This tasting experience was unique because I didn't even know the tea type when trying the tea. I'd initially guessed that it must be a hei cha variation, but then it wasn't clear if that was right when trying it.
This is from Oriental Leaf, a vendor source based in China that I've tried teas from before. It was sent for review; many thanks to them! Their other teas have been pretty solid, some a very good value, so it will be interesting to see how this works out.
It turns out it's white tea, a Fuding Shou Mei made with a secondary processing step, with a reference to golden flowers (the hei cha-specific type of fungus, that is usually intentionally inoculated).
Oriental Leaf's product description adds some detail:
Golden Flower White Tea Single Serve Packs (ten 3 gram individual squares, for $15.50, so around 50 cents a gram)
This exceptional tea redefines the Fu brick category by using premium Fuding Shoumei white tea from Fujian province as its base, creating a truly unique sensory experience.
Key Features:
Innovative Base: Crafted with high-quality Fuding Shoumei white tea, known for its delicate flavor and numerous health benefits.
Extended Aging Process: Meticulously aged for 1095 days (3 years), using 2018 Fuding Shoumei, packaged in 2024 for optimal flavor development.
Dual Fermentation: Undergoes both golden flower fermentation and traditional Fu tea fermentation, resulting in a complex flavor profile.
There's more description, that's just the main points. It's interesting that this is both an aged tea, now 7 years old, with an atypical secondary processing used. One main thing is always how it comes across, here reviewed without knowing any of that background.
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this looks like pressed black tea, to me, Dian Hong |
Review:
1: malty! This is nice. It's probably some kind of hei cha, I'm just trying it completely blind, so I don't know the details. Versions that get sold as Fu brick are often similar. It's been awhile, but I think Fu brick might translate to "brick brick."
This has so much flavor that there's lots more that I could add. It's creamy as well, and very clean in effect, with good sweetness. On the flavor list side warm malt notes are present on a base that's not so far off cocoa (or cacao; cocoa is the hot chocolate drink made from cacao). Other warm tones are towards woody, but not quite wood, more like the warm base scent from well-dried wicker or palm leaves. There's just a touch of a sour edge, but it wouldn't be natural to interpret this as sour, in terms of primary aspects. It's quite pleasant.
I'm pretty sure that I'm brewing two 3 gram small square tablets, so 6 grams. It's a good match for my typical Gong Fu brewing approach. I'm in a hotel room, a Hop Inn, so the lighting is a bit directional from the window, not exactly ideal. On the third round I'll try moving it right under the window, instead of beside it, since I've just taken a picture for round 2. I brewed this a little longer than it really needed, in order to get the two tablets to open up.
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that hotel, with an unusual light streaking effect |
#2: much lighter, because I used a long minute-plus steep for round one to get it started. It's pleasant like this but a typical 10 to 15 second infusion time seemingly isn't ideal for this, since there are no negative aspects or high intensity to "brew around." 20 or 25 seconds is probably better, and it would be fine to drink brewed 45 seconds, quite strong. Shou / shu pu'er is like that, that stronger is kind of better, but this flavor range is quite different.
Malt still stands out. Not the harsh edged, mineral intensive malt in Assam, I mean like a malted milk ball, or chocolate malt milkshake. There's some mineral base to this, but that warm sort of in between woody and spice range note is secondary to the malt, and limited cacao. It's not completely different than the flavor of cooked bamboo, to switch it back to food flavor range, just one that lots of people may not encounter so often. It's a normal food item here, in Thailand. This is actually pretty close to that.
#3: malt and cacao drop back a little and the bamboo / wicker / dried palm effect picks up. This is still nice. A slight sour edge some might find objectionable, but I don't. This reminds me a little of how some Dian Hong comes across. This could even be that; it's closer to it in style than to just about any hei cha / Fu brick I've tried. It's too sweet, complex, and clean to resemble the other range. My guess is that it's an atypical hei cha, unusual for being a bit better, and closer to how ordinary oxidation changes tea.
That Dian Hong range can come across as slightly sour too, but it's easy to miss that interpretation, because it's so minor in intensity, and it integrates with the rest of the flavors, which are what you'd expect more. If I tried this thinking it was black tea I'd probably be mentioning dried fruit; funny how that works out. It's not exactly like dried tamarind, but along that line.
#4: this is probably going to "brew out" relatively quickly since I extracted so much of it in a long first round, as much as two early rounds might have using shorter timing. To me this tea would work well for brewing a smaller number of good and strong rounds, setting aside an expectation to drink 8 to 10 rounds, which applies to other types, and just get 4 or 5 good and strong versions out of it.
The flavors more connected to astringency (which is limited in this) extract more now, in part from using a 45 second or so round instead of around 15. It's a little towards rust. I mean that in a positive way; framed more positively it tastes a bit like some forms of bark spice, just forms that people wouldn't tend to be familiar with, not cinnamon. Or maybe it overlaps some with cinnamon, but lots of the range is beyond that. The feel changes, and the part like sourness picks up (or it is just sourness, but a moderate and well-integrated expression of it).
#5: even for stretching this a bit, using those towards a minute brewing times, this is still pleasant. It's thinning a little already, the character range. Feel is still nice, and some sweetness still stands out. It's pleasant. For a sheng drinker maybe the limited intensity could be an issue, but there's a lot going on, and complexity is good. A Dian Hong drinker, someone preferring that black tea type, might relate to this especially well. It would be funny if it is just that. Malt is heavier than is typical for that type range, but then that's not exactly a typical Fu brick / hei cha marker, that I'm familiar with. Flavor falls in that general range, for sure, but I'm not sure if it's often exactly that.
I'll leave off notes here and probably stretch an extra round or two out of this. It should keep thinning, and that one edge should stand out more.
Conclusions:
Really nice, interesting and pleasant. Apparently it's a sort of one-off for tea style, a hybrid form, so there was no way I was going to place it trying it blind.
I'm a bit skeptical of vendor site reviews, since those could be made up, or at the least they could filter everything negative off there (some vendors do), but I suppose those people's takes might fill in how others experience it. They liked it. The first one is an example of that, and maybe the most detailed input:
The dual fermentation process creates a complex flavor profile that is truly unique.
Was it though? I guess; the review description had trouble placing it. And it was very pleasant. It's a little pricey in relation to standard Fu brick hei cha, but I suppose evaluating it within the range of Shou Mei might make more sense, or really it's not exactly that, given the extra processing input. It's something novel. There is no type-typical pricing point for a tea that doesn't exist elsewhere.
I guess most people would know if they favor repeating experiences with their favorite type and style range of tea, or if they want to explore further in that same direction, if they're still exploring basic ranges, or if very novel experiences are appealing. This didn't remind me of only white tea or Fu hei cha experience, and sort of combined in some typical black tea aspect range, so it was very unique.
That covers that part; I'll share some more of that limited travel experience, going out to Chonburi, a smaller community an hour's drive outside of Bangkok.
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sticky rice as something like a rice pudding, at a local market |
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dried squid and mortar and pestles; lots of options |
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looking for stone goods at a local outlet |
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you don't normally wai to Ronald McDonald; she was a good sport about the photo op |
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four people ate all of this, a lot of food |
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back in Bangkok, on Ban That Tong road |
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the picture version that she told me to delete |
