2006 Xiaguan FT Te Ji sheng pu'er tuocha

 

On a recent visit to my favorite local Bangkok Chinatown shop, Jip Eu, the owner, Kittichai, gave me a Xiaguan tuocha.  They'll often pass on a sample of something interesting, but I don't remember them giving me that much tea like that (100 grams; not so much, but a significant amount).  It's very kind of him.  I suppose it's partly in thanks for me writing here about them, and steering some business there, which to me is about helping others find decent tea, not really about benefitting me.  I typically mention other shop options as well, as I did in the last post, discussing how Sen Xing Fa--another nearby shop--is set up better for doing extensive tasting.

I probably found what it was, more or less by chance.  A King Tea Mall listing looks exactly the same, down to all the numbers listed, and Chinese text (as far as I can tell).  Of course there is also Google Lens translation, but that helps less than one might imagine.  It's probably this:

2006 XiaGuan "FT-Te Ji" (Special Grade) Tuo 100g Puerh Sheng Cha Raw Tea

Listing for $26 for a 100 gram tuocha there.  That probably is market rate now.  You can buy the newer ones, that need another 15 or 20 years to age more, for more like $10, but someone holding onto it to cover that part costs you, with varying storage conditions inputs giving different results.  Then it's probably also an above average quality version, outlined in detail by that King Tea Mall listing:

Description:

The 2006 XiaGuan "FT-Te Ji" Tuo is part of the esteemed "Te Ji" series, denoting "Special Grade" in Chinese. This line of Puerh Sheng Cha, initiated in 2003 by XiaGuan, aimed to exceed the quality standards set by the JiaJi tuo cha. Renowned as "TeTuo" ("特沱"), an abbreviation of "TeJiTuoCha," this series underwent an official renaming in 2016, underscoring its prestige.

Distinctive Features:

The wrapper bears the trademark design of a "Pine tree and Crane," emblematic of the series' heritage and superior quality.

Variants of the "Te Ji" series include the general version and a higher-quality variant distinguished by a red-eyed crane.

The "FT" (Fly to Taiwan) version employs slightly superior tea materials, featuring more young buds and tiny leaves.

I had thought FT stood for "for Taiwan," but that doesn't change much either way.  This shop, Jip Eu, doesn't carry this tea anymore, per my understanding since they've sold out of a large batch they would've bought back in 2006 or so.  I do keep buying another 2012 Xiaguan tuo version there, which they still sell.

Review:

first infusion (after a rinse):  flavors are nice, subdued, clean (as this range of tea goes), interesting and pleasant.  The distinctive flavor that reminds me of aged horse saddle leather is there.  Harsh edges have largely aged off it, in those 19 years.  That would have to do with the hot and humid storage here; that wouldn't be true of the exact same tea stored in a cool and dry area.  

second infusion:  feel is thick, oily, and viscous.  I really do like that odd earthy range of flavors, especially in a version that's closer to ready to drink than I usually try.  I re-tried a 2012 Xiaguan tuo (from Jip Eu, the one that they still do sell) over the past week and it's close enough to enjoy, but not this far along for fermentation transition.  Beyond the leather--or at least what I interpret as leather--there is good depth of other range, mineral content, towards medicinal dried herb, and a little towards dried longan or tamarind fruit, it's just not overly fruity.  Feel is pleasant and the overall effect isn't harsh at all.

third infusion:  it reminds me a little of smoke, brewed a little stronger.  Often if a tea has contacted smoke that input will come out strongest right away, and keep fading.  This might well just be a natural related flavor, which does kind of match with the rest.  I'm not sure if this is a positive transition or not, related to my own experience just now.  I'm open to teas tasting like smoke, natural (inherent) or added, and it does match the other barnyard scope, but it's not necessarily better for including it.  Or worse either, as I see it, so just different.

fourth infusion:  quite balanced at this level; everything I've mentioned is still going on.  It's got decent intensity, of course.  I'm brewing this using a moderate infusion proportion too, for me, maybe only 7 grams in 100 ml gaiwan, versus the more typical 9 or so (typical for me).  Mind you not everyone would like this; to others it could be harsh, or off-putting.  The 2012 was more so, with so much of the earlier rough edges standing out.  I had my daughter Kalani taste it, and to her it was awful.  She asked why anyone would drink that.  I liked that version too (yesterday, I guess it was), but it wasn't quite ready, maybe by those extra 6 years.

her, posing

It's hot as Hades here, trying this tea in Bangkok at noon.  I should at least turn a fan on, but I've not even done that.  It was so nice living in Honolulu where the temperature is between 75 and 80 F all the time, maybe 25 to 28 C, and now it's back to 30s / around 90 F all the time.

fifth infusion:  the complex balance of flavors keeps shifting, the proportion, but the range isn't changing.  Smoke isn't gone but it was only a main flavor input for that one infusion.  Sweetness is nice for this; to me that one input helps tie all the rest together.  Feel is nice, and intensity, and aftertaste expression.  Layers of leather, barnyard flavor, medicinal herb, and some dried fruit really complement each other.  But only for people who like aged Xiaguan, of course, and it's hard to imagine someone preferring newish, untransitioned versions.

sixth infusion:  not different.  I might even drop taking notes here.  There probably will be some degree of interesting change as this wraps up, around infusions 10 to 12, or it could be pleasant and interesting up to 15 rounds or so.  Intensity is high enough for this that I'm using short infusion timing, 5 seconds or so, which will enable it lasting longer than if I was soaking it for longer.

Seeing a Tiger Balm pack of balm on the table reminds me how someone might interpret this as including quite a bit of camphor.  I suppose that it does, as people use that term.  I've never been completely comfortable isolating that as a description very often, but it's there.  Food range makes more sense to me; you get chances to eat those things, and it associates more naturally as a flavor.  Something like smoke is familiar enough from foods that this connection often makes sense too.  

Then I just can't remember specific floral ranges or incense spices.  Maybe this tastes a lot like one of them, and I wouldn't know.  Interpreting it as including incense spice would make sense too, but it would be helpful to be familiar with a half dozen of those, to break it down to that next level.

seventh infusion, comparison tasting with a Dayi (8582):  I was re-trying a standard Dayi cake with breakfast, not to see if it was ready, because it wouldn't be, from 2016 (9 years old).  It's pretty far along for spending that time here in Bangkok, but it needs at least another half dozen years, and it will level off closer to where it will be in another 10.  I keep trying the teas to see the transition patterns, because they're interesting.  It's not even about education or learning, it's just interesting.

The Dayi tea is harsher; it's not there yet for age transition.  It includes a green wood component, and a harsher form of astringency.  This is much better than it was two years ago when I first bought it (reviewed here then), becoming more pleasant.  Positive warm-toned flavors are developing.  

It's interesting how that "barnyard" range stands out in the Xiaguan.  It's not just that it's further along for transition, and it is that; the basic flavor range is also different.  There's a nice sappy effect that goes along with that, crossing over from flavor to feel.  I'm not sure what I expected this comparison to highlight.  The flavor and other character differences are interesting, but not informative.  It was sitting on the table beside me doing the tasting, so it seemed as well to try both and mention it.

This stopped short of guessing where the Xiaguan stands in terms of being relatively fully age transitioned, fermented, or how it might change over some of the following years.  19 years of transition in Bangkok storage is a lot, but it will keep changing over the next decade, probably mostly for the better.  It's definitely not going to run out of intensity.  Most of the green wood type flavor range and harsh-edged feel is gone, so it's fine to drink now, but it might still be a good bit better later.  I'd have to try it in another half dozen years to know.  I suppose that I probably will mostly set it aside to see.

Benchmark reference:  Liquid Proust now carries a similar Xiaguan tuo

I remembered seeing a mention of a Liquid Proust (vendor) Xiaguan tuo of about the same age, and that will help set what a market rate is for this.  Here is his listing:

2006 Xiaguan FT7653-6 100g, THB 1,016.95 (around $30)

Out of all the storage I've had there was always the Yang Qing Hao and Wistaria house notes that couldn't be rivaled. Then comes along this 2006 Xiaguan random tuo that has been pushed in warm and humid conditions in Taiwan. The depth of the tea with the smoke notes that are matured into something new with the puerh... it's a treat that I will miss dearly. This might be one of those extremely lucky finds.

Per the comments it's the aging conditions that give the tea great value, and the one Hong Kong shop that James of Tea DB keeps mentioning, Yee On tea, carries something similar for about double that cost, so $60.  

So market value is somewhere between $30 and 60?  That's a good bit for a Xiaguan tuo.  Next one would need to compare storage inputs to determine if the one I've just reviewed is really as good, or better, and personal preference would enter in so much in making that determination that it really wouldn't work, as an objective finding.

Thai minor deity tea cups, in the MBK mall; something different

Visiting my favorite Bangkok Chinatown shop; on Bangkok pu'er storage

visiting with Huyen and Seth earlier this year

This must copy a few other posts, since every time I get back to Bangkok after a break I check back in with the owners at Jip Eu.  I just did that again.  I'll cover what we tried here, and go back through how shopping there would work for others, framed as advice.

  

There are some interesting strengths and drawbacks for those traditional kinds of local shops.  Pricing is much better than most outlets, even for online sales, for all but the most value-oriented or producer-direct sources.  Range of products is inconsistent but good; they carry a lot of tea.  But then it's not set up as a place to try lots of teas, not as a tourist destination, as Sen Xing Fa is (another nearby shop).  So dropping by to taste tea with them for an hour isn't the conventional visit form; you usually just go there to buy tea.

When you are their friend it's different, and the visit can be more social, instead of only related to tea shopping.  To me they're like visiting family.  As an expat here, a foreigner, those kinds of connections mean a lot, because I'm not as socially connected in friends groups as I normally would be back in the US.  When we stay in Honolulu, where I just got back from, I do things with my daughter's friends' families, and talk to neighbors, or occasionally do things with them.  Here I talk to local shop owners, but that's about it.  Even work colleagues are separated by a cultural divide, and we don't end up socializing much.

So when I dropped by Kittichai, the owner, was happy to share an interesting black tea he picked up traveling back in Wuyishan.  He has family in Wuyishan, Anxi, and Hong Kong, so he's pretty well networked for tea related travel, and sourcing.  He has a friend who makes tea in Bing Dao, Yunnan, as well, so it isn't limited to those places.

that black tea

Of course Wuyishan is better known for twisted style oolong, for Wuyi Yancha, rock oolong teas (Da Hong Pao, Rou Gui, Shui Xian, Qi Dan, Bei Dou, and so on).  But oolong related cultivars often make really good black tea.  It's probably seen as a waste to use the material for that, since good oolong might sell for more.  Exceptional, novel black teas are really pleasant though, as this one was.

It will hard to convey tasting notes; I focused in more on catching up, on hearing how they were doing, what they'd been up to.  And they asked about my kids, and Hawaii, and we talked about tea themes, about market patterns back in China.  They said that Wuyishan tea demand remains strong, since the supply is limited, but that pu'er supply has probably overextended demand, so that especially for factory tea versions demand and sales are flat.  

So it would be a great time to buy a lot of volume of mid-range pu'er, except that you'd need to either be in Yunnan, closely connected to a wholesale vendor, or good with using Taobao to do that.  It would be all but impossible, for most people.  I just saw in online discussion that Farmerleaf actually dropped higher end cake pricing, since that higher quality range of material now costs them less too.  That was for $120 to $150 cakes.

Back to that tea, it included the typical exceptional flavors, a warm mineral base, pronounced mid-range (again I've lost track of flavor characteristics though; maybe like an aromatic spice, a bit off seeming like a rich dried fruit), great feel, and good character over many rounds.  He said that brewing it using a slightly lower proportion works well, 4 or 5 grams per the standard 100 ml gaiwan, using slightly longer infusion timing than for sheng or oolong.  It was just perfect, the way he prepared it.  It was very refined.  It's all but impossible to find black tea in this general range, and since the type and style was sort of a one-off it's even more impossible to find that.

Does he even sell it though?  Probably not.  Often I'll try what he finds that is interesting to him there, his own tea.  Then in other cases it actually is for sale.  Another customer came in to find specific things and we looked over a high end chrysanthemum version and two types of Longjing, that he actually does sell.  One of those was pretty far up the scale for Longjing character and quality, about as good as they ever get, and it would really be worth $1 a gram, if you could buy it for that.  I can't afford that, due to wasting money moving back and forth around the planet.  The more moderate range Longjing also seemed pretty good, from just smelling dried leaf, but I didn't buy it either.  I drink sheng, and also buy black tea sometimes, but I'm in a cycle now where I'm drinking through what I already have.

Again I don't really remember the pricing or availability, for those green teas.  I think I'd asked, but I wasn't making notes, and I was focused on visiting.

A tangent about trying aged sheng, and about other aging patterns

Then we tried a 1999 Chang Tai sheng pu'er cake, which he definitely doesn't sell (although he did; this is the last of a large batch he sold most of years ago).  It was pretty good.  I can't appreciate aged sheng as much as others who are on that page.  I've bought three versions from them (Jip Eu), so I own three of their cakes, a purple label Dayi (from 2004 or 2005), and a Xiaguan 8653, and Zhong Cha / CNNP red mark cake from around that age range.  20 years is a good age range for drinking those styles of sheng, or 18 is even ok, maybe just not quite there yet.  That 26 year old cake had levelled off to where it was going to be.  I've drank enough of both the Dayi and Xiaguan that I'm on the second cake of each now, or really mostly just holding onto them, to see how they keep changing.

I've been trying some of my other older cakes and noticing how interesting aging patterns play out, strengths and limitations.  Today--when I started this draft, at least--I tried a CNNP / Zhong Cha cake I bought at Sen Xing Fa, that was kind of good but also a bit iffy, maybe from sometime in the 2000s (I could look that up; I reviewed it here).  It's much better now.  Some early round funkiness has aged off it, and depth and flavor character is great.  It's better than it should be, based on how it was a half dozen years ago.

Then two other versions I've recently tried ran in a different direction, more or less dying.  One was a boutique style cake from Tea Mania, one of my favorite online tea sources.  It lost so much intensity it seems it will probably just disappear later, and it's probably only a 2017 or 18 or so cake, so not all that old yet.  Someone might bring up the "teen-years" in-between aging forms issue, that it could rebound, but it's really going to fade to next to nothing.  The style wasn't right for aging; I could tell that earlier on.  But I bought two cakes to see, and one is long since drank, and now I have the other to keep trying over many years.  

Another was an inexpensive factory version from Chawang Shop, an earlier favorite online source.  It shifted to taste like wood, a common enough unfavorable aging pattern.  When you buy a cake for a very low price you kind of expect limited potential, and it's interesting seeing how that works out in different cases, over time.  They sell plenty of exceptional tea, that would hold up well to 15 or 20 years of transition time, this just wasn't one of those.  The better teas I bought from them as smaller cake versions, 100 or 150 grams each, so they're essentially all gone now.  I bought Xiaguan mini-cakes and small Kokang Myanmar sheng for long aging from them, and both aren't ready yet, over a decade old but not even close.  

Today--at time of revising the draft, anyway--I re-tried a white label cake that I have no idea of the type, origin, or age of, that's actually quite good, aging well, and in a good place.

I wouldn't say that the Chang Tai version had the greatest potential, or had landed in an ideal place, but it was slightly better than most of the other versions I'm describing (maybe not the last I mentioned, but it might need 6 or 7 more years to be in a related place for fermentation input).  I really like that rough, barnyard flavors oriented Xiaguan 8653 character though, but that's a personal preference, not something that would apply to everyone, and definitely not a statement about general quality level. 

visiting them years ago, with friends I now miss

Back to the visit

I bought inexpensive Wuyi Yancha (Shui Xian) to give away to local monks, who can't shop for tea on their own.  It's not the most indulgent gift they would tend to get, that moderate quality tea.  But it's nice to drink sometimes, as medium quality rolled style oolongs can be.  It's hard for me to appreciate or remember to mix in other tea experiences, as a sheng drinker, but when I do it still works.

an earlier (2022) version of the same kind of Shui Xian blend, from them

what that 2022 version looked like.  blend versions vary, but one was exceptional once.

Kittichai gave me a Xiaguan tuo when I left.  It was a bit much, sharing those exceptional teas with me, and giving me some, but again I see them as friends first and a tea source after that, or a bit like family.  That shop is a great place to pick up an extra Xiaguan tuo.  I think the ones I usually keep buying are from 2012, not quite there yet for aging input, but pretty close, and you can see how that part is coming together.  This one was from 2008, something he sold most of earlier on, I think, so I don't think that you can buy it.  Maybe I'll write about it, comparing it to others; I have a half dozen different Xiaguan versions around, or maybe more, counting cakes, and it's been awhile since I've been through a review.

2006 and 2012 tuochas, reviewed here, with the 2012 from Jip eu

those 11 and 17 year old Xiaguan tuo versions (that aged back then, in 2023)

The range of what they carry that you can buy is still ridiculously broad.  They carry a lot of tin based teas that are good value, like the best of what you'd stumble across in a Chinatown market shop back in the US, if you were luckier than ever tends to happen.  It's a great place to buy things like Dan Cong or jasmine pearl white tea.  Upper medium quality, moderate cost Dan Cong is a strange thing to run across anywhere.  Probably most vendors pass on that same quality range as exceptional, leading to the mistaken convention that Dan Cong should include a lot of characteristic astringency.  Better versions aren't like that, and the couple I've tried from Jip Eu weren't harsh, requiring careful, fast brewing to be approachable.

I'd already mentioned some sheng pu'er range, but they really specialize in Wuyi Yancha.  They sell a lot of inexpensive blended Shui Xian versions, like the one I bought, but they carry much better and more interesting versions.  A standard pricing range for the higher end range is 1000 baht for 100 grams, $30 or so, which is pretty good value for teas as good as they tend to be.  Styles and cultivars used would vary; they don't sell those in a limited style range, as can occur.  When they do carry versions from within the restricted park area in Wuyishan those are pretty good, but that extra demand factor makes them a less favorable value, even though quality level and style tend to be more consistent and positive inputs in such a case.

They don't sell everything that a US Chinese market would carry, but then those tend to not carry much for really good tea either.  They don't sell the little dried mandarin orange peels stuffed with pu'er, and there aren't large-jar stored teas to choose from.  They keep their teas in sealed packaging, with better versions in 100 gram versions, ready to sell.  The inexpensive versions, like I bought, either come in sealed bags inside custom printed boxes or else just in folded paper, made into a brick or bar shape, the old-style presentation.

The random stuff they have around that they don't sell is an even more interesting range, but people would never see it, unless you tend to be a regular visitor, a friend, and then you might.  When I first visited there they were drinking an aged green tea from the 70s, of course which they wouldn't have been selling.  Kittichai must have lots of aged sheng that he sometimes drinks but doesn't sell.  He likes oolongs better, and those can be nice with a few years of aging, but in general they're not so different beyond after a year of rest.  High roast level versions are an exception; those might keep improving with multiple years of aging, as that input fades and balances.

More advice about shopping there

The main obstacle is walking into that shop, or others, and hearing "what are you looking for, what kind of tea do you like?"  For some people that's an easy question, and they'd mention the one or more main types and styles.  Plenty of others would like whatever is especially interesting or novel, and are open to exploring.  That question could be hard to answer.

It can help knowing what a shop specializes in, what tends to be exceptional there.  I've already covered that in this writing, but I can summarize it further here:

-inexpensive, modest quality Wuyi Yancha, Shui Xian (what I bought, what Da Hong Pao often really is); this might cost around 100 baht ($3) for 100 grams

-much better quality Wuyi Yancha (twisted style Fujian oolong); this often costs 1000 baht ($30) for 100 grams

-a range of tin based medium quality teas:  Dan Cong, jasmine green, jasmine white tea, some plain greens.  Cost would vary by quality level and demand, but they would be in the middle, more like 5 or 600 baht per 100 grams ($20).  For lower quality tea that's too much, but for true medium range that's a good find.

-aged sheng pu'er:  there isn't too much, but the exceptions are fantastic.  Some 2005 or so cakes are worth considering (Xiaguan, Dayi, CNNP), and inexpensive Xiaguan and Tulin tuochas are a good find.

-fresh Longjing and Tie Guan Yin:  market rates push these to often be a bit pricey, beyond the range of most of what I've described.  Good TGY is different than the stuff that costs almost nothing, and is everywhere.  It's not worth it to me, because I'm not mainly an oolong drinker now, but for others on that page that trade-off is familiar ground.

-Thai teas:  there isn't much; this is a Chinese tea shop.  You could still ask if there is something, but I'm listing this to clarify that it's not their main range.

-black tea:  how could a Chinatown shop not carry this?  The range would keep varying though.  I've tried great Lapsang Souchong from there, the unsmoked type, and pretty good Jin Jun Mei (just not in the most standard form of that), and they may sell that Wuyishan version I described trying.  What they offer would keep changing, but it wouldn't be a difficult discussion to sort through.

-exceptions:  I once asked them if they sell pressed white tea cakes, and they said sure, and produced an aged buds-only version, that I bought for a special gift.  There are probably another dozen or two exceptions around, or more; it couldn't hurt to ask about something unusual, if it's of interest.

-teaware:  they don't specialize in this, but they have some Yixing around, of course with the product certifications, and I keep buying inexpensive white, porcelain gaiwans there.

Shop storage issues

Kind of an afterthought, but some people would be looking for this, as a main consideration.  If they do sell older sheng, as they do, what is the storage input like, tying back to conditions?

It's hot AF in Bangkok, and I think that plays in as much as the high humidity.  Teas might be closest to Malaysian storage input.  They were just telling me that Hong Kong storage seems more humid to them, the shop owners, and that teas from there pick up an off taste, a funkiness, like dirt or peat.  It's considerably cooler and even a bit drier there, in HK, so I think this relates to shops there managing storage to achieve specific outcomes, like fast aging, and heavy resulting flavor range.

To me tea stored in that shop (in their storage area) picks up a certain mustiness, that typically fades over a month or two after you get it.  I don't think that relates to Bangkok climate, I think it's about a lot of tea being stored in an enclosed, hot space.  To me it's familiar and favorable, but it's funny how people tend to prefer whatever they become accustomed to.  People who love Hong Kong or Taiwan storage explored ranges early on and happened to find good versions from those places, and then that character range, how teas tend to transition there, became familiar to them.  

Over and over you see "separated at birth" comparison stories of cakes being stored in two places, with the friends sharing them each preferring their own local range version.  Kunming vendors saying they like dry storage input seem to be obviously conducting marketing, not telling the truth, but it's possible that teas not changing much, and transitioning slowly, is what they come to prefer.  Probably not for Xiaguan tuos, which need 30 years to get there under those circumstances, or maybe 40, but for other types losing the freshness and brighter range so fast could really seem negative.  It's odd to me encountering freshness and brighter range in a 10 year old tea, and that can happen, but you get what I'm saying:  varying starting points would give best results with varying storage related inputs, and a general preference could tip in different directions.

This input can make it hard to judge what you buy from Jip Eu, or other places.  A month of rest wouldn't typically settle out all of that somewhat negative input.  After two months you'd know what you have.  If they have a broken up or last bit of a cake out to taste with you of course that's something else entirely; that has already went through this airing out process.

One might wonder if a cake shouldn't taste good pulled directly out of storage; is there any reason why slightly musty storage input is a good thing?  I'd be guessing in answering that.  I will say that aging cakes by giving them ample air contact is probably a bad thing; that would kill them, over time.  Maybe the optimum trade-off does involve less than optimum results straight off the storage area shelf.  If you pull a cake out of a basement, or a cave, and it tastes like it had been in such a place that's something else; I'm not talking about that.  

This is one of those odd discussions where people who already know exactly what I'm saying would fully get it, and others would need to go try a dozen cakes to get it to map to personal experience.  I'm not saying that Bangkok storage, and Jip Eu's in particular, is good or bad, I'm saying that it depends on preference, and it's good in one way and bad in another.  I think that the more fragrant, delicate, less challenging cakes I have would transition slightly better in cooler and dryer storage, just slower.  I think that for something like a Xiaguan tuocha or Dayi 7542 you need to get it all moving, to appreciate the tea before 25 years pass, and hot and humid storage input could easily be regarded as better.  Moderate but considerable mustiness from storage involving no air exchange at all is probably negative.  Going into that storage space more often might already be enough air exchange, opening and closing the entry door more than a couple of times a month.

This isn't headed towards even more conclusions; that's pretty much all that I had to cover.