Meeting William Osmont of Farmerleaf

 

trying khao soy, a favorite Northern Thai curry noodle dish

Typically meeting someone and having tea with them isn't a novel enough theme to write about, but this was especially interesting.  I've talked online with William for years; he was active in tea forum and group discussions since prior to when I started blogging, over 11 years ago.  Here's an interview post with him from 2017.  I had bought Farmerleaf tea more at one point, and regularly reviewed versions, but have moved on to other sources.

Let's start there, and get the awkward part out of the way.  What I've said online about Farmerleaf could be taken as meaning that they had been a good value source for pu'er, and for good black tea, Dian Hong, my favorite black tea style, but now aren't, having increased pricing over the years.  Part of that is what I've said; all pu'er vendors have increased pricing quite a bit over the last decade, and Farmerleaf is no different.  Their cakes were selling for $40 or 50 8 or 9 years ago, and now it's $90 to 120, for a basic quality range.  So how is it still a good value?

They've improved quality of what they sell over that time (per my impression, but then maybe I'm not the right person to know).  It's a natural shift, for vendors to cater to whatever demand the market provides, and that pattern holds for other vendors too.  Yunnan Sourcing Impression cakes, their in-house benchmark tea line, shifted from $40 versions to around the $100 range over that timeframe, presented as better quality tea.  They're surely better now, not as much "generic" blends, onto better quality, more carefully created and exceptional versions.  Prices for everything have increased, not just tea, but especially for above average sheng pu'er.

My focus on budget as a primary constraint relates to my own tea budget being tight, all the time.  I work in Thailand, in a Thai company, and my salary matches the cost of living here.  I now live part-time in Honolulu, where my kids go to school, and that has stretched that SE Asian income to the breaking point.  So I've been buying teas from Vietnam and Thailand more lately, at exceptional value for buying directly from small producers, or from Viet Sun, which is transitioning through the same theme, sourcing better teas over time, and then increasing pricing range.  

Farmerleaf teas are surely a decent value, if spending around $100 on cakes seems fine (357 gram standard sized versions).  William passed on some samples; I'll have lots more to say about that theme in more detail, and the rest of this makes a short start into it.

Back to more about William then.  It was also great to meet his wife and son; they're both wonderful.  But this is mostly about our discussion about tea, so more of what he said.  Of course his wife is also a tea producer and expert, and she offered some input too, but this will be more about him, not really attributing any input to her, even though she did offer some.  

His tea preferences

This part was especially interesting to me; what would he look for and value in teas?  Would it relate to a certain style or flavor preference, or for some other aspect?  In a word:  intensity.  Intensity can mean strong flavors, but it can also relate to fullness of feel, both of which tend to carry over to aftertaste expression, to sweetness and bitterness being present at significant levels, and to depth, covering some range.  According to William you can make processing adjustments to vary tea character but you can't get mediocre material to express intensity.  You can brew teas strong to push them, or drink it extra young, and so on, but the material only has so much to offer.  All that seems to work.

What are the limitations of this primary focus?  This part is more speculation.  There's no reason why you couldn't look for one primary characteristic and also appreciate others, and for sure William is doing that.  Beyond intensity the flavor range expressed varies, depth is really kind of a different thing, and balance is something else, how it all comes together.  My impression is that none of this is lost on William, even though he really loves sheng intensity, and sees it as a main quality marker.

Who doesn't?  We've talked before about how this may be a big part of why other tea types lose appeal once someone switches over to sheng pu'er preference.  I've said this over and over again, mostly while reviewing oolongs.  Those can be fantastic but you feel that lack of intensity, even though you can stay open to those other styles of tea, and tea experiences.  Somehow the depth and comfort of black tea remains very desirable, to me, and I can still appreciate all the other tea range, even green tea, my least favorite, but I keep coming back to craving sheng, and mostly drink young sheng.  Flavors are intense, mouthfeel is intense, and even though I don't "get" cha qi, body feel, to the extent some describe it that's part of it too.

Tea processing

I won't do this part justice, but we talked some about the processing steps and variations that lead to positive sheng and black tea character, and aspects.  Until I get some real life exposure to processing tea leaves I'll never have much to add about this, and even conveying what others say will be of limited usefulness, since I won't be able to interpret it very well.  Of course I've been hearing from tea producers for a decade about processing steps, and their own unique approaches, opportunities (from working with distinctive tea material), or challenges.

For sheng it's all pretty much what you'd already expect.  One interesting tangent was about more-oxidized South East Asian sheng versions.  I've speculated over and over that Thai and Vietnamese producers may be oxidizing tea more to change the character, which can offset bitterness and astringency, but which comes at a cost in terms of aging potential.  That's kind of a loaded concept, aging potential, bringing in a lot of other moving parts, and preference factors.  Aged sheng is a different kind of thing, and our discussion focused more on parts related to younger / newer versions.  It's possible that Thai and other producers wouldn't even need to try to let tea rest / wither to increase oxidation input, that they may just not get to it quickly, and the heat and humidity might start to change the tea fast.

William didn't even need to try one of my favorite Thai sheng versions to notice that the color was quite dark for a year-old version (golden, instead of light gold).  Some producers mention using a long withering process to add oxidation, and William discussed that a bit, how it works in practice.

It was all too much to convey here in detail.  Finer points of what can vary in pu'er and black tea processing were fascinating to hear about.  As I see it as a tea consumer we are kind of off the hook when it comes to that level of mapping anyway.  In the end we need to be able to find and buy teas we like, and then appreciate them, but the parts entering in before that are a bit academic, potentially interesting, or even informative, but not a main concern.  It really wouldn't work for producers and then vendors to map out slight variations in processing inputs to help consumers filter what they might like best using that input.  There are too many variables.  Knowing that a Shai Hong is a bit less oxidized is a good example of how very limited information might be interesting and helpful.  

It may help to know more about the different inputs to buy better teas, beyond that level.  Patterns in aspects or sources of teas could make more sense.  Or to seek out better value?  That part is always tricky.  What we value others tend to value, then the market pushes up pricing level.  It can help exploring new tea range, staying one step ahead of that deeper part of the demand curve, but drinking some so-so or bad tea enters in, along with trying very novel forms, and some exceptional versions.  

The last range I tried that was really novel, beyond the Thai and Vietnamese teas being exceptional in slightly unique ways, related to Georgian tea, and before that Indonesian versions, then before that Nepal teas.  Getting hooked on pu'er messed up that shifting exploration theme a bit; the other material and styles can't match pu'er intensity, or even complexity.  For where I am personally the exploration phase has tapered off some, and I get to what I get to, but I'll skip including more tangent about that here.

What we tried

We started with some teas I had brought, to see what he made of them.  His take was mixed; of course he is accustomed to trying some pretty good range.  It's not that he is biased towards narrow Yunnan styles, but if Thai teas are pretty good, based on pretty good material, and not quite standard processing, there are aspects and outcomes to appreciate but it's all not ideal.  The best Yunnan versions are drawing on a much more developed background.

We tried a decent sheng version of his earlier on, one that represented the lower end of his quality range.  This ties back to that earlier theme of value, and what the trade-offs would be if he was trying to keep closer to the earlier, lower sheng pricing range.  It was good, it just lacked a bit of intensity, and the character lacked depth.  It wasn't flawed, and also not thin or uninteresting, but a little towards that.  

A shou version was better, placed within that range, but I don't really love shou as much.  It's nice trying good versions of it, but I've been doing that, for awhile.  They just sit in my tea storage, when I come by that, and I drink that when I fast (not eat for five days at a time), because it's easier on your stomach.

A Laos sheng version was exceptional (I think maybe this one).  I might've tried about as much Laos tea as almost anyone, or at least anyone not in Laos, or not selling Laos tea.  I first visited a Laos coffee and tea farm before this blog even started, a few years before; it was one of the earlier teas I tried after Thai oolongs.  I've written about countless teas from Anna and Kinnari Tea, and have tried plenty of samples from a friend there (thanks to Somnuc), and some of a somewhat newish production venture.  

This version probably surpassed them all.  Intensity was good, of course, and flavor range was quite positive, sweet and floral, almost towards a citrusy edge, but not quite onto lemon or orange.  The tea was very balanced and refined, with fantastic clean character, depth, and complexity.  I guess this is the kind of exceptional tea that you can only buy if you can go past that $120 per cake range I'd mentioned (it's $140, if it is that one).  Is that a good value?  It would cost a lot more if it was from nearby Yiwu, essentially just across the border.  Since this specific version is essentially impossible to find there is no market price for it.  Related to quality it was amazing; I guess that part works out.

Maybe we had tried more; it went on and on.  Hours and hours into tasting it all kind of runs together, and it was fascinating hearing William's take on philosophy, and the state of the US, about China, and whatever else we talked about.

William and I are both pro-China in two different senses.  He can almost be an expat resident patriot, at this point, and he is sold on the overall positive balance of Chinese culture and life in China.  I'll just cite one example of that discussion, not so much about local Chinese patriotism, but about a misconception about China in "the West."  We talked about social credit scoring, about how China really did experiment with the systems that we are familiar with and critical of in other countries, particularly in the US.  His take is that those experiments didn't lead to a pervasive system that really does control people, or even continue to monitor them, and it was largely dropped because the earlier start wasn't promising.  

Of course China is really keeping an eye on its citizens, but then so is the US, and to some extent so is Thailand.  Maybe the form and related restrictions vary in the three places, and in the US it's possible there are less restrictions (maybe not enough, across some scope), but it's not as if people in China can't do or say a lot of things.  Being anti-government might not go over well, but according to William most people are ok with most of the government policies and everyday living status.  They don't see themselves as oppressed.  That mirrors talking to a Chinese friend, one of my daughter's former classmates (who of course is from China); they don't see the differences there as so significant.

As with here in Thailand much lower crime rates and far fewer problems with drug epidemics, gang violence, and homelessness frees people, to a greater extent.  I can walk around almost anywhere in Bangkok at any time of the day or night.  I've not tested that out by walking in remote or poorer parts in the middle of the night (but I have in the evening), and I suppose eventually that might go badly, but in essence there are no "no go" zones.  In visiting China three times in the past I felt pretty safe there too.  Of course there is relatively little meaning in that; input related to living in a city for 17 years and visiting tourist areas for two or three weeks are relatively opposite things.  

It's a very developed, modern country, from what I've seen, not really any different than anywhere else, beyond everywhere you travel feeling just a little different.  William commented that the old-style look of the food-street restaurants in my favorite Bangkok strip of those isn't how China looks almost anywhere now, the steel tables, plastic chairs, and bright white fluorescent lighting, common across SE Asia.  They've moved on.  I like that about Bangkok; losing that part would kind of be a shame.  Of course there are a broad range of restaurant themes here.

It was fascinating hearing about a two-tier election system in France, about how they use two voting stages to let people vote for diverse parties initially, then do a second and final selection process based around coalitions that form after the first round.  I don't think this could work as a fix for the two-party limitation in the US, but it's interesting hearing about a different country using a different process, that leads to more diversity in party options.

Conclusions, take-aways

It was too much to summarize to just a few simple conclusions, but this writing already points towards a few.  We talked more about social media themes, and tea vendor approaches, but it didn't condense to points that would stand alone well in summary form here.  

Everyone who has had even limited exposure to William's take on the internet, in very informative Youtube videos on tea processing background, already knew that he is a true tea enthusiast.  Here's an interesting example of that, in his own online content, comparing tea versions and asking if gushu versions are really worth it.  His own "tea geek" interest and perspective takes a relatively narrow form, as I see it, but then that's typically how that goes.  You'd need to limit scope to go that deep, and a Yunnan producer and vendor should be an expert on pu'er and Yunnan black tea.  

Here's another very different video on perspective on the Covid experience that stood out to me, him conveying a philosophical view of how we relate within society, and what those kinds of traumatic broad events mean.  We covered some philosophy in discussion too; of course I'll spare you an account of that.

I really thought that William would be a little quirkier; if anything that was a little disappointing.  He's a bit out there, don't get me wrong, but for being a French pu'er expert he falls a little short of really being eccentric (no offense intended to Olivier; he's fine too).  He's even completely relatable; all for the best, I guess.  Sometimes it's hard for people so far down the path of exploring tea to stay open to a range of different perspectives, but it's nice when they can, and he's pretty open to people experiencing teas in different ways.

To me one potential pitfall of sheng pu'er exploration is people "chasing the dragon" related to quality and diversity concerns; there's always more to seek out and experience.  There is more intensity, complexity, refinement, novel flavor sets, trendy origin areas, unique styles, and so on to try.  That's fine, as long as all the comparisons and next steps don't lead to a FOMO based experience of gaps, and chasing status, instead of focus on appreciation of that experience.  

It wouldn't be the vendor or producers' fault if people approached their tea interest in a problematic way, and I see William as appreciating a good bit of range, not steering others to always try more and spend more.  Any more than any other vendor, I guess.  The tea experience promotes itself, once you get started.  

In beginner online group discussion I usually recommend people might start on oolong and black tea first, to avoid pu'er early on, and stay out of the deep end of the pool related to that more intense cycle of exploration.  Bitterness requires some acclimation anyway, for young sheng, but it's also a lot to take on sorting out the range of styles, origins, sources, storage themes, and varying experiences.  Once someone goes there they probably should cycle through some Farmerleaf tea at some point, and saying more in reviews about samples will add detail to why I think that.

New to the tea world! Any suggestions?

 

This title is taken from a Reddit post title, which states an obvious, repeating request, that turns up there a few times a week on r/tea.  They could just program a bot to respond that this is asked multiple times a week, so scrolling back through posts, even without searching, would turn up another half-dozen related threads.

I've been considering writing a basic, thousand word length answer to this question, so why not.  Years ago I wrote about this same post theme already, here, but that might've been based on a less "starting from scratch" perspective, more about moving from owning a dozen boxes of tea-bag teas into better loose tea.

that person's starting exposure (from the Reddit post; they said this):

I got myself one of those tea/fruit infuser bottles. I know loose leaf is probably the best way to go but I seen videos where it seems like you have to brew like 3 times over for that cup of tea. So I’m wanting to get more info and maybe places to look to get a good sampler to expand my pallet. But again besides tea bags that’s all my knowledge I have.  (For context celestial brand of green tea peach, hibiscus tea seems like the only ones I have gotten and often drink),

So they're kind of starting from only having tried Lipton before, and that herb tea / tisane; that comes up a lot.  This won't get too far into explaining what Celestial Seasonings herb blends and tea and herb blends are all about (both highly processed material in tea bags, essentially flavored tea).  That's a decent range to start on, but it's not "real tea."  

It's a really minor point but it's palate, not pallet; one is your sense of taste, the other is a wooden frame structure used in shipping and warehousing, and a pallete is an artist's range of paint colors that they're working with.

Real tea is any processed variation of a Camellia Sinensis plant, of variety Sinensis or Assamica.  It's generally in these broad type ranges:  black tea, green, oolong, white, and hei cha, with pu'er either a type of hei cha or related to it.  People tend to include yellow tea but you can skip over that; it's just partly fermented green tea, steamed and left to change some.  There's also no need to worry about oxidation levels or roast inputs early on; later you can sort all of that out more.  Drinking flavored teas or teas mixed with herbs is fine, but I'm not covering that here.

a current favorite Thai black tea; not all that similar to Lipton

initial types to explore:  people in discussion threads always suggest what they are into, so there probably is no clear answer to this.  Different answers work for different reasons.  One response is to get into better quality tin teas, like Harney and Sons (for blends and flavored teas, or some plain teas), or Ahmad (for Indian teas).  

I usually suggest flavorful, easy to brew, broadly appealing types, like light rolled oolong (like Tie Guan Yin), or Dian Hong (Yunnan black tea).  For some people shu pu'er is easy to approach and appealing, and for others it's way too earthy.  That and well-roasted Wuyi Yancha (Fujian oolong, like Da Hong Pao or Shui Xian) both make for a good cross-over from coffee experience, matching parts of the flavor.  Shu pu'er is earthy and has depth and rich feel like coffee, it's just not the same, and highly roasted "rock oolong," Wuyi Yancha, matches up with that roasted effect in coffee versions like French roast.

Then others recommend almost anything, white teas, green versions, other oolong, Darjeeling; whatever they're into.  Sheng pu'er is not a good place to start, a little too intense, bitter, astringent, and varied in character to pick up quickly.  But most of the rest of the range could work.  In general more whole leaf teas are better, representing a higher quality level, and those will be lower in astringency level (less rough in feel, which seems like bitterness to people who aren't clear on the distinction).  But early on seeking out high quality examples doesn't matter as much as trying out different types range, and exploring from there.

2006 Xiaguan tuocha (sheng pu'er); about a decade away from being age-transitioned enough

brewing advice:  there are two types of brewing, Western and Gongfu, and it probably makes the most sense to start using a Western approach.  The limitation with that is that some tea types don't work out as well prepared that way, especially sheng pu'er (the one I said to avoid initially), and high quality twisted style oolong (Wuyi Yancha, Dan Cong).  Really any very broken leaf or flavored tea is better prepared Western style, and a lot of other range works out better Gongfu brewed, but it matters less for some types, and for lower quality teas.

What are the differences in the two processes?  I skipped over that part.  Western brewing is the one teaspoon per cup method (or using about 3 grams per 250 ml, put another way), and Gongfu brewing uses a higher proportion and many short infusions.  People typically brew 6 to 8 grams of tea in a 90 or 100 ml device, using short infusion times (10 to 20 seconds, versus 3 to 5 minutes for Western brewing), and brew a dozen rounds or more.  Or less, if they use a lower proportion; the proportion and timing balance with each other.

a gaiwan and some cups, in a Japanese small bowl style, but Chinese cups can be similar

For someone very early in moving past tea bags just exploring Western brewing would be enough, but if someone, even in that situation, wanted to delve into the whole experience range they could explore both brewing approaches.  That leads to the next topic.

what gear is required?:  you need some way to heat water, and using an electric kettle is standard.  But putting a pan on the stove also works, and for more aesthetic, ceremonial Gongfu brewing people tend to use charcoal and a cast iron kettle device, even indoors, even though that sounds crazy.

a favorite tea friend and her family, with a lot of very aesthetic teaware around

Next you need a brewing device, a teapot, or the equivalent.  Old-style ceramic teapots, like someone's grandmother or aunt would use back in the 20th century, would still work well.  Or glass versions are equivalent, or there are lots of other options for Western brewing.  I use a single-serving, for-purpose ceramic cup and basket device, with a saucer that doubles as a lid.  But I used a French press at work for years, and those work well, and own a glass teapot and tea bottle that are also fine.

basket style Western infuser devices; one I used from a glass teapot's basket insert

For Gongfu brewing there are three main options:  a gaiwan (lidded cup), clay pot (yixing is one well-known clay type), and the Japanese version of a small teapot, a kyusu.  A friend used a small glass teapot, shaped like the traditional Chinese clay versions, that worked just as well, for brewing 100 ml or so at a time.  A gaiwan is a nice option to start with, especially because a basic, fully functional, 100 ml, white porcelain version typically costs about $10 through Western online outlets.  They take practice to use, since you can pour it across your fingertips before you get it, but not very much, and there are lots of online video references about that.

To be clear you can use anything as a brewing device.  You could heat water in a pan, then put the tea in the pan, or brew in one mug and strain it into another.  Other options would probably seem appealing even early on, but the differences are minor.  Later subtle differences do tend to matter, factors like heat retention.

Cups are a complicated subject.  You can use a coffee mug, or small British style teacup, or something plainer and a bit rounder, but it's natural to shift to small Chinese or Japanese style bowl themed cups before very long.  At first setting this aside would work.

sources (where to buy tea):  this is really complicated.  At a local loose-leaf, specialty tea shop, or Chinatown shop works well, but for most people there isn't one nearby.  So it's on to the long list of online vendors different people see as natural starting points.  Yunnan Sourcing is one; a market-style Chinese tea outlet.  Rishi and Adagio are American plain and flavored tea outlets.  Commercial tins or boxed of tea are ok; Ahmad really is decent, or Dilmah is for Ceylon.  

market-style sites can be a bit much; Yunnan Sourcing sells thousands of tea versions

To me buying good quality tea at a good value makes the most sense, and overseas outlets can work even better for good value.  Hatvala and Viet Sun are good Vietnamese options; something like that.  Or Yunnan Sourcing's competitors can work out; King Tea Mall, or Chawang Shop, or White2Tea for pu'er.  Years ago I wrote about producer-direct sourcing options, here, and Wuyi Origin (for Wuyishan rock oolong) is the main option not mentioned in this yet.  It's better to start with more basic versions of teas than they sell.  For people seeking out good quality Wuyi Yancha and Wuyishan area (Fujian) black teas that's the place.

At the next level a lot of different kinds of curator vendors or type-specialists make sense.  Seven Cups is well regarded (a generalist source in the US), or Essence of Tea or Tea Encounter in the UK, again leaning towards pu'er specialization.  Pu'er is a common final-stage type preference, but again I'd try out oolong and black teas first, and maybe dabble in white and green before moving on to that.  Shu pu'er, the pre-fermented type, versus sheng / raw, is approachable--not bitter and astringent--but also quite earthy.

Then the list of decent sources never ends.  I think Liquid Proust is worth checking out (with some emphasis on pu'er; that never drops out).  In the EU Tea Mania is a good small outlet, based in Switzerland, and Moychay based out of the Netherlands is a good Russian market-style vendor.  

To jump ahead to high quality range the Trident Cafe and Bookseller is a great curator option, but again I'd avoid starting out at the top, even if budget isn't a concern.  There's no going up from there, and there's no harm in exploring teas with some quality limitations earlier on, to see how the whole range works out.  If you start out with Wuyi Origin Wuyi Yancha you are ruined for drinking Chinatown shop Da Hong Pao or Shui Xian, it just won't be good enough, and that's an interesting exploration phase to go through.  Learning about typical flaws is part of your experience curve; you lose something giving that up.  Not just something abstract either; it can help you place limitations in other tea types later on.

Chinese online sales is a strange range.  Teasenz is a good example of a Western-style outlet based out of China.  ITea World and Oriental Leaf are newer forms of outlets, focusing a lot on sample sets to get people new to tea introduced (or hooked, more pejoratively).  Farmerleaf is a popular option (based in China), again focused mainly on pu'er, but you can buy great black and white tea from such a source, usually.

teas from different production areas, and related sources:  I've not mentioned Japanese tea; in any list of source references, or any type discussion, most of the range has to drop out, or the discussion runs so long.  Yunomi is a popular Western facing option, and Ippodo is a Japan based larger distributor that's well regarded.

I live in Thailand most of the time (and in Honolulu the rest), and there are good Thai teas, and good Thai sources.  Tea Side is the main Western facing, higher end option, and 101 Plantation works as a way to check out what large scale producers selling directly are like.

And I've glossed over Indian teas.  Golden Tips might be a good generalist source, Gopaldhara is my favorite Darjeeling producer, and you can try Assam directly from a producer from Halmari.  Of course options keep going; there are countless small Indian tea vendors.  Herbs and Kettles is a US based on ran by an online friend.  I would check India-based options before doing too much with US sources though; you can buy teas at volume for not so much if you work around a large shipping cost addition.  Whenever you buy from abroad you just need to buy a bit more to get the lower per-volume rate to be more of an input than shipping, which is why most set minimums for "free" shipping around $100 or so.

Good tea comes from other places, from Nepal, Indonesia, Georgia (the country); the list keeps going.  Of course no one is going to start there, so it's all out of this discussion scope.  What-Cha is probably a good vendor option for checking what else is out there, if they're still around.

Tea is made in the US but I'd set that aside until later too.  Not much is, so that only relates to some quite ordinary mass-produced range from South Carolina, one specialty tea vendor in Mississippi (the Great Mississippi Tea Company; their tea is good), and tea from Hawaii, which is really expensive.  Of course every absolute generality I express here is partly wrong, as that one was; lots of people are growing just a little tea in the US, mostly in the South, and nothing stops them from selling some.

learning, mastering brewing technique:  this just takes practice.  If you want to take up learning background information as a secondary interest that's fine too though; it can complement your own direct experience, which is by far the main input.  I've written about tea reference sources here , covering some of what changed over the years after that first sources post, one part of what was covered in that beginner's guide.

Watching Youtube videos can help with parts you really need to get down quickly (eg. burning your fingers using a gaiwan), or they might shed light on brewing temperature issues.  For Gongfu brewing most people just use boiling point water, all the time, maybe except for green tea, but it's more common to use a range of different temperatures for different tea types when brewing Western style.

varying approaches to tea:  this is a higher level sort of theme; people approach tea in vastly different ways.  Early on many people want to try a good selection of all of the range, and to master basic brewing forms, and learn about storage issues, etc.  That's fine, but it can be like trying to drink the ocean.  You see lists of the ten basic or most famous traditional Chinese teas, so it sounds like just trying 10 versions is a clearly defined milestone, but no two lists identify all the same teas.  Almost no vendor would sell all ten, of any given set, and quality level varies a lot, and so on.  

Sampling works as a good approach early on, but most often those large market-style vendors offer samples to purchase, and buying a set is much easier than sorting through 2500 versions to identify where to start.  That's why using a region-specific vendor like Hatvala early on works out well; you could buy a half dozen of 30 or 40 Vietnamese tea types they carry, and that set would represent some of the rest.  It could include black tea, green, oolong, pu'er, or whatever you like, and you'd see what you had left behind, you could scan their whole product list.  The other curator site I'd mentioned, Trident Bookseller and Cafe, works for viewing a lot of tea range in a half dozen web pages, but their typical cost range would be around 50 cents per gram, instead of 10 to 20 for more intro-oriented, moderate quality level range.

cost as a factor:  I can't really help clarify how this works, because there are really dozens of types of vending outlets, and thousands of types of tea versions and products.  In general higher quality level teas will cost more, but value--quality in relation to price--varies by vendor.  In physical shops you tend to pay a little more for the extra service level, and to cover the extra overhead.  Some online sources represent a great value, and others terrible value; they can set the mark-up however they want, or they can even lie about what a tea actually is.  With quality levels also varying so much you can't get any feel for value within the first year or so of exploring tea.  You can accept others' input about this, and later confirm or reject their input based on your own experience.

It's a lot cheaper to buy more volume of tea at one time; that stays the same across most vendor types.  Then I also just said that sampling is a good approach to try a lot early on, buying tiny amounts, maybe 10 or 15 grams at a time.  There's no contradiction there, if there seems to be.  You end up paying a little more to try more range earlier on, usually.

You can buy really cheap tea at high volume from atypical types of sources (at a Chinese or Indian market, direct from producers, from some market-style vendors, through online auctions, whatever it is).  I've bought a kilogram or more of a tea for each of the last two years, basic black teas from Thailand and Vietnam.  I don't necessarily recommend this.  Until you know what kinds of tea you like, and how to evaluate sources, you might just buy awful tea, or decent tea in a style that you don't like.  If you are spending $20 on a kilogram it's only so much money wasted, but if it's the absolute lowest quality tea on the market there may be health issues to be concerned about, eg. pesticide contamination.  The highest exposure risk occurs when you drink a lot of one unsafe kind of tea, just that set of circumstances.

So this part everyone needs to sort out for themselves.  People tend to explore organically, to try a couple of types of tea and keep going from there.  Some people never move beyond Harney and Sons flavored versions of tea sold in tins, and that's ok.  Most British people aren't aware that not all tea comes in tea bags, which is fine.  It's a shame to never try better black teas, and oolongs, but it's just a drink choice, just one that a lot of people value quite a bit, and explore at great length.

rolled Tie Guan Yin and twisted Dan Cong oolong, both very much worth trying

what I'm not mentioning:  most of the other related factors, most of what a tea enthusiast would learn over the first two years or so.  This hasn't touched on tea storage issues yet, concerns related to using water with a low or high mineral content, how long you can leave damp leaves sit around (for half a day is ok), and many other things.  Cold-brewing is a nice option, and thermos brewing can work, or even simmering some versions of tea, but I'd advise against starting there.  Masala chai is nice, spiced black tea, similar to the "pumpkin spice" theme, which usually is simmered, and you can make that at home, but again it's no place to start.  Versions of hei cha could work out even as a starting point, but someone might as well try basic black teas and oolongs first, or move on to green and white versions.

I'll mention a few other issues in relation to photos that are handy, but in general the idea here is to support getting started.  The rest will come.

In a Chinatown shop, or anywhere else I guess, one might wonder if large-jar storage is ok.  It's not ideal, but it's still ok, especially for buying mid-range quality tea.  For early in exploration quality issues are a lot more of a concern than storage form.  Better tea tends to not be sold like this, but then you don't need to focus on high quality tea early on anyway.  

I'd go for it, exploring through this form of purchasing, even though I've had some really bad experiences doing so (especially related to the shop pictured; a Lapsang Souchong was made with fake smoke scent added, that was so strong and foul that it threw off the smell of all my luggage).  That's part of it too; the learning curve involves trying bad tea too, and other directions that don't work out.  A lesson learned from that experience:  even if you are in a hurry, and trying inexpensive random things, and a bit thrown off by walking around NYC in a snowstorm, you should take a whiff of the large jar, to make sure nothing is really wrong with the tea you are buying.

This shows how I brew tea, using a gaiwan, a cup, and a thermos (along with our cat and my daughter).  That's all you need, and for Western brewing a single stainless steel basket and a mug is enough.  There's no need to worry about using a scale, strainer, thermometer, brewing tray, tongs, sharing pitcher (gong dao bei), or any of the rest.  

Comparison tasting, trying two teas together, is a nice learning tool for later on, but it will make more sense once the basics are clearer, what types are, how to brew, and what some basic versions should taste like.

There are countless other brewing devices, gravity feed versions, simple pitchers (like this), tea bottle based; it never ends.  You can use any of them you like.  The small stainless steel ball version isn't ideal because tea leaves can't expand, and you can't put longer, whole leaves in them, because they won't fit, but most other forms are similar in effectiveness.

Loose, whole leaf black tea.  This style is similar to Dian Hong, Yunnan black tea, but this version is from Thailand.  Teas like this can be entirely different than tin-based ground up material versions, and are generally much better.

that one friend again; she visits Bangkok this week, and this is my favorite Chinatown shop

If you go in a Chinatown shop, or any shop, they'll first ask what kind of tea type you like.  If you don't have an answer for that things can get a bit stuck.  Just make of any given situation whatever you can, and more helpful vendors will be happy to help you sort through some basics early on, mapping roughly what sounds good to what they sell.  

In general you don't need to buy anything at any shop, regardless of how much tea you've tasted, but out of consideration I'll always buy a little if I've tasted more than one tea version.  If I try something and it's not good and staff isn't helpful I might just walk back out instead, buying nothing.

Some teas take different pressed forms, or can appear different in other ways, ground up, or varying in color.  This is sheng pu'er, the version I've been saying people shouldn't try right away, since oolong and black tea are more natural places to start (to me).  People shouldn't be put off or afraid to try anything, though, if they feel interested.  White tea cakes look similar to this, most often shou mei, and those are very approachable, another nice starting point.

The only storage form that you should absolutely avoid buying tea in relation to is when it's sitting out in open bins.  This degree of air contact is way too much; this tea will go dead fast.  For your own storage at home that doesn't matter too much, as long as the tea is well sealed, but the ziplock style bag form of plastic (also in this picture, in the lower right) isn't as good as it might seem, since that can "breathe," even the freezer-use versions.  Mylar or multi-layer bags are good.

There is no natural place to end this; I could reference another 20 photos and the part of the story they tell about tea experience.  I'll end by sharing a picture of the one thing I most typically leave out:  me, sharing tea with a favorite friend.  It's even the friend you've seen twice here, while visiting from Vietnam last year.

Geography of Chinese Tea (book review)

 

This is a great reference on Chinese tea background.  It's by Sergey Shevelev, the founder of Moychay, probably the main Russian tea vendor, and developer of a series of tea clubs (not exactly like a cafe).  Sergey talks about the book, about what went into it, and what it means to him, in this video gathering description (which seems more about talking through a tasting session, to be clear; I mention it more to bring up the video theme and location).  There are more book details here.

Sergey has been a very positive and helpful tea contact for awhile, and I helped do a final read-through of this text, and Moychay sent some teas in thanks, so in a sense I'm not impartial.  Maybe hardly anyone ever is completely objective about almost anything they experience, but that's leading into a different set of concerns.  To me I seem to have no problems at all communicating exactly the same thing I would based on a different connection context, or a complete lack of one, but who knows.  This post might go a bit far in the opposite direction, describing what I see as limitations in the work, which are more about scope choices and related to which interests it applies to, since I thought the content was quite good. 

It's interesting comparing and contrasting this topic scope with another tea text I did a late-stage editing read through for, Tony Gebely's Tea:  A User's Guide.  It really helps place what this about, the range.  Both are quite good texts, I think, both very informative, detailed, and well-grounded, but the scope covered is quite different.  There some overlap related to some tea processing and types information, but in general that text is all about user experience of and approach to tea, and this is about deeper background context than most people would ever encounter.  

This book is mostly about tea types, plant type inputs, locations, history, regional geography, processing steps, and so on, of course mostly limited to China, with some coverage of Taiwan, which may seem to overlap or be completely separate, depending on the subject being considered.  For tea it overlaps.  Since it mentions a lot of natural spaces, parks, and tea oriented landmarks in different places it overlaps with what a tourist in China focused on tea would seek out and experience.  It's not as much about related legends, which do come up here and there, so some main ones are included, but there is more about that non-fiction background.  It doesn't really cover brewing approaches, ceremonial aspects, or teaware either, at least some of which Sergey mentioned in that video cited as being covered in a separate text still under development.

Sergey making pu'er (he's the one on the right)

It's funny how much there is left to cover, given that.  It runs long because it doesn't stop at describing the best known areas and types, and ventures on to geographical descriptions and processing steps.  The first 50 pages is about tea culture and historical background, with a bit on tea plant compounds (which does overlap with Tony's book), but the rest of the overlap with Tony's reference is really with a lengthy list but abbreviated depth description of tea types, with this going a lot further on what those are and how they are produced.

Pictures tell a lot of the story; clear and impactful images of the famous and not as famous tea growing areas really fill in a sense of those places.  Then images of the actual teas and processing steps also round out a little on what a broad range would be like, venturing into tangents like aging background, as is relevant to the type being described.  History of every area gets detailed treatment.  

I suppose that means this book wouldn't be for everyone, going the extra couple of layers deeper beyond what tea experience itself is about.  Tea processing is a fascinating subject to me, but even that only goes so far in informing the actual experience, and less so the history.  For a range like oxidation level background it does apply to experience, because the text talks through what the most conventional styles are like, with less on what other variations and style interpretations might be like.  I don't mean just for Tie Guan Yin, pu'er, or Dan Congs, I mean for a very broad range of popular teas from across China, some of which aren't very familiar in "the West."

even for the more familiar historical sub-themes the extra details are is still interesting

In describing what works best about Sergey's communication about teas in the past I've always mentioned that he is a true tea enthusiast, in addition to being a vendor, with that other natural focus on the commercial side.  No doubt the history and background was always fascinating to him too, and this book represents ideas collected over many years and visits to China (at least 10, he mentioned), ideas which were previously only brought up in narrow scope video content.  He has long been a student of Chinese language, which might work as a general cut-off for how far someone tends to take dedication to the range of subjects.  

On the opposite side, for people who are bad with languages, not going there and not studying Mandarin doesn't seem to represent a gap or lack of commitment.  I was a lot more open to foreign language studies earlier in life myself, studying French, Spanish, and Sanskrit in academic circumstances, and now my Thai is still fairly limited even for living in Thailand for 14 years.  I suppose that partly relates to the added difficulty of moving beyond Latin based languages; learning Devanagari--traditional Indian language script--to study Sanskrit came a cost to me, and pushing through different language forms and structure seemed a bit punishing, and didn't go well.  Or maybe my brain is just less plastic now?  Hard to say, but it seems to relate as much to motivation level.

One part of how this approaches describing teas stands out as what some would interpret as a strength of the work, and others a weakness.  It describes type-typical experienced aspects in specific tea versions, or I suppose more accurately as one relatively typical version might be interpreted.  That's great, for passing on a sense of what a type might be like.  For people looking for gaps, with a negative bias, it could seem to introduce error, since any given type occurs as a broad range of exhibited aspects, with the "type-typical" theme only being so narrow.  

I don't see it as problematic describing that.  Any text would trip over itself trying to describe exceptions to every generality or a more complete flavors / taste / aroma range, and typically skipping that makes the most sense, to me.  One tea expert in particular comes to mind in mentioning that, an old favorite blog based reference who started discussions and an answer to every question with "it just depends," using half the answer content space to address context and range of exceptions.  To me that approach works too, since the placement of ideas and discussion limitations are also interesting, but not to cover this much scope.  It works better in a short passage to emphasize limitations, talking around and placing a narrower idea range, than to go through that over and over in a long text.

For the tea history, area descriptions, about type ranges, and general processing descriptions it's not as relevant anyway; it comes up more in discussion of aspects of types as a sensory experience.  This work passes on a sense of a typical experience range, but doesn't try to replace experience, or account for exceptions.  To cite an example of the kind of thing "left out," as a tea reviewer it's interesting to try to identify what I see as "quality markers," what sets apart the best versions of types, but really I think it's best to not venture into that subjective a scope in a broad work like this.  The other text on tea I mentioned, Tony Gebely's work, made the same scope decision to focus on general types descriptions, and not get swept into what separates quality levels, which again I think is for the best.

As I keep encountering more and more detailed tea background, and talking to vendors about processing themes and such, it's harder to find new ground I've not covered.  Half of this text was relatively unfamiliar, because I'm not an expert on how to process teas, and I've encountered a lot more about main tea areas than others (eg. Wuyishan and Yunnan, versus entire broad regions that I wasn't really clear on covered in great detail in this).

One might wonder, if a lot of Chinese people really do drink ordinary quality and relatively "generic" tea (an idea that comes up, which matches my experience), how is it possible that there is so much detailed background available on such a broad range of areas and types?  This seems to be a look into what informed locals would know and experience about their own area, types, and history, or that degree of coverage plus a bit more.  We are already exposed to some of that in those places I mentioned, Wuyishan (a Fujian area) and Yunnan (a whole province), but Chinese tea history doesn't end at those sorts of better known areas.  I don't just mean related to hei cha and a few more types of green and black tea either, and yellow tea; there is a broader and deeper still-living culture and history to be explored.

One might wonder if it wouldn't feel incomplete, like a gap, to hear about another dozen or more types of teas--or maybe 50, or more--and to not experience them, to only encounter them as ideas and description.  Sure, I suppose it could.  Also this treatment may not be as interesting for people who tend to narrow in on one range of teas they like and leave the rest aside the broad background exploration theme.  There's nothing wrong with only drinking oolongs, or sheng pu'er.  This book is mainly for people who like the background of tea in addition to the experience of it, although it could be used differently, for example as a narrower reference for specific types, or as an intro to the theme of tea processing.

For being a relatively long book, 511 pages, this isn't a difficult read though.  Again pictures tell a lot of the story, so actual text is much more limited, and it being separated out by broad and then narrower geographical areas make it approachable and much easier to read.  

For people into texts as a reference in general, and to the scope I've outlined in particular, I would definitely recommend this book.  As with most people I tend to consume more content related to shorter online videos myself, but there are different strengths and limitations related to the two forms.  It would take many hours out of a year to get to this much detailed content online, and one never would run across all of these same ideas, across any exploration time frame, not even a decade.  

On the Chinese language internet that may be more practical, but English Western web text or video sources just aren't that readily available, detailed, or complete.  Sergey's Youtube videos are a nice exception, or Farmerleaf's, and TeaDB is a good video blog, and the Tea House Ghost channel a nice reference, but all of these only treat one narrow and typically more conventional topic in short videos, with substantial focus on practical advice and perspective.  They just can't explore the tea history, geographical input, processing, and types descriptions from many main regions in China in the same way this text does.

Exploring sheng pu'er

a bit under 1 year old Farmerleaf Tian Jiang Jing Mai sheng cake; how sheng often looks

Another "basics" post, just an unusual version of one, about how it goes exploring this one tea type.

It's odd how people catch onto the idea that they are "supposed to" like sheng pu'er, then work out adjusting what they try and preference to try to.  There's no other tea type that someone would drink, dislike, and then think they were in the wrong for not enjoying it.  I'll mention the example that came closest to that for me for reference though.

Before I get to that, it has become clear to me why I rarely write these randomly themed reference posts.  No amount of writing ever seems to capture one narrow but linked set of ideas.  It's much more natural and organic to add a few short paragraphs worth of commentary on a theme, versus putting together a broader set of related ideas.

As further background context, sheng pu'er and oolongs do seem to be the two natural end-points for main tea type preference among tea enthusiasts.  Both are diverse tea scope, complex in terms of related variation, and also the potential character of better version examples.  Sheng versions can be just as complex as any other type of tea, but due to adding in the dimension of aging potential they are even more so.

Every individual version spans a range of character, from what it was when brand new to wherever that leads for fermentation / aging transition, which is never really a completed process.  Under the right aging circumstances versions can be relatively completely aged after 20 years or so but they still keep changing, just not as fast.  There is a common preconception that sheng is best when aged longest but really it's not that simple.  Some is great new, maybe per typical preference best then, some ideal after a couple of years, and from there it is most typical for older to be better.

2007 Tulin T868 tuocha; a bit compressed as those tend to be

On to an example of another type I took to slowly, which may shed light on how sheng preference curve goes (or may not; I tend to not always have a point).  I kept trying silver needle / silver tips versions and not exactly loving them.  Since white tea was a highly regarded tea type at that time (a half dozen years ago) it seemed like I was either trying bad versions or missing something.  I never cite really early posts, because they seem so rough-edged now, but one of the first few I wrote compared white tea buds-only versions from China and India.  Looking back that T2 tea version (the one from China) I bought from them the month after their company acquisition by Unilever, not exactly an auspicious transition for them.


In that case it wasn't that aspects like bitterness and astringency were an issue; flavor intensity often seemed limited instead.  I liked those two teas mentioned in that post; not always other examples from the category, back then.  In both the cases of silver needle / silver tips teas and sheng it helped to adjust preference to appreciate them, a process that happened naturally, with exposure.  For the white teas I learned to like teas with more subtle flavor range, for sheng to see bitterness as positive in the right balance with other aspects.  Not all sheng is very bitter (as some definitely is) but it tends to come up, just less so in aged versions.  I didn't like buds-only black teas as well as leaf based versions for quite awhile, and over time gradually adapted to that different range too.  It's funny how all those natural preference transitions go.

2007 CNNP "red mark" 8891; more compressed sheng after a dozen years of relatively dry storage time

Those issues

A few concerns seem to map together in ways that online descriptions don't do justice to.  Only experience helps make the sub-themes very clear, but something can still be said about them.


quality:  this means a few different things.  Early on it seems important to not drop it out as a concern but to keep in mind that it's not a simple concept, and it mixes with other themes.  It can relate to trueness to type, even though that's really something else, but as often it relates to a lack of flaws, presence of aspects that serve as quality markers (positive flavor and feel, aftertaste range experience, overall intensity, "cha qi" experience related, etc.), or aging potential, aspects related to how it will be later.  Old plant source (gushu) versions are better regarded, with some typical character tying to that, but it's not as simple as saying the two factors always map directly together, plant source age and tea quality.  Pricing would seem to imply that, but then pricing is about demand, and typical initial material sales price, in addition to how good a tea actually is.


local region / type / growing conditions related character:  this varies, and seeking out what is type-typical has to also pair with considering what is positive.  This could be a primary early focus, trying to separate out broad and narrower patterns in types, or someone could focus more on final aspects they prefer, even though the two would interrelate.  This gets a little complicated since broad region profiles tend to be discussed, but then better quality versions are more typically sold in relation to the narrow village area they come from.  No matter how narrow the origin area versions could still vary, and given that micro-climate is an issue (specific weather experienced by the plants; amount of sun, water, soil type, etc.) they should vary, there would just also be a degree of consistency.

loose Laos sheng (left), compared to a black tea version, both sold as wild-sourced tea

age / fermentation level (not the same thing):  sheng is complex because it varies as much as for any other tea type before aging transitions are considered, and then this dimension shifts a lot after that.  It's difficult to buy comparable teas that are new, and then also similar others with a bit of time on them, and relatively completely aged versions that were also close in starting-point character to get a sense of how this works.  Theme specific tasting sets might help, or trying a broad range of teas and keeping loose track.  People tend to overdo it with emphasis on "traditional Hong Kong storage," it seems to me, even though of course some range of conditions would be generally more optimum.

Tea Side Thai 1980 (left) and 1993 sheng versions

What the categories even are for storage conditions is hard to sort out, and people would use terms in different ways.  There probably is a best-case most-correct set of terminology usage out there, but really you need the experience to match the concepts anyway, so it works to put both together, learning the terms and experiencing what they mean.

This was a comment on a Puerh Tea Club discussion recently (which is hard to link to; the heading and question is "Tea cake that is stored in Hong Kong is alway wet storage??"), by Olivier Schneider, one of the better sources of information out there, and author of puerh.fr:


"Wet storage" means artificially refined or fermented.

A tea naturally stored in the natural wet atmosphere of Hong Kong will be called dry storage.  Most of (nearly all) puerh before the end of the 90s have been (more or less strongly) wet stored (but there are some exception). Since the end of the 90s, there are more and more naturally stored puerh in Hong-Kong too.


Unless I'm mistaken usually Hong Kong storage is called "natural" when humidity level isn't adjusted, with storage region specified, and when controlled to be more humid "wet," and in drier climates like Kunming "dry."  Some time back the Pu'er Addict's Journal blog author proposed swapping out Hong Kong storage reference as "wet" for "traditional" would make sense.  Anyway, storage level and the actual effect relate to the tea's age, storage conditions (maybe even mostly that), and starting point character, the initial potential.


preference shifts:  this is as much a concern as all the rest, but it tends to not draw that much attention.  There's an old truism about how early on sheng drinkers, or tea drinkers in general, tend to prefer flavor aspects first, then move on to consider mouthfeel and aftertaste (in addition, or as more primary concerns), then "drink with their body," valuing effect.  For blog input Tea Addict's Journal goes into that (he's a good reference on lots of themes; check out this related selection of quotes).  It definitely doesn't help that your own preference makes for a moving target; trying the same teas over different times might output the same evaluation for aspects but a different one for relation to likes.


wild sourced tea, "pu'er" from South East Asia, outside China:  these themes aren't a perfect match for a broad overview post, since either set of ideas (about growing conditions and plant types, especially related to production outside Yunnan) could make for an interesting and lengthy isolated review.  Both themes are complicated by a lot of variation among individual versions that are either "wild grown / old plant" tea, or from a different country, or both.

It's tempting to want to generalize, to say that Myanmar sheng is a certain way, for example.  Based on only trying 2 or 3 versions it could certainly seem that way, or those could vary a lot.  Growing conditions vary a lot within as broad an area as a country, plant types aren't consistent over that type of range either, and processing is even less consistent.  I have my own impression of patterns among older plant or more natural growth sheng versions, but those are inconsistent enough that it may only be stories I tend to adhere to, rejecting the other cases as atypical or lower in quality based on that expectations bias.

Kokang (Myanmar producer and region name) 2018 sheng

It's interesting to try sheng from Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam (you can call it sheng, it is still "raw," you just need to switch that to "pu'er-like tea" for discussion in tea groups).  It's just as well to hold off on identifying clear patterns, or accepting vendor input about how those go, until you try a number of versions, and realize that exceptions to any standard themes would keep coming up.


approaches:  early on sampling a lot seems to make the most sense.  Setting aside a few cakes that seem like "basics" to experience transitions first-hand over the first year or two, and then after, also makes sense to me.  A Dayi / Taetea 7542 would be an example of a related factory tea, regarded as a benchmark version.  It's not as simple to identify what works as a region-specific "basic" related to other vendors, for a tea version that's not as blended, or based on use of more whole-leaf material.

Sampling could fill in an initial take on how aging transitions go, enabling buying more of a few versions that might improve later on, but piecing that together quickly is the problem.  Some vendors mostly or only sell blended cakes, versus narrow source region versions, or don't convey that information, forcing you to rely on knowledge and experience of how aspects identify what you have and where it will go for changes.

In discussing approach with someone online they mentioned seeing buying a cake as a sample (another Tea Addict's Journal reference), so that person had tried and also had bought something like 150 sheng cake versions.  That's one way to do it.  On the upside even if you didn't like a tea at all you could see how it changes, if you keep some around, and that leaves room for preference changes later.  The downside is obvious:  spending thousands of dollars on teas you don't like that much.

Tasting set sources

It works to consider a few options, and explore at positives or drawbacks of those options.  I'll start with mentioning a source I've actually tried tea from, and also cover several I've not.  To be clear this section is about themed sample sets, buying very small amounts of sets of teas designed for exploring a limited range.  This is mostly about fast approaches to getting started.

Yiwu Mountain Pu'er:  I didn't actually try this particular set; the ones I did try from them were themed around trying comparable teas of varying ages, but those are all sold out.  That's an underlying lesson that re-occurs related to all sorts of sheng options; they won't be available forever (a subject just covered in one of my favorite blogs, Mattcha's Blog).  The teas I tried from this vendor were solid enough that I'd expect a lot of what they sell to be of good quality.  That's all relative, and tracking value issues along with that can be complex.  But for samples pressure for a tea to be worth the per-gram price or a great match to preference eases; that's a lot of the point of buying in limited volume.

Yiwu Mountain Pu'er tasting set; different ages, and I think one was huang pian

White 2 Tea, TEA TERROIR RAW PUER SAMPLE SET:  to be clear I've not tried any teas from White 2 Tea yet, a bit of a gap I've been meaning to get to.  Who knows when I will; it's easy to develop a list of things you'd like from familiar vendors, and keep adding to those lists faster than you clear them.

There seems to be two general schools of thought or hearsay responses to this vendor.  One is that they sell positive teas that are relatively universally liked (across versions), representing a good value given tea quality.  The other is that the teas are overpriced, and not as interesting for being sold in a relatively generic form (eg. often without any description of material used, specifically omitting source location origin or degree of mixed content, potentially with a lot of versions being blends).  

This sampler set includes 4 100 gram small cakes for $69.50.  I suppose related to value alone, with only a guess at quality level, that sounds reasonable, since $70 for a 357-400 gram cake isn't so unusual.  For low quality new or young tea (or factory tea versions) that's too much, and any assessment of "medium" level is a judgement call.  It seems fair though.

As for a positive aspect, as they describe those are broad areas for there to be one typical character type, but the right person could select something relatively standard, or at least indicative.  Beyond that a limitation of the approach in general comes into play; it would be hard to separate issues of character type and quality level from source area nature early on.

2018 Yunnan Sourcing "Spring Jinggu" Raw Pu-erh Tea Sampler - Part 2:  Yunnan Sourcing, as standard a vendor as there is, doesn't seem to sell that many sample sets, because they sell most teas as samples anyway; that's a standard purchasing option.  Or maybe they really do and I didn't put in enough time with the site search function (for example I didn't page through much in this sub-category, which includes other types).  Narrowing focus to explore a smaller region across 5 teas in this case, from varying background sources, should provide a much higher resolution take on inputs going into that regional general type.

they include nice background write-ups and photo content too (credit that related YS page)

Considering value (again impossible without trying the teas and factoring in quality level) 5 25 gram samples are sold for $44 (so around 30 cents per gram versus closer to 15 for the W2T set).  Maybe this is still a better value; quality level really does swing appropriate sales price by that much.  Clicking on the first type listed YS does sell a 400 gram cake of that for $108 (versus equivalent of $132 for 375 grams, multiplying the set amount and cost by 3), so to them the teas really are upper-medium quality level.  Or at least pricing implies that, and maybe that just relates to what they bought the material at, as covered in another recent Mattcha's blog post.

Crimson Lotus Aged Puerh Tea Super Sample Pack:  this is one more of those standard vendor names that comes up, and one more vendor I've never tried a tea from (or almost never, as it turns out; easy to lose track).  I have no idea where these particular tea versions stand; it just seemed in order to look up and mention an aged sample version.  128 total grams of 7 teas from between 2000 and 2018 are sold in this set, for a total cost of $59.  Even though this is selling for the highest per-gram price of sample sets I've mentioned ($.46 / gram) again it's still possible they could represent the best value.  Trying all three sets would seem to represent a running start; 16 teas focusing across different scopes for about $175.

There's no need to have the vendors put a sample set together for you; if they sell small amounts then you can try whatever sounds good, or some other theme, designed on your own.  Per-gram price is essentially always higher than buying by cake but it makes a huge difference buying what you like in quantity, which is an option if you try only a little first.  357 grams goes faster than one would think, but tea you don't like not quite as fast.

Farmerleaf (Yunnan producer / Jing Mai area specialist):  at one time Farmerleaf was one of the best-value sources for sheng and teas in general on the internet.  They've gradually increased pricing to match demand increase (probably related to source material pricing increases), so now it's just another good quality, fairly priced source option, which is already quite positive.  A lot of what they sell is on the unique side; that adds value.  Their samples are priced without a lot of mark-up over whole cake costs, so putting together your own sample set among what they sell would go well.  

I've tried a number of their teas, and ordered cakes and samples from them last year, but it seems best to stop short of recommending any, since I've only tried a small fraction of what they sell.  As an example, they sell this 20 gram sample of huang pian (yellow leaf) sheng for $3.  If you've never tried huang pian sheng it would be a shame not to try that.  It's milder in character than typical young leaves, sweeter, and not bitter, but also less intense.  Looking around at what else they sell I'm starting to talk myself into a sample order; it wouldn't be the first time that's happened related to recommending this particular vendor.

William, a main owner, produces great video content about tea processing and background issues.  I've never actually met him but per my impression from lots of discussion and first hand accounts he's a knowledgeable, decent, interesting guy.  Most of the tea vendors I meet or talk to by message or in groups seem quite likable and decent; that makes the exceptions stand out all the more.


Liquid Proust:  this may be the best source among all of these.  That vendor (Andrew Richardson; it's one person) supports group buy specials with his other tea sales, a tea evangelist sub-theme.  It's not really a new theme; I interviewed him about that subject three years ago, and tried two sheng sets with lots of review posts about the versions.  They are inconsistent, and span a lot of range, but that's sort of the point, providing broad exposure to a lot of different source areas, quality levels, storage age and condition versions, and so on.  Sets would vary a lot by theme too.

One nice part about buying other tea from him, using him as a source beyond sample sets, is that he actually does fund the tea evangelist theme through other sales.  You'll know what I mean if you do sign up for buying a set; the per-gram price of what I've tried as sample sets from him would seem unrealistic, if I'd kept track.  Even if you never do buy tea from him it's interesting to see him going on about what he's turned up through Instagram and other posts; he's definitely an enthusiastic tea enthusiast.

comparison tasting sheng from three Yunnan source areas from a Liquid Proust set

Those options are just a start.  All are certainly decent options, but they're represented here as both good starting points and to communicate how trying samples goes.  There would be other good options out there.  I've had great luck with buying tea through the Chawang Shop in the past year, and King Tea Mall is an interesting and novel form of outlet, also true in a different sense for Teas We Like.  To be clear I'm not sharing any secrets here (although TWL might be less better known at this point); these are all quite mainstream options.  Other exceptions might prove even more interesting, just with more "buyer beware" concerns related to product authenticity and consistency.

About sample pricing and value in general

I won't get far with this, because I can't lay out how value issues play out related to sheng across a broad range of types, origins, vendor sources, related to storage conditions, and so on.  I can separate out some comments made in relation to sample set pricing and clarify what I meant by those.  These sample set entries already included cost citations, but I mostly only compared costs to the other sets in those (with some exceptions).


To be clear supply and demand pull pricing as much or more than some general quality level value.  Yunnan Sourcing in-house brand versions are popular, which is why they can be sold between $80 and above $100.  It's probably not easy to peg that to a range of other open-market equivalent options.  Why would I single their teas out and that price range, and why not cite that as a price-per-gram value instead, which helps compare apples to apples?  There is a general point I'm trying to make.  A standard cake is typically 357 grams, although many of YS's are 400 instead, and 100 and 200 gram versions come up.  For that price range ($80 to 100) that amount (357 grams) works out to a range of 22 to 28 cents per gram.  Still, what does that mean though?

"Factory tea" versions tend to not cost that much; what I'm really saying is that there is a trend to better, differently sourced and produced teas that are more within a mid-range.  This example helps clarify that distinction:  Yunnan Sourcing lists a 2014 Dayi / Taetea 7542 (kind of a standard benchmark version) for $49.  That particular product version being so well known probably drives up price a bit higher than versions of similar quality would be, but the point is clear enough; well-known, higher demand versions still don't cost all that much (just under 14 cents a gram; equivalent to $7 for 50 grams, for people who are that bad at math).

A half dozen years ago, when I first started this blog, and when I bought the first cake of sheng I ever did, a $100 mid-range cake wasn't really how things worked out.  To be clear I'm not doing the subject of history / transitions in pricing justice here, or even starting in on it.  Demand for sheng goes up over time; prices increase.

Extending that theme a little beyond YS, upper range W2T options extend much further in pricing, but then maybe they are selling high-demand source tea in those cases, just not typically explicitly sold by source area name.  I think maybe word is supposed to get out, that being in the know about the code-names is part of the appeal.  It's this type of complication that makes comparing across source areas, vendors, tea age ranges, individual aspects and styles, etc., quite difficult. 

It takes time to sort out what the related factors are; it takes a lot more time to taste a tea and have some idea of what you are experiencing.  That's why I was emphasizing starting in with samples, then moving on to exploring directions with cakes.  You just don't want to wait too long, to spend a couple of years drinking samples, because it takes more exposure to really get a better feel for a version.  The 100 grams in a standard tuocha is gone before that process completely plays out, never mind the relation to seeing how it changes across some time.

Brewing

This part seems fairly simple to me, and I'm only including it for completeness, since the idea here is that people with limited to next to no sheng exposure are the target audience.

Sheng works out best brewed Gongfu style, using a high proportion, a short brewing time, and hot water, at or very near boiling point.  A starting point ratio might be 1:15 grams per milliliter of water (so using 6 grams for a 90 ml gaiwan).  You can also try going slightly higher on proportion, as I tend to, but there's a limit to how much will fit once the leaves are wet.  Using a clay pot or other device also works, it's the proportion that's the thing.  But permeable clay needs to be "seasoned" or conditioned to the type of tea being brewed, so using a porcelain or ceramic gaiwan works better related to moderating expense and skipping that part, until it seems time to go there.

Timing preferences vary, but basing each infusion on how the last one worked out is effective.  For me it depends on the tea character, and I suppose some on mood too.  Every variable changes outcome a little.  Shifting the type of water used, varying the mineral content, might change things a good bit.  Small temperature shifts can affect outcome, or the shape of the cup used, or the temperature at which you drink the tea.  It's as well to keep things simple initially and explore as you like from there.  I definitely don't get the timing cycles I often see mentioned as recommended (10 seconds, then 15, 20, 25...), since sheng doesn't "brew out" or lose intensity that fast, but maybe that makes more sense than it seems to for me.

Rinsing sheng or shu pu'er is standard; throwing out the first short infusion, or for some a moderate length infusion, or two in some cases.  Fermentation causes a limited trace of toxins to be produced as an outcome.  And teas can be in contact with floors that might vary in cleanliness, or dust and foreign object can turn up in cakes; there's a sort of "just in case" factor to account for.

Conclusions

In a sense it's as well to never even get started on sheng.  Shu is nice too, and easier to brew, cheaper, and relatively consistent, it's just a bit earthy.  All that kind of also applies to hei cha, a broad category that gets relatively little respect (which sheng may or may not fall under, depending on how you take your categories).

Hunan Fu brick tea; not exactly the same, but pleasant in a different way

If you buy tea as you drink it, as would occur for oolong, black tea, and the rest, the cost for even relatively better versions can stay moderate.  You only end up ramping up expense to the next level once you try to buy and set aside tea for aging, to buy what you'll drink over the next 15-20 years.

As I've said it is a natural end-point for tea preference though, or so it would seem, along with oolong.  Messing around with storage and aging transitions adds a pleasant depth to the experience.  For me it's just that the higher level of expense and keeping kilograms of tea around don't sit well with my wife, and I don't have the tea budget to do a next level of exploration justice, to ramp up to trying out the next 50 cakes (probably a $2500 investment, as moderate priced sheng goes now, or that could easily be well over $5000 if you drink a different type range, with almost no upper limit).


Sheng drinkers don't want the demand to increase; there is only so much out there, and rising demand is already maintaining continually escalating prices.  In general new tea sources coming online will offset moderate demand increase (eg. orthodox Assam keeps getting better and better; Vietnamese and Indonesian teas increase in quality to match some Chinese offering range), but that happens less with sheng.  I've written a lot about versions from Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam, but there's only so much growing out there, and not much of it ends up as a well-produced product.  I'll keep spreading the word anyway, to the limited extent people actually read this blog.

I've skipped more than I've covered here, to be clear.  I never mentioned how tuochas or maocha (loose versions) relate to cakes, or bricks.  That's more a story about conventions than shapes mattering, but I won't get into that.  I didn't mention how standard "factory" teas, by producers like Dayi / Taetea, compare or relate to custom produced versions, or what Xiaguan and other producer character is about.  I didn't even make a good start on describing "markers" for sheng quality, fleshing out how bitterness, specific versions of feel, flavor type and intensity, and aftertaste experience tend to be regarded.  Or cha qi; drug-like effect (not that anyone else tends to put it that way).

a Kokang Myanmar dragonball.  I also didn't mention shape exceptions, coins, witch's brooms, and the rest.

It's too much to get to.  Posts go into those themes bit by bit, but for the most part someone needs to explore it on their own one part at a time, to match experience to other people's shared understanding.

Related posts / articles:

It's best to keep in mind that I'm closer to the start of my journey with pu'er than the end, so anything I claim, or even refer to from another source, should be weighed against other ideas and opinions.  That kind of goes for everyone, even the best sources out there, but all the more so for a "path to tea" style tea blogger.

The first article (following) cites references from several other great blog sources:

-Tea Addict's Journal:  again!  I'm not really even online friends with that guy, but he's worth hearing out, standing out among classic blog references.  I already kept mentioning Matcha's Blog here too.

-Tea DB: a main video blog and pu'er researcher; they're also kind of "on the path" but quite informative.  And personable; that comes across better in the videos than through text.

-Cwyn of Death by Tea: interesting; any description wouldn't do her perspective justice.

-Late Steeps: about tea storage experiments, the part I cited in the following, but this includes interesting version tea reviews that links to a novel source.

-puerh.fr:  this really works as a "classic reference source" category, but not much on this level comes to mind.

-vendor blogs and content:  I won't mention any, although I did say earlier that Farmerleaf Youtube videos are good, and Yunnan Sourcing is good about describing what teas actually are (funny that's an exception).  The obvious limitation applies; the content is designed to support their own sales.  It's still interesting to click that extra "blog" tab when you check out vendors to see what they're saying.  Many visit Yunnan, and the photos and their travel descriptions are worth hearing, but claims about tea plant age and the rest require a little filtering.

-online discussion:  that's another funny thing, how limited this really is, or maybe it's just that the diversity of channels waters each down a bit.  I admin for a Facebook tea group but the Pu'er Tea Club is a much better reference.  If leaning into this social aspect is of interest I wrote about more options here.  If you would like to offer feedback about this content, or just to get in touch, this link to a related Facebook page might be a good place for that.

My own additional writing:

Pu'er Storage Environment Part 2: References, Environment Maintenance (written for a vendor page, based mostly on external input quotations; a bit different)

Oolong pu'er, about sheng aging potential

Pu'er storage optimums, and relative versus absolute humidity

Pu'er-like teas in South East Asia