Tea Mania 2018 Lucky Bee

There's a novel back-story to this review post, something that never came up in this blog before.  I already reviewed this tea, or thought I did, but had the labels wrong, so I really hadn't.  That related to there being alternate labels on some of the types of teas, with the one I received being the second version, one that doesn't appear on the website at all.  Almost all of the Chinese characters were the same between the expected label (the website version) and the other actual version for a Jing Mai tea, made more difficult to interpret for me not being able to read them (there was no English script, or picture image).

So I reviewed a 2016 Jing Mai Arbor "as a" 2018 Yiwu Lucky Bee, what I'm really reviewing here.  

I can use a website or program to scan Chinese lettering to a recognized form, then a second translation program to transliterate or translate that; I've done it.  It seems likely that wouldn't go as well for vertically written text.  At any rate it takes awhile, and I didn't do it in that previous case.

the other two cakes; the one in the back looks like the 2018 Lucky Bee website photo

2018 Lucky Bee other label, on the website; seemingly one character off the 2016 Jing Mai Arbor version

Reading back through that earlier post it didn't sound exactly like the earlier 2016 Yiwu version character.  It included a bit of pine flavor, and some extra wood tones, with floral, but in a different type and proportion.  

I considered retaining that review to use the wrong-attribution description to be informative, but it was just way too complex to sort out and present in such a way, even as citations.  I was comparing it to another 2019 Jing Mai version in that post (but autumn origin instead of spring, already reviewed alone here), so then to compare it to how this 2018 Yiwu Lucky Bee really is makes for way too much to cover.

Both of these teas are great (the 2018 Yiwu and the 2016 Jing Mai Arbor).  Both express floral tone, rich feel, and enough structure to be suitable to age a bit, with potential to improve further.  With one 2 years further along that might be different, but the starting point character defines how that arc will go, along with storage conditions.

With all that for context I'll keep this just a simple description of the tea, without much for aging potential speculation, tying back to what seems type-typical, or comparison to the 2016 version, which I've reviewed and re-reviewed.

Note that I tried it expecting it to be something it wasn't, Jing Mai instead of Yiwu, and didn't change the description in the notes to compensate for that.  This just points out where those comments relate, for it not matching expectations, or seeming similar to the 2016 Yiwu Lucky Bee, adding clarification in later editing as highlighted text.

Review:

First infusion:  a bit light; normally how that goes, how I set up the process.  This shows a lot of promise, even for being on the faint side.  Feel has some thickness to it; the intensity is good, even for it being very light in infusion strength.  It's bright, and a bit floral; that shines through.  The rest would be faint impressions or guesses; I'll take description further next round.  

Second infusion:  that's so good.  Warm honey sweetness stands out, even though it's really an underlying tone.  The floral range is complex; some is bright, some is warm.  Bitterness is quite moderate, at a good level to just lend some balance.  Astringency is on the light side too but it definitely has some structure and body.  The feel is rich, not so much creamy, but towards that thick kind of depth.  There could be some underlying mineral tone or even pine to this, but floral range definitely dominates.  It's complex and well-balanced, and intense; the way those impressions come together is very pleasant.

Related to where this is for aging, and for character related to needing age, it's in a good place.  It may have softened quite a bit in the four years it has been around, assuming that it is the 2016 Jing Mai version; the label is a little confusing, for not matching the website version [note that it wasn't, as already discussed].  It didn't lose its fresh edge.  That earlier Yiwu Lucky Bee version (I think also 2016) had felt like it needed time to age, initially, but the character seemed to imply great potential for positive change, then over a couple of years it happened, and it went from pleasant to very nice, one of my favorite teas I have yet to try.

These teas must be stored in a relatively dry place compared to here [but it does make more sense for this to have been a 2018 tea version].  Almost everywhere fits that description though.  Malaysia doesn't, and Taiwan is probably only slightly less humid, and less hot, but beyond that we are being steamed here in Bangkok, along with the teas we store.  

It's too long a story to go into here, involving too much speculation, but I don't think that wetter storage and faster aging are clearly a uniformly good thing.  For getting the process to "move along," sure, it's just better, but to me that's only definitely positive in cases when teas need a lot of transition (Xiaguan tuos, 7542, etc.).  For pushing a Dayi Jia Ji tuocha through some changes fast relatively humid storage is good; to me that type of tea isn't so subtle and refined that you lose a lot for rushing the process.  For teas like this I'm not so sure; maybe taking fermentation a little slower is better.

Third infusion:  I let this go longer, to see how that changes things, closer to 20 seconds than 10, which would be more standard for me for a high proportion.  It makes that astringency edge stand out quite a bit.  That could be hard to place; I'm definitely not saying that it's anything like a Dayi tuocha; more on the opposite side of that scale.  But it has enough structure that I think it will be even better in another year or two, as it softens and transitions that to creamy feel versus slight edge. [In retrospect this seeming on the young side makes more sense for it being 2 years old, and not 4; the 2016 Lucky Bee is in a great place for earlier structure shifting to full-feel depth].

I suppose bitterness stands out more too, but this is definitely not a bitter version of sheng, that just helps the rest balance, at this level.  Warm floral tone stands out more than bright range, but to me this combining both is what is giving it such positive character, for flavor.  The underlying mineral I would've just called mineral in the past, and now I've come to interpret that as close to pine needle in nature.  It's not woody, but kind of in between mineral and a more standard wood.  I'm not sure why this two phrase sentence format seems to fit right now.

I think I would like it better brewed lighter, more standard for me.  This approach helps "see" what that edge is really like, rather than softening it through dropping the infusion strength level, which shifts the experienced balance.  It comes across as really clean, in flavor and feel, even for being what I would consider slightly overbrewed.

Fourth infusion:  lighter, right back where it should be.  It's interesting how this shares some character aspects from the other Lucky Bee.  Local terroir and plant type inputs tying aspects and character to a local origin are only part of the story, and these may be grown under similar conditions, and were processed by the same people, the same tea producers.

That mineral aspect picks up a little; floral range is dropping into a slightly reduced balance.  Often more challenging sheng need a couple of infusions, or three or four, to "loosen up," but this is developing in a different way, just shifting overall balance.  It's a dry sort of mineral, like slate, definitely overlapping with pine.

Fifth infusion:  descriptions are going to start to repeat; it's not so different than last round.  The tone is warming a little, for some reason.  The mineral is less dry, light pine range is shifting, and the floral tone includes less bright range and more warm, rich range.  I'm not going to do the floral aspects justice but the bright range reminds me of plumeria (light and sweet, and intense), and the warmer part extends out towards orchid.  It seems like a hint of warm citrus is picking up, a dried orange peel, towards red grapefruit in flavor versus tangerine, so a deeper, warmer version of citrus.  

It's good.  The strength isn't any one aspect range, but how it balances.  Aftertaste experience is significant but that could be longer in duration.  That would matter more if I valued tasting the tea as intensely after a minute versus the experience carrying over for an extra half-minute, but I sort of don't.  If it disappears from your mouth then that drops the complexity of the experience, but I haven't learned to value tasting the tea minutes later.  

I think the feel will be better in another two or three years, once it continues further along with fermentation.  It's my impression that this is only as far along as it would be after a couple of years spent here, or maybe even less, so the process is unfolding half as fast.  But again slower might be better, related to retaining a balance of freshness and intensity.

Sixth infusion:  I'm not bored with the tea but taking notes gets old.  Work and weekend outings have me ran down; I'm working with less energy and internal capacity for attention, not to mention mental clarity.  I'll give this a couple more rounds and leave off, related to the description part.

Citrus seemed to shift a little; this is more lemony.  Odd; I wouldn't have expected that.  It's possible that a very slight change in timing, giving this 7 or 8 seconds to brew versus 10, lightened the tone, and changed the results.  Intensity is still great, even though I think I did brew this that much lighter.

Sweetness is good; I haven't been talking about that.  The mineral layer sort of offset that, and are distinct from that part of the experience, while the floral and fruit seems to connect with it.  Some sheng that is similar can seem slightly sweeter but this level works well.

Seventh infusion:  the character is picking up a bit of a butter cookie sort of tone; I didn't see that coming either.  It's strange this can transition so much.  Based on the first 4 or 5 rounds I really thought that was it, that the same aspects would keep shifting in balance, based on how that set normally works out.  Not this time.  It's not losing intensity--not much, anyway--but that feel is softening just a little, so if anything the balance might be slightly better.  That early floral complexity and intensity was really cool though; I'm not sure it works to say that it's improving.

Eighth infusion:  not so different than last round, which is pretty good.  I am dropping the note-taking here.

Conclusions:  

Reading back through this it does specifically reference it being odd that this resembles the 2016 Yiwu as much as it did, for me expecting it to be a different origin tea.  That's positive, I suppose, an odd form of success in blind tasting.  

The 2016 Jing Mai is closer to this in character than I would expect, just with higher level of wood tone and pine flavor range.  The amount of astringency / structure isn't all that different; this Yiwu must have started out as a more "approachable" tea for that to be relatively even with a two year age difference.  It has enough of that to enable some positive transition though, to convert it to creamy fullness, as occurred with the 2016 Yiwu Lucky Bee version.

On the subject of value, these teas are a lot better than the price range indicates.  I wrote a longer explanation of that point but it seems as well to just leave it at that.

Dento Hon Gyokuro from Tea Mania

I've still running behind in trying all of the really exceptional teas a couple of vendors have shared, with a good bit more from Tea Mania to get to after this one (and I still have more from Moychay; I'll get back to those).  I can only review teas so fast and beyond that it seems to burn me out, and readers, to go beyond one or two reviews per week.

This general type of tea is familiar, Gyokuro, but I haven't tried that many versions of it.  In one sense really good Gyokuro would be wasted on me because I'm not experienced enough with the range to place a version.  In a different sense anyone can try any good version of any tea and appreciate the positive aspects they experience, just not on the level of detail as someone with a lot more prior exposure to better versions.  I'll keep this simple and relate what those positive aspects are like.

As for brewing the main mistake to avoid in preparing this tea style is going cool enough; recommendations stress that using conventional green tea water temperatures is too hot.  As I recall 125 to 140 F / 50 to 60 C is cool enough, with some saying that going on the cooler side of that range is better, even though that's getting down towards bathwater temperature.

I'm not even going to talk about parameters used for this trial; suffice it to say that the tea deserves better control than I'm applying, but at least I'm sticking to using cooler water.  This isn't really intended as a review of this tea prepared optimally, but hopefully at least a reasonably well-prepared version.

Review

The first infusion is fantastic; kind of what I expected.  Green tea isn't my thing, in general, but the best versions of teas have a way of transcending typical experience range.  I've spoken many times of how sometimes the best versions of a type or range can help with a type profile "clicking."  After that experience a type or aspect set can make more sense, so that even lower quality or less interesting related versions might seem better after.  I've tried nice Gyokuro before, so it's not new ground in that sense (but it's been a couple of years).  To some degree it's just easier to limit the range of what I do try to pursue, since all the other tea types across China, Taiwan, India, Sri Lanka, and the rest of SE Asia are way too much to get to anyway.

This tea is sweet, and of course umami stands out.  It tastes a little like seaweed but that aspect isn't as pronounced as it can be.  It's complex; it tastes a bit like sweet corn too, like the freshest, sweetest version you might ever try, like the butter and sugar two-colored version that was a local favorite back in Western PA.  The best versions we would get were picked up from an uncle there who farmed out of a love of tending the land, even though it wasn't an overly profitable pursuit.  From there that vegetal range includes a bit of fresh sprout flavor, that tasty, really green, hard to place range.  There are also interesting pronounced mineral undertones, which are tied to that.  But description by aspect label won't really do the experience justice.  The way the sweetness, brightness, depth, vegetal themed range, and umami all balance is what makes it work.

brewing in a basket infuser device, probably not optimum

Just describing the umami aspect itself is difficult.  In seaweed, one of the more pronounced sources of the aspect, the savory nature is paired with strong vegetal flavors, and that particular seaweed range is quite limited in this.  It sounds crazy but it's a little like chicken stock, or maybe even poached salmon, but in a way that works.  One part of that comes across as sea salt, as a sweet, mineral intensive version of salt; that's different.  That first infusion was on the light side, brewed especially cool; it will be interesting to try the tea on a second round and see how it changes.

On the second infusion the flavor deepened, probably as much from parameter variance as standard infusion cycle transition.  There's still plenty of sweetness and umami but the mineral undertone ramped up, and seaweed vegetal nature edged up slightly.  The effect is less like bright sweet corn and some type of sprouts, still including that range, but moved to add a bit more seaweed, and stronger on the sprout, or maybe onto a different version of one.  A touch of cooked vegetable joins in too, which could be interpreted in lots of ways, maybe not far from seared zucchini.  I didn't mention it last round but it's interesting the way that even for being prepared slightly on the light side (since the tea doesn't need concentrated infusion to be intense) the aftertaste draws out in an interesting way.

In a comment in a Tea Fix podcast Leona mentioned liking Japanese green teas prepared strong, to be drank like a shot, sort of shifting brewed green tea towards the experience of matcha.  That would work for this, but it wouldn't seem appropriate, maybe a better approach for getting a good umami hit out of Sencha versus good Gyokuro.  I think I will try this brewed stronger next round, to see how that changes things.  Most likely the transition to more mineral and stronger vegetal range that occurred between the first two infusions would only continue so far, probably moving into more cooked vegetable range, or onto stewed spinach, if the water used is too hot.

In the third infusion the seaweed finally picks up.  Not the umami, which had stood out already, the vegetal range that reminds me of seaweed.  It's still complex, with a lot going on, but in this round that one flavor aspect joins the others in level of intensity.  Seaweed itself comes in a range of different types, with many actually spanning complex flavor sets on their own.  Since the flavors in earlier rounds had included vegetal scope with a good bit of mineral and pronounced umami it already had overlapped.  On a different interpretation this may taste more like cooked spinach instead.

my wife loved poke in Hawaii, raw tuna with seaweed;  me not so much (credit).

Conclusion

I drink Gyokuro so infrequently it's hard to place if this is a good version or a great one.  At a guess it's quite good, but that is a guess.  Once you get to know a tea type better "good" starts to take on a broad spectrum of potential meanings that someone who infrequently drinks the type wouldn't be familiar with.  Judgement becomes more specific, about trueness-to type, and aspect variation within a narrow range.  Markers that serve as quality indicators for that type become familiar, which often also evolve to become preferred characteristics, not just a way to tell how good the tea is.  I'm not there with Japanese green tea or Gyokuro.  That said, I'm not completely new to the general range either, and broad exposure to lots of teas helps to some extent.

Quality level versus what else is available for options and the issue of value both tend to come up.  To some extent the price a tea is sold at indicates how good a vendor implies that tea is.  It's a mistake to think the two would necessarily correlate, because it's up to individual vendors to decide how to brand, market, and price their teas.  More direct sourcing chains open the option for a vendor to sell better tea for less.  Or a vendor could buy a very average version of a tea directly from a local farmer and inflate the price to an entirely unjustified level.  An interesting and true back-story doesn't define how good a tea is, the tea character and aspects do.

Some vendors probably can't identify quality level or trueness to type themselves, lacking the background experience, even if they do travel to Asia annually, so not every case of what seems like misrepresentation would have to be based on opportunistic deception.  Based on prior exposure to Tea Mania's teas, and especially to two versions of in-house produced sheng I've recently tried (like this Yiwu version and Jing Mai version), Peter of Tea Mania knows what he's buying and is fair about sharing savings from buying more directly, in my opinion.


I'll pass on the Tea Mania's vendor description to add more background:

This Yame Gyokuro is cultivated and processed according to the "Dento Hon" method. "Dento Hon" is a very unspoiled and natural way to make tea. The tea bushes are not trimmed into rows as usually but let naturally grow. Such tea fields are not very picturesque and it makes it impossible to do harvest by machines but but in return the reward is an extraordinary aroma. In addition, these tea bushes are at least 20 days prior to harvest shaded with straw mats. The straw mats are called in Yame "Sumaki" while elsewhere they are called "Honzu".

Harvest: May 2017 
Taste: Sweet aroma with a immense amount of umami.
Origin: Hoshino, Prefecture Fukuoka, Japan.
Varietal: Yamakai
Preparation: Appx. 5g per serving, temperature 50 - 60°C,  time 1-2 min.
Tip: Use rather a higher leaf to water ratio and infuse repeatedly for short time. First infusion max. 60s and all futher infusions only 30s as the leaves are already soaked. Use a Kyusu tea pot.

not the same farm, but showing how cool managed nature looks in Japan (credit)

Sounds good, right?  I have no further comment about all that.

I don't usually mention price in reviews but why not; this is selling for $30 USD for 50 grams.  That sounds about right, and could be very fair for what this tea is.  I'm not really mentioning it to evaluate that part, just adding it for completeness.  One might wonder, how does this compare to a standard pricing range for Gyokuro, or how would types and pricing vary across those of different quality levels?  I couldn't place this (I keep saying), but it's simple enough to look up what one of the main Japanese vendors sells (based on input from a Japanese tea blogger about what businesses represent main sources; even that I'm not familiar with).

Ito En lists a number of Gyokuro versions, spanning $15 to $30 per ounce, with a hand-picked version listed at the top of that range, at double the cost of the this Tea Mania tea.  It doesn't work to place the versions in relation to each other by website description, and only a very experienced taster could do such comparison justice, but it seems likely this is a good value tea.  How good depends on quality, and the tea seeming very positive makes for a good start on that.


Luckily Peter passed on enough of this tea I can try it a few times.  I'd probably shift the interpretation a bit as I get parameters down better, and familiarity beyond that.  Reviewing teas doesn't work like that; it takes too long to do a review just based on one take, and combining two sets of notes is quite difficult.

I did actually try this a couple times after writing that review (I'm behind in converting draft notes to finished posts), but don't have much to add.  When I drink teas without making review notes I kind of just enjoy them without doing much for evaluation or internal description.  Sometimes an extra aspect, interpretation, or idea jumps out but this just kept seeming like a really nice version of a higher quality Japanese green tea.

Peter shared a picture of the plants being shaded

Extra local Bangkok life section

part of Bangkok, a composite picture of Paragon mall, a temple, the sky-train, and some skyline

the last day at that local zoo I kept talking about

my memory of that place, my favorite people enjoying things there

paddleboating, a bit hot from going for speed

a week earlier at that zoo, with the other one

Teamania produced 2016 Lucky Bee Yiwu sheng pu'er

I've tried just one Fukamushi Sencha sample sent by my vendor friend from Switzerland, Peter Pocajt, from Teamania, now onto a sheng as well.  I think I mentioned that I've actually met him in real life on a visit through Bangkok; always nice to move beyond just exchanging messages like that.  A lot of vendors are true tea enthusiasts too and that really comes across better when you meet someone.

This is a 2016 sheng from Yiwu (2016 Yiwu Lucky Bee); not really a sample, he hooked me up with a cake of it, with the rest of the teas samples instead.


One distinction that has come up in sheng is that some are produced to be drinkable when young, and others made in a traditional way that allows for aging, and also include more bitterness and astringency.  That also varies by production region, and other factors, by plant type, and so on.  That first statement implied reference to processing step choices that I've not really went into; there's more on that subject in this post about "oolong pu'er."  That's a bit of a misleading category nickname that references sheng style differences, as a pu'er that may have been produced allowing slightly more oxidation to occur, or else just based on processing that enables it being a bit smoother and more drinkable.


Since Yiwu tends to be approachable when young (which varies, of course) I'm not as worried about limiting this tasting to talking about aging potential, to how this tea is a bit rough going now but might really be good in another decade.  I would expect the processing to be on the traditional side (just a guess), so even for being two years old I'd expect it to not be a soft, smooth, sweet, bright-floral version of tea, to be on the intense side.  But we'll see.  It works to check on the vendor's description and even pricing to get some idea of what to expect but I tasted this without looking into that, since it's as well to keep the process more blind.

Review

The first short infusion after a fast rinse is a little light so this round will just be first impressions.  The tea is good; that stands out already, already obvious from the first sip.  There's an intensity to it that stands out beyond it being light.  Floral tone is there, and some underlying mineral.  That mineral tone is a little unusual, similar to that bright, sweet, distinctive version found in Taiwanese high mountain oolongs.  I'm not saying this tea reminds me of an oolong; I'm saying the mineral aspect is common to that.  Or it really might be the pairing of a certain range of floral tone with a particular mineral aspect, a bright, sweet note that somehow connects with an underlying flinty, light mineral.  It's really catchy.  There is a bit of bitterness and astringency but this is in a balance that's going to work well, at least per initial impression.

just getting started

I gave this over 15 seconds to get going in the next round, since it will take more than two infusions to have it unfurled and brewing.  For once I'm not using a packed-gaiwan for proportion, in part to keep the amount I drink reasonable since I'm going out to meet someone for tea right after this tea.  I'm living out a one-track-mind theme, or two really, counting my kids.

The style is unusual; it's very pleasant, but not similar to a lot of what I tend to try.  It has floral aspect to it, so it's not completely off what I've tried for other Yiwu, but even that comes across just a little differently.  I'm already getting the impression that this is better than what I usually drink.  The balance is really nice, the way it's even across that floral range, with sweetness that's pronounced but also moderate, not intense.  The mineral range is also prominent but in normal proportion.  The tea is a bit light on bitterness and astringency but both are present, to a degree that works.  I may not do justice to what I mean, about which part or which balance of typical aspects works out better.

On the atypical side there's a catchy aspect that goes beyond normal Yiwu floral tone, but related to that, that's hard to place.  It might just be a lighter, sweeter, more subtle, and brighter version of a floral tone, or it could even extend slightly towards fruit.  It's a short step towards lemon citrus or pandan leaf, the herb that tastes like Fruity Pebbles cereal to me, but it doesn't quite get to those.

This is kind of a strange place to add the idea but I'm just starting to get a cold, probably working with about 90% of my normal taste sensitivity, at a guess.  I don't mean that I'm congested; I couldn't taste tea if that were the case.  I just feel different, and that will adjust my palate, dialing down sensitivity a little.  It's not an ideal tea to be drinking related to that; I could be reviewing a sweet, rich, basic and straightforward Chinese black or Assam instead, and that factor might not matter much then.  I have to go with intuition on what to try when though; what I feel like getting to.

after opening up

Another substantial length infusion later (around 15 seconds) the intensity of this tea really dials up.  It's still quite approachable, but the main impression is of it being balanced.  One of Bach's cello suites came on just now (the cable classic music program is on); that's an old favorite.  I'd see it as a good sign if I were into such things, but I'm just spacey and a bit random, not really superstitious.

Back to this tea.  There might be something in that set of aspects that supports why it works so well for me, why it seems so different, beyond the "balance" idea.  That underling mineral range is definitely a little different, not completely typical in form, and more pronounced.  The floral range isn't intense but slightly off the most standard aspect form for Yiwu (not that those are all one thing, of course), and it works well.  This was probably some really intense tea two years ago when first produced, or even more last year, with the aspects falling into a balance that really works now.

On that paradigm of a split between sweet, smooth, and approachable versus bitter, astringent, and structured with potential for aging it sort of doesn't seem to fit.  At a guess I'd like this tea better now than in another decade but I also get the sense it has enough complexity across a broad range of aspects to stand up to aging transition.  I'd expect it to improve instead of just fading.  It's not the kind of tea you'd want to forget you have for a half dozen years and check back in with later but I'm guessing it also wouldn't be wasted by hanging around.  Those are just guesses, though.  It's not really at full-blast intensity as some sheng comes across, sometimes across a lot of aspect range; it's well balanced.

A number of infusions in it's not really transitioning too much.  That one catchy brighter, sweeter note pulls back a little with a bit more warmth and depth picking up.  The taste is still really clean.  The feel is nice, not thin, with aftertaste trailing nicely.  I bet I'm losing the most read on that part, related to my normal sense of taste being slightly off.  As far as what I'm not describing well--a lot about this tea, it seems--that mineral range is also different; it has more depth to it.  One part is a bit light and dry, a little flinty, and another warmer and deeper, more like the scent of a well or spring, and it trails over towards spice range just a little, but doesn't get there.  I suppose the part that's catchy is really all of it together, the complexity along with the balance.

On the next round it occurs to me that part of what I like might be a lingering sweetness, that gives the experience an overall extra intensity.  It's not the form that seems to be what is usually referred to as hui gan; not so much tied to bitterness, extending into a taste that occurs on the back of your mouth and throat, a sensation that pairs directly with a taste.  It occurs throughout your whole mouth instead, a bit lighter, more bright-taste associated versus heavier and sweet.  One "test" a friend passed on for hui gan is to taste cool but not cold water after the round, and that sensation will become even sweeter.  The effect is different for this; it's still noticeable along with the water, but not ramped up in sweetness as for that other different aspect.  Anyway.

It would seem normal for someone to interpret this sweetness as some type of bright, sweet, but mild fruit instead of a floral tone.  It's not completely dis-similar to dried mango but not quite that.  I'll have to go so I'll give this one more round of trying it and that'll do, even though it's probably something like half-way through it's cycle.

Since it's tea-specific I might mention what I'm off to do; a practice run for an outdoor, in-the-park tea tasting to be held next weekend.  I'm meeting a friend, Sasha, to test out how heating water and other details go.  I bet one finding will be that it's too hot in Bangkok to drink tea outdoors from 11 AM to 1, even during the slightly cooler rainy season.  It's probably only around 28 or 29 C in here right now (82-84 F), which is cool for us, but we're tucked down in a miniature jungle grove in this house.  Since I'm editing this a few days later I could say how that small scale tasting trial went but I'll hold off until the next post to add that instead.

that local park (Benjasiri), the entrance of it

a giant bo tree there; the Buddha sat under one when he was enlightened 

The tea is the same; not shifting, quite nice still.  That sweetness might have shifted just a little towards a light sweet citrus, really just as much a fruit tone as a floral aspect at this point.  It had reminded me of lemon zest earlier but now it seems closer to mandarin orange; warmed up a little, less bright but richer.

Maybe this tea surprises me for being a bit unconventional as much as for being good and well balanced.  The plant type source might be part of that, but I'm guessing that it's everything together, using slightly older and more natural growth plant leaf input, and processing it slightly differently.  It might even work to say "better," related to that processing.

Vendor description

Since this tea has something of a story I'll mention that product description here:


This bingcha is made of tea leaves from teamaster Yans Ming own tea plantation in Yiwu. We are especially proud about this tea because it is one the first Bingcha we made by ourselves.

Together with our friends, the tea masters Yang and Panda we went on the search for the ideal pu-erh tea leaves. However, far we did not need search as Yang's tea plantation offered this kind of tea leaves. And because Yang Ming doesn't use pesticides nor artificial fertilizers are especially the bees are very happy.

Harvest: Spring 2016, Pressed: 2016
Type: Sheng
Taste: Honey sweet and a bit mineral.
Origin: Yiwu, Xishuangbanna, prefecture, Yunnan province, China.
Preparation: Appx. 3g per tea pot, temperature 100°C. Rinse the tea leaves before infusing with boiling water.
Tip: This tea is ideal to mature a few years.


I would have met Peter right around then, maybe just after that visit there two years ago.  All of that description works.  The aging recommendation in particular does; the tea is nice now but I get the impression it won't fade, it will gain complexity and depth over some number of years.  As far as long term aging prospect, where this would be in 10 to 15 years, I really don't know; that goes beyond what I should be taking a guess at.

The price was another surprise.  I ordinarily don't cover that in reviews but if there's something unusual to say I will; this lists for around $45 now.  Based on other teas I've tried of different quality levels that's probably on the low side, and double that might still work for a fair market price, or somewhere in the middle with good value still remaining a selling point.  All sheng tends to jump up fairly quickly in price as years of aging occur, which is kind of fair, since proper storage and aging provides an added value, and this is probably a good version to pick up while it's still listing for this.  It's no experimental version of sheng, not one of those cases where a new vendor / producer is sorting out processing details; whoever made this is quite familiar with how to produce sheng.

For someone new to better tea sheng might not be the most natural starting point, so there's that as a factor, but this has ran too long to cover another tangent about all that, and in general it works to assume that only people a bit down the path are reading this.

Yunnan sheng processing, from Peter's blog

Or at least all that is my take.  Beyond processing variations changing all pu'er aspects at a guess it might also be slightly atypical in character--mostly in quite positive ways--partly because the plant source isn't what I'm used to.  It doesn't seem to be plantation grown factory tea, or "wild tea," an older source naturally grown version.  Per my limited experience those are quite subtle in overall character and different in flavor aspect range, but this is instead somewhere in the middle, not exactly like a conventional grown plant or a "wild" source (forest grown; harvested when mixed with other plants).  Peter's Teamania linked blog post doesn't really go into that but he does mention some details about traveling in Yunnan a couple of years ago here, of course with photos of tea plants and processing.

the cat had mixed feelings about this pose

Teamania Fukamushi Sencha (sencha that's steamed longer)

very dark green tea

I'll cite the vendor description towards the end

It'll be nice to take a break from tea types that make up frequently recurring themes here, and this Japanese green tea definitely counts as that (a higher end version of sencha, it seems).  I've emphasized that green tea is my least favorite among all the types in the past, but that's offset by better versions of different tea styles allowing aspects sets to make sense in a different way.

Oddly enough I started on Japanese green tea for loose tea.  We visited Japan and Vietnam around 8 years ago and I brought back Japanese green tea from both places.  And also tea from Laos around that time frame, but that tea was local, not made in any particular established style and not good quality.  I moved onto Thai oolongs more next, and later got into Chinese teas, partly tied to visiting China a couple of times.  Not very far along all that I just let the Japanese teas drop.

Really good and bad versions of Japanese green teas both tend to taste like seaweed, but in a bad or mediocre version that's grassy, not completely clean in effect, relatively astringent and more vegetal than sweet.  In a good version it all balances, with the umami working well with other clean flavors.


Seaweed really isn't just one thing anyway; there are lots of types that taste different ways.  It all takes getting used to but once you get past the initial "eww!" they can be interesting, not so much as something to eat by itself, but as an ingredient that works along with others.  It's hard to pin down why seaweed doesn't taste better than it does to most people.  Unfamiliarity, probably.  I had it with sushi or in other Japanese foods some back in the States but it came up a lot more often living in Hawaii (Japanese food and seaweed both, really).  One form of seaweed is the dried sheets they use to make sushi, a bit similar to the version that's found in miso soup, but different.  My wife loved poke, raw tuna mixed with a completely different form of seaweed, a chewier version that's not leafy.

People can go out in the ocean and just pick it there, if they know what they're doing.  My wife is on close terms with a local family and they would.  They had an "in" for local sea salt too, if I'm remembering that right.

That Hawaiian family sort of took her in.  Asians in general don't limit family as much to who is born of common genetics.  Of course that's not intended as any sort of claim, as saying "my wife is Hawaiian now," because she's definitely not.  It was an interesting and positive experience there, knowing them.  My wife had no intention of setting it aside after we moved back to Thailand, and naming our kids Keoni and Kalani is something of a tribute to what that means to her.

near our old apartment in Honolulu, on Kapahulu street

it wasn't very far from Diamondhead

the Alawai canal, in the other direction, the northern edge of Waikiki

he was so cute six years ago

not at all traditional Japanese teaware

I actually met this vendor in Bangkok once, Peter Pocajt, after we had talked for awhile.  He founded the Teapedia wiki site, and varies in how active he seems to be in social media, probably busy with this shop, different work, and other interests.  He gets out; I met him on the way back from a sourcing trip in China, and he was just in Japan this year.  All that travel must be helping his tea selection, which I'll say more about in reviews.


Onto tasting issues.  This would be a perfect opportunity to specify exact brewing parameters to make for a controlled, repeatable trial, since I will finally get back to reviewing a tea brewed Western style.  But I won't.  I will brew the tea using much cooler water (70 C sounds standard for sencha, unless I'm remembering that wrong), but I'll pass on the measuring weight and timing.

Review

Wow!  That's different.  Heavy on seaweed, sure, but with interesting layers going on beyond that, which balances in with the rest.  Sweetness stands out; that's normal.  One aspect reminds me of fresh popped popcorn; that works well with the rest.  It's not too far off the toasted rice aspect that I love in Longjing.  That Chinese tea type is the only one I drink regularly, and if versions emphasize that over grassiness I like them.

Umami is pronounced.  Of course that's the basic flavor described best as "savory," one that is so hard to pin down further that it still goes by a Japanese name.  Maybe that stands out the most; this tea reminds me of other gyokuro I've tried, where that aspect was a lot stronger than in any sencha I'd ever tried.  It almost comes across as a touch of salt, but it's different.

There isn't much for vegetable aspects coming to mind to describe.  Seaweed, sure, and that trails a good bit into fresh spinach, but beyond that those other layers / aspects stand out.  The flavor is nicely balanced, sweet and clean.


Overall this works.  Someone else could place it better on a scale of other sencha.  It's finer ground than some other versions I've tried, and the umami is more pronounced, with plenty of sweetness and complexity.  The astringency is limited and the overall feel and flavor effect is very rich.  It's hard to compare it to similar teas since I can't remember the last time I tried a good version of sencha, and may or may not have ever reviewed one in this blog.  It could've been five years ago, accounting for that.


That's a little odd since I was in Japan myself around four years ago (for the second time), but I didn't put effort into finding different better green teas.  I wanted to try something else from Japan, to test out a black tea from there, and the search part worked but the version wasn't great.  So it goes trying one random tea version.


I would expect it to make a few rounds of interesting, positive tea but I'm bored with the two-page posts myself, flavor by flavor extending round after round.  Describing a second infusion will inform a bit about natural transition across those.

Second infusion

The tea did transition a good bit.  Someone more on the page of optimizing sencha brewing to their own preference would pass on a better best-case more-objective review, how this tea fits their preference and expectations of type related to quality level, but I still can communicate what I'm experiencing.

The brightness exchanged a bit for depth.  That one fresh popcorn aspect--which wasn't really a main flavor element--traded out for more vegetal range, again seaweed with some fresh spinach, but in a different presentation this round.  Mineral seems to pick up, giving it more base.  Sweetness is still pronounced, and umami level hasn't necessarily changed, but the way the aspect range all fits together is different.  It's still quite limited in astringency level and full in flavor and richness.  It's still catchy and pleasant; I like the tea.  It's pretty far from the "buy whatever you find" sencha versions I'd mostly tried in the past.

People might get the impression that changes a lot in another country, if you visit a tea producing nation, that if you buy lower quality level teas there they'd still be a lot better.  To a very limited extent that's true, but to some degree it's not.  Of course green tea from a local market or supermarket booth in China is better than grocery store gunpowder you buy in the states, but it's not necessarily better than specialty tea versions, and normally probably wouldn't be.  You can run across pleasant and interesting surprises buying tea that way, some unusually good versions, but also some bad tea.  I probably should've put more effort into it on that last visit to Japan but I was really focused on the theme of trying something other than green tea.

It's hard to describe how vegetal range ramps up in this; it gains complexity as much or more than intensity.  It might extend into grassiness, but not the "straight grass" version I and some others tend to be turned off by in some green teas, more that complex range in fresh cut hay.  For everyone who grew up outside of farm country that's not going to mean much.  When you cut hay it smells a bit like grass, but different, more complex.  Quite soon in starts to change in smell, as the tea begins a curing process, just not soon enough that it changes before you bale it and store it in a barn (which is a lot of work; helping someone do that can make for a very long day).  Aging / drying / curing hay has a cool smell, sweet and complex and vegetal, but dried hay is a totally different thing.  I'm talking about the new version here, when it's first cut.  It's not a form of grass, at least not like your lawn is, so it's not grassy in the same sense.  It's simpler to just say it's closer to kale but that's not exactly right.

The flavors still work.  Umami is still really pronounced, a bit intense.  I might've liked it better that first round but this is still pleasant.  This tea is so complex that drinking it once probably wouldn't get you to the same experience you'd have a dozen sessions later.  Maybe you'd burn out on it and give it away, or more likely come to love it even more as you gain exposure.  For someone who likes green tea more the fit would be that much more natural.  It's nothing like teas they serve in Japanese restaurants, any more than a Chinese restaurant is really going to pour you a good version of Da Hong Pao or Shui Xian.

Tasting Conclusions

There're probably plenty more to say about transitions over the next couple of rounds (it was similar, and still good), and I really didn't even start in on aspect range related to feel or aftertaste, as one might dwell on related to other tea type reviews.  I liked the tea; I'll mostly leave it at that, beyond that earlier description.  It works for an example of how better versions of teas transcend preference for a type to some extent.  I think just about anyone could appreciate this tea, with or without loving Japanese green teas first.  Unless they just couldn't handle umami as a main flavor component; then it wouldn't work at all.

I won't switch over to drinking Japanese green teas just yet but someday I probably will cycle back to those more.

Vendor input about the tea

What I've said so far didn't seem to capture it.  I'll mention a bit about Peter's input about the tea, starting with citing a blog post covering travels in Japan.  Since he's Swiss everyone from outside there (except maybe Germany) would have to hit the extra "translate this page" button.  I commented in picture posts of his travel in Facebook that those images show how beautiful and orderly Japan looks.  They even keep nature tidy and perfect looking there.  I'm from a beautiful part of the country in the US, from Pennsylvania, which means "Penn's woods," but nature there tends to go its own way a bit, beautiful but less orderly.

just beautiful, which is just normal for Japan (credit the Teamania blog)

Here is the vendor page for that tea, with the idea here being citing what he says about it:


This exceptional Fukamushi Sencha is grown in the small village of  Ujitawara . Fukamushi Sencha is characterized by a longer steaming time compared to standard Sencha. As a result, the tea is milder and the tea flow gets more into the foreground. 

For our premium Fukamushi Sencha the excellent tea variety Saemidori in Shincha quality is used by which only the young and tender shoots are used. Tea made from Saemidori tastes much sweeter than tea of ​​a Yabukita which is normally used. Since Saemidori is less frost-resistant than Yabukita, unfortunately, it can only be used in southern regions such as Kyoto or Kagoshima and is therefore also a special rarity for Japanese!

The village of Ujitawara is located in Kyoto Prefecture, not far from the tea town of Uji. Kyoto itself is known as the cradle of Japanese tea-making and many well-known teas such as Matcha and Gyokuro have their origins here.

This exceptional tea is packed in fine Washi paper. 

Harvest:  April 2017  
Taste:  Sweet and refreshing aroma with an incredible amount of umami. 
Origin:  Ujitawa, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. 
Variety:  Saemidori 
Preparation: Per pot about 3g, water temperature 50 - 60 ° C, brewing time max. 1 min. 
Tip: Take more tea leaves and pour in for a short and several times. First infusion max. 45s and each additional 20s since the leaves are already soaked. The best is a Kyusu teapot suitable.

one more of Keo as a three year old; so cute

That's why you should always read those descriptions before brewing unfamiliar versions; it might have turned out better using slightly cooler water.  There's more to try it again.  Gyokuro brewing recommendations do sometimes suggest using 50 C water, getting way down towards bath-water temperature; so it goes with some Japanese green teas.




This would be a natural place to close but I wanted to cite just a little more about how that long steaming time works out and typical character from a really nice blog about Japanese teas, My Japanese Green Tea by Ricardo Caicedo:


Fukamushicha (深蒸し茶, deep-steamed tea) is a green tea that is initially steamed for a longer time than what it’s considered to be usual. It’s commonly produced in the prefecture of Shizuoka.

Normally, the steaming process for green tea runs for about 30 seconds to 1 minute, and the resulting tea is called futsuumushicha (普通蒸し茶, normal steamed tea).  In contrast, fukamushicha is steamed for longer than 1 or 2 minutes...

...The steaming process makes a big difference in the flavor of green tea. The main advantages of using the fukamushi process is that the astringency is suppressed, while gaining more body and sweetness.

The longer steaming time makes the leaves very soft, and during the rolling process the tips often break. This small particles make the fukamushicha look like if it was a lower-quality tea, but it really isn’t. When brewed it also has a darker color, with sediments on the bottom. One would think that it’s a very bitter tea, such as funmatsucha.


So far so good; this tea seemed like that in character.  I hadn't really thought it through but it was odd that a tea so finely ground would be that low in astringency, even given using cooler water as is common across green tea types.  Green teas vary in flavor range and astringency but the less whole a leaf is should increase the infusion of the related compounds that cause astringency.  This is quite noticeable in black teas and sheng pu'er, both of which vary a lot within those broad types, with the tendency for somewhat broken and finer chopped leaves to ramp up that aspect range more as the leaf-piece sizes decrease, as one separate factor among others.

Related to all that Ricardo mentions other factors tied to this difference:

The appearance of fukamushicha is a disadvantage, although as a bonus, the small particles means that the health benefits increase. How come? Just as  with matcha and funmatsucha, when drinking the small solid particles you’ll get more of the nutrients found in green tea (such as catechins), plus the ones that aren’t water-soluble like fiber, some vitamins, and chlorophyll.  


So there's that.  It'll add up to about half of that blog post but I'll also mention his brewing advice as well for completeness:


It’s brewed just like sencha, but with a lower steeping time.  The general guideline is: 60 to 100 ml ( 2 to 3.33 oz) per cup, 3 gr (3/4 of a teaspoon), 70 to 80°C (158°F to 176°F), 40 seconds of steeping time.


I was using that temperature, on the low side, but a higher proportion and shorter infusion times, so more like the alternative version listed in the Teamania site, but around 70 C as opposed to 50-60.

Anyway, the tea was really nice.  It was probably too good for me to fully appreciate just how good it is.  It'll be even better once I get brewing parameters dialed in a bit and slightly more re-acclimated to the general range.