could be similar. Feel is rich and aftertaste is fine for this tea type; they add in an experience of additional complexity. I wouldn't judge this to include tartness in this round, brewed this way; that did fade.
Yiwu: again there's a catchy interplay between a dried berry or fruit range and a spice note that's hard to identify, with other warmer depth really making it all balance nicely. That warm tone, maybe covering both malt and spice, is more pronounced in this than the other version (any equivalent range; most of the actual flavors sets don't overlap directly). The other version is pleasant, but that bump in depth, complexity, and intensity sets this apart. Some of that you could compensate for by brewing the first a bit stronger, but it can only change character so much.
I will try these brewed for about a minute, which will probably just be normal intensity range, for them covering so much ground already in this infusion cycle.
Ai Lao #4: a very pleasant minty aspect joins in; that's nice! Not like drinking Red Jade, if I remember that Taiwanese black tea theme correctly, but just a hint of wintergreen, that works well with the rest. The other intensity might be fading a bit. That's for more forward flavor aspects; the depth is the same, the rich feel, warm mineral tones, and underlying base complexity. This can probably be stretched for one more intense round and then it really will be on the way out. Using longer infusions can do that, and black teas can brew out a little faster than I'm accustomed to with sheng.
Yiwu: this is fading slightly too. Probably as much from the power of suggestion I'm noticing a trace of mint in this too, when I probably wouldn't have if I hadn't just experienced that in the first. To me it tastes like tea berry, which is in between berry and mild mint.
I suppose that's a flavor that not so many people would be familiar with, since it's not something people actually consume. I remember mentioning that flavor to my mother once, and she asked if those are even safe to eat. I think they are, but the texture is so strange that someone might enjoy tasting them but you wouldn't keep eating them. It's been a life's mission to pick, process, and dry teaberry leaves, since I've heard that they can be oxidized, and I may get to that soon, since I'll visit my family back in Pennsylvania in a week, for a few weeks. I'll probably stop reviewing teas for a month.
These did brew a few more pleasant rounds, but there wasn't much more to say about them, no interesting later transitions.
Conclusions:
I did look through the product descriptions, and add them here. Both are from Spring 2023; they've had a year and a half to settle, and change character some, but probably not much. They both might be ever so slightly better within another year and a half, but I bet they're pretty much where they're going to be now, and it's not certain that they'll improve with a little more age.
The vendor descriptions, Jan's, say that the Yiwu is standard Dian Hong / Shai Hong, which I've already mentioned, and that the Ai Lao includes a berry-like flavor aspect. It was interesting how one version of fruit came out more in the Ai Lao in early rounds, which I described as seeming more like tamarind, then a different range stood out more for the Yiwu later on, which I did describe as berry. These flavor descriptions are interpretations; if I keep trying the same teas a few times I would adjust what I notice, and how I describe it.
I guess that I liked the Yiwu better, but these are both pretty good. I didn't explicitly say it yet here but Dian Hong is my favorite black tea type, so to me they were especially pleasant. Others who love a bit of integrated tartness as a supporting aspect could like the Ai Lao more, but that didn't really last past the first two rounds. For these being moderate in price someone could buy both, and see for themselves how they map to their preference.
Related to that value the 20 cent a gram range (22) is quite fair for these; they are exceptional. Someone could try another dozen Dian Hong / Shai Hong versions that all cost 15 cents / gram instead and find one that's comparable, but the lower quality half would fall well short of matching these, or even the average, most likely. They're still basic character teas, in one sense, but this flavor complexity, character depth, balance, and lack of flaws can be hard to fully appreciate for what it is.
In an odd way that's what really works well with Dian Hong; if you take away some of the interesting flavor range, or general complexity, intensity, rich feel, etc. these would still be good. Inexpensive, more lower-medium quality Dian Hong is still quite pleasant. These are above average though.
Re-reading this during editing I've left out commenting on a couple of points. Why was that Ai Lao so dark in leaf appearance, and why did it transition so much, changing from intense, including more fruit range, then onto being more subtle? Wild origin tea versions can often be made from variations of conventional Assamica plants. The purple leaf versions were this, a naturally occurring variation that ends up containing different compounds and tasting quite different. Some wild material inputs aren't even Camellia Sinensis, or it can be hard to be sure, and accounts can vary about that. I don't worry too much about it; the aspects are the thing.
I own a Thai sheng ("pu'er-like tea") cake that's quite odd, not even close, and that's a little different, on a couple of levels. You wonder what's in that, if drinking a lot would be a problem, and it's more sour than almost any tea I've tried, along the lines of that one fermented Japanese tea version (Goishi cha). This black tea is just normal tea, but it's possible that plant genetics have drifted some over time.
Check out how dark this purple leaf sheng pu'er version appeared (on the right, reviewed here):
I doubt this was purple leaf tea (an Assamica variation); that tastes different, in a distinctive way, often including some sourness, and a distinct grape-like fruit flavor. The point was that maybe it's a slight variation from conventional Assamica plant genetics.
In talking to Jan he mentioned that one of these Dian Hong he likes to brew Western style. To me it goes without saying that these would be fine brewed that way, probably not really inferior, just different. It is as well to say it though. I tend to brew better Dian Hong Gongfu style out of habit, and then I would drink it made that other way sometimes if I owned a good bit of it. It really doesn't take me much extra time to brew 8 to 10 Gongfu infusions (these cycled through faster since I used slightly less than I often do, really maxing out proportion), but there is something nice about brewing two rounds in a basket infuser and being done with it, downing a couple of mugs worth.
Of course the aspect variations, the transition, I described over four rounds would all combine, which can be better that way in some cases. To me it makes sense to keep infusion temperature pretty hot for Gongfu brewing of all types, at or near boiling, and then people could experiment with how they prefer black teas prepared, which may vary by type range, related to brewing temperature.
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