Phongsaly Laos Tea sheng "pu'er"

 

Very kind of them, the Phongsaly Laos Tea company sent me some tea to try and review, a Laos version of sheng "pu'er-like" tea.  This is going to be familiar to a lot of people from seeing a social media promotion campaign, and lots of mentions of their products.  I've tried a version before, reviewed here, and it was pretty good.  I'll place it in relation to other "border tea" later on (not what I tend to call that, versions from other places than Yunnan, which I usually just call sheng).

There are old tea trees growing in Laos, with specific plant age kind of hard to determine.  I have heard that the 400 year old claim does have a basis in a good estimate of when tea plants were first grown locally, which must have been backed up by a botanical study along with limited written history, given how things go in Laos and here. I don't think the modern Laos and Thai script even existed then, and related records in other languages probably didn't either. But that doesn't mean these leaves are from plants of any specific age, or even growing conditions.  I personally go with how a tea is anyway, versus the stories.

that's really "world," but not related to this blog

It would make sense to mention the "tea in the ancient world" part, given that it is the name of this blog.  Borrowing that phrase actually makes more sense than it first seems.  That name is a reference to something that my wife used to say, about how all sorts of things in Thailand are "from the ancient world."  That could be clothing styles, old-style markets, or just about anything with ties to older forms of culture.  It was funny how she put it, not clarifying that the practice or style is from the ancient world, not the actual item.  

Translating from a first to a second language works like that; slight bits of meaning get lost or shifted.  Her functional use of English is great, better than my Thai could ever be, but that kind of thing still comes up.  

Anyway, this "ancient world" theme seemingly isn't that common here but it's also not unheard of.  So it seems to me that this producer taking up this reference essentially means "traditional style."  "Tea from the ancient world" might work better; I had intentionally included the odd framing.

Maybe in the strictest sense it's not that, traditional style tea in Laos, because the continuous Yunnan, China tradition of making sheng pu'er has probably evolved over time, and seemingly was re-imported to the Phongsaly area quite recently, within the last decade.  That's splitting hairs though; sheng pu'er has been around, and I don't think anyone knows if it was being made in Laos in a very similar form 50 to 100 years ago, or prior.  If one person there said that it definitely had been, and another said that it hadn't, then you wouldn't really know which account was more accurate.  It's hard enough interpreting online feedback about standard versions today, in tea groups, or placing blog reviews.  

They were definitely making tea to be brewed for a long time, so I'm talking here about the style, to be clear.  Kenneth of Monsoon Tea claims that miang, eating cured tea in Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar, predates brewing tea, partly a reference to a Tale of Tea text claim.  But who knows; tracing back oral traditions is problematic.

miang, cured tea prepared for consumption as food, not brewing

It's my impression, based on talking to Anna of Kinnari Tea, who is in the North of Laos right now on a tea related visit, that Laos tea traditions evolved as locally oriented, related to what individuals did more than mainstream preferences, at least in modern times.  That makes sense when you consider that there wouldn't have been as significant a national trade economy until recently, with products traveling from various regions to be sold in others.  Prior to relatively recently farmers would've made their own tea and traded agricultural goods with others locally.  Tea in Vietnam is still a lot like that; quite varied in style, tying to local themes.  A nice outcome is that although even general styles can seem hard to pin down, what a tea category is supposed to be, with some versions notably flawed, other versions can be novel, interesting, and very pleasant.

A bit more unrelated tangent:  when we first started traveling in Laos just over 13 years ago, my wife and I, and then her mother and our son with us, they were just then finishing putting in a national electrical distribution infrastructure, which surely still has limits today.  Oddly their cell communication infrastructure had "leapfrogged" ahead of Thailand's at one point, around the time of those early visits, eliminating the need to "wire" the whole country for land-line phone communication. 

Review:

First infusion:  this is a bit light, typical for my approach, using the first fast round as an early indicator.  Flavor is good; kind of what I expected from the sweet, rich, and warm but bright dry leaf scent.  It's slightly fruity, or at least fruity along with bright and complex floral tones.  It's also way too early for a flavor list to make sense, or to get into feel and aftertaste, so I'll just move on.

Second infusion:  mineral stands out as much as anything, ramped up a lot from a faint trace in a light first round.  It's a dry range mineral tone, towards limestone.  That aspect and effect seems to counter sweetness, as bitterness sort of can, but maybe more so, since bitterness and sweetness end up being a pleasant natural pairing.  It's odd noticing mineral as a dominant flavor that blocks out picking up the rest; it tends to not usually work out like that.

The flavor that comes across beyond that is pleasant, but non-distinct. It's not bitter.  I would expect that mineral aspect to loosen up a bit over the next couple of rounds, and other aspects to stand forward more, resulting in a more satisfying flavor list.  Feel is fine for this, a bit dry, but with a reasonable structure.

Third infusion:  it is balancing better.  For some this heavy mineral tone would be a great experience, for others not so much.  It can often stand out in older plant source sheng; maybe this really is that.  Complexity beyond that is fine, it's just that the rest mixes.  I'd put it more at vague floral range than fruit, or maybe mixed-input floral range.  A warm spice-like tone is pleasant.  That's probably complex too, with one component like a mild root (eg. ginseng) and a faint trace a warmer aromatic spice, one of the incense bark versions.  

It seems like good tea, just not what I expected.  It's odd that bitterness is this light; it would be easy to miss even mentioning it, except that I would tend to expect more from young sheng in general.  That mineral and a seemingly connected feel structure, and bit of dryness, imply to me that this has a type of depth that would transition positively, at least initially, not just fading out intense flavors over a few years.  For the long term I'm not sure.  Overall intensity isn't that notable, across any range, and after 5 or 6 years stored in Bangkok this might just be fading.

Fourth infusion:  I'm brewing this a little longer than I've been a lot of sheng lately, out towards 10 seconds versus closer to 5, because flavor intensity is limited, and none of the rest is too much at that medium infusion strength level.  It might be interesting to try a fast infusion and see how that goes.  This has really hit its stride, balancing the best that it has so far.  If some floral tone picked up a bit this would be a lot closer to what I expected; it seems like there's a slightly muted range that's typically well represented in sheng versions.  It has that subdued character that I've experienced in some aged Yiwu versions, how a sweet, initially flavor-intense sheng version might come across after a dozen years of aging, with plenty left to experience but most flavor range dropped out.

The other complexity and warmer tones do work, just in a different sense.  More bitterness wouldn't hurt but this very moderate level works for me, especially with level of sweetness moderate, and typical corresponding flavor range, the floral and fruit.  Aftertaste is not missing, just limited, not noteworthy enough to add much about that.  Feel also has some complexity but that's limited too.  It's not a throat feel that some people value highly, more a general structure, and touch of now light dryness across the center of your mouth.

It's hard placing this against my expectations for "gushu" versions.  I've not been drinking a lot of varied sheng over the last 5 months or so (some but not a lot), and I'm not certain how much of that was gushu, without much even being presented as such.  Pronounced mineral content and moderate overall intensity can match that range, related to what I've noticed in versions, but it's not as if that one input is something I've ever been able to peg to a set of clear outcomes.  Sheng versions vary related to a lot of inputs.

Fifth infusion:  I did brew this a little faster but it doesn't shift results that much.  That didn't resolve having sweetness and some flavor intensity range on the light side; it works better to shift the balance of aspects present, not to ramp up what isn't standing out at all.  Feel is still pleasant; not thin for this being brewed light.  I do like it.  There was a time a version like this would seem a bit unfulfilling or incomplete to me, but drinking aged versions with some parts dropped out developed familiarity with that kind of experience.  For someone who really loves pronounced sweetness or bitterness, or heavy floral or fruit tone, or even a normal intensity level, this may not seem positive.  If one is able to appreciate strong mineral input and complexity more in the range of a more vague root spice it's nice.  

To be clear this has lots more going on than drinking a ginseng tisane; it's that depth and complexity that makes tea a better experience, in general.  That hint of an aromatic spice really makes the rest work.  But then it is a little strange even bringing up that a tea version is more complex than a typical tisane.

Sixth infusion:  this isn't fading, it doesn't seem, so this is probably only at the halfway point, but it's not transitioning that much either.  Earlier in my blogging experience I would've been quicker to describe these flavors as wood tones, I'm just out of the habit of that as much as it doesn't make sense in this case.  It's like that; a relatively fresh hardwood, maybe maple.  That sounds more damning than I intend it.  If you say a tea tastes like cardboard, for example, that's a lot like saying it's just bad, and mushroom can be used in a similar way, depending on preference.  

It would be funny if I'm just now coming down with covid and part of my sense of taste dropped out first.  I shouldn't make a joke of that. Probably it's just more in a different flavor range.  Very old plant source tea being a bit muted across some flavor range doesn't strike me as unbelievable, or perhaps even as atypical.  I just would've expected a lot more bitterness, sweetness, and overall intensity from most sheng, with pronounced floral tone or some fruit kind of typical.  

Maybe I didn't give this enough rest time, or some factor had affected my experience of it, so I tried a second tasting, only some days later, still not really enough to account for most of a standard shipping rest.

Second tasting:

my tasting assistant.  she didn't try this, but did pass on negative feedback about aged Xiaguan.

I had tried this tea within a week of getting it; maybe a shipping related issue came up, a flattening out due to experiencing unusual storage or temperature during transit.  It had seemed unlikely, since it was shipped within Thailand, and wasn't in transit for long (about 3 days), and probably never flew, but it still could be a factor.  It could definitely have shifted temperature, getting hot rather than cold, or might've been stored a bit dry during order processing.  

Or I might have eaten breakfast too soon before trying it, fresh mango, and that might've shifted my palate related to the experience of sweetness.  Oddly that's just the opposite of Josh mentioning that trying strawberries after drinking matcha bumps the sweetness for those in a recent tea and food pairing discussion.  

I'll skip the formal, round-by-round structure and just pass on notes.  The first round seems the same:  heavy mineral.  On the second that spice aspect I had noticed earlier kicks in stronger and earlier this time, maybe into clove range.  By round two I'm not really "getting" that much sweetness, or significant floral or fruit range, but the profile does seem a little more standard for sheng, a bit more complex and intense.  I don't dislike any sheng that's not quite sweet, floral, or fruity but cut back those plus bitterness, intensity, and overall complexity and a version doesn't seem as much like sheng.

Sweetness does seem more pronounced, tasting this for a third round.  It is centered more on root spice and that clove range, along with mild floral background, like chrysanthemum, but it seems more intense.  I'm not sure if that implies that one of those two factors made a difference, or maybe both did, and in another week maybe this will be even better, more settled.  Again it hadn't seemed like flawed or poor quality tea before, just atypical in character, even for a Laos version, as much as it makes any sense to specify that as a consistent generality.

That reminds me of the general question about how "border tea" is in general, for sheng from outside of Yunnan.  I don't think it makes any sense to combine everything not from there into a category, or even from any one of those countries, really (Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar). I've not tried any sheng pu'er-like tea from India, and that would be something else for being a very new development, early experiments, with laphet not completely unrelated but quite different.  There does seem to me to be a characteristic bitterness in some versions from Myanmar but that's about it.  Plant types would vary a lot, and growing conditions, like micro-climate, soil types, processing inputs; basically everything.

Bitterness seems more pronounced in this version than I remember from Saturday.  I really do believe that people vary more in day to day perception than we tend to notice from within; that could be it.  I can sort of predict how a twice-weekly run is going to go based on how I feel but a lot of the time I'm wrong, and I have a great run or else struggle, for no clear reason.  To me single tea tasting reviews aren't necessarily meaningless but it's a limited input take on a tea.

It seems to be settling into warmer wood tones, that same shift.  It's more developed and complex than I remember.  Sweetness is only a bit more pronounced, not radically different, but it balances better.  All this reminded me to go back and check a review trying a version in 2019, and that was actually sweet and citrusy, so kind of completely different.  I'm interpreting the spice as more complex in this tasting than last one, still including some subtle ginseng oriented range, but now more into clove.  

There's still no typical floral range or fruit notes, or they are very limited as background elements, and bitterness, sweetness, and intensity are still moderate, just slightly more pronounced.  There is a chance this tea would be relatively different in another two weeks, given closer to a month of rest, but I doubt it.

This wouldn't register as a personal favorite, but it is good, in a limited sense.  It's hard to extend that to an objective, overall quality level assessment, due to some range not matching preference and some other parts relating to character gaps.  I suppose general quality expectations also tend to relate to price, which I'll not look up.  In some cases teas from outside Yunnan sell for less due to demand being lower, and in others for more due to supply being limited, so a price to quality level mapping tends to not work in such cases anyway.

Phongsaly Laos Tea old tree black tea

almost looks green in the photo, but light brown in real life

Not much intro for this tea version; I've reviewed sheng, black, and green teas from this Phongsaly Lao Tea producer (many thanks for sharing those for review).  It's supposedly old-plant, natural growth sourced tea, and it probably really is.  I take age claims with a grain of salt but those stand at 400 year old plant source estimates.  Sure, maybe, probably not but who knows. 

There isn't a website outlet to cite more details from, so this is just coiled style black tea, not unheard of from China, but a bit novel.  I do wonder about details but how it comes across is kind of the main point, and brewing it informs that.

compressed black tea (from their FB page photos); something different

Review:

First infusion:  a bit muted yet; I often do a short first infusion round for teas to let the start slow, to see how it'll go using that as much as a rinse, as I did this time (around 10 seconds).   The tea was a bit compressed, coiled into rings along the line of bi luo chun (a green tea type), so it will express more next round.  What is present is promising; sweet, complex, and clean flavored, just quite subtle as of yet.  A mild malt stands out, a version close to cocoa, not the Assam more dry-mineral type version.  Maybe actual cocoa and floral fills in beyond that, or it could be a light but rich fruit; it should be more evident next round.

Second infusion:  I didn't increase timing; the proportion is set for Gongfu preparation, and I think the flavor subtlety related to it opening up instead.  More of the same.  This tea is good, based on what it is expressing, but it seems that close to really developing a lot more complexity.  Clean flavored light malt, a bit towards cocoa, and underlying mineral works well, but moderate sweetness and only implications of other flavor complexity limits the experience.

Everything hinted at, which occurs in very subtle form, is very positive, it's just hardly there.  At this light level pinning down those aspects is a venture in free-association, using imagination as much as actual interpretation.  Cleanness saves the experience; this really lacks any negative character too.  Astringency isn't non-existent, but it has a soft, balanced body, with only a hint of dryness.  Even aftertaste carries over a little.  Beyond that at this round it's malt (in between Assam and Ovaltine), cocoa, towards aromatic wood (mahogany range; something dark), and maybe a hint of rose and dried tamarind.  That last part is more of a guess.

Third infusion:  wood picks up a little, a shift towards redwood instead of dark wood.  Cocoa might bump just a touch too.  If this were sweeter it would probably seem more like dark chocolate; that level being moderate keeps a natural overall interpretation closer to the wood and malt.  Mineral range helps the rest; I haven't really stressed that.  It's not exactly in slate range but towards that, in a warmer tone.

It might not sound pleasant, but to me it is.  Add just a little sweetness and a touch of dried fruit and this would be a really exceptional black tea, per my preference, but as it is it still really works.  The cleanness, balance, and novelty is nice.  It's not so far off orthodox Assam versions that stray from a more standard profile, at least related to one that's good, well-balanced, just not as distinct and complex in flavor as those get.  More body / astringency / dryness would ruin the effect, on the other side of expressing how this might be different.

I'll be clearer about how my own preference factors in:  I like Assam versions in the range I just described, but really love Dian Hong (Yunnan black teas) that are sweeter and more complex in flavor.  I think the other black tea I tried from this producer is an example of that general style.  That's not to say that I don't like this, but I do like the other version and general style better.

If this was comparable to sun-dried versions of Yunnan black tea, shai hong, there is a chance that it could pick up more flavor complexity with a limited degree of aging, over the next year or two, or maybe even more after 3 or 4.  Maybe not too (it does seem unlikely), but the subtle flavor profile reminds me of how things work out with young versions of those.

Fourth infusion:  the feel is even nicer; it picked up a touch more "juiciness."  Flavor range stayed towards cocoa, moving off the malt and wood a little, which I do like better than the round before last.  It is interesting how complex and balanced this is, with flavor range being a bit subtle, just like how brand new shai hong works out.  For people with a lot of exposure to versions of shai hong at least that comparison will fill in what I mean about the rest (maybe; all this is bit subjective).

consistent, strong infusions, just light as flavor intensity goes

Fifth infusion:  this tea isn't even close to being finished.  Part of that relates to using a high proportion even for Gongfu preparation (who knows the number of grams; I'd just be guessing).  Compression made a difference too; it probably wasn't really fully infusing the first two rounds.  And then it's just how the tea type and character go.  It's not really developing though; if anything it has just faded ever so slightly from how it was last round.  It will probably brew three more pleasant rounds that just taper off a bit.

Conclusions:

This would be an interesting tea to buy two packages of, one to drink now and one to try in a year and a half.  Aging teas only makes sense in some cases but this may be one of them.  In a lot of cases versions just pick up a depth and subtlety, with more pronounced, fresh, and intense flavors rounding off (or aspects like bitterness, potentially less pleasant elements, which this doesn't include).  Shai hong is a notable exception.  Flavor actually intensifies for that tea type, and shifts, in addition to adding the depth. 

If I'm completely wrong and this just fades it would be a waste, because an even more subtle version of this wouldn't work as well.  It would still be that much more novel; not all that much old-tree natural-growth Laos tea is going around, outside of Northern Laos, and almost none of that is aged.

I suppose it is a little disappointing liking the style of the other black tea from them better, but it is nice liking this enough to use the notes for a post.  The clean nature and overall effect really worked.  Even on the sixth infusion, after the notes stop here, the tea is clean, complex beyond lacking flavor intensity, and well-balanced.  You would never know it was a tea that had already produced five positive infusions.  Often woodiness ramps up in late infusions, for a lot of tea types, even beyond blacks, but in this that faded over the first three, with cocoa and mild malt picking up.

In some cases some teas do better brewed Western style.  I'm not sure that's how this would go, just pointing that out for completeness.  It was consistent enough across rounds that I'm guessing it wouldn't vary much, not better than the way I made it instead.  Even at a more moderate, conventional Western proportion this would probably still make three good rounds of tea.

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.

Phongsaly Laos ancient tree sheng and black teas

sheng left, black tea right

Related to discussing a tea source (Phongsaly Laos Tea) that's been mentioned online that vendor offered to send samples for review.  Much appreciated; thanks!

The main back-story has been sourcing from 400 year old tea trees, along with winning an event award for a sheng version in a Hong Kong expo / conference.  The first plant-age part I take with a grain of salt, or essentially just set aside.  Maybe gushu typically is from plants 100 years old or over, and maybe these older plant age ranges were accurately assessed, or maybe that kind of thing tends to often not be true at all.  For me it's easier to just ignore it than to try to sort out who is probably right and who isn't, or to what degree.  It's probably not young-plant farmed tea, or then again it could be that, or a blend.  So it's as well to judge it on character, what it's like.

pictures of old tea trees (credit the Phongsaly Laos Facebook page)

I've tried about as much Laos tea as anyone living outside of Laos, and Laos was the first place I ever visited and saw tea growing, nearly a decade ago now, but that's not part of this story.  It shouldn't be hard to place this in relation to the rest, but only in general terms, since tasting across months of time doesn't work that way.  I last tried a locally grown and produced, likely natural-growth Laos sheng version within the last week (described in this post), so it does still come up once in awhile.

They sent a sheng (from 400 year old tea plants; nice), a black tea, and a green, so I'll try the first two of those together.  The black tea experience won't help in placing the sheng, it's just a matter of condensing reviews, and combining impressions.

This is the coldest day in Bangkok in about 12 years, per my recollection; very auspicious.  It's around 24 or 25 (C) since it's not that early in the morning (75 F, give or take), but for us that's pleasantly chilly.  It's nice to try the teas outside to catch the most of the experience.

it doesn't really look cold

Review:

sheng left (you could tell, right?)

sheng:  it's quite good; a sip confirms that.  There's a nice citrusy front end note, with depth and complexity hitting you at the same time you pick that up.  The citrus is sort of in between lemon and grapefruit, but paired with notable sweetness, which makes it come across closer to orange or tangerine.  A deep layer of mineral tone supports all the rest nicely, a light flint / granite range.  Feel is nice; full with a good bit of structure.  This ran a little long to get it started but balances well, so later short infusions will work better for pinning down feel structure.

Aftertaste is nice; it definitely doesn't drop away, with that mineral, the citrus, and some of the middle flavor range carrying over, so a lot of the experience.  Bitterness is present but moderate; astringency is also limited, just enough to support that full feel.  There's other intermediate flavor range, a sort of cured hardwood, which works well in combination with those two other ranges.  This is better than the Laos tea I tried this past weekend, although that was also nice.  Some of that sweetness and bright front end is comparable to a Kokang Myanmar version we also tried at that tasting last weekend, but this has more depth to it, more other layers going on.

I won't really need other rounds to decide this is what it's supposed to be, quite pleasant tea, but those will fill in more details.  If it develops further in positive ways and shows even more complexity, and brews very positively across a series of infusions, then it will be on the high end.  If this is somehow part of a first-two-infusions peak that drops out and turns less positive then it's still quite good tea.  As far as tea tree age I'd just be guessing.  Putting specific year counts to that is even more meaningless than claiming trees are 100 years old or over, so that part is a throw-away to me.  But it does comes across as older, natural growth source sheng, to the extent I can collect past experiences into a guess about that cause and effect.  The tea being good means a lot more than the tea being from old plants though.


Black tea ("red," to them, sticking with literal versus figurative translation from Chinese):  where the other is a bit strong this needs a little more infusion time.  I tend to never use a rinse with black teas but did for this, I guess just to connect both into parallel approach.  It's too early to judge it, and it'll be clearer on a next, longer infusion, but I'm underwhelmed so far.  It's soft, full, complex, and flavorful, but also non-distinct and not really intense, even taking infusion strength and infusion progression into account.

Still it seems nice; I like black teas in this style.  It just doesn't seem well above average as these go.  It seems clean in effect, with character and aspects in the right range (cocoa sweetness, underlying flavor complexity, etc.), just without intensity and distinct flavor and other character that stands out.  Maybe that's wrong, and it will develop in character along with picking up intensity; I'll hold off on conclusions.

To be clear even if this doesn't develop to become any better than I'm interpreting I'd still order 50 or 100 grams to drink if I was buying the other tea (if the price was in the right range).  If there's a decent looking Dian Hong style black listed along with whatever else I buy to me that's worth a try.  I have a Yunnan version to get to from the last tea I bought at least a month ago, now that I think of it.

Switching back to sheng after drinking the black it tastes quite bitter in comparison.  It's funny how that level of bitterness depends on expectation and preference.  A tea friend I keep mentioning, Ralph, has been discussing how funny evolution of tea preference is.  Do we like bitterness and sheng because it's a natural preference progression to go there, after exploring more approachable mild black teas and oolongs, or is it because we kept trying sheng because we were "supposed to" like it, and eventually did as a result?  Learned preferences are a funny thing, related to beer, scotch, coffee, spicy or bitter foods, cigarettes, etc.  There are definitely different ways to look at how all that works out.

Second infusion:

sheng:  more of the same, pleasant related to the same balance of aspects.  That one bright citrus note is really cool.  It works really well with the sweetness, mineral base, other flavor complexity, and feel and aftertaste range.  For as positive as all that is it might work better placing this to explain limitations, what is missing or could be different.

Feel is a little light; there could be more richness, thickness, and structure to that.  What is present works really well; it has a slightly oily feel that makes the part present work.  It's just not "structured," and it doesn't match the rich, velvety feel of some sheng.  Intensity is good but could be more developed.  Ramping up infusion strength just a little would help with that but to some extent how strong you brew it doesn't affect intensity in one other sense.  Aftertaste is pleasant but it's not the very extended effect in some sheng; it carries over so the experience doesn't just end but it trails on in pronounced form for a few minutes, not for a long time.

Back on the positive side the aspects pleasant balance really well; to me that's as critical as any one factor in sheng experience.  The catchy citrus note is paired with a nice level of sweetness that works well, and supported by other range that also matches, deeper mineral tone and some cured wood.  It's all quite clean; absolutely no flaw there.  There's a way the flavor experience transitions across the time-frame you experience it, an early hit, mid-range effect, and aftertaste that changes form enough to be interesting.  That experiential transition can be a lot more pronounced in some other sheng experience but it's there in this, in a moderate form.

Intensity is probably the main limit, but not notable enough to be considered a flaw.  Some sheng versions can pack a punch at exactly the right upper limit, and this is typical of the scale for how that often goes in a more moderate form.  Novelty and balance are the strongest points, and those are great positive ranges to cover.


black tea:  brewed twice as long as the sheng (about 20 seconds versus 10, counting the pours) this is still subtle.  It's nice though.  Cocoa stands out, with some non-distinct complexity supporting that.  The overall effect is positive, the character is nice, it's just not exceptional in any way.  "Pushing" this tea would probably draw out better results, using maximum possible brewing temperature and an upper range for proportion.  There is no astringency or any negative character to work around, so it could worked brewed light or as strong as one likes.  It's funny considering that this "cold" weather is probably cooling the tea leaves and gaiwan between rounds more than normal, given that it's around 25 C / 77 F out now.  Normal hot Bangkok weather probably does support brewing tea well, just not the part about drinking it.

For some people this black tea would be a revelation, a new world of potential to explore, but since I've tried lots just like this I'm being a bit critical instead.  It would be 10 times better as a breakfast tea than anything that ever found its way to a grocery store shelf.  Careful brewing could draw out slightly better results (than even I'm probably achieving, to be honest), but this would also work brewed Western style, an unmeasured amount brewed for an unmonitored amount of time, probably making three or four infusions that way, depending on proportion and timing.

For me teas like this are either exceptional or fall short depending on how they are presented, in relation to how they are supposed to be.  If it's sold for a moderate cost, presented as a well-above average version of a standard style, then it's great, actually slightly better than that billing.  If this is presented as some exotic, exemplary, novel form of the highest quality black tea available then it's just not that, at least related to what I've experienced so far.  This general style is one of my personal favorites though; there's that.

To place this, Somnuc--a Laos friend--passed on a Laos black tea that struck me as something really exceptional last year, like this, but that extra bit more distinctive, intense, and novel in flavor character.  This year he gave me a good bit of a different black tea that's closer to this in character, maybe a little better, or more likely just equivalent but slightly different.  That first version aspect set doesn't come up so often; out of trying a half dozen promising versions from very reliable sources--not just from random online outlets making bold claims--you might find one like that.  One Thai locally-produced black tea was like that too; a bit higher on the scale.  Almost every other Dian Hong reviewed in this blog is more in this tea's range; quite good, just not necessarily at the top of the scale.

Third infusion:

sheng:  again, good.  Feel probably is picking up some intensity, thickness and richness; nice.  Bitterness is also drifting towards a touch of sourness, not so positive.  Not the sourness that relates to something having went wrong with tea processing, just a hint of how dill pickles come across.  It seems to tie to that novel citrus transitioning; most likely that effect and what this has shifted to will change again next round.  We'll see.  It's still quite positive.


black:  this might be picking up a bit of depth; interesting it would work out that way.  The cocoa and non-distinct supporting range is shifting to more of a root-spice flavor aspect.  It had been relatively clean in effect, with just hint of dryness to the feel, but that has faded to a smoother, even cleaner feel.  It's still not astringent or structured, or thick in feel, but the moderate amount of body works.  It helps a lot that I love this general tea style.  I think it's a type that essentially everyone could relate to but it being a personal favorite might not be universal.

Again it's funny retrying the sheng after the black tea.  It sort of makes you question why you love that much bitterness in tea, which is hardly noticeable within the other framework of expectations.  It comes up in discussion that sheng drinkers move on to preferring feel or aftertaste effects, or learn to detect and appreciate how teas make them feel, "drug-like" effects, for lack of a clearer English term for cha qi.  I should know why I like whatever I like but I'm not sure that we can really fully sort that out.  Past experiences and expectations lead to wherever we happen to be.

Fourth infusion:

sheng:  the earlier citrus (still present, not so pronounced though) and touch of sourness shifted towards spice.  Not exactly clove, but that helps place it, since it's as close to that as anything else.  Interesting and positive transitions are a marker for a better tea; that works here.  It's strange thinking this tea being approachable (easy to drink, easy to relate to) is a negative, but per some sheng preferences this just wouldn't pack enough punch, either related to flavor or the rest.  I like it.  I tend to like Nan Nuo sheng, which doesn't match this exactly for flavor range, but some of that source area character generality seems common to there, fruit intensiveness, approachable character, positive sweetness, moderate bitterness.


black:  this is the best it's been; interesting.  Maybe it's time to take it back about this being a good but not great version.  The earlier cocoa was nice but cocoa mixed with root spice in a cleaner feel presentation works better for me this round.  It almost leans a little toward dried dark cherry at this point, picking up fruit range that either I hadn't noticed, or that wasn't there earlier.  I wanted to call it quits to keep this from running long but I'll brew both on the strong side and leave off final impressions with how that goes.

Fifth infusion:

sheng:  a bit paradoxical, this seems to be losing intensity even though it is clearly brewed stronger.  It brewed for awhile, over 30 seconds, but it's not that much more intense.  It's interesting that the bitterness and astringency still balance positively, that it's so pleasant like this.  It does seem like it's on the way out already though, that from here stretching infusions will allow it to produce a few more but not necessarily into the double digits (although I would have to check that).  I don't take high infusion count as a main sign of quality but it's a positive thing; it does seem to relate.


black:  thinning a little, but not so different.  Overall aspects are the same as in the past round, not so different than the one before, just narrowing a little, losing some depth.  This will easily stretch for two more positive infusions, since it's not drifting into any negative character range.  It's odd that it seems to be as comparable related to amount of tea produced with the sheng (number of infusions, although running through the rest would determine that better), since it was brewing for longer, and black teas tend to "brew out" faster.

Conclusions:

Quite nice teas.  There is another level for Chinese tea version quality, complexity, and intensity above these but these both fall pretty high on the scale related to those.  Sometimes characteristic "rustic" character comes up in trying teas from other South East Asian countries but beyond somewhat unique flavor ranges these weren't like that.

The main limit for the sheng version was giving up some thickness of feel and intensity, versus some best-case optimum.  The black tea was more positive in later rounds, pleasant initially, but not quite as intense, especially related to flavors extending beyond cocoa.

If I hadn't tried a lot of related tea versions from Laos before (and Thailand, Vietnam, and Myanmar) these would both seem a lot more novel, and maybe even more positive as a result of being new to me.  Teas like these are out there, but most from comparable sources aren't on this level (although to be clear, some are).  How good they are kind of depends on how good they're supposed to be, which inevitably ties back to price.  To put a range to that I've bought "presented as upper-medium tier" $70-90 standard size cake versions from a couple of the main producers / vendors who come up this year, and these teas are at least as good as that, but different in character. 

It's harder to place these in relation to the standard $1/ gram Yunnan gushu versions, some of which aren't as good as this, but many of which share a defining range of aspects that this sheng overlaps with but doesn't completely match.  For example, underlying mineral tends to be really pronounced in Yunnan gushu sheng versions, and in this it complemented the other aspect range but didn't stand out quite as much.  I didn't miss it; some of that range may relate more to aging potential (that may not be clearly tied to any one marker) than to aspects being enjoyable in younger tea versions.

Preference for aspects and type complicates an attempt at assessing a general quality level.  To some degree dragging in pricing also does; supply and demand sets tea prices, not quality level, and to some extent that's as much a marketing decision as a clear claim about quality level or type. 

Regardless of how all those different factors play out for anyone these are definitely interesting, quite pleasant, good quality teas.

happy holidays!

Kinnari Tea Nyot Ou (Laos) Forest Sheng

with a more complete description (it's maocha, loose, on the right)

I'm trying the second sheng that Anna passed on, the owner of Kinnari Tea of Laos.  The first pressed version I reviewed not long ago (here).  It was pleasant, unusual for being slightly oxidized.  Or at least seeming so, with her take on that confirming it, already mentioned in a Myanmar Kokang dragonball review draft (which I'll post out of order), so I'll not go further with that idea here.

I didn't have long to try this tea before a swim lesson this morning.  I'm doing most of the editing on the same day; not how that usually goes, but I do have two hours to spend during the lesson, since I'm joining it.  It made for a strange call then to comparison review it, since that would add to the time demand, but I was curious about common ground with the other sheng, and if the difference related to the extra oxidation would stand out.

Anna mentioned the pressed version's background and it seems nearby but not completely local, from near different villages in the Phongsaly province:

That sheng is a forest gushu from autumn 2018, from Ban Nammanoy in Nyot Ou dirstrict, one of the villages we're working with for CCL project where William is involved too [of Farmerleaf]. They just started making cakes - they are likely among the first in Laos to stone-press their own cakes.

this version left, compared with the one already reviewed, right

Micro-climate, soil type, plant type, and processing could all be nearly identical or completely different whether the tea was from a relatively close area or far away.  One would expect the common causes to correlate to proximity but that wouldn't be necessary at all.  Rainfall patterns can be quite local, or soil coverage and type could vary with terrain features, and so on.  I focus on how teas come across most as a result, de-emphasizing background that really is interesting and relevant, because even in this special case where someone knew the producers and saw the trees there's only so much detail that can be included anyway.

You might think you could look up those places on Google Maps and see how they fit together, the two villages mentioned, but it seems to not work that way:

zooming doesn't help; that North-West area stays blank

I can mention lots of other references, if looking up related pictures is of interest.  Why wouldn't it be; remote Laos has a cool look. 

Here's a Farmerleaf FB post of being on the related same visit (they also support the NGO development project), with more in Kinnari's FB page if you look around (although maybe none so directly related, more on the other two teas I've not checked out yet), and a page with lots of photos from the CCL NGO involved (William stands out a bit in those; he's the guy that doesn't look Laotian).  This Farmerleaf video is from the village this tea is from, Tungkualin Noy; it's fascinating hearing that local farmer's perspective.

Review:

this Ban Tunkgualin (sp.) village sheng left, Ban Nammanoy right

The first round is just a first impression, a little light to go far with descriptions.  It seems interesting.  Floral doesn't stand out as much as it might, or any flavor or other aspects, since the tea is quite subtle still.  Mineral is already showing up, with a bit of vegetal range, and an unusual pleasant spice-like note.

The other version (the tea cake pressed tea that I had already reviewed) is warmer in range already, with a lot of warm mineral and a hint of dryness.  Since it won't do both justice to say a lot related to this round I'll add more in the next.  I've given this first round around 10 seconds time and will go slightly longer on the second to get this moving. 

Second infusion:

This Nyot Ou version is still on the subtle side; that's interesting.  The thicker feel is there, and aftertaste hangs around, what there is to taste, and it seems like sheng, but it's not strong flavored at all.  Bitterness is very mild, sweetness is also limited, and other range doesn't stand out, to an unusual degree.  The flavor present is pleasant.  It has a root-spice theme going, it seems; that's what I wasn't placing.  Vegetal range is hard to pin down, and people would surely interpret that in different ways.  A light but warm and sweet version of autumn leaf is close enough.  Maybe it's odd that teas don't resemble the scent of dried forest (tree) leaves more often than they do.  Some light mineral supports that.  It all works; it's nice, just unusual for being light across those different aspect ranges.

The other sheng is much different, although there seems to be some common ground that stands out more for trying them together.  It's brewed a little too strong at just over 10 seconds; astringency picks up as a result, with that dryness and mineral coming across closer to how black teas do for character, just a very mild version of that.  Bitterness is much stronger but still light for young sheng.  Sweetness could be more pronounced but the balance isn't bad.  I'm probably missing a couple of flavors, or one other character aspect (I could go on about feel, for example), but time is tight so I'll rush past all that.  I'm off to swimming lessons soon; it's always something with the kids.

I mis-matched these proportions slightly for rushing, going too heavy on the second version.  It's odd it's even possible to get as close to judging tea amounts by eye and feel as seems to be typical in these.  They're not so far off it will make it hard to get a feel for that as an input, and the point wasn't about identical comparison anyway, just to get a feel for similarities and differences.

Third infusion:

Again, interesting for being subtle.  More wild grown tea versions can be mild, and interesting in flavor range, so a lot of variation across related type versions isn't unusual.  No real change to that list though; if an accurate read root spice is a main component, with a good bit more filling in the rest given how subtle the tea is.  Bitterness probably picked up a little but it's still very light.

A warm version of dried leaf stands out a lot in the second, which has a bit dryer, warm mineral character.  It's quite pleasant tea too, just unusual in character across some different range.  Some background wood character might be common between the two, harder to recognize for these being so different in other ways.  The first tea comes across as slightly sweeter for having the balance it does but it may or may not be.  It could just be an effect related to how the different aspects combine together.

It's almost time to swim; we're at the stage where my wife is shouting.  One more infusion might be it, for now.

Fourth infusion:

I like this tea more than I would have expected for getting so little to experience out of it.  That subtlety works better for all that's there being so pleasant, and slightly novel.  The root spice aspect (or one I'm interpreting as such) is nice, and balances well with the rest.  The feel has a thickness to it, and there is some bitterness and sweetness, just not much.  I think seeming sweeter probably is an effect from other aspects in trying the teas one after the other.  In a way this reminds me of an oolong, the way that a thick feel and pleasant complexity can go together with a tea that's not intense in flavor, although most oolongs are stronger in flavor than this too, just not like young sheng.  It might resemble a typical white tea character as much or more.

More of the same for the other:  interesting warm mineral tone, autumn leaf aspect, some hint towards spice range, a little harder to pin down, maybe an aromatic bark spice.  A slight dryness to the feel is different.  Dropping infusion time to relatively fast pulls that into a good level; it balances with the rest.

Fifth infusion:

I did squeeze in one more round, not so different though.  Bumping time just a little drew out more intensity out of the Nyot Ou tea, but it wasn't lacking something to experience, and hadn't seemed out of balance.  That root spice aspect leans a little towards a dried fruit, maybe along the line of dried longan.  It's hard to separate if that's from going slightly longer or a natural transition across rounds, but at a guess it's the second.  The second version transitioned aspects and balance a little, which I'll leave off deconstructing, since I'm out of time.

Conclusion

Rushing the tasting didn't do that justice, especially given that main version I wanted to try is one of the more subtle sheng versions I've experienced.  I liked that though; it helped that the aspects pleasant were positive, well balanced, and that thickness of feel filled in some of the experience.  The freshness of young sheng still seemed to come across, a bit odd given that it was conveyed by a tea with a very light flavor.

I'm often considering aging prospects in teas, sort of the page I'm on for learning now, and this is harder to place than most.  Often it seems flavor intensity, bitterness, and astringency represent character that could transition positively over time, probably shifting a good bit in character over just one year in a warm and humid enough storage environment.  Or conversely, being preserved in original form in a cool and dry enough storage environment, it seems.  This doesn't have much for flavor to "swap out," and minimal bitterness, with astringency limited to a moderately thick feel, which is related to what people often mean by astringency but kind of different.

I would guess that in a year or two it would still be subtle, and it's hard to imagine that flavor intensity or any of the rest could increase so much.  I'm not sure it would fade quickly though.  Brewing this stronger, going with a higher infusion strength than is typical, would ramp up aspects across the whole range, and there is no bitterness or other aspect limiting using such an approach.  It would be natural to try that, to go with 20 second infusions instead and see how it goes.  With feel (thickness) in a light but normal range brewed more conventionally that would really ramp up if doubling infusion strength, and those subtle flavors would have to strengthen.  Often bitterness, feel, or specific flavor aspects aren't positive in simply doubling timing, but in this case it would probably taste slightly more like it already did. 

I did try brewing it longer in later rounds after returning home (from swimming).  Maybe it did concentrate the fruit flavor a little, but it had already started to pick up a slight woody flavor common in later rounds across sheng types.  It was still nice for a few more infusions.

the kids playing up being exhausted prior to the lesson

she graduated to the next training level; hard work paying off

it's not all work; they get play-time in between training sessions

it's cool how chaotic it looks with groups at different levels separated out