Thai Wawee Assamica black tea and Moychay Fengqing Dian Hong

 

I'm reviewing another black tea from Wawee Tea, a sample sent by them with an order of sheng and black tea, and a Moychay Dian Hong for comparison.  Reviewing two teas helps place each, through comparison and contrast, and doubles the pace that I get through teas I'm reviewing.  A large set of samples provided by Moychay helps with that first role (many thanks for that, even though it was a thanks for helping them with some editing).

The Thai tea is presented as "Assam."  It's normal for local producers to call Assamica plant type based black tea Assam, whether the style is close to that origin range type or not.  I think they kind of mean "Assamica" by that, but it doesn't matter what they mean, the teas are what they are.  

There isn't any description of that from them, since there isn't a conventional sales site to refer to.  They would have outlets on the local online shopping platforms, on Shopee and Lazada, but people in other countries couldn't use those, and people in Thailand would often already know of those if they like that style of tea.  I order from them by direct staff contact, kind of the old fashioned way, when I see posts about something that look interesting.  This is a related Facebook page; that's where I'd see such things, in others forwarding those.  I could look this up on Shopee, but I'm not going to.

I did look up another citation of a different tea bag version on that Facebook page though, here.  

Wild Assam Black Tea with Osmanthus Flowers

This is Wawee Tea's unique blend, currently served in major hotels in Bangkok.

🍂The main ingredient is Wild Assam Black Tea, produced from centuries-old wild Assam tea trees on Doi Wawee.

Guaranteed by a silver medal award in a black tea competition. International Black Tea Competition 2019, China

🌼 Blended with Osmanthus (Guihua) flowers Authentic variety from Dali, China. Grown 100% chemical-free on our own farm.

🍃 Packaged in tea bags made from corn fiber, microplastic-free.

Brewing Instructions:  Steep the tea bag in hot water for no more than 2 minutes.  For 250 ml.

20 Baht per piece

20 baht is about 60 cents, so that should be about 15 cents a gram.  The tea is pretty good; that's fair.  Again that's an osthmanthus flavored version, that looks to be made from the same black tea base, but I don't know that, and I don't know that the pricing is identical (although there's a good chance that it is).

Those brewing instructions would probably work, but it would be a real shame to throw away that tea bag after it had brewed for two minutes.  It could surely make a pleasant second infusion.

Of course Moychay lists what their tea is, and it would be sold on an online platform, here:

Black Tea DIAN HONG CHA, Chinese tea from Yunnan Province (Red Tea), 70g, 7g  (70 grams costs 7.34 Euro, or $8.35).

Dian Hong, or Yunnan Red Tea, originates from Fengqing County, Yunnan Province, a region renowned for its ideal tea-growing conditions. First developed in the late 19th century, Dian Hong transitioned from green tea production to meet the rising demand for black tea. Its unique flavor and consistent quality have earned it recognition both in China and internationally, even being gifted as a national tea to foreign dignitaries.

Cultivated at altitudes of 1800–2200 meters in Dasi Township, Fengqing County, this organic tea is hand-picked during the spring harvest (March 25 to May 5) using the traditional standard of one bud with three leaves. The tea is made from the Mengku Da Ye Zhong cultivar, and its production involves withering, rolling, fermentation, and multiple drying steps, ensuring a rich, full-bodied character.

Dian Hong brews into a deep red infusion with a complex aroma featuring honey, fruit, and floral notes. The taste is smooth and rich, with a satisfying balance of sweetness and a slight hint of bitterness. Its long-lasting aftertaste is sweet and lingering, offering a comforting experience over multiple infusions.

Let's start with that pricing; it works out to 12 cents a gram (or it would be $12 for 100 grams).  That's pretty favorable, on the low side of the range for this type.  Maybe that implies that the quality level is moderate, or maybe it's just a good deal; it just depends.  Skipping ahead maybe a bit of both, related to writing this after doing the tasting part.

atypical presentation, compared to what I'm accustomed to

Review:

Thai  Wawee Assamica:  it's pretty good.  Warm tones match what one expect from black tea of this range, the earthiness, also covering range like redwood scent.  A bit of berry also stands out, something like blackberry, but one could imagine it being interpreted as dark cherry.  Feel is full and structured, maybe more structured than full, without dryness, or being too harsh, so that part works well.  

This would be amazing as an English Breakfast Tea replacement; a much better version of that general type.  Or maybe one category over, and just better than that, but comparable in some ways.  For the leaf material being as chopped as it is astringency is still mild.  I brewed it for around 20 seconds in a 100 ml gaiwan (for 4 grams), plenty to get it started, and it's not really overbrewed, although it looks it, quite dark and red.  

This doesn't need milk or sugar, prepared like this, but you can put milk and sugar in black tea that doesn't need it, if you brew it strong, and it can still be nice.  I was in a rush yesterday and did that, brewing their Wawee tea cake extra strong, and adding milk and sugar so I could essentially gulp it down, in a very fast breakfast.

Moychay Fengqing Dian Hong:  this is brewed a little too strong.  It's 7 grams in a 100 ml gaiwan, so 20 seconds was a bit much, even though it takes 5 to 10 for teas to generally just get completely soaked.  It has more feel structure than the other tea; I didn't see that coming.  Being brewed too strong changes that; we'll see next round.  I thought that the other tea being chopped would make it brew fast, so the 4 and 7 gram proportions might balance, since this is whole leaf.

This includes a few flavors, a set that hasn't fully integrated yet.  One part is tartness, not a personal favorite in black tea range, but it can come up.  Another is fruit; that I do love.  It includes some of that conventional black tea range, I guess oriented towards malt, which I probably should've used as a description for the other one.  It seems to include a hint of black pepper; that's interesting.  Then there is also some roasted yam, or something along that line.  Maybe sweet potato instead?  Or both, combining.

It sounds quite complex, and it is, but the flavors don't combine and integrate well just yet, and there's a thinness in one part of the flavor or character profile I can't pin down.  It all might just relate to it getting started, not being there yet.  In retrying the other I'm not really noticing malt, but it seems I did miss cacao.  It will be interesting to see how it develops.

Wawee Assamica #2:  these are both all but flash brewed, using a very short infusion time, but both look kind of dark red.  This extracted faster, per the color and darkness, but we'll see.

It's actually pretty light.  It's unusual drinking this style of tea light, more of a conventional black tea, but it works, beyond not matching a brewing norm.  There's plenty of flavor, but the feel seems light.  The feel that is present works, including some richness and fullness.  Flavor includes cacao and whatever berry range that is.  This is almost a Christmas blend flavor profile, without any adjustment from other flavors.  Add some orange peel rind and cacao nibs to dial up the fruit and cocoa flavor and it's there.  Of course it's already fine as it is.

It can be hard to notice what is missing.  This doesn't taste like malt, and tea of this character would usually include much rougher astringency.  It's quite good, for the style and presentation.

Moychay Dian Hong:  this is slightly stronger, in a more conventional range, but then it is brewing 7 grams instead of 4.  I didn't adjust timing, beyond pouring the second gaiwan out first, when it had been filled second.  Tartness is dropping out already, it seems.  Even though it's really subtle that limited pepper note is cool, adding a nice effect.  Roasted yam or sweet potato is a main flavor now.  It's hard to settle on it being just one of those, even though they are different.  It's not as distinct a flavor as it could be.

Related to comparison to Dian Hong I'm familiar with this is fine, but something is missing.  It doesn't include a depth of feel, and a heavy mineral base input, to the extent those often do.  Often some versions will lack flavor intensity while they express that depth, which can seem a little strange, although that can be pleasant if you are accustomed to it.  

I experience that as a gap in what I expect.  You get a good hit of up front flavor, and it trails after some as aftertaste, but the feel just isn't there, and some flavor depth is missing.  I'm not saying that the other version includes all of that, but it covers a normal range better, so to a very limited extent it is.  But it's not a tea that could pass for a good version of Dian Hong either.  I'll push both a little more going back to a 15 to 20 second infusion, and see where they stand further along the cycle.

Thai Wawee Assamica #3:  this is holding up pretty well, for tea that I freed up from a tea bag.  The character isn't different enough to go back through it again; it's just a stronger version of what I experienced the last round.  The balance works, how it all comes together.

Moychay Dian Hong:  this is the best this has been.  Feel thickens, and mineral base picks up; that's more like it.  The black pepper note is stronger.  Or is that white pepper?  It might be.  A touch of berry like range adds to the roasted yam / sweet potato, giving it more flavor complexity, which works well with the richer feel.  

This still isn't a personal favorite style of Dian Hong example, for me, but it's much closer.  A bit of cacao and a little more sweetness would really tie the rest together better.  But it integrates the best it has, and it's fine like this.  Very limited tartness isn't as problematic (I just don't like tartness), but it's more shift in the wrong direction.

To be clear Dian Hong is my favorite black tea type.  It's very familiar.  Versions from South East Asia can be just as good, and can match typical Yunnan style very well, or they can also vary, a lot.  There are outliers in Yunnan versions and styles too.  This is sort of conventional, sort of not, in two different senses.  It lacks typical depth, mineral range isn't as pronounced as it usually would be, and the tartness isn't typical at all.  But the other flavor range is right, and the lack of harsh astringency, the tea being full but not rough or dry.  They generally don't taste malty, and this doesn't.

At this stage I like the other tea a little better.  The tartness alone might swing that balance, or it all just integrates a little better.  It's not nearly as good as the black tea cake I bought from them; for someone with my preferences it would be as well to skip this tea and just buy that.  But then this is a different thing, and for a tea to go, the tea bag form it came in, it would work well, much better than anything Twinings or similar producers make.

Both teas, infusion #4:  the Wawee tea thins a little, but then it has been a challenge brewing 4 grams of broken leaf well.  It's still good.  The Dian Hong is still the best it has been, picking up a little more depth and complexity.  

It's an overall good sign that it improves across rounds; better quality tea will do that, while lower quality versions express their best range early on, and then die.  Or maybe that also relates to material type; low elevation grown plantation tea should be more intense at first, then fade, and higher elevation or more natural grown tea tends to have more durability.  Sometimes older plant material teas can lack exceptional flavor intensity but express a lot of depth.

In the round after these, #5, the Thai Wawee tea was really dropping off, and the Dian Hong wasn't, kind of as one might expect, that whole-leaf tea would brew out slower.  But again it's also a good sign for the Dian Hong quality level.

Conclusions:

Both were pretty good.  Both had their own limitations.  For comparing to standard tea-bag tea, chopped material range versions, the Wawee tea was exceptional, but it's an odd starting point competing in that range.  It was better than that; it was fine as a conventional specialty tea.  But I suppose it could have been even better as a more whole leaf version.

The Moychay version I judged more negatively for coming into the tasting with a lot of expectations about Dian Hong style and character range.  It was good, but some early lack of some range (mineral taste, feel depth), and inclusion of tartness, seemed a lot more negative for me expecting it to be a certain way, to be different.  It's not necessarily that it compared negatively to the other version, but the other Wawee tea was better in a couple of ways.  And the Moychay tea was superior in other ways; it held up better to an infusion cycle, and came to express more complexity and depth than the other, in "later" rounds (this was a pretty short infusion sampling cycle).  

If I had to pick one that I liked more it would be the Thai tea, but they were both fairly equivalent, and that was about preference for specific flavor range, not quality.  Maybe the Moychay Dian Hong was a little higher in quality level, in spite of it also being limited in some ways.

I've been trying such exceptional teas lately that any that seem good but not great might come across as more limited to me now.  These were both good.  For anyone that actually likes a touch of tartness in black teas the Dian Hong review might seem wrong; too negative.  And without specific expectations about feel and mineral base flavor going in it could seem all the more positive.  

Dian Hong drinkers would know what I'm talking about, and anyone new to tea reading this might think it's all nonsense.  Trueness to type expectations aren't really a made up thing, but they do extend how people experience tea into an abstract range, moving beyond "how good; how pleasant?," into "does this match what I expect?"

The Moychay tea is a really good value, for as pleasant as this is.  It may not work well for spending an hour just focusing on it, for me, for it missing my main personal preference range by a couple of aspects, but this would still be a great breakfast tea.  For someone with different black tea preference it may seem much better than that.

ITea World Dan Cong and Tie Guan Yin oolongs

 

Greetings!  It's been awhile.  My kids spent winter school break here in Bangkok, visiting back from Honolulu, so I took a couple of weeks off this blog, and most of the internet in general.  I should probably never return to the same level of use, but this isn't about the digital detox theme.

I had tried tea versions from ITea World before, samples sent from a new mainstream Chinese vendor for review, in 2023.  They were pretty good; kind of medium quality level, but for being moderate cost versions the value and experience in relation to expectations was fine.  They asked if I wanted to try more, better versions of oolongs this time, and it's always interesting revisiting such themes.  I drink a lot more sheng pu'er than anything else now, but it's interesting checking in with types I've focused more on in the past.

In this review I tried to sort out just how good the versions are.  Better than the last ones, unless I've got that all wrong, this time more upper medium quality, or at the lower end of the highest quality range.  It probably gets tiresome hearing that spelled out in detail, but it does also pass on my take on what differentiates really good tea versions from medium or slightly above average versions, so covering finer points at length serves two different purposes.  

I don't lean into the theme of "quality markers" too much here, something I've not ran across used in exactly the same way I've developed it, but surely a theme that's not unheard of.  Some specific aspects identify what is most desirable in some tea versions; that's it.  For this it's enough to specify what stands out as most positive and what represents limitations in these versions.

They're not listed on the website, except in the sampler version they sent me.  The versions are from different harvests than the earlier oolongs offerings, or else they seem the same, of the same types.  I've not discussed how these are better with the vendor, in any detail.

The set sells for $40 for a 100 gram set of samples, all 5 grams each (so there must be 20--yep, I just counted them), so only that price point will serve as a cost baseline.  40 cents a gram for pretty good oolong is not so bad, as a starting point.  For baseline reference I can buy really good versions of it in the Bangkok Chinatown for $30 for 100 grams, but you would almost have to live in China to have access to the same or better degree of options as there, to be able to buy good versions at low cost.  Cost of teas tend to vary some by type, with some higher in demand, and the Dan Cong in this set may be the kind of version that sells for a good bit more than Tie Guan Yin or Shui Xian (for example).  

What about comparison with online sales options though?  That gets complicated, because online vendors set price points in a broad range of ways, which vary by the value they buy tea at, and their markup, all adjusted quite a bit for their costs, the volume they sell, and what works out well for profit for them.  There is no standard range of norms, really; it varies.  In this I talk as if there is, estimating what comparable quality versions to these would tend to sell for online.  That can be hard to estimate based on product descriptions, because essentially every vendor exaggerates quality levels, describing their own teas in glowing, positive terms, as they kind of should, since a sales function just doesn't couple well with excessive humility about experienced aspects and quality level.

Let's push that consideration a little further, then cite their description, then get on with review notes.  This is a medium quality (or at least medium range price) Mi Lan Xiang Dan Cong from Yunnan Sourcing, not the obvious place to buy teas from provinces outside of Yunnan, but a standard option, selling for $17.50 per 30 grams (so $58 per 100 grams), with their highest quality / cost offering selling for a lot more, more than double that:

This is a lovely middle mountain (中山) elevation Mi Lan Xiang (蜜兰香) from Da An village, grown at an altitude of roughly 900 meters from decades old tea bushes growing wild.

Strong and thick tea, golden yellow tea soup, powerful honey and orchid aroma.  Perfect balance of sweet, bitter and umami with a long lasting mouth-feeling.  Cha Qi is powerful and clean.

This is a high quality Mi Lang Xiang that will surely please even the most discerning Dan Cong connoisseurs!

It sounds good.  One point here in citing that is that tea descriptions should focus on the positive, and another is to spell out a type-typical range:  including floral range, good balance, good mouthfeel, and intensity.  Bitterness and umami not so much; I'm not sure what that's all about.  Sheng is bitter, and umami is found in Japanese green teas, or maybe Mao Feng Chinese green tea, but typically not Dan Cong.  Maybe this Yunnan Sourcing version is better than the one I've already wrote notes for, or maybe it's not as good; you can't tell from a description.

This version from Wuyi Origin, a very, very well regarded direct sales producer site, lists for $60 per 100 grams; it's almost certainly significantly better.  But it's not really fair, comparing tea from a mainstream resale outlet--what both ITea World and Yunnan Sourcing are--with the relative best quality and value source for this oolong in China that I'm aware of.  

This kind of oolong sampler is for a different kind of customer, someone wanting to explore better oolongs than you typically ever find in broad-type online outlets or any local tea shops.  From there people might eventually go on to seek out what pushes on towards being as good as any versions typically get.  The Wuyi Origin cost isn't that much higher but moving on to spend $200 on a tea order isn't for everyone; I personally try to avoid that.  300 grams of the tea I mentioned gets you pretty close, and if "free" shipping isn't built into their pricing you're there.

Let's check that ITea World listing:

Again that's listed for $40 ($39.99) for 100 grams of those samples, packaged in 5 gram samples.  That site shows free shipping kicking in at $39.98, so in theory you could just buy this set.  That would be amazing self-discipline, ordering $40 of tea from a China-based vendor, but you could.

It does say a little more about specific local harvest area, growing elevation, and oxidation level on that page, but it seems as well to get on with describing the teas.  Elevation does matter, and plant age (supposedly over 100 years old for the Dan Cong), but it's as well to go by final outcome, the experienced aspects, and you need to try the tea to determine that.  Or hear from someone you trust on that, I guess, but then even given that kind of input verbal descriptions only go so far.

Review:

Dan Cong:  it's good.  As so often tends to happen this first round is a little light, and therefore harder to really judge, but this is quite nice.  The oxidation input and roast balance is very medium, just as it should be to get to a very positive outcome for this type, complementing the floral range very well.  I'll fill in the standard list of aspects and finer quality level assessment the next time, but this is probably as far up the quality scale as it should be for what I'm expecting of it, fairly far along.  Style is zeroed in, especially roast level, I think; not pretty good but right there.  

This probably is Mi Lan Xiang again, and again it's odd that the package doesn't say that, as with the first version that I reviewed.  I'll cite a website listing after making review notes, and that may fill in this detail (it seems to not; a little odd, really even something that could be taken as a red flag, but again experienced aspects and quality are what matter most, as I see it).  I'm brewing 5 grams, the package amount, which really should be relatively ideal, but I tend to use about 8 grams normally, so I'll have to make an adjustment.

Tie Guan Yin:  the same; this will be easier to evaluate next round, once it has opened up and is more intense.  I think this is better than their last version too, in the range better versions fall into.  Not for traditional style more oxidized and roasted tea versions; this is still the bright green kind.  Markers for quality level include very sweet floral input, ranging into an odd taste sensation form, which I'll describe further next round, almost oddly strong, with a somewhat thick, full feel seeming to emerge.  

I really won't be able to make out the feel brewed lightly and not really opened up but the flavor is fine.  It might include a very light off trace, drifting every so slightly into new car smell range, but that may just be an early round anomaly that drops out right away.

Dan Cong, #2:  brewed much stronger, really a bit excessive, for trying to err on the side of definitely getting this strong enough.  

Feel structure really ramped up as a result, and heavier, earthier flavors.  That's actually better for evaluating feel, but flavor experience isn't optimum like that.  It doesn't include a common harsh astringency edge some Dan Cong does, or many do.  People can make the mistake of thinking that's actually type-typical, when it's my impression that it's really not, that it's common but not a marker of correct style and aspect range.  

People also tend to get astringency and bitterness mixed up, which I find odd.  It doesn't take that much exposure to tea aspects to see them as completely different things, which just happen to sometimes occur together, or maybe they come up together often.  Bitterness is a flavor aspect; that's what aspirin tastes like.  Astringency relates to feel; it's the roughness of texture that occurs in a range of tea types, especially in very chopped or ground up black tea.  Black teas are essentially never bitter (although there would always be exceptions), so if you think your tea-bag tea is bitter you might want to give this some thought.  Taste an aspirin, which is bitter (and also causes an astringency sensation; that's confusing), and see if the flavor part is common to what it experienced in chopped material black tea.  Here I'm claiming that the feel is comparable but not the taste.

At a guess lower elevation, younger plants grown using a lot of fertilizer tends to be very intense, including that strong feel edge (astringency), and older plant, higher grown, less chemical-stressed plants include fantastic flavor and feel character but they're not as intense, at least not in the same ways.  Floral flavor and sweetness can be very pronounced, but a harsh feel edge often isn't (the astringency).  If both flavor and feel are intense in a Dan Cong version it works better to use really short infusion times and hot water to optimize the experience, more so than cutting the brewing temperature, which works, but in a different way.  Don't take my word for that, try it and see what you think.

This would be easier to place if I'd been drinking more Dan Cong over the last few years.  I think it's pretty good, in a well above average quality range, but finer differences mark the highest levels from there.  Different vendors sell what are described as the best of the best range, hyping tea plant age claims, using elaborate descriptions of refined, diverse, and unique feel and flavor experience, but it can be hard to separate hype from likely accurate description.  Only with tasting does one arrive at any subjective impression of that, but online discussion inputs about this or that vendor selling the most optimum versions contradict each other.  As I suppose they should; different versions would vary quite a bit, maybe even as sold by the same vendor, and preferences would vary.

To distill this to a flavor list a perfume-like floral sweetness dominates the experience, along with warm tones surely drawn out through extra oxidation and roast input.  The two ranges really balance.  Warm mineral tone ramps up right at the end of the experience, leading into a sweet aftertaste experience including all of that range.

Even though it's all very positive, about as pleasant, refined, intense, complex, and balanced as it probably would be, for higher volume, diverse type outlet sales, it's my impression that dialing up all of those just a touch is still possible.  Feel thickness is more moderate; there is room for more change in that, and aftertaste intensity is also positive but not at the high end of that range of potential.  It all seems like splitting hairs, but that's how evaluating quality for above average quality versions go.  

At a rough guess this should retail for 50 to 60 cents a gram but not more (or it could sell for less; it's hard to pin down what the best value, quite good quality range versions out there are like).  The 70 or 80 cent per gram range is something else, or $1 or over.  Or maybe that's being a little harsh; this is quite good, and Dan Cong seems to reach $1 per gram quickly enough for a generally good quality range, and this is that.  It certainly doesn't taste like a medium quality tin-packaged version, although the best of those, the atypical examples, fall fairly close, or could be this good.  We'll see how their pricing places it [that never did become clear, because all together sell for 40 cents per gram].

Tie Guan Yin:  I have mixed feelings about this quality assessment too.  If I was evaluating this as either inexpensive, medium range, or higher quality Tie Guan Yin it would easily surpass that first level, and fall either in the higher end of the second or lower end of the third.  Sweetness is good, floral range is pleasant, and dominant, and it contains a catchy towards-plastic aspect that I'm interpreting as generally positive, even though per that description it wouldn't sound it, and someone might really hate that, or else could like it.  Then feel is a bit thin, aftertaste is limited, and intensity and the balance / complexity part isn't bad but not in the highest range.  

Evaluating this against all TGY it's quite good; trying to match it with the highest quality end of the range gives the opposite results, and gaps stand out.  As long as pricing is favorable per quality, the value is good, if the idea is to try above average quality TGY this easily provides that experience.  If the intention is for this to compete with the best of the best it doesn't seem to hold up.  

Then one would wonder about pricing, and I'm not really even sure where the high level range for pretty good TGY stands.  For lots of in-demand and more rare tea types, for any Dan Cong version beyond Mi Lan Xiang, the most common one, the best versions are at or above $1 per gram, fairly universally.  That may not hold as true for Tie Guan Yin, although given how demand patterns work out in China, that the best teas are sought out and competed for, maybe it still works, even though TGY is really the main universal oolong type out there, or one of them, sold as a most-common tea type.  Shui Xian fills that role in Fujian / Wuyi Yancha versions, and TGY from Anxi is even more ubiquitous.

I'll try brewing these for more like 20 seconds, to try them lighter.

Dan Cong #3:  forget about that project of placing this in relation to the highest possible quality levels; related to purely subjective experience value this is solid tea, that works well for me.  The way the warmth and deeper tones integrate and balance with the sweet floral range is great.  Sure it's possible to consider if there shouldn't be a bit more thickness of feel (or quite a bit more), or if complexity and intensity couldn't be dialed up just a little, but this still totally works.  Feel is a bit velvety, just not thick.  

Flavors are complex and balanced, just perhaps leaving limited range for improvement.  But it's quite good.  If this sells for under $1 per gram I think it's probably a good value for that, whether or not you could explore and eventually find a slightly better version at the same cost; for quite near, at, or over $1 per gram and they're probably pushing it a bit.

Tie Guan Yin:  this is nice too.  Mind you I'm working around Tie Guan Yin not really being a personal favorite range, so I'm not going to refer back to that subjective preference assessment, beyond quality.  It's good though, and pleasant.  I don't think it matches the Dan Cong version for how good, even though comparing different types brings up problems in equivalence.  For this style of oolong, lighter rolled versions, thickness of feel is all the more critical, and this seems just a trace thinner than the other, not better in relation to just that aspect.  Sweetness is good, and floral range is fine, but that one slightly off taste aspect trace, which I find to be both catchy and also slightly negative, even though that's odd, a plastic sort of taste, also throws off highest level quality assessment.  

Again if the point is for it to be quite good it's there, well above average, but within the top third of the quality range potential it's near that bottom of the top.  If this is 40 to 50 cents a gram, selling as a next level breakfast tea, that's fair, again even if somewhere else on the internet better tea sells for less.  For anywhere near $1 a gram, or even 60 to 80 cents, it's just too much for what this is.  

For me personally I'd not drink much really light style rolled oolong at all, but I should clarify that I was really on that page very early in my tea exploration, and I would have loved this back then.  Preferences naturally evolve over time, and this is better as a place to start, or explore in early rounds.  

I don't think this holds its own with the higher quality level range from Taiwan, but then a lot of oolong versions from there marketed as such would be generally equivalent, but not better; almost anything selling through high volume mainstream outlets probably would be.  Specialty vendors known for selling only the best range of Taiwanese oolongs would only sell better quality versions than this, but the cost for those would tend to be double or triple what you would buy pretty good Anxi Tie Guan Yin for.

Dan Cong #4:  floral range might develop a bit, picking up more intensity.  That's a good sign; this might continue to evolve positively.  I'm not going to write more notes though; I don't have time to spare for that.  If I remember to I'll add a comment from memory later on how that worked out.

Tie Guan Yin:  this is good, it's just not great.  It's very pleasant, and all the aspects are generally where they should be, just not at the optimum level for many.   Sweetness, freshness, floral range, mineral range adding depth, aftertaste follow-through are all positive, although aftertaste intensity is limited.  Feel gives up a good bit.  For people not experienced in evaluating higher quality versions that wouldn't stand out at all, since you tend to explore and appreciate flavor first.  This is pleasant, likeable.  It will be interesting seeing the cost and the website description, matching both versions up against those.

Later rounds:  these held up fine for a couple of more infusions but then died a bit quickly, which I guess also related to using a lower proportion than I usually do, and longer infusion times.

Conclusions:

These are better than I remember the 2023 ITea World versions being.  Again they're good value, good quality in relation to the selling price, maybe best described as the highest level of upper medium quality range versus the low end of the highest quality scope.  As I'd mentioned for people newer to tea experience what I'm experiencing as significant gaps may not be all that noticeable at all; early on people typically haven't learned to evaluate or value thickness of feel and aftertaste experience.  Related to only flavor they're much better, than when you include review of those aspect expectations.

I liked the Dan Cong a lot more.  I like Dan Cong more than Tie Guan Yin in general, but them getting the oxidation level and roast dialed in made a big difference, and I've not mentioned aspects that stand out as flaws because there weren't any, beyond what could've been more pronounced, feel, complexity, and such.  Flavor range was pretty good for that.  

I am pretty sure it's Mi Lan Xiang, the most common Dan Cong type, for what that's worth.  There is room for improvement in the flavor complexity, intensity, balance, and refinement but all that is fairly positive.  I say that, but if you try this version side by side with a much higher quality version the difference would seem striking.  If you aren't experienced at evaluating teas if you tried both 3 or 4 weeks apart it might be much harder to notice it; it's funny how that works.  It could've been a couple years since I've tried any Dan Cong; after awhile the whole range just becomes familiar, with enough exposure, drinking dozens of versions over many years.

The Tie Guan Yin is pretty decent Tie Guan Yin; I suppose that's good enough.  If you would taste it side by side along with anything from a specialty grocery store this version would seem fantastic in comparison.  Then trying it along with standard $1-$1.50 per gram Taiwanese rolled oolong it would seem to fall way short; it's funny how that works out.

I can respect what ITea World is doing with these teas, making above average versions available at fair pricing.  This is perfect for someone new to exploring oolongs.  Even if someone had been dabbling in trying them for awhile, but wasn't clear on their baseline quality expectations, these could be pleasant and helpful.  Even if the best of all the other versions someone had already tried had been slightly better it would still help place that range.  For people way past both exploration levels maybe trying these wouldn't make any sense, although I guess they could still work as a gift, for someone just getting started.

It's a little bizarre related to my own personal use but these come with a set of tea bag sleeves you can put them in; you can convert this loose tea to bag versions, just using what they've provided.  For a loose tea enthusiast you'd end up considering how else you might use those, since it wouldn't make sense to put this oolong in them to brew it (any other devices you already have around would work better).  

Some people keep sheng pu'er cake dust and small bits aside in a separate jar and brew only that from time to time; those bags might be perfect for that, to take a blend of extra scraps of cakes to the office to drink there.  Or it all works even better together as a gift, in case someone absolutely couldn't figure out how to brew loose tea.  For a non-tea drinker that's less unlikely and absurd; there is a learning curve to go through, and having some related gear definitely helps.  If you took only this sample set to a hotel you'd be set for having some decent tea every day for three weeks; not bad.  Drinking tea only from tea bags for three weeks would seem so strange to any tea enthusiast; the point is that it would work.

reunited with the cats (2 of 3 of them)

lots of errands, play outings, and pausing to enjoy the little things

they got some things for Christmas, just not much

family dinner at a hot pot and sushi buffet place

Kaley Tea's Ceylon based Christmas blend

 

A vendor who had sent me Ceylon tea to try in the past, Kaley Tea, recently sent a Christmas tea blend version to try.  So nice!  Earlier in this blog history I would experiment with making Christmas blends every year; it seemed a good time to make an exception from only drinking plain teas, and to experiment.  

This says that it contains tea, cardamom, and cloves, so it's a simplified variation of masala chai.  Masala chai is a good start for a Christmas blend; from there people could add fruit, like orange peel, or cacao, or pine needles, but keeping it quite limited could work well too.  It might allow the tea to play more of a role, where if you mix enough things in it wouldn't matter what the tea is.

drying fruit and peels for use in a Christmas blend (covered here)

It's nice to feel like I'm observing Christmas too.  It's a little early for that, since it's around Halloween time, but holiday experiences never match up here anyway.  It might not be so hot in another two months but otherwise the weather in Bangkok is generally consistent year-round, beyond when it rains more.

I'm brewing this using their recommendations, sort of.  They suggest using a teaspoon to make a cup, brewing that for 3 minutes, with an option to brew it a second time.  I brewed more than that, I think, and for longer, so maybe this will be a little strong.  Ordinarily I'm opposed to diluting tea, adding water, no matter what happens, but I could always make an exception if I've screwed this up.

it's definitely less monochromatic in person; I think shading inside the infuser caused that

Review:

Infusion strength isn't bad, maybe just a touch strong.  It wouldn't be unusual for people to add milk and sugar to this, not to cut overwhelming astringency, since this is mild enough, but just to play up the dessert experience feel, or how masala chai is usually made and enjoyed.  I could drink some and then adjust it, to review it both ways.

The spice balance is good.  Cardamom and clove alone really work, and it seems like this is pretty good tea matching with those.  The flavor input of all three is reasonably balanced; it would be easy for spices to overtake the tea range, but they all show through.  It's pleasant like this, but the extra infusion strength pushes it a little far, off of being sweet, light, complex, and approachable, as the softest and sweetest black teas are.  The tea input seems pretty good but I'll stop short of adding a flavor list here.  Malt doesn't show through, so it's not like an Assam, and maybe some of the mineral base that is distinctive in Ceylon is giving this good balance.

The general effect is very clean; there is no negative contribution of any aspect.  Not very poetic a description, right, compared to bringing up some childhood image of people around a fireplace, drinking tea and eating gingerbread Christmas cookies, or whatever else?  This would go really well with cookies; that's what is missing in the overall balance, a reason for drinking a clean and positive black tea with spice inputs.  

I like the tea but it's not what I'm accustomed to, and this really would make a lot more sense in some sort of late fall or winter context.  It probably would make a nice iced tea, but it's odd mentally switching channels like that, considering a radically different context.  For drinking it plain maybe it would be better with food or those cookies.  I'll try it with a little milk and honey and see how that works.

It's good with those added, probably better.  I used skim milk, what I'm drinking right now; surely that's not optimum, but it's still nice.  As with plain black tea all the flavors fall into a completely different balance when you add milk and sugar (or honey, also what I had most handy).  Going even heavier on infusion strength and using more full cream milk than I added would probably be more optimum, to get the full effect of both inputs.  I tried a second infusion brewed for longer (with the same leaves), this time using whole milk (my wife couldn't sleep at night knowing there are two cartons open at once), but of course the effect is better from the first round, the intensity.

One nice part about drinking it this way--adjusted--could be that people who don't drink tea might be more likely to like it.  These particular spice flavors might appeal most to people with more developed food flavor background (in Thailand or in the West), but to me it's quite approachable and pleasant.  For people familiar with this spicing range there would be no need to mess around with this recipe form, and aspects balance, but for others continuing on to add cacao and a fruit input might be good.  Using an apple peeler to remove some outer rind off an orange might be a nice addition too, giving a touch of extra fruit edge.  I don't see this as working well for coupling with some sort of alcohol input (which can come up as another Christmas theme), but people on that page may take that differently.  A little cognac or brandy would definitely completely change this.

It works for evoking a Christmas feel, I think.  It needs those cookies though, not just any one kind, whatever theme people tend to connect with their own expectations.  My Mom would make a lot of kinds; we had large trays of many types around in the holiday season.  This would be perfect with a kind we didn't make then, which we called whoopie pies, two soft chocolate cookies sandwiching a cream filling center.  Maybe even better with gingerbread men; that would round out the typical set expectation of ginger being the other main input in a traditional masala chai (as I see it; for others black pepper or other things could be added).

This might be a good year for messing around with your own Christmas blend experience; either go out and buy one, or keep an eye out for spice inputs, like spearmint, cacao, or whatever else.  There's still time to work out how adding pine needles to tea works for people in the US, which tree type needle inputs definitely won't poison you, and how drying or chopping the material changes infusion results.  Making adjusted masala chai versions takes practice; you might need a couple of trial rounds to prepare something you can serve to others (all of which I've covered in this blog).

Many thanks to Kaley for sharing this, and an early happy holidays for all readers!  

Lào Cai Old Tree Black from Vietnam (2023)

 

This is an interesting looking black tea that I ordered along with the sheng I've just reviewed from Viet Sun.  For whatever reason black tea is the main other type I've stuck with as a preference beyond sheng, even though I drank a lot more oolong earlier on, and can still appreciate versions of it.  I especially like Yunnan style black teas, by definition Dian Hong, since that more or less translates to Yunnan black tea.  

Just to fill in the extra background usually what is sold as Dian Hong is a certain style, most often all leaf material or leaf with some bud, relatively fully oxidized, and oven dried versus sun dried.  The slightly less oxidized versions that are sun dried, which leaves potential for development through aging for a few years, are often called Shai Hong, or sun-dried tea (maybe just translating as dried?  I don't speak any Chinese language variations).

I'll try to keep this post simple, to just describe the tea.  If it helps describe it to comment on oxidation level, or something such, I'll go there, but it would be nice to just say how it is this time.  Here is the Viet Sun description, which I have read before tasting this time (just to mix up the process):

Our first black (red) tea from Lào Cai Province! A buddy hồng trà from old/ ancient trees growing at 1800m in Bát Xát, Lào Cai. The people living in this tea area are primarily of the Red Dao ethnicity.

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

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

This tea goes many rounds. I like to brew it at 85-100 degrees for shorter and then longer steeps...

Sounds good, and it looks nice and smells great in a dry leaf form.  It smells like plum.

Review:

first infusion:  still opening up, but quite pleasant already.  Rich fruit tones and just a trace of cacao already; those will probably evolve.  Feel is rich too, but that should thicken.  

Amount of malt tone present seems to mostly define whether a tea seems similar to Dian Hong or good orthodox Assam to me, and this contains a little, but for that being moderate it's closer to Yunnan style.  People might associate a characteristic dryness or feel structure with even good Assam but really to me that varies by version (so much for keeping this simple, only a description).  Dian Hong often contains type-typical roasted yam or sweet potato, and I can notice that in this, but it's secondary to a rich fruit tone range, and cacao stands out just as much.

second infusion:  I didn't brew this for long, maybe just over 10 seconds, but intensity is pronounced.  Warmer tones and mineral stands out more with brewing a tea stronger; to keep the other range of emphasis on lighter and brighter range I would need to brew this quite fast at this maxed-out proportion, which is my typical approach (probably 8 grams in a 100 ml gaiwan; most of what would fit).

Savory range picks up, along the line of sun-dried tomato.  Fruit is still pronounced, but I would expect dried fruit tones would stand out more brewed quite light.  This would have to work well brewed Western style, but one would have to be careful about intensity, getting that dialed in to not ruin the effect.  For me Gongfu brewing would be a more natural approach.  Cacao (chocolate, basically) is often a dominant flavor aspect when it's present, but it's a supporting aspect in this.

third infusion:  I went light on this round, to check how that does change things, maybe even a little too light, not long over 5 seconds.  It does draw out a lot more of the fruit; the plum nature in the dried leaf scent finally shows through as a main flavor.  Then a roasted sweet potato flavor along with that is pleasant, and a much lighter cacao aspect is still there, but it wouldn't be noticeable without expecting it.  

The feel is still rich, even though this is brewed quite light, and some aftertaste still carries over.  Often Dian Hong contains this kind of pleasant flavor aspect range but often it's really subtle related to producers using summer harvest material for it, while spring and fall leaves go to making sheng pu'er.  This is pretty intense black tea; you can't get away with 5 second infusions of lots of types, and still get ok intensity.

Sweetness level is good; that's implied by the flavors I keep mentioning but I didn't actually say it.

fourth infusion (back to 10 to 15 second infusion time):  this is balancing better and better.  It's complex enough that it starts to taste like some sort of flavored Christmas blend, there is so much going on.  Cacao stands out more than ever, and the fruit tone shifts a little towards a dried tangerine peel effect.  Roasted sweet potato (I think it's that, not yam, but flavor can fall in between those) fades back to form part of a nice base.  Warm mineral is also nice, very moderate in level, but pleasant as a supporting tone.  Oddly all that integrates so well that at the same time it's complex it comes across as all one thing.  It's an interesting effect.

fifth infusion:  not so different than last round.  Warm tones might be increasing slightly, that one "tastes like tea" flavor range, or I guess that could be interpreted as an aromatic spice input in this.  This is probably a good place to leave off taking notes.  It's probably only half finished related to infusion count but the aspects may or may not go through more interesting transitions, versus the balance of what was already expressed just shifting. 

Conclusion:

It's good.  Never mentioning malt again after that first comment related to not noticing much for that.  For some that would be negative, but for me for liking Dian Hong style better it works better.

The next several infusions were just as good, maintaining good intensity and positive flavor balance.  It dropped off fast when that intensity wore off but a couple of extra long infusions were still nice.  This is a really nice breakfast tea, although it's also good enough to be appreciated as a solo session version.  The style matches what I like most in black teas but I think anyone could relate to it; preference wouldn't limit who could appreciate it.  For me this is the kind of tea I could drink a few times a week for a year, and not get tired of it, but of course that part just depends.

Value is quite good for this version.  It's in a range that a lot of Dian Hong falls into as well, but quality and novelty vary a lot for those versions.  I'd expect most costing a comparable amount would give up a lot for intensity, complexity, and novelty.  It is still just black tea, and those only get so refined or novel, but this checks most of the boxes for pleasant character and good balance.  Someone looking for malt tones or heavier feel structure should be drinking good orthodox Assam instead.

a different cat visited for this tasting

Osmanthus black and Shui Xian oolong from Jip Eu (Bangkok Chinatown)

visiting Jip Eu that day

A few weeks ago my wife and I were doing a rushed version of Christmas shopping that included a quick pass through Chinatown, so I stopped by my favorite shop there, Jip Eu, mostly to buy tea for gifts.  I bought 6 packs of an inexpensive Shui Xian, all but one to give away, and a spare Xiaguan tuocha there, and some Thai oolong and a couple of Dayi tuochas elsewhere, at Sen Xing Fa.  

Kittichai (the shop owner) gave me a tea there as a gift, an osmanthus black tea, which I'm reviewing here, along with the Shui Xian.  Very kind of him!  Those guys do feel like extra family to me, and I would probably visit them even without buying or drinking tea.  Maybe it feels slightly less like that for me only seeing them a couple of times last year, but that's how the covid era goes, Bangkok keeps shutting down and opening back up.  I don't work out of my office, almost ever, so stopping by Chinatown while on that side of town doesn't combine together.  I suppose I could be biased about their teas, liking what I would prefer to like; it's worth considering.

One might wonder what else is in Chinatown as gifts for kids.  There is a toy area of the wholesale shops there but my kids are both moving on from Legos and dolls and such.  We did buy some of those educational toys, about setting up a demo water filter and a seed sprouting kit.  Some extra clothes and such were most of the rest, some hair accessories, and we picked up a half a kilo of chrysanthemum due to almost running out.  It wasn't one-stop Christmas shopping; another trip to a department store and going to a sporting goods store later that day rounded it all out.  They do have online shopping here but we are slow to move to that (my family, and that also works for Thailand in general).

On to how the teas worked out.

Review, Osmanthus black:

first infusion:  really nice, although that interpretation depends a little on how one takes tartness.  Floral tone stands out most, leaning a lot towards fruit, along the line of roselle (hard to describe, between rose petal and cranberry, I guess).  Smooth, warm, rich tones fill in beyond that; this is definitely not an edgy version of black tea (astringent, or harsh, or flawed in any other way).  That roselle tone, which really has to be osmanthus, given what this is, includes a bit of tartness, or I suppose that's just as likely coming from the tea, but seems to link to the floral range.  Black tea contributes really mild mineral tones and other warm toffee like sweetness.  Probably floral will fade in a second infusion and wood tone will pick up, maybe even warmth like spice, which should also be nice.

Where to go from the basic flavor list for discussion?  The only other flavored black tea I ever tend to drink, besides Earl Grey, is jasmine black tea.  That's probably my overall favorite flavored tea form, the way that input can integrate in a good version.  Osmanthus is pleasant too, sweet and rich, floral towards fruity, not disagreeable in any way, and well suited for blending with tea.  

One might've tried mild osmanthus oolong and edgier, intense jasmine green tea, or strong versions of jasmine white, and think that jasmine has too harsh an edge, but that's most typically coming from the green tea.  How it works out for white is a bit strange; that tea has to mild, if it's white, but jasmine input can get to be a bit much.  I suppose at some point the balance is determined by the level, and producers making adjustments by mixing actual flowers (versus layering tea and flowers to add flavor), or adding chemical agents to extract flavors is something else.  What is the word I'm leaving out here?  Along the lines of solvent.

Anyway, this isn't as good as the best jasmine black tea I've ever tried but it is quite good.  For someone with more of an osmanthus preference that opinion could easily be reversed.  It's probably as well to say more about the tea base after a second infusion, since heavy floral input extracted relatively quickly this round, and dominates the flavor range, which isn't so bad.  I tend to brew Western style on the heavy side, using a proportion that works well for three infusions (maybe 4 grams for a 12 ounce cup, but I don't measure either, so I don't really know).  In this case, for flavored tea, the first two infusions will be quite positive, but very different, and the third might well be pushing it.

second infusion:  maybe a little better, for the black tea input ramping up.  The floral and fruit range didn't change much, just fading a good bit, but the tea input did.  It has nice toffee range sweetness, and a bit of a savory edge to it.  I have no idea what tea this is but it's not like the Dian Hong I drink most of.  I suppose it's closer to Wuyishan Fujian black tea I've been having, or it could be something else altogether.  

It kind of doesn't matter, exactly what black tea style this "should" be like.  It's suitable for a flavored tea base, mild and rich, maybe just a bit non-distinct to stand alone, but it would be easier to determine that trying a plain version.  Mineral tone gives it more of a positive base effect, along with the mild towards wood or spice range aspects.  If it's fruity or floral at all it's not possible to separate that from the osmanthus input.  It's good.

 

Review, Shui Xian oolong:

first infusion:  this won't be the fairest appraisal of this tea because I'm using the end of a bag that I separated out as two separate parts from an original paper wrapper.  I've drank this a few times and it's quite pleasant, but that form was more whole leaf than this.  Since I took out the top half to put in another bag just thinking it all through better earlier would've resulted in using the most whole material, instead of the most broken, but I'm not that clear minded first thing in the morning.  Or even now, at 11; there's a narrow window in the afternoon where I'm more optimum, maybe between 1 and 3.  My kids and I sometimes joke about how I'm not a morning person or an evening person, and it's not just a joke.

This has a really nice inky mineral base and strong woody sort of flavor, like tree bark, towards spice.  There's a Chinese name for that I'm forgetting; I'm not good with memorizing that list of main tea terms.  It makes you sound so much more knowledgeable and authoritative too, like you are speaking for an old tradition.  

This includes some cinnamon as well, more than I would expect for Shui Xian.  The flavors are really intense and clean, with what I take to be good input from a roast step, and a great level of oxidation (probably mixed, since they blend inputs to get to the most positive outcome in these sorts of teas).  It all works better than it should.  I've tried Cindy's Qi Lan again since drinking this and the character overlaps a good bit (Wuyi Origin's, really good tea, a version from a different quality level).  To say this is more rustic or rougher edged implies more of a difference than I'm really experiencing, since that degree is so limited, but I suppose that's it.

This tea most definitely punches above its weight.  If you bought this for $8 for 50 grams it would seem like a good buy, as standard tea versions go, and I paid $3 for what could've been 100 grams (I think it was that).  Packaging was entirely in Thai (maybe with some Chinese mixed in), and I didn't have it translated, and was in a rush when I bought it.  It's odd how this tea is a great value whether it was 50 or 100 grams; it usually doesn't work out like that.  For $6 it still would be (200 baht instead).  It goes without saying but twisted style teas like this taking up a lot of space in a package is what makes it hard to determine amount; it was mostly whole leaf, and again this is the end of the "bottom" half.

That's the opposite of how that would almost always go in buying random Wuyi Yancha, to some extent even there at Jip Eu.  Very inexpensive teas can be drinkable, positive and interesting, but not this good, with this degree of balance, intensity, pleasant aspect range, and lack of flaws.  I suppose it just so happened that they bought Shui Xian versions with limitations that merged to become really good by matching up.  An inexpensive version like this should be a "daily drinker," the kind of tea you would have with breakfast but not focus on in a session as the main theme, but it could stretch and cover both.

To put that in perspective Cindy's (Wuyi Origin's) Qi Lan sells for $17 for 50 grams, and to me it's a good value for that.  It's better than this, but the character overlaps, and this tea should have notable flaws that it doesn't have.  For that tea slightly cleaner and more intense flavors and better feel and aftertaste would all mark it as being different, with general flavor range not as different as would be normal.

for outdoor tasting level of sunlight can affect images a lot

Second infusion:  so nice, that intensity, and again the cinnamon with inky mineral and an aromatic tree-bark version of being woody, pretty close to spice range.  I should get back there and buy a few more of these packs.  I did buy 6, but only one was for me.  Three others went to monk friends, and two to local shopkeepers, one the family Happy is a part of, that local cat that I love visiting with.

Another aside:  our cat, Myra, just changed from being an inside cat to more of an inside-outside cat, spending days outside, then visiting some inside and nights in a pen (cage).  She's been adjusting to those other environments for over a month, but just made the switch in the last week.  Kalani said that she's so proud of her, that she can do it.  She ends up exhausted at afternoon nap time, when she gets a lunch, and in the evenings, after she spends all day exploring.  Later I guess she will just head up to the roof spaces to hang out, like the other two cats often do.

I didn't edit these pictures; my "new" Huawei phone does ok, a new but a dated P20 model

Not much to add about this round or this tea.  A bit of a heavy earth edge is as close as this gets to a flaw, a bit towards a roasted coffee tone.  Even that is nice, to me.  You can't really spot the quality limitations without being familiar with the intensity, feel, and aftertaste experience of better versions, and I suppose prior to adapting to prefer those they wouldn't be that much of an improvement.

third infusion:  flavor deepens; inky mineral picks up and cinnamon fades a bit.  This will shift in character, and probably not be as positive as higher quality versions after 8 or 9 rounds, but it's kind of holding its own now.  I tried this with an orange cake a couple of weeks ago and the way that heavy mineral and towards-spice tree bark flavor matched up was just fantastic.  

From trying it a number of times already I already know it's not going to fade away quickly, as can occur with some modest quality Wuyi Yancha versions.  The depth in this indicates it's not like that; lower quality versions can have good flavor if you push them through early rounds, but they can't back it up with the same kind of complexity.  A touch of cardboard flavor range often also gives up lower quality versions; this doesn't include that.  Roast input is typically heavier in lower quality versions too, used to cover flaws, and to integrate blend inputs together that don't completely match.

Conclusions:

Two really nice teas!  I don't know what the osmanthus black sells for, although I suppose they probably do sell that, but it's a lot better than a standard grocery store blend would be.  It's a full quality level better than anything Twinings would sell, probably at the top end of the range for high profile French vendor blended teas.  You might be able to buy something comparable at local TWG outlets for five times what Jip Eu sells this for.

I mentioned this experience in a post about oolongs in a Quora Space about tea I developed, Specialty Tea, and someone on there commented that it's always nice finding an inexpensive gem of a tea version.  It's almost not about the expense, because if I'd spent two or three times as much it wouldn't have changed much.  It's that I'm drinking much better tea than I expected to, and the people I bought it as gifts for are.  I've got other Wuyi Origin tea around, so I can have some when I feel like good Wuyishan oolong, but I can use a pretty good version as a daily drinker through this, for rushed breakfasts and such, or experimenting with grandpa style brewing.  I mostly use mixed tisanes along with sheng for that now, sometimes just with chrysanthemum.

If others reading this want to visit Jip Eu they might wonder what types are best there, beyond inexpensive oolong and floral flavored black (which they almost don't carry any of).  They stock good Wuyi Yancha, that other quality range I mentioned, but it helps trying versions with them to match style to preference.  Slight variations in oxidation, roast level, plant material input, or general style can vary outcome a lot.  I've written about buying a couple versions of aged sheng there, not necessarily rare and high cost versions, but those were sold as CNNP / Zhongcha and old Dayi, so not really random stuff.  Half the time I go in there I restock an older Tulin tuocha version, a nice basic aged tea, not so far off Xiaguan range.  

If you bring up aged sheng that automatically raises authenticity discussion, and to me the heavier range fermentation effect of teas being stored in Bangkok is another main consideration.  They are kind of like Malaysia stored teas, but I at least think I can taste a difference.  Again visiting and tasting pins down what you'll get, and match to preference.  You just can't buy aged sheng or supposed good Wuyi Yancha without at least having a really good idea of what a vendor sells, and how they tend to describe versions, and what Jip Eu sells isn't supposed to represent a consistent, narrow range.  Tasting a tea first is ideal, and they're open to try teas with you.  You need to be patient there if you only speak English; that will work, but 100% of discussion content won't come across in both directions. 

I've bought pretty good mainstream commercial Dan Cong there a few times; that's an odd thing to come across.  Relatively moderate cost Dan Cong is usually so edgy that you end up balancing really fast brewing with not extracting enough positive flavor, but that wasn't like that, or as good as the more typical 50 cents a gram range versions either.  I've even bought Thai versions of black tea that were nice, and jasmine green (which I usually don't like, but did), and local, wild origin, very unusual sheng ("pu'er-like tea," in relation to that Thailand origin).  

One thing I almost never experience there:  trying the same tea twice, even varying year versions.  If you walk in and walk right back out with some tea, as I just did, you aren't approaching shopping there correctly, in general.  It worked that time though, a perfect time for it to, since the tea was for gifts.