Back to reviews! This has been as long a break as I’ve taken in years; the last was 6 weeks ago. It has been nice to have more free time on the weekends, to focus on other things, to lean into the meetup theme, and write on different subjects here. I probably never will go back to writing 8 to 10 blog posts a month.
This is a sheng pu’er from Song Yi Tea, a vendor based out of Taiwan, who sent samples before for review. Many thanks to the for providing this. Their earlier teas were quite good. It’s hard to place “quite good,” and that’s definitely on a relative scale, of sorts. I’ll see what I can do with aspects descriptions, tying an impression back to defining that better.
I don’t know what this is, and don’t remember what I reviewed last time. You would think after years I could try a tea and get a clear impression of origin region, if not local area, based on how people tend to describe that sort of generality. Lots of variables go into how a sheng version comes across, beyond terroir, source area and related less fixed growing inputs, eg. the weather that year. And my memory isn’t set up to retain much, not names or phone numbers, certainly not a matrix of sheng aspects per ever-finer local areas. Let’s try a couple examples though.
Yiwu tends to be sweet and floral, approachable in a conventional form but with a little more structure in some versions, Jing Mai with a little more edge, still floral but often with a trace of lemon or edgier flavor towards pine, but often not quite pine, and so on. But I still can’t place teas through tasting, even from those places I’ve tried lots of versions from (those two, and others). Same for the gushu theme; I could write a few phrases about what I see as typical character (higher intensity, but not necessarily stronger flavor, underlying mineral tone, durability to brew more rounds, tendency to age positively, depending on starting point character) but who knows if that’s even right.
So I’ll describe the tea experience and then look it up; the usual process (I'll just leave that to the end, and of course not adjust the notes to match it). Even the year could be clearer; it looked like that said 2019 on the stamp, but it was hard to read. This may be a tea I already reviewed, back when it was newer.
On brewing process, I tend to use two cups when brewing tea for breakfast, for rushing through a cycle, never exactly early related to getting to work. On the weekend, especially for doing a review, that concern drops out, and one cup is fine, no need to switch to pull heat out (or even drink cold water out of one in between; it’s hard to drink down a liter of tea in a 15 or 20 minute rushed breakfast related to that brewing temperature). Why not Western-style brew if in a hurry, one might wonder. I do, if I’m drinking a tea suited for that, and if not I just rush the Gongfu process (which I wrote about not long ago, which teas I see matching which approach).
First infusion: I like it. I tend to brew the first round light to get introduced to the tea over the first two or three rounds, so this is just a starting point. All that I just said about Yiwu and Jing Mai comes back to me. The main aspect is floral, but it also has a touch of dryness and structure to the feel that pairs with a slightly piney trace. It’s definitely not edgy, and even for being lighter it’s seemingly not going to develop in that direction. Bitterness and sweetness level tends to define a lot of sheng experience, and this is pleasant for both, with some distinct bitterness but at a good, moderate level, balanced by pleasant sweetness. I should probably wait a round to do more aspects breakdown. I like where it seems to stand on the “how good” dimension, but it’s way to early to say more about that.
Second infusion: I’ll have to focus in related to brewing time; even from the look I may have let this go just over 10 seconds instead of just under, and it could be on the strong side. At least the impression will be clear, even if that level isn’t optimum. More of the same as last time, but much stronger, definitely slightly overbrewed. That’s fine; it can help pin down some aspect range better, but it does shift the balance of how flavors come across, what stands out most.
Intensity can vary for different reasons in sheng, and it’s not necessarily that stronger is always better; it’s the overall balance that matters. It’s not as good a sign to need to push a tea a little to get more out of it, but more typically “brewing around” a negative and relatively strong input comes up, cutting back infusion time. Even that’s not always such a bad thing; in some cases it just means the tea needs more time to ferment and transition, that it’s not its time yet.
There’s a bit more of a towards-pine edge to this, especially for being brewed strong. It pairs with a nice sappy, resin-like feel this time, a bit thick, but in a distinctive way. It has a hint of dryness to it, which isn’t really atypical, but not all that universal. Honey flavor stands out in the sweetness, along with floral, which is competing with the mineral and other heavier range. It will compete better next round, brewed lighter. There’s a clean and relatively balanced end effect.
These individual aspects are coming across so clearly that I wonder if this isn’t narrowly sourced material, versus a blend. It’s surely cheaper for a producer to make a blend of an equivalent general level of positive character, because they can mix inputs and adjust proportion to draw out better aspects and minimize flaws, to offset what doesn’t work as well. I’m not sure I’d have an expectation for a vendor not based locally in Yunnan, in terms of what this should be. If I just had better memory I’d know from writing about their teas something like a year and a half ago. Again I’ll save a clearer and longer list-form aspect description for a third round, brewing this as I see an optimum.
Third infusion: Better, more where this should be for infusion strength. Intensity is still fine, more than adequate, brewed for a relatively short time. In that longer write-up about differences between Gongfu and Western brewing I mention that agitation seems to allow for a fast infusion to be so intense, and the tea still brewing while damp, with water removed. Who knows.
Honey sweetness is novel in this tea; it’s not so unusual for some of that to be present but not often at this level for sheng. Floral tone seems non-distinct to me for being balanced by an aspect range I’m not really describing clearly by saying it’s “like pine, but not that.” Like moderately cured hardwood then, maybe, not the sappy young wood effect, and not the richer, deeper, sweeter tones of wood that’s been drying for awhile. Somehow, to me, that pairs with and connects with both that unique mouthfeel, the structure with just a bit of dryness, and the bitterness. The mouthfeel is complex enough that calling it structured and dry isn’t enough; there’s a resinous edge to it.
Aftertaste is interesting; all of that trails over and changes form. The honey comes across a little more like beeswax in the aftertaste version, and the touch of dryness in the mouthfeel immediately softens (located in center of the mouth, the middle of the tongue and around the sides and top, not the throat, a general effect range that I don’t tend to prefer, dislike, or even place as much as some people do).
I like the tea. With this much structure and edge it won’t just fade, and should be even better in two more years. But then it’s approachable enough to drink right now, for sure. Flavor intensity might drop a good bit over the next 15 years; harder to take young sheng might be better for retaining that, but milder flavored teas can be positive in other ways after a longish transition. Or before fully transitioned, if someone is on the 20-plus years aged sheng only preference theme. Someone mentioned to me not that long ago that they only drink 20-plus year old sheng, which seems odd to me, to never crave anything like the experience I’m having right now. Then again I can’t really look ahead and see what I’ll prefer or avoid in another decade. I sometimes wonder if I’ll keep drinking tea; this is a bit long for me to stick with an experience cycle like this.
Fourth infusion: I’m really feeling this tea. I ate a Tim Horton’s Boston Crème donut when I woke up but nothing else, and usually I eat prior to or with tea to offset feeling that stoney rush. I get it why people are into that, I’m just not. I already did my time as a stoner.
More of the same this round, really. How someone would like this version would depend on how they relate to the mix of honey sweetness, floral range input (which is a little non-distinct to break down further, maybe just warm in tone versus bright and sweet), and that towards-pine wood range. “Tastes like wood” isn’t what one is looking for in a sheng, typically, but I mean that in a relatively positive sense. Do you know how some common Bulang origin range sheng can express a variation of that that’s really intense, so much so you wouldn’t drink the tea when it’s young? In that form even heavier mineral, although this is pronounced, maybe not towards-pine woodiness as much as paired astringency.
I’m probably mixing ideas here, talking about mixed-source or plantation sheng that’s more negative for growing conditions and type input. Older plant, higher elevation, and more natural growth source sheng tends to be intense in flavor, often in novel and pleasant ways, but less so in astringency, interesting and complex, maybe including substantial bitterness but not challenging in the same way. You might like such a tea aged to see positive aspects transition to other different positive aspects, not to become drinkable.
But then what do I know, right, I’ve already said that to some extent the generalities escape me.
Fifth infusion: I’ve not been mentioning transition much, but the same aspects are shifting. That really heavy honey sweetness is not changing; it’s cool experiencing it with a slightly different other range, in terms of proportion. I’m not doing justice to a “wood” flavor range; it’s definitely not that in this round's form. Heavy mineral is half of it, a warm mineral tone input. A trace of pine is part of the rest, which is closer to pine resin scent than the brighter needle flavor. I think the complexity is what is giving me trouble. Part is like wood, but part is like a carroway seed too, a spice range input. This doesn’t taste like rye bread, at all, but part of what is in some forms of that is also in this. There’s no sourness or the same type of general bread range to connect it to rye bread.
I’m absolutely getting blasted by this tea. Drinking it outside in a warm end of morning probably isn’t helping (with "warm" in Bangkok meaning mid 90s F, mid 30s C). It’s not the trippy, visual, stoney range that some sheng brings across, just a heavy energy, a body feel that’s also affecting my head. It doesn’t feel off in any way, but it’s not really an activating effect or a sedative, just bumping overall energy level. I could exercise “on this,” or work, but it would waste the effect to go sit in an office now. Sitting through a movie would work, I’d think, just maybe not a slow drama. For me outdoor experience goes well with every mood and energy level, but that’s surely common but not universal.
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one cup more than the required level of stuff |
Sixth infusion: I’ll go get the kids from Chinese (Mandarin) lesson so I’ll leave off here [my wife did instead, but I'd like to preserve the notes as they were]. This is far from finished but it’s more than enough notes. For whatever reason I’m noticing that touch of lemon more in this round than the last; I probably brewed it just a little faster, letting lighter tones show through more. Or it may be shifting in the balance, part of the transition. That would be really cool if this did even more with fruit in the later rounds, not how that usually goes. With that as a prompt, and in the context of this being a little lighter, something like dried apricot shows through more than that pine/wood tone, that had been moving into a spice range more last round. I bet this isn’t finished, that it has one or two more transition-related sets of aspects to go through. I never will add another 1000 words in notes but I may say something about that later.
Later infusions: the next few seemed similar, maybe just fading a little. At around infusion 10 the character was still pleasant but intensity and range were restricted, with mineral showing through more and sweetness and the floral (transitioning a little to fruit) range both dropping back. The tea was still nice that way (or is; I’m making notes as I go again). That pronounced warm mineral range reminds me of a common theme in aged sheng, but it just happens to be similar, or maybe the same, while from a different kind of cause. In aged sheng lots of compounds / aspects shift from fresh, bitter, astringent (feel versus flavor, but it all seems to “bundle,” to some extent) to deeper, richer, warmer, full but smoother, less structured in feel, and quite different. It just so happens that a specific warm mineral tone is common in that other set, and stands out in later rounds in this. The rest is different, of course.
Conclusions:
I never did get far with the two obvious questions, what is it, and how good is it? Again I’m not mentally set up for the blind-tasting type-matching game; memory for a matrix of concepts isn’t my thing, across a very broad range of subjects. As to how good it is that’s problematic for a different reason, because it has to include both a subjective preference component, a match to personal like, and be good for what it is, back to the trueness to type first issue. That said, it’s good.
As I see it sheng is often sold across a few general sets of types. “Factory teas” cover a broad range but these are blends, quite often “designed” to be aged to be most positive, most typically in a quite moderate price range, $30-$60 per cake, let’s say. Of course there would be lots of direct exceptions to that. A broad subset is even cheaper, and not necessarily awful for being made of low-cost material. Then some vendors try to make blends like that but slightly better, using better material (hopefully), often selling for around the high side of that range, but of course that would vary. Sheng versions made from a more limited source range are something else, often pricing from that high end on up, maybe way up depending on source area and claimed tea plant source age. I guess this seems like a decent version of the last category to me. I can’t guess to what extent it was blended, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that input was quite limited, or not part of the story.
As to quality level I liked the tea, and it had some really positive aspects, but there were limitations in relation to seeing it as good in the sense one would expect from expensive tea versions, maybe even below versions in the range of $80-100 sold as semi-premium teas, or however branding and marketing puts that. That wood-tone wasn’t bad but also not the most positive range, even though it faded and changed to other range after a few rounds. Slight dryness was probably more negative than positive but again not a character flaw, and again it shifted. Complexity was good; aftertaste and feel generally positive, although there was some room for improvement or stronger effect for those. Intensity was good, but it could’ve extended for a few more rounds before fading some. It’s cheating but from what I do remember this is probably much better tea than a selling price would indicate, but not on the same level as versions vendors promote as a $.50-1/gram exceptional quality level examples. Let’s see, checking what it is.
2019 Spring "Jing Mai" Arbor Sheng Puerh 357g Raw Tea Menghai Yunnan Pu'er
Nice! Now it does look like I know what I'm talking about, for completely matching the earlier Jing Mai general description as floral with a bit of pine and maybe lemon, approachable but not soft related to astringency form. That cost description matches too; this sells for just over $30 (1039 baht), which to me is a fantastic price for this tea. Jing Mai is a good general type for buying at a great value, if you like the character, which this is a decent example of. It would be really easy to buy tea not even close to this good for double that price; much, much easier than finding anything comparable at the same cost. Their description:
Name: Jing Mai Arbor Sheng Puerh
Year: 2019 Spring First Harvest
Country of Origin: Yunnan Province, China
Altitude: 1400m above sea level
Flavor: Sweet Wild floral aroma , Smoky Pine Scent
These tea leaves are from tall bushes which are above 80 years old. They grow freely with different kinds of plants in Jing Mai mountain. Dry tea leaves are tight and dark. The infusion is lightly golden with typical honey sweet aroma, excellent depth of flavor and a soft velvety mouth-feel, full, round and harmonious.
The only part of the description I'm not "getting" is the smoky part. Pine was fairly subdued, but present, but I noticed no smoke at all. If that was from a processing input and wasn't strong it may have just dropped out over two years. Other than not mentioning a touch of lemon they covered pretty much everything I mentioned.
I was considering benchmarking price against a somewhat recent Jing Mai version from Moychay, which seemed a decent value, this one. That tea might have been slightly better but for that costing just over $60 and this just over $30 it would be an easy choice between the two for me; buy this and another one presented as better (higher in cost, at least) from this Song Yi outlet.
Farmerleaf has always been a good source for Jing Mai and other origin teas; comparing this to one of their flagship versions might help, and seemingly their least expensive sheng version, a 2020 Jing Mai Miyun, which lists for $56. Their description fills in what that "arbor" part is at least supposed to mean (per my understanding):
The Jingmai Miyun is a blend of several natural tea gardens (also known as Shengtai) that our family manages. We have five plots of shengtai, located at various altitudes and in different environments.
What makes a natural tea garden?
While conventional plantations loaded with pesticides and growth promoters were prevalent in Yunnan a few decades ago, the revival of the Pu-erh tea industry in the 2000s lead a push for better quality. When it comes to Pu-erh tea, you can't hide bad material under a good processing, it's a tea true to its origin.
The conventional plantations were not able to produce leaves that would satisfy the demanding pu-erh tea enthusiasts. From 2010 on, a lot of conventional plantations were redesigned. Plantation density was reduced and shade tree were planted in order to build a resilient ecosystem. This design would produce less tea per surface, but would offer better protection against pest and disease and wouldn't require much fertilization. The tea trees were allowed to grow taller, at about 2m high.
This design change allowed the farmers to ban pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Thanks to a richer ecosystem and clever design, the leaves would grow high quality leaves and give satisfying Pu-erh tea.
It would be interesting to comparison taste that Miyun version and some other version they describe as higher in quality alongside this tea. I last bought a Farmerleaf cake presented as such two years ago, this one, a 2018 Tian Xiang version. Vendors typically never try to isolate a specific quality level in description, of course, partly because that's way too subjective, but within the description context and content it comes across, with selling point another implication ($79 for that cake). That version was good, maybe better than this, or maybe partly just different in character versus better. I've tried that again in the last 3 weeks; it's still good, but mostly gone, because I drank through it and shared some.
I think I liked a Mengku sample from them a good bit more, but that was selling for closer to $100, and I didn't go on to buy a cake of it (due to budget issues, not value; that price seemed fair). To be clear my opinion on the last version, and all of them, probably related to type and aspect character more than abstract quality level, but I suppose also that.
I can't say this is fantastic tea but I can say that it's quite good quality, and very enjoyable, per my preference, and it is a fantastic value, essentially better value than sheng ever tends to be. It punches way above its weight in relation to price. Some people just wouldn't love this type and aspects set; so subjective preference goes. It's possible someone could see the early touch of dryness and wood-tone input as more negative than I did. To me that's splitting hairs; this tea is only now coming into it's peak form, surely it will be just as good or better over the next three years or so.
It may not have been at a relatively ideal starting point to age well past 15 years, but it's a great value tea to buy two cakes of it, one to drink and one to check on that after another decade. I tend to try to only drink half a cake in some cases, but 180 or so grams of tea can go a lot faster than one might expect. It's just a couple of tuochas worth.
Photo sharing section:
Not about tea, since it's been awhile I took some pictures of where I had the tea, out in a driveway space area, which is like a cool park setting.
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the gardener / home owner, my wife's mother Mama Nid (or Yai, to the kids). she's so nice. |
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I lost this round of the hungry squirrel game; he eats my favorite breakfast |
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what that yard space looks like |
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the other yard |
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flip flop and cat storage space |
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the other cat, "ei ouan" |
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it's not even the rainy season and the house jungle keeps taking back the backboard |
