my favorite sheng again! a Thai version from Aphiwat.

 

I skipped buying new Thai sheng from my favorite source this year, back closer to spring.  I'd stocked up early in the year, on Vietnamese teas instead, and had bought quite a bit of this version last year, and was limiting tea purchasing to essentially none.

But I just made an exception, and bought some of the 2024 version again, and a Dian Hong-style black tea, again from Aphiwat.  It's more or less my favorite overall sheng version right now, and has been for a year or two.  There is no Western facing vending outlet for this tea, but Aphiwat can be contacted here.

An online group question about the best sheng version I've ever tried (that anyone in the group had) reminded me of the difference between versions seeming exceptional in that way, as a high-water mark, and just being favorites, more within the ordinary range, but special.  I won't shed much light on that difference.  I suppose some LBZ or Bing Dao versions that I've tried were better than this, more interesting, more refined, with more unique and noteworthy sets of aspects.  Many teas have more aging potential; I think this is best for drinking within the first year or two.  

But beyond all that this really clicks for me.  Maybe why will come across in the review, or maybe I'll just not make sense in voicing this divide.

Breaking usual form I've already tried this tea so I know what I think of it.  It's quite good, and relatively similar to last year's version.

Review:

that extra color is probably from some oxidation, not aging effect

1:  I let this brew a little long to get it started; it might be a little rough due to that, and it's definitely slightly overbrewed.  It's on the bitter and intense side, but that's part of what I'm signed up for, what I like about it.  Sweetness is good, and flavor complexity.  Astringency is definitely there but it's not harsh.  Bitterness is pronounced, and a little intense, but not bad, at a decent level.  I'll do more of a flavor list next round.

2:  for flavor breakdown this is mostly floral, and it's always hard for me to describe the level beyond that, which flowers.  One part tastes a little like plant stem, coupled with the bitterness.  Some warmth seems to connect with mineral that's in between light and warm.  For a tea from 2024 that's a lot of transition already, to shift over to not being very light in mineral tone, and other flavor, but that's Thai storage for you, hot and humid, with changes happening fast.  Sweetness level is good; it matches the rest.  Feel is full, with good structure.  Aftertaste is pleasant; it's all the sweeter after you swallow.

Now I'm having trouble explaining why this is so pleasant.  It sounds like lots of other sheng experiences, doesn't it?  It really is, I suppose.  The material seems good, making the balance work.  The intensity is great.  Me liking this style helps a lot, and I really didn't love it as much, before years of trying versions like this.  It evolved to be a favorite.

3:  rich feel is evolving a bit more; I think that's another part of why this works so well for me.  And aftertaste experience; sweetness and some bitterness trails after, and the floral range.  And it's really clean in effect, without much of a hint of a flaw, or off aspect.  I suppose that plant-stem vegetal range tying to the bitterness not everyone would love, but I see that as just as positive as it is negative or neutral.  It works with the rest.

4:  honey-like flavor picks up a little.  It makes the floral range seem to draw closer to tones that align with that, like one would a sunflower to smell, although maybe they don't, really.  My wife and I visited a sunflower farm a couple of years ago, but I don't remember that I tried smelling them.

Related to style, it seems like this might be a little more oxidized than conventional sheng, which is why it's so approachable as such a young version (about 8 or 9 months old, I think; spring can run early here).  That's why the mineral includes warm tones, and why the honey input matches warm floral range.  It all tips just a little towards dried fruit, but that can be hard to place.  Like dried longan, maybe, a personal favorite of mine, or not so far off dried mango, if that's more familiar.  

5:  bitterness and astringency are easing up, but it always was relatively approachable.  It's just pleasant now, well balanced, intense, warmer in tone, quite nice.  

I could say more about minor transitions over another half dozen rounds but that's a main part of the story.  And I have to go; I have other things to do.

later rounds:  I drank another 8 or so infusions the next day; this tea really hangs in there for intensity, and related to staying pleasant.  That's not really even stretching it.  Between the 5th and 9th or so it's at its best; warm honey and fruit flavors really dominate, then bitterness picks up a bit later on.

Christmas

I tried this on Christmas day; odd I hadn't mentioned that.  Kalani was sick, just as Keoni was getting over being sick, so we did kind of a relaxed day, before going out later on.  Shopping for gifts never really came together; at best they got a few token gifts from us, and not much for that.  We spent some of the time planned for that on a doctor visit.  As usual Eye ran late catching up on errands, only back here in Bangkok for the last two days, after spending the fall in the US, where the kids go to school.

I hope everyone reading this is having a great holiday season, and no matter how well or badly gift giving works out that some personal connections make it feel special.

a long nap on Christmas day, after waking up early

doing math assignments on Christmas break; that's not ideal

Christmas Eve outlet outing.  it's great to see them again.

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.

Lao Cai Vietnamese and Nanning Chinese wild origin black teas

 

Vietnamese tea left, in all photos

I'm reviewing the second wild material tea from ITea World in comparison with a version from Viet Sun.  Citing their descriptions will fill in more about that origin, but it is whatever it is.

It's a challenging context for the Chinese tea version, because the 2023 Lao Cai version has been one of my favorite teas.  It's complex, well-balanced, intense, and positive across flavor and other aspects.  A wild origin material hei cha from ITea World was pleasant but atypical in hei cha style, like a smoked version of Liu Bao, sort of.

Chinese Wild Black Tea  ($25 for 40 grams)

Indulge in our Chinese Wild Black Tea. Using a non-smoked Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong process, this tea boasts a rich floral aroma and a thick, smooth taste. It leaves a refreshing sensation under the tongue and a clear, lingering throat note. The aftertaste is deep and lasting, with a prolonged sweetness that brings joy

At 60 cents a gram that pricing is a little aggressive but that's how it can go with rare and desirable forms of tea.  There probably isn't any easy way to buy something similar, or maybe there are no close alternatives at all.

Lào Cai Black Spring 2024  ($19 for 100 grams)

A buddy hồng trà from medium, old and ancient trees growing at 1200-1500m in Y Tý, Lào Cai.

A fruity, honey cacao fragrance emerges upon first infusion. This tea brews up quickly into a rich crimson golden soup. The flavors I pick up are fruit jam, chicory, malt, cacao, honey with warming spices. This tea has a chicory dark chocolate bitterness with a rich lingering effect in the throat and an uplifting, focused qi.

Medium oxidation, medium rolling time/ pressure, lower than average air drying temp/ longer drying time. A great option for a morning pick me up or any time when you need a burst of clear headed energy.

At $19 for 100 grams this costs one third the per-unit weight of the other version. (or the ITea World site sells an 80 gram version for $42.50, working out to 54 cents, probably a more fair comparison).  

Again that's not so atypical for more direct from producer sales from Vietnam, versus China or another highest demand origin, like Japan or Taiwan.  If it's identical to the 2023 version that's more than fair, a great value.

Review:

Lao Cai Vietnamese:  pretty similar to the 2023 version.  It's so close that I'm probably not going to be able to do separation justice from memory.  I drank that tea yesterday, so it's not a distant memory, but this is similar.  Berry or dried dark cherry range might be a little stronger; a warm-toned edge might stand out just a little more.  This might include a bit more cacao; it's fairly pronounced.  Astringency effect is different but this is the first round, and that probably will shift some.  

The tea is great; that's the same.  I own a lot of the 2023 version and it's not enough.  I keep giving it away to people I care about, so that they can have the experience too, but I'll try to mostly hold onto it from here.

Daming Mountain, Shanglin County, Nanning wild black tea:  that's really novel, and quite pleasant.  Flavor is pretty intense, warm, sweet, complex, and unusual.  Feel is giving up a lot in terms of fullness, but then again it's early, and I expect feel to shift for both.  This tastes like dried elderberry, or rather as that would taste, if I'd ever had it.  I ate a lot of elderberry pies as a child but never experienced that berry dry, even though since it grew wild locally we could've just kept picking it, and then dried it.  It would've been a shame to not make it all into pies though, so my Mom did.

There is a very faint musty input in this, hard to place that it's so subtle, connecting with warm mineral tone.  From here that could develop, but I'd expect it to drop out instead.  Feel is rich and smooth, just not as structured and full as the other.  

In tasting between the two it includes mineral that ties to feel that's more astringent, causing a slight mouth puckering effect.  That comes across as fullness of feel initially, not remotely as a flaw, but in tasting between the two the effect is that it seems more "rustic," less refined.  But also better, in a few senses, more intense, with more flavor complexity, not just hitting a narrow range of a few flavor inputs.  It will be interesting seeing how both evolve.

Based only on the first round the Vietnamese version takes it, but that's only according to my own preference.  In a way this Chinese version is more novel and more refined, so people might value that more than the additional complexity and intensity.

Lao Cai 2:  that's so good!  This is clearly more complex, layered, and refined than the earlier 2023 version, I think.  I don't feel badly about owning quite a bit of the other instead of this one; they're both similar, and both great.  A brandy-like effect comes across in the flavor profile, tying to the cherry range more than the cacao.  The feel is just wonderful, full, structured, rich, and not rough at all.  It's velvety, not light.  A clean, sweet aftertaste effect carries over.  I can easily recommend that anyone buys as much of this as they feel comfortable deciding on.

It would be possible to interpret this flavor as including tartness, in which case the berry range might seem more like cranberry than dark cherry.  I'm not a fan of tartness in black tea, actually a bit sensitive to that, and it's so moderate (limited) in this I don't interpret it that way.  The feel including a bit of astringency edge I see as normal, positive black tea experience.  Framed in positive terms it represents complex and full structure; framed negatively it's dryness instead.

Nanning:  this filled in as well; flavor complexity filled in what seemed like a thin spot before, and feel structure is richer and fuller.  It's crazy that both these teas are this good.  I thought the 2023 Lao Cai version would be an unfair starting point for comparison for me loving it so much, then this next year's is better, and the Chinese tea holds its own.  

This tastes like Christmas; I can even explain why.  Elderberry has shifted to taste more like teaberry, a flavor that won't ring a bell to many.  It's a mix of berry flavor and mint, which balances really well with a lighter cacao tone than the other includes.  

I suppose that if someone felt that a medium degree of feel structure is needed to balance warm, rich, complex flavors that could still seem like a gap for this version.  Or the opposite could occur in judgement, and the lightness could make this seem more refined.  To me they both work, just in different ways.

It looks like I'm brewing a bit more of the Vietnamese tea, because it expanded more.  The tightly twisted leaves in this version have expanded, but not as much.  I'm not at all concerned that it might be an unfair test of them; there isn't that much difference.

Lao Cai #3:  the same, not changing.  Warm mineral supports rich dried cherry, cacao, and range that could be interpreted as tartness, with a pleasant brandy-like effect setting context.  I see this as more refined than rustic, or maybe those concepts add nothing to practical description.  The feel is great, full and rich, with pleasant structure, but still smooth.  I could drink this tea most of the time and wouldn't tire of it, even though I'm mainly a sheng pu'er drinker.  It would be great drank alone or with food, lots better than necessary for a daily drinker, but it could serve that role well in this style.

Nanning:  not evolving too much; maybe flavor complexity is tying together better, and feel keeps evening out to not include thinness across a feel range that's impossible to describe.  This flavor set is novel and pleasant.  

Maybe the other is more standard, more typical, and that would serve it better as an input one might be open to repeating countless times.  Maybe this one is more novel, and that would come across better as a unique experience, something to savor or share.  Who knows about all that; it would just depend on the subjective impression one gets from either.  

This tea being lighter in feel, to the extent that could be interpreted as a gap, makes it a less suitable pairing with food, but for some that could be regarded as a strength, for it to be a more refined stand-alone experience.  A black tea drinker might miss the extra feel structure but an oolong drinker could prefer this version for being rich and full enough as it is.  Either of these would be pretty flexible about range of potential brewing approaches; they would both be great brewed Western style, and could work out brewed "grandpa style," left in contact with water in a tea bottle.

Lao Cai #4:  last round; I'm off to yet another pressing errand.  Dried dark cherry is stronger than ever in this, supported nicely by cacao.  That could taste like a Christmas theme, couldn't it?  I think this might be a perfect tea to get someone new to better tea started, and also one someone almost the entire way through an experience curve would love.  That's the magic of a range of different black teas, that anyone could appreciate them.  

To put it in perspective that hint of feel structure and dryness isn't completely unlike Assam, but it's at a fraction of the proportion that tends to occur in the best quality versions of those.  Those are malty instead, used in a different sense than one would mean related to describing Ovaltine, or the malt in a milkshake.  It would work to say this tastes like malt too, but to me fruit and cacao stands out more.

Nanning:  it's interesting how flavor intensity, complexity, and fullness of feel structure keep gradually ramping up in this.  It matches the other.  That one especially catchy flavor aspect range people might describe differently.  Here I've pegged it as elderberry, then teaberry, referencing a brandy-like quality, with cacao as a secondary input.  As usual that wouldn't be a universal interpretation; if I tried this a couple of more times I might vary it.  It works as a well-grounded and descriptive initial impression.

Conclusions:

This gets a little strange, because I want to conclude that both are very positive, simply unique in different ways.  Then I preferred the version that costs one third as much as the other, aligning value and my own personal preference with that one.

It is still fair to say that they're simply two different types of tea.  The Chinese version is a bit more refined, subtle and distinctive in a different way, and unique in terms of flavor profile.  It evolved positively across rounds; later in the tasting they were more equivalent.  The Vietnamese tea also has a very positive flavor profile, and higher intensity of flavor, with more intense feel structure and aftertaste, all in a positive range.  For someone really into mild feel and refined flavored black tea they could like the Chinese version better, but to me that feel structure in the Vietnamese version was so moderate that I don't see it as a negative factor at all.

As I mentioned earlier there's often an option to get better value teas from origins outside of the highest demand areas, from places like Vietnam, Thailand, Georgia, Nepal, or even Indonesia.  Then it just depends on the sales channel too.

The ITea World vendor stands out in relation to offering a lot of standard type or more unique and interesting versions as samples or sample sets; potential customers should probably make the most of this option range.  Then if a version introduced through this approach really stands out as a match to preference ordering more volume of it would be a clearly defined option.  For having a tight tea budget I tend to react quite a bit to per-volume sales value, but for many others spending $25 on high quality tea that you can drink a significant number of times would already be acceptable value.

The Viet Sun source is where I've been buying tea for the past couple of years.  For tea enthusiasts there shouldn't be a need to add to that; the meaning should already be clear.  Teas are good, value is good, and the styles are positive, distinctive, and interesting.  

Often new or newish vendors will sell teas at great value for a relatively long initial period, build up following and demand, and then will often suddenly shift that pricing structure, turning over a lot of customers who are attracted by value, but continuing to build on sales volume by marketing to attract others.  Whether or not Viet Sun follows this pattern value is pretty good now, and products are high in quality and distinctive; it's a good time to explore what they sell.  

The only downside is that many people don't buy $100 worth of tea at a time (really!), and their free international shipping threshold is set at $88.  It's a great option for people who are already focused quite a bit on tea experience, but for people just considering expanding out from drinking $15 per tin mass produced teas it may seem like a bit of a step.

Assam green and silver needle teas

 

Not long ago I reviewed an exceptional quality version of Assam whole-leaf black tea, sent by a producer friend Maddhurjya to enjoy and to review.  These were sent with it, a green and silver needle version.  They look amazing, and they should be amazing.

As with the first post I'll keep the back-story here to a minimum.  Maddhurjya started working on exploring better quality tea production, new types of processing and equipment use, and organic tea production quite a number of years ago.  He might've been somewhat new to it when we first met, something like a half dozen years ago, but he was making quite good tea then, and it has only improved since.  There's more on him and that project is on FB and Instagram.

It's now on a level with better teas from anywhere else.  The highest end Chinese teas tend to draw on an older and more developed tea tradition, with the absolute best tea versions the result of many decades of tea growing and processing, or really centuries, so the absolute highest quality Chinese teas tend to have an edge on others from elsewhere, but that matters more for some tea types.  Black and green teas are more basic in general style (as I see it), and white (the silver needle) is the least processed broad type, so it might vary a little less.  Differences related to terroir and plant type issues might stand out more than processing being dialed into optimum for these.  But we'll see.

I haven't been drinking much green or white tea for years, but many cycles of trying many teas from a lot of different areas over a decade give me confidence that my judgment will be reasonably informed.  Related to brewing process I'll go with a Gongfu approach, and a pretty high proportion, as is normal for me.  Brewing water temperature might be a little high, possibly around 90, or maybe down into the mid to upper 80s as a thermos I'm using sheds some heat, which is probably not optimum for the green tea version.  But I'm a sheng pu'er drinker, so if it includes a little extra astringency edge, extra mineral base, or if a heavier vegetal tone stands out a little I'll be fine.  It would be sweeter and lighter brewed 10 degrees cooler, which I'll probably be able to comment on a little as I go.

I should mention that some people consider silver needle a certain style of white buds-only tea, and often silver tips is used as a more general term.  Silver needle is often used for the English derived name for a Fuding, Fujian tea version, based on plant type and growing conditions that result in a larger bud form.  I don't even get caught up in naming issues people far more often consider important or restricted, like pu'er (although I do respect the registered Yunnan-origin only convention by awkwardly calling other versions "pu'er-like), or Oriental Beauty, which isn't registered to describe only Taiwanese teas.  I don't have any conclusively grounded opinion on whether this is truly silver needle or instead should be called silver tips, but I'm pretty sure that silver needle is closer to the Oriental Beauty example, not a registered and restricted naming convention, so I think it's fine.

Review:

green tea:  I brewed this round a bit fast, not trying to compensate for the tea needing time to become soaked, instead going with a first light introductory round instead.  Range is pleasant so far, light and sweet.  This tea could have far less of an astringency issue related to being in a mostly whole leaf form.  Umami already stands out, even though the tea is brewed quite light.  I'll save adding a flavor list for next round.

silver needle:  a lot of mineral base stands out in this; interesting.  Often buds-only white teas can be subtle to the point of not tasting like much, with some vague floral sweetness coming across.  That's not how this is.  Sweetness is still pronounced, and there's plenty of floral range there, but at least right away a mineral base stands out most.  It reminds me of how Nepal white teas often strike an amazing complex balance, including all that I've mentioned, and maybe even a bit of citrus.  For people familiar with good Nepal white tea that's clearly very high praise.  This should be interesting.

green tea, second infusion:  I brewed this more like 20 seconds, if anything perhaps slightly over optimum, but it will avoid another comment about these needing another round to get started.  Umami, underlying mineral, and heavier flavor range really stand out in this.  I think it's already to the point where using nearly 90 C water is pulling flavor range to a heavier, less bright and sweet range.  I'll cool the next round to experiment on that, mixing in just a little room temperature water (not sciencey, or optimum, but it'll work).  Floral tone is a main input, along with umami, and from there heavier vegetable range stands out.  It's hard to place, non-distinct, maybe as close to cooked okra as anything else.  I'll keep working on a more detailed flavor list.

silver needle:  warmth, sweetness, and depth really bumped up in this tea.  It's not really that close to Nepal white, which is lighter in form, with flinty mineral, light floral, towards a light citrus edge; that was only similar to the early round profile, it seems.  A much warmer range of floral tone and citrus both really kick in, but it's more like a warmer orchid scent than a lighter version of that, and more like a tangerine than a sweet and light orange.  Rich feel rounds out the experience; for still developing this has a lot going on.  There's even a hint of drier edge, relating either to oxidation input or to a natural mineral flavor tone (feel and flavor ranges tend to naturally couple in standard ways).

green tea, third infusion:  cooling the water (mixing it) did shift results a little, but not too much.  Heavier mineral and vegetal flavors still stand out, along with sweetness, and rich floral range.  I brewed this for a bit under 10 seconds; infusion strength is fine for both even brewed fast.  I won't pin down floral or mineral range much, which are hard to describe, but I will attempt to say more about the vegetal range.  There's a grass aspect to it, but it's complex, and not mostly that.  Vegetable range could be fairly close to okra still.  That gets odd because it's not a heavy, cooked vegetable flavor, but who is familiar with eating raw okra?  It seems like what is happening relates to a lot of range combining.  Rich and lighter floral tones seem to mix, along with a lot of mineral base, grass, some vegetable, and some holy basil spice range.  It's intense, but it's pleasant for being such a clean effect, with decent balance.

I've mentioned many times that green tea isn't my absolute favorite range, which I suppose could seem odd given that I drink mostly young or slightly aged sheng pu'er, which is closest to that.  I don't hate the entire flavor profile range, I just don't like the straight-grass effect, or more one dimensional vegetable flavor inputs.  Sheng often tastes floral, and essentially never like grass or vegetables, although characteristic astringency and mineral base can overlap with some green tea range, and unusual pine-like aspect can enter in (which I just noticed in a Jing Mai version two days ago).  For this green tea being complex, generally positive, and balanced I like it.  I'd probably like a sheng version that's this high in quality and distinctive better, but that's how type preferences and acclimation works.

silver needle:  this is richer, sweeter, heavier on rich floral tones and warm citrus fruit, and thicker in feel.  I think this would naturally appeal to a broader range of people; there is no conflict with aspect preference range to get in the way, it's just good.  It's definitely not subtle or wispy.  This was even brewed for 10 seconds or less; pushing it would draw out even more intensity, although lighter flavor balance would give way to heavier range if you did that, to some extent.  I should push the next round a little to check on that, since I've just brewed these quite light.  It will be more of a test of the green tea; I don't think that you could easily ruin this tea with brewing variations.

green tea, fourth infusion:  I cooled the water even more by mixing one third room temperature version; this will be brewed quite cool, maybe even under a 70 C relative optimum (160 F or below).  Ordinarily that would impact intensity, but I've let these brew for more like 20 seconds, probably just under that.

It's lighter and sweeter, for sure, with feel range not diminishing at all, or the heavy mineral base flavors.  Interesting!  If someone absolutely wanted to keep the heavy grass and vegetal range in check this is the way, use fairly cool water, maybe even dropping slightly below 70 C.  I'd probably see using 75 to 80 C as an optimum, and might even go with 85, accepting some heavier flavors that I don't love as much as a trade-off for bumping intensity way up, even brewed fast.  Sweet floral tone does come across well in this round, with an even stronger mineral base, so it's not overly light, but for being a sheng pu'er drinker I'm accustomed to intensity, which sticks around even with fast and light infusions.

silver needle:  not changed, really; the last description still works.  Heavy floral tone might be bumping up as the sweet citrus drops off, but it's still similar.  I'll probably do one more round to check on changes, back to brewing the green tea hot, and leave off taking notes.  These teas are not half finished yet though; cutting off writing is about keeping this length moderate, and about later transitions not being as interesting to me as describing the basic character of the teas.

green tea, fifth infusion:  the heavier flavors punch is back, related to using quite hot water again.  I suppose it's nice that the flavor can be that dialed into different ranges like that, if one likes.  Other tea types tend to not work out like that; you can shift the range of experience, but not necessarily the basic flavor profile.  The grass and vegetable might seem a bit much to some but to me it's balanced well enough with heavy mineral base, umami, and equally pronounced floral range input.  I like that feel structure too; it has an edge to it, brewed hot and somewhat intense, but again I'm familiar with teas including intense feel along with intense flavors.  

In discussing what I like about sheng with a Yunnan producer friend he guessed that people might just adjust to liking a little more complexity and intensity, then a little more again, until they need a lot of both to get their fix.  Oolongs are plenty complex and interesting, with full feel, but once you follow that pattern it might not be enough, since they tend to give up both--related to sheng--in exchange for exhibiting refinement and flavor aspect range that's a more natural fit to ordinary, unconditioned preference.  Bitterness alone is a big part of that (which of course I've not mentioned in relation to this green tea; they tend to not be bitter).  People new to drinking beer would probably love a mild amber more and then later on IPA and pilsner can somehow seem more appealing. 

It's interesting the bag it came in has a common type of orchid on the front, and the "flavour of Assam" branding.  There is plenty of floral range in both these teas.  This seems to be transitioning more to green beans in later rounds, so there's other range too, but it works better for it all balancing.

silver needle:  not transitioning too much, but a little.  The gradual, subtle drift towards warmer floral tones might be leading into a light spice-like range now.  For this tea being so approachable, while still being complex and intense, you could try out pushing it with full boiling point brewing water and see what that changes.  

It might work as an optimum to start cooler, maybe in an 85 C range, and then keep bumping temperature as intensity fades just a little.  This is still plenty intense, and you can add more to that just by lengthening brewing time, but drawing out warmer tones and a touch more astringency could be good--in the form of feel depth at this lighter level--as the tea softens further and narrows in flavor range.  At five infusions in it's far from fading away, so I'm talking here about messing around to experience change and an optimum.  Or it's great like this, or surely brewed hotter; this is the opposite case of when I'm describing how one might get a decent but mediocre tea to give up a bit more intensity, more about how one might try out a finer level adjustment of brewing process just to highlight what is already present.

Conclusion:

I liked the silver needle more; that really stood out for complexity, intensity, and flavors being in a very positive range.  I liked the green tea more than I like an average good-quality green tea version, and if I was a green tea drinker this would all be framed in completely different context, much more positively.  It's a green tea version that a sheng pu'er drinker could appreciate, but they would still probably like sheng pu'er of equivalent good quality even more.  Drifting off the subject a little, I tend to like sheng versions that seemed to have been heated a bit too much, spoiling a lot of the long term aging potential, and shifting the aspect range, but they can be nice as very young / new versions.

It's interesting considering if these were better than I expected, or different in any way.  I thought that they would be quite good, so that matches.  This white tea intensity was a pleasant surprise; fine bud content white tea can be intense, as this was, but often that comes with negative or neutral aspect range trade-off, for example the mineral tone not integrating as well as this did, or giving up brighter floral and fruit range.  You usually don't get that kind of balance across a range in white teas; it's either mostly a very pleasant sweet and floral high end, or a deeper base joins much less of that.  That's why Nepal white teas really stand out, but they often express a brighter, lighter-tone range, light floral, and bright citrus, not the warm and deeper range.

Probably I'll come to love this green tea more as I try it a few more times, and automatically dial in brewing better, versus messing with it round to round.  To me green and black teas can tend to be more basic in range expressed, which can still work out as a positive experience, in a way that can work really well drank along with food.  I still drink sheng with breakfast almost every day, or black tea, oolong, or shu if I feel like it, but that's not really about setting up an optimum pairing.  I eat plain foods, breakfast cereal, toast, or fruit, and the sheng is often out of balance related to intensity, even brewed light.  I probably should buy more black tea than I tend to, but I often end up reaching for sheng anyway.  It'll be nice to have a couple more options to mix in, while I have these teas.

ITeaWorld Wild Lapsang Souchong and non-wild version

 

Back to it, maybe the last review of teas from this set, since I think there are a couple of others, but this covers most of it.  I've already reviewed their other black teas from Yunnan and Yingde, and a Tie Guan Yin and Mi Lan Xiang Dan Cong.  Results were a little mixed but pretty good, in general, comparing quality level and aspect experience to the quality level implied by the pricing.  The one Yunnan black tea (Dian Hong) and Dan Cong were representative of the normal range, and pleasant, both slightly better than I would've expected for teas from a resale vendor.

But is this a case of that?  They present themselves as involved in the growing and processing steps, not only buying commodity versions.  It doesn't necessarily change a lot either way, but the background can help place how to take any specific claims, eg. that a tea is wild grown, or from a certain elevation.  Their online content looks detailed and diverse at first glance but then when you read closer it's a bit general.  That's hard to place.  It could be that translation issues make it hard for them to communicate details, and that as a new company (a new brand; they mention an earlier history as a different tea company) they had to make all the content that exists within the last year, so of course vendors with many years of history are going to have developed more detailed supporting content.

From there I could speculate, mentioning how I interpret vendor claims in general, who I tend to trust more or less, but it wouldn't add much.  In the end to some extent the tea speaks for itself.  But not entirely; if a vendor makes claims that seem a bit off--which comes up--then you can't really trust any of the rest of what they communicate, about teas being organic, wild-sourced, genuine examples of the type or source area described, etc.  

To the extent the teas match expectations quite well, that the style is what it should be, that's an indicator that they're being open and honest.  I personally often take very general vendor content as an implied negative, descriptions that don't say much, because that content could be copied from anywhere, and doesn't communicate in-depth knowledge of background, but I have ran across examples of vendors selling fantastic, very authentic teas who barely create any supporting content.  

Small Thai producers come to mind; it's hard for them to describe even basic aspects or origin details in English, but in many cases the teas are obviously as genuine and positive (for a typical style) as they come, and the more you talk to the vendors the more you know that you can trust them.  Two people come to mind who I would almost trust with my kids, even though I've never met them in person; the most positive and genuine people I ever talk to really help support my faith in this world, partly offsetting sensational news cycles and all the rest.  Of course that's a bit of hyperbole; I can only think of one other family of close friends we've left our kids to spend time with ever, including relatives, so we just don't trust our kids with anyone, barring that one exception.

About this next set I've probably made a mistake before even starting; flavored teas generally work better brewed Western style, because it gives them infusion time for the right proportion for the added flavor to emerge, in this case smoke.  I'm brewing them Gongfu style; I used two packets of each sample to set proportion where I normally do, at 7 grams per 100 ml gaiwan.  It'll still be fine but for the first two infusions I'm probably going to just keep mentioning the smoke proportion will normalize later.

I thought for sure this would be one unsmoked and higher quality wild source origin version, and one familiar smoked version, since that's the normal two forms, but both are smoked.  So be it; good smoked black tea is really special.  It's going to be a bit much getting through 4 or 5 rounds but I can always take a break and get a snack, and reset the whole process.  It'll be interesting to see if any of the typical fruit aspect common to wild Lapsang Souchong versions can show through past the smoke.

ITeaWorld website wild Lapsang Souchong description (this is $30 or so dollars per 100 grams, 30 cents per gram, what I expected).

Unique smoky pine aroma and longyan aroma, from wild trees.

Wild tea is more natural. Sexual tea tree varieties and well-developed root systems. Grow in a pristine ecological environment. Picked 1 flush a year.

There's a little more there for description but it mostly only mentions a floral aspect.  I just ate a bunch of longan this week, from a local market.  If you ever see a dried fruit version of that it's well worth trying out.  They did add origin location in that listing too:

From the Mountains of Guangxi, Guilin at an Altitude of 800m.High Mountains Produce Good Tea.

This is interesting:

Sweetness does stand out, but oxidation level seemed moderate.  Even the brewed color they showed in a series doesn't match my own results; theirs is much lighter.  I suppose they could've been brewing this tea very lightly, since they showed 10 rounds worth, and I'm drinking the fifth while I edit this post.  Pushing the tea a bit made sense to me, using 30 second or so infusion times at double the proportion they recommend.  For brewing they did recommend using quite hot water, between 95 and 100 C, full boiling point, and that seems best to me too.

the non-wild plant version:  (selling for a bit over $15 for 100 grams, maybe 18 cents a gram)

The raw materials of the tea come from the abandoned tea gardens in Guangxi, China. After the 1980s, these tea gardens were left unattended. They have an abandoned history of 30-40 years. An abandoned tea garden refers to a tea garden that used to be managed by humans. It was abandoned later and has been in wildness for a long time.

No pruning. Higher brew tolerance.No chemical fertilizers and pesticides are used. More natural flavor. Older tea trees. Sweeter taste. Organic tea is grown in the natural environment. No chemical fertilizers and pesticides are used. Safer and healthier.

From the Mountains of Guangxi, Shanglin at an Altitude of 1200m.

They mention a flowery character elsewhere but that's it for aspect description.  

The abandoned tea plantation theme is interesting; that does come up, or variations of that, growing areas left in a more natural state.  Why would tea plants be left abandoned, when the Chinese tea industry has faced fairly high demand over the past 20 years?  I don't know.  If it's not a main local production area an earlier production experiment could've been abandoned.  That theme is familiar from a number of other areas; I can think of similar examples from five other countries (Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos, Georgia, and the Philippines).  It's less common in China, because fluctuations in the economy and tea demand take a different form there than elsewhere.  Here's their image of what that looks like:

Review:

wild Lapsang Souchong version:  smoke does stand out more than the rest, one part of brewing this in what could be considered the wrong way, although that's not clearly determined yet.  The smoke input seems positive, warm, aromatic, and clean.  Of course based on the other teas being ok I didn't expect this to contain fake smoke or anything like that, but smoke input can vary a lot, and this seems as it should be, a tasty pine version.  I'll add more about other flavors next round.

non-wild Lapsang Souchong:  more shows up beyond the smoke; that's the opposite of what I expected.  It really doesn't mean much because both are just getting started.  There's something really unusual in this version, maybe along the line of a sassafras root effect.  I would anticipate that will be even more positive as intensity and complexity evolves, but we'll see.  I'll give both a slightly longer round next time than I usually would, well over 20 seconds, to cut short round of round of comments about how the teas are still early into transitioning.

wild version, second round:  interesting!  It makes me think back to the last time I had any smoked tea; it's been awhile.  Ian of Yunomi shared some awhile back, if I remember right, surely not this version, but along that line.  That was 6 years ago; crazy.  I've tried a couple of falap or bamboo pu'er versions with smoke input since, and two different Indian smoked black teas last year.

That Japanese version was unusually interesting and positive related to novelty, as a whisky barrel aged version, and this version is interesting too.  Smoke level is quite significant but it balances ok, with a clean and sweet profile from the rest.  It's probably going to work out that if I do 5 or 6 rounds worth of tasting the smoke will extract faster, and I could tell more about the rest later on.  Often some more subtle fruit or floral notes can emerge earlier in the rounds, in any teas, so it may not be indicative of what is mixing in with smoke now.  It's hard to place, really.  A faint cocoa note might be present.

other version:  smoke is quite light in this; odd that faded so fast.  It does include interesting spice or tisane range.  One part of that isn't so different than that aromatic, complex, hard to isolate black tea range present in Lipton, the overall balance they blend to draw out.  I'm probably reminded of that because I drank Lipton yesterday at work, triggered to do so by seeing posts about standard tea-bag teas in Discord discussion.  I had been drinking Dilmah tea-bag tea at work (we changed office location and I didn't put any tea or device back in the new one yet), and as expected Dilmah (standard lower medium quality Ceylon) is better than Lipton.

Let's do a more complete flavor breakdown for both next round; I think even evolved a little further that tisane / spice note will be hard to place.  It's interesting how these are the opposite of what I expected, with smoke input heavier in the wild origin material, and the other showing novel and non-standard aspect range.  

The non-wild version is a good bit lighter in color, less red; it may be backed off in oxidation level (that's pretty much the one input that would cause that), and that's also causing unusual flavor output.  That's not necessarily positive or negative; the experienced results determine that value judgement.  In the best cases a careful producer adjusts standard inputs to optimize the potential of a given source material, or I suppose oxidation level could just be a little off instead.  It comes up a lot with oolongs, or adjustment of oxidation level related to Dian Hong, in some cases going way lower than typical to make "shai hong" (sun-dried versions) that aren't as sweet and complex initially but have potential to transition positively with limited aging input, over 2 to 4 years or so.

wild version, third infusion:  well-balanced; I think this is right at the peak of it all settling in together, so I'll ramble on about it.  Smoke is light, which to me is at a good balance point, maybe only slightly a lesser input than the rest, but that gives the rest room to be experienced.  So by "light" I mean that it doesn't blast through as is common with commodity grade Lapsang Souchong versions (which can be pleasant; you're kind of signed up for that in buying one).  The rest is quite pleasant, just perhaps a bit subtle to compete with the smoke input.  Sweetness level is fine, and there's a bit of faint cocoa or quite mild fruit range beyond that, maybe more towards roasted yam than fruit, but it's not distinct and pronounced enough to make for a clear list.  

There's a chance that this tea might've been better unsmoked, that it wasn't really intense enough to balance smoke input as well as other versions.  I think most higher end or wild origin Lapsang Souchong isn't smoked for a related reason, because it's regarded positively without that input, appreciated for what else it is.  Any strong charactered black tea could stand in to complement smoke input, and a bit of rough edge or heavy flavor range might improve results, where a more refined, balanced, and distinctive tea might be better left alone.  

In the other black tea review I mentioned that Dian Hong versions often don't express a lot of higher range / forward notes compared to including depth and complexity, the cocoa / dried fruit / roasted yam or sweet potato, and I think that's another good example of aspect range profile of black tea that shouldn't be smoked.

At any rate this is fine, awfully refined and evenly balanced for any given smoked Lapsang Souchong version, which is good.  Keeping the smoke input light made a lot of difference, even though it's even lighter in the other version.

other version:  fading in intensity a little already; strange.  For where both these teas are pushing them for a 30 second or more infusion time might make sense.  I think they'll both make another 3 or 4 positive infusions but that will probably relate to really stretching them after the next couple, so this next round will be it for these notes.

the wild version is inconsistently oxidized, which doesn't mean anything in particular

wild version, 4th infusion:  smoke fades slowly, and the rest of the tea is a bit subtle, but it still comes across as a complex experience, it's just low in intensity.  Considering other aspect range I tend to see as "quality markers" might help place it; what about mouthfeel and aftertaste?  There's limited astringency range in this tea, related to that characteristic edge, and the feel isn't relatively full either.  It has depth of body, but just enough to support the rest, still below average in intensity.  It doesn't vanish from your mouth after you drink it, but aftertaste experience is limited too.  That's normal enough for black tea, so to me it's not really a negative input, it just doesn't add much.

Refinement stands out as most positive for this tea.  The feel is light but silky, the flavor is subtle but it does include supporting cocoa range, and standard black-tea depth, the warm tones.  Then it's a little odd because you don't turn to a smoked black tea for refinement, but there it is.  You can always bump intensity just a little using longer infusion times and boiling hot water, and that would extract a little more for warm mineral depth and a slight added feel edge.  But you would have to like it or not like it for what it is, you couldn't force it to be a more intense version of tea.

other version:  smoke is gone, and that unusual root-spice edge is all the stronger.  How much one would like this tea comes down to preference for or against that input range.  I like it, but then I've repeated that I like the deeper and unusual tones in Yunnan black teas a couple of times in this, and this is part of what I'm talking about, how that can include spice range too.  Again if someone wanted a full-blast, heavy smoke experience, supported by astringency and earthy flavor rough edges, these teas just aren't that.  To me they're better than that, but preference is a funny thing, there is no one clear and objective "better."  Match to standard expectations, the most type-typical range, wouldn't be met by these, but that's par for the course with smoked teas, that there isn't one narrow standard range.

I brewed these for another round for over 40 seconds (which I don't time; it's just to give an idea), and intensity did pick back up.  There's not much new for transition to report though.  Smoke strengthened in the first example, and fruit picked up in the second, which I'd not really been mentioning.  It's a bit non-distinct but maybe along the line of cooked pear.

I'll skip going much further with any conclusions for these, since I've been concluding a lot.  They're good.  It makes me consider just how good, trying to place quality, but for teas like this style matters as much or more as an abstract quality level.  Some people would love them, and others could find them lacking.  Anyone most interested in an intense blast of smoke and heavy-range, intense black tea would be disappointed.

To place quality level, which I just basically said isn't necessary, it works to compare them to Wuyi Origin's versions, to Cindy's teas, which are the best Lapsang Souchong versions I've ever tried.  They're not that good, related to general quality level, but they're not that far off those, which is high praise.  Cindy's teas tend to be priced in an atypical 30 to 50 cent per gram range, which can generally relate to lower quality teas normally selling for 20-30 being overpriced, or versions others would sell for 50 to 75 cents, or even a dollar or over per gram, being moderately priced and good-value, which is the case for hers.  

I'd expect these are more in the 20 to 30 cents per gram range, as sold, and they're good value for that.  I've not read their listings yet, as I write this initial draft, so if that's way off I'll need to add one more sentence here.  I'll go back and add them prior to the tasting section now.  Later editing note:  just under 20 cents for the non-wild version, right at 30 for the other.  

I looked up Cindy's Lapsang Souchong (Wuyi Origin's), and their wild version lists for less than the others, at $33 per 100 grams, with an old-tree version listing at $57 per 100 grams.  Interpreted one way they're slightly different categories of tea; these ITeaWorld versions are a good value for these styles and quality level.