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2023 left, in all photos |
I'm re-trying a related version of what has been two of my all-time favorite tea versions, for the past couple of years, 2023 and 2024 Quang Tom Vietnamese sheng (from the Bac Ha District in the Lao Cai province). I reviewed comparable versions here, a year and a half ago, and the 2023 first here, as a gift from Huyen and Seth, two favorite tea friends and Vietnamese tea researchers. I've just bought these teas, and a third from 2022, one I've not yet tried.
Reading back through those posts the three reviews of the 2023 version and two of the 2024 (counting this one) are really consistent. It sounds like the 2023 has deepened in flavor tone range over those two years, trading out some bright floral, dried fruit, and citrus range for more honey and warmth, but otherwise it's all pretty consistent.
These may not be identical versions; the wrappers are different, and the compression level doesn't seem identical. Maybe the dried and wetted tea photos will turn up other minor differences. But the character is quite close, except these may be slightly better. It's interesting to consider how much role variation in pressing process could have played in that.
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similar; more variation in the 2023 |
A big part of their story is using extra oxidation as an input. According to Seth that may be a somewhat traditional form in Vietnam, or at least one that has evolved over time and is far from new. One would expect that to enter in as an extra long oxidation phase during a longer wither, but in discussion with the Quang Tom producer part of it may relate to letting the tea rest after a fixing step (pan-frying), even though to me that's counter-intuitive, adding more oxidation later. Who knows. For sure no other material would land on exactly the same results, but maybe other inputs could cause a related positive outcome.
This is their Facebook page, and Instagram account. I had hoped to cite some description of the tea or producer background there but it's mostly photos of tea, with very little on the area or about processing. Seth passed on a short vendor summary, in that 2024 blog post I mentioned:
The area Hoang Thu Pho is in Lao Cai province on the east side of the Red River, which flows into Vietnam from Yunnan. It's in a mountain range called Tay Con Linh that peaks further eastward in Ha Giang (province). Son La is in a different mountain range called Hoang Lien Son with slightly higher elevation on the west side of the Red River, and also sits on the Black River, which also flows in from Yunnan. Both tea areas are owned by members of Hmong people groups.
The tea maker for the Hoang Thu Pho cake is a younger guy named Phuc who has been making tea for about six years. He is not Hmong, but he buys tea material from Hmong tea areas and wants to focus on making high quality teas.
This translated label could work as a product description (translation credit to Google Lens):
Name: Freshly Fermented Green Tea Cake (Green Tea Series)
Ingredients: 100% ancient Shan Tuyet tea buds, sun-dried and fermented.
Storage: Store in a cool, dry place with humidity < 70%, away from direct sunlight.
Shelf life: Suitable for long-term storage under appropriate conditions.
Instructions for use: Take 5g of tea and brew with 250ml of boiling water (>95 degrees Celsius), steep for 30 seconds, then pour into a cup or mug to enjoy.
Food Safety Certificate: 04/2024/NNPTNT Phone: 0961.129.186 Address: Bac Ha Town, Bac Ha District, Lao Cai Province
Produced by: Quang Tom Cooperative, Bac Ha District, Lao Cai Province, Vietnam Production date: 06/2023 Net weight: 350g
It's sheng, whether you want to think of that as pu'er or not. According to Huyen the old local name for the type had translated as dried tea, if I remember right, and I've tried comparable versions sold as snow tea.
How could sheng be fermented? It's probably a reference to oxidation, on that label; of course automatic translation isn't 100% accurate. It's not a conventional form of sheng. But I know sheng when I'm drinking it. If someone else mind-maps categories differently then that's also fine. It's not pu'er according to the Chinese geographical designation, limiting origin to Yunnan, so it is a little odd calling it "raw something," without including that second part of the designation.
Back in 2015, when I wrote this blog post on "Ancient tea tree high mountain Vietnamese tea" I really didn't know much about tea, or that general type. This may seem interesting:
Sounds ok; it's a shame the review description is so limited, but if I had said more it probably wouldn't have made much sense anyway.
Review:
2023 #1: it's a little light; it will be early for passing on a full impression. What does come across is fantastic. These teas, or very closely related versions, have been personal favorites for the past two years, so that is a biased impression. They're what I like. They've helped change what I like most in sheng.
Honey sweetness stands out, and warm floral range, probably with fruit that will develop to be more distinct. Very little bitterness and astringency; this isn't the tea for that. There's a touch of cloudiness to the tea, which some would see as a likely quality issue, but I don't place it that way. It's how this unconventional processing output can work out, and it will clear up. If I was experiencing it as a negative aspect, for example related to sourness or a musty character, that would be different.
2024: similar but different. It's heavier on fruit, with a hint of citrus. Both seem to taste a lot like dried apricot. These flavor aspect lists aren't worth much, because this is only an initial impression, and both aren't fully wetted yet. I am already sure that these will be personal favorites. At a guess it's not exactly the same as the earlier 2023 and 2024 versions, more evident in compression form than this early round's results. We'll see.
2023 #2: I kept infusion time limited, not much over 10 seconds, because these were brewing at low intensity due to not being soaked yet, not from lacking intensity (or that was my thinking, at least). The warm honey sweetness in this is very engaging. It starts to cross over to a beeswax flavor aspect, which you usually only experience in Jin Jun Mei (Fujian bud based black tea). It's rich and complex.
Depth really makes the experience, but that part is hard to describe. I could drink just this for a month, and not miss other teas. Other flavor range is supporting that effect, in particular a rich, deep floral range, and supporting dried fruit that is still hard to place, closest to dried apricot. A warm tone is integrated along with those flavors. This might taste like both honey and caramel; that could be part of the complexity that comes across as depth.
2024: again brighter. The citrus evolves; it stands out more. Then some warmth and apricot range overlaps with the other, but in a sense it's quite different (and in another sense very similar). In a way the greater complexity and more bright range makes this version seem better than the other, but that experience of depth is hard to place, and they're both great in slightly different ways. These are close to the other versions I've drank lots of, but they kind of have to have been pressed separately.
Fullness of feel is hard to capture; these aren't like conventional sheng, with adjoining bitterness seeming to pair with astringency. They are smooth and full instead, but not in a familiar form within oolong range. Aftertaste trails nicely, not like the intense after-effect of bitter sheng, a returning sweetness, evolving from bitterness, but the sweetness in the liquid carries over.
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note very darkened leaves in the 2023 version (left) |
2023 #3: this is still brewing a good bit darker, with some of the earlier clarity issue resolved. Leaves are oddly dark, as if singed in places, but no char comes across. The clean effect across similar flavors intensifies. I didn't describe earlier rounds as muddled or murky, but this is still somehow cleaner. Honey and beeswax still stands out, and rich floral tone and some dried fruit, but a new note evolves. It's hard to say if it's closer to cacao or spice; maybe in between the two. If it evolves to stand out more it will be easier to tell. Maybe it's just toffee, the prior caramel aspect changing.
2024: this gets better and better too. Citrus is a great addition to the base of the rest. It's probably closest to tangerine, but maybe how dried tangerine might come across, which I don't think I've ever tried. Or maybe just fresh tangerine, and then warm dried apricot joins that. It's missing some of the warm tone range in the other, but somehow there is a common base to both.
2023 #4: it might be that a touch of citrus is evolving in this, maybe closer to orange, and then the caramel or toffee sweetness and other flavor seems to change a little. The brewed liquid is completely clear. I can't notice any sourness, which should pair with a negative processing or storage input that typically relates to a moderate loss of brewed liquid clarity.
At this point someone could free associate a very long flavor list. I keep mentioning citrus, honey, beeswax, caramel, rich floral range, and dried apricot, and now orange, but some of that flavor depth could seem to tie to sweet potato, or to lemon cake (both the lemon and the cake part). There's a lot going on, and both complexity and depth are good. And feel and aftertaste expression. This might be quite like the other 2023 version I've drank through a few cakes of, just slightly better.
2024: the citrus note seems to gain complexity, adding bergamot range to the earlier tangerine (not so far off, but different). Again someone could make a long list interpreting the rest. Feel has a touch of extra edge to it, where the other is deeper and smoother. Aftertaste might carry over slightly better, perhaps because that brighter range is suited for that. I wouldn't call any of this effect vegetal but the extra bright range and edge bring something related to mind. It's like just a hint of watermelon rind. That's actually pleasant, with so much sweetness and fruit range balancing it. Maybe tied to that some would see this as tasting partly like yellow watermelon. Or maybe that's a stretch.
These must not have lost much intensity from shipping effect. They've been in Bangkok for a couple of days, but I tried them within a few hours of getting them. It's a really short flight over from Vietnam; I suppose that shouldn't be surprising.
2023 #5: maybe the best it has been, but not different in terms of flavor range, or other aspects, the balance, intensity, and refinement just really work. The flavor set is so catchy, the honey, light toffee, floral, and dried fruit range.
2024: those warmer tones are changing, and the feel. It has a little more of an edge. Like a hint of green wood tone? It still works really well, but it's not clearly the best that it has been. It reminds me a little of some Darjeeling character, in a good sense. The other version is harder to place with any kind of comparison.
Conclusions:
In discussing these with the owner, Phuoc or Phuc, he mentioned that he thinks they keep getting better through the infusion cycle. That was after I had made these notes, which kind of mention that. Two more rounds were also exceptional, but I can't drink much over a dozen cups at a time, and had already checked out of note taking mode.
I'm surprised that these are slightly better than I expected. The earlier versions were already two of four favorite sheng versions (along with Viet Sun's Son La, and Aphiwat's local Thai sheng). Of course other Yunnan origin versions cover traditional style range more faithfully, and lots of that is amazing. I've tried other sheng pu'er that's as good or better over the past year, in terms of evaluating a quality level, but these are what I've been buying and drinking. Lots of all of them; kgs worth.
Some sheng purists wouldn't even like them, maybe any of them. I probably only referenced bitterness here to say that it's missing. That's perhaps not completely true of the 2024 version, but it's so limited that to a daily sheng drinker it's essentially not there. So why do I find these so exceptional?
It's in the aspects that I described, and more so in how it all comes together. Mind you these cakes had just moved from one country to another; they may pick up just a touch more intensity. And I was already blown away by how good they seem, after drinking multiple cakes of both over the past two years. I'm down to a third of a cake of the 2023 here in Bangkok, and left just a little of a 2024 to get back to in Honolulu.
A lot of this over the top endorsement must relate to bias; this is what I have come to love. When tea friends from a large online tea group visited Honolulu two months ago the 2024 version might have been one of the first teas I made for them. Or maybe not; my memory is shot, and Aphiwat's tea would've also been a suitable stand-in. But I think it was the Quang Tom version. This is what Huyen chose to share with me, two years ago (and Seth; they visited together). It's shifting a long way from that 2015 kind of harsh green tea I mentioned in this post earlier.
What about the Quang Tom recommendation to use a Western / Gongfu hybrid approach to brew this (5 grams, 250 ml of water, 30 seconds, 95 C, multiple rounds)? Sure, try that, but once you try full-on GFC brewing (8 grams, 100 ml, 15 seconds, full boiling point, only add time after a number of rounds) that might be how you like it. It would work for grandpa style brewing too, drinking from a glass or tea bottle without taking the leaves back out, re-adding water as it gets low.
Why are some of the 2023 leaves so, so dark? Probably charred in the fixing / sha qing. If the tea wasn't so amazing it would seem more like a flaw. Maybe it had potential to be brighter, as the 2024 was, but that resulting depth of warm honey, beeswax, dried apricot, toffee, and light citrus also represents a very positive and unique experience.
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with deepest gratitude to Huyen, and also to Seth |
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they also prompted a few rounds of new meetups (Seth is on the bottom) |
