Shi Li Xiang; a Wuyi Yancha cultivar mystery

During the last visit to the Jip Eu tea shop in Chinatown, where I tried some interesting 40 year old aged Tie Kuan Yin, I also picked up an unusual version of Wuyi Yancha (Fujian oolong), a Shi Li Xiang.  I understand that to translate as ten league fragrance tea, or something such; that unit of length just isn't going to translate properly, and "ten kilometer aroma" does put a more modern spin on it.

This is an unusual type of tea.  I think I've had a Thai version before, or at least a tea sold as this, but it wasn't good.  I'll have to look into what it even is.  I wouldn't have bought the tea except I tried it first and liked it.  It's immediately evident that it's decent tea, nothing like a strange tasting grocery store version, but it's not familiar.

It's fragrant, and aromatic, as the name implies.  A primary taste element is similar to almond, but it's complex enough that listing out tastes isn't so simple.  The effect is that the tastes are clean, and the tea is reasonably balanced, and well made, but there's a lot going on, so it's not exactly subtle.  It's a medium roasted Wuyi Yancha, so the roast effect is something else, not coming across as "char," but starting in that direction.

Mineral undertones are the base; normal for the general category (Wuyi Yancha).  The vendor said that the tea would change a lot over a year, which is the way to settle out that char effect (if there had been one), by a relatively short one to two year aging process.  He said that the fragrance would also diminish, so a year of aging would be a trade-off in characteristics.  They had both versions there, this year's and last year's, so if I'd have more time I would have tried both, but I was in a bit of a rush that day.  I tried this one so that's what I bought.  They're nice to visit with in that shop, by the way, with a deep history related to selling and making tea, so better to plan out an extra hour or two of trying teas and talking about tea if you do stop by there.


In the end it's nice.  It's not a tea one would be likely to drink all the time, but then it's probably not a tea one would find a good version of very often either.  That aromatic component is familiar, from a related aspect in a Bei Dou from this vendor, a "real" Da Hong Pao.  Or so the shop said in selling it; I get it that people tend to be skeptical about claims about some tea types, that one more than most.  This post covers why Da Hong Pao isn't always even intended as a plant type, used as a generic brand name, even though it's the general understanding that it is plant type.

looks like a medium roast oolong

This tea is hard to place related to other Wuyi Yancha types.  For having a lot of earthiness, mineral, fruit and floral apsects, whatever else they tend to have, they don't usually come across as having lots going on.  They typically seem to retain a subtlety, in a limited sense, based on showing a few interesting aspects, with some degree of layering of characteristics, at least the better versions.

This could almost be a flavored tea for the range of flavors it exhibits, and that aromatic quality, but I'm certain it isn't one.  The effect is too light and clean, and integrated.  I think using light brewing, experimenting with the normal range of gongfu brewing approaches, one could really draw out some variation from the tea.  That's actually how I tried it initially, prepared gongfu style, brewed a bit lightly, standard enough, but tweaking that might prove interesting.

Research section; background on cultivar versus variety first

I looked up what this really is, since that name seemed to be a branding name, not a description related to a tea plant type, or something that clearly ties to a regional tea.  It was sold as an ordinary Wuyi Yancha type, so that does include the region (Wuyishan area, Fujian), and that it's a well-roasted oolong, but it wasn't sold in a labeled package, just packed separately from bulk tea.

this particular plant, per the vendor

Before getting into more details, lets do a nice long tangent on tea plant types, starting with this decent Hojo vendor tea reference on tea plant naming.  Such references tend to vary a little in how they use the terms (surely with some correct use well defined), but for the most part this matches what I currently understand.  To sum that up, below the genus and species names for tea (Camellia Sinensis) variety (often written as var.) identifies the main, naturally evolving subtypes (Sinensis and Assamica, and some others), with additional cultivar type as the designation of intentionally bred, specific plant types with different characteristics (eg. Tie Kuan Yin).


The World of Tea site weighs in on all this, backing up the other reference, and clarifying the obvious next question that arises, what if a natural variation occurs that people continue to propagate:


Some confusion arises with the fact that a cultivar is simply a cultivated variety, meaning that someone has recognized variations in a plant and has cultivated it to maintain these variations. The plant is still a variety, but because we’re cultivating it, we call it a cultivar. We know that in the tea world, cultivars are created from one of the main varieties or hybrids between the main varieties of Camellia sinensis used for tea production: sinensis, assamica, and to a lesser extent, parvifolia. This is why we sometimes see a variety and a cultivar listed for tea plants — when a plant exhibits variation within a variety, and is cultivated to maintain this variation, we end up with both a variety and a cultivar.

Simply put, varieties are found naturally in the world, once we propagate them for their variance, they become cultivars.


So there it is; if we determine this plant type is a derivation of another type, be it a hybrid (mix from different genetic inputs, from two varieties) or a change from an existing type then it's new cultivar.  It's unlikely that it's not just a variation of the Sinensis variety, although that is a possibility.

What would it take for this type to be identified as a new variety?  Of course not necessarily new in the sense of just starting to exist, since this tea is coming from old plants (more on that later), but in the sense of recognition?  The first Hojo article sort of addresses that, but only in mentioning a limitation, that the new hybrid plants used in Darjeeling, crosses of Assamica and Sinensis varieties, do not have a clear scientific name designation; there is no identified variety.  Per a recent post on Darjeeling these go by clonal tea type names, like AV2, discussed in that post.  These would still be cultivars, of course, cultivated distinct types of plants, but per my understanding with no variety designation assigned (which of course could be mistaken; I'm still sorting all this out).

It makes you want to check out a table-style reference of tea-plant types, doesn't it?  Or maybe that's just me.  I'll include one I've mentioned before here, back to Taiwan teas as a reference, where they keep such things well defined.  The earlier section of this table is on the numbered cultivar series, familiar to most (eg. #12 is Jin Xuan), and if it's not you should check this reference out, although it's partly unreadable due to lots of talk about genetic marker testing, but fascinating nonetheless:

The A and S variety are familiar, but the F is interesting, right?  This from the footnotes:


Abbreviation S:C. sinensis var. sinensis, A: C. sinensis var. assamica, SA: C. sinensis var. sinensis × var. assamica hybrid, AS: C. sinensis var. assamica × var. assamica hybrid, F: C. formosensis, FY: C. formosensis var. yungkangensis.

Note#: G green tea, P Paochong tea, O oolong tea, B black tea.


Lots more one might get into there (landraces, wild teas!  I'll get back to those ideas), but lets get back to that other tea.

Back to Shi Li Xiang; what is it?

per this, it's just tea, var. Sinensis

The Shi Li Xiang name is relatively Google-proof; odd.  Except Chinese restaurants tend to use the name, which seems irrelevant.  A relatively complete database of teas reference lists a Kun Ming Shi Li Xiang tea that's seems to clearly not be it (the page is interesting though; described as an International Tea Database).  That listing is for a compressed tea that might be a tisane, not what this is, or at least seems to be.  An academic paper mentions this as a tea tree type here, titled "Research on Protection and Utilization of Old 'Shilixiang' Tea Trees in Kunming," but the paper isn't publicly available.  Since that's already interesting I'll cite the description of that work:


Research was done on the cultivation history, present status and protection value of old 'Shilixiang' tea trees in Kunming in order to deepen the recognition of the precious tea species, and to carry out scientific protection and utilization of the resources.


That brings up an interesting part of that other database citation:


Category:  dark, compressed.  Note:  Uncertain classification. Could be a herbal tea.


This tea was unusually aromatic, so much so I just asked the vendor by message how they made it so.  But it seems natural to me, a taste from a tea, just not exactly like any other I've tried before, except overlapping a little with that one Bei Dou.

A mystery solved, sort of

I asked around and a lead from a Tea Chat discussion seemed to crack the mystery.  Per that input the tea is probably the same as Qian Li Xiang, which is 1000 mile fragrance (so it travels 100 times further, but it's the same tea?  probably just a name anyway, and I might mention that I didn't actually verify those translations).  This tea name (type) does come up in Google search, just not as very many results, and standard tea information sites don't seem to come up, in general (not as if I spent a day cross-checking possible listings, Google just wasn't mentioning them).  All the same, any mention takes it as a given that it's just another cultivar type, and probably var. Sinensis, same as other Wuyi Yancha, just a bit rare.  Descriptions aren't a perfect match but a general impression that it's a very aromatic tea are enough; it's likely the same.

One discussion comment suggested the name may relate to a processing style, not a plant type, which would makes sense, naming conventions do tend to shift about.  I'm reminded of Cindy (a tea-maker friend) mentioning the tea plant name of a Dan Cong she was referring to by the aroma name instead, a more common designation for those:  "its name is juduozai ,but its aroma is xin ren (nut) [almond, typically], so we also call it xin ren xiang [almond aroma]."  She also said that "danzhu" means picking from one tree, and processing in one machine, for harvest and production lots all taken from a single tea tree (which is completely off the subject, but I just saw that looking up that Dan Cong cultivar name discussion).

Here's a vendor description under Qian Li Xiang that seems typical, which says almost nothing about the tea except that it's aromatic (although at first read it seems to say a lot; funny how that goes).  Most likely there is another cultivar name out there for the tea, so something like the World of Tea cultivar database would be no help based on listing plant types only by the actual plant name, and in fact it isn't any help.  The other listing of tea plant types I'd already cited also didn't mention it.

So it was an interesting find, not quite as interesting if it had been some really novel wild tea-related plant, but it drinks the same either way, or probably better for actually being tea.

The Real Da Hong Pao

originally published as "http://www.tching.com/2015/12/the-real-da-hong-pao/"

tea shop owner (one of them)

Awhile back I tried a really nice version of a Da Hong Pao, from a Bangkok Chinatown tea shop, Jip Eu.  It came up in discussion that different teas are actually sold as Da Hong Pao, and according to them the one I tried was an authentic version, a Bei Dou cultivar (actually Pei Tou, but based on research the other transliteration seems more conventional).

So what is Da Hong Pao, really?  Of course it's a Wuyi Yancha or “rock oolong” type, the best known one.  These are roasted oolong teas from Fujian province, China, with production centered around Wuyishan.  The flavor profile has earth and mineral elements, with leaves prepared as long and twisted versus the rolled styles.  The most distinctive elements of the best versions are a bit hard to describe.  Some say they relate to an unusual mouth-feel of the tea, others to a taste comparable to citrus, or even alcohol, and the aromatic elements remind me a little of perfume, in a sense I can’t completely describe.

 

the typical look, long, dark, twisted leaves

The part I'll focus on here is the cultivar / tea plant type issue.  This also came up related to a World of Tea cultivar database, with a related cultivars overview page linked from there.  This is a great reference, which will keep getting better with more details filled in.  Da Hong Pao wasn’t listed there.  Per online discussion with Tony Gebely, the World of Tea reference author, there is a possible short answer related to the plant type it's made from, and a likely complication:

Da Hong Pao is made from a cultivar called  Qi Dan 奇丹... [but] many times there are multiple correct answers [to such questions].

Right away this conflicts with the common understanding that Da Hong Pao is both a cultivar (plant-type version) and a prepared tea leaf type, but then the full story being more complicated than the conventional take isn’t that surprising.  The distinction between plant type, cultivar, and hybrid can be a bit unclear in different references, but for this discussion it works to use these as one thing, as possible "basic, starting point" plant types, and also as cross-bred variations of those.

How to resolve this then, since online references are most often vendor materials, short descriptions directly written for advertising products, or as summary reference articles that are not intended as full descriptions?  

I tried asking two people who might know.  One was my friend Cindy Chen, a Wuyishan tea producer, who suggested those two cultivars as both right answers was correct.  The other was the owner of that Bangkok shop, Jip Eu, named Kittichai (a common Thai name, but then it is a Thai-Chinese shop).  He said his family had been selling tea from that shop in Bangkok for 90 years, but that he still travelled back to Wuyishan to help produce teas there with other related family.  And he showed some interesting pictures of there, one of him at a small tea factory that was torn down when Chinese officials turned that tea area into a restricted park decades ago.

So two cultivars stand forward as main ones used to make the tea, but any number of others are sold as such, and it would be hard to say for sure which plant type really should be, or if there is even a grounds for such a "should."

brewed leaves; oxidation and roast affects color, looks about right

Or maybe the real answer could seem different after getting more expert input, as suggested by Tony Gebeley:   

I have 10-15 answers to many of my tea questions.  The correct answers usually fit into context and show themselves.

Tony cited one reference supporting Qi Dan as the single right answer is a Baidu.com article on Qi Dan / Da Hong Pao, essentially the Chinese version of Wikipedia.  Of course this is only one of many sources and authority inputs he had reviewed, and of course anyone that doesn't read Chinese would need to use automatic translation to read that.

Better references dig a little deeper.  A Global Tea Hut tea reference describes Da Hong Pao as a plant type, which it gives a detailed description of, and seems to describe Bei Dou as a first generation derivative plant type, with the name related to plants grown in a very limited area (with most details on page 19 of this reference).

A Tea Spring vendor reference cites some intriguing background that is hard to verify elsewhere, although this same content is referred to in other places:

In the early 1950s, Mr. Yao Yue Ming started a Da Hong Pao research laboratory. Using a few stems from the original 800 years old Da Hong Pao tea bushes, he successfully created two new tea varieties. However, Mr. Yao's laboratory was later closed down and his research was destroyed during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Yet, he continued his research in secrecy and through his dedication and determination; he finally perfected his creation. He named this tea, Beidou No. 1.

Another Seven Cups vendor reference offers an interesting suggestion:

When you travel to Wu Yi Mountain, the birthplace of wulong (or oolong) tea, tea enthusiasts always visit Big Red Robe Park. Guides take visitors to the famous five bushes, perched on a cliff face inscribed with the characters for Big Red Robe. These bushes are estimated to be more than 300 years old – much older than is common for a tea bush… Researchers say of these five bushes, there are three distinct varieties. One of them is named Qi Dan.

So maybe one more name and plant type fills in the set?  It’s interesting to hear this complex story unfold.  Stepping back and thinking through plant genetics seems to help place all this.  A vendor reference about a completely different type of oolong from a different region, Dan Cong oolong from the Guangdong Province, provides a broader perspective, relevant even in the limited the context of discussing tea originated from only five plants:

In modern days, tea can be propagated by cutting. With this method, all tea trees carry the same genetic trait. In old days, tea was propagated from seed. Therefore, each tea tree grown from the seed carries unique and identical trait. As a result, each tree shows differences in terms of the leaf size, intensity of bitterness, flavor, taste and even the color of leaf. It is just like us, human. Although our face and character can be very resemble with our parent, we are not identical with our parent.  In a way, different tree carries different identity, especially in flavor and quality.

Tea Mania Meishan and Lishan dark roast oolongs

Meishan left, Lishan right, in all photos

I'm reviewing two more versions of Taiwanese oolong from Tea Mania, from a set of samples provided for review (many thanks!).  As much just shared to try them, since I know that owner, but reviewing tea is what bloggers do.

These teas were exceptional.  That can mean different things; in some cases it's about a tea really matching a great version of a well-established type, or in others one can be quite novel.  These seem like one of each, with one a bit different than I've tried much of before, although the more-roasted, light style Lishan version also isn't exactly standard.  You don't see that balance of significant roast input and a lighter starting point (not very oxidized) that works this well.  But the Meishan version is really something else.  Maybe related to age?  It's from 2012, while the other is from 2019 (well settled, but the other seemed to pick up age related notes, that plum and extra depth).

I'll cite the vendor description and move on to review notes:

Meishan Dark Roast  (2019; $22.50 for 50 grams)

This Qingxin from Meishan is a well-oxidised oolong tea in the traditional style, expertly crafted by a renowned tea master in spring 2012. A true rarity among today’s Formosa oolongs, it features a distinctive dark roast that enhances its complexity. Grown at an altitude of 1100 meters in Meishan, the tea develops an abundance of deep aromatics characterized by floral and warming nuances reminiscent of Dongding tea, yet distinguished by a richer aroma and more intense flavor due to its high-altitude origin. The infusion presents a warm, robust yellow hue, free from bitterness even after prolonged steeping. Its fragrance is notably floral, with elegant notes of osmanthus and blossom honey. The lasting aftertaste invites contemplative enjoyment, revealing the tea’s intricate layers in each subsequent sip.

Thanks to its traditional oxidation and dark roasting, this Qingxin oolong uniquely preserves the cultivar’s inherent characteristics while imparting a rich, distinctive depth. The traditional craftsmanship ensures excellent storability, allowing its aroma to evolve gracefully over time, acquiring an enchanting maturity with age.

Harvest date: Spring 2012

Aroma: notes of honey, floral and toasty

Oxidation: approx. 50%

Roasting: strong

Cultivar: Qingxin

Terroir: Meishan, Chiayi, Taiwan

In writing review notes I was curious about pricing for this, since it really is so exceptional that it would be hard to identify a standard level for that.  At nearly 50 cents a gram this still seems like a steal to me.  You would typically have to use less mainstream curator sourcing to find teas like this.  Tea Mania only sells pretty good teas, so I guess those vendor types tend to not be completely distinct.

Lishan Dark Roast  (2019; $31.22 for 50 grams)

Lishan Dark Roast is a medium-oxidized, medium-strong roasted highland tea from Lishan using tea leaves of the Qingxin cultivar. Qingxin means green heart. It is the cultivar with the longest history of cultivation in Taiwan, the most popular among tea farmers and tea drinkers alike, and by far the most widely cultivated. When people talk about Oolong in Taiwan, they usually refer to it as “Qingxin-Oolong”. It is the same cultivar from which the traditional, genuine Dongding is made...

Lishan Dark Roast is a medium-oxidized, traditionally processed highland tea from Lishan. Due to the medium oxidation, the tea has a honey-like yet flowery aroma, which is complemented by the stronger body and more intensive taste experience typical of Oolong tea. The leaves are processed traditionally, resulting in red edges. The reverberation in the mouth is still clearly perceptible even over a longer period of time and it is a pleasure to trace the character of the tea in meditative silence and to fathom its complex character more and more.

Lishan Dark Roast is medium-strong roasted, which adds layers of flavor including warm, nutty notes, hints of caramel, and roasted barley. But, the character of highland teas is still clearly visible. Due to the traditional processing, it can be stored without any problems and without losing its aroma. With increasing age, the aroma changes and develops its very own charm.

Harvest time: spring 2019

Aroma: floral, with notes of honey, nuts and caramel

Oxidation: approx. 40%

Roasting: medium-strong

Cultivar: Qingxin

Terroir: Lishan, Nantou, Taiwan

This is priced a little higher than the other.  Preference is what determines how much someone connects with each tea, and I've always loved a bit more oxidation balance in well-roasted oolongs.  But that other version is really something; all those layers of richer, deeper flavors, maybe related to it aging for an extra 7 years.  

This second tea is well balanced, and quality is evident, so it's also good.  And around 60 cents a gram is probably pretty standard for way better than average quality, distinctive Lishan oolong.  Maybe even still a good value, but that first version is really unique.

Review:

Meishan #1:  this brews a lot darker than the other; that's interesting.  I may or may not be able to guess why.  This is going to be too light to get much of a sense of.  I let it go a lot longer than the 15 second or so typical infusion time, maybe double that, but it wasn't enough to open the rolled form.  The first impression is good; this tastes like dark caramel, with a good bit of complex range beyond that.  Maybe plum?  As a 2012 tea, 13 years old, that aged effect could be present.  A little spice range shows up beyond that.

Lishan:  even light this is really creamy and pleasant.  Feel is creamy, and taste is sweet, and not unlike cream.  It might include a much lighter caramel note.  These are going to be pretty good.  If the other version, the first one, is as good as it initially seems it would be hard to set a fair market price for it.  Aged oolong is expensive, and it's most often what seemed to be left behind somewhere, forgotten about, but this initially seems to be something else, a truly exceptional version.

Meishan #2:  it's very unique; good luck having a vaguely comparable experience to this tea through any other version.  I'm not saying that it's that much better than a lot of other range, but this just doesn't come up, per what I've experienced.  Or maybe it often does, and I've been focusing on sheng pu'er for so long that I've missed a lot of range that's out there.

A set of complementary flavors balance against each other; there is no one or two dominant aspects.  One part is plum, but it's integrated with the rest.  Another is dark caramel, and that stands out more than most of the rest.  Beyond that a warm, sweet, earthy range tastes a bit like a light roasted coffee to me.  Or spice, or maybe it's that both are present.  A heavy, mineral intensive flavor could resemble aged leather.  In the wrong context that wouldn't be as pleasant, but in this it balances well with the rest.

Feel is really rich too.  It's clean in effect, with a good sweetness level.  Aftertaste experience adds complexity.  It's like a checklist of what can go well in tea.  There's even a cognac like aromatic layer that seems to only show up in really high quality tea versions, within a certain range of types, not so uncommon in exceptional Wuyi Yancha versions.  I suppose if someone was looking for flaws a touch of sourness might be interpreted as such.  But to me it integrates well with the spice layer, as a flavor that makes sense along with that, and it's likely to drop out quickly.

Lishan:  of course this comes across as simpler, but it holds its own reasonable well for also being a solid tea, and for expressing different character.  The roast level works well for this, perhaps a bit lighter than for the other, or maybe it's that aging effect warms the tone of the other.  This is a 2019 version so it has had time to settle.  Floral range stands out more, and creaminess.  The creamy flavor, and to some extent feel, are more balanced by other range, with the rest stronger.  Feel has good fullness and richness.  

I suppose to some extent it suffers in comparison with the other, because that other complexity is really something, so many layers standing out at the same time, along with novel and exceptional flavor range.  This is more what you would expect from a well-balanced, good quality, high roast level Taiwanese oolong.  Floral range isn't as bright and light as in light versions, but it's not completely unlike that.  Mineral depth is there; that's a typical positive balancing aspect.

Meishan #3:  I'm brewing these between 15 and 20 seconds.  They would work well brewed faster or slower; the character would just balance differently.  Intensity is fine for using 10 second timing instead, and nothing negative would probably stand out brewed for half a minute.  I just don't prefer them either of those ways.

Creaminess seems to pick up; interesting.  Dark caramel had probably shifted to a medium caramel last round, and this is lighter, more like butterscotch.  There is an awful lot going on beyond that, but it seems to integrate to a complex background range at this stage.  You get a sense of depth.  If it had included sourness last round, which would've been a judgment call, you can't detect that now.  

Lishan:  this evolves to come across as more complex, and warmer in tone.  It's interesting how they're transitioning in two completely different ways.  In a limited sense it's more like the other, but they're still kind of different.  It still resembles the typical floral range of Taiwanese oolong more, but the warm tones are something else.  Producers can set a roast level wherever they like, but this probably needed those extra years to settle to be this exceptional.  Roasting it this much might seem like a gamble, and my guess is that it's paying off more now than it would have within the first year or two.

Peter, the Tea Mania owner, has mentioned that it's hard to try oolong versions and get a clear sense of what is going to be exceptional years later.  They settle in ways that are hard to predict.  All of this is what I don't experience enough of to get a sense of it, since I drank a lot more oolongs of different types prior to switching mostly to sheng, maybe 6 or 8 years ago.  Even then I drank more Wuyi Yancha.  Even if I had been drinking more Taiwanese oolongs regularly my tea budget wouldn't have supported trying many teas of this quality level.  In the same way the highest end range of sheng pu'er has only been available through trying samples, I guess, and mostly some that are sent for review.

direct sunlight threw off coloration; the two were more balanced in color this round

Meishan #4:  not so different than last round.  It's creamy and warm, with good depth, a nice mineral base, caramel range (or butterscotch; it's a judgment call), and probably some spice beyond that.  People could interpret it differently.  It could taste like cacao to some, or warm floral range instead.  When flavors are this complex what you get is kind of an interpretation.  Seeing one part as a warm wood tone might make sense, or leather, which seemed to match better in an early round, or maybe even cinnamon.  To me it's closer to cinnamon than those others.  It's really clean for including some of that earthier range.

Lishan:  also not transitioning as much as before, settling into a nice character.  It's nice experiencing that typical floral and mineral base range in a completely different form like this.  I was worried that these might be a little like Tie Guan Yin versions that are really light, that are re-roasted to restore deadened flavor effect.  Of course they're better tea than that, made more intentionally, but the higher roast and lower oxidation level inputs taken together can be a little off-putting.  This isn't like that.  I suppose if someone hated the high roast effect (probably medium-high; high roast implies a tea is all but charred, and this isn't), combined with brighter oolong floral range, then maybe it isn't so good, but I think most tea drinkers could relate positively to this.  

The other tea is something else again though.  It's not just a better version of a style that I've tried before, it's something relatively new to me.  I've tried some aged oolongs, maybe a half dozen versions (in rolled style, this Taiwanese range; twisted style range is something else), but nothing that balances in this sort of way.  That reminds me; I bought a decent amount of a 1992 version that I liked, that I haven't retried in a number of years; eventually I should check in on that.

I'll leave off here, since the story seems to be mostly told.  It's a busy errand day, since I leave to go back to Honolulu in less than a week, and I'm still working through cats being sick.  I might go visit them at the vet today, where they stay, even though I was there yesterday, since it will be a busy week, and I may not see much of them. 

I visited the cats that day, and once more a day or two later, and they're back to normal, quite lively.

Tea Side Ruan Zhi Oolong from Myanmar, plus a cultivar mystery

My first tea from Myanmar!  It's a Ruan Zhi oolong from Tea Side.  I spent some time once trying to find tea from there but it didn't work out.  In the end it was a little anticlimactic since this is a decent version of a very familiar type of tea, but not all that different than the same type from Thailand or Taiwan.  But it is from Myanmar, so interesting related to that.

the normal look, rolled oolong

Review:

The tea is like any other # 17 / Ruan Zhi from Thailand or Taiwan:  smooth, rich, sweet, full-bodied, with a light and smooth base flavor profile.  These teas brew to a golden yellow color, not quite as bright yellow as Jin Xuan does.  That base component is like the full-bodied aspect of chamomile, or maybe a little like dried hay, with a bit of mineral.  The mineral element isn't as pronounced as these can be from Taiwan (for other oolong types), a flintiness or limestone aspect, a bit softer like Thai versions typically are, maybe just a little different.  One subtle spice-like component is nice but hard to pin down; it reminds me of one part of nutmeg, part of the flavor base of that spice, not the sharper and spicier part.

Aung San Suu Kyi; congratulations on democracy in Myanmar!

The flavors are clean, the body is good, with a nice taste profile, all depending on preference for lighter oolongs, or else these might not seem so positive.  It seemed there could have been a little more complexity to the flavor range, there was just a bit of floral tone hiding behind those other aspects, not so much specific standing out, but that's how the general type usually goes.


Similar oolongs from Taiwan are not so different.  The main difference--in my experience, which isn't so extensive it should serve as a last word--is that many oolongs from Taiwan tend to have a slightly fuller feel to them, and a more substantial mineral profile that underlies the more "top end" flavors.  This tea was nice but it could have had a bit more flavor complexity.  Since it was described a bit differently than it came across it seems possible some of those aspects faded a bit during storage somewhere along the line.

It would be easier to be even more positive about this tea if I hadn't burned out a bit on similar lighter oolongs due to trying so many from Thai sources this year.  I was looking for different versions of Thai teas (although the standard versions are nice), and eventually did, from the same vendor that provided this sample, Tea Side.  There are several posts here about another great black tea, Jin Xuan based, pu'er-style teas (Thai hei cha), and two completely different versions of Oriental Beauty, the type where insects bite the leaves to improve the tea characteristics, some really amazing teas.  But if this tea matched someone's natural preferences better they might well appreciate the positive aspects more, that smoothness and the complexity that was there.


One interesting point relates to what it really is, since # 17 is not really Ruan Zhi, per some later research, even though it's universally referred to as that in Thailand.

Thailand produces most of two types of oolongs:  #12 Jin Xuan and #17 Ruan Zhi (at least sold as such), both universally lightly oxidized rolled oolongs.  Jin Xuan is lighter, sweet, with a milky effect, not exactly like Cremora (artificial coffee creamer powder), more subtle, but the range of the effect differs.  Ruan Zhi, or whatever it actually is, has a hint of spice to it, but not so strong it's easy to identify, with a slightly fuller body effect.  This tea is not so different than many other versions I've had from Thailand, maybe with some flavors shifted just a little.

Ancient Temples at Bagan; photo credit

On oolong cultivars from Taiwan:

Best to be clear at the outset:  per most references I've reviewed TRES #17 (Taiwan Tea Research Station and cultivar / plant hybrid name) isn't called Ruan Zhi, so that name is wrong.  #17 is Bai Lu.  Ruan Zhi is harder to place, although it is explained differently, so perhaps not just an alternative name.

To begin, what difference does it make if the tea is a Ruan Zhi or a Bai Lu, or if it were a Qing Xin?  What's in the cup would be the same, along the lines of "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."  Different tea plants do produce very different teas, but it seems to make more difference if you are trying to buy something in particular and aren't sure what the vendor is selling.

All teas sold as #17 here in Thailand are quite consistent, so even if there is an inconsistency or error related to the naming (if it's really Bai Lu, as it seems it might be) it's still really what a consumer is expecting, at least based on having tried most of the similar teas here.

I guess the same is true of tea sold as Dong Ding, but from Thailand.  Maybe that makes no sense, being the name of an area in Taiwan, whether they've went through the paperwork of protecting the region name or not, but the tea is at least what you'd expect based on having tried other Thai versions of Dong Ding here.  But I digress.

This would be a good point to get back to references, to what those names and cultivar types are supposed to relate to.  Here is a good summary table of cultivars from Taiwan from the Tea Db site:

Ok, not so much help there since there is no #17, no Ruan Zhi, and no Bai Lu.  Through a process of elimination they are claiming that these aren't common plant types, which may or may not be the case, but we're really talking about two other countries more anyway (Thailand and Myanmar).  But still interesting; according to them a lot of those regional teas are made from Chin-shin (more typically expressed as Qing Xin), or at least should be according to this.

One interesting post about teas from Taiwan was a guest post by Kevin Craig in the Tea For Me Please blog, which said this:


The other TRES development that I will focus on is the Bai Lu, or TTES 17. TTES 17 is a mix of the TTES 1958 and TTES 335 bushes... The Bai Lu is incredibly aromatic. Generally produced on the lower side of the oxidation scale, Bai Lu boasts some fruity and floral flavors, a rich aroma, and a lively yellow liquor color...  The Bai Lu, also known as Ruan Zhi, is also known to be cultivated in Thailand and in Anxi county, China. The cultivar may be the same, but the tastes of the teas from each region differ based on the terroir.


All quite interesting!  And the parts on other teas is as well, worth a look.  The Teapedia site says the same thing, but then to some extent different references use common sources, so any number of them being the same doesn't necessarily make them right, and some of those types of references get adjusted over time.

The TRES / TTES dual name references get a bit odd, but a comment by Peter Pocajit on a discussion about that on LinkedIn claims to resolve an apparent conflict:


Before 2003 it was called TTES (Taiwan Tea Research Station). 
Since 2003 it's TRES (Tea Research and Extension Station).


And the main TRES website also says this here, really a more authoritative source, so that first reference to a comment from Peter just clarifies that people also talk about such things in LinkedIn groups.  One would think another click or two would lead to the definitive list on that TRES site and all would be settled, but it seems to not be there.  There are links to 13 publications I didn't read all of there, #21 through #33, but one of the first 20 probably had what I'm looking for instead, the basic cultivar list.

There is one more relatively authoritative database being developed by the World of Tea site (by Tony Gebely), which says #17 is definitely Bai Lu.  But Ruan Zhi doesn't turn up at all, so it's not clear if it's a different cultivar or only a second name for Bai Lu.

A Google search indicates Wikipedia weighs in, although this definitely isn't the best source for the last word:


Ruan Zhi (軟枝; pinyin: ruǎn zhī; literally "soft stem") is a variety of oolong tea. The tea is also known as Qingxin (青心; pinyin:qīng xīn; literally "green heart") and as # 17. It originates from Anxi in Fujian province, China. The taste is light and is often referred to orchids. This tea variety is used to produce famous highland oloong teas such as Dong Ding, Oriental Beauty, Pouchong and Ruan Zhi.


So that definitely doesn't match everything else, especially the last part, but this still may shed light on what's going on.  Back to the Teapedia reference, which had suggested Ruan Zhi might be another name for Bai Lu:


TTES #17 Bai Lu or Ruan Zhi, cross between TTES #1958 and TTES #335...

Qing Xin (green heart), some claim it's a Ruan Zhi, some that it's a different varietal. Other names are Zhong Zhai and Zhong Cha.


The tea cultivar database entry on World of Tea does back this up (the claim that Ruan Zhi = Qing Zin, not the other version that it's really the same as Bai Lu):


Qing Xin is a tea cultivar from Taiwan.  Country of origin: Taiwan  Other names: Green Heart, Ruan Zhi


More contradiction.  We're almost back to asking if any of this really matters.  In a limited sense it does; either all that #17 is really one of the most common tea types produced from Taiwan, a relatively original version that may have came from Anxi, China, or else it's a later hybrid.  The two really are different teas, aside from confusion over names, and it's an interesting case that one of the main types of tea sold in Thailand, and now also Myanmar, is probably identified incorrectly, sold by two different designations that don't match each other.

I asked a tea contact on Facebook, Thomas Smith, who had lots to add, information which he said originally came from one of the directors of the TRES agency (his instagram profile is where he seems to post most review content, with really, really detailed descriptions of teas):


Ruǎn Zhī is the predecessor group of tea plants that Qīng Xīn Wūlóng came from. It is a bit problematic referring to it (or Qīng Xīn in some cases) as a cultivar, as that word should be exclusively applied to clonal plants while Ruǎn Zhī has been established and spread through seed, with  the derived Qīng Xīn also sometimes being spread by seed. Neither have an assigned Táichá number, because even if Qīng Xīn essentially was borne out of the Fujian Ruǎn Zhī seed stock in Taiwan it is not a registered clone.

TTES No. 17 'Báilù' ('Egret') is a true registered cultivar - note the use of single quotes - established in 1983.

The number only applies to the tea if from the Taiwan Tea Experiment Stations (no tea registered by them is supposed to ever leave the ROC, BTW). Ruǎn Zhī is what I'd put bets on...  Technically most of the clones out of Taiwan can be referred to as it since it is a seed propagation plant and the clones fall within its range of variance. I don't know the full pedigree on TTES No. 17, just the two clones that were crossed to produce it, but I'd say it is not inaccurate to say it is from the same family.


All that sounds right somehow, doesn't it, even if it doesn't fully answer the question of what the Thai and Myanmar versions of the tea is, assuming they are the same thing.  It would be possible to fully resolve the matter with extensive genetic testing, of course, and short of that a lot of pictures of plant leaves and flowers might shed more light on it all.


All of this is quite interesting to me, but I could see how many others would've concluded "I just don't care" before this much of the story unfolded.

Thai Oriental Beauty from Tea Side (Dong Fang Mei Ren)

The tea does have that distinctive oriental beauty flavour:  sweet, floral, light, balanced, with fruit and a bit of spice.  Cinnamon is one distinctive element, with the sweetness resembling honey.  Peach is a predominant fruit flavor, or between peach and apricot maybe, but in a much different presentation than in a sweet black tea where that would join along with other heavier flavors, here coupled with bright tones.

The freshness of the first infusions is so intense it's hard to describe, almost like a light citrus element, but it doesn't really taste like orange or lemon, more a vague but positive impression.

The tea is light but not in the same sense as many other lightly oxidized oolongs; there is just a touch of astringency to balance the effect, not enough to come across as bitterness, but enough to give the tea a fuller feel.  It’s a lower-medium level oxidized tea, not a light oolong, definitely not a darker roasted oolong.  Of course the style is much different than in lighter oxidized Wuyi Yancha (hard not to refer back to that type since I’m a bit stuck on them, mostly in a good way), and nothing like other conventional Taiwanese teas either, even though this style did originate there.




Across more infusions the bright, sweet flavor persists, along with the richness of the tea, with the main transition being the cinnamon element drifting a little towards cocoa, still a really nice effect.  Even the empty cups give a nice impression, with a strong cinnamon / cocoa and honey scent remaining after the tea is drank.


Varying the brewing time to test the effect doesn’t actually change much related to the flavors; the same profile comes across, but the feel of the tea changes, the “thickness” and slight dryness in the body picks up.




After a lot of infusions (an awful lot) the flavor is still clean and positive, it just requires longer brewing time to get the tastes out, and the earthiness increases as the sweetness and fruit diminishes.


The Thai vendor that provided this sample, Tea Side, seems to deal more in Thai pu'er-style teas (hei cha, that really is, which translates as "dark tea," even thought it takes some time for the sheng / raw / green version to ferment and become dark).  They also sell other unconventional Thai oolongs, even Thai black teas, with a running ancient-tree leaf-sourced theme, so more on some really interesting teas to follow.


I was just saying in other posts I was happy to see the level of variation I had been in finding a few different examples of Thai teas but now it's really on.

brewed leaves;  a bit of oxidation

What is it?

So the tea is good, I suppose maybe great if one really likes Oriental Beauty, but then who wouldn't.  Of course for every type of tea once one has tried a lot of different versions the context shifts a bit, and I'm not that far along with Oriental Beauty, so I'd best leave off at saying I liked the tea.

In the last review of a related type I posted, also about a Thai version, I noted the tea had a number of different names:  Bai Hao, and Peng Feng, and now Dong Fang Mei Ren.  Of course it's normal for tea types to go by more than one name, and not unheard of for names in use to just be wrong.  In a sense it doesn't matter, right, as long as the person drinking the tea gets a good idea of what to expect in advance and then likes the tea, but while I'm writing why not delve in a bit.

I wrote on the background about leafhoppers eating the leaves in that earlier blog post, so more on that there, but in a nutshell:  it seems likely a defense mechanism causes the tea plant to change leaf composition, perhaps related to a defense mechanism, inadvertently making it taste better when prepared as tea, but that's not the only interpretation one runs across.

Before more on those names, and the typical aside on cultivars, here is the Tea Side vendor description of the tea:


Dong Fang Mei Ren (Oriental Beauty) Oolong Tea #AAA

Growing Region: Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand, 1400 metres. Hand-picked high mountain oolong tea.

Appearance: Lightly roasted, mildly fermented, long twisted oolong tea. Bitten leaves.

Taste: The tea has a solid taste, classical honey flavour with clear floral sweetness of tea tips. Very fragrant oolong. Bright notes of fruits and flowers here are in aroma. Strong velvety sweet aftertaste with tones of peaches and honey.


I was just discussing tea grading conventions; more on what "AAA" means another time, but obviously it's a judgment about the tea grade being higher.

Not much on the name but the description matches my impression; I just thought cinnamon made for an additional primary flavor element, with some transition to cocoa later infusions.  As I read back through my other Oriental Beauty oolong review that tea sounded quite similar, just with a bit more blueberry component along with the peach in the fruit range.  The spice and the effect of the trace of astringency in that other tea, similar in this one, also came across tied to a trace of yeast or bread dough, which wouldn't seem like so much of a stretch for this tea, but likely a good bit more subtle.

The style of tea might well go by lots of names (that I'd researched there too), but this could well be the "right name," much as there ever is one.  A Wikipedia article says it is:


Dongfang meiren is the chhiⁿ-sim tōa-phàⁿ (青心大冇) cultivar grown without pesticides to encourage a common pest, the tea green leafhopper (Jacobiasca formosana), to feed on the leaves, stems, and buds.


Lately I've been on the track of cultivar review (plant type), so a bit more on that.

Cultivars:

A recent reference about cultivar types had me on this subject (a new, still being tweaked, World of Tea database).  I didn't find it there, not even looking for that cultivar name, which another nice general reference (the Tea DB Taiwanese cultivars write-up) identifies as Chin-hsin Da Pa (same as the Wikipedia article, just a bit more transliterated):


Chin-hsin Da Pa is not as popular as Chin-hsin and is predominantly used for Oriental Beauty. This cultivar is sweeter than Chin-hsin and produces a rich honey-like flavor. Chin-hsin Da Pa leaves are more oval. Chin-hsin Da Pa is also thought to originate from China and was introduced to Taiwan around the same time as Chin-hsin.


That same reference says another cultivar is also normally used to make Oriental Beauty, White Hair Monkey, and that Cui Yu and Jin Xuan also can be.  The implication here is that different plants will all change in a similar way when leafhoppers eat part of the leaves, but it's not possible to extend that to how they might differ.

I really don't have much to add about which cultivar I think this tea would be made from; with adequate research the leaf shape might tell part of the story.


Of course I'm not saying this is the final word.  Just as sampling a number of references pointed in some different directions in that first write-up I'm sure another dozen articles on "Oriental Beauty" related teas would fill in a broader picture.  I recently ran across an intriguing and very cool looking blog post about a Japanese version not so long ago, but the information was mostly visual there, a picture of a similar looking tea.  I'll take all this up again the next time I try one.

Thai hill-tribe black tea, another unique find

Another Thai tea unlike any I've ever tried!  I just posted about a novel Thai oolong my aunt bought in Chiang Mai, and she also picked up a unique black tea there, again supposedly of local "hill-tribe" origins.  The style is similar to a lot of Chinese black teas:  soft (no astringency), and fruity, not exactly my favorite style but a nice tea.  It was odd the packaging doesn't identify anything, but then for locally grown and processed tea that would make sense.

a bit of stick, but not always so bad  that, per last post

Review:

The appearance is a little unusual, not a standard form, with relatively large, dark oxidized leaves, but not as long and twisted as Chinese teas tend to be.  The flavor is familiar, sweet, heavy on fruit flavor, mostly in the range of peach / apricot, maybe even a touch of cocoa.  I've tried a number of different Chinese black teas that seemed similar, one of them being this Golden Monkey I reviewed (along with two other teas; this blog can be a bit random like that).  Note that it's clearly not the same type of tea, since that type is marked by using buds in combination with small leaves, and this isn't that.

It's a bit difficult to get past that one strong primary taste element to say a lot more about it.  The sweetness carries over as an aftertaste (although "finish" sounds better), similar to how star anise works.  Beyond that the rest of the taste and feel is fine, nothing unpleasant.  There is a bit of earthiness as underlying taste, strange as it sounds a little like coffee.  The flavor is very "clean" and pleasant, so in spite of it not tasting much like toffee, cinnamon, leather, and wood I like it.


Ordinarily natural sweetness in a tea is a good thing, but to me some Chinese black teas can come across as a little too sweet, which is why this style isn't my favorite.  Of course this isn't really a Chinese tea; it's from Thailand.  I'll talk a bit further through what it might be.

brewed leaves; looks like a black tea

More questions than answers:

Not sure if anyone else had the same impression related to my last blog post, about a Thai oolong and Malawai white tea, but I find that once one gets past the first few sentences of what a tea is like more questions than answers come up.  From that post:


-how was it possible that the Thai oolong leaves were so mixed in oxidation levels?

-what is the normal range of oxidation level for a peony / Bai Mu Dan style white tea related to the other types, green and oolong?

-was that even a typical peony?  It seemed a bit different than others I've tried, mostly in a good way, a bit better.  Of course the leaves were bigger (the original ones; the picture didn't really show that well), and the tea was all leaves, not small leaves and buds, and the final brewed liquid was on the red side, not matching the brewed liquid shown by the vendor.  But then maybe the tea appearance related to hot-storage-aging issues in Bangkok, which might not necessarily have all been negative changes, if some did occur.

-how does the processing step for rolling / bruising leaves affect the taste of the tea, versus a more simple processing for white tea?  Of course some of this question is answered just by tasting different teas, but it can be all but impossible to separate out all the factors that lead to aspects of a final product.


I could go on.  One question that comes to mind related to this review is about the cultivar type of the particular tea in question, and if that's the main factor that makes it taste like a number of different Chinese black teas I've tried.  Or is it more related to processing?  I asked an online tea-friend, and I'll get back to answers about that from him.

Jin Xuan as oolong, green, and black tea:

As background, I have tried local Thai tea made from one plant type into a number of different teas (Jin Xuan).  I've also tried Ruan Zhi made into both oolong tea (the normal product and processing), and as a green tea, but don't remember having it prepared as black tea.  Of course I've not verified the same exact leaves were processed as different types, so it doesn't work as that type of controlled experiment, just as a bit of input.

It's interesting how some the character of the tea stays the same while other aspects change.  Some of the basic flavor profile isn't different, even though the style does shift that a good bit, of course towards more vegetal for green tea, oxidized / earthy / "tastes like tea" for black tea.  It's also clear enough why the cultivar is well suited for oolong, or it could be instead that this is the processing type that is the most familiar or skillfully practiced here; hard to be sure.

Of course the tea isn't particularly sweet across the entire range of three different types from the same plant type (maybe just a little, not like a better Tie Kuan Yin can be), or at least the the countless examples I've had weren't, so that aspect didn't vary so much.  It made for a mild black tea, so one could assume plant type relates to astringency level, but then really growing conditions or processing could as easily be main factors as well.  I'm not exactly pinning this down, right?

I'm wondering if it's even possible for the black tea I tried to be Jin Xuan, and at a guess it's not, it's just too different, even giving variance related to processing.

Random research:

I couldn't get far with saying anything about this tea, what it really is, so I'll say some random things, and point to research that might only vaguely relate.  Maybe it doesn't matter anyway; it's a rare local black tea I'll likely never see again, only to be appreciated cup by cup.  Or maybe that can be extended; possibly best to not over-think tea in general, to just enjoy it, be all Zen-like.

seems to prefer oolongs

 I'm curious if that one particular taste element (sweetness, and related aftertaste / finish) comes from the cultivar more, or from the particular processing, or if I've made a mistake in assuming one of these needs to be the clear primary cause.


It doesn't solve anything but here is an interesting reference on how black tea is made, written by a Chinese tea vendor, TeaVivre.  Their description of their Golden Monkey tea doesn't clarify if the taste I'm remembering relates to that type in general, or more to that version.  But then I already said appearance alone separates the types, and no amount of internet page researching is really going to shed that much light on cultivar versus processing causality.  This Teapedia general reference on black tea has a lot of interesting information in it, but it helps a lot to be familiar with these tea types first to know what it is saying (what the regions are, what the teas are like), which kind of defeats some of the point.

An expert input:

Tea expert means a range of different things these days.  It would be great to meet an old Chinese sage-like ancient-heritage master, but in place of that my online contact / tea friend Michael Coffey can say interesting things about tea off the top of his head (see teageek.net), like why that tea might be so sweet:


Sweetness typically comes from amino acids, but not always.  Amino acids are influenced by a number of factors--for example, the cultivar might naturally produce more than other cultivars, or environmental conditions might be just right for the plant to produce more than usual, or (in my opinion possibly the most likely) a combination--the ideal environmental conditions for that cultivar to produce more.  And that's before we get into processing.  


Simple, right; the answer is usually that the answer isn't simple.  As far as what this cultivar might be, he confirmed both general plant types are grown here (see more about var. Assamica research in this post, and semi-wild tea plants, with most other Thailand-related posts already about Taiwan-originated var. Sinensis types).


So really as one tries lots of different teas from different places made in different ways the patterns that cause different characteristics would emerge, much as it all ever seems to become clear.  The most important thing is to love the experience along the way, even though I can also enjoy over-thinking things.

Thai Ancient Tree and Ruan Zhi black teas

I'm comparing three samples of black teas I've just purchased from Tea Side.  Last year I bought a few Dian Hong from Farmerleaf so in a sense this works as a follow-up, tasting comparable Thai versions.  Only two of the three are made from Assamica plant types, and not exactly in the Yunnan style similar to Dian Hong (more on that after the review section), and the third is a Ruan Zhi based black tea instead.  That's a cultivar similar to Jin Xuan, just different in nature, the #17 instead of #12 in that Taiwanese developed and cataloged cultivar series.


Per some reliable input the name for that plant type probably should be Bai Lu, and the more conventional designation in Thailand as Ruan Zhi isn't actually right.  Or really that was confusing, since vendors often mixing a number designation and a name that didn't match always made it impossible to know which one it was, which label is right, and Tea Side (the vendor) hasn't actually called this #17. I'm making that connection because those are the two main oolong plant types grown in Thailand, which also get used for making black tea, but it's much less common seeing Ruan Zhi (or Bai Lu / #17) based black teas than Jin Xuan.  Per that prior research Ruan Zhi was more of a category name, a more general designation that was either tied to an original plant or to a grouping of plants instead.  Here's the post that goes through that, and that related idea:


Ruǎn Zhī is the predecessor group of tea plants that Qīng Xīn Wūlóng came from. It is a bit problematic referring to it (or Qīng Xīn in some cases) as a cultivar, as that word should be exclusively applied to clonal plants while Ruǎn Zhī has been established and spread through seed, with  the derived Qīng Xīn also sometimes being spread by seed. Neither have an assigned Táichá number, because even if Qīng Xīn essentially was borne out of the Fujian Ruǎn Zhī seed stock in Taiwan it is not a registered clone.

TTES No. 17 'Báilù' ('Egret') is a true registered cultivar - note the use of single quotes - established in 1983...

a lot to take in, with more to read up on in the original source

Qing Xin is the main original plant type used in Taiwan for oolongs (or Chin Shin, as transliterated in that table), at least per my understanding.  At any rate I'd expect this tea to be made in a Taiwanese style instead of as a Yunnan tea, and since it is Camellia Sinensis variety Sinensis instead of an Assamica plant that will also change things.  It's the only tea of the three I've already been drinking, so I already know how it is.  It is like Taiwanese black tea, similar to what gets sold as honey black (typically produced from Jin Xuan, unless I've got that wrong), but it's different.  The review will cover all that, so onto it.

from left, 2018 Ruan Zhi, the 2017 and 2016 ancient tree versions

2018 Ruan Zhi black

2017 ancient tree black

2016 ancient tree black tea, less oxidized (and lighter in color)

Review

The three teas look quite different and brew to much different colors.  I won't say much about that--the pictures describe it--and just move onto tasting.  I could pick up variations in dry leaf scent too but since brewed tea flavors can vary a good bit from that for comparison reviews that are going to run long I skip making notes on that part too.  As for methodology I'm using water just a bit below boiling point, roughly 95 C / a bit over 200 F, and a probably a bit more than optimum for the gaiwans, typical for proportioning for different tea types.


Ruan Zhi:  the tea is nice; rich, sweet, and complex.  It's generally fruity with a dark earth range of flavors mixed in, along the lines of sweet dark cherry with leather.  I suppose some of that fruit one might describe as another dried fruit, mandarin orange peel, or a bit towards tamarind.  The earthiness could be described in different ways too, or as trailing into cinnamon spice, with cocoa also standing out.  It all works.  The feel might be just a little thin, but then that's how similar Taiwanese style blacks tend to come across too, as very positive in flavor and thin in texture and finish.  They don't tend to last long either, producing a few infusions (or a couple, made in a truer Western style), then fading out.


2017 Black tea from ancient trees number 6 (maybe as well to just use that year or number):  this tea is intense, brewed a little strong using the same parameters.  I often go with a short infusion when brewing black teas or other types Gongfu style but went the other way with that this time, letting it brew for well over 30 seconds to get a full strength infusion, and for this tea at that proportion that was too long.  It not only got wet to start infusing it also overbrewed a little.  It probably does make sense to use a rinse for these teas instead of a long first infusion anyway, I just tend to mix up the approach.  It's always opposites day in this blog, versus shooting for optimization.

It has a somewhat similar dark cherry aspect that stands out in it; interesting it worked out that way, that a main flavor aspect matched.  And someone might describe this earthiness as leather, but it's relatively different.  The first would resemble a clean, bright, sweet scent of a hand-bag or expensive jacket, and this is closer to a bomber jacket or baseball glove.  It has an unusual dryness to it, which does work.  One layer of aspects is not far off coffee; that's different.  In this case I mean a very light roast, that cocoa-range coffees can express, not French roast char, which is a lot more common in roasted teas.  Or that could just be interpreted as cocoa.  Brewed just a little lighter this balance is going to work better; the intensity is a bit much with the way the feel works, and the flavors are dialed up too much.  It's just a little sour; that might throw off a positive impression a little.  It's good tea too though; no doubt about that.


2016 ancient tree medium oxidized number 1:  very different than the other two, but with some overlap.  Fruit is a common ground for all three, which works really well for me since I love different forms of fruit in teas.  For someone else they might hate these teas for that; funny how preference really could vary.  This infusion strength is pretty good; it works.  It has a touch of dryness too, and a similar pairing of fruit towards dried cherry / tamarind with underlying cocoa / leather / aged hardwood, but comes across quite differently related to balance of aspects and different feel.  It feels smooth and a bit juicy compared the previous one being full and a bit dry.  That fruit is quite different, even though it does overlap; I'll have another go at describing it next round.

That "medium oxidized" part in the vendor description probably did play a role in how this tea came across, but throughout these notes the importance of that doesn't stand out, and I don't get around to saying anything about it.  The earlier 2017 version brewed leaf looks lighter, but the brewed tea liquid is a lot darker, and again I'll not try to make too much of those differences.  The first and third teas in this round didn't come across as overbrewed, just prepared slightly strong, but the second did.

that first round; brewed a bit long, especially for the 2017 version (middle)

Second infusion

Ruan Zhi:  not a lot of development or transition, but it does brew another positive infusion using a very short brew time, around 15 seconds.  It's fruity, but really that cocoa / cinnamon aspect stands out most, and then a fruit (dark cherry, mostly, which could be interpreted differently), then the earthier layers supporting that.  The feel is still a little thin but the aftertaste picks up a little, giving an impression of more depth.  I do like the way that flavor set works.  It's not far off how Jin Xuan blacks come across but maybe a little more complex for flavor range, but then those can vary.  I suppose it's heavier on cocoa and spice than most of what I've tried for Thai Jin Xuan black tea versions, which are more fruity, but Taiwanese versions can be like this.  There's just a touch of balsa wood type mustiness, which can be a negative factor in some Taiwanese black teas (unless that unusual range seems positive to someone, then it's a positive one).  It doesn't stand out though, and for me it works in combination with the rest, more giving it complexity than throwing it off.


2017 ancient tree:  it's much nicer just a little lighter, and the flavor / effect is "cleaning up" some.  The sourness drops off and the feel gains some juiciness, not quite as full in a way that contributes a bit of dry feel.  A flavors list won't do this tea justice for catching the overall complexity and intensity.  Another tea could be almost exactly the same in what it expresses but lack this level of intensity, and not have the same effect.  That list:  sweetness, fruit (dark cherry, to me), cocoa, leather, a touch of coffee.  In talking about that dry feel what I mean is the way a lightly brewed, lightly roasted, good version of coffee comes across.

The structure (in the sense of feel) is different in coffee than for tea, and this leans towards that.  But the feel is full, the aftertaste experience is fine, and the flavor intensity and range is good, so the overall effect if very nice.  That last part, the flavor range, is interesting.  That sweet dried fruit gives it an interesting higher note and a clean version of earthiness a good base, with some cocoa in between, so it covers a lot of ground.  There's even a trace of what someone might see as mild mint developing.  That bit of sourness faded quite a bit, and I'd expect given that transition difference it won't be noticeable in the next round at all.


2016 ancient tree:  this is transitioning, the most of the three, beyond that dry texture and touch of sourness dropping out of the 2017 version.  The fruit has diminished and it's picking up a woody aspect, swapping out some range closer to cocoa and leather for that.  The tea can't be finishing up yet; it's hardly getting started.  It will be interesting to see where that leads though.  It lends it an interesting character since it starts to resemble malt more too, but it's lighter and less intense than the other two now.  I'd expect it to last a lot longer related to overall intensity than the first but not the second.  We'll see.  In going back and trying the three again, the last of the cups, I think this tea might've seemed less intense for trying it just after the 2017 version.  It's normal in flavor intensity, but that 2017 one before it was unusual for the high level of intensity.

Ruan Zhi left, 2017 top, 2016 lower right

same order.  the color difference is interesting.

Third infusion

Ruan Zhi:  more of the same from the last infusion, based on using relatively short infusion times, not quite 15 seconds.  If anything that same balance of flavors is working even better now, adjusting to an evenness that really works.  Fruit balances spice and clean earthiness, the same aspects I won't run through describing again.  Again the texture is a little thin but the aftertaste compensates for that.  I don't mean it has significant aftertaste in comparison with good young sheng or high mountain Taiwanese oolong, of course.  A few seconds after drinking the tea the flavor is still there, and thirty seconds later it's still tapering off.  With intense young sheng just after drinking it the flavor can seem to strengthen, stronger than when it was actually in your mouth, and minutes later it might not diminish all that much.  It still gives an impression of a more complex experience as it is.


2017:  this tea's balance really fell together; that intense, structured feel softened and isn't dry, and the sourness is gone.  It has lots more flavor (in terms of both intensity and range), more thickness of feel, and more aftertaste effect than the Ruan Zhi.  That Ruan Zhi is a nice black tea but this is on a different level.  These teas weren't presented as being close to Dian Hong in style (typical Yunnan black tea) but since they are from Assamica plants from a nearby region I'll mention some comparison.  It's not as if a Dian Hong style black couldn't be more complex and intense, beyond just being different in lots of ways, but this character works well for me.  The flavor range varies a good bit in those so to me saying it's typical or not typical of a Dian Hong is problematic.  Some really are like this.  Or it seems possible there are conventions about what should or shouldn't be called "Dian Hong" from Yunnan that aren't clearly identified or adhered to by a lot of producers and vendors.

That reminds me; what I've been describing as dark cherry really could be interpreted as roasted sweet potato instead, just a sweet, clean version of one.  It probably is closer to that, at least in this round for this tea.  It's not like roasted yam, it doesn't seem to me, not that rich, softer, "deeper" flavor complexity towards pumpkin range, more the light, sweeter part.  I think the cherry might have worked better as a description in the earlier rounds, and it's moving towards this now, with the whole cocoa / leather layer thinning a bit.


2016:  this transitions too.  Roasted sweet potato works as a description for this too, just not as well.  The cocoa and cinnamon effect is picking up relative strength instead of dropping back.  In part due to going with lighter infusions the leather and earthiness is more subdued in all of these; simply brewing the teas stronger would make that stand out more.  The lighter, sweeter, more subtle fruit, spice, and roasted root vegetable range would increase in strength more but the proportion would shift how that's perceived, with a different feel mixing with and varying taste experience.  All that makes you wonder if I'm just making all this up, to some extent, doesn't it?  That last part did start in on some guessing.

This third tea could be brewed a little stronger to be ideal.  It works well as I'm making it but it's less intense than the other two.  Did two years of aging give it more depth and a cleaner effect at the cost of dropping intensity a little, shifting some fruit to spice?  Who knows.  I think personal preference would dictate which of these three is better.  The last two are a lot more interesting to me, and seem more complex.  I suppose I like the second the best, but some aspect range others wouldn't necessarily like, especially that bit of dryness and sourness in the first two infusions, which this 2016 version didn't express.  It would be possible to get this third tea to draw more even with the second in terms of intensity just by brewing it slightly longer, not doubling time to compensate for it being a weaker tea, just adding some seconds to adjust that.  I think the overall range of the second would still be broader though; it has a lot going on.  Judging by the first two infusions it probably wasn't as good as the other two but judging by this last one I see it as the best of the three.

this was around a 15 second infusion, on the moderate side but still dark

Fourth infusion:

Ruan Zhi:  this tea might well be thinning a bit now.  I gave those around a 25 to 30 second infusion, so not really lengthened a lot yet to account for losing intensity but some.  I am using a high proportion of tea and all those other infusion times were limited, after going a bit long on the first one.  The same aspects are there, nice sweetness, cocoa and cinnamon spice standing out, but it's diminishing.


2017:  the flavor is shifting a little, some of that sweet potato transitioning to catchy flavor that's hard to isolate.  It's more towards a dark toffee, but the flavor includes different version of dried fruit, a little like a dried mango or dried papaya, but "darker."  I bet there is some dried fruit out there this closely resembles but I'll probably not get to making that connection.  Dried papaya is as close as I'll get, or to connect that with something a Western audience was more likely to try towards date, but not quite that earthy.


2016:  the balance seems similar to the last round in the this third tea.  The balanced complexity works; it covers plenty of range.  One part reminds me a little of the mild mint in teaberry, which was part of what was going on in the 2017 version earlier, I think.  You can eat those "berries," from teaberries, but I don't think they're actually really berries.  And I've read you can dry and brew the leaves, and that they'll even oxidize, if you could manage to bruise them.  If any readers have experience with this I'd like to hear of it.


All of these teas would probably benefit from increasing the infusion time to 40 seconds or so.  It would've worked better to split that first infusion into two, so I'd be on the fifth round now.  The teas aren't fading yet (or maybe just the first one is), but they need longer times to keep up intensity.  Assamica based black teas generally seem to last longer, and they tend to produce positive infusions even when you need to run out steep times to longer to get more out of them.  In a Western style brewing cycle that might relate to getting a third infusion instead, depending on proportion used, and letting them soak awhile.  Experimenting with transitioning from slightly cooler water to hotter water later on is interesting too, but to me just using water a bit off boiling point (95 C / 200 F range) works just as well, and keeps things simpler.  Of course if messing around and noticing variation is the idea simpler isn't necessarily better.

Fifth infusion:

I went over 30 seconds for this infusion but elected to check what they have left for intensity and drink a slightly weaker round instead of running it out to closer to a minute to get a stronger version.  I'm just going to add some thoughts instead of detailed review, and these will brew a couple more infusions at longer times.

The Ruan Zhi is still nice, just thinning.  Again longer times would compensate for that.  The flavor profile is still nice, that cocoa / cinnamon range, it's just narrowing slightly.  It is interesting the way a touch of balsa wood base more or less dropped back; those longer times might bring that out more again.

The other two are pretty much where they were in the last round.  Using longer times in late cycles shifts aspects in different ways, in lots of cases drawing out more of a wood tone, and changing feel, but I don't necessarily see that as part of the main experience of a tea.  It's nice when the last two or three longer infusions stay really positive, versus not so nice, and these will be fine.  The overall intensity of the 2016 version is now even with the 2017; funny how that one tea seemed to brew faster through a lot of that cycle, how it was more intense at the same brewing time, beyond covering a slightly broader range.

Conclusions

not even the whole Tea Side selection; there are six more black teas, and lots of oolong and pu'er-like versions

So I was trying a 2016 Old Trees Black Tea Medium Oxidized, the first tea on the top left, and the second from the left on the bottom.  Why didn't I order Dian Hong style black teas instead?  The Tea Side owner included some tea samples; maybe I will get back with a review of one or more versions of those.


Dian Hong vary a lot in character, and assessing quality level and trueness to type are two different things.  It would be difficult to summarize if these teas were as good as better than most Yunnan blacks, or if it matched that broad range of style and aspect sets as well.  Related to aspects, Dian Hong often go further with including a roasted yam aspect instead, and one I've tried not too long ago expressed a lot more cocoa than these, and general intensity (one of the best Dian Hong versions I've tried, just not one that's commercially available, as far as I know).  At a guess if you'd buy a similar Yunnan black tea from a US based reseller for the same price you wouldn't get tea this good. 


I can't place them related to those Farmerleaf versions I reviewed last year from memory; it's too much to reach back to that.  They could be roughly on the same level but it doesn't work to guess out if they're slightly better or slightly worse.  As I recall I might've liked the black that wasn't sun-dried from them a little better initially, but not their sun-dried tea, and then when I tried it a year later, after it had aged a year and transitioned, I liked that tea more than I did initially.  Given my limited memory take that for what it's worth.


I noticed the Tea DB bloggers reviewed one of the 2016 Dian Hong versions recently.  It would be interesting to critique their assessment but since I'm trying different tea versions--here, at least--I can't.  But the Tea Side owner mentioned something about general character in a comment to that video:


This black tea is made of material from trees 300-500 year old. Such material has a rather pu-erh character. Most of the Yunnan Dianhongs are sweeter, vanilla-floral, because they are made from bushes. Tea from ancient trees has a more modest organoleptic, but deep taste, a long aftertaste (as you noted) and powerful energy (Cha Qi). That is, it is such a "red pu-erh", if I may say so.


Interesting; that could work for description for these, but I'm guessing the character should be different.  Only some of the teas listed specified being sun-dried, and it didn't say for these, but that is a main distinction that changes character in Yunnan black teas.  Sun-dried versions are said to age better, to actually improve, and the same claim isn't usually made of oven dried versions.

That quote kind of maps onto a lot of what I said about the Ruan Zhi version, about that having a pronounced, intense flavor but giving up a lot in terms of texture and complexity.  I'd been attributing that to the plant type difference but maybe it related to the growing condition and plant age differences too, with potential processing differences left a bit open ended.  In the end it's about the experienced tea anyway, not making a study of why it landed where it did.

In trying sheng versions--which I won't say too much about, since so many factors tend to mix--I've been noticing patterns of more wild-grown trees coming across quite differently, being more subtle in nature, and just different in aspect range, earthier, more complex, but not as intense related to astringency, sometimes towards mild spice instead of or along with floral aspects.  Plant age seems to tie to a different sort of intensity difference; sheng from truly old tree sources has a completely different feel, and more aftertaste.  It's not an aspect I value or tend to notice as much as others but the "qi" or physiological effect from older tree plants does seem greater too.  I didn't notice the same degree of effect as when comparing gushu sheng a week or so ago.  Since these are black teas instead comparing across types might be of limited value but some general trends do seem to match up.


For expressing very positive but limited range flavor intensity in one limited sense the Ruan Zhi stood out as best among the three, to me, but to be clear it was my least favorite.  For overall complexity and character the other two were better, and the 2017 matched my preference better, but then they were also just different.  For judging by the first two infusions the 2016 was much better, which would have mapped onto three light infusions instead.

These were interesting, good teas.  It will be nice drinking more of them to mess around with parameters and enjoy the experience without taking notes.  If there were other black tea samples sent with them (and I think there were) it will be interesting seeing how those vary too.

the Thai life section; an old barbershop, where I get my hair cut too

with short hair and a serious look