 |
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment