Bangkok Chinatown shop Tie Guan Yin and Jin Jun Mei

I'm reviewing two more tea samples from my favorite Chinatown tea shop, Jip Eu.  I was there to buy some other teas and they gave me them (many thanks).  

It turned out they're low-medium oxidation level / high roast level Tie Guan Yin (Chinese Fujian rolled oolong) and Jin Jun Mei, buds based black tea from the Wuyishan area, as opposed to the TGY being from Anxi.  I don't know the full producer details and back-story, so those are the primary origin areas, not a solid claim about the origin of these, but they're probably from those places.  That shop owner has family in those two parts of Fujian, so of course they would be from there.

These are kind of standard tea types.  That oxidation and roast combination for the oolong isn't the most standard form, but it comes up.  Jin Jun Mei is a well known black tea type, just a higher tier sort of theme tea, the opposite of a daily drinker.

This is their Facebook page, one potential contact for them (with their location here).  They have a Shopee outlet page (online sales platform), but it probably doesn't work to cite a link because the web page link details won't apply, but it's here):

I've bought some of that before.  I think the hexagonal tin three over from the bottom right is what I just bought, which I think was Da Yu We Dan Cong oolong, to give to a few monks.  Here's a somewhat recent Da Yu We Dan Cong review, if that background is of interest.

One might expect there to be a good bit of generality related to how pre-packaged tin based teas turn out, related to quality level.  It doesn't work that way.  It's just a packaging and distribution form; the teas can vary a lot, and do.  

In Western outlets we're accustomed to teas being presented in a certain way, then packaged and sold in certain ways (in multi-layer zip sealed bags, with printed labeling), but that kind of form doesn't really improve or detract from tea quality.  We're also accustomed to typical story telling.  Those stories definitely don't make the tea any better, and often if you know tea background well parts tend to be self-contradictory.  Some descriptions work as red flags:  tea master, 1000 year old tea tree, forest origin, etc.  A tea could still be really good even if many of the details a vendor passes on are wrong, if the plant type doesn't match, plant age story, the "master" part makes no sense, they describe oxidation level wrong, and so on.  It's better to go by how the teas are, but you need to try them to know that.

It's nice when Chinatown shops let you try tea after tea, so you know exactly what you are buying, but they don't at Jip Eu.  All of those teas in that image are sold as pre-packaged tins, and they wouldn't have very many of those open to taste from.  They're more of a local wholesale outlet for different grades of Wuyi Yancha, Fujian oolongs like Da Hong Pao, Rou Gui, and Shui Xian.  And then there are lots of versions of teas there no one would know about if they only visited a few times, and after visiting regularly for more than a half a dozen years I still usually try something I've never heard of there.

Shops set up like tourist attractions, where you can taste a lot of things, like Sen Xing Fa, tend to sell teas at higher mark-ups, so you get charged fairly directly for that tasting process.  Sometimes that's in your favor, since you only buy teas you like, but if you pay 25% more for teas that aren't quite as good then that's not favorable.  

It takes a long, long time to be able to judge trueness to type and quality level quickly and accurately.  I drank some of a sheng pu'er with them at that shop that day, an 8281 CNNP yellow label 2007 sheng pu'er, from Mengku, and reviewed a sample at home a week or so later, and my impression was not the same.  How could that be, since I've been drinking mostly sheng for 8 years or so?

Lots of factors enter in.  I was on a fast that day; what you've eaten or haven't eaten changes your sense of taste.  If you are in a hurry that makes your impression less clear.  In a shop they may brew tea slightly differently than you do, which changes things.  Using different water makes a difference.  

Some teas that come straight out of a warehouse storage area will be much better after they rest a few weeks, and air out a little.  Now that I think of it vendors always frame that as the teas needing rest from the trip when shipped, as if temperature and humidity variations affect them during travel, but especially for sheng pu'er it could be that being packed in with tons of other teas is good in one sense and temporarily negative in another; a musty edge picked up from that can fade fast.  The jet-lag theme for teas is usually about intensity being limited at first, for a couple of weeks, or longer.

If you try a half dozen teas at one time that can muddle your impression, especially if you keep mixing stronger and lighter types and versions.  If you can side-by-side taste a tea along with a benchmark version you know, at your home, taking time to settle down and focus in, you'll get a much clearer impression.  

Most of those tins are between $10 and $30, usually for 200 gram amounts, but in some cases for 100, which is on the low end of a normal range, 5 to 30 cents a gram.  Better quality oolong I've bought there was $30 (1000 baht) for 100 grams, at 30 cents a gram, which again is about right, for high demand, high quality Wuyi Yancha.  I've had good luck with Mi Lan Xiang Dan Cong there in the past, I just wanted those monks to be able to try something else, so I didn't buy them that.

I'm pretty sure that I own a part of a cake of the 8001 CNNP tea shown in that photo, a 2006 version.  I'd go with the 8281 over that, because that 8001 is on the intense / heavy / burly side, unless someone loves that kind of character.  Or this 8653 Xiaguan cake (from 2006).  That's going to sound strange, to people who know these teas, because that 8653 has a strong barnyard sort of theme, with lots of saddle leather and old barn scent, but to me it works.  Much better than it did in 2022, 4 years ago, when I first reviewed it; that style range of tea can really use the full 20 years or more to age-transition (ferment).

On with this review then.

Review:

TGY:  this isn't really opened yet; the next round will work better for a description.  It's clearly quite roasted, which is a good sign if that balances well with a medium-high level of oxidation (not like black tea; I mean for oolong range), and a bad sign if it's used to cover up flaws, or to re-condition a stale tea version.  We'll see.

JJM:  this is pretty good.  There are a few different styles of Jin Jun Mei, or the range covers some scope, however one wants to frame that.  One style is bright, heavy on honey.  Another is warmer toned, a little closer to a conventional black tea, maybe including more dried fruit range, and slight earthiness or spice.  This is the second.  It does include some honey, and a touch of beeswax, along with a characteristic light dry edge that seems to pair with that beeswax.  Then the rest of the tone is warmer and deeper.  It's closer to rich spice, but hard to place.  There are bark spices out there that aren't cinnamon; maybe that.

Sweetness is good, it balances well, and feel is relatively full, even though this is just getting started.  It's good tea.  I'll need to keep brewing this quickly, at less than 10 seconds, even though this is probably 5 grams in a 100 ml gaiwan, a little less than I usually use.  The other will need to infuse for much longer to get it to open, more than 20 seconds, then probably backed off to 15 or so once it's brewing normally.

TGY #2:  this is much more complex, even though it's still not fully opened.  It's going to be nice.  It includes a bit of cinnamon, so it's not so far off the other in flavor range.  Rich floral tones are a little stronger, quite warm related to the roast effect pulling the whole flavor range to warm mineral.  I'd guess oxidation level wasn't all that high, since bright floral is still present too.  It's probably mineral tone that's warmer, and the two mix, making it seem like warm floral tone, when it's really not.  Sometimes teas like this can seem really out of balance, when there's a lot going on that doesn't completely match, but this is good, just not great.  

A friend shared a decent but moderately plain roasted oolong from Taiwan, that he bought in the airport there on the way back, and this is similar in style but slightly better.  It's not completely balanced, because inky mineral, some warm spice, and some lighter floral range are all mixing, and they don't sync together perfectly.  But it's pretty decent tea.  Maybe on the higher end Taiwanese scale not that good, but that's already filtering versions down a lot for a comparison range.  As teas go you would find in a Chinatown shop, anywhere, this is good.  It would've been nice if just a little more oxidation input had made it balance better.

JJM:  this is on another level, compared to the other.  A bit of sourness, that is picking up, offsets that high quality, very pleasant assessment, but it's still in a different range, just better.  Warm tones add a lot of complexity.  The honey and beeswax, now a lot more subdued, lend it complexity, as spice tones do.  The sourness is a bit much this round, related to it coming across completely positively, but people would have different tolerances for that, or preference range that makes it seem a neutral input, or else awful instead.  Apparently I'm in between; it's worse for including that, but it's not something that ruins the experience.  It would be nice if that evolves back out.

TGY #3:  this might just be where this is settling.  The balance of all of those inputs last round have shifted, but they're all still the same, beyond that.  A cinnamon note is nice; it kind of links the rest.  Warm mineral tones serve as a base, and decent sweetness.  It seems like the floral tone range probably is warming a bit.  Feel has some fullness, which is pleasant, but that's limited; an even higher quality range would probably feel thicker and fuller.  Same for aftertaste expression; it improves the tea including it, but it could be a little stronger.  All in all this is pretty good tea though, with a balanced, pleasant character.  Not perfectly balanced; in between a relative ideal and a tea that's a little off for lacking balance, again good but not great.

If someone loved this high roast, medium-low oxidation style, adjusting TGY character, they would probably assess this more positively.  I'd love a little more oxidation and a little less roast input more, and probably some variation of the Taiwanese Qing Xin cultivar instead.  It's pretty good for what it is though.  A pronounced ink sort of mineral note someone might love, or else dislike.  I don't see it as more positive than neutral, maybe even as a slight negative.

JJM #3:  this is balancing much better; that sourness is fading fast.  Tones have warmed; it includes lots of rich spice and now comes across more as warm mineral.  Brighter honey more or less dropped out.  This probably won't last long, before it's brewing much thinner infusions.  A lot of flavor has extracted out already.  The other took the first two infusions just to open up, and it's only brewing most of the material now, which was true of this much finer black leaf form within seconds.

TGY #4:  for people who haven't explored these ranges of tea a different theme would enter in that I'm not experiencing:  novelty.  I've not tried that many versions of teas in these styles and types, but maybe a half dozen quite roasted, medium-light oxidized TGY, and at least a half dozen JJM versions (not a half dozen in this narrower style range within that type; it's not like that).  It's really nice trying new tea range, but I have to be experiencing something unusually unique to include that.  

Then your favorites it's fine to repeat, over and over.  I could drink decent but ordinary Dian Hong (Yunnan black tea) half of the time, forever, and I tend to like sheng pu'er a little more than that, I just wouldn't tolerate repetition as well for any one version of that.  I suppose that I could drink just one of those relatively basic Vietnamese sheng versions I've been trying two days a week, all year.  These two teas I'm reviewing are nice but not my personal favorite types.

This round improves just marginally; it all hangs together in slightly better balance.  It probably will hold up that way for a few more rounds.  It has to be decent quality to do that (which is early to call, since this is still only a couple of rounds into being fully wetted).  

JJM #4:  this is as good as it's been as well; I suppose it could make a couple of more very positive infusions, and stretch on beyond that.  Warm tones stand out, but there's a lot going on.  The same flavor list applies, but that would be open to different interpretations.  A toffee note seems to be picking up, replacing the earlier honey, settling in where spice and limited mineral covered before.  The spice leans a little towards cacao now; that would make for a more reasonable interpretation, at this stage.  Warm mineral supports and balances that, so that it doesn't just taste like a candy bar.  You wouldn't associate it with sourness in this balance, but I suppose a very light part of it still is that.  

This is a pretty good place to leave off note taking.  These will change a little more over the next two rounds, and they're in a solid part of the infusion sequence now, very positive.  But 8 cups usually feels like a good bit at one time, and the intensity of that Jin Jun Mei has me really feeling these.  It's trivia that most people know, but buds only teas contain the highest amount of caffeine, and processing (the oxidation) barely offsets that any, so this black tea version may well contain 1 1/2 times as much as the older leaf oolong I'm comparing it to.  

At a guess sheng pu'er probably kicks in related to feel related to other compounds also contributing to the experience.  Or maybe it's just magic, "cha qi," the spirit of the earth carried by deep roots from tea trees.  Probably that takes on the form of specific compounds, but that's not as cool a story.

I'd recommend these to others to try.  Jin Jun Mei is an interesting and novel black tea type.  Unsmoked Lapsang Souchong can also be really nice.  I really like rolled oolongs made to balance more oxidation and less roast input, as I've mentioned, but that more traditional style is more rare now.  It might come up more in Taiwanese versions, than for Anxi origin Tie Guan Yin.  Inky mineral and light floral can be ok, evolving into richer spice tones, as this did, but the balance works better for the other style I'm describing, as I see it.

Tea China unsmoked Lapsang Souchong

 

Reviewing a good quality unsmoked Lapsang Souchong from Tea China (provided by them for review; many thanks!).

Lapsang souchong Black tea Wuyi Rock tea ($15.67 for 50 grams, $40.67 for 200)

In terms of appearance, the tea leaves are plump in shape with a dark, glossy texture. When dry, they emit a unique pine resin aroma and the fragrance of dried longan. After brewing, the tea liquor presents a bright red color and maintains its flavor well even after multiple infusions—its distinctive characteristics remain noticeable even after 4 to 5 infusions. The taste of the tea is mellow and rich; upon sipping, the fragrance of dried longan lingers in the mouth, accompanied by a honey aroma, and the pleasant scent persists for a long time.

This is an unsmoked version.  Other parts of the description mention it can be smoked or not smoked, and doesn't really clarify which this is, but it's clear enough when you taste it.

Review:

First infusion:  I thought this would be smoked, but it turns out it's the other version, unsmoked.  That's typically higher quality material, often a bit fruity, and complex, and this is like that, it's pretty good.

Flavor range is kind of what I'd expect, for a good quality version.  There's fruit, which is kind of hard to identify, something dried, maybe, or possibly 2 or 3 inputs.  One part seems like warm and rich malt.  There's a mineral layer, but it's not pronounced, more a supporting element.  A complex woody range stands out.  It's aromatic, so interpretation as dark wood plus spice would make sense.  To me it seems like some kind of incense spice, maybe like sandalwood, but my incense burning days are pretty far behind me.

It's complex enough that interpretations could vary from there.  Someone thinking that this tastes a little like citrus, like a tangerine peel, would make sense.  I'm not really "getting" cacao but it's not so far off that.

It's clean in effect, and sweetness level is good.  Feel is rich.  It could be more full, but then this is brewed on the light side, and that may emerge better in a longer second infusion.  I went with a lower proportion than I typically ever use, maybe 4 grams, maybe 5, which is a good bit for Western brewing, but I tend to usually overdo it.  There aren't really flaws to mention, although a balsa wood sort of note bordering on a trace of sourness some might not like.  It's not really tart, one black tea aspect that I tend to not care for, but I don't remember that coming up in Lapsang Souchong before anyway.

Infusion 2:  brewed stronger.  Mineral base and heavier tones come out more, replacing some of the light fruit.  That would be partly from brewing it stronger and also a transition related change, I'd think, just how later rounds often go.  Dryness picks up, or feel structure does; to me those are two ways of saying very similar things, or they could be seen as overlapping.  

The spice note is interesting in this, one positive transition.  It's not really better or worse, just different, since the heavier tones and swapping in some spice for some fruit all depends on preference, in order to judge it.

I brewed a third infusion and it was still pretty good, which is good for longer duration Western brewing.  I just didn't write notes on that round.

Conclusions:

It's good.  Mixing some of the second round back into the first balances it really well.  It's cooler than the too-hot second version, stronger than the slightly light first version, and the heavier tones balance the rest nicely.  I guess that's the opposite of Gong Fu brewing, mixing your Western infusions to get more complexity and improve balance, while truncating the transition effect.

I've tried a good bit of better quality Lapsang Souchong, it's just been awhile.  I probably last tried a version on this level 3 or 4 years ago.  I think the best of what I tried from Cindy Chen (Wuyi Origin) was a bit better, more distinctive, with more pronounced fruit inputs, but then this might compare better with their more ordinary batches.  The material character varies from year to year, based on growing conditions inputs, per Cindy's comments.  It's not really a fair comparison to describe this in relation to the best tea of this type from the best source I've tried, for this general range and others, but that does help place it.

Related to buying random Lapsang Souchong described as this style from a conventional resale vendor this is pretty far up the scale.  You might find better, but it would often tend to take a few tries to do so.  Most versions from marketplace vendors wouldn't tend to be quite this good, although they could be comparable, in a similar general range.  If a vendor carried enough tea versions--across a broad quality range--one might be better.

It would be a stretch for me to put a fair market value on this, so maybe I'll just critique the selling point version they present.  It's $15.67 for 50 grams, $40.67 for 200.  So either 30 or 20 cents a gram, at those two different volumes.  I guess that's about right.  Let's check the Wuyi Origin pricing, to see how it compares to that.

Their wild Lapsang Souchong lists for $16.50 for 50 grams, and $49.50 for 150 grams (no volume discount at all; that's odd, but it does work that way for their site's pricing, which I guess lets it make sense to buy smaller amounts of different teas at pretty good values, for what they are).  They describe the flavor as "Natural citrus notes with creamy and peach fragrance."  Right, so good and fruity. 

In relation to that comparison it makes the most sense to buy this Tea China version at the higher volume, more reduced pricing option.  Unless someone is unfamiliar with good quality unsmoked Lapsang Souchong the results are what you'd expect.  On average other versions wouldn't be this good, but even better range is out there, but the cost for it tends to be higher.

To be honest I'm surprised that they are sourcing teas this good.  That sounds like a statement about a lack of confidence, doesn't it?  This version might be better than three fourths of what is out there, at a guess, or more if you also consider higher volume, more broadly marketed teas, not just versions from dedicated specialty tea outlets.  Most of that other range would probably be cheaper for them to source; for sure they picked this version because it's that good.  It's surely that balance that they're looking for, connecting quality and value, and it seems to fall in a favorable place.

Ma Tou Yan and Niu Lan Keng Rou Gui (Wuyi Yancha oolong)

 

A few weeks back I met a couple of contacts that I already knew in my favorite Bangkok Chinatown tea shop, in Jip Eu (their Maps link and FB page, for contacts).  We tried some interesting teas, and I bought something basic (I tend to stock up on Xiaguan tuochas there when I'm not really buying much tea just then), and they gave me some samples of really nice Wuyi Yancha to try.  

For the most part that's that shop's specialty, selling higher end, good versions of Wuyi Yancha, Fujian Wuyishan origin oolong.  Then a lot of their business also relates to selling lower quality, moderate character related blends to local shops and such.  We drank aged sheng that day; they carry some interesting versions of that too.  I've bought good Dan Cong there, upper medium quality versions that don't cost much, and we also tried a pretty good Longjing just then, one of the main Chinese green tea types.  They carry lots of different tea.

I think they're actually selling these; sometimes they pass on interesting samples that they aren't.  I don't remember if I asked about pricing, but it may not have stuck even if I had.  A lot of their higher end oolong range had sold for about 1000 baht per 100 grams in the past, if I'm remembering right, or about $15 per 50 grams.  Depending on quality level that's either a normal price range or else a really good deal, and I think it just depends on which tea it is for them.  Some would be worth more, rarer types, and for versions that don't match your own style preference it's not mostly about that kind of value rating.

The one place name reference is familiar, Ma Tou Yan, or horse head rock; it's in the natural park area in Wuyishan.  That's probably a high-demand origin, so that version may cost more than their standard quite good quality range.  It's odd that a tone-variation of "ma" also means horse in Thai; there's a good chance that word was derived directly from Chinese languages.  Since I'm terrible with hearing or speaking tones horse, dog, and come are basically all the same word to me, which is definitely a problem when it comes to trying to say things clearly.

Review:

Ma Tou Yan:  it's pretty good, as it should be.  Roast input comes across first, in a relatively balanced form.  I suppose if it was even more balanced maybe the roast input wouldn't come across first, but this is the opening round, and that could settle.  This does taste like cinnamon, as these often do, as the name Rou Gui translates to.  Inky mineral depth is substantial, as it should be.  

Overall balance is good; sweetness and all the rest are right in order.  For this being the first round it's a little early for the big picture evaluation, but I'm not noticing anything like a flaw in this, and even looking for a limitation requires some interpretation. 

Niu Lan Keng:  interesting, for overlapping quite a bit and also being very different.  The cinnamon range is common, and this is also sort of an upper medium level of roast.  Again the roast could integrate just a little better, but that's the kind of thing to consider and judge over a few rounds, not just the first one.  The mineral range is quite different.  The other one is a bit inky, but this is really inky, so that it reminds you of the smell of pen ink (versus ink from a copier or squid, I guess?).  

Layers of mineral bunch together, coming across as depth.  Of course it is expressed quite a bit in an aftertaste experience, which is also pronounced in the other, but not like this.  It comes across as intensity, often a limitation across a lot of oolong range, but it's definitely not a limitation for this version.  It will be interesting to see how the two balance as they unfold, if the different dimensions complement each other better in one than the other.  For aspects being this positive it leads on to looking for refinement too, not just balance, but subtlety of inputs, and finer aspect character working together.

For these being this good and this intense it would make sense to me for someone to drink them brewed light, maybe best trying only one version at a time, letting the intensity and effect of the aspects build up over rounds.  For trying to do a comparison that approach and effect won't work.  I'll need to drink water between rounds to get back to a clearer palate just to make out what's going on with them.  The aftertaste experience from both, maybe mostly the second, is so strong that the water tastes sweet and mineral-intensive for a few sips, like tea.  I'll need to brew these fast to not overdo it for intensity, not true flash infusions but under 10 seconds.

MTY #2:  again it's nice.  For someone looking for this particular flavor profile of tea this would be just the thing, for heavy and warm cinnamon supported by medium-high roast input.  This might balance even better after another year or so, once that roast input had time to settle.  Warm, complex mineral coats the outsides of your mouth, and just a hint of char is part of the roast effect.  That's the part that would be dialed in perfectly for some, or out of balance for others, too high, depending on preference.  A lot of people seem to like quite roasted tea, and this definitely isn't in the higher roast level range, but it's just below it.

Inky mineral is nice in this.  It's odd then that it's so much more pronounced in the other version.

NLK:  cinnamon is still present but the mineral is quite intense in this, maybe a little stronger.  For someone who couldn't get enough of that effect this is it.  It ties to a structured mouthfeel and strong aftertaste carry-over.  As a potential critique maybe this isn't as balanced as it could be; it's pretty far towards that one aspect range.  Sweetness and cinnamon do counter it, and balance it, but it's about as mineral intensive as any Wuyi Yancha I've ever tried, or maybe more so.

That shift in related feel structure might also divide judgment on the experience.  Some people love intense feel, so much so that they give up positive flavor range to brew oolongs extra strong to experience a blast of feel and aftertaste ranges.  There's no need to settle on flavor balance--at moderate infusion intensity--or quite intense feel and aftertaste with this; both are there.

Using maxed out proportion for these, my normal approach, probably isn't optimum.  I'm just brewing the samples as I received them, but this might be 10 grams.  Or maybe only 8, and the tea tends to expand, but either way it's a lot for a 100 ml gaiwan worth given how intense these teas are.  Even using fast infusion timing these are a bit strong.

MTY #3:  this integrates much better; lots of layers of flavors are balancing well in this, coming across as more refined.  Roast input is still pronounced but now essentially even with the heavy cinnamon and heavy mineral.  This is brewed lightly, or at least brewed quickly; it has to be, given this intensity and the proportion used.  "Lightly" there is relative; this is upper medium infusion strength, more than it would be easy to ever achieve using a more mild form of tea.

It's nice the way that the char effect has settled from being a main input to an extra edge.  Somehow you feel this tea more than you taste it after swallowing it; the overall effect stays with you.

NLK:  that heavy mineral range didn't settle to even up and balance with the rest in the same way, but it might be easing up a little.  The heavy roast input (upper-medium in terms of level, but the "char" effect is a heavy flavor tone) is similar to the other, but probably differences in that one aspect input could be broken down, if someone focused on it enough.

A coffee drinker might love this tea.  It doesn't give up anything in terms of flavor intensity and complexity to coffee, and some of the flavors overlap.  There's extra bitterness in coffee, and the feel is full in an unusual way in it, which tea doesn't completely match, but this isn't thin in feel at all.  It would be disrespectful to this tea but it would be interesting to see how it works out with milk and sugar in it, how far that parallel with coffee could be stretched.

I usually notice drug-like effect from sheng pu'er most, that rush that you get, and a specific but varying range of head buzz, cha qi, as tea drinkers call it, but this has it too.  Maybe caffeine level alone is really high, or that plus theanine; who knows what goes into that effect.  Breakfast wasn't that heavy, a mix of baked goods we picked up on bakery shopping spree yesterday; maybe I'll snack a little on more and then continue.  

Maybe it will be informative how baked goods tend to go in a place like Bangkok:  for breakfast I had a Krispy Kreme doughnut, a couple of custard filled eclairs (the small spherical kind), and a chocolate version of a cashew-topped toffee cake.  There is more traditional bread with green pandan custard on the table; maybe I'll get to that too.

MTY #4:  this seems to balance a good bit better than the other version.  Earlier on I would've guessed that the opposite was going to happen, that the other would settle in intensity and really fall together, but the most intense range in that is still a bit extreme in comparison with the rest.  It's sort of a subtle, emergent theme but to me better Wuyi Yancha takes on a liqueur-like character, like cognac or brandy, and this expresses that.  It's more like cognac, or even like the scent of the solvent base in perfume.  I suppose it must be more pleasant than that sounds.

NLK:  this is improved in balance.  Heavy mineral range, a moderate intensity but strong roast flavor, and cinnamon all stand out, but none take over.  Aftertaste is really significant.  Feel has moderated; it was almost rough or dry in body before, in the first couple of rounds, tying to that flavor intensity, and now it's not as strong.  I suppose the other tea seems better in quality, as markers tend to go, but really they're just slightly different styles.  Maybe the "markers" theme is just something I tend to make up and apply.

For someone seeking out pronounced mineral, pronounced cinnamon, light but noticeable char roast effect, and overall intensity this version would be better.  It's dialed up.  The other is plenty intense, but this goes further.  Oolongs in general don't tend to work out like this; the material just can't support coming across that strong.

Both are exceptional.  I suppose both exceed my expectations, in different ways.  I thought that the teas would be good but these really are novel.

MTY #5:  the balance gets better and better, with cinnamon standing out all the more.  It's a good sign.

NLK:  this balances well too, but heavy mineral stands out more than the cinnamon.  Again for someone really looking to get that full "rock oolong" mineral effect this is it.  To me balance is really the thing, not one aspect standing out being better, but then preferences do vary.

a water park outing with a favorite cousin

a park outing with family; we rode paddle-boat ducks

the other boat

Trying wild origin tea versions, white and oolong (Wuyi Yancha style)

I'm trying two more wild origin teas from ITea World, probably the last of that set I'll get to.  There is a green version but that's my least favorite kind, and reviewing it tends to boiling down to mentioning a few aspects, beyond some vague talking around quality level.

That tea was from this set:

Chinese Wild Tea Sampler: 5 Flavors for $5 with Free Shipping

That's it, not much at all for 25 grams of interesting tea.  Their marketing oriented descriptions:

Wild White Tea:  Plucked wild in Fuding, our Bai Mu Dan white tea features downy silver needles releasing a dewy floral bouquet mingled with sun-ripened fruits and meadow sweetness. Each sip delivers a mellow, soothing creaminess.

Wild Oolong Tea:  Hailing from a Wuyi Mountain tea family, our artisan has over 15 years of expertise in handcrafting traditional-style Wuyi Rock Tea and black tea, having learned the art from a young age by apprenticing with family members.

They seem a bit like that, with less to go on there about what the oolong is like.

Looking around that site the white tea lists for $20-some for 40 grams, and the oolong is around $30 for 40 grams (I'm seeing pricing in Thai baht, initially, so the pricing listing isn't exact).  $25 and 30 it is, switching that over.  I never do really evaluate value later in this post, since that gets speculative anyway, trying to fold together issues related to demand per type, quality level, novelty, and then likely final preference.  

Pricing over 50 cents a gram is getting up there, but for some specialty tea range that's still normal.  I tend to try to buy teas that are more like 20 to 30 cents a gram, or less, but then I also buy relatively directly from producers.  I usually drink sheng pu'er or black tea, with some better oolong and rarer white tea range running a little higher in cost.  

I guess the pricing is probably ok, but more direct comparison with similar versions would tell more of that story.  Then when you are considering novel wild-origin teas it can be harder to find similar products, of any kind or at any price level.

Review:

white, #1:  that's nice.  It's smooth, sweet, rich, and distinctive.  An unusual and pleasant flavor profile may be the story of this tea.  It seems to include a bit of mint, and then warmer depth offsets that, giving it complexity.  The mint is like wintergreen mint, or at least the artificial flavor represented as that, very mild in comparison with something like peppermint.  One part is vegetal, a little like fennel.  It might be easier to break down the rest next round.

oolong:  that's catchy too.  I'm not noticing a distinct familiar Wuyi Yancha style this fits into, which is probably just as well.  The warm tones and good balance seems to relate to this being a bit more oxidized and roasted than a modern lighter style that I'm more familiar with.  When it all works this other range can be even nicer.  Of course mineral tones are part of it, as a base for the rest.  From there it's complex, but hard to really break down.  One part may be closest to warm spice, and another range like dark wood.  Sweetness might tie to something like toffee.

white, #2:  the fennel part picked up most, which works.  It shifts to warmer tones, off fresh fennel into fennel seed range a bit.  It's harder to notice a mint background note but it still seems to be there.  Complexity seems pretty good; it's hard to communicate how that works based only on a couple of flavor descriptions.  Part of a warmer base also seems to relate to autumn leaf range.  To me that can be expressed differently, as dry, light, sweet tones or instead as wetter, heavier range, relating to fresh dry leaves or wet versions.  This is the first case, dry, light, and sweet, and also complex.

oolong #2:  this warms and deepens.  It includes that one peach-like note that can be distinctive in Dan Cong; interesting seeing that stand out this much in a Wuyi Yancha version.  I suppose interpreted differently it's just floral, but to me clearly peach.  It's so pronounced that at this round it seems like a pretty good Dan Cong version, which is not a bad range to fall into.  

It lacks the rough edge that often adjoins those, the harsh astringency, but in my experience that seems to tie to quality level in Dan Cong, and to some extent probably also to growing elevation.  Most likely the connection is a bit incidental, and cheaper higher volume production, low elevation farmed Dan Cong is not processed quite as well, with plants stressed with fertilizer input to get the most out of them, and higher elevation sources are harvest less, and allowed to grow more naturally.  All just guesses, of course.

The sweetness carries over as a pleasant aftertaste.  It could extend a little longer; as a quality level marker--if taken that way--this suggests that this is upper medium quality range, with room for improvement.

white, #3:  creaminess picks up; that's an interesting shift.  I hadn't even mentioned it before; I suppose that it had factored in.  Trying this a little lighter probably shifts what comes across.  I suppose it's worth noting again that I write all this before I see any vendor description; it's interesting that creaminess is mentioned by them and also stands out.

It still works to describe this as like fennel with a hint of mint, with warmer but sweet complexity along the line of autumn leaf.  It's transitioning though; within a round or two a different description will probably work better.

oolong:  still pretty close to a Mi Lan Xiang Dan Cong that happens to taste a lot like peach, with some supporting floral range and warm tones.  It's fairly clean too, with good sweetness; all the other aspects indicate this is a little better than just "upper medium quality level."  Maybe not some elevated "best of the best range," but then it's not even matching a standard type that its origin relates to anyway.

This reminds me of one of Cindy's Wuyishan origin teas, from Wuyi Origin, tasting a lot like peach one year, when it normally might've included that but certainly didn't typically include such a pronounced aspect.  Terroir inputs can vary some year to year, and of course by narrow location.  

I looked at the vendor page for more description, since there wasn't much flavor breakdown in that initial sampler-summary version:

...tea exhibits a rich floral and fruity aroma that infuses the water. Upon sipping, the floral and fruity notes rise, filling the nose with their fragrance.The flavor is robust and refreshing, with a pronounced sweetness that stimulates the salivary glands and leaves a clear, crisp aftertaste. The enduring sweetness provides a lingering, delightful aftertaste that is truly memorable.

Heavy on marketing spin but that actually kind of works.  They might've mentioned peach.

white, #4:  there is another shift; that creaminess has edged towards creamsicle, which I guess relates to citrus picking up a little.  This will probably eventually transition to warmer tones, or at least heavier vegetal range, but I'll probably leave off taking notes here.  8 infusions is a lot for my patience, and the short quiet window on a Saturday morning for tasting will end before too long.  

This tea exceeded my expectations; I expected some positive character from it, but it's normal for a lot of white tea range to come across as much thinner, and more limited, not as complex or intense.  Beyond including that the flavor set is interesting, integrated, and positive.  I've not mentioned much for feel structure but it's not thin either.  Aftertaste expression is there but limited, which I don't see as that much of a limitation; it can vary in different tea versions.

oolong:  not that much transition, maybe just a slight shift in earlier aspects balance.  Dominant warm peach flavor works especially well for me, so that's fine.  

This is definitely a tea that a Dan Cong lover could appreciate, even they had adjusted to expect higher quality range.  Feel range is pretty good; it could be a little thicker, but it's fine.  Aftertaste is positive; it trails on afterwards nicely.  Complexity is good; warm toffee range fills in depth beyond the peach and supporting floral range.  

There's not that much mineral base, as lots of Wuyi Yancha oolongs go; I suppose that could be interpreted as a limitation.  Really it not being fully type-typical is either a main weakness or else a good thing, since the range expressed is so nice.  Someone splitting hairs could say that the feel structure not being full enough is a limitation, since it's not well-balanced by that input, but to me that's not really even a flaw in this, never mind a significant one.  It's quite good, and the "wild origin" description leads me to expect something a little off the standard range.  More natural growing conditions can often lend to novel flavor inputs entering in, as has occurred with both these teas.

These seem particularly well made.  Starting with good material is one thing, but teas need to be processed skillfully to bring out a well-balanced character.  There's a synchronicity that comes with all of it coming together in an amazing way, how the best of the best standard versions come across, and I'm not saying that these are there, because they're quite good but not that fantastic.  There are essentially no flaws to point out in either though, just a limitation here or there, an aspect range that could be dialed up a little.

For the white tea that comes with the general style; it usually doesn't match the complexity, intensity, and full feel and aftertaste expression of many other tea types.  For that tea it being so positive, complex, novel, and pleasant to experience is enough.  

The Wuyi Yancha could pass for pretty good Mi Lan Xiang Dan Cong, even with oxidation and roast level appropriate for that, better than most tend to be, which to me is generally a good thing, just maybe a little unusual related to the trueness to type theme.

Not from this tasting, instead from drinking some random sheng pu'er yesterday, I wanted to mention something relating to this teaware.  You don't need to spend much to use functional, pleasant teaware.  I buy these 100 ml, plain, white gaiwans in a Chinatown shop, selling there for around $3, but $10 might be more typical from other sources.  These cups I buy at a Japanese ceramics outlet shop, for around $1 each.  It's like the Ross Dress for Less theme, I think; they sell extra versions from large batch local production.

Then I use two so that I can pour the tea from one to the other to cool it.  I tend to use an extra to re-hydrate some goji berries every morning, eating those as a supplement.  I think it's a good source of beta carotene, what vitamin A is derived from, and supposedly it contains anti-aging related compounds.  I'm not really endorsing that, just explaining why my daily tea setup uses three cups.

ITea World Dan Cong and Tie Guan Yin oolongs

 

Greetings!  It's been awhile.  My kids spent winter school break here in Bangkok, visiting back from Honolulu, so I took a couple of weeks off this blog, and most of the internet in general.  I should probably never return to the same level of use, but this isn't about the digital detox theme.

I had tried tea versions from ITea World before, samples sent from a new mainstream Chinese vendor for review, in 2023.  They were pretty good; kind of medium quality level, but for being moderate cost versions the value and experience in relation to expectations was fine.  They asked if I wanted to try more, better versions of oolongs this time, and it's always interesting revisiting such themes.  I drink a lot more sheng pu'er than anything else now, but it's interesting checking in with types I've focused more on in the past.

In this review I tried to sort out just how good the versions are.  Better than the last ones, unless I've got that all wrong, this time more upper medium quality, or at the lower end of the highest quality range.  It probably gets tiresome hearing that spelled out in detail, but it does also pass on my take on what differentiates really good tea versions from medium or slightly above average versions, so covering finer points at length serves two different purposes.  

I don't lean into the theme of "quality markers" too much here, something I've not ran across used in exactly the same way I've developed it, but surely a theme that's not unheard of.  Some specific aspects identify what is most desirable in some tea versions; that's it.  For this it's enough to specify what stands out as most positive and what represents limitations in these versions.

They're not listed on the website, except in the sampler version they sent me.  The versions are from different harvests than the earlier oolongs offerings, or else they seem the same, of the same types.  I've not discussed how these are better with the vendor, in any detail.

The set sells for $40 for a 100 gram set of samples, all 5 grams each (so there must be 20--yep, I just counted them), so only that price point will serve as a cost baseline.  40 cents a gram for pretty good oolong is not so bad, as a starting point.  For baseline reference I can buy really good versions of it in the Bangkok Chinatown for $30 for 100 grams, but you would almost have to live in China to have access to the same or better degree of options as there, to be able to buy good versions at low cost.  Cost of teas tend to vary some by type, with some higher in demand, and the Dan Cong in this set may be the kind of version that sells for a good bit more than Tie Guan Yin or Shui Xian (for example).  

What about comparison with online sales options though?  That gets complicated, because online vendors set price points in a broad range of ways, which vary by the value they buy tea at, and their markup, all adjusted quite a bit for their costs, the volume they sell, and what works out well for profit for them.  There is no standard range of norms, really; it varies.  In this I talk as if there is, estimating what comparable quality versions to these would tend to sell for online.  That can be hard to estimate based on product descriptions, because essentially every vendor exaggerates quality levels, describing their own teas in glowing, positive terms, as they kind of should, since a sales function just doesn't couple well with excessive humility about experienced aspects and quality level.

Let's push that consideration a little further, then cite their description, then get on with review notes.  This is a medium quality (or at least medium range price) Mi Lan Xiang Dan Cong from Yunnan Sourcing, not the obvious place to buy teas from provinces outside of Yunnan, but a standard option, selling for $17.50 per 30 grams (so $58 per 100 grams), with their highest quality / cost offering selling for a lot more, more than double that:

This is a lovely middle mountain (中山) elevation Mi Lan Xiang (蜜兰香) from Da An village, grown at an altitude of roughly 900 meters from decades old tea bushes growing wild.

Strong and thick tea, golden yellow tea soup, powerful honey and orchid aroma.  Perfect balance of sweet, bitter and umami with a long lasting mouth-feeling.  Cha Qi is powerful and clean.

This is a high quality Mi Lang Xiang that will surely please even the most discerning Dan Cong connoisseurs!

It sounds good.  One point here in citing that is that tea descriptions should focus on the positive, and another is to spell out a type-typical range:  including floral range, good balance, good mouthfeel, and intensity.  Bitterness and umami not so much; I'm not sure what that's all about.  Sheng is bitter, and umami is found in Japanese green teas, or maybe Mao Feng Chinese green tea, but typically not Dan Cong.  Maybe this Yunnan Sourcing version is better than the one I've already wrote notes for, or maybe it's not as good; you can't tell from a description.

This version from Wuyi Origin, a very, very well regarded direct sales producer site, lists for $60 per 100 grams; it's almost certainly significantly better.  But it's not really fair, comparing tea from a mainstream resale outlet--what both ITea World and Yunnan Sourcing are--with the relative best quality and value source for this oolong in China that I'm aware of.  

This kind of oolong sampler is for a different kind of customer, someone wanting to explore better oolongs than you typically ever find in broad-type online outlets or any local tea shops.  From there people might eventually go on to seek out what pushes on towards being as good as any versions typically get.  The Wuyi Origin cost isn't that much higher but moving on to spend $200 on a tea order isn't for everyone; I personally try to avoid that.  300 grams of the tea I mentioned gets you pretty close, and if "free" shipping isn't built into their pricing you're there.

Let's check that ITea World listing:

Again that's listed for $40 ($39.99) for 100 grams of those samples, packaged in 5 gram samples.  That site shows free shipping kicking in at $39.98, so in theory you could just buy this set.  That would be amazing self-discipline, ordering $40 of tea from a China-based vendor, but you could.

It does say a little more about specific local harvest area, growing elevation, and oxidation level on that page, but it seems as well to get on with describing the teas.  Elevation does matter, and plant age (supposedly over 100 years old for the Dan Cong), but it's as well to go by final outcome, the experienced aspects, and you need to try the tea to determine that.  Or hear from someone you trust on that, I guess, but then even given that kind of input verbal descriptions only go so far.

Review:

Dan Cong:  it's good.  As so often tends to happen this first round is a little light, and therefore harder to really judge, but this is quite nice.  The oxidation input and roast balance is very medium, just as it should be to get to a very positive outcome for this type, complementing the floral range very well.  I'll fill in the standard list of aspects and finer quality level assessment the next time, but this is probably as far up the quality scale as it should be for what I'm expecting of it, fairly far along.  Style is zeroed in, especially roast level, I think; not pretty good but right there.  

This probably is Mi Lan Xiang again, and again it's odd that the package doesn't say that, as with the first version that I reviewed.  I'll cite a website listing after making review notes, and that may fill in this detail (it seems to not; a little odd, really even something that could be taken as a red flag, but again experienced aspects and quality are what matter most, as I see it).  I'm brewing 5 grams, the package amount, which really should be relatively ideal, but I tend to use about 8 grams normally, so I'll have to make an adjustment.

Tie Guan Yin:  the same; this will be easier to evaluate next round, once it has opened up and is more intense.  I think this is better than their last version too, in the range better versions fall into.  Not for traditional style more oxidized and roasted tea versions; this is still the bright green kind.  Markers for quality level include very sweet floral input, ranging into an odd taste sensation form, which I'll describe further next round, almost oddly strong, with a somewhat thick, full feel seeming to emerge.  

I really won't be able to make out the feel brewed lightly and not really opened up but the flavor is fine.  It might include a very light off trace, drifting every so slightly into new car smell range, but that may just be an early round anomaly that drops out right away.

Dan Cong, #2:  brewed much stronger, really a bit excessive, for trying to err on the side of definitely getting this strong enough.  

Feel structure really ramped up as a result, and heavier, earthier flavors.  That's actually better for evaluating feel, but flavor experience isn't optimum like that.  It doesn't include a common harsh astringency edge some Dan Cong does, or many do.  People can make the mistake of thinking that's actually type-typical, when it's my impression that it's really not, that it's common but not a marker of correct style and aspect range.  

People also tend to get astringency and bitterness mixed up, which I find odd.  It doesn't take that much exposure to tea aspects to see them as completely different things, which just happen to sometimes occur together, or maybe they come up together often.  Bitterness is a flavor aspect; that's what aspirin tastes like.  Astringency relates to feel; it's the roughness of texture that occurs in a range of tea types, especially in very chopped or ground up black tea.  Black teas are essentially never bitter (although there would always be exceptions), so if you think your tea-bag tea is bitter you might want to give this some thought.  Taste an aspirin, which is bitter (and also causes an astringency sensation; that's confusing), and see if the flavor part is common to what it experienced in chopped material black tea.  Here I'm claiming that the feel is comparable but not the taste.

At a guess lower elevation, younger plants grown using a lot of fertilizer tends to be very intense, including that strong feel edge (astringency), and older plant, higher grown, less chemical-stressed plants include fantastic flavor and feel character but they're not as intense, at least not in the same ways.  Floral flavor and sweetness can be very pronounced, but a harsh feel edge often isn't (the astringency).  If both flavor and feel are intense in a Dan Cong version it works better to use really short infusion times and hot water to optimize the experience, more so than cutting the brewing temperature, which works, but in a different way.  Don't take my word for that, try it and see what you think.

This would be easier to place if I'd been drinking more Dan Cong over the last few years.  I think it's pretty good, in a well above average quality range, but finer differences mark the highest levels from there.  Different vendors sell what are described as the best of the best range, hyping tea plant age claims, using elaborate descriptions of refined, diverse, and unique feel and flavor experience, but it can be hard to separate hype from likely accurate description.  Only with tasting does one arrive at any subjective impression of that, but online discussion inputs about this or that vendor selling the most optimum versions contradict each other.  As I suppose they should; different versions would vary quite a bit, maybe even as sold by the same vendor, and preferences would vary.

To distill this to a flavor list a perfume-like floral sweetness dominates the experience, along with warm tones surely drawn out through extra oxidation and roast input.  The two ranges really balance.  Warm mineral tone ramps up right at the end of the experience, leading into a sweet aftertaste experience including all of that range.

Even though it's all very positive, about as pleasant, refined, intense, complex, and balanced as it probably would be, for higher volume, diverse type outlet sales, it's my impression that dialing up all of those just a touch is still possible.  Feel thickness is more moderate; there is room for more change in that, and aftertaste intensity is also positive but not at the high end of that range of potential.  It all seems like splitting hairs, but that's how evaluating quality for above average quality versions go.  

At a rough guess this should retail for 50 to 60 cents a gram but not more (or it could sell for less; it's hard to pin down what the best value, quite good quality range versions out there are like).  The 70 or 80 cent per gram range is something else, or $1 or over.  Or maybe that's being a little harsh; this is quite good, and Dan Cong seems to reach $1 per gram quickly enough for a generally good quality range, and this is that.  It certainly doesn't taste like a medium quality tin-packaged version, although the best of those, the atypical examples, fall fairly close, or could be this good.  We'll see how their pricing places it [that never did become clear, because all together sell for 40 cents per gram].

Tie Guan Yin:  I have mixed feelings about this quality assessment too.  If I was evaluating this as either inexpensive, medium range, or higher quality Tie Guan Yin it would easily surpass that first level, and fall either in the higher end of the second or lower end of the third.  Sweetness is good, floral range is pleasant, and dominant, and it contains a catchy towards-plastic aspect that I'm interpreting as generally positive, even though per that description it wouldn't sound it, and someone might really hate that, or else could like it.  Then feel is a bit thin, aftertaste is limited, and intensity and the balance / complexity part isn't bad but not in the highest range.  

Evaluating this against all TGY it's quite good; trying to match it with the highest quality end of the range gives the opposite results, and gaps stand out.  As long as pricing is favorable per quality, the value is good, if the idea is to try above average quality TGY this easily provides that experience.  If the intention is for this to compete with the best of the best it doesn't seem to hold up.  

Then one would wonder about pricing, and I'm not really even sure where the high level range for pretty good TGY stands.  For lots of in-demand and more rare tea types, for any Dan Cong version beyond Mi Lan Xiang, the most common one, the best versions are at or above $1 per gram, fairly universally.  That may not hold as true for Tie Guan Yin, although given how demand patterns work out in China, that the best teas are sought out and competed for, maybe it still works, even though TGY is really the main universal oolong type out there, or one of them, sold as a most-common tea type.  Shui Xian fills that role in Fujian / Wuyi Yancha versions, and TGY from Anxi is even more ubiquitous.

I'll try brewing these for more like 20 seconds, to try them lighter.

Dan Cong #3:  forget about that project of placing this in relation to the highest possible quality levels; related to purely subjective experience value this is solid tea, that works well for me.  The way the warmth and deeper tones integrate and balance with the sweet floral range is great.  Sure it's possible to consider if there shouldn't be a bit more thickness of feel (or quite a bit more), or if complexity and intensity couldn't be dialed up just a little, but this still totally works.  Feel is a bit velvety, just not thick.  

Flavors are complex and balanced, just perhaps leaving limited range for improvement.  But it's quite good.  If this sells for under $1 per gram I think it's probably a good value for that, whether or not you could explore and eventually find a slightly better version at the same cost; for quite near, at, or over $1 per gram and they're probably pushing it a bit.

Tie Guan Yin:  this is nice too.  Mind you I'm working around Tie Guan Yin not really being a personal favorite range, so I'm not going to refer back to that subjective preference assessment, beyond quality.  It's good though, and pleasant.  I don't think it matches the Dan Cong version for how good, even though comparing different types brings up problems in equivalence.  For this style of oolong, lighter rolled versions, thickness of feel is all the more critical, and this seems just a trace thinner than the other, not better in relation to just that aspect.  Sweetness is good, and floral range is fine, but that one slightly off taste aspect trace, which I find to be both catchy and also slightly negative, even though that's odd, a plastic sort of taste, also throws off highest level quality assessment.  

Again if the point is for it to be quite good it's there, well above average, but within the top third of the quality range potential it's near that bottom of the top.  If this is 40 to 50 cents a gram, selling as a next level breakfast tea, that's fair, again even if somewhere else on the internet better tea sells for less.  For anywhere near $1 a gram, or even 60 to 80 cents, it's just too much for what this is.  

For me personally I'd not drink much really light style rolled oolong at all, but I should clarify that I was really on that page very early in my tea exploration, and I would have loved this back then.  Preferences naturally evolve over time, and this is better as a place to start, or explore in early rounds.  

I don't think this holds its own with the higher quality level range from Taiwan, but then a lot of oolong versions from there marketed as such would be generally equivalent, but not better; almost anything selling through high volume mainstream outlets probably would be.  Specialty vendors known for selling only the best range of Taiwanese oolongs would only sell better quality versions than this, but the cost for those would tend to be double or triple what you would buy pretty good Anxi Tie Guan Yin for.

Dan Cong #4:  floral range might develop a bit, picking up more intensity.  That's a good sign; this might continue to evolve positively.  I'm not going to write more notes though; I don't have time to spare for that.  If I remember to I'll add a comment from memory later on how that worked out.

Tie Guan Yin:  this is good, it's just not great.  It's very pleasant, and all the aspects are generally where they should be, just not at the optimum level for many.   Sweetness, freshness, floral range, mineral range adding depth, aftertaste follow-through are all positive, although aftertaste intensity is limited.  Feel gives up a good bit.  For people not experienced in evaluating higher quality versions that wouldn't stand out at all, since you tend to explore and appreciate flavor first.  This is pleasant, likeable.  It will be interesting seeing the cost and the website description, matching both versions up against those.

Later rounds:  these held up fine for a couple of more infusions but then died a bit quickly, which I guess also related to using a lower proportion than I usually do, and longer infusion times.

Conclusions:

These are better than I remember the 2023 ITea World versions being.  Again they're good value, good quality in relation to the selling price, maybe best described as the highest level of upper medium quality range versus the low end of the highest quality scope.  As I'd mentioned for people newer to tea experience what I'm experiencing as significant gaps may not be all that noticeable at all; early on people typically haven't learned to evaluate or value thickness of feel and aftertaste experience.  Related to only flavor they're much better, than when you include review of those aspect expectations.

I liked the Dan Cong a lot more.  I like Dan Cong more than Tie Guan Yin in general, but them getting the oxidation level and roast dialed in made a big difference, and I've not mentioned aspects that stand out as flaws because there weren't any, beyond what could've been more pronounced, feel, complexity, and such.  Flavor range was pretty good for that.  

I am pretty sure it's Mi Lan Xiang, the most common Dan Cong type, for what that's worth.  There is room for improvement in the flavor complexity, intensity, balance, and refinement but all that is fairly positive.  I say that, but if you try this version side by side with a much higher quality version the difference would seem striking.  If you aren't experienced at evaluating teas if you tried both 3 or 4 weeks apart it might be much harder to notice it; it's funny how that works.  It could've been a couple years since I've tried any Dan Cong; after awhile the whole range just becomes familiar, with enough exposure, drinking dozens of versions over many years.

The Tie Guan Yin is pretty decent Tie Guan Yin; I suppose that's good enough.  If you would taste it side by side along with anything from a specialty grocery store this version would seem fantastic in comparison.  Then trying it along with standard $1-$1.50 per gram Taiwanese rolled oolong it would seem to fall way short; it's funny how that works out.

I can respect what ITea World is doing with these teas, making above average versions available at fair pricing.  This is perfect for someone new to exploring oolongs.  Even if someone had been dabbling in trying them for awhile, but wasn't clear on their baseline quality expectations, these could be pleasant and helpful.  Even if the best of all the other versions someone had already tried had been slightly better it would still help place that range.  For people way past both exploration levels maybe trying these wouldn't make any sense, although I guess they could still work as a gift, for someone just getting started.

It's a little bizarre related to my own personal use but these come with a set of tea bag sleeves you can put them in; you can convert this loose tea to bag versions, just using what they've provided.  For a loose tea enthusiast you'd end up considering how else you might use those, since it wouldn't make sense to put this oolong in them to brew it (any other devices you already have around would work better).  

Some people keep sheng pu'er cake dust and small bits aside in a separate jar and brew only that from time to time; those bags might be perfect for that, to take a blend of extra scraps of cakes to the office to drink there.  Or it all works even better together as a gift, in case someone absolutely couldn't figure out how to brew loose tea.  For a non-tea drinker that's less unlikely and absurd; there is a learning curve to go through, and having some related gear definitely helps.  If you took only this sample set to a hotel you'd be set for having some decent tea every day for three weeks; not bad.  Drinking tea only from tea bags for three weeks would seem so strange to any tea enthusiast; the point is that it would work.

reunited with the cats (2 of 3 of them)

lots of errands, play outings, and pausing to enjoy the little things

they got some things for Christmas, just not much

family dinner at a hot pot and sushi buffet place