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only 5 of the 7 who attended; I forgot to take the picture earlier |
Friends gathered at our house again to try some teas, probably the last of a series of a half-dozen somewhat related meetups. Three meetups were held where I live (in Bangkok, for now, in Honolulu soon), or four, if you also count a couple of friends dropping by in January (visit vs. meetup; not so different).
To me those are mostly about the people joining experiencing the teas, and appreciating interacting with others, more than a formal tasting theme. I could have said ten times as much about the teas, at the cost of most of that interaction dropping out. Even doubling the limited information and input would shift the tone, from a friendly gathering of friends to more of an educational experience. That's fine too, but when people first meet each other it's better if they can chat a good bit, and people joining has always included some of them repeating and some being new arrivals. To me it's important for them to be able to express themselves, and for it to be about all of them, more than the teas. I don't find myself as interesting because I already know those stories.
Interacting with the people was as pleasant as the teas, or more so for me, because I've already tried those teas. But the teas themselves were exceptional, interesting for different reasons, and more of a sensible tasting theme or pattern emerged this time. We talked more about whatever tangents came up, and our own backgrounds. One person had traveled a lot (and many participants have been nomads throughout the various meetups), another was coming to tea from a drink-mixing background, and one was a long-term local resident working in freelance writing, with a diverse background. So fascinating!
Two friends I keep meeting are teachers, who alternate working and traveling, with one working on finishing a Master's thesis now. One friend in attendance, who I've met a couple of times, is a Zen meditation instructor, although we didn't seem to get into that part so much. That might not be an easy subject to say just a little about. As usual people were from all over: the US, Canada, Germany, and Italy, with a longer list of where they've also lived.
This writing is more about the teas instead; I won't summarize the rest about all that. Mentioning what the teas were, and adding reference links, would help them see what we had tried again, and to me the sequence was interesting. We keep trying different patterns of experiences, beyond generally moving from lighter to heavier tea character range. This struck a balance between that kind of pattern and generally just trying what I like, with a secondary focus on the teas being novel. It worked.
1. Mao Feng Qimen, Chinese black tea (from Dylan Conroy of the Sweetest Dew, not reviewed, but here are other related versions reviewed): I missed trying the last sample Dylan had sent of exceptional Qimen, and this was a good time to get to it.
More ordinary Qimen is just another standard commercial black tea, but versions do vary. I guess this was made from the plant type used to make Mao Feng, a main green tea type (or at least that seems to make the most sense). It was heavy on buds, quite refined, complex, and pleasant in flavor, including cacao and a bit of soft malt. It's not light in the sense that a rolled oolong would be, but the warm tone doesn't make it a challenging tea, and I didn't feel like starting all the way "back" at green tea or light rolled oolong, even though I have those around. I like black teas better, and I wanted to get on to more sheng pu'er tasting this time.
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not that tea, but two other exceptional Qimen from Dylan |
2. Dian Hong (Yunnan) style Thai black tea from Aphiwat, a 2024 version, from wild origin material (reviewed here, with a contact link to the producer here). This is a tea I've been drinking regularly for awhile, and one we've tried in another tasting version, or maybe even two of them. It's a lot like Dian Hong tend to be: complex in flavor, expressing a lot of positive range (cacao, etc.), with good mineral depth, and good balance. Part of the range could seem to include sourness to some (Huyen didn't really like it, or Dian Hong in general), but I love it.
It's funny how I'm a bit put off by tartness in a black tea, but one leaning a little towards a sour range is still fine. To me you wouldn't normally make this connection in trying this tea (seeing it as sour), but when you think about it that kind of works, and for people only adjusted to trying variety Sinensis black tea versions the difference could be off-putting, as it is for Huyen. I just had it with breakfast, on the day I'm editing this; it's also great with food.
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that Thai black tea |
3. local Vietnamese sheng (2024 from Quang Tom, reviewed here): I love this tea! I loved the 2023 version, and this 2024 version might be a little better. It's quite oxidized, which is strange for sheng in general, but not so unusual for SE Asian versions. According to Seth--mentioned in this blog many times, someone who looks into Vietnamese teas a lot, and researches them along with Huyen--that might be a normal step for Vietnamese sheng processing. I've talked to this producer and it's intentional.
A tea version essentially in between sheng and black tea probably wouldn't age well, past just changing a little over a couple of years, but if those first years are positive enough that doesn't matter. I drank a 2023 cake version pretty fast, and I'd drink this 2024 cake I own faster, but it's the second one I bought, and I don't want it to go as fast as the first did. Tones are warmer than for conventional sheng, of course, and bitterness and astringency are limited, but plenty of fruit stands out. It helps to push it just a bit to get the intensity up to the normal crazy sheng level, but you can push it as much as you want, since there is nothing negative to brew around.
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2023 was pressed a little too hard (left), but the 2024 form is perfect |
4. Viet Sun Son La Vietnamese sheng (2023 version, reviewed here): I really like this tea too; it's also the second cake I'm on for this same version. I don't mind the repetition at all, or that I've been drinking Thai sheng from Aphiwat over and over as well. I try plenty related to the blog review theme, and it's nice drinking favorites beyond that. It helps keep my tea budget moderate too, but this cake is in the normal price range, I think, probably listing for around $80 now ($77; I checked during editing). I bought it for one price increase less than that a year ago, and also the year before, so I think it's worth it.
It's a bit more challenging than the first sheng we tried; it includes conventional sheng bitterness and astringency, just not the most ordinary flavor range. To me it expresses more fruit than floral tones. It made for a nice tasting sequence already, bridging from two types of black tea onto a hybrid sheng, then one that's more conventional, but not necessarily completely standard related to most Yunnan forms.
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the Son La Viet Sun cake |
5. Man Xi 2008 sheng pu'er sample: (finally back to using that second term) I don't know what this is, or who gave me this; I grabbed about 20 teas from samples or favorites that we might try, and aged sheng somehow fit at this time. Another I almost brewed instead was slightly older "factory" tea, a numbered CNNP or Taetea version (if I checked the number again I'd know; if it ends in 1 that's CNNP / Zhongcha and 2 that's Taetea / Menghai Tea Factory), as Google's AI explains:
First two digits: The year the recipe was developed
Third digit: The grade of the raw tea leaves, or maocha. The scale ranges from 0 to 9, with 0 being the smallest and 9 being the largest
Fourth digit: The factory that produced the tea
For example, a tea cake with the recipe number 7542 was developed in 1975 and made with fourth-grade tea leaves by the Menghai Tea Factory. The Menghai Tea Factory is one of the most famous producers of Pu'erh tea in China.
Somehow it seemed likely this would be more of a boutique range version, which can be interesting, and definitely more refined. It was like that. I know no background related to this version or that area, but I'll cite a source describing another tea that might parallel it, or it might not:
Our 2007 Organic Manxi Mountain Raw Pu’er Cake uses sun-dried Shaiqinmao tea leaves (Yunnan big-leaf variety) from ancient tea trees grown on the organic tea plantations of the Manxi Mountain area. It is produced by Fuhai Tea Factory in Menghai County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan.
The Manxi Mountain area is located at the Sino-Burmese border in the district of Daluo Town, Menghai County. It features a large group of very old large-leaf tea trees, planted by the Blang people over 500 years ago.
People keep buying aged sheng to find versions like this one, unless they really need super high complexity and intensity, as factory versions exhibit, if they don't mind rough edges that can go with those others. Or this more refined version is another type of offering, more subtle, but potentially still well-balanced, or other 25 year old teas in a broader range might have settled but haven't faded.
Some aged sheng does just fade, if the type isn't suitable for this 17 year old, relatively transitioned range, but the intensity in this was ok, pretty good. Not necessarily on the high side for intensity; it was quite drinkable and refined, but also a bit subdued. Tones could've been a little warmer; maybe it hadn't been in wet storage for a lot of that time, which tends to emphasize that.
For us not really focusing in on those teas as much as we might have I don't think most people picked up on just how good this tea was (although one person mentioned it), but that's all relative anyway. I thought it was a bit exceptional, based on patterns of my own expectations, related to prior experience. But then I also commented how I liked a 2006 Xiaguan 8653 version more, one we tried together two weeks ago, even though we all agreed it had a strong "barnyard" taste. A clean version of that, mind you, like horse saddle, not like aged barn or manure smell.
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that cake, which I really like, commonly sold in lots of outlets (the Xiaguan, not Man Xi) |
6. Oriental Leaf Fu "brick" (cake) hei cha (from 2020), with golden flowers (reviewed here, with the vendor page here; I think this was the Fengqing version, not the Lincang origin one):
This was quite a shift, moving from pretty good aged sheng on to novel hei cha. That adds a lot of rough edges and rustic tone, but this tea type is pleasant, and interesting.
The golden flowers input is positive, and pleasant, while definitely unusual, related to most other tea experience. It's hard to describe; it's a little like yeasty, fresh baked bread, just not exactly like that. Maybe it leans toward floral and spice range at the same time, while based on warm tones. While trying the next round, the one after this, I kept this tea brewing to try a really strong infusion version, and that was completely different, still approachable, but almost shockingly intense, heavy on mineral layer and those other flavors.
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lots of mold on that Fu cake, which is considered a good thing |
7. 1991 Thai (Wawee) Liu Bao: (from a friend, so there is no link or review of this) aged tea is interesting, how it picks up depth, and smooths out any rough edges that were ever present. For powering through a half dozen teas prior to this, and not slowing the pace, probably that novelty and depth didn't really come across so clearly.
This seemed like pretty good aged Liu Bao, how those should be, expressing that set of typical interesting and complementary flavors. It tasted like Liu Bao, just an aged-mellowed version of one, as it should have. To me prior to relatively complete aging Liu Bao a harsher edge and flavor like cement blocks can stand out, but this had moved past that, to the extent it ever included it.
8. 2024 Na Lang Laos sheng, from Farmerleaf (reviewed here, with the vendor page here): this is a recent favorite, shared by William Osmont on his somewhat recent visit here. It's really good, probably the best Laos sheng that I've tried, and I've probably tried at least 15 versions of that. It's bright, positive in flavor range, well balanced, clean, complex, and intense. A couple of people noted that it was their favorite so far in the tasting (so overall, it being the last one), and it was mine as well.
It was interesting moving from light to heavy across that whole sequence, and then back-tracking to this version, and upping the quality level a little at the same time. Those other teas were already good, good examples of those types. But dynamic, intense, and balanced sheng is something else.
Surely there is other sheng out there that can seem to take the next step in different directions; I've had versions like that, some from those highly desirable origins, and others from more ordinary places, that just happened to be really good. It was interesting hearing people try to place what aspects or character made this different, and that good. Interpretations always vary, and it's not as if one could be objectively right more than any other (although it can seem like that to some).
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the Farmerleaf Na Lang Laos sheng |
It was a good place to leave off. 8 versions is a lot of tea, and we weren't tasting the first 2 or 3 infusions, and moving on, we were really drinking the teas. I brewed all that in a 200 ml gaiwan, stacking (mixing) infusions every time, either 2 or 3, usually 3, so we lost a little in terms of noticing transition sequences, but gained ground in keeping up a pace, and just drinking some tea. Even drinking 4 more isolated infusions of each--not mixing them, and only drinking a little--would relate to 32 rounds in total. The tasting ran long, but not as long as that approach would have taken, more like 4 hours instead of the planned 3.
Snacks worked out well too; there is a good bakery not far from our house (Little Home), and what they produce is often made in small item forms that work well, tiny croissants filled with sausage, small cream puffs and egg tarts, and so on. You can't really drink a good bit of 8 versions of tea, and many of those intense versions at that, without that sort of adjustment, eating something to offset it. One person brought a mango, and pistachios; those sorts of inputs are nice to add variety.
It made for a nice experience, both related to all those teas and focus on conversation and appreciating the rest of the group together.
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one of the earlier meetups, with Huyen and Seth at the bottom (who I kept mentioning) |
