Moychay Wenshan bamboo sheng pu'er

 

Kind of a new kind for me, from a large set of teas sent by Moychay for review.  I've tried falap before, an Assam, Indian version of what I take to be the same thing, but it may not be identical.  The same processing, of course I mean; being from a different region even if processing and plant genetics were quite similar the tea leaves might still be different.

Moychay has no description of this on their sales site page; odd.  It lists for $16.95 but doesn't include a tea amount, which probably varies slightly.  A similar pressed black tea claims there is an average of 180 grams per stick / tube, so maybe comparable?  That description means very little in relation to this different version, but it is interesting to hear what they thought of it, since it's all there is to go on, beyond customer comments:

Red tea rammed into a segment of a bamboo stem. Made in 2020 in Wenshan County, Yunnan Province. Tea in bamboo is a traditional way of storing tea among small peoples of the province.

The average weight of one bamboo stalk is 180 g. Inside the stalk: tightly pressed, brown tea buds and leaves. The aroma is restrained, fruity. The infusion is transparent, with a yellow hue.

The bouquet of the ready-made tea is vivid, fruity-and-woody, with biscuit, mint and honey notes. The aroma is deep and warm, fruity with a woody accent. The taste is rich and sweet, a bit tart, with berry sourness and minty nuances in the aftertaste.

It's that "traditional processing and storage" part I'd like to hear more about.  Yunnan Sourcing sells a related tea that can help fill that in, even if it really could vary:

Meng Song Bamboo Roasted Raw Pu-erh Tea

The Dai people in Xishuangbanna have been making bamboo roasted tea for centuries!  Our offering was made from 2019 Spring harvested Meng Song village tea that was processed first into sun-dried mao cha, steamed to soften it and then tamped into sections of a unique varietal of aromatic bamboo (that is found only in Menghai county of Xishuangbanna) and then roasted in a fire pit!

The blackened outer part of the bamboo is cut away and then lightly sanded so that it's not sooty, and the open end of the bamboo section is closed off with paper and piece of string for storage and aging!

This is a lovely aromatic tea with a fruity thick character and an incredibly unique aroma that is imparted to the tea from the bamboo during the roasting process.  The result is something very tasty and rich in flavor, which is certainly more than just a novelty!

Each bamboo section holds roughly 200 grams of tea (+/- 25 grams).

This review post of a version of Indian falap cites a passage from this Tea Leaf Theory vendor page (selling a similar tea) about that background, related to that tea type:

The Singphos, a tribal community residing in parts of Northeast India, Myanmar, and China, are believed to be among India’s first tea drinkers. To this day, they continue to process tea by first heating the leaves in a metal pan until they brown, and then sun-drying them for a few days. To make the more flavourful, smoked tea, the sun-dried leaves are tightly packed in bamboo tubes and smoked over a fire. After a week of storing these bamboos, the processed tea hardens to take the shape of the tube. 

It can then be preserved for up to 10 years, with small portions sliced off with a knife to brew a fresh cup of tea. Like wine, the smoked flavour of the tea matures more with time and we choose to pick up the ones which were aged for 4 years. When processed and brewed correctly, a cup of Singpho tea, which is had without milk or sugar, is a lovely golden-orange colour. 

Review:

First infusion:  interesting!  It tastes a little like how one would expect bamboo to taste.  I've last eaten cooked bamboo within the last week (the softer center part); it comes up here.  But this is different, a roasted version of the outer wood part, not the softer center that can be cooked and eaten.

bamboo is in the center on the left

That one flavor is a bit woody, but in a sweet and fragrant sense, not unlike how a wicker basket might smell (which could be woven from all sorts of different palm materials here).  This isn't as harsh, bitter, or astringent as I would expect, without any trace of smoke.  The roasting step would have changed the character, but how I could only guess at how.  Maybe it destroyed a lot of the normal form of aging potential, or maybe this would keep changing over time in different but positive ways.  It doesn't need to transition away from being astringent and bitter anyway, aspects which I'll say more about in the following rounds.

Second infusion:  similar, maybe a little more complex, drawing out more flavor as it infuses more completely.  That woody, towards-nutty range is interesting.  It's odd how the rest is so mild and pleasant.  It tastes a little like sheng but that would never be this mild and approachable, even in modern "oolong pu'er" style versions, processed to be pleasant when very young but not to age as well.

There's a little bitterness and dryness to it, just not much, enough to round out the feel and experience.  In general it's soft and rich, with that bamboo-wood tone standing out, and some other range beyond it, but nothing too complex or refined.  It comes across as a mix of a range of faint inputs, with some hard to pin down floral tone included, and a light lemon aspect, with deeper fruit flavor along the line of dried apricot (so not that deep and rich, more light and sweet).  

All fairly subtle, mind you; the bamboo flavor stands out more.  It's all probably closer to dried persimmon, if that's familiar, and if it's not you might want to snag a few the next time you are in a Chinatown.  It's kind of in between dried apricot and fig in flavor range.  

dried persimmons; the color can vary

I don't get the impression that this is going to transition a lot, given how it comes across as a bit simple in character, but that touch of bitterness, wood-tone, and other range might shift in relative balance.  I hadn't mentioned that I'm not brewing this light, letting it infuse for around 15 seconds, or maybe just over that, so it's not approachable related to being brewed light.

Third infusion:  I let that brew around 20 seconds, to see what it's like slightly stronger.  It's probably a little over optimum; bitterness comes out more that way.  That does help identify potential flaws in the character though, and sort out feel and aftertaste better.  I'm not sure about all that though; it's just not as good when more bitter and dry (astringent).  A roasted flavor stands out more; that probably was playing into the overall balance more than I had described, pulling the flavor towards warmer and sweeter tones.  It still tastes like bamboo but the fruit and other range is much harder to pick up brewed strong.

Fourth infusion:  much more pleasant again; brewed just under 10 seconds this round.  That balance did shift, of the aspects present earlier, but not in a way that will be easy to describe, the relative levels are just different.  That is an odd seemingly vegetal range, roasted bamboo as a primary flavor.  It's a bit like toasted rice; I'd imagine that people who love genmaicha might really like this.  It's slightly more bitter but the vegetal range more common to green tea, grassiness or seaweed, umami and such, isn't present.  Or maybe a trace of umami is adding to the complexity; if you think of sun-dried tomato while drinking and interpreting it that could be a partial match.  

I think dryness and bitterness picked up more this round than the other fruit, floral, and roasted tone range.  Some of that would relate to progression through infusions, and some from brewing it at different intensities.  Completely different flavor balance would come across at different infusion strengths.  Not the flavor aspects themselves, that would be consistent, but the relative levels.

Fifth infusion:  slightly better in terms of richness of feel; something shifted.  But the light range I was describing as close enough to lemon, floral tone, and dried apricot is heavier now, more centered on the dried persimmon range, without the lemon and floral parts.  Warm mineral tones seem to pick up; that increase in feel is seemingly paired with a shift in flavor as well.  Roasted bamboo is still present as a main flavor aspect but no longer dominant, now more integrated in other range.

To be clear I don't think this is refined and complex enough that someone who loves really good sheng would see it as comparable, or as good.  It comes across as simpler, and less refined.  Feel is fine, and there is some aftertaste experience, but it's just not comparable to how that goes in well above average quality sheng.  I don't mean factory tea; those tend to take a dozen years to be drinkable, and only become approachable with a lot of age transition.  I mean good sheng versions that are quite pleasant with just 2 to 4 years of age exposure, softening and deepening a bit, but not requiring a more complete fermentation cycle to be enjoyable.  

I'd meant to leave off taking notes at this point but having said all that I should check one more round to see where it's headed first.

Sixth infusion:  not so different.  I really like it; that last part about it not stacking up against good sheng was about meeting limited aspect range expectations, and also just being a different tea type.  After a couple more infusions the flavor effect shifted more towards pine, but otherwise just thinned, with astringency picking up a little due to stretching the timing.  All in all not bad; pleasant, approachable, and interesting.

Further conclusions:

I liked the tea, and won't add much to the description here.  It was different.

I also wanted to mention that some review comments were negative on that sales page, that one version seemed too roasted, and there were storage issues for others.  Ordinarily I wouldn't bring that up, but I was talking to a friend who reported having negative experiences with different versions of bamboo sheng, so it seems relevant to include more on that.  

Of course Moychay would probably sort out resolution if problems came up with any tea, beyond someone just not liking that tea version, so this is about background for why this tea type may be more inconsistent or problematic than others.  There's always a chance for a problematic grey area to come up, for a tea to not be destroyed by mold or whatever else but to have lost positive flavor character, which could set up aspect interpretation and resolution coordination problems between any vendor and customer.  It might not be practical for tea vendors to refund every case of someone not liking a tea type, but resolving issues related to something being wrong is different.

Although I'm mostly guessing myself, it seems obvious enough:  this adds a cooking step, and for versions that are aged storage concerns come into play, both of which add risk of something not being right.  If the tea was too roasted that would negatively affect flavor, and not roasting it enough could leave extra moisture present, which would really be even worse.  Over-roasted tea might just taste like an oolong with extra char, but any mold on a tea would render it undrinkable.  I'm not warning people to not try this type of tea, since I'm two for two for experiencing good results with similar versions, but it does seem like a relevant part of the story.

It's important to take sales-page comments for what they are worth, too.  Any comments relating to a similar but different version are completely irrelevant, and anyone expecting the type to be different than how it tends to be is an expectation problem, not a problem with the tea.  It probably doesn't help that there is no description on that sales page; the tea just is what the heading says it is.  If there are more than 2 or 3 comments on any given product then that works as a survey of input, but if there are few then people tending to report negative impressions more than positive ones would probably skew feedback range.  I've mentioned an impression of Moychay teas on sales pages before but tend never to, for spending so much time on these write-ups; I should probably add some of that.

I can't really place this tea any better, related to saying what it reminded me of, or being clearer on quality level or style than I was in the notes.  It's probably quite similar to that one falap I tried, maybe with a bit more bamboo flavor, for whatever reason.  For novelty I would recommend this tea at that price range, but then I love trying teas of different types, and this stands separate from everything but that one falap version for being different.  That falap reminded me more of a sheng with some hei cha-range mellowness, and this seems more between mild sheng and approachable light rolled oolong, with bamboo taste input present in both.

Some completely unrelated photos follow; just sharing Bangkok family life images.

a birthday event photo; my kids and I all had birthdays this month

at a local mall, decorated for Christmas

a second play area in three days; making the most of the last of a school break

it's a little odd how the pandemic isn't present here, but we still wear masks

Trying Assam falap, a variation of bamboo sheng

still in the bamboo cover, part of it

with cheap pu'er pick for scale; it's the size that you would expect

a bit different looking; hei cha versions tend to be like that

This reviews a type of tea that's new to me, falap, or the Assam equivalent of Chinese bamboo pu'er (per my understanding, at least).  It was passed on by Jaba Borgohain in her recent visit here from Assam, related to this black tea review.

I've heard about and intended to try this tea type for a long time.  I even ordered and paid for some once, the only time a vendor ever cheated me by not sending tea.  That was a special case, not worthy of a detailed tangent here.

Of course it's not possible to try good versions of every tea out there; it doesn't work that way.  There will always be something you just didn't get to yet, no matter how many teas you try.  Even if you are a completist with great connections and excessive purchasing habits new kinds would still keep turning up.  For example, sheng (pu'er-like tea) produced in Taiwan has been mentioned recently, and oolong made from Assamica plant types in Vietnam, and I've seen Oriental Beauty from Japan in photos (or tea made in a similar style; even for people who aren't type purists it wouldn't be identical).  I know of tea growing untended in a non-tea producing country, due to an aborted earlier attempt; as soon as someone picks some of those leaves, processes it, and puts the word out that will be a completely new origin category.

I expected it would be a bit bitter and a little smoky, not really approachable for being on the young side, but I didn't know the age when tasting it.

I don't have a vendor review or background to cite, because this was forwarded by Jaba without saying who made it, the producer.  Which reminds me of an earlier content error, the unrelated conference Jaba visited to attend wasn't hosted by Chulalongkorn (a main Bangkok university), it was only located in essentially the same area in Bangkok, which led me to assume that connection.  Or remember wrong; however that went.


Jaba mentioned that the tea is one year old, and also that it takes three months to produce the it, that it's not considered a finished version until after that processing time.

I have more tea from Assam to get to since, from the Tea Leaf Theory vendor, so I'll go ahead and cite their description of a different version instead.  I checked if they sent a falap version to try; they didn't, just Assam and Darjeeling.  That description:


The Singphos, a tribal community residing in parts of Northeast India, Myanmar, and China, are believed to be among India’s first tea drinkers. To this day, they continue to process tea by first heating the leaves in a metal pan until they brown, and then sun-drying them for a few days. To make the more flavourful, smoked tea, the sun-dried leaves are tightly packed in bamboo tubes and smoked over a fire. After a week of storing these bamboos, the processed tea hardens to take the shape of the tube. It can then be preserved for up to 10 years, with small portions sliced off with a knife to brew a fresh cup of tea. Like wine, the smoked flavour of the tea matures more with time and we choose to pick up the ones which were aged for 4 years. 

When processed and brewed correctly, a cup of Singpho tea, which is had without milk or sugar, is a lovely golden-orange colour. The leaves can be reused to brew two to three cups, the flavour getting better with each infusion. According to locals, the tea’s organic production and traditional processing retain its medicinal value. The Singphos say a cup after every meal aids digestion and believe it has kept the community relatively free from cancer and diabetes.

Review:

I used a rinse and went a little long on the first infusion, adjusting for brewing a smaller proportion than I usually do.  Instead of brewing for between 5 and 10 seconds for using more sheng (usually 10, first round, to get it started) I let this infuse for closer to 20.

And it's a bit strong.  I'll be able to back that off to 8 to 10 seconds and still get plenty of flavor out of this (and mouthfeel, and the rest).

redder color might indicate aging, or that could be oxidation

Of course bitterness is part of the story, but a novel flavor is more interesting.  And the form of the bitterness isn't completely familiar; that never really means just one thing.  I'll focus on the taste and probably never will do justice to what I mean by that second idea, but in a rough form it seems clear enough.  MSG is salty but it's not salt (mono sodium glutamate instead of sodium chloride); something along that line, about compounds and tastes being related but varying.

That flavor will be hard to pin down.  It's mostly mineral intensive but also vegetal, just not overly so.  It's a little like how the mortar used in laying bricks or cement blocks smells, but in a catchier, more pleasant, more food-like form.  I guess an unusual type of herb might be closest, or some relatively rare food item.  I'll try to do better on that part next round.

Brewed faster this makes more sense, only around 8 seconds or so.  Again bitterness is one of two main aspects you notice, but not in an identical form as in sheng, and not overly intense, at a level that does balance (so not what I expected).  I'll probably struggle with defining the main basic flavor of this for the entire review.  It's odd saying that it doesn't taste like anything in the food range but it is novel.  Do you know how bitter gourd tastes, beyond the bitterness?  It's not that, but not completely unrelated.   There's a lot of mineral.  That's not necessarily in a range that's familiar, maybe close to the smell of galvanized pipe.

It's funny referring back to my construction work days so much to describe this tea.  I helped my parents build their house when I was 13, which made for a year of long days.  It wasn't our first go at major renovation, and even then, with support from an uncle and a crew that actually did that work, it was all a bit much.  It turned out nicely though; it's a beautiful house.  It's integrated into that location (kind of along the Frank Lloyd Wright "Falling Water" theme, just not that integrated), with two levels on a higher side (on a slope), and the bottom two levels facing a lower yard slope, of a two story house with a basement.

building a smaller house might have been easier

This tastes pleasant; that could get lost in the building materials descriptions.  Mouthfeel and aftertaste aren't bad, not as pronounced as in the best examples of sheng but enough to fill in the experience some.  It's probably closest to hei cha, both in the tea realm and also related to how foods come across, I'm just not thinking of one that's similar.

I suppose it's like hua juan variants, Hunan Chinese hei cha from Anhua province, since those are similarly compressed versions, which are probably made in a similar way.  But it's different, at least than what I tried, lighter in style and flavor range.  There's a review of one related tea and another hei cha here, for reference.  This review of a compressed "mystery tea" version, of an unknown type, includes more of review of different hei cha versions and background.  That seemed to be related to decorative productions from tea by-products (extra dust), but was probably made to drink, so not exactly that.

That second post cites some of Tony Gebely's background from Tea:  A User's Guide, a very nice summary reference.  It just doesn't seem to mention either falap or Chinese bamboo pu'er (I just scanned it to check), so picking it up as background for these types probably wouldn't work.  Oddly Wikipedia's page on fermented teas (hei cha) includes reference to dok / ddok / tteok cha from Korea but not falap, even though it's probably a better known type; so it goes.

dust cleared already (why lots of people strain teas)

Third infusion:  I'm mostly not using these headings, but a place marker here or there can't hurt.  I'll give this an 8 to 10 second infusion too, to keep strength up but moderate it to that range.

This isn't transitioning in terms of being different but it is catchier, smoothing out a little, picking up some complexity and sweetness.  It's much more pleasant than I expected, closer to hei cha range but still more unique than I thought it would be.  Novelty can make new tea types seem that much more pleasant and interesting, but you have to be able to relate.  Without a bridge of experiences with hei cha this might not seem like a standard tea type.  Since it could be interpreted as between hei cha and sheng in style range it seems normal enough to me.

The flavor moves a bit towards spice range, trading out some mineral for warmer, earthier tones.  Following the earlier theme it's not an easy spice range to identify either.  It might be a little like birch or aspen bark, warm and aromatic, mineral intensive, but not a close match for anything in a spice rack.  It might overlap a little with turmeric, even though that's something else altogether, a novel root spice that's like a much different version of ginger.  It's that complexity that would make breaking the range of flavor down all but impossible.  I'm guessing that this is a good version of the type (or falap, which may or may not relate to including consideration of Chinese or other-origin bamboo pu'er), but with this being the first one that I've tried that would only be a guess.

Back on the subject of endless tea types that one tea friend from Laos, Somnuc, ran across a version of bamboo pu'er from Vietnam, I think it was.  I just saw him here in Bangkok in the last week but he didn't bring a lot of teas to try, since he'd only planned to visit the North East and extended a trip to Bangkok.

More of the same next infusion (4); it's softening, warming, and becoming more complex.  For as broken as the tea was the finer parts are probably already "brewing out" to some extent, and will contribute more of a woody flavor from here on (just a guess, but the trend comes up often).  Bitterness isn't overly pronounced in this, especially after the first 2 infusions or so.  That part was a surprise.  Maybe the spice / root part closest to turmeric is picking up a little, still with plenty of mineral supporting that, and a wood-spice range close to tree bark, not woody in any more typical sense (green wood, cured wood, sawdust, tropical or aged wood).

On the next infusion it's probably tapering off a little already, the effect of using 10+ second infusions versus the 5-8 for sheng (along with a packed gaiwan proportion; that's the main change, not tea intensity).  It will still brew a few more rounds but I'd expect flavor and character transitions to not be as interesting.  It's more or less just flattening out a little in this round, thinning slightly, pulling back to a narrower and more subdued range.

I'm off to a swimming class so I'll drop note taking and add some final thoughts later.  This was better than I expected, more distinctive and interesting.  I'm not sure why it was so much of a surprise that it seemed a lot like a hei cha instead of just like a sheng.  I guess I just didn't think that part through, and let the "bamboo pu'er" concept shift preconceptions.

leaf color in between new sheng and aged

Conclusions:

It was nice, interesting and more positive than I expected.  It's odd that I didn't mention smoke in that review, at all, and bitterness was quite moderate, and well balanced.  I did try a few more infusions before the class and they were as I expected: still pleasant, but tapering off a bit.  Wood flavor might have picked up a little but less than I expected, for the finer bits of tea brewing out to the degree they must have by that many rounds.

I wouldn't expect smoke to drop completely out very fast; maybe it ended up not having much processing contact with smoke?  It is smoked, which may relate to a mild heating step as much as intending it to change flavor, since it is encased in bamboo (but not sealed well on one end?).

Jaba discussed how a platform and cooking area are part of a traditional kitchen design, but the ideas didn't really come together for me related to just how hot I expected this tea to get.  In comparing notes they do use bamboo to cook in a similar way there as here in Thailand, pressing sticky rice into those bamboo wood tubes to heat it.

traditional Mising (Assam) cooking area (photo credit)