Moychay Krasnodar (Russian) shu and Chawang shop Jinggu shu pu'er

the Chawang Shop Jinggu brick version

This is a novel form of review, trying two shu pu'er versions that I expect both will need some more time to settle, related to not being very old.  I thought that earlier covid taste sensation impact would still be a problem at this point but it's been clearing up fast over the last 4 or 5 days, and that's pretty much behind me now.

Here's what they are:

Krasnodar shu puer, 2021 (from Moychay, a Russian vendor)

An experimental tea made in Khosta region from local tea cultivars (harvest 2019) using the Menghai Shu Puer «wodui» technology.

In appearance: medium sized curved flagella of dark brown leaves and buds, a small amount of thin cuttings and sticky lumps of «chatou». The aroma is intense, with notes of baked chestnut, toasted bread and spice. The infusion is transparent, with a chestnut-yellow shade.

Since this is listed as unavailable (out of stock, or perhaps to be returned to stock again later) there is no pricing listed, which I suppose is as well given the current events context, which I'll add more about after the other tea's details.  It's interesting seeing the tasting comments; as usual some people really liked it and others didn't at all.  The style is a bit unconventional, and I think the tea needs time to rest to really be at its best.  It doesn't say when it was fermented (wet piled), which is really most relevant with regards to when it will be rested from that process, not the harvest date.

2021 Chawangpu Jinggu Lao Shu Zhuan 400g

Material for this brick come from two villages in Jinggu and collected from 2018-2020. Larger leaves from spring and autumn harvest, also called huang pian, are pure old tree material. Fermented in Menghai during winter 2020 by well experienced master and the result is very good! 

Dark and clean tea soup with some dry fruit notes. Sweet and smooth.

15USD per 400g brick is special offer !

Manufacturer : Cha Wang Shop

Production date: Harvest 2018- 2020, pressed 11/2021

Harvest Area : Jinggu area, Puer

That pricing is unusual, per a separate post notice a special offer related to the tea not being fully rested yet, and as a kind of bonus to regular customers, not selling at that value related to a conventional business practice.  This tea is probably better than some of the shu cakes Yunnan Sourcing sells for $60 (at a guess; I've tried versions of their Impression sheng cakes, and at least one other in-house version, which were all nice, but not their shu).  I'm basing that guess related to placing a lot of shu versions, and to me this is well above average, rated against my preference.  That does include that it really seems to need a bit more rest, maybe even another year of it.  There's one standard style of heavy, peat-intensive, fully fermented shu, that can transition to lighter flavors and creaminess with some age, and this isn't exactly that, which I see as positive, since I like that, but I like positive variation from that more.  

Lots of shu made now seems to be maxed out for fermentation level, but this might be backed off a bit from that.  It's possible this has good potential for a 10+ year old version as a result but to me that would only make sense to check out related to buying a few of these cakes tied to value, not so much in terms of seeking out absolute best results.  It's decent shu, at a minimum, but to me aging shu doesn't usually tend to make enough difference to warrant a decade worth of storage oversight and wait.  The first year or two can really straighten out newly made character, letting it settle, but to me the whole point of shu is that it's easy to drink and really doesn't need time to reach an optimum.

There's not much to add about this one tea being Russian, related to that war, currently the main news item.  Obviously my full sympathy goes to Ukraine, and the sympathy I have for Russians suffering economic impact is a bit tempered by the comparison to that far more severe case, and the cause, that their own government initiated an unjust war, and what I see as murder of a neighboring country's civilians and ongoing war crimes.  All the same citizens of Russia didn't cause this, any more than citizens of the US caused a relatively unjust war against Iraq (the second one; them taking over a neighboring country that first time wasn't ok, just as it's not for Russia to do that now).  Some Russians might believe state propaganda and see it as a just war but everyone I hear from online expresses the opposite.

Russia, the US, and China really need to move past all this, and do their best to work towards the common good of their own citizens and that of other countries.  Of course that's not the kind of world we live in.  What Russian leaders are in the process of doing goes a couple steps further than the horrors that are the norm, and the most severe economic sanctions in history are a natural outcome from that.

I'm a fan of all three of those countries' cultures, and others.  Visiting Russia four years ago was one of the most memorable experiences of my life, as visiting China three times was.  It's a shame that appreciation can't extend to the leadership of any of the the three.

a friendly Russian offering guidance in the Moscow subway; how I remember the people there

friendly Russian tea shop staff; there were no exceptions from that theme

Moychay will take the same hit the rest of Russia does.  This post isn't intended as implying that Westerners should be ordering tea from Russia at this time; how that works out per a standard perspective is obvious enough, and it would make sense to get back to that only after this war gets resolved.  Supporting a foreign Moychay branch wouldn't necessarily offset the end goal of these sanctions, since there must be few Russian companies not operating at a loss just now, outside their oil and gas industry, so tax revenue trickling back to the Russian economy wouldn't be much of a factor, related to companies operating at a loss.  

These posts are never actually intended as direct marketing, I'm just passing on what I think about teas.  If I say that I think a tea has a really unusual character, is of unusual quality level, or represents an exceptional value, then I guess that could be implied, but even then it's just sharing perspective, not a sales pitch.  It goes without saying that personal preference, quality judgment, and impressions about value would tend to always vary.  The judgments here about shu needing a rest period to offset fermentation related aspects probably wouldn't be all that universally accepted either; it's just one person's opinion, based on trying moderate amounts of shu (only dozens of versions versus hundreds).

Review:

Moychay left; coloring is washed out related to light level for that image

both teas were normal shu color, brown

Moychay version left, Chawang right, in all images

Moychay Krasnodar shu:  nice!  I think this will clean up a bit with more time to settle, but it's nice like this.  A warm, dark bread tone dominates it, complete with dark rye and fennel seed tones.  Fermentation related funkiness isn't on the level I would've expected for this being less than a year old [if it is; fermentation timeline is implied in that 2021 date], but that does vary.  

A nice cocoa range supports that grain scope.  It has enough sweetness and complexity that it seems likely that fruit will fill in more once this settles a bit.  That mix sounds nice, dark grain, earthy seed range spice, cocoa depth, with good sweetness, and it is.  There's a little off-malt fermentation related flavor, which could be interpreted as in mineral range, not so far off cement block scent, but I'd expect that to only be an early round theme in this.

Chawang shop Jinngu:  the first aspect that hits you is an odd flavor input, not exactly like that cement block taste in the other but related, more towards wet slate, with a bit of mortar cement mixed in.  Again I think age will mostly drop that out, but for being stronger and more dominant than in the other tea it might take longer.  This version is from late last year, apparently packed at the end of November, so it is a bit early to be tasting this.  In looking at the description it was fermented in the winter of 2020 (which can mean two different things, that it's two years old or else more like one), and only re-steamed and pressed over the last 5 months.  But then it's not as if the "settling" step occurs on a fixed timeline.

Beyond that moderate level of funky range there is interesting scope.  It seems a little lighter, maybe less fermented than the other, with a lighter fruit and spice range potentially showing through.  It should be easier to describe next round.  Sourness stands out more in the first version when finishing this round of both together; this tea isn't sour, but there is an odd flavor aspect present.  Fermentation tastes should fade for both over the next year, or maybe even six months, given how the hot and humid Bangkok climate tends to speed up any transitions teas might go through, positive or negative.

Moychay Krasnodar shu, second infusion:  the sourness that stood out more in direct comparison seems stronger this round.  I suppose it works better for me because that flavor range, mostly around dark bread, naturally pairs with some sourness in the dark bread form, so it's easier to accept for sort of being expected, or even easy to overlook.  The cocoa tone is already starting to give way to a heavily roasted coffee input; this will probably finish an early transition cycle and be different next round.

Chawang Jinggu:  this is brewed stronger; that's apparent from just the appearance.  I didn't get the proportion (weight) to match, which is easy to get wrong when pairing compressed and loose teas, estimating amount by eye.  It's not that far off, and how fast these brew at different phases probably came into play as well.  The fast rinse for the Moychay tea was strong; it would make sense to be careful to only use a very fast rinse for that tea to avoid stripping out too much flavor.  I actually drank part of that rinse to check it, versus just tasting it, not that afraid of toxins as by-products from the fermentation process, even though they are present.

This is cool for being so distinctive.  That cement range mineral is moving towards struck match already, a lighter mineral tone, with plenty of warmth, richness, and depth filling in behind that.  It's better than my description implies; the complexity is good, and overall balance is nice.  It really probably does need a half a year to a year to keep settling, not really showing its full potential yet, as is probably true of the other version too.  This particular tea might be even better in two or three years.  Fermentation effect just varies, and even for this seeming to be a little on the light side, or maybe more accurately backed off a little from being completely fermented, the funkiness from it is significant.  It tastes much cleaner side by side with the other, tasted one after the other, for that sourness missing in this version, but that one flavor tone range is pronounced (cement moving towards struck match).

Moychay Krasnodar shu, third infusion:  someone's take on dark breads really would determine whether they love or hate this.  I'm on board; I really like it, about as much as I love shu in general.

Chawang Jinggu:  this is cleaning up a little, which is nicer.  It's hard to say that it's a fruitiness that comes across, but it's along that line, mild spice and dried fruit.  The warm aspect range is a bit neutral in this presentation, not clearly any one thing or another.  Mild root spice seems the closest match, which tends to be a neutral range, in some forms.  I can give both a slightly longer infusion time next round and see how that changes things, since the early transition away from odd flavors seems somewhat complete.

It's a little odd reviewing what isn't present, versus what is, but there's a lot of range of fermentation related flavor that could have occurred but didn't.  People describe shu as fishy, and I tend to not notice it in that form as much as many do.  Heavy peat flavor is more common, and some can taste like petroleum or tar.  Musty range flavors don't come up as often as one might expect, but of course they can.

Moychay Russian shu fourth infusion:  I brewed this round for around 20 seconds, versus around 10 for earlier rounds, although these would be fine brewed inky strong doubling that longer time too, to 40 seconds.  Fennel seed jumps to a much higher level input balance again, and this seems better this way.  Sourness has faded quite a bit but those other stronger flavors are probably also overpowering it.   This seems fairly clean at this point, not really off in any way.

Chawang Jinggu:  interesting how this changes, brewed stronger.  Warm and pleasant tones ramp up, and that cement range odd character has largely faded, but an aromatic floral range ramping up connects with a soapy effect now.  It's not enough to really throw off the experience, but different.  Those non-distinct woody or spice range warm tones are nice.  It's a little closer to cedar this round, versus spice.  

I don't know if it's apparent from the description but this seems like it would be a good tea to drink with food, with pleasant complexity and depth, and a neutral enough flavor range that it could adjoin and pair with lots of other range.  This would be good with toast and jam.  The other tea is a bit more distinctive, probably pairing with a more narrow range for that, but still probably decent with some foods related to reminding me a lot of dark bread.

Permit me a short tangent:  the last great dark bread I experienced I bought visiting Russia, some years ago, which I bought in Murmansk. It seemed like it was just a typical version to them, nothing presented as special, but it was fantastic with some cheese I bought there, truly memorable.  Ordinary pumpernickel is great in the US, not that I've had it in a long time.  There are specialty bakeries here, and I could be seeking out much better bread than I tend to experience, but I eat more Thai food than Western, and tend to buy better lighter bread in Japanese bakeries here, where they're really not into dark bread.

Fifth infusion:  not changed enough to write more notes.  Both versions are the best they've been though, very nice at this round, and probably not yet finished, although the Moychay version is dropping out faster.   Both are good, I think.  Both clearly reject the "shu is shu" theme of all versions tasting similar, one critique I've made about the tea type in the past.  The general type varies less than sheng, or even oolongs, I think, but these are both positive and distinctive in novel ways.  And I think both will be even more exceptional in one more year; it would be a shame to drink through too much of them before they're really ready, even though both are fine to drink now.

Conclusions:

Both were pleasant, interesting, and novel.  The Chawang Shop version kept improving over rounds, and held up to a higher number of rounds at higher intensity, with a lot of the most positive range of the Moychay tea extracting earlier.  I think the Chawang Shop version included a bit thicker feel, which I really didn't focus on due to combined tasting often limiting the range of aspects considered.  It will probably settle into being a more conventional, balanced shu version, with this Russian version staying a bit unusual, which could be good or bad depending on match to preference, and how it changes over the next year of rest.

Moychay Krasonodar (Russian) Gaba Sheng

Reviewing another interesting style of tea from Moychay, a Russian Gaba Sheng.  After reviewing this I was looking forward to checking out the Moychay description, to see what this really is, but it didn't include anything on the tea plant type or processing inputs, just about aspects:

Krasnodar gaba sheng, (spring 2021)

In appearance: large, red-brown, curved leaves with long cuttings and thin tips. The aroma is restrained, floral-herbaceous. The liquor is transparent, with a greenish-yellow shade.

The bouquet of ready-made tea is multifaceted and fresh, floral-herbaceous, with berry and spicy notes. The aroma is tender, floral-herbaceous. The taste is refined, silky and sweet, oily, with berry acidity and a refreshing finish.

The review comments were interesting, and diverse:

Wow, it really looks like a medium-rare Taiwanese gaba! Favorite cookies and light berry sourness. I did not expect this from Krasnodar tea, it holds about 10 straits, delight...

Bread crust, menthol, pleasant astringency, notes of red tea, fruity sourness. There are candied fruits too, but in the background. Differs from 2020 version...

The smell of the liquor is spicy, it reminds me of baked berries and pumpkin.  The taste is silky, buttery and sweet, with berries acidity and the notes of eggplant and nettles.  The aftertaste has a sweetness of forest berries and vegetal taste of an eggplant.

It's normal for aspect interpretations to vary, as mine isn't exactly the same as any of these, but they kind of do seem to all be describing roughly the same tea.

Review:

First infusion:  interesting, different.  I really expected sheng with an edge of sourness and that's not what this is, at least not so far.  It's completely different in character.  It's a little early to call but it tastes most like dried autumn leaves, that rich, warm, sweet scent.  I've experienced that a number of times in different teas and it's always a very pleasant inclusion.  That includes a caramel-like sweetness.  

Maybe there is as much sourness as bitterness in the rest of this, but it's early to tell, and sheng often changes character most over the first 2 or 3 infusions, as it "opens up."  I'll do more description and list next round.  The sourness and bitterness that is present carries over in an interesting aftertaste form; that and feel might be novel for this tea version.

Second infusion:  it's evolving, but more ramping up than changing.  This has some bitterness, so it's not completely out of sheng character range, but it has an edge of sourness too, and a completely novel flavor profile.  It's hard to describe.  Warm dried autumn leaf tones are still dominant, but all the rest increased while that level stayed the same, so it's more just an even part of the rest now.  Both sourness and bitterness seemed to pick up, and a warm mineral undertone.  Sweetness is ok in this but slightly lower than it could be.  It's enough to tie the other range together (a role that at least I see sweetness as playing), but low in comparison to that frequent intense sweetness, bitterness, and floral or fruit tone mix that occurs in sheng versions.  

I can do a clearer aspect list next round, but I'm already getting the impression that feel and aftertaste are going to "make or break" this experience.  Feel isn't standard, but it has some structure to it.  It's not the fullness (that varies a lot) in sheng versions, or that dry edge in some astringent black teas, or the smoother fullness of other softer and fuller black teas, or the round, deep fullness of rolled oolongs.  One part is structure, a generally full feel, and the other part is an odd way that your tongue reacts to it, like you might when tasting metal.  

Why taste metal?  Who hasn't put a penny in their mouth, as a child, or noticed that some natural spring water has such a heavy mineral taste that it seems almost metallic, but often in a very pleasant way.  Aftertaste is just about all those ranges carrying over.  It might be that subjective interpretation then makes or breaks this tea, and someone seeking to love it for appreciation of novelty easily could, or the opposite could happen, and someone could hate it for not matching existing expectations.  A couple more rounds will show how it's going to unfold though.

It seems like this tea might have been allowed to wither and "oxidize" quite a bit, so that it was intentionally made to include a lot of that transition effect.  If so this is really in between a gaba oolong and sheng version, using the pan frying as a heating step, with the same shaping and drying, but with an unusual extra input.  Sheng pu'er leaves could oxidize a little prior to pan frying but it's my understanding that it's kept very limited, on purpose, that they don't intentionally wait long for processing.  Of course I don't actually make tea, or try to keep track of such details, so all that should be taken with a grain of salt.

Third infusion:  it all integrates a little better, and a new part is developing.  The autumn leaf input is shifting to more towards a tree bark or bud version, like a red or dark peeling bark tends to smell.  It would probably be helpful to try to correlate that to a food input, even if it's not a close match.  It's in the spice range then, if one attempts that.  It's a lot like star anise tastes, but without that strong sweetness, which is kind of an odd reference, since that's the main range of star anise.  Towards bay leaf then, but warmer.  

There's essentially no bitterness in this, or it has dropped back to be hardly noticeable, and sourness is quite limited too, just stronger than bitterness.  It's in an odd range, since all that doesn't add up to what goes into a normal tea experience.  Saying it tastes like spice and autumn leaf isn't exactly it but that's in the ballpark, so close enough.

Fourth infusion:  feel even shifts now, picking up more smoothness and roundness.  It's interesting how much this transitions.  That really novel flavor profile, including underlying mineral base, then also spice, autumn leaf, tree bark, and caramel sweetness, comes across as really simple and integrated, even though it includes a lot of range.  The warmth part comes across more as a black tea at this level, the way the mineral and wood range links with that feel. 

This isn't really like any oolong I've tried, it seems to me, but it's as close to a more oxidized rolled oolong as it is to gaba versions (the "red oolong" ones, although I don't love that term use), then it also leans in a different direction.  It's not very close to conventional sheng, not nearly as similar as to those types.  It'll be interesting to see how Moychay describes it, if that "oolong" part on the label really was some sort of typo, or if they feel it's really between sheng and oolong styles.  It could just as easily be labelled as a gaba black tea, if the idea was to categorize to match pre-conceptions and the experience. At a guess the most accurate type label might be "gaba oolong," whether it was pan fried to serve as a fixing step or not.

Fifth infusion:  kind of similar to last round; it has finally levelled off from the changes.  Even though all those transitions were interesting I bet this would be fine brewed Western style, and maybe even better.  That's just a guess, but combining ranges of those rounds might work out well.  

It was never as if you needed to keep the intensity moderate to get positive results, as happens with sheng pu'er, or need to get the infusion strength dialed into an ideal to get the absolute best results, as occurs with Wuyi Yancha and Dan Cong.  For those higher quality oolongs you can still get good results brewing them Western style but nowhere near the ideal, so in a different sense it "doesn't work."

Sixth infusion:  I'll probably leave off here, and as usual skip the story of the last half of late rounds.  That should include a novel or change or two for this tea, which I may or may not mention from memory during editing.  Not changing much, but woodiness shifts form.  It might be onto losing some of the more distinctive and novel aspect range, as oolongs and black teas can do (or sheng, or any others, but those can tend to just seem woody in later rounds, sometimes).  It still strikes a cool balance for flavor aspects, feel, and aftertaste; it's not spent.

Conclusions:

Very nice!  For being this novel I would probably change interpretation of the flavors a good bit for trying it 2 or 3 times instead of once.  It's probably the wrong question to keep focus on asking what this is.  I did re-try it, and I'll mention what that changed for impression.

I was focused mostly on trying to tell what it was that first tasting, so I emphasized whether or not bitterness was present (related to it being sheng), or if sourness was (related to a conventional aspect in gaba teas).  Of course oxidation level also relates to tea type, so that was a concern.  I've ran across the idea that even for processing in a nitrogen environment (with no oxygen present) it might be appropriate to call the related transition (chemical compound change) "oxidation," since the electron exchange might be similar.  I don't know; chem classes were awhile back, and it doesn't seem to matter.

I noticed more of a fruit or sweet cooked vegetable range in that re-tasting than I've mentioned in these tasting notes, and also why I didn't pick it up more in the first round, beyond "looking for" other range, as I've just mentioned.  It comes across as non-distinct, even though it is a range that defines the experience, pleasant aspect scope that really makes it.  It might start a little closer to something like pumpkin (mentioned in one web page comment), but that transitions to tasting a lot more like persimmon, or in some rounds a bit like a mango jam.  Then in later rounds it shifts to more of an aromatic wood tone, like cedar, while never completely losing the persimmon range.  It might be as much dried persimmon as fresh, with the experience varying by round, and surely shifting with brewed infusion strength.

dried persimmons, one style (dusted with sugar?), well worth buying on a Chinatown visit

what those look like fresh

For someone completely unfamiliar with persimmons those taste in between a plum and a lot of other range, maybe in between roasted pumpkin and sun-dried tomato.

All of this probably sounds like a more complete revision of impression than it really was; it had seemed like some aspect range I didn't get around to describing in that first round, for focusing a lot on bitterness and sourness, and trying to pin down a type, and this goes into that.  It was definitely a novel and interesting tea, which made for a pleasant experience.  That repeating theme of not getting gaba versions applies less to this than to others, since an early sourness dropped out fast.  It didn't seem much like sheng pu'er but it was nice.

Moychay experimental Russia origin shu

 

More of a large set of samples sent for review, which I'm slow to get to.  I've already tried this one before, an experimental, small-batch theme Russian shu ("pu'er-like tea," since they restrict use of that category to Yunnan).  It's good.

It's not a new subject, making pu'er, or pu'er-like tea, in smaller batches.  I reviewed versions from Thailand awhile back (which were also good), with that vendor, Tea Side, posting about the experimental trial process.  I suppose results would vary, depending on process used and starting point.  Especially for versions not made from similar Assamica plant material.  This has to be variety Sinensis plant type, being grown in Russia, since only versions of that broad plant type category tolerate colder weather (per my understanding, at least).

But I won't really look into this here, to fill in more on how this was processed, or what the plant type is, or even where it's grown.  I'll could probably only turn up a link to a later batch, since this one is sold out [or not even that, as it turned out].  This will be more about passing on results, how the tea comes across.  Maybe I'll even finally write a short review.

In looking on the Moychay site section related to loose shu (and to Russian teas, from Krasnodar) I didn't see this, or anything like it.  This video by them covers background on shu wet-pile fermentation, if that's of interest, covering a visit to a producer in Menghai.  

this is a product description, for people who can read Russian

If these batches are experimental they might sell out quickly, or only be released informally, not sold through their site.  I talked to the owner about this tea, Sergey, and he said that this #2 version is sold out, that they had some of #4 left at that point, but that kind of status would change.  Sergey is the one narrating that video about fermentation (the original Russian, not the English voice-over); in addition to being a tea vendor he is a true tea enthusiast, and a student of the subject.  Anyone regularly ordering from Moychay anyway might want to keep an eye out for it, and add a bit to an order, since for novelty alone it's well worth trying (assuming that the price is reasonable, which is typically the case for their teas).  

That Moychay site loose leaf shu section bears that out about good value (all Yunnan teas, at a glance); those are all selling for between $5 and 8 per 100 grams, so at most equivalent to just under $30 per 357 gram cake worth, with most under that.  A sampler of 4 or 5 100 gram choices of whatever sounds good would still be in the range of cost of a pu'er cake, even for shu, and it would amount to an intro to how shu versions vary.  

Just judging from the photos, the colors, a lot of it is not fully fermented, which is kind of a long story to get into here, what that means, and how it works out.  Such tea can be more subtle than fully fermented shu, but better to drink early on (needing less rest to settle), without as heavy a processing flavor requiring time to fade.  More lightly fermented versions may have slightly more aging potential, but buying a few hundred grams of loose shu to get to in another decade is kind of an odd idea.  It's completely workable, just not how that usually goes.  A bold enough person might consider trying pressing some into cakes on their own, but I'm definitely not going to try and say anything about how that might work.

Review:

The flavor is a little unusual in the first infusion, but I know from trying this before that this range will "burn off."  An online friend just described the funkiness in some lower quality versions of Da Hong Pao as tasting like "wet sidewalk," and I think this is close to what he meant.  He said those can taste like wet sidewalk and grapefruit zest.  To me lower quality DHP tends to taste like cardboard, which doesn't mean that I don't like it, since it's cardboard in a context that can work.  

This has good sweetness and interesting range.  Beyond a flavor tasting a bit like that sidewalk reference, or like how a shoe box smells, the rest is quite clean.  Even that part isn't bad, necessarily, just odd.  If this was produced this year then there's a good chance that taste would fade, or even drop out completely, within the next year or so.

There's a fruitiness to the rest that is pleasant.  Flavors are a little heavy, and earthy, as is common for shu, but quite light within the typical shu range.  It's funny how that works out, that it's light and heavy at the same time, in two different senses.  This should gain intensity and clean up a lot over this next round, and move on to other range later, if memory serves.  It's weakness is that it doesn't have the same full feel and depth some shu has, but for being a light and novel version it worked.  Fruit flavor in shu is really nice, per my preference.

Second infusion:  oddly this picked up more quite positive range and more strange flavor range too.  On the strange side, that wet sidewalk / cardboard aspect shifted, now more like blackboard, slate.  That's not as odd as it might be, but in this presentation it's a little towards cement block from straight slate rock smell.  I kind of like that part though; wet slate, the effect from cleaning an old blackboard, is a cool smell.  On the more completely positive side the fruitiness hung in there, but a distinctive root spice sort of range picked up, even stronger than that now.  I tend to get tripped up in describing floral tones and root spice range; I'm just not great with either, mapping it out further.  

This tea could be interpreted lots of different ways though, many of which would be roughly as correct, just a different interpretation.  Bark works as a flavor comparison, probably a version from a tree that had been dead for awhile, with some fermentation, a hardwood tree trunk laying out in a wet forest environment.  I kind of see this as "getting" cocoa.  The hint of fruit isn't standing out in this as much, with all the rest going on.  It's there, but hard to tease out as one distinct thing.  Maybe it's along the line of blackberry, or elderberry.  One warm, rich flavor could be interpreted as whole wheat pie crust.  I'm not the kind of reviewer that just free-associates their way through a dozen-description tasting, like that one vendor is known for, but this does have a lot going on.

I'm not talking about gap or limitation much yet though.  The earthiness lacks a grounding depth that many shu have, a heavy flavor range.  Feel is also a little thick but thin as shu range goes.  It has some creaminess, so I mean that in a relative sense, tied to a very specific expectation.  To me the character works; the set of aspects makes sense together, and comes across as complex.  Someone with more specific expectations, who either sees specific aspect range as a quality marker, or just prefers a narrower specific set in shu, per their own preference, may not like this.  I think someone open to a range of different tea experiences would tend to love it.

Third infusion:  creaminess really bumped up.  I mean the sort that turns up in a Guiness Stout, but without that one edge in that.  Some of the sweet, warm flavor range in that beer type carries over too, similar to that found in a black bread (pumpernickel and such).  Now that I think of it this is really close to a good version of a dark black bread.  It might be great to drink this with a lightly smoked creamy cheese, probably brewed even stronger than I am making it, to really get the full effect, and be able to stand up to food.  Of course it works well as a singular experience too.  I'm interpreting that root spice as moving closer to something like the spice in some rye versions, caraway seeds.

Fourth infusion:  just beautiful, the way this comes together.  I could imagine someone hating it too, the relative lightness (for shu), the heavy rye bread range, trailing into between slate mineral and shoe box, the bit of fruit, cocoa, and root spice (but those last parts seem relatively entirely positive).  I remembered a touch more fruit from that first tasting, towards the one berry range; that might just be interpretation variance.  

Again people could reasonably interpret this in lots of different ways.  Seeing the sweetness as related to dried dark cherry versus a berry would make sense.  To me the grain flavors are in between light rye, dark rye, and whole wheat pie crust, but that could be taken lots of different ways.  Cocoa stands out, to me, but a read of that as more towards forest floor would make sense.  What I'm calling lightness could be seen as thinness, a significant gap instead of a normal style variation.  Expectations related to form come into play.  And so on.

Fifth infusion:  I brewed this slightly longer, around 20 seconds instead, and heavier mineral flavor resulted (kind of what one would expect).  "Pushing" the tea in that fashion would draw out heavier and more intense flavors, and to some extent would bump feel range.  To me that makes the one flavor I keep saying is a little unusual (wet sidewalk, transitioned to wet slate, covering some white cardboard range) push on into the fermented tree bark range more.  I suppose stretching infusions from here would cause some of that to stay a main aspect.  

This tea is far from finished, but using the same 10 to 20 second infusion times wouldn't extract the same really significant flavor intensity range as it had; it's thinning.  On the positive side pronounced cocoa is extracting along with that warm mineral / dark bread range (with the last a bit narrower in form, and not exactly like the bread, now just similar).  The heavier flavors can tend to resemble a light roast coffee at this stage, which is also nice.

I haven't been mentioning aftertaste range, which is a weakness in this tea.  It just doesn't have that length of experience, which seems to be more common in sheng or oolongs than shu.

Conclusions:

Interesting shu; very positive, as I interpret it.  

For someone with fixed or narrow expectations about shu character the opposite interpretation might result, that it's "off," or missing some parts.  Including significant range of heavier tones and depth--which this lacks--would be normal, along with more significant aftertaste.  To me a tea version just being different is often better, versus focus on repeating the best example of a standard type.  

As I see it anyone who can appreciate Liu Bao at all would have no problems with the wet slate / cement block flavor range.  Of course not everyone is on that page.  To me this tasting like dark rye / pumpernickel bread, along with a good bit of cocoa, and traces of berry or dark cherry, and root spice sweetness were all really positive.  Even the fermented tree bark part, maybe closer to peat or wet forest floor, as others might interpret that, I saw as positive.  To me the sweetness and creaminess really helped the unusual range tie together and work, and narrowness of that range across some scope wasn't much of a gap, because I didn't expect that (a lot of body structure, for example).

It goes without saying but if this is batch #2, and they've sold out and are on #4 now, that tea won't be exactly like this, or who knows, maybe not all that similar.  I'm not sure what lot size they are using to make this, or how minor shifts in air temperature or seasonal leaf character might change things.  Or just not getting the process exactly the same; it's somewhat experimental.  I wouldn't mind owning a kilogram of this, to drink it regularly, and see how it changes.  That's one way of interpreting a take on degree of success, if a novel tea is more just interesting to try, or if you'd really like to drink a lot of it.  To me this is more pleasant and interesting than an above average standard factory sheng, although those can be nice too.

Comparing Yunnan and Russian black and gaba teas

 

Yongde Ye Sheng lower left, Krasnodar black top, Krasnodar gaba lower left

Moychay sent a number of teas for review, which I'll be talking about for a number of weeks, for as slow as I tend to get through sets.  The first review placed a 2020 Jing Mai sheng pu'er in relation to one of my favorite provider's slightly older versions (a 2016 from Tea Mania), and they seemed comparable in quality, both quite good teas.  There's always other higher range, an aspect that might be a little different, but it was quite good, and a good value for the selling point.

These are black teas (which they call red, a not-uncommon reference to the literal Chinese translation of hong cha).  One is a gaba black, processed in a nitrogen environment, causing the compounds that form in transition from conventional-style forms to differ.  In a sense they're not "oxidized" teas then, because oxygen contact has been restricted during processing.  Probably that oxidation process started at picking time, prior to that other processing, so they would be a little bit oxidized, just mostly forming different compounds based on interaction with nitrogen instead of oxygen.  "Gaba" is one such resulting compound, with more on all that in this post (from 2013; I had a lot less experience to work with as a tasting baseline back then).

This won't go any further into what gaba tea is; maybe I'll get back to that more in a later post, since I have two more versions to get to.  Reviewing three teas at once is a lot of ground to cover.  I've reviewed plenty of gaba oolongs before here, but never a black tea.  Oddly one of the best gaba versions I've ever tried was a black tea, a Ruby / Red Jada gaba processed Taiwanese black tea version, shared in a tasting session by a friend, Sasha Abramovich.  Sasha is still around, just not in Bangkok, so I never cross paths with him.  

The gaba oolongs I tried earlier all seemed to include a distinctive sourness that I had trouble adjusting to like.  It tasted a little like an old cardboard box smells, when taken out of a damp form of storage.  One even tasted like asphalt; different.  The Taiwanese gaba black wasn't like either.

I've actually already tried this Yongde black version before, and based on the first try I didn't write any notes, thinking I wouldn't like it.  It was tart instead, not something I like in black teas, although that range does come up.  Then after just a few infusions that tartness faded, transitioning to other complex range, and the tea was quite pleasant.  I had probably judged too soon.

Lately I've been considering if my appreciation for teas isn't too narrow, in rejecting that flavor range like sourness or tartness can be pleasant.  It seems like one might normally run through experience of some standard versions, then sort out which of those might suit preference best, then escalate experience in quality range, and then explore more horizontally, if that last step even comes up.  Of course tea experiences and preference transitions would vary.

Sourness comes up a good bit in relation to "wild-grown" tea versions, presumably tied to different plant type sources.  It could also relate to a flaw in processing or storage, but one particular form of sourness is distinctive, related to what I've tried from Thai teas quite a bit.  I didn't review some Monsoon "wild-origin" teas because they were sour, and I had trouble relating to that.  I just re-tried a Liquid Proust tasting set example of a "wild-origin" Xiaguan sheng, presumably from China, what was quite similar.  Now I'm guessing that it's a variation from the source plant, causing those common effects.  

Kenneth, the owner of Monsoon, mentioned that tea enthusiasts in general seem put off by that sourness from that range of plant-source inputs, but that for whatever reasons some experienced chefs have liked them.  I suppose it does make sense that someone with broad food experience and training could appreciate a very broad range of flavors, without a bias towards a narrow range of styles, as most tea enthusiasts would tend to develop.

meeting Kenneth (waving) and Sasha (right).  sorry other guy; should've taken more snaps.

I'd mentioned one of my favorite sheng versions was from wild tree sources, produced by Kittichai of Jip Eu, a version that was sour (with a Moychay Nannuo sheng also making that list).  It was sour in a slightly different form, but it overlapped, and that tea changed a lot across a relatively short span of time in storage.  I bought a second cake of that tea, to see how I like it once it's fully aged, and so I can keep tasting it from time to time to witness the entire transition process.  It's from 2012 or 13, as I remember, so within another half dozen years (stored in hot and humid conditions in Bangkok) I should see that change.  

The point here is that I really liked that  Thai tea (sheng), in spite of it being sour, I think in part because I'd reached a critical mass of exposure to other forms.  And also because it has "other notes" to experience; it wasn't that it just stood out for only that one sour flavor.  As I've drank through most of 50 grams of a wild Thai black tea from Monsoon I'm more ok with that sourness.  I don't know that I like it, but it's not bad, I can appreciate it as something else to experience.

On with it then.  I'll copy down as much as I can about these teas and look up what I can of descriptions prior to the final edited write-up.

Yongde Ye Sheng, Hong Cha, 2020  (black tea from a relatively natural source,  I think that means).  Pulling up a random vendor description for that area:

https://camellia-sinensis.com/en/blog/new-discovery-pu-er-2019-yongde-da-shan

...After visiting Xishuangbanna, Jasmin traveled up north, towards the region of Pu Er, then to Lincang. In these regions, tea production is more modest and less famous (despite the presence of big names like Bingdao or Xigui). The traffic is much lower. Local buyers are rare here. Despite superb product quality, prices remain much lower than in Xishuangbanna. The Yongde region specifically is one of the few tea producing regions in Yunnan that still escapes the growing turmoil of the terroir and the high rise in prices we have seen in recent years... 

Moychay's description (from that link):

Red tea "Youngde Yesheng Hong Cha" made in 2020 in Youngde County, Yunnan province. The first spring shoots of wild tea trees were used as raw materials...

The bouquet of the ready-made tea is vivid, berry-and-woody with hints of barberry caramel, tropical flowers, aromatic wood resins, and exotic fruits. The fragrance is bright, berry-floral. The taste is rich and juicy, sweetish, with a fine woody tartness, spicy nuances, and the lingering finish.

That's about right.  The selling price seems a bit high compare to the Dian Hong (Yunnan black) I've tried or bought, but then this was a unique version, with market prices for materials shifting final selling prices, and different people could value the experience differently.  

Often Yunnan black teas are made from later harvested material, even sometimes from a middle harvest period between the spring and fall.  Sometimes that means that versions can lose a lot of intensity, but I think in some such cases it still tends to work out well, producing very pleasant versions that just need to be pushed a little harder and can brew out a bit fast.

Krasnodar Red Organic Tea, Spring 2020  I looked for a range of Russian teas in visiting Russia awhile back but only managed to find green tea from that country, and black teas from Georgia.

In appearance: large, reddish-brown, curved leaves with long cuttings and thin tips. The aroma is intensive, floral with a fruity accent. The liquor is transparent, with a shade of yellow amber.

The bouquet of ready-made tea is multifaceted and vivid, fruity-floral with notes of rye bread, spicy herbs and honey biscuit. The aroma is warm, fruity-and-biscuit. The taste is refined and full-bodied, silky and sweet, a bit tart, with berry acidity, spicy nuances and refreshing finish.

Krasnodar Red Gaba Tea (Diagomys), Spring 2020  that gaba version; should be interesting

In appearance: large, reddish-brown, curved leaves with long cuttings and thin tips. The aroma is intensive, floral with a honey accent. The liquor is transparent, with a shade of yellow amber.

The bouquet of ready-made tea is multifaceted and vivid, fruity-floral with honey, biscuit, citrus and spicy notes. The aroma is high and sweet, honey. The taste is refined and full-bodied, oily and sweet, with berry acidity, spicy nuances and long, refreshing finish.

Review:

Yongde black left, Krasodar middle, Krasnodar gaba right, in all photos

Yongde Ye Sheng: that's quite tart; it helps expecting that.  Even though that one aspect is a bit much for me to love the tea knowing that it's coming helps.  Of course the flavor is similar to cranberry, or something along that line.  I'm from a small town called Cranberry, actually (a bit unrelated).  Being a first infusing the aspects aren't fully developed yet, and with tartness that strong the rest isn't standing out.  As I remember the tartness should dominate the second round too, then ease up, and by around the fourth the character will be completely different.

Krasnodar black:  I did not see that coming.  There's a warm, rich, earthy-into-spice sort of complexity in this tea, dominated by pronounced range that's relatively completely unfamiliar to me.  As flavor goes it includes a sort of fresh baked bread warmth, and also slight sourness, but beyond the actual flavor there's an impression of lots of other complex range headed in different directions.  It's like the smell of a very old study (den, private library), with old books, leather, and old clocks and such giving off traces of completely unfamiliar scents, mostly in a warm, rich range, with the odd unfamiliar metallic or aromatic oil based note.  A decent amount of unfamiliar root spice rounds that out.  

The slight sourness leans towards a trace of mustiness, but within the next two rounds that it takes to evolve this to where it will be all that might change completely.  It's interesting, and positive in overall effect in this form.

Krasnodar gaba:  this is kind of the opposite, striking just one particular note (in opposition to the tea prior being a composite of a lot going on).  It's not the straight-sourness I've ran across in the oolongs but it's definitely in the sour range.  It helps having been drinking sour tea for a month or so to adjust to that range.  I just re-tried that Xiaguan wild sheng from Liquid Proust, and the theme really came together as common ground to me, after drinking that Monsoon Thai black at work a number of times.

This banging on the one particular note might be an issue.  I'm sure it will evolve in the next two infusions too, but it's not a great sign having it just show that narrow a range so early.  There is a hint of nice sweetness beyond that, and earthy warmth, towards the range of leather or maybe even cinnamon, but it will need to show through better to isolate and describe it.  

I'm in the habit of using the first round as a starting point, brewing it light to see where things are going, so part of these not evolving fast relates to my own personal approach to brewing.  Anyone using a rinse would skip past all that a different way (I only rinse pu'er and hei cha, as a rule, or maybe something else if an inclination strikes me).

Second infusion:

Yongde De Sheng:  coming in nicely; the next round should be more about where this is going.  It's a bit extra tart for my preference still but much better balanced already.  A lot of the other range is pleasant, even catchy.  This is fruity as black teas go, moving off the cranberry range into richer, sweeter fruit.  It even seems like a hint of citrus rounds that out, along the lines of blood orange, something rich and sweet (like a softer and sweeter version of red grapefruit).

Krasnodar black:  this shifted to become better than I thought it could; so fast.  There's still a "rustic" sort of edge to it, a trace of sourness, but the main range is very complex with pleasant flavors, and clean and sweet.  It's really too much to unpack, and interpretations would vary so much that two people drinking it together would probably be unlikely to agree.  It's interesting how "at the bottom" a mineral edge includes a trace of salt, rounding out the rest.  

I should be able to place this better, related to at least categories like fruit or floral, but the effect is that a lot is going on, making it hard to get a clear read on any one part of it.  That integrates well; that's what makes or breaks a tea this complex in profile, and in this case it works.  I think openness to range beyond a style that's exactly what you expect is also critical; this isn't a standard Chinese black tea form.  I'll pass on a main range to help at least make some sense; I get the effect that a main foundational context flavor is along the line of sweet potato or yam (probably yam, if I remember those right).  Then some earthy and floral range fills that in, along with that unusual mineral form.

Krasnodar gaba:  at least this did evolve a secondary pleasant flavor aspect to join the other, even in balance of input with it.  It's a sort of rose-floral note, as I interpret it.  It has a sweetness and lightness to it that it's also not so far from the Japanse sakura flavor (cherry blossoms), a distinctive floral scent.  A trace of fruit flavor probably is closest to actual cherry too.  If that sourness keeps dropping out (it's essentially secondary, at this point) and more complexity picks up this could be really pleasant.  It gives up a little being tasted next to a complex version of a tea, as if it should somehow match that.  Aspects grouping into a narrower range, or even being less intense, isn't necessarily a bad thing, since it's about how pleasant the combined set and overall effect are, not reaching some sort of score for one or more ranges.  

It is odd how this doesn't show the same earthy range of flavor common to most black tea, or really expressed as a broad range.  That other wild Thai black version I've been mentioning was like that; it just doesn't seem like a black tea.  Then if you can move past that and appreciate it for how it is, versus matching or not meeting expectations, it can be enjoyable.  Of course a tea completely matching your own preference is a different thing; that's going to work better.  But experiencing a range is interesting in a different way, and preferences can broaden over time.

This third round should be interesting, since all three of these seem to have been "heading somewhere," just in different senses.

Third infusion:

interesting color variations; the third doesn't really look like black tea

Yongde Ye Sheng:  that tartness is now a supporting element, maybe even one that someone could miss in interpreting the range of what is going on, although from expecting it that does stand out.  Other fruit and floral range is quite pleasant, with warm tones balancing that out nicely.  There is no noticeable astringency, just a bit of fullness to round out the feel.  I won't be saying a lot about feel or aftertaste range in this review, in part due to that not being pronounced for any of these, and also because comparing three teas narrows the range of focus down, to mostly considering only flavor.  It will probably work better to describe a flavor list for this tea next round.

Krasnodar black:  something distinctive evolved in this; it's cool feeling like I'm one step behind in really describing the range that I'm experiencing.  The main flavor base might still be something close to a well-roasted yam, with the sweetness and warmth that would emerge from that.  Warm mineral also stands out, but I think something along the line of root spice is what I'm talking about.  Or I suppose that could be a bark spice; the other range tied to mineral and the rest tends to mix.  It's hard to describe in detail but this works well because in spite of that complexity, the broad range this is covering, there are no negative aspects to work around.  Flavors are quite clean, sweetness is good, balance works, and none of those components seems off in any way.  A bit of mustiness, or mushroom, or less pleasant mineral would really throw off this final effect.  To play the devils' advocate the set of aspects and overall character is unusual, so not everyone would love it.  Beyond that it really works.

Krasnodar gaba:  compared to the last tea this is even more unusual in character, but what stands out drinking them one after the other is the split in one being complex and the other narrow in aspect-range scope.  This hasn't really shifted further; a pleasant light fruit tone, closest to cherry, stands out most, with some limited warmer range offsetting that.  The rest isn't that warm or heavy, towards cured hay, or even balsa wood.  In the end it's an odd effect, not unbalanced, but for sure not complex.  Pushing the tea and brewing it stronger might help, but that's only going to make that narrow range stronger.  There being some thickness to the feel helps, lending it that touch more complexity.  

The relatively neutral earthy tones are adding intensity to flavor, just in a way that's harder to notice or appreciate in relation to other range (fruit, floral, warm mineral tones, roasted yam).  Related to personal preference I can't say that I love this tea but I sort of get it.  It's not like for the Taiwanese oolong versions where an odd sourness made those hard to appreciate; that part transitioned away, for the most part.

Fourth infusion:

Yongde Ye Sheng:  really this is just getting into the range of character I would like most for this tea, per my last impression.  It will keep improving, but these review notes can't really cover 7 or 8 rounds because I just can't drink that much tea.  And I'm not going to throw some of the brewed tea away; to me that's disrespectful.  I get it how for tea professionals in lots of context that would seem silly, or stupid, or impractical, but I'm a tea drinker, not a tea professional.  If I don't want to discard brewed tea I don't have to.  If this review stops after 5 rounds instead of 8 that works for me.

Fruit range is complex for this tea, and mild earthy tone will keep picking up.  It's hinting a little towards cinnamon, and it will keep developing along that line, with fruit range that's closer to tart dropping out.  

Krasnodar black:  a heavier, deeper flavor keeps increasing.  It's almost like black licorice at this stage, a spice-like aspect.  In one sense this tea is great for exhibiting a lot of complexity, although I guess for the range being limited maybe it wouldn't match what someone expects.  Feel is smooth with some fullness, but there's no astringency.  To me that's positive, but I could imagine an Assam drinker seeing this as too thin.  Not to keep repeating, but the unconventional nature is either very positive or problematic, depending on how one takes that.

Krasnodar gaba:  maybe that last statement applies even more so to this tea.  It's narrower yet in aspect range, in a way that could naturally be interpreted as lacking depth and complexity, even balance.  A limited range of positive flavor does help, the light fruit tone, edging into sweet floral, with other relatively neutral earthier tones, along the lines of cured hay or mild root spice.  It might help to not expect this to be black tea at all.  I'm not sure what other range it maps better to though.  As with the Monsoon Thai black tea, the wild version, or maybe even more so their oolongs, it's kind of on its own page.

For being so mild this might work out well enough brewed "grandpa style," in a tea bottle or glass, left to stay in contact with the water as one drinks it.  That's one of the most traditional forms of brewing used in China, although it's seen as a "lower" form by some who are into Gong Fu practice, the relatively opposite approach of using a high proportion and short times, as I'm brewing these.  I've not been mentioning timing but I've been brewing these for around 15 seconds, maybe just over, plenty of time to get good infusion strength out of them, at these parameters.  For some teas you need to moderate that to offset one or more aspects (astringency, bitterness, or even flavor intensity) but these would all work at different infusion strengths, they are all quite mild.

It might be interesting to "push" them, to brew one more round closer to 30 seconds and see how that goes.  I think as I've been brewing them is more optimum, back at standard infusion strengths.

Fifth infusion:

Yongde Ye Sheng:  tartness picks back up for pushing infusion strength.  It's still pleasant, with a good bit of fruit coming across.  Part of that seems warm and rich to me, something towards dried longan, then other fruit range is lighter and quite different, like apple range, just not that of typical grocery store apples.  As a child we would go pick fresh apples at local orchards (in Western PA), and the range of apple types and flavors extends a lot beyond what is now sold in places like Wal-Mart.  Most of the types were better, as I remember, maybe just not as well-suited for large scale commercial production.  

Since this does include a bit of tartness it reminds me a little of how a fresh cider comes across, the fresh apple juice that naturally ferments as it contacts any air at all.  That can be really catchy, that final effect.  Maybe it's not closest to the range of best cider versions in this, and not nearly that intense, but it's along a similar line.

In tasting it in later rounds it occurred to me that it tastes closest to berry.  Doing reviews based on a single tasting version can miss something like that, the most obvious flavor interpretations, or other range.  I suppose getting a general impression across is the thing anyway, since interpretations would always vary.

Krasnodar black:  one interesting part of this tea has been that the flavor shifts every single round.  A lot of the same base is present, and it only changes so much round to round, but it does transition a lot.  Brewed a little stronger some tart / sour fruit comes out a little more, but the extra intensity also lets it show flavor depth across a broad range.  A lot of that is probably the effect of suggestion, but this reminds me a little more of apple in this round too.  Woodiness picks up a little too, in a range that's not easy to describe.  Coupled with that fruit and tanginess it's closest to types of fresh cut trees that wouldn't be familiar to many, or not so different than the scent of mowing down a "briar patch."  Like crab-apple wood scent, I guess, not that the description would clarify things for many.

Krasnodar gaba:  even with the bump in infusion strength this is still really mild.  It's interesting how there is a split in the range, how the light, sweet fruit and floral range is one part, and that doesn't necessarily connect with a soft and rich base of mild flavors.  Even though the effect is that of a tea without a lot of complexity it still works, those two notes that integrate nicely together.  For pushing the brewed strength the mild cured hay and root spice does edge a little toward a fresh wood tone, but in this case a very neutral version of one.  Like cutting into a sassafrass tree?  My wood harvesting days are so far back I'm just guessing at this point.  Cherry wood matches that fruit aspect, since the cut wood does contain the fruit scent, but I'm talking about the more neutral range instead.  Nothing like pine or oak, if that helps.  Maple wood can be a bit mild but this is even more mild.

Conclusions:

Three very different, interesting teas.  These have in common being unconventional.  I think if someone valued that experience, trying something new, these would work really well for them.  There was nothing really challenging about any of them, for lacking astringency, off flavors, or any negative range.  I suppose if someone dislikes tartness, as I did more in the past, then to some extent that could be a factor.

I personally don't think it's a good or bad thing to have a broad or narrow preference in the range of what you like in tea.  It's just a preference issue, only subjective.  I suppose local tea cultures might influence someone to experience more of one side or the other, to focus in on experiencing the highest quality versions of standard types, or explore common subthemes like aged teas, or else to branch out and try varying origin and styles of teas.  Getting to it all is relatively impossible, but putting focus on making the attempt would vary.

It goes without saying, but all of these teas would be fine brewed Western style.  Maybe even better; sometimes it does work out that mixing the aspect range of the narrow infusion time "slices" can be even more pleasant.  Only experimentation determines that, and as I keep saying personal preference would definitely be a factor.  I'll mess with these to see, but I probably won't check back in to mention that, since I keep moving on to trying other things.

they also sent some teaware; they've been experimenting with making that this year

really interesting character for those pieces; one is more "organic" than I'm used to seeing