Thai #12 Jin Xuan oolong, and Dong Ding style oolong

 

I'm reviewing two more Thai oolong from 101 Plantation, a main producer here.  They're #12, Jin Xuan, probably the main plant type and oolong type produced in Thailand, and a Dong Ding style version.  That's a reference to a Taiwanese region, really to preparation style there, to the rolled oolong being a little more oxidized and then significantly roasted.

I'll come right out with it:  these were great.  The Oriental Beauty oolong from them I reviewed recently was really exceptional, one of the best Thai oolongs I've yet to try, and these weren't too far off that.  I suppose they're also among the best Thai oolongs I've tried, but good OB is really something special (or Dong Fang Mei Ren, if you prefer that name).

Anyone ordering that Oriental Beauty should probably consider these too.  Even if only one of these styles is a personal favorite they're both great examples of these type ranges.  It's a harder question to answer how these match up against good Taiwanese oolongs.  They're pretty far up the scale, but some Taiwanese oolongs are really high in quality, and pleasant in expressed aspects.  If you pay two or three times as much as these cost you can find as good or better teas from there, but you could also pay that much and try something that's not as good.  An example at the end might clarify how far the range goes, and what the other extreme looks like.

Let's hear their descriptions (101's), and move on to the review notes.

101 Tea Premium Jin Xuan Oolong Tea No. 12 Loose Leaf (10g x 25 Packs, Box Set)  (THB 400.00 Price, $11.86)

Indulge in the smooth, naturally creamy flavor of our Premium Jin Xuan Oolong Tea No. 12 Loose Leaf, carefully cultivated at our renowned tea plantation. Celebrated for its delightful milk-like aroma and gentle, mellow taste, each cup delivers an exceptional tea-drinking experience. Packaged conveniently in individual 10g packs, ideal for brewing one perfect teapot, this box set is excellent for sharing at gatherings, family tea time, or as a thoughtful gift for tea. lovers.

101 Tea Premium Dong Ding Oolong Tea Loose Leaf (200g)  THB 350.00, 10.38 United States Dollar)

Experience the essence of our Premium Dong Ding Oolong, carefully cultivated in our tea plantation in Chiang Rai. Named after the "Frozen Peak," this exceptional tea features tightly rolled leaves that unfurl to reveal a light, refreshing cup with a distinct and captivating fragrance.

Those listings are marketing content, so they have to say that the teas are good, but in this case they're even better than they are describing.  I've not read those listings until after writing the review notes, so I don't make it a point to connect the two in what follows.

That last tea, the Dong Ding version, costing $10 for 200 grams is crazy.  It's really good tea.  You might need to spend four times that much to buy an equivalent version in Taiwan, or elsewhere.

These are 10 gram samples or portions, which is why the 100 ml gaiwan is completely full.  I thought it might be a little less, and that the leaves expanded a lot, but that high proportion accounts for the intensity and the teas brewing so many positive rounds (related to shortening infusion times, sort of).  For sheng pu'er that's too much to brew at once, and 8 grams is better, so that you can still control intensity using shorter infusion times, but for mild character rolled oolongs it's fine.  That's a lot for brewing Western style; these would work out to brew two larger than average portion rounds, at 5 grams each.

Review:

#12 Jin Xuan:  a little light, because it's still opening up, but this is definitely the right range.  It's bright, floral, and sweet.  It's the oolong type people describe as a natural form of milk oolong, that tastes the most like milk, and it sort of does, and also sort of doesn't.  There's a creaminess to it; that part works.  Some of the light and sweet flavor might resemble milk a little, but not much.  It's probably a little closer to the flavor of cream, which is close enough.  It's good.  I'll add more list next time, but never have much luck breaking down flower types range.

Dong Ding (the same style as that region of Taiwan, but obviously not from there):  that's good.  The other was good, within that type and style range, but this is really something, from the first sip.  A secondary cognac or liqueur like effect almost stands out first, even though that's deriving from how the other aspects come together (I think; who really knows?).  

The tones are much warmer.  And hard to describe.  Some could see this as tasting like rich spice tones, and to me that works pretty well.  Or like warm, sweet leather; that I can still see.  Some of the heavy, complex, warm tones from Scotch whiskey or tobacco could be represented, but of course that's an indirect interpretation; it would only carry over part of those complex and intense flavors (to the extent you taste tobacco, which you do, when you smoke it).  Maybe even peat.

It's pleasant.  The flavors are clean; none of the negative associations about potential off earthy flavor range or mustiness would apply, if one would intuitively associate those.  It takes very little of that to throw off this very positive effect; a little sourness alone would do it.  It's odd that it can be this good in a light initial round.

#12 / Jin Xuan infusion 2:  I didn't mention that it would have been natural to use a rinse step last round, very typical, and I didn't.  I did infuse the tea for a longer time to help the balls open, approaching 30 seconds.  For this round I infused these for about 15 seconds, which isn't long, since they are still opening, but intensity was fine last round, so I didn't want to overdo it.

This is again bright, fresh, sweet, floral, and intense enough.  There isn't a hint of a negative aspect.  People might not like the style of tea, this aspects set, but there's none of the cardboard flavor that can enter in with some Thai rolled oolong.  Warmth picks up ever so slightly; this will probably gain depth in that way, trading out the brighter and fresher notes over the following rounds.  It's floral, but I'm not great with remembering floral range scents.  Not exactly orchid, not that bright and sweet, but it is bright and sweet.  The more you think about butter or cream the more it seems to taste like that.

Dong Ding:  the heavy mineral flavors really emphasize the roasted quality this round.  They did for the last round too, but now this really leans into the peat from Scotch whiskey sort of theme.  Floral range in this is much richer and warmer, but again I'm not great at placing that.  Towards lavender, but not exactly that.  Other range is more like spice, some sort of complex incense spice, maybe something like sandalwood.  It's funny how all of this range is something I'm not great at describing.  

It comes across as a full and complex flavor set, with good depth.  That warm peat or spice tone really carries over to aftertaste after you drink it, which is generally a good sign for oolong.  If this roast input was just a little heavier it would be too much, but they've nailed it for a relatively optimum input.  I didn't love the red oolong example as much from them, but the Oriental Beauty and these are fantastic representations of completely different oolong styles.  Even that tea was fine (the red oolong); the character just didn't suit me as well.

These are better than I remember trying in the past.  I would buy Thai oolongs from different places, and some of those would have been 101 Plantation teas, but I usually wouldn't know.  I've tried tea I knew to be from them in the past, but probably a good bit more that I only guessed was.

#12 third infusion:  I may not write notes beyond this round, even though these will definitely be fine for 8 or 9 infusions, or possibly more.  I brewed that Oriental Beauty yesterday, for something like 10, and drank a few more infusions of it this morning.  I'll often make extra rounds to give to plants, and those were holding up so well that the plants and I shared the extra rounds this morning.

my daughter's plant drinks tea with me daily

The Jin Xuan is evolving nicely, picking up more complexity.  It might be even better in a couple of more rounds; it might be telling an incomplete story to only write about 3 or 4 infusions.  That depth and different flavor might relate to something like root spice, like sassafras / root beer.  Brighter floral tones lighten, giving way to those warmer and deeper tones.  

Often a touch of vegetal range is included in this kind of tea, so I might be mentioning green wood, or some kind of vegetable, kale or okra or whatever.  This doesn't include that.  If you really think about vegetal range you might make out something like summer forest scent, but it's not pronounced.

Dong Ding:  that charcoal / roasted edge keeps intensifying; that's interesting.  Maybe at this level it would seem a bit much, for many.  It might be interesting to mix these and see where the flavors land in the middle.  But in general that just gets you muddle flavors, because the distinct set in both becomes too broad to make out, even if you see warm and bright tones as balancing better.

It's worth considering if this represents what people call the traditional style of Tie Guan Yin, if the input of higher levels of oxidation and roast balance in that same way.  Of course it's a different plant type, so right away that's different.  They made this out of something, but probably not Tie Guan Yin, most likely the same Jin Xuan (#12), or else #17 (what I think of as Bai Lu, but gets called Ruan Zhi more).  I think the oxidation level would be slightly higher if it was made in that style, or at least the form I think of it as, and maybe roast input backed off just a little.

The mineral tone reminds me of ink more than char this round.  Literally like ink smells; it tastes like that.  For some that would be fantastic, for others off-putting.  I like it.

There's a trick people do with sheng pu'er when the aftertaste input builds up a lot, drinking cool water between rounds to clear your palate.  The water tastes very sweet, an after-effect from the hui gan, or bitterness that changes to sweetness (more or less; hui gan is a complex concept and effect).  This causes something like that, when you drink water after it, not as sweet, but a noteworthy interesting flavor.  It can't be the same thing, since that's from flavors tied to bitterness, but in an indirect way it's related.

#12 fourth infusion:  this is the best this has been, with the limitation that it's not as bright, fresh, and sweet as the early rounds, which would be many people's favorite part.  Complexity and depth are really developed.  Jin Xuan can be pleasant, but Thai versions don't tend to be this good.  

It's great that they sent these extra samples for review, when I only bought the Oriental Beauty, since I really should go back and buy more of these.  I often give oolong to a couple of monks we know, and they would love these.  Thais give monks things--food on alms round, or basic household goods, or even tea--to gain merit, but for me it's about concern over them not being able to shop for tea.  Sure, they're not focused on having pleasant experiences, given that context, but they can still drink nice tea.

The different ranges of mineral base, floral tones (now warmer), and root spice are so integrated that you really don't experience it like that, as different sets of different flavors.  

It wouldn't be completely wrong for someone to interpret one part of the flavor as resembling roasted corn; that's not so far off.  Not sweet corn that's boiled in water or steamed, I mean the flavor that comes from wrapping an un-husked ear in foil and cooking it on a fire.  If you've not tried that it's a good goal to pursue.  You should soak the ear in water first, to get as much water in it as you can, to help steam the corn and offset the charring effect.

Dong Ding:  that liqueur or cognac like aspect range switches to be more perfume-like, with the heavy lavender oriented floral tones picking up.  I brewed this for a substantial time too, nearly 20 seconds, so that's not from making a lighter infusion, which does change the flavor profile a little (or can).  It's interesting that the roasted char input kept building up in level and then just dropped off that much in one round.  It still tastes plenty roasted, but not like last round.  This spans a lot more warm mineral base with heavy floral tones standing out.  I think it is actually pretty close to lavender, a warm, rich, and particularly strong smelling floral scent.

Two or three more rounds would see these transition further, for sure.  But I have an informal policy against writing 2000 word blog posts; it's too much for me to write, and for people to read.  You get the idea; these teas are shifting across rounds, so far in only pleasant ways.  They'll brew 6 to 8 exceptional rounds, and then how fast the pleasant character starts to shift from there depends on the tea.

One part of why that Oriental Beauty kept making pleasant infusions relates to there not being off flavors entering in.  Almost any tea will keep infusing to produce flavor, long after the main positive rounds, but off tastes come up (wood, other vegetal range, or harsh astringency, which is something else).  That OB was less positive after about 12 or 13 rounds, which is a long time and a lot of tea.  These may become less positive after "only" 10 instead, but still brewing 8 or 9 good rounds is plenty.

Of course I'm mixing themes, because I always tend to max out brewing proportion.  I'll have to check how much these are, the weight, but I would guess about 8 grams.  It's a lot, but that's my normal amount, for brewing in a 100 ml gaiwan.  [editing note:  10; that's why these were so packed so full.  I thought that was just how they unfurled, since 10 is a lot to brew at one time].

Conclusions:

Just great teas!  How great just depends; there is better range out there.  I feel like I'm not really filling in how that works out.  

Let's consider a curated, really exceptional Taiwanese rolled oolong version for comparison, with a style and aspect description and cost.  I'm not seeing one that matches one of these two styles well, but it won't matter, we can just consider a Qing Xin (plant type) based version, and what I consider to be one of the best curator sources online, Trident Bookseller and Cafe:

Long Feng Xia (龍鳳峽)  (selling for $15 per ounce, or 28 grams, so 250 grams being about 9 times as much quantity this sample pack amount would cost around $135, instead of $12 as this Jin Xuan version did, over ten times as much).

Their description:

Grown at 6,200 feet in cold and foggy conditions, the Long Feng Xia (龍鳳峽) is a very high grade and complex Taiwanese Oolong that comes from a subsection of the Shan Lin Xi growing area. There is a very crisp and floral flavor in the initial steepings, with an aftertaste of tart and sweet green apples. Later steepings are fuller with a pronounced vegetal character suggestive of bean sprouts, layered with floral and bready flavors. Not overly bold, the Long Feng Xia is a subtle and ethereal tea which emphasizes feeling, body, and persisting aftertaste. It rewards careful brewing and attention to detail.

Origin - Xeitou, Nantou, Taiwan

Harvests - Spring 2026

Elevation - 6,200 ft

Varietal - Qing Xin (青心烏龍)

Tea Maker - Mr. Chen

Tastes Like - Tulips, Fresh Baked Bread, Green Apple

Could all of these teas be a good value, given the broad difference in cost, with this described character sounding unusually positive?  Probably.  They're just two different kinds of teas, and different origins and quality levels.  I bet that it is much better, but "better" is kind of relative.  These Thai oolongs are already good, just more basic.

Trident sells award winning versions, or versions made by the best small artisan producers out there.  Maybe there is still range between the two, that's better than this 101 tea but not as costly, but hopefully this highlights how there is such a broad range of what is made and sold.

I picked that version as an example because it's in their mid-range, with one Taiwanese rolled oolong version costing less ($15 per gram) and a few more ($20 per gram).  This might seem to imply, to some, that I'm criticizing people for needing to buy and experience the best of the best teas, that maybe their expectations have become a problem, or ego and status are getting involved.  That can be part of it, but that's not my point here.  

It's fine if one person has a $200 a year tea budget and someone else $2000; that's how personal finances and preferences for different food themes work out.  Sixty cents a day worth of spending on tea won't go too far, but there's nothing wrong with these Thai oolongs, even if they're the best teas you ever tend to drink.  Personally I'm fine with basic teas.  I wouldn't want to drink versions that cost 50 cents to $1 a gram all the time, because that seems wasteful to me, given how good a lot of 15 to 25 cents per gram tea is.  

This Dong Ding version was closer to 5 cents a gram; just amazing, an incredible value, for an exceptional tea.  Of course that is in a "foreign" cost of living market, in Thailand, it's just not foreign to me, since I'm living in Bangkok now.  Working for a Thai salary, which changes things.  Anyone buying this tea from elsewhere would add a lot of shipping cost to that, to get it, and maybe some customs tax.  I pay that when I buy tea from China; it's just how things go.

Again many thanks and congratulations to the 101 Plantation for providing this tea, and for making such good versions.  It's nice to see Thai tea that's this good.

it's my son's birthday!  he's not so into photos.

taking a river ferry to the temple

Visiting Bangkok Chinatown tea storage; reviewing Thai black tea

Kittichai!  He and his wife are so nice!

I've visited my favorite Bangkok Chinatown tea shop, Jip Eu, twice in the past few weeks.  I mean that I've been to their storage location, since their main shop is closed for repairs to the building.  A part of the roof cover out front broke and fell down, and it has required a lot of design change and extensive re-work to fix that, so who knows when it will be complete.  

Part of posting is about mentioning the location link, here.  It's about a block from their normal shop, but it would be hard to find without that map location.

The first visit there was during the vegetarian festival, a couple of weeks ago now (I've been busy with other posts).  Keoni, my son, and I had went to Yaowarat the week before to see that, then the next weekend to that shop for a visit.  I visited the next time to meet with a long-time tea contact who was in town, but I didn't get around to asking for permission to mention him, so I won't, but his name would be familiar to many.  It's nice meeting people you only knew online before; it's very rare when that doesn't go well.

Touring that location was interesting.  A lot of what you see is just cardboard boxes, since the tea is kept within those, but it's interesting hearing Kittichai, the owner, describe what broad and deep rows of boxes were.  It's more tea volume than I expected, literal tons of it.  Some was long term storage of sheng and shou pu'er, but apparently they keep moving enough oolong and other teas that it makes sense for them to have an awful lot of it around at any given time.

they had used this in place of cardboard boxes in the past, a bamboo frame

Tulin sheng pu'er tuochas; they carry Xiaguan of different ages as well

I don't think I've ever tried Liu Bao there, but they have some

Between those two visits I ended up trying a good bit of interesting tea.  On the first visit I had asked about Thai teas, since they usually mostly sell Chinese teas of different types, and Kittichai shared some black tea he said that he doesn't sell.  I review that in a separate section of this post.  It's good; I think he doesn't like it because it's a bit tart, which is a flavor aspect that I also don't care for.  But it's such a good quality version that it still works, even with that included.

We tried a Xin Ban Zhang, from the newer village near the older one, Lao Ban Zhang, which I reviewed here.  It's been a week or two, so I don't remember much of the rest.  For most visitors maybe it wouldn't seem as good a place to visit as the shop, since there is much less space for hanging out and tasting, and they typically only taste teas they have some of open anyway, but for people who know what they want you can still visit there and buy teas.

those Xin Ban Zhang leaves (left), and a Viet Sun version, reviewed here

Review:

To be clear they don't sell this tea (a Thai version of black tea), or at least that's what Kittichai said.  It makes for an interesting consideration, what Thai black tea might be like, and why some versions might not be preferrable to some people.  Of course this doesn't represent other styles; I mentioned trying a favorite Wawee Tea origin black tea in a meetup this past week, and that's nothing like this.

First infusion:  it's good tea, but the character includes significant tartness.  For me that's not a favorite flavor inclusion for black tea.  That could be why the shop owner, Kittichai, doesn't like this tea enough to pursue selling it.  Or it could be something else.  But the general character is quite positive.

Berry or cherry is a main flavor component beyond that, or complex range, if it's really both.  Some cacao is there.  Feel is fine, nice and full, sweetness is good, and it extends to an aftertaste experience.  Tartness is more or less the make or break, as I see it; if you like that included then this tea is quite good, and if not maybe not so much.  Because so much of the rest is so positive I still like it.  I doubt the tartness will drop out, but the proportion of different flavors expressed can shift.

Second infusion:  tartness stays just as strong, but other intensity ramps way up.  One flavor is like roselle, a tart version of a tisane that's popular in Thai.  It's a little like cranberry, but it's a flower, not fruit.  Cacao is still included, but it also doesn't increase, so it drops back in what you notice.  The rest of the fruit is hard to separate out, but it does seem to include berry, maybe blackberry.  This tea is pretty good.  It seems a little unorthodox, maybe even heretical, but it might work to mix this with the kind of tea that includes lots of warmth and depth but not so much forward / brighter flavor like this.  This already tastes a bit like a flavored tea or tea and tisane blend.

Drifting further off topic in that direction, it would also work as one basis for a Christmas blend.  Those tend to be black teas with a bit of citrus, cherry, and cacao, or something along that line.  This covers half of all of that without adding anything.  I experimented with making Christmas blends much earlier on in tea exploration, but it's the kind of thing people tend to move away from.  

And living in the tropics de-emphasizes Christmas, from not experiencing cold weather, and not being somewhere that it's a more central theme.  Thais put up a tree here or there, and decorate malls, and that's about it, and in Hawaii people celebrate it on their own, instead of decorating public spaces and holding related events.  It's a part of mainland culture, to them, and the ties to local culture, Polynesian themes, and to Asia are stronger there.

Third infusion:  I brewed this round much faster, to see what changes, and flavor intensity is still good, but a bit thinner.  It might need a couple of more rounds to shift to a different character, since these infusions are pretty fast, since I used the more or less standard 8 grams or so for this.

Fourth infusion:  this is improving; depth keeps picking up, and tartness fades.  This is a pretty solid tea version.  I could see how it wouldn't match everyone's preference, but it's still good.  Aftertaste expression is strong, and feel includes decent fullness.  There isn't harsh astringency structure; that part is fine, just a moderate level that supports the rest.  This tea may be even better brewed Western style, using just 2 or 3 grams and letting it brew out for 5 minutes or so in 250 ml or more.  But it was a nice effect in later rounds that the tartness faded, and it would probably be strong in an infusion made that way.

Of course this tea would brew a lot more rounds; I tried it again yesterday and brewed about 10.  It's better in the last half of the rounds than the first, to me, because the tartness drops out.

Another tangent:

There's not much to add about that tea or that shop in conclusion; that already covered it.  But a strange thing has come up related to this blog's viewership stats:

They will hit 700,000 this month (this is from the 30th).  Of course that's mostly AI bots; in the history of this blog daily viewer stats were more like 10,000 per day, or less.  They were higher before Facebook changed their algorithm to show more ads and promoted content, however many years ago that was, but they were consistently 6000 to 8000 even without posting that much.

So what does that mean?  Apparently I'm training AI systems on tea background, and probably also on writing form.  In a way that still is communication with a broad audience, it's just indirect, and almost entirely uncredited.  

It is what it is; I set out to communicate about tea, and it was never about me getting credit, or profiting.  I've made next to nothing from tea blogging, or actually exactly nothing, since any limited income came from editing content for others, and such.  A few vendors have mentioned setting up an affiliate link marketing scheme, where I would get revenue for tea sold through links here, but I've declined to be a part of that.  It wouldn't add up anyway, and then I would be creating paid marketing content, which is no good, not really the idea for here.  

Vendors do send tea for review sometimes; that's much appreciated, and it represents real value.  Thanks much, if this applies to any given reader!

I always mention when that's the case, when a tea was provided free for review, and whether that was in the form of extra samples sent with an order, or a set of samples sent for review, or actual conventional size amounts sent for review.  I try to review teas in the same way here, I guess "objectively," as much as that makes sense, but it's for the best to be clear on context anyway.  

I also try to make it clear when I'm writing about a vendor I consider a personal contact.  The Jip Eu owners feel like family to me, and it's as well let people know that their experiences would be different than mine, because they wouldn't be based on that personal connection.  They won't give you 50 grams of free tea that they don't sell.  It's still a good place to shop, once you work around Bangkok Chinatown shops being a little inconsistent, in general.  Some teas are great, and a great value, and others that are not as favorable can come up.

100 and 300 year old plant material Bing Dao sheng pu'er

 

A local tea contact passed on some amazing tea, sheng pu'er from Bing Dao.  Usually with tea of this origin you end up considering the likelihood that it's really from Bing Dao, but in this case I'm pretty sure that it is.  It's an interesting story as to why.  Here's a limited description of what it is:

"...all from Bingdao laozhai Fengzi hao brand authentically laoshu (below 200 year old tea tree) and Gushu (more than 200 year old)..."

That source is perhaps the main local (Bangkok) tea expert.  

I don't use that term "expert" lightly; there aren't many people I would refer to as such.  I accept that Olivier Schneider is both a tea expert and pu'er expert; that works as an example.  Earlier on he wrote articles in puerh.fr, but he has moved on to different kinds of exploration in the decade since, including tea production.  It's just an example. 

Lots of vendors know lots about tea, but their focus tends to be narrow (generally; not always).  Producers end up experiencing depth that others just can't match, but generally within a different type of narrow range.

This tea expert is Steven Liu, author of his own tea blog, here (which I think is a pen name; his formal name isn't a complete secret).  He's been writing that for 14 years, a year longer than I've been at it.  He is creator of a main Thai tea group on FB (with almost 80,000 members; not bad), and a main Thai tea marketplace group on there as well.  He hosts different kinds of talks and seminars on tea, and travels to events related to tea, reviewing tea production; all the usual themes.  Local tea enthusiasts all know him, even more than me (a lot more; he is a local Thai, and is more connected).  

He didn't buy this tea, a producer he is in contact with and was visiting gave it to him (or essentially that; I'm writing this from memory of a message discussion).  It's real.  How good it is makes for another subject, but it's almost certainly a pretty good, type typical version, with "pretty good" being used in an unconventional way.  Skipping ahead, it is exceptional (both; I'm trying a 100 year old material version and 300, both from 2025).

Since I haven't described us as being close local friends, why would he share tea of this caliber with me?  Longstanding tea enthusiasts would get it; it's natural to share tea, and you would extend that further with people who would appreciate tea versions more, or who you share other commonality with, like writing about the subject, running FB groups, and holding events.  Reviewing a Bing Dao version here not long ago reminded him of the theme, and he felt that I should try a real, good version, which is very kind (my deepest thanks!).

Review:

100 year old plant source:  it's really good.  That's what I would have expected, so these teas will be up against some high baseline expectations.  It will make for a good opportunity to describe how that factors in, and what I make of drinking exceptional tea (sheng especially), versus pretty good and pleasant versions.

A hint of dry mineral will probably turn to stronger and clean mineral next round, and that's it for even vaguely negative aspect input.  Even that's more positive than negative.  Sweetness is good, and tone is bright and pleasant.  The flavors span floral range, with a lot of mineral base standing out.  Bitterness is pronounced but moderate, but it will probably reach the level this tea provides when fully wetted next round.  It all balances really well; it's refined.  All of that for the light first infusion.

300-400 year old plant source:  this is similar, but I'll end up focusing on and describing minor differences.  It's sweet enough, and floral, with mineral standing out, and limited bitterness.  One part of the tone is warmer and deeper.  This might develop more complexity, and a slightly different flavor profile.  

For the flavor being just a touch warmer, mineral and bitterness being more subdued (a little), and for it seeming to cover a different kind of depth this seems like it could be a year older.  These teas seem pretty new though, maybe a 2025 version instead of 2026, but seemingly not really aged.  [later editing note:  that guess was right, they're from 2025].  That's in relation to them being here (in Bangkok); in a cool and dry environment these could be 3 or 4 years old, and just not changed much yet anyway.  For here maybe the first half a year these were exposed to local conditions changed them faster than I expected, and these are really from 2026 [so to be clear it's not as if I really could tell.]

It's hard to pin down how plant material being older changes things, because it's hard to rely on that story of background being accurate, even from more reliable sources.  This local tea contact, Steven, visited Bing Dao, and he is really into the background and details related to tea, so I'm guessing that these are as reliable and legitimate as you could get [with just a little more detail in the intro part, but not much].  And he's not selling these, at least to me, and I think in general; he just shared them.  We're more contacts than friends too; I've only met him once, in person.  Some people into tea are open to sharing, sometimes especially with people who can relate to what teas are.

I've described this tea as expressing more warmth and depth, but it would also work to say that it's leaning towards a spice range flavor, like incense spice or aromatic tree bark, maybe like agar wood (not that I'm really familiar with that).  I explored tisanes more in an earlier life phase; I would've had more familiarity with that range then.

100 year old plant material second infusion:  very clean, with good intensity, and a very pleasant flavor profile.  Floral range is bright and sweet, and moderate mineral base and bitterness match that well.  The flavor picked up quite a bit of range.  You could phrase that as complexity--including more elements--and depth, seeming to span some range that serves as a base for the rest (mostly mineral).  Aftertaste carry-over is pleasant, and the limited bitterness does trail on as sweetness (hui gan).  Feel is significant but it doesn't really center in one place in your mouth, causing sensation across a lot of it, relating to a moderate mouth watering effect.

This tea is better than it needs to be for me to appreciate it.  It all really balances well, with flavor and every other aspect quite positive.  It's not as if it could be too good, if that could somehow be a limitation, but beyond a certain quality range the teas seem to justify a good bit of attention and respect, so that you can end up putting work in just being fully present for the experience.  It's not entirely negative to drink tea mindlessly; that can be positive in a different way.  There are other things one could focus on, like drinking it outside on a sunny and breezy morning, cats walking by, and so on.

300-400 year old material:  bitterness and mineral base are more moderate, but this includes a lot more depth and flavor range.  It's a simple tea still, in one limited sense; the range it covers is limited, but it works well, it's very pleasant and refined.

Older plant material sheng versions can be less intense, especially related to the strong bitterness and heavy mineral edge.  That's happening with this.  Other complexity enters in, often, as with this expanded flavor set and richer feel.  This has evolved to cover more root spice range, something like sassafras.  I don't mean that it tastes like root beer, although that could be partly accurate.  

I grew up in a forested area, in Western PA, and certainly don't remember the scent profiles of a lot of kinds of trees, but when I was younger I was very frequently exposed to them.  I would climb trees, dig up a lot of things that made no sense to be digging up, and we cut a diverse range for firewood, I guess like in Abraham Lincoln's life story.  A number of fresh root types have a cool, bright, almost fruity smell.  Maybe this part gets a little strange, but I would crush leaves to huff the scent as I hiked in later years, in Colorado.  Especially pine and sage.  In the garden I'm drinking these in I don't do that, but flowering vines do share their scent at different times, which is pleasant.

Someone else could see part of this flavor as falling within vegetal range.  I had okra with breakfast; I suppose it's not completely different than that kind of scent, or flavor.  But to me a light root spice interpretation is more natural, for this round.  It's a stretch to call a light, bright, sweet root spice flavor vegetal.

Drinking water between rounds tasted very sweet, an interesting after effect from some sheng versions.  Sometimes that relates to a strong bitterness and sweetness intensity, and these aren't intense in that way, in the sense of that experience being strong.  It's still pronounced though.  For as mild as these are they could be a little older than I had guessed, 2025, and that softened bitterness and astringency could relate to 2 or 3 years of settling input.  I would guess that they're relatively young though, only a year or two old, and they're just like that, intense in a different way, that's not harsh or intrusive.

100 years, third infusion:  that's so pleasant!  I've tried tea presented as Bing Dao in the last few weeks, but I can't really do much with connecting or associating this with that, or rejecting commonality.  It probably seems similar.  If that tea was this good it was really good, and as I recall it wasn't so far off this for general taste range.  Light floral range pops more in this than in the other older plant material version, which also includes other flavor range.  The sweetness and floral intensity balances really well with moderate bitterness and light mineral base.

300-400:  it's interesting how this overlaps with the other version, but is so different, in a different sense.  This includes more flavor range, as I've already described, with bitterness and mineral playing a more limited role (although it's moderate in that too).  The part I keep describing as different spice range seems to transition to mint, or at least including mint.  It's catchy.  Of course that's a light and herbal mint, like spearmint, not a sharper and heavier peppermint.  Maybe some would call that camphor, but it's a light expression of it, if so.

Going back and trying the first the bitterness and slightly drier feel stand out, when those seem really well balanced with sweetness and floral intensity before you make that comparison.  One more infusion might be enough for now.  I can kind of feel these teas, but it's not too much of that part that's an issue, just that this is already a lot of tea experience.  I'll hold a tasting tomorrow; I suppose in a different way I'll go through a lot more then.  But with more emphasis on a social aspect, and some related ideas; it's different.  This requires focus.

100 years, fourth infusion:  not so different than last round; I should probably keep this short, since it was already a lot to read.  It improves, becoming catchier and better balanced, and the balance was already good.  The floral range might include just a little dried fruit at this point.

300-400:  the impression of depth still stands out.  It's interesting how that works out; you can't really place what is causing it.  Broad flavor range and feel thickness are part of it, but it's more than that.  Flavor intensity is pronounced in one sense and limited in another.  It's definitely not a sheng version that smacks you in the mouth, but it's not thin or limited either.  It lacks the limestone light mineral in the other version, but there is a mineral base.  It's refined and balanced, but that's probably not so descriptive.

I think this is a tea experience that a lot of people would value quite a bit, but it would help to have tried a lot of sheng to recognize and relate to it.  It really is refined; the parts come together well as a whole.

later infusions:  obviously this wasn't anywhere near the end, I just stopped taking notes.  Later transitions are sometimes interesting, but in general the first 4 or 5 rounds tell the story, and the rest is more about how it holds up to a lot of infusions.  But it's usually not worth writing hundreds more words about, or reading them.  The main reason for limiting notes is to keep this text volume readable.

Conclusions:

Just fantastic teas, probably about as good as anything I've tried, and perhaps better than I can fully appreciate.  In one sense I have basic tastes, which I won't go too far into here.  If you read about the teas we just tried in a tasting, in the last post, that could help explains how I absolutely love teas that are flavorful and distinctive, but not "refined" in this sense, especially Thai and Vietnamese versions.

I can't expand too much on placing what I experienced of them.  One concern comes up, about noticing the typical, distinctive aspects range for local origin typical versions.  Bing Dao is said to include a cooling sensation after you drink it, and to include honey sweetness (and maybe other characteristics; that's just what comes to mind, of standard hearsay).  One part of a flavor reminded me of mint at one point, but I didn't mention a cooling effect.  It's likely enough that if I was "looking for that" I would have noted it, regardless of how prominent it was.  Same for the honey flavor, maybe.

It's not unusual for me to try a tea a few times and notice something I had missed, even if I tried to do a complete review of what I had experienced earlier on.  Interpretation of experience works out like that.  But how can you fully value something novel and sought after, like a cooling sensation after drinking a tea, if you aren't noticing it?  I suppose that I couldn't.  It leads into considering other learned preference for experiences, but I'll skip another tangent on that.  

The teas were great in some pretty conventional ways, extending that a little into interesting and unusually pleasant range.  But I'm no clearer on whether or not the other tea I recently tried was "real Bing Dao" or not.  I don't think it was this good, but that can be hard to place.

the cat was fixated on a squirrel during the review tasting

he was hanging upside down by his feet, eating part of a flower

she is Siamese, so a Thai cat in two different senses