Bing Dao origin shou pu'er

 

I reviewed a sheng pu'er from Bing Dao from Oriental Leaf recently, here, and this is a shou version, the pre-fermented pu'er range.  Many thanks to this vendor for providing this tea for review!

To me two thoughts come up immediately when considering Bing Dao shou pu'er.  1) is it real?, 2) does it make sense to pre-ferment (wet pile) Bing Dao material, to turn it into shou?

It's probably real.  It's from a main producer in that area, Mengku Rongshi, per description from this vendor, so that would comparable to questioning if a Lao Ban Zhang from Chen Sheng Hao is real (known for a long term sourcing contract in that area).  It could still be fake, and people can think whatever they want, and that conclusion is a knee-jerk reaction in some tea circles.  But it's probably not.

Does it make sense to pre-ferment some of the most exceptional tea material you could find in this way?  Not to me, no, but of course it's for people who like shou more than I do.  I'm a sheng drinker, and I'd rather drink above average sheng than the best shou available.  But is seems a bit harsh and judgmental to say that the range shouldn't even exist.  It makes no sense to me, but it would to some others, with different preferences.

Let's consider the vendor listing:

Bingdao Aged Ripe Pu-erh (2026 · Coin Cakes) — Mengku Rongshi

40 grams worth, five 8 gram coins, sells for $14.50, which does sound kind of low in cost.  It doesn't say when the tea material was produced, even though it claims to be aged, which people could take as a second red flag, if so inclined.  The divide between spring and fall material comes to mind; they could be using autumn harvest tea for this purpose, and the material would be worth less to start with, and the origin area would still be the same.  In sheng you can often pick up a bit of difference in intensity and character type, related to autumn harvest versions, but it may not stand out as much in shou.

I tend to value the tea experience more than the story anyway, so it matters less, from that kind of perspective.  Their description:

Ripe pu-erh from the Bingdao growing area in Yunnan — one of the most regarded tea regions in China — fermented using Mengku Rongshi's box fermentation method and aged before release. No waiting required. The tea is ready to drink now, packaged in individual tins of five 8g coin cakes. Each coin is scored with a cross so it breaks cleanly into four pieces — a practical feature for adjusting your brew weight. Available as a single tin (40g) or a full box of eight tins (320g). [that sells for $110, again lower than you would expect).

Bingdao is a tea-growing area in Shuangjiang County, Lincang, Yunnan — the same county where Mengku Rongshi has been based since the family began making tea in 1935. It is one of the most sought-after origins in Chinese pu-erh, known for material with a distinctive character: clean, sweet, with a cooling finish and strong salivation that lingers after the cup is empty. These qualities are not common in ripe pu-erh, where fermentation often softens or masks the character of the raw material. Getting them to carry through into a finished shou pu-erh requires both good material and careful process.

The Process

Mengku Rongshi ferments this tea using their box fermentation method — a controlled approach in which the tea is managed in enclosed fermentation units rather than open large-pile wodui. Temperature, humidity, and timing are monitored and adjusted throughout. The result is a cleaner, more precise fermentation with less of the off-notes that conventional large-pile processing can introduce...

Aroma: Sugar and caramel lead, with a background of fruit and dry wood. The cup aroma carries a clean, candied sweetness.

Soup: Deep red, clear, and bright. The texture is smooth — silky is the word that comes up most often. Not thin, not heavy; just even and continuous.

Taste: Sweet and smooth, with a distinct sugar-and-caramel quality throughout. The Bingdao character comes through in the finish: a light cooling sensation on the tongue, strong salivation, and a clean rock-sugar sweetness at the back of the throat that stays for several minutes.

Smaller batch shou processing has been a somewhat well known theme in "the West" for the past decade or so, but there isn't that much of it made, so there aren't lots of options to try different versions.  But it's no secret, and examples do turn up.  It's more typically presented as an experimental approach, not something a vendor has been carrying out for a long period of time, so results might vary.  

Here's an example of a Thai vendor, Tea Side, producing 2016 and 2018 versions, posted in 2019 here.  Those were good.  Not like this, but the material surely didn't have the same potential, and it was the results of processing after some trial and error, but not a couple decades of consistent production (or whatever this relates to).  This was a review of their 2021 version, in 2025, probably representing a more developed, slightly age transitioned version, as a more developed example (which they described as "Chocolate Noir;" both that and this Bing Dao version share pronounced cacao flavor).

Review:

First infusion:  I let this soak for well over 30 seconds, so that it would open up in the first round.  I didn't use a rinse, which wouldn't work as well for a pressed shape like this anyway, since you would be rinsing only the outside surface.

Flavor is really nice.  As shou goes; I'm not a natural shou drinker, which I'll address more in an intro that I add later.  There's a pronounced cacao note, the main thing you notice.  Then an inky minerality, and what comes across to me as rich dried fruit, that could be interpreted differently.  Some shou has a funky sort of fermentation related input that fades after a couple of rounds and if it's in this it's really moderate, and hard to notice.  It can taste like wet cement block, petroleum, fermenting cardboard, or in worst cases like fish, or fermented fish sauce.  There's really none of all that.

Body / feel is really thick, of course.  Cacao carries over most in the aftertaste, so far.  There seems to be a savory aspect included, that's not strong, so it relates more to background, giving it depth.  It tastes a little like sun-dried tomato.  That's quite a lot of aspect range for the first round, but then this is brewed strong.  Shou never really picks up problematic aspects when overbrewed, or put another way, it's hard to really overbrew it.  I'll try it lighter though, and see what that changes.

Second infusion:  this round I brewed for 5 seconds, just long enough to stir the leaves around a bit with the lid, then poured back out.  Intensity and feel strength drop, of course.  The flavor profile doesn't change that much, but how it comes across does.  Warm mineral tone evens up with cacao for intensity.  Fruit isn't as noticeable.  That fruit was so rich and heavy that I'd have to make up a dried fruit type to come close to capturing what it was / is.  Prune is close enough though, dried plum.

This is pleasant brewed light, and intense enough, but probably brewing between 10 and 15 seconds would be an optimum, for me.  That's a really strong infusion strength, for using 8 grams in 100 ml for a tea this intense, but it works for this type.  

Dark bread range seems to enter in as a main flavor range, replacing some of that earlier set, or combining with it.  Really dark bread, like pumpernickel, maybe just without that one seed spice flavor input.

Third infusion:  not so different than last round; that description still applies.  Heavier dried fruit range might be lighter, on towards a dried berry input instead.

Is this so exceptional that it justifies existing, changing what should have been great quality material sheng into a shou / wet pile fermented form?  Preference for types enters into that kind of analysis and conclusion.  To me no; this must have been better as sheng.  But for people into distinctive, unique forms of shou the answer might be different.  It's really for them, not for me.  It will be interesting to see how pricing works out, which kind of factors in, but again that's a separate theme.  I think ordinary but more exceptional factory shou is good enough, and represents the type range well enough, but again that means little coming from a shou drinker.

I've been through this before.  A friend passed on a gushu shou from some known tea area before, and I had trouble placing if it made any sense, for it to even exist.  It has been nice having that better shou available to drink during fasts.  I have other more ordinary range shou around for that, and I might have drank through half a kilogram or so of it on fasts over the last three years (I fast a good bit; four times a year, five days each fast).  But it's nice trying something a little different and better.  I've kept experimenting with what else my stomach can tolerate, without much success beyond aged white tea, and very limited other hei cha range.

In trying this round again the flavors seem to flatten out a little, losing distinctiveness related to covering more scope (now mineral and dark bread, plus cacao, and limited dried fruit).  It's nice that it's so clean; often a touch of what leans towards sourness comes across in shou.  You wouldn't identify it as sourness, necessarily, but it relates to aged books or old cardboard smell in way that starts to be comparable.  Cement block mineral is more of a Liu Bao thing, and more general mustiness often relates to a storage input, or at least seems to.  None of all that is present in this.

Fourth infusion:  the balance of those different flavors is interesting.  I let this brew between 15 and 20 seconds, and that brings back intensity that works better for me, of course related to infusion strength.  

Feel includes some richness and fullness, and aftertaste carries over, but for a sheng drinker all other tea range can seem a little limited related to those.  Shou can be oily and thick, so I guess it's just a different effect, not less of one.

The flavors I had already mentioned integrate well at this stage.  They're harder to identify as separate aspects or notes, which doesn't necessarily enhance or degrade the experience, it's just different.  I suppose the dark bread aspect is shifting towards a lighter spice note, which is still related to that dark bread theme.  You wouldn't really necessarily identify this as tasting like cacao or dried fruit at this stage; it combines with the rest, and mineral base, spice, and dark bread have shifted to be more of what you pick up.  I suppose I see it as including that range, giving it complexity, but you can't really separate out those notes as they seemed to be expressed earlier on.

I'll give this another longer yet infusion time, around 30 seconds, and that might be enough notes for this.  There is late stage transition to note and consider, but I'm often fine with skipping that part, seeing the main story as already told.

Fifth infusion:  it picks up more strength as mineral depth than the rest.  It's a relatively different context for a comparable effect, but Dian Hong black tea can land in a similar place, related to a general pattern, of expressing depth more than forward flavor.  I like that in Dian Hong; it works for me, even though it could easily be regarded as a flaw or limitation in a tea version.  In this it's fine.  I think a shou drinker would relate to it more as I do with that black tea, than how I do trying this round.  It's interesting, and not overly negative, but not necessarily appealing either.

Mineral tone changes.  I really could probably review this tea again and just write about how the mineral tone is coming across each round.  Descriptions of that end up being vague, mentioning rock types, or partial comparisons to non-food related inputs, like fallen tree bark or petroleum.  

I suppose as higher level, general character summaries go this may come across as expressing a clean version of forest floor notes, to some.  That can be very pleasant when it works well, and this is clean and positive.  Imagine yourself sitting by a bubbling spring, in a wet, cool, green forest, on a spring day, with pines sheltering you, and ferns filling in the forest floor.  It tastes a little like that would smell, with wet rocks and fermenting fallen tree logs standing out.  Of course I'm picturing a specific place in describing that; I'm from the forests of western Pennsylvania.  There's a feel to such places that captures your imagination, making you think that animated local spirit influences might actually be real.  I digress.

The tea is pretty good.  I'll add more about that in conclusions, after adding a vendor description.

Conclusions:

It's interesting seeing caramel in the initial product description.  That's the kind of thing that you would notice if you had read it in description, since it would bring it to mind.  Rich, warm toned, relatively sweet tea could always be identified as tasting like caramel or toffee.  I just didn't make that connection.

It's interesting considering how good this is; is the quality level really as high as shou tends to get?  Are the flavors and other character roughly as positive as any other shou that I've tried.  Sure, they are.  That would mean more to me personally if I loved shou more.

It would really seem a waste of this tea to drink it as something your stomach tolerates well when fasting.  Fasting doesn't exactly throw off my sense of taste, but how you relate to flavors is different then.  A baseline for a lot of life experience shifts.  To me it adds an underlying layer of stress to life experience; you are always not doing something, that your body is inclined to do, to eat on a daily basis.

Of course when I re-try a later round I notice pronounced sweetness, which I do associate with caramel (per the comment about the power of suggestion).  I'm writing the edited version in the early afternoon, which isn't usually how that goes.  This is probably the cleanest version of shou I've yet to try; there is no fermentation related murkiness.  It makes you wonder about the actual age; over just 3 or 4 years a lot of the early fermentation effect clears up, any off flavors, but over a decade or more depth picks up, tones clean up a little more, and some limited forward flavor range gets swapped out for that depth.  This could be more than 3 or 4 years old; it would explain that clean character.

For shou drinkers I suppose this would be a must-try sort of version.  Some people might even miss the rough edges, the heavy, complex, intensity that good factory shou brings across, bumping that intensity at the cost of including rougher aspect range, and edgier feel.  This might seem too refined.  But then it's interesting trying extreme ranges of different tea types, to help place the rest.  

To me that even applies to bad tea; that rough, harsh, problematic Chinatown shou, that's earthy in an off way, and a touch sour, helps you place the middle and higher ends of shou range better.  You might not make it through a whole cake of that kind of thing, if you end up buying it, and it might be better for your health if you didn't.  But it's nice experiencing the full range of what tea experience can be.  This version represents the "higher" end instead, which people would relate to differently, depending on their individual preferences.

Progression through a tea experience curve

first meeting a favorite tea friend in a favorite Chinatown shop

I wrote about how beginners might get into tea awhile back, about how themes like brewing, sourcing, and learning about types works out, here.  It's strange that was 9 years ago, now around half the time I've even been exposed to specialty tea.  I began exploring it more through writing this blog, starting 13 years ago.

The point here relates to seeing post after post--in Reddit now, since FB is kind of quiet in tea groups--about people just getting into tea.  It means different things to different people.  Usually someone posting there, in r/tea, will have only tried tea bag tea, or maybe beyond that mainstream, mass-produced options like Harney and Sons, or Twinings.  Ahmad and Fortnum and Mason wouldn't be so different, or loose leaf Ceylon from Dilmah (which is actually pretty good, within that range).

Already it could sound like I'm looking down on people at that level, that they will get around to exploring "real tea" only when they take the next step, and try out different kinds of sources, and learn about more tea types.  English Breakfast Blend is a tea type, in a sense, but I mean narrower origin, more original versions, like trying Tie Guan Yin oolong, or Longjing green tea, some absolute basics.  In part that works, just not the judgmental tone.  Someone could drink only Earl Grey and English Breakfast Tea forever and they would still be a tea drinker who is enjoying tea.  From my perspective that would be kind of a shame, because the really interesting scope starts right after that, or maybe two steps later, but it's their perspective that matters.

So this isn't intended as judgment.  I'll map out some types range and stages without this concluding that people making it to my exposure level and appreciation form have navigated a proper experience curve.  A lot of this is about types, about how people typically explore from one form and type of tea through a larger set, but I'll start with typical brewing and sourcing experience curves.

Brewing approach transition:  it usually goes from using a tea bag, on to using a range of Western approaches and devices, narrowed down to one favorite (often an infuser basket), then to Gongfu brewing, using a gaiwan or clay pot.  You can use other approaches, and what works best depends on the tea type, quality level, and form (broken leaf versus whole, etc.).  It's as well to just shift from tea bag to Western brewing, early on, and explore from there.

pour-over tea with ice cream.  it kind of makes sense, but also not really.

flavored Thai tea, brewed in a French press

Sourcing transition:  people start with whatever they run across or have on hand, so grocery store tea bag versions first, then any kind of loose tea, then onto loose tea versions that aren't random, that represent whatever is most available.  

Someone could stop at any one point; all of this is written as if it would be more natural to keep going.  They could only ever explore tea-bag versions, or only ever try out Western brewing.  Someone might never explore beyond Twinings, Ahmad, Harney and Sons, and Fortnum and Mason tin versions.  That wouldn't be terrible, but to many the more interesting range starts in later.  This extensive typical experience curve description following, related to types, covers how that often works out.

English Breakfast Tea and Earl Grey:  these could be tea bag versions, although loose leaf versions of almost exactly the same tea tend to be better, even from the same producer or vendor source.  Tea bag teas are so broken they're almost ground up material, because that extracts a lot of flavor from a small amount of tea (2 to 2 1/2 grams) in 4 or 5 minutes.  And astringency is increased, and more negative flavor range; that's the bad part.  Flavored teas are fine; I've liked Earl Grey versions I've tried in the past.  Better quality Earl Grey is nicer than what Twinings sells, loose or in tea bags, and that's harder to find.  

But moving on to the next step is the thing, to expand range, and try what is better.  Let's move back a step first though.

Flavored teas, blends:  there's nothing wrong with drinking Sleepytime from Celestial Seasonings or a popular cinnamon blend from Harney and Sons, whatever that's called.  I started on tisanes and these kinds of blends a long time ago, long before getting into real tea.  Tazo Zen was an early favorite, and it's probably still nice, if it exists.  But this is about the other kind of range, so let's consider what that even is.

this is pretty good; I just had it with breakfast, during editing

Tie Guan Yin, Longjing:  these are natural starting points for Chinese light rolled oolong and green tea.  Longjing is either an inexpensive copy of a fairly well established and high quality version, or that original form, which can also represent a developed end-point preference.  

I visited China relatively early in my exposure to tea, on business, about 18 years ago.  A local IT professional working in Bangkok, from China, mentioned that buying Longing in Chinatown is a good starting point.  He was right.  I tried a couple of quality level variations, and couldn't tell the difference, so I bought the next to most expensive one, and I was hooked.  Green tea turned out to not be my main natural preference, but I still like Longjing.

an old mall visit on my first trip to Shenzhen

comparison tasting Longjing cultivars

Light rolled oolong is just a good general tea range, easy to appreciate, easy to brew, good at varying quality levels.  Later people might well change oolong preferences, and like much better Taiwanese high mountain versions, that are more flavorful and refined, sometimes incorporating more oxidation and roast input.  Or Wuyi Yancha (Da Hong Pao, Rou Gui, etc.), or Dan Cong (Chaozhou, Guangdong oolong), that are either fruity or floral, versus Wuyi Yancha / Wuyishan, Fujian teas expressing earthier range roasted notes, and lots of rock mineral base.

To get to this stage you almost have to move past grocery stores as a tea source.  I see inexpensive Chinese Tie Guan Yin in specialty grocery stores in Bangkok, or sometimes sort of related local Thai Jin Xuan rolled oolong, but in general it's just not here either.  We need to go to a tea shop, or buy it online.  In a big city in the US a Chinatown market store should have some basic tins of teas, but it would usually have to be in the range of NYC size for that to come up.  And that's just to buy mixed quality level tea versions; it might be pretty good, or maybe pretty bad, just like in the specialty grocery stores in Bangkok.  So let's consider that next range.

Dian hong black tea, Keemun, Japanese and Vietnamese teas:  none of this is going to be in any grocery store (except maybe Japanese tea in a Japanese grocery store, which they have in Bangkok).  That first example is my favorite black tea category, Yunnan black tea.  You can buy pretty good versions that aren't expensive online, maybe for under $15 for 100 grams.  "Pretty good" is always relative.  In that 15 cent to 25 cent / gram low-medium price range value can become important, but it's not that much to be spending on tea.  People's budgets vary, and this content can't mostly be about that, or address it fully, so I'll be limiting that as a consideration here.  Beyond the Japanese teas range lots of types just mentioned might be closer to 10 cents a gram instead of 15, for pretty good versions.

Vietnamese black tea, essentially made in a Dian Hong style 

Keemun is an exception, relating to two different kinds of things now.  It's cheap, mass produced and sold Chinese black tea, just not as common as it probably was 15 years ago.  Or it's a higher quality range version from the same area and plant type (or types) that's fairly rare, something you wouldn't run across much.

I mention those other origins because it doesn't really work to assume that someone is going to explore only Chinese tea.  Japanese tea is often presented, approached, and consumed as higher end, limited character range, expensive tea versions, as better than average sencha, gyokuro, and so on.  That works, but those Japanese grocery store versions aren't exactly that.  I asked a local Japanese friend once what he drank, and he couldn't even name sencha as a main category description, and just responded "whatever the grocery store sells."

Vietnamese tea is so broad, and a subject so near to my heart, that it's problematic to even say why it's problematic as a category.  There are cheap teas from there.  Fishhook style green from Thai Nguyen (an area) is usually quite good for being so inexpensive, heavy on mineral base, vegetal, and intense.  But they make lots of tea there.  I've been drinking a lot of Vietnamese sheng (the same as sheng pu'er) for many years.  

Black teas from Vietnam can be great (or from lots of different places).  Both Thailand and Vietnam started copying Taiwanese oolong production back in the 1990s, I think, and Vietnam has moved on to making better versions than Thailand, at the higher end.  There are lots of local types and styles; it's a diverse subject.  So it would match to lots of what I'm going to go on to say about other Chinese tea range.

many tea types in a popular Moscow shop.  that guy was so nice.

Wuyi Yancha and Dan Cong oolongs:  I've mentioned that these are natural second levels to explore for Chinese oolong range.  Or at least that's how I see it.  Early on that might relate to Da Hong Pao (from Wuyishan, the Wuyi Yancha or rock oolong range).  That's also called Big Red Robe, relating to an old story about a tea plant being given a robe to wear, out of honor, related to saving the king's life, maybe that was.  Never mind about the myths; it's just colorful background, that doesn't mean much.  Probably the tea plants never actually wore a robe, since that doesn't make sense, or maybe they did.

Dan Cong, left, and rolled Tie Guan Yin

Quality level of these teas varies a lot.  Someone would normally experience the lower level as an intro, keep exploring, and feel like the range of what "real tea" is only unfolds for them in the second half of that exploration.  Dan Cong usually comes after some Wuyi Yancha exposure; it can cost a little more, it's less common to run across, an better versions can be more refined (and of course more costly).

It's tempting to describe the difference between a cheap Chinatown shop Shui Xian or Da Hong Pao and a better tea version, but I wouldn't do that justice in words.  You need to try them, and you can appreciate the quality of the second better after exposure to the first.  That's why listening to a vendor describe a version as communicating the real tea experience can be problematic, beyond that being a typical red flag for over-hyping a product.  You might end up paying $1 a gram for a tea that you can't compare to anything else that you've been exposed to.  It could seem good, but it could be impossible to place that.  It's as well to try some basic teas first.

really inexpensive Shui Xian from a favorite Chinatown shop, sold in folded paper

Better quality versions tend to be more refined, in the sense of conveying a range of very positive aspects that integrate and balance well with each other.  Flavor is usually better, but mouthfeel and aftertaste expression also can be.  A liqueur or perfume-like aromatic character comes across in some versions (maybe the first more related to Wuyi Yancha, similar to cognac or brandy, with strong floral character in Dan Cong seeming more like perfume).

Hei cha, shou pu'er, white tea:  along the way in exploration you end up trying all sorts of varying types, with very different character.  This is a nice part of exploring tea; you can keep trying something new and pleasant, that doesn't necessarily cost that much, for years.  Looking back you might wonder why someone would keep drinking one tin after another of a few favorite Harney and Sons versions, since they're missing this kind of ongoing exploration pattern.  For the same cost, even, or this exploration of different tea types might even be cheaper.  

It's probably as well if I skip over what these are, for the most part, beyond adding a few short phrases.  White tea is the least processed version, in some examples not as flavorful as others, but versions can also be bright and fruity, or warm toned and somewhat complex, just perhaps not intense.  

golden flowers mold, jin hua, on Fu style hei cha (a positive and valued input, oddly)

Hei cha is a category of fermented teas, more or less, with shou pu'er often regarded as one example of this (or as a separate thing; it doesn't matter that people use category boundaries differently).  Shou pu'er is definitely post-fermented (wet piled) sheng pu'er, which is sort of like green tea, just a little different.  Liu Bao and Fu zhuan are examples of hei cha.  

Shou pu'er, Liu Bao, and Fu zhuan are all kind of earthy, but in different degrees and senses.  Liu Bao includes a slate-like mineral base layer, and can taste a bit like pine, or in aged versions, or versions that are more pre-fermented, more like peat.  Like actual dirt, right?  But in a good sense.  You really need to experience that to see if it's as horrible as it might sound, or great instead.

I'm not implying that someone would try Tie Guan Yin first, then a good Chinese black tea, then Vietnamese teas, then white, and so on.  Everyone's path would be different.  But it is common to run through more common and typical types earlier on, and then expand on that.  But then I've missed a couple, so let's circle back.

Assam and Ceylon:  black tea from India can be basic and pleasant or high in quality and exceptional, from different places.  I'm referring to Assam, or Darjeeling--another area--might also ring a bell.  Ceylon, black tea from Sri Lanka, is an unusual special case.  At one time it was one of the main teas produced, in high demand, regarded as one of the best tea ranges to be experienced.  It's still good, but now it might be regarded as more ordinary range tea instead.  

good orthodox Assam

Why?  It's complicated, how trends and themes go in broad tea preference.  Darjeeling was highly valued as a tea origin and general type as well, and now it's a bit passé.  Teas from there--both places--can still be fantastic, but tea trends come and go.  Nepal teas were really popular for a few years, a decade or so ago, and now they're not trendy, even though it's common for versions from there to be exceptional.  Aged white tea preference seemed to come and go.  It is what it is.

Natural end points for preference:  this might seem a little misleading, because there's no reason why someone would need to settle on one or more types to like best, later on.  They could just keep drinking a broad range, and exploring.  But often people will settle into liking a couple types best, and then mix it up from there.  For me that relates to sheng pu'er, mostly as drinkable younger versions (not aged), and Dian Hong style black teas.  That's a pretty conventional final preference set, but there are others.

Wawee origin Thai sheng "pu'er," a current favorite 

Some love Japanese green teas the most, which is understandable, if umami flavor that leans toward seaweed is regarded as positive.  Or Taiwanese oolongs, or Wuyi Yancha or Dan Cong.  It would seem odd to me for someone to land on loving hei cha or shou pu'er the most, but that does happen.  An older Chinese friend from Malaysia settled on Liu Bao preference, and in Russian culture / tea circles shou pu'er is a main favorite.

It's worth considering why sheng pu'er ends up being the most typical final preference (per my experience in "tea circles").  There's no one answer, but a few possible causes stand out.  It's really two different types of tea, as drinkable newer versions (what I like), and aged versions, so that's actually two possible final preferences.  Younger versions are intense, often sweet, strong in flavor, including substantial bitterness, strong in feel, and complex in character.  I think a natural tendency to prefer more all of the time, of any kind of exposure, leads in this direction.  

Aged versions can be refined and complex in a completely different way.  There's a lot to learning about types, sourcing, storage conditions input, optimum age range, and so on, so people who embrace a learning curve and like the idea of exclusivity have a lot to work with there.

2004 Dayi purple label sheng, in 2020.  it's pretty much ready now.

What is too much learning and exploration input?:  this seems to be what moderates level of exploration; people only want to put so much work into a drink preference.  It's understandable.  It's not even about expense, since that's already occurring for coffee or boba drinks, for many.  It's about reading a 1500 word blog post, watching videos, or placing the first half dozen orders from vendors from around the world.  It can all be a bit much.

So people find whatever balance works for them, for most relating to trying whatever is already on grocery store shelves.  That can be ok, but for tea enthusiasts that's essentially what comes up just prior to the gateway to better tea experience.

rustic "witch's broom" form Da Hong Pao and sheng pu'er; later exceptions keep coming up

Good and bad aspects of scifi, in relation to The Expanse

 

(photo credit)

I just watched The Expanse series on Amazon.  I've been way behind in catching lots of streaming platform content, because we were many years late in subscribing to any of it.  We first subscribed to Netflix a couple of years ago, although we did catch some shows and movies using an account from an aunt who visited some years back.  

It just seemed like the kids didn't need to keep up with a large volume of entertainment content.  We had subscribed to Disney + for a couple of years earlier, related to a local promotion being inexpensive, but in general they spent so much time on Youtube, shorts, and Tik Tok that it seemed like more than enough.  They also probably watched cable tv a little longer than most American kids.

It was interesting thinking through the pros and cons of different scifi content in relation to The Expanse, which was generally pretty good.  I had tried to watch a couple of Netflix scifi series but it never worked out; the writing was just too bad to tolerate it, never mind enjoying it.  I'm not sure why my opinion would matter to anyone, but I also write to collect thoughts, so I'll do that.  I'll start with what worked well, why it was appealing, and there's a longer list of potential mistakes they might've made, and did.

Positive aspects

Without generally good writing shows of any type are hard to watch.  The story needs to be good, some main premise themes unique and interesting, and character depth and arc needs to be there.  They accomplished all of this.  Acting was great in The Expanse; I tried considering which characters represent thin spots, but to me there were none.  Some parts of some character themes didn't work, but in general every character had depth, was acted well, and contributed to the stories.

The show was based on a series of books, which helps.  In such circumstances an online show can adapt a strong story--or they wouldn't be using that source, and limit what doesn't work in that format.  If there are huge plot holes or inconsistencies those will probably carry over to the show, and I'll describe some examples of that.

The sets and effects worked; the general look was good.  They seemed to use a lot of very detailed models, for the space ships shots, and that can work really well.  Shows or movies can adjust motion and lighting, to make panning shots look very realistic.  They need to add back in some CGI for explosions or lasers and such, and all of that was ok.  In one unconventional scene they actually never got around to creating a critical part of a space-based battle, someone destroying a missile, which seemed to be late in the season when they were rushing to finish production, during Covid.  But in general not much looked unfinished or not quite there.  Quality of effects varied, but for a tv series it was good.

There were other parts people might like, like depth of the worldbuilding being reinforced by accent or language development, or ship systems being developed in a more complex form.  There weren't so many "hard scifi" / realism gaps, beyond the alien technology parts being a bit absurd at times.  So let's switch over to that, as a main gap, followed by the rest.

It's hard to emphasize just how well some parts worked, for example how an unlikely villain role really came together, how a terrorist could be framed as having a partially valid motivation and approach.  Good acting is required to pull that off, and good dialog writing to get the ideas across.  Some characters keep switching motivations, and "sides," and it generally all worked.  That's rare; it took careful development to make that happen.

Thinner spots; what didn't work as well

The alien proto-molecule and technology:   this part was whatever the series needed it to be in any given context.  It looked like a micro-organism or infection at one part, then made up a hive-like community structure, and later the same thing was used to create alien hybrids and vast new technological systems.  Those alien hybrids were invulnerable, like terminators, and people affected by the "virus-like" input were capable of long distance ESP sort of communication.  

It made no sense.  It was never supposed to make sense; it was a vehicle for supporting every plot point the story needed.

Character arcs:  this takes careful planning for different media form development, and it may have come across better in the source writing.  One character goes from being an ex-military transport pilot, based on a full career of experience, to a fighter jock in a few episodes.  Some characters are developed extensively and then just drop out, before that develops to real plot input (like the "Andersen Dawes" rebel minority leader; his part never came to much, even though it seemed headed to main character status).

Killing off a character for off-screen reasons:  part of why Dawes just disappeared related to his actor not being available, and one of the main 4 or 5 characters was deleted quickly due to "me too" themed accusations.  The actor probably deserved it, but that negatively impacted the show.  It would've provided limited closure if there could've been a real life resolution to all of that, some summary of what really happened, but that didn't occur.  30 or more women came forward to say that he had acted inappropriately, and apparently there was message or image based confirmation of that, so he was gone.

Over-use of music:  a music input can really add depth and emotional tone to a scene, but they overused it for this series, at times for extended scenes, so it would just keep going and going.  Less can be more; if it's not spanning 10 or 15% of the content time it can work better.

Parts that mostly worked that could have been better:

Time jumps:  for a long term saga sort of story this can be tricky, signaling when time has passed.  They did a good job of explaining when a gap had occurred, but with more careful writing they could've did more than just have one character tell another about an event.  Using flashbacks would be too much to demand to add more filming, CGI, and storytelling, but character interactions could flesh out critical themes without it just being short exposition ("this happened").  

One character formed a personal relationship with a villain character from the last season, turned into a sympathetic figure, and they crammed all of that transition into a short video call, mostly as context based, so the viewer could figure out what had changed.

Use of language differences:  for the most part this belongs in the "what worked section," to me, but that's a judgment call.  The story used a New Zealand accent to represent a minority group (asteroid belt residents), because a main character was from New Zealand, and it worked better to draw on an established accent than to make one up.  It seemed to me others were using more of a Singaporean accent, and one guy sounded a bit Irish.  For me that really worked, mixing different accent inputs, even for people from the same places, but someone else could see it differently.  

The same could be true of making up racial or origin area designations, or slang.  I was fine with all of it, but someone else might see it as overdone, as a bit beaten to death with repetition.

Complex story line gaps:  again this is part of what worked well and potentially huge gaps, depending on how one took it.  The alien technology themes were never really developed, as to what it all meant, and the show stopped before a conclusion phase that would resolve that.  There was a second alien input group that was introduced, and played a critical role in two plot points, and there was nothing at all developed about them.  

One character was transmitted mentally, in the form of a dead earlier character, and it was never really filled in what that meant, or how it worked, even though he was later split into two characters, as a fictional projection and as the real earlier guy coming back.  For some it would've worked well, and leaving parts vague could've been a big part of that.  For others it would seem like they just never told parts of the story, or those never even existed.

A story line about a new set of alien themes at the end went nowhere, there really only to develop a starting point for later possible exploration (and a time-gap later book series event sequence).  Maybe some found that interesting, and a positive addition, but in general wasting a couple of hours on developing a sequence that goes nowhere and doesn't interrelate is a negative.

Overuse of misunderstanding to move the plot along:  it's a little more trivial but the writing relied on explanatory gaps or misunderstanding between characters a bit too much, in spots.  Characters wouldn't say what they really meant, or explain themselves, allowing plot tension and conflict to develop and to be easily resolved later, when other characters understood what they hadn't initially.  It's a good work-around for a problematic point in a story, but if a writer uses it over and over it seems lazy, and takes you out of the story.

Dark tone:  this kind of thing is especially subject.  A dark, tense, somber tone can be a very positive context in a movie or series, if it matches the rest, and that's what the theme is.  It's a big part of what worked well in the first groundbreaking Blade Runner movie.  I think the main negative part relates to me being tired of seeing it, and not wanting to experience tension or dread over many hours of viewing.  They did break up the experience some with positive personal interactions, or it would've seemed relentless, but the dark imagery (literally, even; it was all dark), tension over ongoing conflict themes, somber music, and dark character themes were all a bit much.

On the whole

Most of it worked, really well.  They developed perspectives and themes related to Earth resident activities and themes, and those tied to Mars and asteroid belt culture and communities.  It was a lot to tell connected stories around, and it worked.  Some of the characters were really compelling (I guess especially the Amos character, a dark sort of antihero type).  It didn't draw on any of the minority representation or female empowerment themes that can be problematic; characters varied by race and gender in a seamless and sensible way.

Because it all worked so well the thinner spots, or what didn't work, stood out all the more to me.  I suppose the same comes up with Star Trek series, and the like.  If a series is weak, the acting is patchy, story lines make no sense, then only a limited audience can appreciate any of it.  But if it's strong then limited flaws can stand out all the more, story inconsistency, less realistic aspects, or one character that doesn't work as well.  

It's hard for me to say which character didn't work well in The Expanse, as a written character or related to the acting.  The series started slowly, and there were some jumps in character arcs, but in general all of that range was really solid.  These other gaps are the same; they stand out more because the rest is so well done.