Hakusei white sencha

 

I recently did a three sample green tea comparison that didn't seem to make that much sense going in, comparing Chinese, Vietnamese, and Japanese versions.  It was what it was; I expected the Japanese sencha version to be different from the others, and it was.  In a sense it was much higher quality tea, an exceptional version even for that type range, but then also just different in character.  

Liking green tea the least of any broad category makes it tricky spelling out just how good or how desirable any versions are.  I can appreciate higher quality levels, and distinctive aspects, and can describe what I see as conventional aspect range and quality markers for different types, but personal preference stops working as a main yardstick.

I'm reviewing another even more unique sencha sample passed on for review by Peter, the owner of Tea Mania.  We've met in the past, with him visiting Thailand regularly, and having lived here at one point, and we met again here not long ago when he visited.  I bought tea from Tea Mania several times; their earlier Lucky Bee Yiwu cakes were always exceptional, and an unusually good value (and surely still are; they didn't discontinue the line).  Now they've moved into selling plenty of Japanese tea range, and gushu versions of sheng pu'er, and some other types.

I'm not sure what to expect of this.  Surely it's not white tea in the sense of a Bai Mu Dan I just wrote about.  Peter covers what it is in the website product description:

White Sencha Hakusei

Discover the unique white Sencha Hakusei, carefully harvested in the picturesque village of Hoshino in Yame, renowned for its idyllic tea gardens and crystal-clear starry nights. This tea is the result of a natural mutation that turns the leaves a delicate yellowish-white – a fascinating characteristic that makes it a true albino tea and is therefore also called golden Sencha. This special coloration is accompanied by an exceptionally high amino acid content, giving the tea a rich and deep flavor profile.

Albino tea

Tea Master Akihito Takaki recognized the uniqueness of this mutation and created his own cultivar by collecting seeds from these plants, aptly naming it Hakusei – “White Star”. This name not only reflects the color of the leaves but also pays homage to Hoshino, meaning “Star Field”, where the night sky reveals its breathtaking beauty.

In Yame, a region known for its mountain valleys, Sencha cultivation is a rarity. The lower temperatures in these valleys lead to a delayed harvest, about a month later than in lower and flatter growing areas. However, these climatic conditions endow Sencha Hakusei with an extraordinary depth and complexity of flavor. White Sencha Hakusei is thus not only a testament to Master Takaki’s innovative tea artistry but also an expression of the unique landscape and clear skies of Hoshino – a true treasure for tea enthusiasts who appreciate the extraordinary.

A bit poetic but all that kind of works in relation to how unique the experience is.  It's funny how it's a polar opposite to that Bai Mu Dan experience.

There is little to be said about value; this sells for $23 for 50 grams, so essentially 50 cents a gram (46).  It's probably accurate that no other teas are like this, and sencha in a comparable quality range might normally cost more.  It's not really aggressive pricing, if anything on the low side.  But then the experience wouldn't appeal to everyone, so it's back to that theme, how preference factors in.

It's funny considering that the Bai Mu Dan sample sold for 60 cents a gram, more per weight than this tea.  I try to keep things positive here, and let the readers read between the lines, but this is much better tea than that version.  If someone hates sencha they wouldn't like it, but it's clearly a couple of levels higher as tea quality and distinctiveness goes, at the other end of the scale.  

Related to my own personal preference I'd be just as happy drinking a fairly rustic and basic Dian Hong black tea, and I mostly drink sheng pu'er now, but it should be easy for most readers to place what that really means, how type and aspect range preferences work out.  Sometimes novel experiences can transcend that range of inputs, and to some extent that occurred while trying this tea version.

Review:

#1:  that's interesting.  You expect a blast of umami and seaweed, and it's there, but there is a lot more going on.  The umami range in this tastes a good bit like fresh soybean, which of course matches that Japanese food theme.  Sweetness is nice.  It has a depth to it.  Even the highest grade sencha leans so far into those couple of notes that the intensity can end up seeming like a drawback, as if it's too much.  The extra complexity in this works in a different way.

Mind you it tastes like seaweed too, and someone well off the Japanese tea and food preference range just wouldn't like it.  At least for me it seems to have a good bit of depth and complexity; it seems to balance in a nicer way.  From a Chinese tea drinker perspective; it's hard to know what that's really worth.  There is even warmer tone included, I guess matching some of the barley tea theme.  A lot of Japanese food and drink range combines together in this.  It goes without saying that it's clean in effect, intense, and refined; of course it would be, given those flavor aspect descriptions.

#2:  Intensity dials way up, and it was already intense.  Vegetal range shifts; this tastes more like split pea soup this round.  It's funny how a salt oriented mineral note matches with that.  This is nothing like any tea I've ever tried before; that's interesting and pleasant.  And again to me this is a lot more interesting than a tea version dialing up umami and seaweed to a level of 11 on a scale of 10.

It makes me wonder how many other people would try this and be captivated by it, or pleasantly surprised, or wouldn't like it.  I suppose people inclined towards Japanese green tea would judge it more favorably; it's not so unusual that it falls outside that general theme range.  Maybe it wouldn't challenge what they've already experienced as much as that comes across for me.

There is nothing remotely like any other white tea experience going on with this; that's not a surprise, given that it's presented as a variation of sencha.  Of course it's an unusual green tea form.

#3:  it's settling back more towards standard green tea range (high end Japanese sencha, to be clear); umami and seaweed pick up.  It sort of works better like this, balancing a lot of unusual, refined, and intense flavor inputs, now centered more on standard range.  It's quite complex.  

The savory note keeps shifting, including different range.  It tastes a little like fresh potato juice this round.  Why would anyone know what that tastes like?  When you cook potato it's normal to taste a little of it raw; it's like that, vegetal in a very unusual way, with mineral only leaning towards salt, but much more intense.

#4:  intensity dials back a bit; it might be better for that.  Of course I'm brewing this quite quickly, using unusually cool water, so it shouldn't necessarily be off the scale intense, but it kind of is.  This is an unusual presentation of tea leaf, shredded in a unique form, that's definitely an unusual mix of colors.

Umami and some seaweed stand out now, with unusually complex other vegetal range.  It's along the line of fresh soybean, but also close to sugar snap pea; that second may make for the more natural interpretation.  

So much umami!  I know I said that it's nice that this is dialed back a bit, not only straight umami and seaweed, but it's still awfully intense, and four rounds is a lot of it.  I've just experienced a month's worth of umami exposure in not so many minutes.  Maybe another round will be enough, and if I don't say anything about later transitions I can live with that.

#5:  mineral picks up a little; that's nice.  I bet this will keep changing, and that it would be quite interesting brewed in different ways, coming across quite differently.  For sure this has amazing potential as an ice brewed version, the approach where you just put a little over very fresh and clean ice cubes and then drink it later as melting ice brews it.

For anyone remotely on the Japanese green tea page this is interesting and worth trying out.  I still don't think I'd buy this; it's too far from what I like most.  But it has been awhile since I've had a completely unique, previously unknown tea experience, and this is that.

It's interesting in relation to trying a pressed version of Bai Mu Dan yesterday, an aged tea, 9 years old.  The contrast there is that it was exactly like what I'd experienced from Shou Mei and Gong Dao Bei before, with so little variation off that standard range that it was a struggle to identify any atypical distinctions (still nice though, for someone into that experience).  It's for the best that I didn't try these two white teas together.  After trying sencha along with Chinese and Vietnamese green teas a week or so ago I had enough of the radical contrast theme, which of course doesn't shed much light on anything.

This tea was pleasant, and definitely intense, refined, novel, and distinctive; a very interesting experience.  I'm sure that my brewing approach and perspective in relation to personal preferences didn't do this tea justice, that for many it would shift from quite novel, high in quality, refined, and distinctive on to absolutely fantastic.  Surely it's casting pearls before swine for me to taste and write about Japanese teas.  So it goes.

Comparing green teas from Vietnam, China, and Japan

 

This is all a bit much.  A recent comparison of three different sheng versions also was, but to me the results were interesting, and they helped place some general themes that were playing out.  I'm trying something even less narrow and reasonable in range this time, trying three different green teas together.

Why is this a problem?  For one reason because I'm just getting over a flu.  Yesterday was one of few days I skipped drinking tea, and while sick for a few days before that I would sometimes split drinking a version over two days (twice).

For more standard reasons because of the range of styles and aspects.  Of course the Japanese tea (a sencha) is going to cover mostly umami and vegetal flavors, including seaweed, and the other two won't.  Both of the others are "wild origin" green versions, so trying them together would make more sense.  

But I wanted to check on to what extent this broad-scope approach could provide input about the entire range.  Is there more to it about Japanese green differences than just that flavor range?  Does some particular rough edge or off flavors identify a lower quality level for either of the others?  Did a factor like limited oxidation input seem to come up for any?  Probably more than I addressed, actually; this doesn't speculate about that.  Is this a hit or a miss for another ITea World version?  Most of theirs have been pretty decent, but some less so than others.

I'll add information about the teas after tasting, during editing, the usual process.

Viet Sun Lai Châu Deep Forest Green Spring 2024 ($23 for 100 grams)

The tea trees in this area are growing to heights of 10+ meters in the deep forest at 2200m+ in elevation. The rich biodiversity and natural growing conditions really make their way into the cup.

This tea brews up slowly into a rich, clear golden soup. The flavor is unique and complex. Reminds me of forest flower honey, herbs, strawberry or raspberry and wild grasses with a lot of umami. There are some similarities to Japanese green teas.

Just a touch of astringency, no bitterness, thick mouthfeel, rich huigan and relaxing qi... 

Another interesting aspect of this tea is the aging potential. I have tried teas from past years and they get sweeter and richer over time. The honey notes become more prominent as well.

ITea World Chinese Shan Ye Wild Green Tea ($25 for 40 grams)

There is no text description, so this picture will do.  

Related to value this already looks pretty bad for the ITea World product comparison, since I'll jump ahead and say that I liked the Viet Sun version better, and this costs slightly more for 40 grams of it than 100 grams of the Vietnamese version.  It is very novel in style, and supply and demand factors can be complicated, but that's a pretty one-sided comparison.  

It expressed one very minor flaw early in rounds, which I'll get around to explaining, and people could see that differently, perhaps as not a flaw at all.  It would be possible to see a limitation in intensity, present in the Viet Sun version, as a significant flaw instead, which I sort of didn't, since it's so easy to correct for that with brewing approach.

That vendor asked me to mention a "summer sale," which normally I don't do, but it seems like a nice balancing point to saying this particular tea isn't worth it.  There are details on their website.  The strength of this vendor has been offering pretty decent sample sets, at good value, with a relatively low free shipping threshold, if I remember right.  I wouldn't buy a lot of any of their teas without exploring them through samples first, but some are pretty good, novel and a good value.  Some basics match conventional styles well, this particular tea just isn't shooting for that.

This is probably a good vendor option for first exploring medium quality teas, or for a gift related to the same purpose.  Later on if someone is seeking out even higher quality, or best of best value, then often two different other kinds of vendors cover those better.  Or Viet Sun and Tea Mania are pretty solid across a broad range; it doesn't have to just be one part of that.

Tea Mania HANDPICKED HONYAMA SENCHA  ($32 for 50 grams)

 

Honyama (also known as Tamakawa) is considered by connoisseurs of Japanese Sencha teas as one of the top growing areas. In Honyama, where the Abe River springs, are ideal conditions for top quality tea. The nights are clear and cool and the morning misty. The narrow valleys also ensure natural shading of the tea fields. So it is not surprising that the tea leaves in this area are about one month later ready for harvest compared to tea from the low-lying areas near Shizuoka city.

The tea leaves for this handpicked Honyama Sencha where manually harvested by Mr. Shoten’s family. Therefore, the leaves are longer and more intact compared to does harvest by machines. Also, the stems get less damaged as they are picked at the plant’s natural breaking point. Thus, the tea leaves get less oxidized and taste even more refreshing.

It’s said that tea from Honyama was Shogun Tokugawa’s favorite tea. After tasting this tea we strongly believe this lore.

To me a lot of story line in marketing content is often a red flag; I'd rather buy the tea itself than the story.  For sure this is great quality Japanese green tea though, and it would mean a lot more to people on that page than it does to me (the tea quality; the story could go either way).  

People on that page would be better at brewing them than I am too; I really botched that in this tasting.  I got some sense of the tea but didn't experience it in optimum form.  Doing a lot of things at one time can be tricky, and I was already hazy as could be for only being most of the way recovered from a flu.

This cost $64 for 100 grams instead of $23 for the Viet Sun version; is it that much better?  That's kind of not even the right question, I don't think.  It's a completely different style of tea.  I wouldn't be the one to know but at a guess this is still probably pretty decent value, because it's not an ordinary range green tea version, it's a distinctive, good quality Japanese green tea.  I don't really love that but I get it; it's an in-demand style range.

Review:

Viet Sun Lai Chau Deep Forest Green, 2024:  it's interesting how some of the flavor range is still evolving and some stands out so much right away.  There's plenty of umami in this; that won't be a complete difference.  I'm a little concerned that the lack of sweetness and missing part of a normal flavor profile may relate to my palate.  These findings will be of limited value if I'm missing part of a sense of taste, which really could be the case.  I stopped being quite sick a few days ago but this illness just won't end.

ITea World Shan Ye Wild Green Tea:  vegetal range is so strong in this, maybe mostly centered on green beans, but also including a green vegetable range along the line of kale.  It wouldn't be surprising if this is a close match for a leafy vegetable I'm not familiar with.  From there a really strong mineral layer stands out, so strong that it might extend to taste a little like tobacco, or even a hint of ash.  It's not positive.  

The darker color leaf and liquid suggests this may have oxidized a little, but who knows.  It definitely includes quite a bit of bud content, the only version of the three to do so.  I'll need to keep brewing times limited for this to be approachable.

Tea Mania Honyama Sencha (Yabukita plant type):  that's too strong to drink.  All three were brewed for the same time, with one light, one a bit strong, and this one undrinkable.  Apparently there's a learning curve for Japanese green tea I need to go back through; it's been a number of years.  I can try to dilute it a little to get a sense of it but essentially it's better luck next round.  I used half as much leaf for this version as the other two, by appearance, recognizing that it would be a lot more dense, but I missed getting that right by a lot.

Even diluted there's not much to add; it's promising, but not ok to drink in this form.  This probably won't stand up to brewing using water this hot either, which is far too hot for normal green tea, unless someone is on the page of brewing them around 90 C or so.  I'll drop the temperature for all three, and will stick with flash infusions for this.

Using hot water can be ok for some green tea types (not full boiling point, maybe, but not so far off that); it just depends.  Preference factors in too, but also some won't extract objectionable range compounds and aspects all that fast, so you can carry on using fast infusion times to limit that.  Typically Japanese green teas aren't regarded as suitable for this approach.  Peter of Tea Mania sent two versions of sencha, or maybe the other was "white sencha," whatever that would be; maybe I'll get back to trying this again with approach dialed in.  After botching it a few more rounds here though, even after adjustments.

Viet Sun #2:  not intense enough; this needed to brew longer.  It's odd that the other two are way too strong, with the sencha at what looks to be a higher proportion, then this is still too light.  I'll do more of a flavor list next round.  What comes across is pleasant; light floral range, decent sweetness, no overpowering umami, astringency, or pronounced vegetal range.

ITea World Shan Ye:  that one mineral note leans more towards ash; that's a little off-putting.  The rest is nice, pleasant and interesting.  These are a bit light to base a developed opinion on but without that one note they seem kind of equivalent, and with it considered the Vietnamese tea is better.

Tea Mania sencha:  drinkable; at least it's that close to optimally brewed.  There's the intense, pronounced umami that people seek out.  It tastes like seaweed, with some floral range entering in beyond that.  I think this is a range of tea that you have to acclimate to like, or it would be like that for most.  I've drank some sencha, some hundreds of grams worth, but nothing like most of the rest of the tea types I prefer more, kgs of pu'er, oolong of different types, and black teas.

The things people would center in on as most desirable in this style and type range wouldn't be completely familiar to me; I'd be guessing.  Of course pronounced umami is part of that, and other flavor complexity, aftertaste experience, mineral layer input, and so on.  But I mean that often very limited parts of an aspect set can work as quality markers, as identifiers between good and very good versions, with typical flaws as the opposite side of those considerations.  

When I scan through sencha reviews in a place My Japanese Green Tea blog I can't help but think "what's all this, brother?"  Or at least that's it framed within one of Keoni's favorite meme forms.

Vietnamese #3:  it was extra messing around but I brewed this using much hotter water than the other two.  Not for too long, but enough that it seemed it would extract well.  This is pleasant but still subtle.  That's interesting; for other tea types that could come up, and could be normal, but a subtle version of green tea is odd.  I had tried the 2023 version and don't remember that as part of the experience.

The aspects that are there are quite positive; this is my favorite of the three.  You would just need to push this a little harder to get intensity back into a normal range, using slightly hotter water, or longer infusion time.  Aspect set would vary depending on which approach you took.  Again there is some floral range to this, and limited vegetal scope, but I suppose some.  It's near a neutral sugar-snap pea input, versus green beans or seaweed, much heavier and more dominant range.  Sweetness is pretty good, and tone is light.  I don't mean intensity, I mean brightness versus warmth of flavors; it's "bright."  

If I just liked green tea more I'd really like this more.  As it is I could still drink a good bit of it.

Chinese Shan Ye:  I never will have any idea why there's an ashy sort of limited intensity edge to this.  It also includes a malty sort of character; that part is nice, and unique.  Tone is much warmer than for the first.  Feel is thicker; there's more to it on that one level.  Floral range is less bright and sweet than for the Vietnamese version, I guess in a wildflower sort of range, but possibly more complex, with more happening along that line.  Vegetal range is more towards cured hay, tying in with or just being an alternative interpretation of what I've described as malty (Ovaltine malty, not like Assam).

With the absolute slightest change of that one flavor note not being present this would come across much differently.  It's barely perceptible now anyway, having faded over the rounds, but at least related to how I see teas there are some flavor inputs that can disproportionately shift a general impression.  A hint of cacao or cherry in a black tea can change everything, and a touch of tartness can cause an opposite less favorable impression.  In green teas a little extra kale flavor can really throw things off, and a bright floral note can shift it all the other way.  That smoke could be ok if it wasn't as close to ash range.  It's all but gone anyway in this round, and should be clear in the next.

Sencha:  it's interesting trying a much stronger tea in this version.  This proportion is wrong; this should be made from half as much leaf.  But it's brewed fast using quite cool water, so it's still not optimum but it's fine.  Everything it expresses is intense:  umami, some seaweed, floral range, sweetness, and now an increased mineral layer.  As a sheng drinker I should see that as somewhat positive; why shouldn't it be intense?  And I do, but the umami takes some getting used to.  

20 years ago I really couldn't relate to seaweed much at all (beyond eating a good bit of sushi eons ago, but I'll leave that part out), and gradually over the years it just kept coming up living in Bangkok.  My wife ate mostly Japanese food when pregnant with Keoni, 16 years ago.  She said the he was "ordering it," essentially.  That was right after spending two years in Hawaii, and people love it there too.  

But half the time I have ramen I hand over the pressed square of it to Kalani, who loves it, even though that form is mild and pleasant.  This is a level more intense, for seaweed related flavor input, but it's still ok.  I suppose it's still odd to me that people choose to have this experience, that they pay extra for it being so pronounced.  Then again the sheng pu'er I drink often tastes like taking an aspirin, and that took me a half dozen years of routine exposure to prefer.

Viet Sun Vietnamese #4:  this should be enough notes, and plenty of tea.  I've thrown out the last of most rounds, to keep this manageable, but I've also drank most of 9 small cups of tea so far.  

Bright floral, good sweetness, limited and pleasant vegetal range, again like sugar snap pea.  There's probably more going on with this related to round-to-round transition that I'm missing; brewing approach has been a little rough.  Feel could be thicker and richer but it's fine like this to me; there's no need for all the parts to be intense.  Someone looking for "quality markers" might see it as falling short but to me the balance works.  Intensity is a little limited, but it's easy to adjust brewing to dial that up.  Not much comes across as a flaw in this, to me, although again limited intensity could be seen that way.  And it's distinctive enough, even if the other two are more novel, looked at one way.  It's my favorite of the three.

ITea World Shan Ye:  that warm rich tone comes across more like toasted rice than cured hay or malt, this round.  That's familiar ground, closer to Longjing style.  If all the earlier infusions had been more similar to this one, varying some but not so different, this would've been better.  Again it's probably possible to dial in more optimum results by tweaking brewing.  For good Longjing you don't need to do that, of course; you can brew it at full boiling point, or much cooler, and not letting it get too strong is about the only limitation to work around.  

That one minor aspect really threw off the first few rounds, for me.  This is still pretty good though, and brewed Western style after a quick rinse it may have been much better.

Tea Mania sencha:  as described in the last two rounds again.  Even though Longjing is my favorite green tea type, and I've just described the Shan Ye version of settling near that typical character, I can still see the appeal in this.  It's clearly better tea, in a few senses.  It's more intense and complex, and a bit sweeter, with no significant flaws.  Even the strong umami and seaweed flavor I don't hate.  I suppose floral range has drawn closer to seaweed, so now it balances both.  If you aren't accustomed to that flavor then even at a lower level it really stands out.  I've eaten ramen with seaweed a few times in the past month, mostly going off miso soup lately, but I definitely don't seek out that range of experience (the seaweed part).

It's odd drinking and reviewing a sencha and going on and on about placing umami and seaweed flavor.  Surely most people know what they're getting into, and are there for that.

This is probably complete heresy but to me sencha works better with food than drank alone.  That reminds me of a critique of a whiskey version saying that's it's ok but it's better mixed with Coke.  Surely the quality level is so good in this version that plenty of people would appreciate it in a completely different way than I can.

Conclusions:

To me really late rounds transitions aren't much of the main story but a couple were interesting.  The ITea World tea tasted a good bit like fennel seed in the last couple of rounds, beyond those.  The sencha picked up an unusual vegetal character, which reminded me of the taste when you bite a watermelon seed.  Then the Viet Sun tea stayed pretty much the same.

I'm not sure how well that post worked related to judging teas across the main criteria I often use:  related to writing out an aspects set, in comparison with my own personal preference, as being true to type for a known version, or placed in relation to some objective quality level.  

The Vietnamese tea represented a standard, general wild-origin green tea type well enough, but there isn't a narrow character range expectation for that.  The Japanese green tea was probably the only one that could be judged against pre-determined type expectations, but I don't have the proper background to dial that in to finer level comparison.  It seemed really good quality to me, but then I don't love sencha.

The Chinese green tea was perhaps the most novel, and it was one very minor flaw away from being much better than I judged it to be.  If it had only had a hint of smoke included instead of what came across as a touch of ash flavor.  I suspect plenty of local producer teas can pick up just a little smoke flavor from incidental contact in being around the processing environment, where fire is used for heating.  It had been a lot more common for sheng pu'er versions in the past.  I have no idea why that inclusion took an unconventional form this time.

It's always interesting reviewing green teas, as my least favorite main category version.  I don't like any of these quite as much as Hinyang Maojian and Himjian versions I tried not so long ago; those were something else.  But then I wouldn't buy those to drink either, pretty much no matter what they cost.  Somehow I crave some good Longjing once in awhile and that's about it.

On a personal note suffering is what I've been up to, with that flu not the worst of it.  I wasn't on this flight; the rest of my family is back in Honolulu again.  I'll visit before too long, and until then some cats and I hold down the fort in Bangkok.

Eye, my wife, had a uniquely rough week.  She went through a flu too, and an injury related to slipping and falling that last week (hence the extra equipment).  She's tough as nails though; she was more concerned about the kids playing too many video games than the beating life had put on her just then.

Most exceptional international airports

 

A Reddit discussion of US based airports led me to write about this subject, related more to international airports instead.  Any airport flying to another country is an international airport, so many in the US are, so this really mostly relates to airports outside the US, although it does compare the list to American examples, a little.

The context for this is me living and traveling quite a bit in Asia over the last 15 years.  I lived all over the US prior to that, in Pennsylvania, Texas, Maryland, Colorado, and Hawaii, so I visited a lot of US airports earlier on, but 15 years is a long time for conditions and experiences to change.  I've flown in and out of Honolulu twice in the past year; that's the only American airport I have recent experience with.  In the mainland I last flew through JFK, maybe a half dozen years ago now.

My family didn't travel abroad during covid so I'm most familiar, in recent experience, with wherever I've traveled through since, in Tokyo, Osaka, and Seoul, in Haneda, Kanseda, and Incheon.  Prior to that we visited Hong Kong and Shenzhen (China) in 2019, and that Hong Kong airport was fine, but I didn't mention it in this list.  It's about airports that were modern and efficient, pleasant to travel through, but also about interesting features or appearance in them, whatever might make them unique.  It's not as much a ranking of airport services efficiency or completeness as it might sound, more about what stood out to me as interesting.

Cited Reddit post:

I just saw a post about worst airports (in the US, in that version), and although this kind of question comes up all the time I'd like to weigh in on it. I'm living in both Bangkok and Honolulu over the past year (a long story), and I'll add a little about other prior US airport experience, but I've been traveling in Asia a lot more over the past 15 years. My own best list:

Changi in Singapore: in online expat discussions this is always ranked first, for good reason. Everything works so well there that it's crazy, and they include extras beyond efficient services, clean and modern design, good food options, places to sleep, etc., extended out to including a butterfly garden in one terminal building. It feels comfortable there, like a positive place to spend time, or almost utopian in spots, a bit of overkill. The subway system might be the best in the world; it's easy to use, inexpensive, and fast to get anywhere.

the butterfly garden at Changi.  I've seen this, but I think they may have added a new terminal since I've been to Changi, which would've been something like 7 years ago.

this turns up labeled online as from Changi, but it's a mall space.  I think I've been there, awhile back, but that vegetation and the water access parts weren't there then, as I remember.

Haneda and Narita in Tokyo: I love Japanese flight experiences and airports; they're efficient, comfortable, and complete in terms of services offered. I flew through Kansai in Osaka once this year and it's not on that level, but it was fine, clean and expansive in terms of seating, with some food options. Little things one might nitpick, about a security process seeming inconvenient, but general processing and services seem exceptional in these two places, and the look and feel. 

 a play area in Narita, April of 2015

It's been awhile since I've been through Narita, which did include limited reclining chairs for sleeping then, and kids' play areas (shown in photos here), but Haneda includes so much seating space that it's easy to lay down and get solid sleep there, which to me changes a lot. Food options are just good in these places, not amazing, but it's enough. For Westerners there are usually donut and bakery places, Starbucks, sandwiches, or fast food, so it's not as if eating local Asian foods is required.

benches and charging station at Haneda in Tokyo (with many rows / areas as priority seating, and so much seating picking emptier sections is an option)

it's hard to capture how much space and seating there really is (Haneda again).  this is a long, linear style airport layout.

Incheon in Seoul: on par with the main Tokyo airports, with good, efficient services, a nice internal space, very clean, good food options, extensive seating, far more than probably makes sense, and even a place to shower (for free, when I last used that). I suppose a different kind of traveler would be evaluating airport hotel space or sleep-pod options but for me if there's a long layover as long as I can get a nice nap I'm fine. I ate some Taco Bell the last time I passed through there; that's a terrible idea, related to consideration for fellow travelers, but it can be nice having comforting Western food / fast food options.

Incheon airport; crazy amounts of seating, lots of charging stations

cultural role-play demo at Incheon; kind of overkill

a kid's play area, a common theme in Japanese airports too, along with good gift shopping

a robot offering information (Incheon again); an information booth works better, but those touches can give places a different feel

Suvarnibhumi in Bangkok: it's ok; it is what it is. It's a modern, spacious building but it's not a great place for food options, efficient internal walking travel (you need to walk a kilometer to pass through), extensive seating (forget about taking a nap anywhere but the floor), easy wifi-access, or broad access to electronics charging stations (all of which I barely mentioned related to the others; to me it goes without saying it's there). 

Internal counter registration, security checks, and immigration are all not very streamlined compared to the others I've mentioned. But the basics are all covered; you can use free wifi, if you figure out how to register for it (which might require internet access; it's funny when a Catch-22 comes up), you can eat, there are options to buy a phone SIM (data access), money exchange and so on, and there's an efficient train into the city, and inexpensive and easy to use taxis. If you know about it there's a good food court where $3 can buy you a decent light meal; good luck finding that anywhere else.

registration area and Thai minor deity statue in Suvarnibhumi

Hanoi airport: it's ok, updated and modernized. I'm mostly mentioning it here because really poor planning had us spend overnight there on a crazy layover once, so we got a feel for the place better. It's not set up for that to be comfortable; we ended up camping out in a nursing room, which was kind of ok. It's modern, with decent food options, and places to buy gifts, so it's fine.

Hanoi airport at night; kind of an odd feel when they're quiet and empty

US airports: Honolulu just isn't supposed to be on the same level, related to being a transit hub like those other places. You fly in and out, and it works for that. Changi makes it incredibly easy to use public transport to get to the rest of Singapore, as the Korean and Japanese airports would, but in Honolulu you can either take a public bus (which is fine, without much luggage) or a more expensive shuttle, which is also fine, if you don't mind spending $50, or whatever that was.

Honolulu's airport is dated in theme and style, but I don't care about that either way

Honolulu's airport makes you miss what you are leaving, in a nice, open-air space

garden space in the Honolulu airport; nice and relaxing

I've traveled most through NYC (JFK), LAX, DFW (Dallas), the Denver airport, and through Pittsburgh and DC, and all the modern versions of US airports are ok, they work. You really don't need an inviting, comfortable feel, lots of food options, places to sleep, shower facilities, internal garden spaces, and so on. Good transportation is nice, clean bathrooms, and efficient processing, and if the latter are limited, as in Bangkok, then you just add some planning time and give up the extra hour of your life to a few queues. 

I definitely wouldn't want to spend 8 hours or more in any US airport, if I could help it (or any, really), but they're not exactly set up for that, as international travel hub versions might be. In the US you show up early and have a couple of beers and that's it, and only hang around when something went wrong.

Russian airport (Moscow, St. Petersburg, or Murmansk), decorated for Christmas

that Russian airport; nice for us to see snow, for living in the tropics

family on the way to the airport, 2014

Kalani and I traveling then, 9 years ago

Keo and Eye in Suvarnibhumi airport in 2009

family picture traveling in Singapore, 2009

recent family photo for comparison

Laos old-tree green, compared with Thai and Japanese green teas

Laos tea lower left, Thai version upper center, Japanese sencha right

Another tea comparison tasting that may or may not end up make sense.  I thought this was the last sample to try from Phongsaly Laos Tea but it turned out that a second black tea version was coupled with this sample, which I hadn't noticed.  This is getting to the end of what I planned to try this year, and there aren't any other sets of samples I've tried none of, so down the scale of what's left to try.  It made for a brutal year keeping up pace but around 100 review posts later I've done it.

On this tasting theme, the Tea Side Thai green tea version (reviewed not so long ago) was one of the best green tea versions I have ever tried, or at least it matched my taste preferences well.  Since green tea is a least favorite category it's hard to be clear on what that means; maybe it's just not so grassy or heavy on seaweed.  Which is odd, because it's a steamed tea version, so you'd expect that.  It's also from old, natural growth plant sources, per my understanding, just one country over, from the North of Thailand instead of the North of Laos.

The Japanese green is a completely different thing; that comparison does make no sense.  I had a couple of green tea samples from one of my favorite vendor sources, Peter Pocjit of Tea Mania, out of Switzerland, that I'd never got around to trying.  It makes even less sense letting green teas sit for half a year or longer after harvest, especially when you live in the tropics, and it's hot.  We'll see how that held up, and how the other two teas compare to that type.  I won't be trying to place that sencha version on a scale of how others go, in relation to quality, regional character, and such; that's not the point here.

As to methodology I plan to split the difference between a Gongfu approach and Western brewing, to drop proportion a bit (4 grams or so, not measured; nothing ever is here), and let the time run a bit long, out towards 30 seconds, adjusting per round as I go.  Lots could not work related to that (unbalanced brewing results, less optimum outcome from parameters, complete contrast in styles throwing off combined evaluation, etc.), but some story should emerge.  I'll do a short intro of these teas from vendor descriptions, but I don't have one from Phongsaly Laos Tea, so I'll skip that.

Tea Side steamed green tea:

For this tea, we used Japanese traditional technology for steamed green tea but adapted it to the specifics of the material from old trees. It took several experiments to figure out the optimum steaming depth in order to remove the astringency of a powerful pu-erh leaf but to preserve the freshness and aroma of light and delicate green tea...

The aroma is sweet, appleish and floral. On the palate is a beautiful, whole and full-bodied mix of fruity-floral tropical notes. In the foreground are apples, plumeria and a bouquet of garden flowers. The finish is sweet and oily. The infusion is light, transparent, with a light green tint.

We recommend brewing this tea by short steepings for 3-5 seconds, using soft water. The temperature is about 80 degrees. 


That last part is interesting, recommending Gongfu brewing that fast.  I did back off that 30 second intended brewing time, not because of that, because I'm adding this citation during editing, just because it worked better.


Shoju (Tea Mania Sencha)

Tea from Tanegashima is the earliest tea that is harvested in Japan. This is possible due to the mild, marine climate on Tanegashima Island which allows the cultivation of particularly early-budding tea cultivars. The cultivar "Shoju" used for this tea even thrives exclusively on Tanegashima. The exceptional aroma and the fact that this is the first Shincha of the year makes "Shoju" one of the most popular teas in Japan.

Harvest: 23. March 2019 
Taste: Sweet and fruity aroma.
Origin: Tanegashima, Kagoshima prefecture, Japan.
Varietal: Shoju
Steaming: Fukamushi
Preparation: Appx. 5g per serving, temperature 70 - 80°C,  time 1 min.
Tip: Use rather a higher leaf to water ratio and infuse repetetly for short time. First infusion max. 60s and all futher infusions only 30s as the leaves are already soaked. Use a Kyusu tea pot.


Interesting variation in brewing conditions, with more on that harvest season background here.  This tea turned out a bit unique; I speculate about how storage may have played a role in that in the review.

Review:

Laos left, Thai middle, Japanese right, in all photos

These probably only brewed about 20 seconds; I tend to like to try a light infusion first, to get a first impression based on a lower intensity infusion.

Laos green (big tree 400 year; or however old the plants are, as covered last time):  interesting.  It's definitely green tea.  Sweetness is good, and flavors are clean, overall balance seems ok, but the flavor is typical of green tea.  Pleasant complex floral tones are a primary note and vegetables fill in after that, grassiness, probably green bean and bell pepper, although those will probably be a little clearer once this infuses a little more.  Feel is ok; there's a little edge to it but it's fine, and the thickness present works.  Mineral undertone seems pleasant.  The make or break for this version--only so far; it's too early to call--relates to how one relates to that grass and vegetable.  I'm fine with it but don't love it.


Thai ancient tree steamed green tea:  this always was going to be stiff competition, if one looked at the comparison that way; I've already said that it's as good a match to my preference as any green tea I've ever tried.  The experience hits you on a few levels at the same time, sort of leading to a double-take.  Sweetness stands out, and a warm, sweet flavor range (maybe spice-oriented as much as anything), along with mineral base.

Floral tone is notable, but there's a rich flavor aspect that's almost like brandy, subtle, but playing a significant role in the overall experience.  There's not really much grass or other vegetable to speak of; floral covers all of that related flavor range.  Even brewed light the tea has a depth to it.  Feel works well, and aftertaste, neither so notable as in teas where those are stronger that it plays the same kind of role, but both support overall effect in positive ways.  It'll be interesting to see how these two compare in the next two rounds once they "get going."


Souju Sencha (all of these are spring teas, I think, which goes without saying):  absolutely no point in comparing this tea to the other two; not a complete surprise.  It's thicker, brothier, not with an umami pop like seaweed but instead like roasted seaweed (those sheets my kids eat).  I've never had a sencha in this range before.

This actually reminds me of a dried river weed sheet I bought in Laos an awful long time ago, more than a decade now for sure, which I was really uncertain of at first but came to absolutely love.  I still think about that river weed from time to time; it really made an impression on me.  This tastes a good bit like pumpkin, a mix of roasted pumpkin, along with roasted pumpkin skin and the seeds.  I tend to cook either a Thai version of pumpkin or less often Japanese pumpkin here, which are slightly less sweet, closer to a squash of some sort (which they may be?), and this is closer to the Thai version.  Roasting those skins is nice; I eat them with a warm yellow curry mix, roasted along with butter, sometimes cooked so much that they darken, if I don't watch them.  They taste great "roasted out" like that too.

I'm glad that I tried this just to see how it is; never mind the comparison.  It's odd that a tea could be so far off what I've experienced before like that.  I wonder if the hot climate storage and aging didn't shift its character?  It had to be really intense originally, with very pronounced umami, but it seems conceivable that the brighter tones might have shifted quite a bit.  If so I probably like it better like this, but the taste-perspective of someone who doesn't love green teas is a strange reference to work from.

I should ask Peter to describe this and include a quote; difference in interpretation would shift things a lot but some of that might come across.  Vendor sales-page descriptions are usually a few terms long, once you look past origin info and the rest.  Probably with good reason; including interpretation that everyone would differ on might not be helpful anyway. [The sales page description is cited here now; it is a little non-specific].

Second infusion:

Sencha (right) brewing faster, apparent from the color

I'll keep this around 20 seconds and see how that works; too much more intense wouldn't be positive.

Laos:  much better, and much different.  A faint hint of smoke joined in; that's different.  Richness and flavor intensity really ramped up.  Brewing this any longer would've been problematic.  Floral tones picked up more than anything.  This probably tastes like three different flowers combined, all of which I don't recognize with certainty. That rich, heavy, sweet range lavendar covers is represented, along with brighter tone in orchid or lotus flower, probably with some mild, earthier version filling in tone making it seem so complex.  Part of the astringency edge, and floral taste, could relate to dandelion.  It still covers some vegetal range but it's really muted related due to that stepping back while the floral tone increased.  It comes across more as green wood now, a familiar range in different types of teas.


Thai:  not to be outdone this tea shifted a lot too.  Something along the lines of spice is predominant, a complex taste that's hard to unpack.  Citrus joined in too, and underlying mineral and plenty of floral is layering in as well.  Floral tone is strongest, but in this version it's balanced with the rest.  It comes across more as one narrow high-note range, bright like a daisy (versus bright like lotus flower, which is lot richer, even though it's still light in tone and sweet).  The spice part, or what I'm interpreting as such, I can't sort out.  It may be two distinct and subtle flavors that I'm interpreting as one; that could be the problem.  It definitely seems somehow related to the citrus (like sweet tangerine peel).  That range I'm not pinning down could just be well-roasted sweet potato, which is warm in effect, so in between a fruit range and spice.


Sencha:  here we go.  The roasted pumpkin and river weed is still present but this also shifted and picked up a good bit of complexity.  If green teas were as good as these three I would stop saying that I like that range least, and would seek more out.  It's quite normal for those (green teas in general) to be vegetal, just grassy or like a mix of cooked vegetables, with an astringency edge that isn't positive, and floral tone that works but is also just sweet and non-distinct.  Nothing like these.  Even Longjing, which I love, can often just emphasize a much narrower range, a toasted rice / nuttiness with a bit of other pleasant range joining in to support that, with unusually thick feel for green tea adding to the appeal.

Floral tone ramped up, but I won't be able to split out what it's like with all the rest going on.  Vegetal scope still includes that river weed and complex pumpkin range but one particular cooked vegetable flavor joins that.  I can think of a Thai vegetable equivalent but I don't know the name of it, not that it would help everyone else.  Just to put a rough range on it it's more or less in between cooked kale and roasted zucchini, closer to the rich flavor of the roasted zucchini.  I never did explain how this really pronounced umami sort of comes across as salty, like actual salt.  To some limited extent that's just how umami always is but not like this.

This is the most unique of all three of these teas, at this point.  I like the Thai version best, but the Laos tea holds its own well, for how exceptional that Thai green tea is.  It's odd how much I like this sencha, given how far out there it is for unique character.  If it were any more novel it wouldn't seem like actual "real" tea to me.  Then again tisanes are almost always at the other end of the scale related to complexity and intensity, and no blend could be this distinctive.

Third infusion:

Laos:  really hitting it's stride now, the aspects set balances much better.  Complex floral is still dominant but richness in feel really picked up.  The one Laos black tea from them went through an odd transition like that, "burning off" some aspect range that wasn't really negative but not as positive through the first two infusions, only shining after that.  Background vegetal--sort of like biting a tree bud--is fine; it works in this.  A bit of astringency comes along with that but richness in feel is more pronounced.  It's still definitely a green tea but a much more positive version than the first round, with more limited improvement in relation to the second.  Given how this is going I don't doubt that both the other teas will have their own answer to that transition.


Thai:  not changed so much, but aspect balance did shift slightly.  Citrus is really pronounced in this, bumped a little after being quite notable in the last round.  The effect I can't pin down, which seemed vaguely like spice to me, might just be an odd interpretation of how underlying mineral, pronounced floral and citrus, and some degree of background fruit comes across together.  This is fruitier than it had been, beyond the citrus, more in the range of dried mango in this round.  I could see that being interpreted as peach instead; the two aren't so far off each other.  This is slightly less rich in feel than the Laos tea at this point but the flavor complexity and type-range is better, and lacking a bit of astringency edge that goes along with it.  It has some structure but no bite.  A dry underlying mineral range is playing more of a role in this, versus one tone that comes across closer to slight bitterness in the first tea.


Sencha:  this shifted to fruit range; interesting.  A little towards cantaloupe, seemingly just not exactly that, which is good, since I don't like cantaloupe.  Tasting it a couple more times it is that.  The sweet mellowness also reminds me of very ripe peach.  It's amazing it could change so much, although that pumpkin and roasted rive weed in the first round had shifted a lot in the second.  You wouldn't think this is the same tea it was in the first round.  Some of that could relate to parameter shift, timing or even temperature difference; I'm not careful about such things.  It had to transition a lot beyond that though, to get this far.

It's odd how it's losing intensity while the other two pick that up.  It's a much finer ground leaf preparation, and had been brewing stronger, even though I've probably used the least leaf for this type.  To some extent that was to be expected, perhaps also related to brewing this slightly over temperature optimum for this type (around 80 C), just maybe not around one minute into total infusion time.  I hadn't thought this through before but it should not just fade faster, it should also transition faster as a result; different compounds should extract earlier on than in a mid-point, for the leaf being chopped, not just broken.


Fourth infusion:

I think I'll let the notes go after this round.  I don't doubt these will produce three more interesting and positive infusions after, and keep transitioning, but having someone read two full pages of text / 2000 words in a review is too much.  I stuck with around a 20 second infusion time; these may be just a little lighter for losing some intensity but that timing was working out.


Laos:  savory range bumped up.  It's not exactly the hint of smoke I thought I'd noticed early on but not dis-similar.  It tastes a little like bacon, or at least as close to that, or as a more conventional read like dried seaweed.  Floral is still the main flavor aspect, with the other vegetal range transitioned to be very light.  Maybe I will try a round of these brewed for 35-40 seconds and see what that's like.


Thai:  floral, but different.  Shifting parameters along with these transitioning seems to be causing these to change character a lot.  This is quite light, with a lot of complexity but very subtle, with one bright, high note standing out.  It seems to be that daisy-like floral tone combined with the dried mango range.  This isn't as complex and balanced as it had been, much lighter now.  Feel retains a dryness edge that gives it some depth even though it feels really light.


Sencha:  fruit again, now more a mix of watermelon and cantaloupe, with some floral tone filling that in.  Not much for that savory range; odd.  I'll try these brewed a little hotter and slightly longer and see if they have one more surprise left in them.  Then go do something active, loaded up with 15 small cups of tea worth of caffeine in me.  Luckily I ate a pretty solid breakfast before these; all of this on an empty stomach would go really badly.

Fifth infusion: (brewed slightly warmer and longer)

Laos:  the intensity is back, but pushing the teas came at a cost, with a vegetal note and astringency increased.  Floral is dominant again; that was stripped out too.  It's not quite as positive as it was 2 or 3 rounds ago but still pleasant.  The vegetal taste is like plant stem, if that's familiar, not the harsh bitterness of biting a dandelion stem but related to a softer, only slightly bitter effect from other types.


Thai:  the same story for this version, but interesting experiencing that same effect across such a different range.  Fruit stepped up in this, along with mineral and light vegetal undertone, closer to well cured (aged) hardwood in this version. 


Sencha:  lighter than the other two, this also transitioned the least.  It's still in that cantaloupe and watermelon range, more centered on watermelon now.  You can almost taste the watermelon rind, pushed like this, but it's still soft and subtle.  This tea is essentially finished.  I ended up using slightly less of the leaf related to judging how the coiled Laos version would unfurl, originally erring on that side since I knew the sencha was going to be more intense.  It also would've worked to use much different brewing parameters, to go with half the brewing time for a more equivalent amount of material.  I don't overthink these things, working off instinct instead, which usually works out but often isn't ideal.

Conclusions:

To quote Thanos, these teas have my respect.  I really didn't expect both of the other teas to hang in there with how my preference matches that Thai version.  It was pleasant really liking all three versions.  In that first round it looked like the Laos version was going to be just another floral intensive, cooked-vegetable green tea, but it added complexity and shifted way off that nicely, with positive transitions keeping it interesting.  The sencha version was definitely something different.  I should ask Somnuc to keep an eye out for that river weed for me, that it reminded me of in the first two rounds.

One of the more interesting parts was the role really bad storage conditions (Bangkok heat) probably played in changing that sencha character, in a way that I probably liked (just a guess since I never tried it earlier, when more fresh).  The other two teas spent time in Northern Laos and Thailand but at any elevation up there conditions would be much cooler than here.

This might well be the last post before Christmas, or maybe even New Year, so I'll sign off by wishing everyone a happy holiday season and exceptional New Year.  Thanks for reading, and feel free to comment on the posts, or in a related FB page mention or group discussion there.