2022 Tea China 7542 compared with a 2014 7542

 

Tea China version right, in all photos

A new vendor--new to me--sent some tea for review recently; many thanks for that!  It's always nice checking in with basics, and a 7542 sheng pu'er was included.  I didn't check the year yet; it's interesting doing these reviews as blind as possible, then going back and seeing if what I experienced and described made sense based on the actual product details.  Later edit:  2022!

Of course all 7542 isn't the same.  They create and sell that in batches, and I don't know the batch number for the 2014 version I'm using for comparison (that I happened to have around).  Now that I think of it I've got a "younger" loose version I could've used; maybe that would have made more sense.  If the two are at vastly different ages that will still be fine; I can use it to compare aging patterns.

Then storage also changes things.  The tea I have has spent lots of time in Bangkok, which is hot and humid, which will speed up storage transition speed (fermentation, the growth of bacteria and fungus).  If this other version is a comparable age but stored in a cooler and dryer area, like Kunming, it would have fermented less.  It's hard to imagine that it might be "not as good" related to that batch issue, but I guess that's possible.  Newer Spring tea versions of lots of teas are more prized, so that batch #1 sells for more (of 7542, and other recipe types sold as a series like that).

There's not so much more to add.  7542 is familiar; it usually works better as an aged tea, and 11 years old really isn't quite enough.  At least these interim tasting checks are getting closer to the right time, just as that cake has been chiseled down a good bit, but probably still years away from being fully aged.  It helps to buy one cake to try and another to just age if you are actually going to try one once in awhile.

Yunnan DaYi Pu’er Tea 7542 Classic Raw Pu’er Tea  $16.43 (2022 version, for a 150 gram small cake)

The listing includes a reference to it being 250 grams in one place, but that small cake version of 7542 is usually 150, and it says that in the label image reference.

The listing is just general background information:

Pu’Er ripe tea from the famous Yunnan Menghai Pu’Er Tea Factory (Dayi). 7542 is a classic formula for Pu’Er tea and a benchmark for Pu’Er Raw tea.

We purchased these Pu’Er teas in 2022.

In the new tea stage: The aroma is rich, featuring intense, long-lasting floral and fruity notes, as well as elegant and light honey-sweet fragrance. The lingering aroma at the bottom of the cup persists for a long time. Additionally, new tea may have a fresh clean scent or downy hair aroma, with an overall fresh and uplifting fragrance.

After aging: As storage time increases, the aroma gradually changes. It transitions from fresh floral notes to aged aroma, camphor-like scent, medicinal fragrance, woody aroma, etc., becoming increasingly mellow and profound.

I was going to return to that "benchmark" idea in the conclusions, so I might as well expand on it here.  For whatever reason it has evolved that this one tea version represents all factory tea range, not necessarily as the best possible example, but as the singular version cited as type-typical.  That's fine; it's a pretty good example of the range.  It makes it especially attractive for trying out the general type range.

Another point I wanted to mention related to cost.  This costs 11 cents a gram.  That seems kind of low, but I don't really follow market rate pricing.  It doesn't necessarily raise a red flag for me that it might be fake, but that's not an unheard of range of concern.  Searching for something else an EBay listing was at about the same pricing, and King Tea Mall sells it for $14, not so different.

One might wonder why the pricing for these is so moderate; two of them would relate to a cost of around $30, from all of these sources, for just under a standard 357 gram amount (300 grams instead).  The price of sheng has dropped a good bit, but it was my understanding that this was a relatively recent trend, that over the past year a dip in demand and market positioning occurred.  These are from 3 years ago; I would've expected it to sell for a little more.  

One of the causes for a relative "crash" in pu'er pricing was that many sources were making too much of it, to support speculative buying, and also ordinary demand, people drinking it.  It's not counter-intuitive that expanded production would relate to very well known versions being inexpensive even  prior to this final outcome, the more significant and broad price drop over the past year, or slightly longer.

How would I know if this was "real?"  I wouldn't.  It including a smoky note is hard to place, something I discuss in this review.  Quality level, style, and appearance seems right for this tea version.  Probably it just picked up some external smoke contact along the way, and that's not any sort of unusual clue.

color difference comes out more in wet leaf

Review:

older comparison version, left, brews darker

2014 comparison version:  color is darker in this version; it should be older.  Flavor is a little subdued this round; it's still opening up.  Tones are warm.  It has fermented to a more agreeable range, per my preference.  There's a different sort of barnyard flavor present, compared to the edgier, more exotic aged Xiaguan range.  This includes aged barn wood, and a touch of leather, but not the funkier saddle leather scent. 

Tea China 7542:  this includes a touch of smoke; I'm not sure what to make of that.  I don't remember noticing smoke in a 7542 version before.  It will probably mostly settle out within about two infusions anyway, given how light it is.  Smoke can come from a naturally occurring flavor, from contact with smoke during the wok pan-frying kill-green step, or from a storage input, from it being stored where smoke is also present.  I don't know what this is from.  Smoke as a natural flavor tends to be slightly different, but I'm not going to claim I could spot that difference now.  It just doesn't come up as often as it had before; a decade back it had seemed that contact with smoke during processing was more normal.

Flavors seem clean and pleasant beyond that.  Mineral is pronounced, and some limited vegetal range flavor remains, which has transitioned to warmer tones in the other, over time.  This still balances well enough.  It should be pleasant to drink.  For people who think young sheng tastes like kerosene, or whatever else, they might still hate these.  Neither is fully age transitioned.

2014 #2:  brewed liquid color is all the more evident; this is darker and redder.  Flavor is a little rough; this needs however many more years to really get there.  I do drink partly aged sheng from time to time to experience that intensity and punch, but it can seem a little harsh.  

Warm tones are emerging, towards dried fruit, well within a good bit of medicinal herb range now.  It just settles more on aged wood with a touch of leather.  I suppose that astringency and towards-vegetal range is like cured wood, at this point.  It doesn't taste completely woody, as cheap sheng can, like plywood smells, but it's not so far off it either.

Tea China version:  smoke is pretty intense this round, even stronger.  And lots of other complexity joins in beyond that.  It's also on the challenging side, very astringent, with some bitterness (lots, to anyone who hasn't been drinking young sheng for awhile).  I'll need to eat something between rounds to clear part of the accumulated experience of bitterness, vegetal range, and astringency.

Is it pleasant though?  I don't know.  I like varying sheng experiences, and this is one of them, but it's also kind of challenging.  I'm not sure it makes sense to me to buy a tea like this to drink at this stage, fermented (age transitioned) to this degree.  Other people do though.  I do drink kind of challenging partly-aged sheng sometimes, just not often.

2014 #3:  brewed a little lighter this kind of makes sense, with early rough edges transitioning away.  The same range of flavors stands out, but it all balances better.  Warm mineral tone plays a larger role.  Even sweetness, it seems.  It's hinting towards dried fruit range to come, but it will need more transition for that to become clearer.  

At least it's nice and clean, not musty.  And it has been stored in the wettest and hottest conditions imaginable, right at the limit of what tea could experience without molding, with the heat enabling it to change in a different way, and probably somehow suppressing mold development.  Mind you if we put bread out on the table (sealed in a bag) it will mold really fast; fungus can thrive at 30+ C, in the upper 80s and low 90s F.

Tea China version:  smoke does start to ease up, but it's only balancing the rest better.  That's still centered on a partly cured wood tone at this point, of course with some mineral and bitterness.  It has a limestone sort of lighter mineral tone.  It's not unpleasant, but it's not necessarily "approachable" either.  Then again the other version isn't that much easier to appreciate, even with some warmer tones included.

I haven't been mentioning that intensity is good.  It's really a bit much.  But in a sense I like that about sheng, and pushed to a far limit it's interesting to experience.  All of this sounds more negative than I intend it.  7542 is a pretty good version of factory tea, and these two examples are fine.

2014 #4:  the best this has been.  Some root spice seems to emerge, or maybe it's that combined with bark spice.  This version really is getting there.  But it would be better not to drink it at all for 3 or 4 more years to let it keep changing though, then after 3 or 4 more it would probably be better yet.

Tea China:  smoke has dropped to an even level input with the rest.  I might've seemed to imply that smoke is a flaw, that people should dislike it.  In the right other flavor context it can be very pleasant, and it works in this.  The somewhat challenging astringency and vegetal range is a bit much, and warm toned smoke helps balance it.  Without that smoke I don't think that this would be as good, at this fermentation transition level or stage.

It's fairly clean in overall effect, just with rough edges.  Intensity is great, and the mineral range is generally positive.  Sure, it can seem a little harsh, so a take on it depends on appreciating that or else hating it.  I lean towards liking it.  But then my overall favorite range of sheng is something else entirely, the fruity, warmer toned, bright character (kind of contrast with the last aspect, but it makes sense to me), good intensity younger versions, commonly produced in "other" South East Asian countries, in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, and wherever else.  I guess that Myanmar is the other "wherever else," but the style is more common in those other three countries, based on what I've tried, with some Myanmar range seeming closer to some Yunnan styles.

I'll try another round and let this go.  It's too much tea to power through quickly, and it's too intense.  The effect is also strong, along with the flavor being intense.  I'll chalk that up to another positive, but if I were to drink a half dozen rounds, 12 cups, it wouldn't be positive.  10 is pushing it.  I've thrown out about a fourth of this tea just to make it this far.  It's disrespectful to the tea, as I see it, but it was a necessary input to getting further through rounds to try these more completely.  I could come back later and try more, but I prefer to write the notes in one go, then edit when I get to it.

2014 #5:  more of the same, not transitioning so much.  I can appreciate this.  I wouldn't want to have this experience too often, but once in awhile it's nice.  

Tea China:  the same applies to this; it's fine to drink this as it is just now.  Not my main preference, but then lots of tea experiences are like that.  It would probably be better in another dozen years, but for many that kind of delay would seem problematic.

Conclusions: 

One might wonder if I can judge a difference between the two, adjusting for the age difference.  Not really; they're too far apart in age and character.  They seem similar, beyond that, but that's a stretch as a conclusion about authenticity or quality or whatever.  

The smoke is the main difference, and that was probably added in later on, through some sort of storage contact.  People using actual wood fire for heating isn't necessarily as odd as some people might see it as; I'm from Pennsylvania, and I grew up using a woodburning stove as an alternative heating system.  Not a fireplace, although we had that too, I mean a stove in the basement that heated water that circulated in a baseboard system.  We used a heat pump for a long time, pulling heat from a cold spring water source, then later my parents switched to using fuel oil, when that system needed to be replaced.

These might have been similar related to starting points.  Both are pretty clean, heavy on mineral, expressing some wood tones, just in different ranges, related to aging (I think).  Intensity is good for both.  They balance ok.  There are lots of flaws that I might have mentioned that aren't included, lack of intensity, a different range of wood flavor, mustiness, lack of balance, limited sweetness (which doesn't come across well with the other range present), or not including the right range of astringency and bitterness.  They're both fine.  

I really like the unblended, distinctive narrow input material type effect better, something lots of sheng drinkers have been conditioned to prefer over the last decade.  With that more gaps show up, and distinct strengths, limited range flavor inclusions.  They've blended a lot of that out in these.  They're using some relatively intense material in them, but that's a part of it.  And they're a little harsh; also a normal inclusion.  

I like the way the first is moving towards spice, maybe a little towards incense spice, in the round after the notes leave off.  To me that's what 7542 is really about, experiencing it as a 20 year old tea, or 25 years old.  20 is fine for Bangkok storage; time passes differently here.  I'm holding up well, but teas change faster here.

To me 7542 is particularly interesting because it serves as the normal standard for factory teas, a benchmark version.  Experiencing it helps someone not only learn that category better, but also lets you discuss that particular experience with others, as a shared main reference.  Buying a version that's 3 or 4 years old and drinking straight through it might not be entirely positive, but even for that it's not awful.  It's not at all ideal, compared to more approachable sheng, but for people new to exploration it wouldn't be so bad to work through some exposure.  You get accustomed to brewing approach that way, and become more familiar with the general style.  

Related to buying from a relatively unknown, small vendor versus a known marketplace vendor I like the idea of supporting smaller businesses, I just don't end up buying much from this kind of source.  Or from any sources, this year, and in the past more from only a few favorites.  It will be interesting trying other teas from them, to see what the rest is like, which may make them a more attractive source.

Back in Bangkok; on jet lag and culture shock

 

this represents Bangkok as well as anything else

I'm back!  Not really feeling 100% just yet, but I'm definitely back in Bangkok.  I've got jet lag and shingles, not a good combination, but it's fine.

Thinking more about that last writing on spending a month in Honolulu I left out a couple of things, about transitioning, about jet lag and culture shock.  I can add that here, and then list out what I like more about Bangkok / Thailand than Honolulu / Hawaii.  It's so nice there that it's odd that some parts are actually better here, or that an overall feeling of being in place works out better, which I'll explain.

jet lag:  lots of people are very familiar with this, but some might not be.  An hour or two of time difference is fine, when traveling, but after 3 or 4 it requires some adjustment.  Hawaii is 7 hours ahead of here, or really it's 17 hours ahead here, so they're both kind of on different days.

They say that it takes one day to get over one hour of shift, and that it scales up the same way, so a 7 hour time difference should take a week to adjust to.  Maybe that's about right; it's hard to say.  It takes awhile.  There isn't much more to say about how that goes; you end up awake at night, and napping during the day, and a bit tired off and on.  Traveling one direction really is easier than the other, but I've lost track of which way that is.  Maybe going east is harder.  Google's AI take on this:

Jet lag is generally harder when traveling east because the body's circadian rhythm has a natural tendency to be slightly longer than 24 hours, making it harder to shorten the day by advancing the body clock. This means your internal clock struggles more to adjust to an earlier schedule, leading to greater fatigue, confusion, and other symptoms compared to the phase delay experienced when traveling west.

I did just switch right back to sleeping at a normal time this past weekend, coming West to Bangkok, and it did take about a week to get that to work out in Honolulu.  It also seems that the less well-established your sleep is to begin with the better, because you just have a messed up sleep cycle in both places, so that less changes.  I was working in the evening back there (remotely, based from a company in Thailand) so my sleep wasn't consistent, related to often going to sleep well after midnight and waking up at 6 with the kids, then napping to fill in the gaps.

This adds tangent after tangent, but it's nice having jet lag there, initially, because I can run in the mornings, when my normal daily rhythm is such that I'm no good for any morning exercise.

culture shock:  it's funny how it takes a week or two for me to feel more integrated back in Honolulu, and here in Bangkok it's relatively automatic.  I guess that I have lived here for 18 years, and have only spent 2 or 3 months there at a time, at the most, on and off.

It would be nice if I could describe how that feels more clearly, back there.  It's just a little strange, like everything isn't completely real.  You really don't get the same effect when vacation traveling.  That seems to be a different role, as if being a visitor anywhere isn't problematic, when the point is only to be a temporary visitor.  It's not as if I have a problem "doing" an American culture based persona or perspective; I never really switch out of that back in Bangkok.  Societies and cultures everywhere have modernized over the last 30 years or so, so things are much more uniform all over than they were before that.  It's also not that Honolulu isn't familiar; I last lived there for 2 years in grad school in the US, and that was my 5th stay there in the last 3 years.

It's about the people seeming different, more than the settings.  You see a half dozen different main types of people in Honolulu, like tourists from the US mainland, tourists from Asia, Asian or mixed-race locals, homeless people, and so on.  Then there are neighbors, school contacts, retail workers to talk to, etc.  I interact with people based on these roles and forms.

I suppose lots of other minor inputs add up to the rest.  The bus transportation system is different, the things you buy aren't the same, and the places you buy them in, and foods change over.  Chinatown is a little closer to here in theme (in Bangkok, where I am again), but culture shock wouldn't be different there, since it's still different enough.  People speaking English is easy to appreciate, but also easy to sort of overlook.  If people only speak Thai here I catch a decent amount of that, and speak back a very limited and badly pronounced version of it.  That part is much easier there, but the harder version here seems normal now.

these old style markets should be hard to adjust to, but they're not, at this point

you get a great price on lots of types of pineapple in a place like this

a very familiar version, our favorite place to buy fried chicken and sticky rice

weather:  there is no adjustment going there, because the weather is perfect, 70-some degrees (in the mid 20s C), sunny, and breezy.  Here I sweat a good bit more for a few days and then it just seems normal.  

It gets overstated how hot Bangkok is.  It's hot, and the hot season is completely unbearable, but you adjust to it being in the low 90s (F; in the 30s C) a lot of the time, and being humid.  It's worse for visitors, because adjusting takes weeks to months.  But locals only feel like they're dying from it a couple of months a year, at the peak.  We sleep in air conditioning here, and of course offices are air conditioned, so some conditions are the same everywhere.  It's great that they have an open air mall there, Ala Moana, that's perfectly at room temperature all the time, but then it just matches air conditioned mall temperatures here.

people:  I didn't mention how people differ in that last post.  In a city like Honolulu people are really a bit diverse to be generalizing them as all one type.  In general locals are really nice, but transplants or temporary stay locals are just like they are in the mainland, however that happens to be.  

If you are white many of the most local locals aren't so interested in experiencing contact with you, and I kind of get that.  A few give everyone else a bad name.  They would probably experience just as many problems with the worst of the more local locals as well, but might not think through how parallel that really is.  The worst tourists are doing some pretty stupid things, and are annoying, but the worst Oahu locals aren't better.

Thais are very nice, but that can mean different things.  The main thing that it means is that they're superficially pleasant, which is only so significant.  It's a cultural norm to be like that, to smile a lot, and to remain calm.  It's mostly genuine; they really do feel calm, mostly.  But a smile can mean they disagree with something that they've heard.  It helps to be able to read different kinds of smiles.

my favorite Thai smile

both kids, way back when

Wouldn't anywhere be more pleasant if people actually tried to be pleasant?  Sure, why not?  It's sort of nice that Americans show you exactly what they are experiencing just then, in general, but they sort of don't need to tell you all of it, as people tend to.  If there's a point to it they should.  If it's just venting, or that they have no internal filter, then that's not ideal.

I've really appreciated having nice neighbors in Hawaii, but then we just had a conflict with one not long ago, the first time I remember ever having a conflict with a neighbor (anywhere, over a very long span of time; strange).  They said that we were staring in the window at them, which wasn't accurate.  I think that neighbor had been smoking too much weed for too long, which is normal there.  It probably didn't help that we felt kind of a strange vibe from them from early on, and never really established any connection, as we had with half the other neighbors.  Then the others we really never spoke with didn't seem to take that in any negative way; it's a normal thing in the US, to not talk to your neighbors.

Here in Bangkok my wife doesn't like the motorcycle taxi drivers in our soi (alley) drinking in the alley in the evenings.  I don't mind; it's up to them.  That doesn't work out in the US, since it's not really legal, but here people do whatever they do.  

It's funny how the US is the "land of freedoms" but they protect common interests in so many ways that you are more restricted there.  Which is fair; noise laws help people sleep at night, and if you are living next to someone blaring Thai country music you'd wish there was more protection related to that.  If Americans could openly drink in any given alley it would get out of hand.  Maybe the music those "motorsai" guys play is already a bit much, but again to me it's fine.  We hear it, but it's not loud at that distance.  Out in the Thai countryside people can set up concert power level speaker systems so that at nearly 1 km away people hear it; that's something else.  

That's just one example.  The roads are a bit chaotic here as well, and that comes with the obvious down-side, that when it doesn't work out for someone on a motorcycle they get badly injured, or worse.

what's best about both places:  the earlier post covered this for Honolulu:  natural settings, the beach, the weather, great parks, people are generally nice, and the transportation system is good.  The look and feel of Honolulu is great, and the rest of Oahu is even better.  

Bangkok has a lot of diversity.  Food themes are amazing, and there's a bit of everything to experience here.  Traffic is terrible, and at time pollution is bad; there are down-sides.  There isn't that much crime in either place, but it's something you need to keep in mind as a factor in Honolulu, but not so much here.

I really like the feel of Bangkok.  There are countless places to go to shop, go to markets, to see events, or check out a temple, so that you can easily build up to having 100 favorite places to visit in the city.  There are way more malls than the city needs, so many grocery stores, and lots of local markets.  It's all almost a bit much.  But that makes it feel vibrant and alive, that there is so much going on, block after block, for thousands of blocks.

comparing Chinatowns:  maybe the two different Chinatowns work as an example of how the cities differ.  Honolulu's has some interesting shops and restaurants, and the look and feel is novel.  Lots of things are priced better than elsewhere, even though things still are kind of expensive there.  Homelessness offsets the safety and positive feel there; it's better to not be around after dark.  But it's still safe, and nice enough, and easy to get to from downtown or elsewhere; it's a moderate sized city.  It looks clean and tropical.

Bangkok's Chinatown is massive.  I've heard that it's the largest outside of China, maybe only rivaled by San Francisco's, but surely it's much bigger.  The main street is packed and chaotic, with so many crowded side streets with lots of shops and street-themed food areas.  It doubles as a wholesale vending area, many parts of it.  People live there too, and there are bars and cafes; themes mix, with no limitations imposed by zoning.  Tea shops are decent, but lots of that theme doesn't carry over directly from the influence of Chinese culture, so they're generally not great.  There's not much Thai tea there, reminding me of looking for Japanese tea in a Chinatown there, before figuring out that it's the one place that you go to emphasize Chinese culture instead.

Like that Chinatown Bangkok is a beautiful mess.  For people not on that page it would be too much, and it could seem awful.  It's not orderly and Westernized; there are few places where you can sit down with a standard Western menu to eat.  There are some, of course.  I don't mean to buy spaghetti carbonara or a hamburger; I mean that in general you have to just know what they sell, or ask them, which only works well if you can speak Thai.  

jostling through crowds and buying snacks

In the Honolulu Chinatown there might be a dozen odd shops carrying unusual goods to check out, or a second dozen that are harder to find.  In Bangkok's version it's essentially endless.  You could see all of that Chinatown in a few months, if you put the right amount of time and effort in.  I've visited dozens of times and don't really keep exploring, as much as visiting the same half dozen places that I like to go best.  

Bangkok in general is like that; people end up appreciating and experiencing their own version of it.  Then you explore from there, whether you want to or not, as other themes and places come up.

oddly there are no old tea shops like this in Honolulu (but plenty in Bangkok)

Street fairs or festivals make for a good example of this.  I've visited maybe two dozen versions of these over the years, not much over one per year.  That's not counting Loy Krathong, or other holiday themed events; to me visiting somewhere to celebrate that is just a normal annual experience.  I've seen countless others in passing, that we didn't have time to check out just then.  You step into a different world every time you visit one.  It's not necessarily better than visiting a local fair in the US; those are great there too.

The kids and I just visited a street fair in Waikiki, and have seen parades there, but essentially it's the same thing over and over (the Waikiki versions).  That's down to most of the vendors being the same, the food and trinket vending booths.  Where in Bangkok you can buy snacks or substantial foods for $1 or so, of many types, there everything costs $10 to 20, so that you could easily eat a dinner of those snacks or grilled meat items for $50.  It's a bit absurd, paying amusement park pricing at a street fair ($10 hot dogs and such).  But that's Waikiki for you.

oddly this was the last Bangkok street fair I've been to

an arts themed festival in an old part of town

not a street festival; this part of town is patterned after trendy areas in Seoul

this is Seoul; places look a little like this in Bangkok, but it's hard to copy it all directly

Loy Krathong; most of that is biodegradable (flowers and bread), and they clean it out later

a bittersweet memory; you can never go back

Tea Mania Alishan winter Qingxin and 2012 Guifei oolong

 

Back to reviewing, a week into being back in Bangkok.  I might as well start with some familiar and pleasant teas, and then move on to less familiar and also pleasant ones.

I've had great experiences with winter harvest oolongs in the past, just not enough of them that I'll turn that into cross-references here.  Of course Qingxin is the name of the older style of plant type, which comes in a range of different derived forms, with different evolved plant genetics.  

I've had positive experiences with Guifei too, a bug-bitten material input variation of rolled oolong.  This says the Gui Fei is from 2012, which almost looks like a typo.  A 13 year old oolong, from a vendor that typically doesn't sell aged tea?  It's probably not a typo; the owner, Peter, is pretty on top of things.

I'll add the product descriptions from a site listing later, after writing the notes.

Alishan Winter Qingxin ($25 USD for 50 grams)

Alishan Winter Qingxin is a lightly oxidized high mountain oolong tea, harvested at an elevation of 1500 meters. It originates from Taiwan’s renowned Alishan region, known for its ideal tea-growing conditions of frequent mist, fertile soils, and clean, fresh mountain air. These conditions, however, also present significant production challenges, requiring exceptional skill and careful selection by experienced tea masters.

The tea garden’s unique location on Alishan, with its frequent mist and significant temperature variations, imparts exceptional refinement and natural sweetness to this Qingxin oolong. The infusion presents itself in a warm, luminous yellow color, remaining free from bitterness or unpleasant flavors even with prolonged steeping. From the cup emerges a delicate and sophisticated fragrance of orchids, gentle yet distinctly present. The silky, smooth texture and refreshing sweetness create a harmonious taste experience, offering tranquility and inviting thoughtful appreciation.

Harvest date: winter 2022

Aroma: floral, with notes of orchid and acacia honey

Oxidation: approx. 30%

Roasting: light

Cultivar: Qingxin

Terroir: Alishan, Nantou, Taiwan

Guifei Oolong  (2012; $37.72 for 50 grams)

This Guifei Oolong, also known as Concubine Oolong, originates from the renowned tea-growing region Dongding in Nantou and was harvested in the spring of 2012 and processed by a renowned tea master. Made from the popular Jinxuan cultivar, this tea is known for its exceptional quality and distinctive character.

The infusion presents itself in a golden amber hue and is accompanied by a rich, sweet fragrance with hints of honey, ripe fruit, and light floral notes. On the palate, the tea reveals a smooth, velvety texture with pronounced sweetness and a long-lasting aftertaste. Thanks to expert craftsmanship and ideal storage since its harvest, this Guifei Oolong has developed an even more complex and harmonious character over time, making it a true delight for tea enthusiasts.

Harvest date: spring 2012

Aroma: high aromatic, flowery and fruity, notes of honey

Oxidation: approx. 70%

Roasting: strong

Cultivar: Jinxuan

Terroir: Dongding, Nantou,Taiwan

There's more there about the bug-bitten theme, about the processing style, and the historical background of the style.  These are interesting themes.

Review:

Alishan oolong left, in all photos

Alishan Winter Qingxin:  it's nice.  A little light yet, still opening up, but the flavors are warm and toasty.  I suppose malt stands out, or something close enough to that.  This should evolve to include a really pleasant and rich feel; that's already started.  It's creamy as well, in terms of flavor as well as that feel.  There's a lot to appreciate in this, and that list of aspects will keep going later.  Mineral range really stands out.  It's not really light or heavy mineral, but a complex form, more in the middle.

Guifei (from 2012):  as far as the other being as good as this, or not matching up, it's really not a fair comparison.  That's a great version of the style that is, but good Guifei is really nice, and this has probably picked up lots of depth from that aging.

There really could be a typical plum-like flavor component that has entered in due to the aging, but this includes so much for fruit and warm spice tones that it's hard to tell.  Spice might be closest to nutmeg; warm, aromatic, and complex.  Fruit could include plum, but there's more.  It's warm and rich enough that it's more in dried fruit range, maybe combining prune, raisin, and dried apricot.  Feel is also already rich.  There's a bit more fullness in this related to it being warmer and heavier in tone, so where the other is full and creamy as lighter oolongs are (like cream) this feel has some structure to it.  Not quite astringency, nothing like that, but some of the fullness that typically pairs with that.

It's amazing this is just the first round.  I brewed these a bit long to get them to open up, maybe just over a minute, but the proportion isn't maxed out, my typical approach.  This might be 6 grams or so of each.

Alishan 2:  intensity picks up a lot, and it wasn't even moderate to begin with, already above average.  The same flavor description works:  lots of supporting mineral base, creaminess, and malt-like warmth.  A bit of limited vegetal range enters in, not far off floral range, or maybe it's floral tones and some sort of vegetal input.  That vegetal range is close enough to holy basil, so really where spice and vegetables overlap.  Sweetness is good, and the full feel contributes well, along with notable aftertaste expression (long finish, put another way).  

It's quite clean; nothing in this is remotely negative.  Some would probably interpret it as a lot more floral than I've been mentioning.  It's a subdued form of floral tone though, like chrysanthemum, or sunflower.  Some of that rich malt-like tone might resemble sunflower seeds, now that I think of it. 

Guifei 2:  the pronounced spice note in this is really nice.  It might resemble cinnamon more this round, but also relates to nutmeg.  Depth is nice, and the range of supporting dried fruit.  That last part didn't become more distinct.  It's hard to identify how close it is to plum, or what the exact mix of other dried fruit tones are.  It's also quite clean in effect, and also complex, also exhibiting good feel.  Aftertaste expression is there, just not quite as pronounced as for the other version.  Lighter oolongs tend to be noteworthy for that, and the Alishan version isn't really in a light style, but it's medium, in an unusual sense.

Alishan 3:  this must be transitioning some, but it's hard to say how.  The same aspects just shift a little in relative balance.  This is really exactly what I've loved most about winter oolongs that I've tried in the past, that warmer tone, leaning towards spice range, settling in nicely on malt.  This is a really good quality example of one.  

This kind of effect is why Taiwanese oolongs tend to still hold an edge over Thai or Vietnamese versions.  There's nothing stopping a producer in those areas from making a fantastic version of the same tea, but all the conditions and inputs tend to line up well for some versions from Taiwan.  

The intensity is great; it's hard to pin down how that kind of input factors in.  Of course you can just brew any version a little stronger, but this hits really positive notes well, even brewed fast (this was a very short infusion time, not much over 10 seconds).  If you push other lower quality versions to get the same intensity the aspects won't be as positive.  They won't balance in the same way, and the effect won't be this clean and positive.

Guifei 3:  again it's not changing enough to revise that earlier flavor list, just settling into a slightly different balance.  

I'll probably try one more round and leave off; I need to get on with bathing three cats, and one of them is crying out to be let outside, which isn't going to happen until later on.  I should take pictures of them and add them here.  

Myra is in more than a dozen photos here, probably, the oldest, but the two kitten siblings are adorable at about 3 or 4 times their former size, from 6 weeks ago.  They must be about 4 months old now.  One is a Siamese cat, with such a cute and prized appearance that my wife is nervous about ever letting her roam outside, out of fear that someone would steal her.  Someone might.  Myra won't venture beyond our gate and fences, but it's hard to know where a cat new to exploring the area might go.  Nong On and Sai Thong would go explore roof areas, when they were with us, but we've lost both of them this year, in circumstances too disturbing to cover here.

As for a personal update, while I'm rambling on, I've had shingles for the past two weeks, a skin problem related to having chicken pox earlier on in life.  It's adjoined by significant pain; that part wasn't so nice.  I've not experience that much pain, since a burn and broken arm in early childhood.  Now I get it, about people working through that ongoing experience.  In my case it's like a leg cramp that doesn't go away, that sharp and deep pain, that doesn't persist from leg cramps.  I'm mostly on the other side of it now; the pain is less, and I have meds around for when it might tend to peak.  

I'm eager to go run again.  The doctor didn't see that as a well-grounded plan, saying that it would impact my immune system function, but I'm not so sure.  Early on in illnesses that seems right, but at the end exercise seems to help with recovery (per my experience, to be taken with a grain of salt).

these are naturally so intense that brewing them a little light makes sense

Alishan 4:  it's all integrating more, but I kind of liked how distinct the parts were earlier on.  Warmth is more general, not centered on a creamy, malty flavor as much.  Mineral base still stands out, maybe just not quite as much.  It's still really nice, I just liked that earlier form better.

Guifei:  that same basic set of aspects still remains, the spice, dried fruit, and warmer background or base tones that are harder to appreciate.  Probably what I'm not describing is a lot of what is giving this the effect of so much complexity, depth, and balance.  It tastes like incense spice, or aromatic dark tropical wood, or aged furniture (or maybe the oils used to preserve those?).  It has good depth and balance.  It's not really fading, which it shouldn't be, only 4 rounds in, but flavors can transition to level off some within that timing.  

These really did last for many more infusions, it's just that the notes leave off here.

Conclusions

These are both really good teas, in two completely different styles, and to me this is a really unique and positive experience.  I could drink a kilogram of either, even though I tend not to drink much oolong these days, for focusing on pu'er.  I love the intensity in pu'er (sheng, of course).  These have good complexity and intensity, but lack that same kind of edge, the bitterness and astringency, the overall shock of it all being so strong, even when brewed light.  I remember tasting with neighbors once, a very pleasant experience, telling one about how sheng can come across like a slap in the face.  She was surprised, and said that it was more like a kick in the face, somehow in a good sense.  If you are ok with the bitterness that intensity can balance well.  It's odd that she liked it, on her first try.

Whether or not this Guifei is from 2012 this is the kind of experience that people really tend to value, and that you typically have to pay a good bit to have [later edit; it is a 2012 tea].  If this isn't priced at or over $1 a gram I'd be surprised, and it would be a steal at two thirds that price range.  The winter oolong version is novel, since these are around, but finding a version this good would be tricky.

[more later edit]: it's 75 cents a gram, so still quite fair, for what the tea is.  There might not be another quite similar version of tea anywhere on the internet.  Or the next place you check could carry the same tea, but the odds are much better that nothing like it is out there.  Aged oolong was quite trendy and in high demand about a decade ago, and there was only so much to go around then.  I wrote about this theme awhile back (5 years ago), about what tends to turn up.  The plum-like input in aged rolled oolongs might stand out more at the 20 year mark, but this flavor is so complex that it might still come across as a mix of different fruit and spice then. 

That's kind of the theme for this vendor.  He sells versions of teas that are so good that they really represent their categories and styles well.  Lots are "gushu" sheng pu'er, which is kind of an often-overused selling point theme, but for really nice versions of sheng you can set aside considering plant age and just appreciate the aspects, the experience.

I've complained of not being able to buy teas in a higher than average price range before (or just noted it, depending on interpretation of tone).  Somehow, according to my wife, our budget is such a mess just now that the theme has progressed to me not being able to buy any tea, at any price range.  Flying back and forth from Hawaii doesn't help, and a long series of health crises across our family was problematic, both to experience and related to budget impact.  It's nice that some vendors have been helping me out; I really can't complain, when I have another 20 or so really novel and good teas to get to.  

I'll even see tea friends, and an old friend, here over the next two weeks, so I'll have more to report on about that event theme.  I'd trade it all to be a housekeeper and cook for my kids back in Hawaii, but we work with what we've got.  

Back to this subject, these oolongs, and related to somewhat aged oolongs in general, these teas were exceptional enough that it wasn't easy to frame that part.  The descriptions are positive, but both are a good bit better than just "positive."  That is what it is; it makes no sense to me to fill a post with superlatives to drive home a point about general context.  Within these style and type ranges these were great, and these are two of my favorite type ranges within the scope of rolled oolong.

What a month of living in Hawaii is like

 

it's the little things, like walking Kalani to the bus in the mornings

walking back from a garden visit

Kalani's old school, where our garden is

I've been back in Honolulu for nearly a month, which means that my time is up, since my stay is only that long.  I've been "covering" for my wife, who is normally here with the kids now, and is finishing a course in dog grooming in Bangkok instead, due to return here soon.  

My kids are here for school; the idea was to relocate, 3 years ago, but switching work over never worked out.  Which is fine; it has made for some strange life circumstances, but working remotely has made it possible for me to spend 10 or 11 months here in that time, in 4 different stays.  Or about a year now, after this.

The point here is to cover what it's like being a part-time local, to explain how that relates to people visiting on vacation mode, and how it's different.  Of course on the work and life-theme side I've been responsible for a duties, helping manage the kids' education, running a household, shopping, cleaning, paying utilities, and so on.  This won't cover that; you know how that goes.  But if I only write about swimming, running, and hiking it will seem like I live out a vacation, but it's been hectic, and difficult.

Sometimes people say that it sounds like the best of both worlds, to spend time back in a lower cost setting (Bangkok), visiting Honolulu to appreciate the parts that don't necessarily cost a lot here.  We don't go to luaus, of course.  Parts are great, but the best parts are time with my kids, wherever we go.  We could live in a desolate wasteland and I'd still enjoy their company, maybe even all the more so.  But we don't, so I'll cover how it works out, being where people vacation to live instead.

ethical concerns / why transplants aren't welcome:  there's something to this.  The obvious counter to this theme is that US citizens are welcome to live in any of the 50 states, as Hawaiians are to move to the mainland.  But cost of living gradually keeps rising in Hawaii, while the economy tends to not support work in a way that follows that same increase.  But that's true in all 50 states, right?  Here it's different, where essentially all homes cost a million dollars, and even tiny apartments are expensive, while lots of people try to live on $15 an hour service or retail jobs.  

I went to UH, as my wife did, which makes us feel more at home here, but that changes nothing, related to a typical local perspective.  We live where transplants are "supposed to" live, at one edge of Waikiki, but that only tempers it so much.  People working remotely have probably added a bit more demand pressure, over the last few years.  I can't resolve this tension, or shed more light on it, I just wanted to address it, or at least introduce it.  It's a valid concern, and a complicated problem.  On to lifestyle and activity themes.

beach experience:  my son has had repeated ear infections, in part related to competitive swimming, so he hasn't been in the ocean in the past month.  And he doesn't like the beach, so he's barely walked by it, even though we live close enough.  My daughter has spent lots of afternoons with friends playing in the waves, with a bodyboard, staying out as long as she can.  One day they went out before noon and stayed until dark, after 7.  

I mostly go out to swim to a flag and back, a 500 meter or so round trip, which I do as often as I can (not daily, but not infrequently).  I run for exercise, so it's a rare chance to exercise my upper body, and it seems to help with running recovery.  The beach is fantastic here.  Waikiki being so crowded throws off a lot of the experience, but for locals you find ways that balance what you are into against what you don't like as much.

where I swim

one part of Waikiki

a lot of the rest of it

running:  I've been building back up to running my typical 12 km loop, around Diamondhead, then out and back the Ala Wai canal.  That was harder than I expected, since I took this summer off running, so busy with the kids visiting back there (in Bangkok), with lots of doctor's visits and errands.  And we got kittens; that deleted out my extra time for exercise.  I've ran that 12 km twice, but that's it.  It's so cool and pleasant an environment to run in that it's never enough, but it will have to be.

A final update:  a third 12 km run went ok, but I'll never "normalize" running that distance and intensity, on this trip.  I ended up walking a lot later that day, after running, and I've had back problems since.  My take-away is that it's a lot easier to stay in shape than to get back in shape.  It really was crazy how hectic that summer was though, and it's hard to not prioritize time with the kids over exercise.

over the side of Diamondhead; one part of where I run

the end of a 12 km route, coming back the Ala Wai canal

it looks much different at night

Diamondhead from Kalani's old school

hiking:  Keoni and I went out on two nice hikes, up Koko Head (volcano), and on a ridgeline at St. Louis heights, above Manoa valley (where the University of Hawaii is, where I went to grad school).  That's part of what threw off my run training, leaving a little extra time for hiking recovery.  It's a fair exchange, but as a runner one that I experience as a real cost.  I don't love the exercise function as much now, but I've always loved hiking, and with time spent with Keoni as a factor it wasn't anything to think through or weigh out.

It's easy to overlook how great a benefit that is, to have decent hiking available essentially within Honolulu itself.  We banged out a 45 minute up and back in the Manoa falls trail back in May; that's another good option, the main local one for tourists.  For tourists in good shape I'd definitely recommend getting some hiking in here.  Someone from my high school class visited from the mainland this year and not only did they skip hiking they didn't spend hardly any time at any beach, too busy with themes like the Dole Plantation or Pearl Harbor.  That's a mistake, as I see it. 

strawberry guava

more strawberry guava

other outings:  that was really about it.  There's a zoo nearly across the street, and nice museums here, but we just didn't get to that this time.  Now that I think of it I've not been to that local aquarium in the 3 years I've been here.  There isn't that much of an arts scene here but you could search out a concert performance or play, if you really wanted to, and we've seen those in the past, but not as much with the kids (not at all).  They're busy with their friends, or pursuing their own themes.  If we have an extra hour to spend going out for a walk is nice, to see a sunset on the beach, or wherever, sometimes to get ice cream at McDonald's.  Eye (my wife) thinks that's a terrible idea, eating low quality food, but it's about doing something they want to do, that doesn't add up to much time commitment or expense.  It's an hour well spent, even if it's not a good dietary input.

playgrounds:  this is one of the main attractions for local people with younger kids; I've spent a decent amount of time with Kalani at her old school playground, even on this stay.  The random shootings and kidnappings haven't hit in the same way here so lots of things are still more open, than they will be in a few years once that stuff escalates.  I just got a "stranger danger" notice in email yesterday, of someone trying to get a kid to go with them in a car; it's on the way.  But for now kids playing while supervised in a park seems to relate to no risk at all.  We just signed Kalani up to a "boys and girls club;" that sort of theme has been very helpful in the past, swapping out time staring at electronics for other activities.

malls:  there is a popular, well-attended mall here, Ala Moana, but we don't go there for hanging out.  We do go to Sam's Club and Wal-mart to shop near there, and less often to Target.  With the outdoor weather just perfect and so much park space there's no need to stay inside.  Last spring we got into playing pickleball, but we've let that drop since.  My wife took our racquets back (at Wal-Mart), not long into that exploration, wanting to buy versions back in Thailand, but that didn't work out, so we've moved on to whatever else.  I told her that was a mistake back then, but she was set on it.

some of the malls include throw-back themes

local foods:  you'd think there would be a good selection of interesting foods here, and to some extent that's true, but as poorer locals (we live on a Bangkok salary) we cook, and don't venture into cooking local Hawaiian foods.  For people who don't live in Bangkok Vietnamese or Chinese foods might be interesting options in the Chinatown here, but for Thais it's all way overpriced, and not better than "back home," or not as good as the best options there.  I bought us a nice pineapple a week ago, but there are lots of variations of those back in Thailand, where they cost much less.  

There isn't much here that isn't in Bangkok. 

gardening:  we inherited a local garden plot from a local Thai friend, so I've been doing a little gardening, and that helps add fresh basil to dishes.  I just made a fried okra omelette, with ham and fresh basil, for the kids for before school, and neither ate a single bite (not from okra from the garden; it's an example of how vegetables are hit and miss for them).  I wanted to buy more okra so that Kalani gets to eat it fried with bread crumb coating, the way she likes it, as a traditional Southern side dish, but time runs out, and I probably won't.

social ties:  we met Kalani's old best friend's family a number of times here, when they visited for a long vacation break.  And her other friend, visiting back from moving to the big island (called Hawaii; kind of confusing naming).  It has been nice visiting with neighbors, but that's about it.  I really don't mind my main social ties being two kids, and my wife's mother.  I wouldn't have it any other way.  I would love to have visited with a local "uncle" here, but that hasn't worked out, yet, and I leave in a few days.

I kept trying to set up an informal tea tasting meetup, with neighbors, but it seems that won't go through either.  I did two successful tastings here, one with them, but it's kind of a stretch.

with a close family friend

spiritual ties to Hawaii:  it's hard to know how to describe this.  As a transplant I'm not even supposed to be here, according to a local convention.  It doesn't matter that I went to UH; you're not supposed to stick around.  All the same my wife and I feel a connection to the island.  I can't say that the island returns the feeling, or supports it.  I feel vaguely accepted here, and blessed; it's enough.

It reminds me of feeling an attachment to my neighbor's cats, who I have no business feeling any attachment to.  They're not mine to love.  But we connect with things organically, not always feeling the ties we are supposed to, and sometimes taking up those we aren't.  I've mourned the loss of contact with one of them, which hasn't worked out this visit, not so differently than I've lived out the temporary loss of my three girls back home (the other one), two babies and a grown cat.

It has become something of a running joke with my kids, as so many themes have.  Not about here, so much, but I'll make a Southern dish and comment about how that relates to my childhood as a Southern boy (which I'm not).  I accidentally told a neighbor here that "we are Thai," and my son corrected that, as "you're not."  I'm not.  I feel a deep connection to that culture, but I have no real claim to possessing it.  Second hand, by having Thai kids?

I'm reminded of a fellow expat telling me that if I stay in Thailand later on I'll feel equally out of place everywhere, and I guess that I've arrived at that, even back in my own country.  All the more so where I grew up, where I spent a month last October, visiting Pennsylvania for the first time in 8 years or so (most of my kids' lives).  I can look the part back there, or rather I did after getting a more acceptable local haircut, and can "do" the local perspective, but it's never a perfect fit.  If I tell them about fasting experience, or about life anywhere else, people take on an oddly blank look, as if trying to follow, but not getting it.  People are great about staying vaguely positive about meeting my mixed race kids, who are clearly also Asian, so that limited acceptance is enough.

perspective on tourists:  this is an odd theme.  Of course I have nothing against tourists; how could I?  It would be bizarre to blame others for visiting a place where I'm stuck in between being a local and a long term visitor.  I'll never be truly Hawaiian.  Then again most people on Oahu lack any native Hawaiian heritage, so that's kind of normal.

But my son is not as open about experiencing negative sides of tourism.  Tourists are loud, at time disrespecting local culture and traditions, or even the local natural environment.  They'll stand on coral, sometimes, damaging it, or crowd up close to a seal sunning on the beach (which I last saw twice in the past week; at time of one edit I almost stepped in to tell them to not let their 3 or 4 year old kids stand within a few feet of one).  Tourists and locals alike will throw off the experience of something as natural and easy to appreciate as a sunset on the beach by blasting loud music.

Of course it's easy to separate out which parts are a step too far; it's the standing on coral part.  But they miss what's best here by staying in crowded resort areas and rushing to visit crowded natural sites together.  Which reminds me:  we've barely visited our favorite park spot this time, the duck pond very near by our house.  No time to stop and smell the roses, on our part?  I'll get them to this weekend.  Later edit:  Keoni and I just walked by there.

No one wants tourists to step out of the tourist track and visit secret local beaches, or hikes.  I'm not saying that they should.  But for me the island has a magical feel, that you connect with when you leave yourself open to it, which won't happen in a hotel bar or shopping strip.  Maybe sunrise and sunset are good prompts for tourists to stop and take it in, since that kind of beauty is undeniable, and intense.  It's probably for the best that my daughter plays at the beach until it's quite dark; I've seen it a few times.

the dark side of Honolulu: is there such a thing?  Homelessness makes it feel less completely welcoming.  I don't worry about what the crazy people talking to themselves are going to do, but it can still be off-putting.  

To me immersive focus on materialism is more of an issue.  Hawaii is packaged for sale in Waikiki; you can just go sit on the beach, but there are a dozen things you "should" buy if you do so.  I walk over to swim wearing board shorts, carrying flip-flops (slippers), and a mask and snorkel, and to me it's a more joyful experience for traveling so light.  I don't have a phone, or money, just keys to get back in the apartment.  That's what tourists often seem to miss:  the experience of not buying anything for an hour, not experiencing any lack to satiate in such a way, while not looking at a tiny screen.  Hawaii is most fantastic when you are fully present.  Maybe that's even true on the bus, or in malls, but it's not the same there.  Parks aren't "real nature," but the vibe in those is worth taking in.

I just had an interesting experience talking with a local homeless guy.  It doesn't really tie this all together, but it puts a human face on the one darker side.  He was walking next to me on the sidewalk and asked about the tropical storm that just missed us.  We talked about that, and he told me that someone told him that a lot of the big island is going to break off and slide into the ocean, probably causing a tsunami.  I told him that some input from others might be unreliable, without really contesting that source or that prediction.  

He mentioned how it all seems to relate to the current "end times," and in a sense he kind of had a point related to that.  It does feel like things are changing, and especially that the US really is circling the drain.  But in Honolulu and Hawaii in general not so much.  This bit of Hawaii was really fantastic when I went to grad school here 18 to 20 years ago, and it hasn't changed so much.  The few changes were negative, mostly, but it's still great.  You don't feel the same kind of tension that can potentially arise elsewhere in the US, which in some places might even have a war zone feel to it.  People come to Hawaii to relax, and it's a great place for that.  Waikiki isn't as natural or pleasant as lots of other parts, but it's pretty nice too.

that float that we helped decorate, way back when

jungle

the best part of being in Hawaii is these guys, same as anywhere else

I don't have that many pictures of us three from this trip, but we got out some