Aged Lapsang Souchong (2014) and Dan Cong (1995)

 

Lapsang Souchong left, in all photos

I'm reviewing two more aged teas from an ITea World aged tea set.  Most have been pretty good so far, and a 1995 Shui Xian oolong was really interesting.  I've tried different aged teas in the past but covering different types at those sorts of early ages is still new ground, at least those particular iterations.  This will be something different too, a 1995 Dan Cong.  

The rest of this set is this:

That's definitely novel; it's hard to judge if a $75.90 pricing (for 100 grams) is about right or a really good value.  It depends on the teas, and some have been exceptional, others just interesting and characteristic for the types.  They seem to offer different discounts at different times, and I think for a reduced rate below that value is pretty favorable.  

As I keep mentioning related to lots of teas I don't buy tea at 70 cents a gram or so (they passed this on for review; many thanks to them!), so value really depends on what you like, and what budget you are working with.  It would cost a good bit to buy these from any market outlet sort of vendor, if they were even available.

To me aged teas can be hard to place, because experiencing them is definitely novel, maybe more so than for any other type range.  But then in terms of pleasantness, refinement (one level quality relates to), or intensity of the experience they're often not as positive.  For buying random versions of them online storage issues often all but ruin them; mustiness can be a main aspect.  

In the last week or two I've written about a 2010's version that had probably been stored near incense, picking up a flavor input that seemed foreign.  So far none of that has impacted these tea samples, and it has only been that quality was exceptional for some and more medium range for others, or so it seemed to me.  We'll see how these go, or rather I already have, since I often write intros and conclusions during editing.  One is really good, very novel and pleasant, and the other just good.

Review:

2014 Lapsang Souchong:  interesting!  That picked up a lot of spice tones with the aging, it seemed.  It almost tastes like a spiced tea version.  I was expecting this to not be a smoked version initially, and there is no smoke, but it's hard to say how that flavor input would've held up over 11 years.  

It balances pretty well.  There is mixed spice input, which I'll try to break down more next round, then a warm toffee sweetness beyond that, and some neutral warm-toned base mineral.  There is no sharp black tea edge, but even in newer, higher quality Lapsang Souchong versions there might not be much of that.  Feel is interesting, especially for it being the first light round, a bit rich.  It seems clean and refined.  All in all it's pleasant to experience.  

Going back and comparing it to the other version a touch of sourness stands out, which is more evident in comparison.  First impressions can miss things like that.

1995 Dan Cong:  there's quite different spice standing out in this.  I don't remember spice tones picking up that much in aged tea versions before, but then I've probably never tried an 11 year old Lapsang Souchong or 30 year old Dan Cong.  This is a little sharper and more pronounced, like clove.  

The other came across as a mix of different flavors, that were hard to separate.   There is some fruit or floral base beyond that spice in this, and warm mineral again, but the sharper and more pronounced spice range really stands out most, and kind of blocks experience of the rest.   It will be interesting to see how these evolve, how the flavors transition in relation to each other.

Lapsang Souchong #2:  I brewed that first round about 20 seconds, and I'm going to stay with using decently long infusion times, maybe 20-some this time instead.  Drinking these brewed light would also work, using faster infusions, and they would produce more rounds, but I expect the effect will be most positive with intensity bumped to a medium-high level.  Or at least infusion strength; we will see what extracts.

More spice, no surprise.  It's mostly in a cinnamon related range.  There is a little sourness to this.  From being stored a bit damp?  Maybe.  It's far from ruined; that kind of works with the sweetness, otherwise clean flavored nature, spice tone, and underlying warmth.  But I suspect that people would have different natural tolerances or preferences for or against that inclusion, the sourness.  It was off-putting in a Thai shai hong style black tea I tried with Huyen and Seth, for her, and I still love that tea.  It might be more common in Dian Hong range than for other black teas, related to some processing form input.  I don't remember ever trying Lapsang Souchong that seemed sour to me, but earlier on I probably wouldn't have noticed it.  

To me this tea is good.  For others reaction to that one flavor input might decide it.

Dan Cong:  an interesting spice and aged wood tone has picked up.  This is really interesting.  It tastes like really aged furniture, a bit towards Chinese medicinal spices, what those Chinatown shops tend to smell like.  One note is still related to clove, but there's a lot more going on, all across spice and wood-tone range.  

Some lower quality aged sheng pu'er tends to taste woody, in a completely different sense.  That tends to taste like well-cured lumber, while this is a hint of cedar, or towards incense spice range, just not exactly that either.  It tastes like what I'd imagine exotic Chinese medicinal root spices might taste like.

Would this naturally be appealing or off-putting for many people, the same question I just asked of the other tea version?  I would think the novelty would generally be positive.  The overall balance is nice too; it's not musty, or heavy across an odd flavor range, lacking body / feel, or too dry in some odd way.  A bit of toffee sweetness helps the rest tie together well.  For well-aged sheng two different problems can enter in, that haven't here.  Those can be musty and earthy so that they require a few infusions to clean up, or some versions just tend to fade.  This definitely changed due to aging input, but not in those ways.

Lapsang Souchong #3:  I brewed these a little longer, to see what happens when they are pushed a bit, on towards a minute.

Spice is still pleasant in this, still mostly centered around cinnamon range, but more complex than just that.  Sourness is reducing, even brewed strong.  It's not unusual for some aspects to "burn off" over a few initial rounds, and that seems to have happened.  It comes across as a little sweeter, cleaner, and more balanced, with warm tones playing a larger role.  A toffee sweetness stands out.  Other warm tones seem to include just a touch of leather, not the musty horse saddle range that can turn up in hei cha or some pu'er, but a lighter, sweeter note.  It's tempting to go on and on about types of leather, but ultimately not informative, so I won't.

Dan Cong:  this changes every round, which is an interesting effect.  A lot of the description I already covered still applies, but the overall balance is quite different, and I had been listing out a lot of range before.  Wood still stands out, but a very novel form of it, a touch of cedar, well-aged furniture, and then the overlap with Chinese medicinal herbs.  A sappy feel enters in, connecting with one part of that, the unusual herb or spice range.  There are bark spice tisanes one can seek out, not cinnamon, and not like cinnamon, that this might resemble.  There is a lot going on.

It's not so unusual for some aged teas to fade, but this absolutely did not do that.  It's unique, clean, complex, and balanced, expressing flavor range that isn't familiar at all.  I suppose this is what one might hope aged tea would be like, it just usually isn't.  I'm guessing that the sheng and shou versions in this set might seem kind of ordinary to me, which I'll get around to checking on, but this doesn't.  One more round will tell enough of this story.

Lapsang Souchong #4:  kind of the same.  This may be fading a little already; an input like aging might transition the material to include novel range but could also cost it intensity and the ability to brew a lot of rounds.  The same can come up with oxidation and roasting steps.  

This tea isn't done, but it might've passed the most interesting part of the infusion cycle already.  Or the next couple of steeps could still be regarded as more positive than the first 3, since the sourness transitioned out.  This one I brewed a little faster so the intensity dropped some, but it's still fine.

Dan Cong:  it's interesting brewed lighter; different flavor range comes out.  A lighter spice range emerges, almost including a citrus note.  Aromatic range is interesting.  It tastes like aged furniture, but not in the musty sense, instead related to those fragrant preservative oils that are used in some places (like here in Bangkok, where old traditions and practices sometimes stick around).  This also isn't better brewed so light, but it is interesting trying it in different ways.  It still works.

Conclusions:

Those teas really were on the way out; they kept brewing, but they were already declining by then.  The 10+ infusions theme relates more to younger, powerful teas, not those so transitioned by aging input.

The Dan Cong was a really unique experience.  I've been a little skeptical that it really improves teas much to age most for 10+ years, but it held up, and changed into something very novel.

The storage input to the Lapsang Souchong wasn't quite as positive; a light early sour note threw off results a little.  I'd expect that being stored with more humidity in the tea made that difference.  In the past people often talked about re-roasting teas, to keep them dry and positive in character, but it later seemed like storing them well-sealed at an appropriate humidity level works out much better.  They're not changing related to fungus and bacteria inputs, fermenting, as sheng pu'er and other hei cha are, so they don't need limited air input and a higher degree of humidity to support that microbiome.

I'm not sure that everyone can appreciate what a market value for a well-stored, high quality, novel 30 year old oolong might be.  There isn't much of that around; it could be hard to identify that.  I wrote about types and transition patterns in aging oolongs before, back in 2020, and mentioned reviews of a half dozen versions of different ages.  It had seemed a lot of what had been around was already sold by then, with some pricing getting a bit crazy.  The TeaDB blog wrote about that awhile back (this time in 2016, but I was looking for something else).  Pricing for everything mentioned was all over the map, in both posts, often way over $1 a gram, but one thing would be the same from both:  those aged teas selling in 2016 to 2020 are probably all gone now.

Or are they?  I looked up one I tried earlier on, well before 2020, a 1995 Thai Qing Xin oolong from Tea Side (a Thai vendor), and it's still available.  It sells for $40 for 50 grams, exactly the same rate as this sample set.  I thought it would be sold out, or would sell for more if available.  Two Moychay aged oolongs (one Qilan listed here, and another) from 2004 and 2006 sell for 24 and 30 Euro for 50 grams; a little less, but those are a decade younger.  I guess that it's still out there.  This vendor sells 70s Dan Cong, for around $300 for 50 grams.  If you have an open enough budget this 95 version isn't the far extreme.

For people seeking out this kind of experience this set has been reasonable, a mix of really exceptional and unique versions and others that at least represent the range fairly, and the value seems fine.

Farmerleaf Na Lang Laos sheng pu'er

This is the sheng pu'er version I talked about, I think, that I tried with William and cited in the last post about meeting him, a Spring 2024 Na Lang from Laos.

Since I've already introduced this tea I'm going to strip down these tasting notes to what it seemed like to me, removing a lot of the speculation or tangents.  I'll add a little back in with the conclusions, but this will work well kept shorter, without the usual rambling on.  This is William's site description (part of it):

Spring 2024, medium-big trees from forested gardens (listing for $140 per 357 gram cake)

Na Lang village, Nyot Ou District, Laos

A powerful Yiwu-style tea with great endurance 

This is typically the kind of tea you would find in Gua Feng Zhai for twice the price. The point of this tea is not the fragrance, but the good thickness in the soup and the deep Huigan. 

Considering the renown of Yiwu tea, and the high prices its tea fetch, it is not surprising that many tea traders cross the border to Laos and source tea from Nyot Ou district. As a result, most of the tea made in Nyot Ou is bought by tea producers from Yiwu.

Tea grows in the forests of Nyot Ou district along two valleys. The Southern valley is connected to Gua Feng Zhai village through a small road. The environment in which tea grows is similar in Eastern Yiwu and in the two tea producing valleys of Nyot Ou District. Ancient tea trees grow along more recently established gardens in the forests.

from the Farmerleaf site product page

That's a common, well-known theme, that lots of tea from lots of places goes back to China to become pu'er.  I skipped the "pu'er-like tea" limitation earlier, the admission that the type is a regionally limited designation, only applying to teas from Yunnan.  That's a bit absurd, isn't it, given that context, that any tea from Laos, Vietnam, or Myanmar (and less from Thailand) that crosses the border, and is mis-represented in terms of origin, sort of is and also isn't pu'er?  And a very considerable volume of tea undergoes this transition, far more than is ever sold as Laos tea.

It's the best of both worlds for Chinese producers and vendors; they can dismiss those origin area teas as separate and inferior, and then buy them and resell those same teas as the upgraded local version, simply by blending and then mis-labeling them.  Let's move on to how this tea is.

I never do address whether this is like Yiwu or not, a claim made in this description.  I've experienced relatively consistent character in trying a reasonable amount of Yiwu, but it's my impression that I've not experienced a lot more than I've tried, especially related to distinctive versions and higher quality levels.  So I'll just describe what I am experiencing.

I think it makes sense for vendors to never mention much about flavor range.  It would vary over time, and even more so in relation to varying interpretations.  In this review I mention it seeming to taste different when trying this same tea two different times, and I speculate about why that is, real factors that could've changed what I experienced, not just the interpretation.  

William's description doesn't even include a general flavor reference, like "floral," and again I see that as reasonable.  To some it would seem floral, and to others fruity, and different factors could change the compound inputs that these are based on.  It's fine as long as a description can pass on enough range description to draw interest, or inform in some other way.

Review:

First infusion:  a little light, but that's a good way to start, brewing the first round fast to get an initial sense, and letting the second be more typical of the rest.  Flavor is good; quite catchy.  There's a pine-like aspect that others could interpret related to other vegetal range, but only a little.  A fruity tone is something else, on towards juicyfruit gum, or back in the range of natural flavors not really tied to just one, but not so far off tangerine.  Feel is nice; it has some structure, already, but that doesn't seem to track towards being unapproachable.

I've already tried this tea, so this isn't the blind tasting approach I typically use.  I know where this is going, and this tea version is pretty exceptional.  I'll fill in more of an aspects list next round.  

It's completely whole leaf material, not too compressed, so it would be easy to drink it unbroken, but I used some from the parts that had already split off in this tasting, more broken material.  Maybe that's not ideal, but I suppose it's a normal real-life experience form.  I hadn't thought it through getting it ready; depending on how focused in I am I might use the broken material also in the wrapper or carefully separate off some relatively whole leaves.

Second infusion:  that catchy fruit related tone really pops in a stronger round.  Bitterness and astringency really ramp up too; those would be more moderate if someone was more careful about not breaking the leaves.  

The bit of pine, or however that vegetal edge is interpreted, integrates wonderfully with the sweetness, bitterness, fruit tone, and background floral range.  

Intensity is good; I supposed based on what I said in the post about talking with William I should comment on that.  It's not by way of harsh aspects being dominant either; in better quality cakes strong sweetness, bitterness, feel, and positive flavors really stand out.  This is really clean in overall effect; it's not as if young sheng tends to be murky, or to taste like a cinderblock, as comes up more with Liu Bao, but there can be an emergent sort of impression of clarity and cleanness, or lack of that.  

This doesn't seem completely identical to when I first tried it with William.  It was exceptional then, and it is now, but minor inputs can vary, shifting the outcome.  I'm using water from a hot water dispenser and filtration system, so it's not at full boiling point; that changes things.  It's a different version of water.  This leaf is little more broken, as I've mentioned.  We drank this tea in the middle of trying a half dozen versions; that can affect impression and memory.  It seemed to include more bright floral range in that tasting, leaning towards bright citrus, and it probably did, based on those differences. 

Third infusion:  the tone seems to be warming.  It had warmth and depth before, but it's evolving to include a lot of that.  The leaf color is mixed, including some darker range, making me wonder if somehow oxidation level didn't vary a little in this initially.  How?  I'll add more about one thing William said in the conclusions, that might have entered in.

I personally love that effect, when sweetness, flavor complexity, and slight warmth gives a young sheng a much more approachable character.  I suppose people could be mixed on how they relate to that input and effect.  

I'm not doing justice to what I take to be a fruit tone.  It's not so far off dried mango, which surely isn't all one thing, since there are lots of kinds of mangos.  That one flavor input is positive, but it's how it integrates with the rest that works well.  It's intense and refined enough, which can be hard to place within the entire sheng range, or in relation to higher quality versions, or typical Yiwu styles. 

I didn't mention that the intensity carries over to aftertaste experience.  That almost goes without saying, but not completely.

Fourth infusion:  now that warm, sweet aspect tastes more like dried apricot to me, so much so that I'm questioning my earlier interpretations.  It's a lot like apricot, a pretty direct match.  It's quite delicious.  There is plenty of astringency and bitterness to balance it, but it's a quite approachable tea, at the same time.  Someone being more careful than I was to not break the leaves would moderate those parts just a little.

Intensity is so good, and flavors so fresh and bright, that it seems this will go on forever.  It won't; based on trying an earlier cycle this will make a lot of infusions, using the high proportion that's my default, but eventually flavors will thin and bitterness will play a different role.  It's great while it lasts though, which is for awhile.  The bitterness and sweetness stays in your mouth after you drink it, along with that fruit flavor, adding some extra exposure to appreciate.

Fifth infusion:  it's not transitioning all that much, which is as well, because I'm running out of patience for making these notes anyway.  Feel might become richer; that's an interesting shift, for this stage.  It has had pretty good feel structure for this whole cycle, but it gains just a little richness, towards a pleasant sappy feel.  To me that one interesting and positive fruit note integrating with the rest well is the main story, with other range playing a supporting role.  

Conclusions:

It's good, very intense, refined, pleasant, interesting, well-balanced, and so on.  I can't place it in relation to Yiwu range, but this probably is the best Laos sheng I've ever tried, and it might be about the 15th version I've tried.  The warm fruit range was interesting.  Floral tones are often dominant, across a lot of sheng range.  Versions can transition quite a bit, aging over even 9 months or so, but this was quite warm and fruity, and a year of aging input wouldn't cause that.

Back to that oxidation input issue:  William had said that if a producer backs off the kill-green completeness even a little (if I'm remembering this part right) that the stems can not be as fully fixed (compounds inactivated).  Then these can turn redder, more oxidized, as the tea dries, shifting the final character.  Maybe that happened in this?  It would explain the darker colors in some of the material, and also those heavier tones, the fruit range versus the floral, and warmth.

That's all just speculation.  The tea is really nice, the main thing.

Is it worth $140 a cake?  Sure, if someone is open to paying that for it.  It's novel, so there isn't any one established market supply and demand based pricing level.  It could be $500 or 1000, if people are open to paying that.  

There's a general expectation that quality level and range of related experiences out there are the competing factors; there are ways to buy a lot of Yiwu versions, and some other Laos teas, just none that I've tried like this.  If somewhat equivalent versions really do tend to cost $280 instead then maybe this is a great value.  I'm not buying any teas that cost over $100 per cake, so I'm just not part of the whole community, in one sense.  That's about budget limitation, not idealism.  If my tea budget was much different I'd buy this, for sure, but I certainly don't experience that as a regret.  My life balance is something to be thankful for, not to focus on regrets over.

Beyond those concerns the tea character is really interesting and positive.  I've really appreciated the opportunity to try this, and to have some to drink, since William shared a fair amount, not just a sample.  Many thanks to him!

Meeting William Osmont of Farmerleaf

 

trying khao soy, a favorite Northern Thai curry noodle dish

Typically meeting someone and having tea with them isn't a novel enough theme to write about, but this was especially interesting.  I've talked online with William for years; he was active in tea forum and group discussions since prior to when I started blogging, over 11 years ago.  Here's an interview post with him from 2017.  I had bought Farmerleaf tea more at one point, and regularly reviewed versions, but have moved on to other sources.

Let's start there, and get the awkward part out of the way.  What I've said online about Farmerleaf could be taken as meaning that they had been a good value source for pu'er, and for good black tea, Dian Hong, my favorite black tea style, but now aren't, having increased pricing over the years.  Part of that is what I've said; all pu'er vendors have increased pricing quite a bit over the last decade, and Farmerleaf is no different.  Their cakes were selling for $40 or 50 8 or 9 years ago, and now it's $90 to 120, for a basic quality range.  So how is it still a good value?

They've improved quality of what they sell over that time (per my impression, but then maybe I'm not the right person to know).  It's a natural shift, for vendors to cater to whatever demand the market provides, and that pattern holds for other vendors too.  Yunnan Sourcing Impression cakes, their in-house benchmark tea line, shifted from $40 versions to around the $100 range over that timeframe, presented as better quality tea.  They're surely better now, not as much "generic" blends, onto better quality, more carefully created and exceptional versions.  Prices for everything have increased, not just tea, but especially for above average sheng pu'er.

My focus on budget as a primary constraint relates to my own tea budget being tight, all the time.  I work in Thailand, in a Thai company, and my salary matches the cost of living here.  I now live part-time in Honolulu, where my kids go to school, and that has stretched that SE Asian income to the breaking point.  So I've been buying teas from Vietnam and Thailand more lately, at exceptional value for buying directly from small producers, or from Viet Sun, which is transitioning through the same theme, sourcing better teas over time, and then increasing pricing range.  

Farmerleaf teas are surely a decent value, if spending around $100 on cakes seems fine (357 gram standard sized versions).  William passed on some samples; I'll have lots more to say about that theme in more detail, and the rest of this makes a short start into it.

Back to more about William then.  It was also great to meet his wife and son; they're both wonderful.  But this is mostly about our discussion about tea, so more of what he said.  Of course his wife is also a tea producer and expert, and she offered some input too, but this will be more about him, not really attributing any input to her, even though she did offer some.  

His tea preferences

This part was especially interesting to me; what would he look for and value in teas?  Would it relate to a certain style or flavor preference, or for some other aspect?  In a word:  intensity.  Intensity can mean strong flavors, but it can also relate to fullness of feel, both of which tend to carry over to aftertaste expression, to sweetness and bitterness being present at significant levels, and to depth, covering some range.  According to William you can make processing adjustments to vary tea character but you can't get mediocre material to express intensity.  You can brew teas strong to push them, or drink it extra young, and so on, but the material only has so much to offer.  All that seems to work.

What are the limitations of this primary focus?  This part is more speculation.  There's no reason why you couldn't look for one primary characteristic and also appreciate others, and for sure William is doing that.  Beyond intensity the flavor range expressed varies, depth is really kind of a different thing, and balance is something else, how it all comes together.  My impression is that none of this is lost on William, even though he really loves sheng intensity, and sees it as a main quality marker.

Who doesn't?  We've talked before about how this may be a big part of why other tea types lose appeal once someone switches over to sheng pu'er preference.  I've said this over and over again, mostly while reviewing oolongs.  Those can be fantastic but you feel that lack of intensity, even though you can stay open to those other styles of tea, and tea experiences.  Somehow the depth and comfort of black tea remains very desirable, to me, and I can still appreciate all the other tea range, even green tea, my least favorite, but I keep coming back to craving sheng, and mostly drink young sheng.  Flavors are intense, mouthfeel is intense, and even though I don't "get" cha qi, body feel, to the extent some describe it that's part of it too.

Tea processing

I won't do this part justice, but we talked some about the processing steps and variations that lead to positive sheng and black tea character, and aspects.  Until I get some real life exposure to processing tea leaves I'll never have much to add about this, and even conveying what others say will be of limited usefulness, since I won't be able to interpret it very well.  Of course I've been hearing from tea producers for a decade about processing steps, and their own unique approaches, opportunities (from working with distinctive tea material), or challenges.

For sheng it's all pretty much what you'd already expect.  One interesting tangent was about more-oxidized South East Asian sheng versions.  I've speculated over and over that Thai and Vietnamese producers may be oxidizing tea more to change the character, which can offset bitterness and astringency, but which comes at a cost in terms of aging potential.  That's kind of a loaded concept, aging potential, bringing in a lot of other moving parts, and preference factors.  Aged sheng is a different kind of thing, and our discussion focused more on parts related to younger / newer versions.  It's possible that Thai and other producers wouldn't even need to try to let tea rest / wither to increase oxidation input, that they may just not get to it quickly, and the heat and humidity might start to change the tea fast.

William didn't even need to try one of my favorite Thai sheng versions to notice that the color was quite dark for a year-old version (golden, instead of light gold).  Some producers mention using a long withering process to add oxidation, and William discussed that a bit, how it works in practice.

It was all too much to convey here in detail.  Finer points of what can vary in pu'er and black tea processing were fascinating to hear about.  As I see it as a tea consumer we are kind of off the hook when it comes to that level of mapping anyway.  In the end we need to be able to find and buy teas we like, and then appreciate them, but the parts entering in before that are a bit academic, potentially interesting, or even informative, but not a main concern.  It really wouldn't work for producers and then vendors to map out slight variations in processing inputs to help consumers filter what they might like best using that input.  There are too many variables.  Knowing that a Shai Hong is a bit less oxidized is a good example of how very limited information might be interesting and helpful.  

It may help to know more about the different inputs to buy better teas, beyond that level.  Patterns in aspects or sources of teas could make more sense.  Or to seek out better value?  That part is always tricky.  What we value others tend to value, then the market pushes up pricing level.  It can help exploring new tea range, staying one step ahead of that deeper part of the demand curve, but drinking some so-so or bad tea enters in, along with trying very novel forms, and some exceptional versions.  

The last range I tried that was really novel, beyond the Thai and Vietnamese teas being exceptional in slightly unique ways, related to Georgian tea, and before that Indonesian versions, then before that Nepal teas.  Getting hooked on pu'er messed up that shifting exploration theme a bit; the other material and styles can't match pu'er intensity, or even complexity.  For where I am personally the exploration phase has tapered off some, and I get to what I get to, but I'll skip including more tangent about that here.

What we tried

We started with some teas I had brought, to see what he made of them.  His take was mixed; of course he is accustomed to trying some pretty good range.  It's not that he is biased towards narrow Yunnan styles, but if Thai teas are pretty good, based on pretty good material, and not quite standard processing, there are aspects and outcomes to appreciate but it's all not ideal.  The best Yunnan versions are drawing on a much more developed background.

We tried a decent sheng version of his earlier on, one that represented the lower end of his quality range.  This ties back to that earlier theme of value, and what the trade-offs would be if he was trying to keep closer to the earlier, lower sheng pricing range.  It was good, it just lacked a bit of intensity, and the character lacked depth.  It wasn't flawed, and also not thin or uninteresting, but a little towards that.  

A shou version was better, placed within that range, but I don't really love shou as much.  It's nice trying good versions of it, but I've been doing that, for awhile.  They just sit in my tea storage, when I come by that, and I drink that when I fast (not eat for five days at a time), because it's easier on your stomach.

A Laos sheng version was exceptional (I think maybe this one).  I might've tried about as much Laos tea as almost anyone, or at least anyone not in Laos, or not selling Laos tea.  I first visited a Laos coffee and tea farm before this blog even started, a few years before; it was one of the earlier teas I tried after Thai oolongs.  I've written about countless teas from Anna and Kinnari Tea, and have tried plenty of samples from a friend there (thanks to Somnuc), and some of a somewhat newish production venture.  

This version probably surpassed them all.  Intensity was good, of course, and flavor range was quite positive, sweet and floral, almost towards a citrusy edge, but not quite onto lemon or orange.  The tea was very balanced and refined, with fantastic clean character, depth, and complexity.  I guess this is the kind of exceptional tea that you can only buy if you can go past that $120 per cake range I'd mentioned (it's $140, if it is that one).  Is that a good value?  It would cost a lot more if it was from nearby Yiwu, essentially just across the border.  Since this specific version is essentially impossible to find there is no market price for it.  Related to quality it was amazing; I guess that part works out.

Maybe we had tried more; it went on and on.  Hours and hours into tasting it all kind of runs together, and it was fascinating hearing William's take on philosophy, and the state of the US, about China, and whatever else we talked about.

William and I are both pro-China in two different senses.  He can almost be an expat resident patriot, at this point, and he is sold on the overall positive balance of Chinese culture and life in China.  I'll just cite one example of that discussion, not so much about local Chinese patriotism, but about a misconception about China in "the West."  We talked about social credit scoring, about how China really did experiment with the systems that we are familiar with and critical of in other countries, particularly in the US.  His take is that those experiments didn't lead to a pervasive system that really does control people, or even continue to monitor them, and it was largely dropped because the earlier start wasn't promising.  

Of course China is really keeping an eye on its citizens, but then so is the US, and to some extent so is Thailand.  Maybe the form and related restrictions vary in the three places, and in the US it's possible there are less restrictions (maybe not enough, across some scope), but it's not as if people in China can't do or say a lot of things.  Being anti-government might not go over well, but according to William most people are ok with most of the government policies and everyday living status.  They don't see themselves as oppressed.  That mirrors talking to a Chinese friend, one of my daughter's former classmates (who of course is from China); they don't see the differences there as so significant.

As with here in Thailand much lower crime rates and far fewer problems with drug epidemics, gang violence, and homelessness frees people, to a greater extent.  I can walk around almost anywhere in Bangkok at any time of the day or night.  I've not tested that out by walking in remote or poorer parts in the middle of the night (but I have in the evening), and I suppose eventually that might go badly, but in essence there are no "no go" zones.  In visiting China three times in the past I felt pretty safe there too.  Of course there is relatively little meaning in that; input related to living in a city for 17 years and visiting tourist areas for two or three weeks are relatively opposite things.  

It's a very developed, modern country, from what I've seen, not really any different than anywhere else, beyond everywhere you travel feeling just a little different.  William commented that the old-style look of the food-street restaurants in my favorite Bangkok strip of those isn't how China looks almost anywhere now, the steel tables, plastic chairs, and bright white fluorescent lighting, common across SE Asia.  They've moved on.  I like that about Bangkok; losing that part would kind of be a shame.  Of course there are a broad range of restaurant themes here.

It was fascinating hearing about a two-tier election system in France, about how they use two voting stages to let people vote for diverse parties initially, then do a second and final selection process based around coalitions that form after the first round.  I don't think this could work as a fix for the two-party limitation in the US, but it's interesting hearing about a different country using a different process, that leads to more diversity in party options.

Conclusions, take-aways

It was too much to summarize to just a few simple conclusions, but this writing already points towards a few.  We talked more about social media themes, and tea vendor approaches, but it didn't condense to points that would stand alone well in summary form here.  

Everyone who has had even limited exposure to William's take on the internet, in very informative Youtube videos on tea processing background, already knew that he is a true tea enthusiast.  Here's an interesting example of that, in his own online content, comparing tea versions and asking if gushu versions are really worth it.  His own "tea geek" interest and perspective takes a relatively narrow form, as I see it, but then that's typically how that goes.  You'd need to limit scope to go that deep, and a Yunnan producer and vendor should be an expert on pu'er and Yunnan black tea.  

Here's another very different video on perspective on the Covid experience that stood out to me, him conveying a philosophical view of how we relate within society, and what those kinds of traumatic broad events mean.  We covered some philosophy in discussion too; of course I'll spare you an account of that.

I really thought that William would be a little quirkier; if anything that was a little disappointing.  He's a bit out there, don't get me wrong, but for being a French pu'er expert he falls a little short of really being eccentric (no offense intended to Olivier; he's fine too).  He's even completely relatable; all for the best, I guess.  Sometimes it's hard for people so far down the path of exploring tea to stay open to a range of different perspectives, but it's nice when they can, and he's pretty open to people experiencing teas in different ways.

To me one potential pitfall of sheng pu'er exploration is people "chasing the dragon" related to quality and diversity concerns; there's always more to seek out and experience.  There is more intensity, complexity, refinement, novel flavor sets, trendy origin areas, unique styles, and so on to try.  That's fine, as long as all the comparisons and next steps don't lead to a FOMO based experience of gaps, and chasing status, instead of focus on appreciation of that experience.  

It wouldn't be the vendor or producers' fault if people approached their tea interest in a problematic way, and I see William as appreciating a good bit of range, not steering others to always try more and spend more.  Any more than any other vendor, I guess.  The tea experience promotes itself, once you get started.  

In beginner online group discussion I usually recommend people might start on oolong and black tea first, to avoid pu'er early on, and stay out of the deep end of the pool related to that more intense cycle of exploration.  Bitterness requires some acclimation anyway, for young sheng, but it's also a lot to take on sorting out the range of styles, origins, sources, storage themes, and varying experiences.  Once someone goes there they probably should cycle through some Farmerleaf tea at some point, and saying more in reviews about samples will add detail to why I think that.

Vietnamese Annam black tea, Autumn 2024

 

I'm trying a Vietnamese black tea, shared by Huyen and Seth on their last visit, which I've written plenty about.  They said a bit about it, which doesn't add up to a Maps link of that village, but the rest is quite interesting, and covers the main parts.

It's from a small village area not known for tea production.  I'll copy some of what Seth said about it here:

This tea is a sundried tea from central Vietnam, which was made by a couple who have been making tea for over fifty years. The man who owns the tea farm says that the trees were planted back in the 1960s and that they are using tea making techniques that were introduced to Vietnam by the French, who started massive tea plantations in central Vietnam in the early 20th century, but completely abandoned the plantations a few decades later. 

We're not sure if the cultivars being used are from the original French cultivars brought in from Java and Sri Lanka, or if it's a different varietal from somewhere else, but all the trees are seed-grown. The harvesting and all other steps except for rolling are all done by hand.

We actually tracked down this tea area using maps from an old tea book written in 1935.  I think it's either Assamica or some kind of hybrid.  The gardens are only about 100 meters above sea level.

This was Huyen's input:

- Annam name: the French name to call the middle part of Vietnam (you can search the old map). This area used to be the biggest tea area in French colonial time. You can read more information in the Hatvala book [Geoff Hopkins just published a book on Vietnamese tea]. 

Nowadays, tea is not famous in this area because local replaced tea trees to grown another trees. But there are still some tea plantations for getting fresh tea leaves to drink or sell in wet market for locals.

That term "wet market" may be familiar from the Covid starting point, that one market in Wuhan.  My understanding is that it means the old-style markets that are "wet" because they aren't based on use of refrigeration, they use stalls and steel tables, and ice buckets or bins to keep some food cold.  It's a common theme in Bangkok.  The smell can be terrible in them, until you adjust to that seeming normal.

that's near our house (so not where that tea is, just a market example)

We covered more, but that's a good start, the basic background.  This is a tea version you just couldn't find, unless you happen to live in that village, and then you could.  It doesn't work to place it in relation to types or areas other people already know about in Vietnam; it's something different.  

Huyen just wrote about something even more novel, an old style of tea made locally that essentially no longer exists, that her extended family made during their new year's celebration (that someone could search out here, on her Instagram posts).  She and Seth are really looking into deeper aspects of Vietnamese teas.  And her family is the best, just wonderful people.

Review:

First infusion:  that's really nice.  I already knew that, because you can tell by the dry tea scent, but it adds more of the experience to brew it.  It's clean, rich, and well-balanced, with a decent range of complex and pleasant flavors.  Feel is quite thick, especially for this being a first round.  The effect is that it's quite refined; this seems to be well-made tea.  

An early take on a flavor list would include some toffee or caramel warmth and sweetness, a main part, and other aromatic range that I'm having more trouble breaking down.  It could be rich, warm floral range, or maybe that and fruit.  This first round isn't brewed all that lightly, as I often do, but it should still gain more intensity and range on the second round.

Second infusion:  it's relatively similar.  This is interesting, in part because it's good, but also the style is novel.  The color is lighter than black (/ red) tea usually is, and the flavor range includes less of the sharper oxidation output effect, even as mild black tea versions go.  The flavor range is warm but not on to the malty / cacao / heavier and warmer flavor range.  So it seems to be lightly oxidized black tea, that works out well for final character.  That's novel.

This brings up the theme of Shai Hong, Yunnan style black tea, that's often oxidized less than is typical, often said to enable further aging transition, picking up more depth over a few years.  I'm not sure if this is even Assamica, the main plant type used to make that.  These are fairly sizeable leaves but harvest timing and plucking standard also affect that.  Then in trying a Yunnan-style Thai version not long ago, with Huyen, she made a comment about how that general type, and that version in particular, tend to taste sour to her.  I wasn't placing it that way, for that tea or that type, but I could see what she meant, and later it stands out more when you expect to frame it that way.  It's not sour like oolong that has went off due to humid storage, or goishicha, Japanese fermented tea, but still maybe a little.  This doesn't seem like that.

It's hard to do more of a flavor list; the intensity of the flavors is subtle, even though the overall effect is that it is complex, with good depth.  It's not complex in terms of expressing a range of identifiable flavors, but rich feel and sweetness add in to make up that impression.  Of course I'll brew it a little longer to draw out more flavor intensity, but I don't think that's going to change much.  This seems to just be the character for this tea, that it has a good bit to offer, but it doesn't span the normal black tea range in a typical way.

Third infusion:  it's the same.  This brewed for well over 30 seconds, for a timing I didn't track, so it's intense, but not in terms of flavor list.  Again that character is interesting, well off a typical black tea form, but pleasant.  In a limited sense I do miss that sharper edge but this is nice.  In one sense it's better for being novel, since it all kind of works together.

Fourth infusion:  it's strange I'm not doing flavor lists for this.  Beyond the toffee / caramel, and light but rich floral range, there is bit of a spice note.  It's warm and rich, and subtle, like chrysanthemum, or mild root spice, like sassafras.   All that is why it doesn't come across as thin or flavorless, even though a list of aspects doesn't jump out.  It has depth.  

I'm using a pretty high proportion, but it's probably backed off a bit from what I more typically use, maybe only 6 grams instead of 8, in a 100 ml gaiwan.  The leaves are long and twisted; it's easy to lose track.  They're still connected to some stem material; that would drop intensity, since stem can still contribute positive flavor but not very much. 

Conclusions:

Seth mentioned they had tried different versions, and that a summer produced version might have been best (this is from the Autumn), and that it might have gained depth and intensity over time.  That's back to that Shai Hong aging theme I'd mentioned.  It's odd thinking that this might be better in another year, but it could work out like that.

He also mentioned interpreting some of the main flavor as grain-like, even including a little bitterness.  I didn't get the bitterness part (maybe since it's not on that scale for sheng drinker), but that interpretation of main flavor makes sense.  I was guessing mild tisane range like chrysanthemum might be a match, or mild root spice could be, but different grain range has a similar flavor, buckwheat or barley tea.  Even raising this as a discussion point helps explain why I struggled to explain how it didn't express pronounced flavors that I might have expected, but it seemed to have depth, and to not really lack flavor.  The range is unusual, especially in relation to most conventional black tea, even mild and diverse Chinese forms of it.

So it was interesting and pleasant.  People tend to accept what they already like most best, although they can still value other experiences, so I suppose in terms of match to preference I still do like the Dian Hong / Yunnan flavor set better, cacao and roasted yam or sweet potato, and so on.

It's interesting the producer would say that summer versions are better than spring teas.  The seasons don't really match up as well as people in temperate climates might expect, but some of that framing is still meaningful in the tropics.  

I was minding the gardening at our house for some months when my mother-in-law was in the states with the kids, and pondered this theme a lot.  Different fruits base season timing on their own cycles, and plants grow or flower whenever they happen to.  There is winter here, of sorts, just a warmer version than parts of the Northern US summer.  Then a really hot period, then it's rainy, inverting the typical US winter / spring  / summer / fall cycle.  I still think of March and April as spring, but it's sort of not, here, as seasons go.  None of that connects back to this being an autumn tea; it's just a tangent.

Thanks to Seth and Huyen for providing this interesting tea experience.

Huyen and Seth checking out the tea scene in Bangkok (left and second from left)

Trying three grades of Huangshan Maofeng (green tea)

I'm reviewing half of a green tea sampler set from ITea World, three grades of Maofeng green tea.  It's represented as tying to a plucking standard and quality level:

6 Flavors Superior Green Tea Leaf Grade Collection Includes Longjing And Huangshan Maofeng 87G For Morning  ($36.90)

Introducing our Green Tea Leaf Grade Collection, a specially curated collection designed to help you discover how the picking grade of green tea leaves affects its flavor, aroma, and overall tea-drinking experience. This set includes two renowned Chinese green teas—Dragon Well (Longjing) and Huangshan Maofeng—both made from traditional heirloom varietals. The only difference? The picking grade of the leaves. You’ll be able to taste three distinct grades:

One bud, one leaf

One bud, two leaves

One bud, three leaves

Each tea is handpicked and processed by the same experienced tea master to ensure consistency in craftsmanship. By tasting the subtle variations from these different leaf grades, you'll develop a deeper understanding of green tea and find the perfect grade for your personal preferences.

I'll have to see how that bud theme works out for the Longjing; it usually just looks like small leaves.

In terms of value this seems fine; maybe 40 cents a gram for pretty good green tea.  It would be more in the Spring, and maybe it would make more sense to buy it then, even paying more, but for trying something novel (for people not already exposed to this range) they could catch back up on appreciating the fresh edge and intensity more later.

I wasn't keeping track of how many sample sets they've expanded to sell now.  It's a lot.  They're quite a bit better for this latest round of different sets than earlier on; the Dan Cong alone changes everything.  They cost more too; that's how it goes with higher quality, higher demand tea types.  Those earlier basic sets were great for just getting people started on basic oolongs and black teas, and such, but now these take another step.  An aged tea set has been pretty good, better than I expected, and another Longjing set was about as good as 8 or 9 month old versions were going to be.  Good Dan Cong is on another level, to me, and somehow theirs were way better than versions most often are.

Western vendors offer sample sets too, but they don't push into the range as far, or take up the same developed forms.  Most will offer one or two sets, so that you don't need to buy whole cakes of sheng or 50 grams of each type, and can go back and order more of what you like.  Yunnan Sourcing might sell 20 different sample sets, across a lot of types range, and maybe even more, but these are packaged in a novel way, set up to try each sample individually.  Does it make a difference?  Maybe not, usually.  But it's ideal for sharing them, or traveling with them, or not getting to some for a few months.

Review:

Level 4, 2 or 3 leaves:  fresh, bright, and vegetal, with pleasant sweetness and overall balance.  I don't want to overdo it with stating and re-stating that this must have been fresher when first produced, in April of 2024.  It's still good, this just wouldn't work for everyone into green tea.  The vegetal part tastes a little like green bean.  At least it's a relatively fresh version of green bean, not like well-steamed or canned forms.  Still, it tastes like green bean.

Level 2, 1 bud and 2 leaves:  slightly brighter and fresher, with a touch of nutty range.  This is more what I like best in green tea.  It's still vegetal, not that far off green bean, but it leans a little more towards sugar snap pea instead.  Feel might be slightly thicker; I'll have to focus on that as I go to tell better.

Premier, 1 bud and 1 leaf:  the flavor profile of this is different, with more separation from the other two than the first from the second.  There's a savory note in this.  That often reminds me of sun-dried tomato; maybe it's a little like that.  It doesn't necessarily seem fresher and brighter than the others.  The extra flavor range gives it more depth, but it's in a heavier and warmer tone.  

I don't necessarily like this more than the second version, where it did map like that in the middle round; it seemed better than the first.  It's just different.  There is different vegetal range beyond that savory note, that's hard to identify.  It's more like fresh soybean; back to coupling with some savory range.  It doesn't really express the nutty aspect in the second.

I hadn't mentioned brewing approach.  This proportion is moderate, for me, at maybe 5 grams per these 100 ml gaiwans (that probably fill to 90 at the most), so I used 20 or so seconds for the first round.  I'll bump that a little, on to 30.  Of course I didn't weigh or time any of that; I'm philosophically opposed to such things.  It's just to pass on an idea of it.

Level 4, #2:  a little grassiness is picking up, a fairly standard theme across a lot of green tea experience.  I wouldn't say that I hate that, I also just don't like it.  Flavors are generally clean, and decently fresh, but that grass flavor pulls it towards a steamed spinach effect.  I eat steamed spinach, to be clear; I like it.  And some seaweed, but this doesn't go there.  It expresses some umami but not enough that it stands out.  Feel is fine, but not full or rich, just present enough to support the experience.  It's not bad, it's just also not great.

Level 2:  this changed a good bit.  Nutty flavor range is replaced by a much greater depth.  It's a little towards the sun-dried tomato in the next version, just not a direct match.  Some degree of nutty flavor is still present.  I like the balance of this more, how it all comes together.  Feel is a little fuller than the first version.  Vegetal range is still in between fresh green bean and sugar snap pea, spanning both.  To me that's pleasant, but it would just depend on preference.  Someone else might interpret this as including kale as well, which I would take to be a more negative assessment (unless they love kale?).  

Being brewed stronger probably shifted how the flavors come across.  It's normal for some of that to happen across most tea types.

Premium:  steamed soybean is a much stronger flavor input now.  I actually like those, so this kind of works for me.  I'd probably rather experience Longjing of this quality level, but I already reviewed a set of those, and there are three more in this set.  I doubt that I'll be able to identify differences between the earlier one and that one, trying the teas weeks apart.  

When you taste in comparison like this the other teas tend to set a benchmark level, not an earlier experience, or all earlier experiences.  With enough tasting exposure you could place it against another range easier.  For me I would have better luck with that for other tea types, for sheng pu'er, black teas, and a range of oolongs.

Sweetness is pretty good in this, and thickness is fine, with a touch more aftertaste experience carrying over.  Some of that could serve as subtle quality markers.  That's more or less a working concept that I made up, one that helps me place what I'm experiencing.  The aspects that tend to identify tea quality the most don't necessarily directly overlap with those that make the experience most pleasant.  But then people could value different parts, or different aspects within a range, so that's subjective, and variable.

For green tea freshness would be a main concern, and these all are giving up a bit for being 9 or 10 months old.  From there distinctive flavor range would identify them as fully type-typical, kind of related to a quality issue, but different.  For green teas intensity, rich feel, sweetness level, and clean effect (like "refinement," an emergent property based on different aspects) would all identify quality.  Aftertaste expression kind of links with intensity, but it's something else as well.

To me this tasting a lot like cooked soybean and then sun-dried tomato and green bean beyond that is not an unusual theme (although I'm definitely no Maofeng expert), but back to preference it's also not completely positive.  The tea is good, but again I'd rather drink Longjing.  I'll brew these lighter next time, for more like 15 to 20 seconds, just to check on the difference that makes.

Level 4, #3:  lighter doesn't work as well for this; the sweetness seems to back off, and it comes across more like water vegetables were steamed in.  It's still ok, in one sense, but not as pleasant as the first two rounds.

Level 2:  again lower intensity isn't better for this, but to me the style and character hold up much better at this lower infusion strength.  Some intensity of flavor carries over better, even though it's also light.  The nutty aspect still stands out, in a nice way.  Vegetal range works well as a background input, not too focused on any one cooked vegetable theme.  I suppose sugar snap peas stand out most.  Grassiness doesn't enter in much.

Premier:  cooked soybean is now coupled with more cooked vegetables; this is a bit like a much stronger version of broth than the first was.  Warmth, depth, and some umami range stand out.  The Level 2 version covers brightness and freshness better, at this stage.

Nine cups of these teas is so much.  I'm curious about what one more strong round would be like, but it's getting to be a lot.  I'll take a break, and I may get back to that, or may not.  I would expect it will be more of that I've been describing, without much of a development or twist.

Fourth round, combined notes:  after a short break I did go there.  I do like these better brewed a bit longer, and they're holding up to this many rounds well.  None of the three are improving, or evolving in interesting and positive ways, more just hanging in there.  The descriptions from earlier rounds still apply.

Conclusions:

It's interesting liking the character of the Level 2 version the most, that flavor profile.  The Premier version is definitely a little more intense, with quite a bit more umami experience, but I don't like the taste of cooked soybeans with a little sundried tomato more than nuttiness with some brighter vegetal background.  The Level 4 version, the first, is more grassy, with more standard vegetable range.

I'm not sure this divide relates mostly to a plucking standard (what the material is made from).  They didn't confirm that plant types were identical, although they might be quite similar, or the same, and there's nothing in here about microclimate / terroir, them being from slightly different places.  Even being located on two different sides of the same hill could change things, a little, or broader inputs like elevation can.  Of course I'm not going to speculate about specifics.  They said that the same producer made them, implying that all other conditions were held to be as similar as possible, but who knows.

All in all this was an interesting experience.  It's hard to place in relation to Maofeng I've tried in the past; it's been awhile, and I've drank a good bit more Longjing, and not very much of that compared to sheng pu'er.  For a green tea drinker I think this would be all the nicer.

But then there's the freshness edge sub-theme; these must have had a little more of a fresh pop when first produced.  They're not settling into warmer, murkier flavors, necessarily, but it's quite possible that the comments here about cooked vegetables would've been about brighter or more floral range aspects when these were brand new.  I think exploring green tea right before the Spring harvest season is a little odd, but it could still make sense.  You would need to place it for what it is, considering that as one input.

It might be interesting for them to bundle left-over 2024 versions along with new 2025 teas.  I'm speculating about aging transition inputs, but in direct comparison you could try to sort that out, beyond different versions just varying for different reasons.  Aged green tea isn't a common thing, but to me transitions across different time-frames are interesting.  Black tea settles more over the first few months than people might expect, for example, and of course sheng pu'er does a lot more.

2004 Thai Hong Tai Chang shou, 1991 Liu Bao, 2010's Vietnamese shou

HTC left, Vietnamese version right, in all photos

I'm reviewing three teas passed on by friends in this, two shou and one Liu Bao.  It's not technically shou pu'er, since one is from Vietnam and the other Thailand, but to me it's identical to what is produced in Yunnan, related to that regionally-limited designation.  Others could see that differently.

In part this relates to reviewing a baseline for reviewing ITea World aged teas.  I won't directly compare these to other versions here, in part because that runs long, without informing much, tied to speculative judgment across weeks of time.

I've reviewed this Hong Tai Chang tea twice before, which is a little unconventional.  I tried it here, in 2024, back when I received these samples, which links to trying a relatively identical version in 2015.  10 years changes things, regardless of storage conditions inputs.  Here I'm using it as a baseline, a standard form for comparison for the other two teas.  It was supposed to serve as a way of discerning Liu Bao character / aspect difference, and to directly compare to the Vietnamese version.  That hit a snag, related to the latter, which I'll get into.

Review:

Hong Tai Chang:  it's good.  Rich, earthy, almost oily deep tones define the experience, along with plenty of dark mineral base.  It matches the color, the darkest of the three.  What about other typical shou aspect inclusions:  cacao, dried fruit, betel nut, medicinal range?  Maybe what people describe as betel nut is coming across, but I could be clearer on what that even is.  It could be interpreted as relating to root spice.  This is only the first infusion after a fast rinse; that's good complexity for this stage.

A thick, oily, resinous feel is pleasant.  It adds depth to the experience.  The flavor set is less novel and striking, but it is pleasant, and clean enough.  There's no barnyard range, mustiness, and the like.

Liu Bao:  it's interesting that what I guessed might be betel nut flavor is so much stronger in this; it's more of a main flavor aspect, maybe the main one.  It's hard to relate that to something more common, to explain it better.  It is kind of in between an aromatic wood tone and aged furniture effect, which I think divides into one set of flavors tied to age input and another to aromatic oils range, representing the wood treatment, which combine.  This is really smooth, and quite clean.  A bit of marshmallow flavor fills in some depth, of course along with warm mineral tone.  It's brighter than one might expect, and cleaner.

Vietnamese shou:  there's something odd going on with this.  It tastes too much like one particular range of aged furniture input, as if long contact with a foreign flavor input added too much of an aromatic oil or polishing agent edge.  It tastes perfume-like, in an unnatural way.  That's just a hint coming from it though, not a strongest flavor, but it really stands out for seeming foreign to the natural flavor range.  It tastes like this was stored next to incense sticks.  That may "burn off" over one more round, if it really is from an external contact.  If that's somehow completely natural I don't understand it.  The rest is fine, clean, with decent complexity, balance, and depth.

For using more moderate proportions than I typically do, maybe 5 grams each, I'll need to keep infusion time long to keep intensity up, on towards 30 seconds, versus a more typical 10 to 15.  Of course I intend to drink these on the strong side; they're shou and well-aged Liu Bao.

HTC #2:  feel is nice in this; it almost stands out most.  The rest of the flavor set is complex and pleasant:  what could be betel nut, root spice, and warm mineral.  It would be possible to interpret this as tasting like cacao and some kind of dried fruit, or even bark spice, since good complexity does require some imagination to unpack.  At the same time it comes across as unified and relatively simple, a bit of a contradiction.  All those flavors are expressed within a narrower range than it sounds like they might be.  A hint of marshmallow effect is nice; that's extra range.

This is clearly pretty good shou, as expected (it hasn't been that long since I tried this version).  It also highlights why I'm not all that impressed by pretty good shou.  It comes across as complex but also simple, refined but still basic.  Why seek out better and more expensive shou range just to experience marginal extra flavor, or depth?  Then again people valuing aspects or experience that I don't is normal, and reasonable.  I don't drink a fresh, intense, clean, and vegetal green tea and ask why people like that; they just do.

Liu Bao:  it's funny how much this overlaps with the first shou, but is also different.  It's slightly lighter in tone, and matches the betel nut / spice range, with even more marshmallow.  It's odd how clean this is; usually some residual mustiness comes across in most older teas, but not so much in this.  It's also definitely not faded by a high degree of air contact, although it might have experienced plenty.  Intensity is pretty good.  I suppose it comes across as just slightly more novel than the first shou version, but then the other one (HTC) expresses more warmth and intensity, darker toned and fuller in feel.  Both are good.

Vietnamese shou:  this is cleaning up, but some degree of what seems to be an external incense / perfume / even soapiness remains.  It must have experienced some external contact with something with flavor; there's no way this is completely natural (per my judgment; maybe it really is).  With that fading this much it might work to break down what the other range is without it being present as a main aspect.  

The other aspects beyond that seem fine:  warm mineral, dark wood or even spice depth, perhaps some dried fruit, or one other novel theme.  But the range that I take to be a foreign input stands out the most still, partly for being novel in an unconventional way, along with it being as intense as any other input.

A friend passed on a white tea that seemed to have an even stronger degree of foreign flavor input, which he thought might have come from a processing flaw, instead of being stored in a laundry room, next to soap and drier sheets, as it tasted like it might've been.  This isn't that intense.  It's not ruined, still drinkable, but it seems off to me.

HTC #3:  this isn't changing too much.  It is evolving in a positive way, based on trivial changes.  The same basic aspect list applies.

Liu Bao:  the same is true for this.  Root spice is picking up.  By that I typically mean along the line of ginseng, or even sassafras.  I could also mean that it tastes like other Chinese medicinal herbs that I can't fully place, like a Chinatown spice shop.  This also tastes like marshmallow, so that root range stands out most, but there is more to it, more vague, warm, complex underlying spice tone.  At the same time it comes across as quite clean.  It's definitely one of the better Liu Bao versions I've ever tried, giving up some intensity related to a long transition to this complex, mild form, but it's a decent trade-off.  

Comparing this directly to a much younger Liu Bao might not make much sense; something half this old, or a bit younger, may include more intensity, and a slightly different flavor profile, but it would also just be a different kind of experience.  34 year old tea is aging into a different kind of range.

Vietnamese shou:  apparently that perfume-range input will keep declining, but it won't go away.  It's a little disappointing; it would've been nice to get a clearer read on the rest without it, and to have that experience.  It comes across a little like a flavored tea.  Judged as such, in relation to that being a value-neutral inclusion, it's pretty good.  It just tastes like it was stored near incense sticks, and those match well enough with shou experience.  

What are the chances that this could be a completely natural, but novel, extra flavor inclusion?  I'd guess unlikely.  The range of how extra unique flavors enter in and combine becomes familiar over time, and I don't think this is that.

This next round will do it for the note-taking phase; this is so much tea to power through.  Any sensible person would just throw out the tea, after tasting enough to make the notes, but to me that's too disrespectful towards it.

HTC #4:  not changing much; it's still pretty good.

Liu Bao:  the same.  I brewed this round a little lighter so it may not work quite as well for me, but the teas don't seem different.  I never did address this being lighter in color than the first shou.  Could it be less than fully fermented?  I don't think so, at this age, 34 years old.  But the output could be different based on that resulting from different inputs.  Flavor range is slightly lighter too; hopefully that was already apparent in the tasting notes.

Vietnamese shou:  that flavoring input is easing up more than the rest is transitioning; this is the best this has been.  People would probably be divided on whether that one aspect range is a negative input, or relatively neutral, or I suppose if they read it as being natural it's possible that someone would even like it.  

The tea is fine, at this stage.  It tastes like ordinary shou, aged enough that the fermentation related funky input is gone (wo dui?).  It's just not overly complex or novel.  In retrospect, during editing, I really didn't get into aging differences, or differences in intensity or heaviness of flavor tones, in relation to the Thai shou version.  This review process was really thrown off by that one aspect input.

Conclusions:

This isn't really the kind of storage issue I was trying to unpack related to further comparison with ITea World sample set versions, but this does come up, the theme of external contamination.  

In a milder form it's quite common.  If I buy cakes from my favorite Bangkok Chinatown shop they're usually initially quite musty, from being stored in enclosed, hot, and humid conditions.  That will fade quite a bit over the first few months, as they pick up additional air exposure, since I don't keep them in a sealed room with a literal ton of other tea.  Some of that relates to being in contact with a lot of other tea, and also with packaging materials, with the paper in the cakes, and whatever cardboard might be around, all of which is fermenting in storage.  

We have a room full of old books in our house--of essentially no value; it's a long story--and within a few decades the paper browns, as it oxidizes, and as fungus--or mold, essentially--grows on the paper.  The libraries at the University of Hawaii, where I attended grad school, were undergoing something similar.  In one they maintained high airflow to offset that (lots of fans, in the Sinclair library), and in the other aggressive central air conditioning lowered humidity and temperature.  It's normal in the tropics.  Then it's odd how infrequently that relates to tea cakes growing actual mold, which makes for a longer story.

Storing tea next to something that changes its flavor isn't completely normal, but it would come up.  Vendors and producers try to avoid that, but we hear of lots of cases of extra bits of tea being found in unusual places, in attics and such.  That's why I keep expecting more mustiness to be an issue in these aged teas, since that's all the more common, and why I'm surprised that it's often not coming up at all.