2008 Dayi V93, 2018 Bulang shu pu'er from King Tea Mall

Dayi V93 left, Bokuro gushu shu right

On the King Tea Mall website--where these are from; samples shared for review, which is much appreciated--John mentioned he is shipping teas again, as of today.  I'm not sure how normal things are back in China just yet but it's good to hear that some normalcy is returning.

It's a little strange to review shu right after writing a long intro post about exploring sheng, but of course these tea types are related.  Aged sheng never really completely resembles shu, but that is kind of the general idea, and the character difference informs a lot about both; the overlap and the differences define both.  I'll get into all that, probably more so for just considering sheng basics that much.  I've been re-tasting a lot of what I reviewed last year (just not mentioning it in detail here), which also includes shu, just less of it.

It's not as if I have an endless supply of old samples but I do have enough to keep reviewing them once a week for awhile.  I could live with this blog going quiet instead but it's also nice reviewing, even if experience and themes just tend to repeat.  I expected these to be pretty good shu, and experiencing and placing good versions of tea types is different than the same related to examples that are only a bit above average.

Per standard approach I only knew what was on the labels when tasting these, but did look up and copy the descriptions here after.


2008 Dayi V93  (listed at $66 for 5 100 gram tuochas)

Origination:  Started from 2005 year. Made from high grade tea materials and decently fermented. 

Taste: Well balanced on thickness, mellowness and other taste factors. Aromatic and fragrant. Soft tea soup along with smoothness. 

Storage:  Guangzhou dry and clean storage.


That price looks a little steep related to it being for a set; when you divide it back out to $13 per tuocha it seems quite reasonable.  At least I see it that way after trying the tea.  The description works, that could just be taken in different ways.  They list similar 2007 and 2009 versions but for as nice as this seems maybe better just to go with it.

That still doesn't seem like a lot of background; maybe checking in with Yunnan Sourcing's related offerings will add to that:


2017 Menghai DaYi V93 Premium Ripe Pu-erh Tea ($7.50)

This is a classic Ripe tea blend, called "V93", it was most recently released in 2006 and quickly became one the most expensive ripe teas on the market. To this day the 2005 and 2006 V93 Ripe productions have commanded very high prices due to the fact that this is one of the most sought after Ripe teas for everyday drinking. It is smooth and full in the mouth. It is fermented just enough to break down the bitterness of raw pu-erh while lightly fermented enough to preserve the stimulating cha qi and hui gan of a raw pu-erh. After-taste is sweet and thick.


So it's a relatively classic shu blend; that's it.  It's really not that expensive to buy a newer version of it, but that might be better for sitting around another couple of years.  Or it's probably just fine as it is; three years lets a shu settle quite a bit.  I never mentioned aftertaste in these reviews, I don't think.  I suppose it is notable but not so much in comparison with how that goes with sheng.


KingTeaMall "TONG QIN" (Guqin) Puerh GuShu Shou Cha Ripe Tea  ($18 per cake or $86 for set of 5)

This tea was made from tea leaves picked up from GuShu tea trees in BuLang tea mountain in 2015 year and processed into shou cha in the same year. Then it had been kept into ware house in MengHai county, YunNan province to wait for smell off.  We pressed that into cakes in May, 2018 Year.

High ratio of tea buds which are covered by many golden tea hairs.

Medium fermentation.  Mellow and smooth.  Clean and clear taste feeling.

Storage: From July. 2018, it has been stored in Guangzhou. Dry and clean.

I think that is an in-house label, Bokuryo.  I tend to put more stock in how a tea comes across than branding or even background descriptions anyway.  It being Bulang does matter, but that means a different thing for shu than sheng, since even if the starting point is quite common shu fermentation changes everything.

Interesting that this 2018 tea was really produced in 2015.  It does seem really clean in effect, which isn't unheard of for tea that's not quite two years old, but for a version that's nearly five it makes more sense.  The high ratio of tea buds part you can see.  This being a small cake instead of a tuo it doesn't matter so much, but lower level of compression for cakes can make them age slightly faster and be less hassle to break off chunks from.  There are probably more low quality tuochas than mini-cakes out there but that broad generality doesn't mean much; you're only drinking the one or two versions at a time.

Review

I brewed these for up towards 20 seconds to get the process started faster, to skip an infusion that just points toward what the teas will really be like in the second.

V93 left, in all photos; the other is a bit darker, maybe just opening up faster

2008 Dayi V93 Tuo:  quite nice.  Deep, rich flavors, very smooth character, pleasant intensity, and rich, thick feel.  The overall balance is great.  Flavor range spans dark wood tones into aromatic spice range, frankincense and myrrh or whatever else.  Any hint of rough edges from fermentation process, if any had been present, are long gone.  Sweetness is nice; everything balances in this.  It's even a bit creamy.


2018 Tong Qin gushu:  interesting for including a pronounced flavor aspect that's not completely unrelated from what I described in the other sample, but not the same.  Oddly that same description would probably work about as well as any other anyway.  It's slightly lighter, just a little towards a balsa wood tone, or aromatic cedar, or both. 

This gives up some of the deeper, heavier underlying tones and richness present in the other.  For being on the "young" side it's quite clean in effect [or since it's really a 2015 version not so much, what one would expect], it's just that the overall balance hasn't evolved to where the other is.  Intensity is still good, just across a different range.  I suppose it comes across as trailing over into root spice range instead of the aromatic, "deeper," and different bark spice.

I had been thinking that the amount of the first tea looks to be slightly lower (dry weight), not by much, but enough that it might require adjusting infusion time.  Maybe not.  It is hard to judge dry tea amount with compression level varying, so these really could be exactly the same.  You would assume they were weighed; it probably just was about not appreciating compression level difference.  Even if they're not the intensity of the first sample is very good (or both really), and it would work well brewed lightly. 

Second infusion:

color more even this round

I brewed these a bit over 10 seconds, longer than they would need to get into a normal infusion strength range, but I tend to like shu a little strong.  It would work to drink these on the inky side, brewed for over 20 seconds, but for reviewing them that's not ideal, drinking them at a higher than average infusion strength.  If anything trying teas on the light side lets you identify both individual aspects and general character a bit better.

2008 Dayi:  the creaminess picked up; that's a really cool effect.  It's like how that comes across in Guiness Stout, just missing a lot of those heavier flavors in that, and of course the alcohol.  This has a lot more depth than a Guiness, but to be fair it also gives up a good bit of high end for flavor range.  The flavors are dark wood tones, with the other range I talked about, leaning towards spice.

Related to aged sheng this isn't as refined (versions that don't just fade to nothing), the way those layer together a lot of scope, even long after the astringency and bitterness drops out completely.  This is probably somewhat close to how a 25 year old relatively humid stored sheng would come across, something I've tried not so long ago (ok, really 30+), just still different.  Still pretty good though, for the range it covers.


2018 Tong Qin:  not bad, not really changing.  This version looks a bit redder (the dry leaf), as versions with bud content tend to (I never read descriptions before writing the notes; maybe they'll say more about that).  That tends to pull the flavor in a lighter direction, that cedar-wood range, but oddly the shu tends to gain an unusual type of depth too.  I'm using "depth" here in a couple different senses.  The first tea covers smooth, rich, broad range that extends to mild, warm underlying mineral content; one type of depth. 

My take--worth keeping in mind it's a work in progress--is that buds heavy shu tends to gain flavor range for including that mix of material content, and it lends the feel a texture that isn't necessarily rich or creamy but still has a more limited form of extra thickness.  This post goes into all that, about a Gong Ting shu.  I've got a Moychay version that's probably an even better quality example; it would take some doing looking up what that was, and the review, but I might get to it [not what I was thinking of but these work as an example].

It's interesting going back and forth between them and seeing which is better, and just how good both probably are.  I think they're both quite good examples of shu, there's probably just still another level or two, just a bit more complexity or depth both could express.  The Tong Qin doesn't come across quite as positively to me, for being a simpler tea, but the flavor range and intensity across a narrower range is good.  Neither have any negative aspects, since I don't see limited complexity as that.  I'll try another round and get back to that. 

I suppose it is odd that a version made of gushu (old plant source tea) is less complex, and less intense, but starting point depends on a lot more than plant age.  Most likely this V93 had significant rough edges that all rounded off.

Third infusion:

2008 Dayi V93:  more of the same; I really don't expect these to evolve and change all that much.  The warm mineral range (like what is often present in Liu Bao) picked up a little.  This tea is nothing like Liu Bao, the rest of the set of aspects, and overall character, that creaminess, but mineral range overlaps.  There's still a catchy warm wood tone, off redwood and mahogany.  It's a bit less like Guiness for creaminess tapering off a little.


2018 Tong Qin:  still about the same as last round.  Wood tone might have shifted just a touch, but it won't work to break that down for as vague as the description had been.   This would seem more well-balanced, pleasant, and complex without direct comparison to the other, which age probably helped contribute.

To be clear I'm skeptical that aging shu makes anywhere near as much difference as people often claim.  Of course that seems to contradict this entire review.  There's an exception, that some tar-like or petroleum aspect range can really smooth out and become creamy over time, or funky fermentation related range can smooth out, or really drop out.  Maybe both happened in the case of this 2008, so the "rule" about shu improving with age was born out.  I'm not so convinced that this 2018 version would be all that much different or better in another 10 years.  Then again I'm not basing that on enough evidence and experience; maybe it will be.

It also runs against some strands of conventional wisdom that a shu could be as pleasant, balanced, intense, and free of flaws as this 2018 version is.  Really lots of examples disprove that, even across some degree of quality and cost range; anyone who has drank a good bit of shu would already be clear on that part.

Fourth infusion:

2008 Dayi V93:  not changed much; I'll leave it at that.  Dark wood it probably picking up more, creaminess is still leveling off.  It hasn't lost much for complexity yet but I'd expect it to narrow quite a bit over the next 2 or 3 infusions, since I have been letting these infusions run a bit long, over 10 seconds.


2018 Tong Qin:  again transitioning slightly but the same general description still kind of works.  This probably always did have a little more "high end" then I've been doing justice to.  I had said the wood tone was a bit bright, like redwood, but that extends a little towards orange zest, it's just not quite there.  It makes for an interesting contrast with the other, since it leans in an opposite direction.  I often wonder if lower or medium level fermentation level shu doesn't have a lot more aging potential over the longer run, after 15 years or so, but I can't really guess where this stands in relation to that.

Conclusions

I tried a long brewed round next; that's a pleasant way to drink shu that doesn't contain any flaws to work around.  These still had plenty left to produce a really thick, creamy, intense round, and are still far from finished.

It's hard to say just how good these versions are.  To me--and this is just my own impression--shu tends to level off quite a bit at "well above average."  I have reviewed a number of distinctive exceptions to that, that were different in lots of interesting and positive ways, but this is where a lot of relatively good shu lands. 

That's not a bad thing; these were quite pleasant, and not at all the same tea experience.  They're both not all that expensive.  As I see it shu is more of a comfort tea, a type that's great with breakfast, or with food on a work break.  There's less to focus on, and in a couple of senses less to appreciate, but good versions are quite positive, and hard to screw up in relation to brewing.  It's also easier on your stomach; I could probably get away with drinking these without food first thing in the morning, that's just not how I start my day.

For people who focus in and see shu as their own preferred end-point I guess that personal likes factor in.  I never had any problem appreciating buds-heavy shu, in the way it took time to really get black teas like that, but they're different.  One concern with shu is slight or even significant negative aspects, a bit of extra off flavor from fermentation effect, and that's definitely not a concern for both of these. 

I'd buy shu like this but I'm a bit too hung up on sheng.  It's the same story for oolongs; I really like those, but it's not where I am for main preference just now.  Dian Hong (Yunnan black tea) preference is never going to completely drop out; I keep mixing those in.  But I can only cover so much scope, so I've been setting aside those types, and for the most part also Indian and Nepalese teas (which are great), whites, and whatever else.  It also seems like it might be almost time to pull through this 2 1/2 year sheng cycle but I'm not quite there yet. 

I don't know what will be next; take a break from tea, maybe?  Some new theme will come up.

where I'm editing this, but that was last week

maybe the last day in that outfit; things keep changing

lots of sweet kids for friends, wherever she goes

2018 YS Drunk on Red, Yunnan sun-dried black (shai hong)

The idea of which teas transition positively when aging came up in a Yunnan Sourcing group post (right, there are vendor-specific FB groups now, not just pages).  This subject overlaps a good bit with the theme of which teas are sold as compressed versions, which I recently wrote about, it just wasn't the main point of that post.

No surprises in what is mentioned there for types:  compressed tea versions include sheng and shu pu'er, various hei cha, white teas (shou mei being most familiar), and in some cases pressed black teas and oolongs.  For the last I've seen the most of Wuyi Yancha pressed, like this one, but even types as uncommon as gaba oolong.  And tisanes (herb teas, to some); that's a little different, since usually that just extends to adding chrysanthemum to sheng in a blend or making cakes from tea-plant flowers.

The Yunnan Sourcing product description about that aging factor explains background well:


This is a blend of black tea from both the Mengku and Feng Qing area of Lincang.  Both Autumn harvested black teas processed with sun-drying technique (晒红) .  The tea is picked, wilted, fried, bruised by rolling, wet withered, and then finally sun-dried in it's final stage (much like raw pu-erh mao cha).  

When sun-drying is applied in the final stage as opposed to heat-drying, the result is a black tea that is more subtle when young, but ages very well over the coming years.  Younger sun-dried black teas also tend to steep longer and display more character in the middle to later steeps. 

This is a strong black tea with plenty of depth and complexity that will age wonderfully, developing honey sweetness and earthy spice character after just a few years.


I like that projection; it would be interesting to give it a couple of years to rest and check back in on that "earthy spice character."  This and what I've said doesn't mention "shai hong" yet, which per my understanding just refers sun-dried black tea from Yunnan, what this is.  This video contains lots more interesting details on processing, from Farmerleaf, a Yunnan based tea vendor and producer.

As I expressed in that post discussion sometimes the level of tartness isn't appealing to me in this type of tea.  I don't know that tartness is any sort of quality marker (a negative version of one), and I'm not implying that it is, it's just not a flavor aspect I prefer in Yunnan black teas.  It's not notable in most loose versions but it comes up in some.

Review

It's a little tart.  I think this will still be quite pleasant for me since that's moderate, but it's already not in my favorite range for Yunnan blacks in the first sip.  It has other aspect range I do like, other type-typical flavors and character, so I'll back up and just describe it as that set.

Tartness stands out as much as any other single flavor component, but beyond that there's a rich complexity.  Part would be described as a fruitier version of hardwood, like cherry wood, or per an alternate description like a warm and sweet version of leather (but I'd go with the wood).  Sweetness makes it work.  The feel is reasonable, not thin, and a little mouth-watering, with just a hint of dryness to it.  Since the character will probably shift a little on the second infusion it's as well to pick things back up there, and to not pass judgment on that tartness too quickly.

It isn't much different, but it picks up some depth.  Tartness probably does fade slightly, swapped out for a bit more warm tone.  The cherry hardwood aspect now contains a hint of tree bark, which actually works well, it's still very clean in effect.

One might wonder why I feel ok with mentioning so many wood-type and forest scent references, which is easy to explain; I grew up in rural Western Pennsylvania, splitting firewood as a child, like Abraham Lincoln did.  Good times!  Oddly none of us was ever injured doing that, but we did experience a near-miss once doing some logging work, which is kind of a different theme.  A large log rolled over the leg of my sister, who was probably about 6 to 8 at the time.  She was fine, and it worked as a prompt to reconsider workplace safety concerns.

this could be at my parents' or sister's house, or maybe it was

On the next round the warmth starts to lean towards a spice tone but doesn't really remind me of one.  The sweetness and complexity might be interpreted as including cocoa; that works a little better.  It's hard to clearly define what's included in the complex flavor but I'd also accept rose (warm, rich floral tone) as a reasonable interpretation.

Even though this is complex across a decent amount of flavor range, which would sound like it spans quite a bit of scope, the moderate degree of potential aging transition relates to this possibly picking up more flavor depth later.  It could gain more warm, sweet tone like molasses, or just take on a slightly richer character that's hard to define.  It's not thin in flavor or feel experience but there's room for additional depth, if that makes sense.  Oven-dried versions tend to be slightly more intense when young, then to fade instead.

I went with the same relatively fast infusion time the next round, around 10 seconds, but this would work brewed even faster for the proportion I'm using, which really could be lower.  This is typically how I prefer this type of black tea, so I don't mean it's a mistake to use this approach, just that different ones tend to give comparable results.  In some rare cases using a more Western (hybrid) or completely Western approach works better (much lower proportion and 3 to 4 minute infusion time instead), but as often it just doesn't change things that much for using Gongfu brewing instead.  The character can change slightly but not necessarily for the better or worse.  Of course in the final evaluation better or worse maps to preference (as I see things), not to some objectively best approach.


It's even better the third round; it may well improve again for one more and then level off (somehow guessing about the next steps has become a habit, even though that sort of makes no sense; I'll know soon enough).  Tartness has faded to a slight background element; I don't dislike it so much that I have any problem with that.  To help place that it's similar to how I relate to smoky sheng, or grassy green teas; those aren't aspects I tend to like.  A hint of smoke in the right context in a sheng can improve it, and grassiness in a green tea paired with other range can work really well too.  I tend to like green teas the least because of that and other factors, and prefer Longjing for being more towards toasted rice or nuts, maybe with mild vegetal character beyond that.

There's a set of typical flavors that comes up in Yunnan black teas that varies a good bit in range but still seems familiar in different forms, and this expresses that.  A different type includes a lot of molasses sweetness and is more towards a warm spice or cocoa, and another is more like a roasted yam or sweet potato.  This version sticks to what seems like cherry hardwood to me, coupled with warm floral aspect, and rich earthy range that's clean and subdued but integrates well.  Probably not many people would taste this and think "tree bark," but regardless of interpretation it's hard to completely place.  Luckily the experience is the thing, not the degree of accuracy in describing it.

This is just as good the next round, maybe slightly more subtle but the effect and balance lose nothing.  As one might imagine using half this much tea and ten times as much water, and a three minute infusion time versus multiple 10 or so seconds of several, all of these infusions would have been combined.  In some cases that works better.  With this softening and deepening a little in tone this really does seem more like cocoa to me, and the tartness is now gone, transitioned away.  It's a little odd that I like it much better than the first infusion but that can happen. 

To me Gongfu brewing is nice not just for optimizing the experience, which in some cases holds true, but for extending it, for giving you a look at different layers of aspects within the same tea.  And a longer, more complex experience; brewing two large mugs of this would work well for with a work-day breakfast but it's also nice tasting it over a half an hour instead (or much longer, if one is also writing).

More of the same the next round; this tea will keep going like this.  The character will shift a good bit related to using longer infusion times to draw out intensity but now (at around 6 or so?) using a 15 second infusion still resulted in a less intense but still flavorful result.  For as mild as this tea is it would work well to brew it "grandpa-style," to add a little to a tea bottle and just let it sit, and then refill it and brew it again that way.  Green teas tend to last a little longer that way, to brew more rounds, but I don't like them as well made that way.  Light oolongs tend to last well too, and work ok made that way, but to really optimize those teas I prefer using a Gongfu approach.  For inexpensive, moderate quality versions (like a cheap Tie Guan Yin I picked up in China, but haven't tried yet) it tends to matter less, and preferred brewing form might matter more than minor outcome variation.

Conclusions

Nice tea; I won't say much more about that part, since the notes covered that.  The value is exceptional since this sells for $7 for 100 grams; adding one to an order would hardly change the total, and giving it away if you don't like it doesn't add much cost.  I did want to ramble about the aging factor a little, if it really makes a difference.

The one way someone would know if aging improves shai hong versions, sun-dried Yunnan black teas, is by actually trying it.  It doesn't help to just try an older version since then you wouldn't know the starting point.  "Older" here is relative anyway; per common discussion input people claim they pick up depth over a few years, not necessarily that 10 year old versions are much different and better.  Maybe that's possible, it just tends to not get discussed much.  I'm skeptical that would make much sense, but if someone really loved the idea they would also find a reason to love the tea.

I have sat aside versions of shai hong for over a year and checked back, and tried to compare character from review description, and they really did seem to improve.  Not so often that I've mapped out typical change patterns, of course, maybe only a couple of times when it happened to work out that way.

I've tried a compressed version that was a few years old that I really liked, which sort of started me on this interest (this one, reviewed two years ago).  I still have the last half of that brick; it would be interesting to check back in on it.  Looking back it was 2 years old then, so 4 now (and obviously long since sold out; that's how such things go).

Tsenz shai hong, reviewed in that post, photo credit here

I've since tried a couple of versions of this same thing from Moychay, which weren't necessarily different than this Drunk on Red version.  Looking back at that main review the cost was identical and review description matched; funny it worked out that way.  It would be interesting to me to know if that tartness (in both) would transition to fade over time, and I guess I could store this tea for a year and a half or so and then I'd know.  Given the low cost and limited size buying a version to drink and one to stash would seem to make sense.

Interview with William Osmont of Farmerleaf, a Yunnan tea producer

William weighing harvested tea

Originally posted in two parts on TChing here and here.

Related to writing a tea blog and helping run a Facebook tea group I talk to lots of interesting people about the subject, recently including William Osmont of Farmerleaf.  I’ve reviewed some very nice teas from them, different Yunnan Dian Hong black tea versions (here and here), a Moonlight white, and of course pu’er.

This article is about his background with producing tea, and about typical questions that come up related to that area, about sub-regional variations, production and sourcing issues, and pu’er aging / fermentation.  In particular vendor marketing claims about Yunnan tea tree ages have been a source of controversy, related to some being disputed on social media, and William offers his opinions on the effect of tea tree age on tea character and about identifying tree ages.

How did you get started on an interest in tea?  

It all started on a sunny afternoon in French Provence.  With two friends, we were hanging out in the streets of our little town, and we stumbled upon a newly opened tea shop. We tried different flavored teas, and I really loved the different tastes. I hadn’t paid much attention to tea so far. I drank flavored tea for a couple of months and then got into Darjeeling, Chinese green tea, African black tea… until I tried a 1998 ripe Pu-erh tea. I clearly remember that first session with Pu-erh tea, and from that time, I knew I would dedicate my life to this beverage.

After high school, I went to Yunnan for a year, in pursuit of better teas. That was the best year of my life, I was 19 and free to explore. I studied Chinese in Kunming for six months and then moved to the South of Yunnan, in Xishuangbanna. I would visit one or two tea mountain every week, learning about the taste of tea and the different processing method.

One day, as I was visiting Jingmai, I met a beautiful Dai girl named Yubai, who had only started her own tea factory that year. We fell in love, and she is now my wife.

In a fair deal with my parents, I would return to Europe and go to university after one year. I was really interested in biology and ecology. I wanted to go back to China as often as possible and start something in tea. In 2012, I opened an online tea shop (www.bannacha.com) in which I sold mainly Pu-erh teas from farmers I had met. A large part of it was made by my girlfriend in Jingmai. This little website allowed me to put a foot into the tea business and I am really grateful to the customers who trusted us for all those years. The profits allowed my girlfriend and me to meet every summer holiday in China, strengthening our love and expanding our tea network in Yunnan.

I graduated in 2016 and obtained a master’s degree in agricultural development. Yubai and I are now married, and we live in Yunnan for good. We have started our Pu-erh brand Jing Yu Tian Xiang, which we retail in China and abroad. We’ve also opened a new website: www.farmer-leaf.com, on which we sell a wider range of Yunnan teas from our tea factory as well as from other farmers.

Yu Bai processing tea

What do you see as the main differences in selling tea based out of Europe and from China?

Being based in China helps a lot with sourcing. As you know, building and nurturing relationships in the Middle Kingdom is extremely important, and it’s all the more convenient to be present all year-round.

Being based in a tea mountain in Yunnan is a great opportunity to understand the technicalities of tea production, and how the farmers make their choices in terms of agricultural practices. Some aspects of tea can only be understood by having a long term presence in a tea mountain.  Understanding the details of tea processing requires making dozens of trials, sharing tips with fellow tea producers and experimenting.

Being online-based, the distance with the tea consumers doesn’t affect the relationship, we exchange emails with our customers every day.  It is always great to receive feedback and questions. Our objective is to bring the tea lovers closer to the tea gardens. In 2017, we have decided to close the distance by running a Youtube channel. Some tea fellows even visit us in Jingmai, and it’s a pleasure to take them around our tea gardens.

What are some differences between Western tea enthusiast based tea traditions and the original Chinese traditions, or modern practices?  

The way tea is brewed in China varies widely, depending on the province and the interest of the tea drinkers. The most common way is to brew tea in a large glass, what is sometimes called “Grandpa-style” in the West.

Just like in the West, Gongfu brewing is reserved to the “hardcore” tea lovers and the professionals. It is more prevalent in Yunnan, Fujian and Guangdong, because these provinces have a long history of tea drinking. In the last decades, China has experienced a revival of the tea culture; this is a luxury few could afford in the past. Gongfu-brewing spreads along with high quality leaves, just like in the West.

Your website mentions producing pu’er; do you also actually make any other types of teas?  Do you produce shou / shu?  

Yubai, my wife, has run a small tea factory in Jingmai since 2011. We now operate it together and produce white, oolong and Pu-erh tea. Our teas are hand-processed, which mean we cook the leaves in a wok instead of using a machine. That allows a finer control over tea quality and opens more possibilities. We’re developing a line of semi-oxidized tea that is unique in Jingmai, and we’re always trying to improve our Pu-erh tea processing.

We do not produce Shu Pu-erh; the extra fermentation process involved requires special skills, big infrastructure and a lot of tea. Usually, the large factory productions consist in batches of dozens of tons. Nowadays, it is possible to ferment the tea in micro-batches (as low as 100kg), we’re considering making such a production, but it still has to be outsourced. A lot of the fermented Pu-erh tea is made in Menghai , Southern Yunnan.

Can you share a short summary of the character differences in teas within different pu’er producing areas?  

Pu-erh tea features a wide range of tasting profiles. That diversity is due to differences in aging, processing and producing area. Just like the terroirs of wine, tea tastes different according to the genetics, location and management techniques of the tea gardens. It would take a whole book to detail the subtle variations between each mountain and their underlying factors.

Jingmai is famous in the world of tea for its orchid and honey fragrance. Some bitterness is present; astringency is more present than average. In young teas, the mouth feel is generally light and sweet. The Jingmai profile is accessible to the beginners and makes a great introduction to the world of Pu-erh tea because it has a bit of everything. In comparison, Bulang tea is generally more aggressive, featuring more bitterness; Yiwu tea is soft and mellow, with a thick mouth feel. Menkgu is renowned for its complex fragrance and sharp sweetness.

However, there are many exceptions in each terroirs, and the result in the cup can be very different depending on the processing. In Jingmai, old-growth tea that received a high-temperature kill-green process will feature the typical high-pitched orchid fragrance, with fast-changing bitterness and a light body; while tea that went through a low temperature kill-green process will have a thicker body, more sweetness and a honey-like aroma. There’s a lot of possibilities in-between.

Some tea gardens are known to produce more bitter leaves, while others grow particularly fragrant leaves. It is indirectly influenced by the soil type, garden design and agricultural techniques. For example, tea that grows on sandy soil will receive less water and nutrients than tea grown on clay soil, and that will influence the physiology of the tea tree and therefore the taste of its leaves.

What tea aspects indicate that a pu’er will age well, or what types of teas it would make more sense to not age?  One sometimes hears that in the original Chinese tea culture pu’er wasn’t intended to be aged to improve it; any thoughts on that?

Good Huigan (sweet and fresh feeling in the throat) will be sustained through the years, and this is one of the main criteria on which pu-erh tea is evaluated.

Make sure the tea you aged doesn’t taste like green tea or isn’t too red when young. This degree of greenness depends on the way the kill-green process was done. An overly green or red pu-erh tea can be very enjoyable when young, and be disappointing after years of aging.

The big tea factory blends are generally intended to be aged, they are not suitable for immediate drinking. Blends can be a safe choice for long term aging, even though they rarely contain high-quality material.

Bitterness tones down with age, but it doesn’t mean bitter teas will necessarily give a better tea once aged. For example, Yiwu tea generally has no bitterness, but it’s a sought after terroir for long term storage, this kind of tea can be unimpressive when young and turn into great sweet and complex teas after a couple of years of aging.

The Pu-erh tea culture is constantly changing; in its most current form, it is considered this tea can be enjoyed young, as it was consumed in Yunnan, and aged, as it was consumed in Guangdong. The Tibetan way of drinking it with Yak butter, doesn’t seem to have spread much. In a pre-industrial context of smallholders, it was technically much easier to produce Pu-erh tea than other types of teas. When made in small quantity, the only piece of equipment required is a wok. Sun-drying was used to dry tea, just like it was used to dry fruits, corn or cabbage.

The tea culture has been shaped through the constraints of production and logistics. People like wet-stored tea in Guangdong because that is the way tea would turn out in those conditions. Some tea lovers in the West build “pumidors”, while I have never found one in China. It is beautiful to see the tea culture evolve as tea spreads throughout the world.

2011 Jing Mai gushu (old tree) sheng pu'er

What is the local (Yunnan) understanding of ideal and problematic pu’er storage conditions?  Is environment humidity the primary concern?

In Yunnan, few people actively control humidity; they typically store the tea cakes in their bamboo wraps in cardboard boxes. When stored in large quantity, the air flow is somewhat limited, which is believed to preserve the fragrance of tea. Some tea professionals limit the air exchange further by wrapping the boxes with plastic sheets.  This technique makes sense as long as the leaves are not vacuum sealed. The aging process does require oxygen to occur, but the air contained inside the box should be enough for decades. A minority advocates for a complete removal of oxygen, this slows down the oxidation process and the tea profile evolves in a very different way.

Aging is the result of enzyme activity, called “enzymatic browning” in the food industry, and the action of micro-organisms. The relative importance of each in the aging process depends on humidity. In wet environments, microorganisms take a large role in tea oxidation, while in dry environments, their action is negligible. This probably explains the difference in taste profile that we can observe between wet and dry-stored teas.

What is the difference between using tea from just one plant to make tea versus mixing it?  Per input related to other tea types (eg. Dan Cong) the range of characteristics would be narrower; is this the same?

Pu-erh tea Single tree productions have been popular for a couple of years. Since only one or a handful of trees are harvested, the result in the cup varies widely. Some can have a very good throat-feel; others can be bitter and astringent, or sweet and fragrant… A big part of the appeal is to have the picture of the big tree and the feeling of tasting something very old. Self-suggestion can go a long way to make your session enjoyable, even though such productions wouldn’t necessarily perform better than a standard “gushu” harvest in a blind tasting.

Such productions are valuable by their limited quantity; you can hardly get more than a kilogram of dry tea from a single ancient tree. They can feature traits that are unexpected in their area of production and tend to change less along the infusions than standard productions that involve thousands of trees.

How much tea (leaf weight and dry weight) can an individual tea tree produce?

It really depends on the size of the tree, frequency of harvest, varietal, nutrients availability, water, sunlight, pest and disease, pruning method… It can go anywhere between 500g and 5kg of fresh leaves per year (about 120g to 1.2kg of dry tea). Some trees are picked three times a year, while other are picked thirty times.

What is your impression of how tea tree age affects pu’er quality or characteristics?

The leaves harvested from ancient gardens tend to have a better Huigan (sweet and fresh feeling in the throat), they can feature more pronounced bitterness that turns quickly into sweetness. They have an oily mouth feel that can remind of chicken soup. Their fragrance can be more complex than tea made from young plantations. Old-growth tea can generally be brewed more times than young plantations tea.

These differences can also be noticed when comparing young and older tea plantations. A lot of great tea comes from 50+ year-old tea plantations.

[Editor's note:  this does match a recent direct review comparison of two of his teas, one from old tree sources and the other from younger plants]


It’s important to keep in mind that the age of the trees is only one factor among others that makes good tea. The agricultural techniques and the location of the gardens (including altitude, soil, environment…) will have a large impact on the taste of tea. Some young plantations produce excellent tea, while some old tea gardens are not highly praised.

To what extent can tea tree ages be identified?

Following some heated debates on the internet, I have looked into the questions. Interestingly, I have found published scientific articles that discuss the age of specific trees. At best, the circumference of the trunks is measured, and this is only loosely correlated to the age of the tree. According to farmers and experts I interviewed, growth rate of the trunk varies widely, depending on soil fertility and genetics. In some cases, we can know the age of the tea gardens from historical records, but not the age of specific trees.

The tree ring counting method does not seem to be used in the case of the tea trees.

Some vendors use the age of the trees as a selling point, but I would rather recommend using the size of the trees, which is easier to confirm.