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.

Nong Xiang Tie Guan Yin and Longjuan Meizhan Oolongs

I'm reviewing two random oolong samples from Moychay, a Nong Xiang Tie Guan Yin and Longjuan Meizhan Oolong.  Pretty much only TGY means much to me; I'll cite their descriptions to explain what these are.

Flame Tie Guanyin Oolong Tea (Nong Xiang Tie Guanyin)  (60 grams for $23.36)

Origin:  China · Fujian · Sanming, Around 1,300 m · handpicked

Nong Xiang Tie Guan Yin · deeply baked · traditional processing

A traditional deeply baked Tie Guan Yin with a rich and warming character. Roasted fruit and honey meet persistent orchid notes and smooth minerality.

The body is full and rounded, followed by a long, sweet finish.  The liquor is clear amber-red.  Main taste notes:  Roasted · Orchid · Honey...

The intensive baking transforms the greener character of Tie Guan Yin into a warmer profile of baked fruit, honey, orchid and mineral notes.

Longjuan Wild High Mountain Meizhan Oolong Tea , 7g  (only available as 7 grams for $5)

Longjuan Yesheng Gaoshan Meizhan Youji Wulong Cha (2024)

Meizhan is a traditional Chinese oolong tea from Anxi County, Quanzhou City, Fujian Province. Grown at altitudes between 500 and 800 meters, this tea is hand-picked during two main harvest seasons: mid-April to mid-May and mid-September to mid-October. The plucking standard is one bud with three leaves, and only manually harvested leaves are used...

When brewed, Meizhan offers a floral and toasty aroma, with a balanced, rich, and smooth taste profile.

What is Meizhan though, a tea style, cultivar, or something else?  Google AI weighs in:

Meizhan (梅占, or "Plum Blossom") is a versatile and robust tea cultivar from China primarily processed into oolong, though it is also adapted for black or white teas.

• Origin: Native to southern Fujian Province (Anxi County), Meizhan has also been widely planted in the Wuyi Mountains (Wuyishan) since the 1960s to produce rock oolong (yancha).

• The Bush: Often called "tall stem" or "big leaf" Meizhan, the plant grows into a tall tree-like bush with a distinct trunk and thick, leathery, elongated leaves. It is one of the earliest sprouting cultivars in the spring.

Note that primary references it is citing are credited there (Rivers and Lakes Tea, Tea and Whisk, and Nannuoshan's Youtube content).  That's not offering so much source credit, but at least it's a start.

So it's really a plant type.  Probably not necessarily a cultivar, in the strictest sense, since that's usually intended as meaning only a plant type with controlled genetic character, like a Taiwanese hybrid.  Older, broader plant types, like Qing Xin in Taiwan, or Rou Gui in Wuyishan, would vary quite a bit, as genetics drift over time.  It still generally means "plant type," I'm just making that clearer.

On to how the tasting notes relate to all of that.

Review:

Tie Guan Yin:  just getting started.  This is really promising though; the roast input comes across nicely, in a novel form.  There's a root beer sort of sweetness and depth to this.  It should be good, but I'll add more flavor list next round. 

Longjuan Wild High Mountain Meizhan:  also slow to fully infuse, but faster, related to this being open strip form oolong, and also very promising.  Warm roasted tones stand out in this, in a different kind of way.  This tastes like really nice Wuyi Yancha can, when deep floral range is brought out by roasting, instead of masking and replacing it.  One part inclines towards spice, not so far off cinnamon, just not exactly that.  It has great mineral range and depth, and a touch of brandy or liqueur like aromatic range, which is both pleasant and a good indicator of quality.  

For some tea versions I might struggle to place just how good a tea is, or how limited quality or positive aspects are, when one really doesn't stand out.  These stand out. 

Tie Guan Yin #2:  I infused this a little longer than the other, to account for the form difference, and it needing to open up.  Not long though; the other I brewed for 10 seconds or less, and this for not much over 10, maybe 15.  It's good.  There's always the question of why traditional style, more oxidized, and well-balanced roast input form Tie Guan Yin are rare, with the bright and light versions most of what you see (nuclear yellow, a favorite old blog reference would call that, Marshal N of Tea Addict's Journal).  

This isn't exactly that older and better balanced style.  Roast level is high but oxidation input is probably limited, with more on that to follow.  

It's good, but the other version is probably going to make it sound more limited than it actually is, for being so positive and novel.  It tastes like TGY, that characteristic floral flavor (which some could peg to actual flower types), just warmed and changed through more oxidation and roast input.  

Warm, inky tones are a balanced part of the rest.  I suppose it could be even better with very well integrated additional oxidation, which would sweeten and warm the flavor in a different way.  But it's good.  Often higher roast will seem to cover a flaw in a tea, for example to mask when a version is really a year or two old, and is getting a bit stale, but these results are so positive this could be an intentional optimization of leaf potential instead (or an attempt at it; it would be hard to plan for and identify a perfect outcome).  I'll try to break down the aspects more as a list as I go.

Longjuan Meizhan:  there is no familiar flavor profile or style to this.  I've compared it to Wuyi Yancha, but it's not a close match to the main conventional types of that, even though Wuyi Yancha covers a very broad range of plant types, terroir inputs, and processing styles, so it would be hard to say what couldn't be represented there.  

The combination of spice input with unique floral range is different, and this oxidation input balanced really well with the rest.  It's probably roasted, but you can't identify the inky and heavy input as with the other, a more conventional form.  It at least seems like oxidation input has caused the main transition, and roast input is light, and secondary, supporting that.

Feel is nice, but it could be a little thicker.  Aftertaste carry-over is positive too, but that could also be stronger.  Interesting and positive flavor is the high point of this tea version, which is a nice thing to experience.  Warm mineral base input works, balancing the rest, in a positive and subtle way.  It's all balanced, and to an extent refined, which is a concept or term I use to express that lots of subtle aspects fall together in a very well integrated way.  The other tea version hits a few levels and notes pretty hard, which does balance, but this ties together a half dozen more subtle inputs.  For a sheng pu'er drinker maybe intensity is limited, but then tea character blasting you is more of a sheng thing.

TGY #3:  it's still quite pleasant.  I suppose this is an example of a more roasted but lighter oxidation input TGY, not the older and differently balanced style.  But it works.  Just adding lots of roast to a flawed or limited light version doesn't get you this kind of result.  There's a good bit of floral range, an inky minerality, and a hinting towards spice.  Feel is full enough, and there's some aftertaste carry-over.  If someone was promoting this as some next-level, 80 cent a gram quality range version I wouldn't buy that, but it's a pretty solid tea.  Those inputs balance and integrate fairly well.  There are probably plenty of people who would absolutely love this style and character outcome, then others who wouldn't.

Longjuan Meizhan:  it's interesting how those different flavor inputs balance, and shift from round to round.  This now tastes like a different bark spice than cinnamon, a range of themes I was more familiar with in my 30s when I drank a lot of tisanes.  I think people would unpack a flavor list in vastly different ways, so even though it is complex, balanced, and integrated there probably wouldn't be much agreement on what flavors are going into that.  That would be challenging related to creating a vendor description. 

This is from 2024, so it has settled a bit already, and that wouldn't completely shift flavor but it might let it integrate in a different way than initially.  Roast input could soften over time, but this doesn't seem to have been heavily roasted anyway.

The feel effect is different in both.  You might expect that this kind of aspect range is a good way to distinguish a difference between these teas, and to describe both better.  The first version has a conventional fullness--moderate in intensity, not pronounced--that is common to rolled oolongs in general, and this version is harder to describe.  It's not astringent; there is no roughness, and it doesn't come across as a structured feel.  But it's that little bit towards that, from typical oolong fullness, more impactful in feel, just not rough or dry.

TGY #4:  these teas are far from fading away but I'll still do one longer infusion round (20 seconds or so) and stop taking notes; this runs long enough, and they're not transitioning that much.  It's as positive as it has been.  That set of aspects balances well, the warm tones, mineral, hint of spice, and warm floral range.  It's interesting how as a list it sounds like the other tea, but in actual experience it's all fairly different.  The tones within those categories aren't the same, and the general effect is different.  Maybe for some they would seem almost the same, but to me they're not.

The base of this experience is a somewhat greener Tie Guan Yin input, with that distinctive floral range.  After the roasting input it comes across as deeper and broader floral tone, lets say including lavender instead of just lighter tones, that I'm not good at placing.  Let's ask AI what it thinks:

Tie Guan Yin oolong tea most commonly tastes and smells like fresh orchid flowers.

Depending on the specific style and how it is processed, the floral notes can also feature other delicate characteristics:

• Orchid: The signature and most famous floral note associated with the Tie Guan Yin Oolong cultivar.

• Gardenia: Lightly oxidized, modern green-style versions can offer bright, dewy gardenia and spring floral aromas.

• Osmanthus or subtle sweet florals: Traditional roasted styles soften the sharp floral bouquet into a warmer, toasty, and creamy sweetness with faint fruity undertones.

I could kind of see the orchid but that doesn't sound right, even though there are lots of orchid types, and osmanthus is also close but maybe not that.

Longjuan Meizhan:  like it was last time.  Maybe it picked up a little depth and complexity, or maybe not.

Where the other tea includes 3 or 4 main flavor inputs that balance this comes across as a complex and well-integrated broad range of flavor.  People could describe it differently, since it's hard to describe.  To me a bark spice flavor is central, not cinnamon though.  Floral range might be next, and it also leans towards or includes rich dried fruit range, like tamarind, perhaps with a touch of citrus zest.  Aromatic tones are even harder to isolate.  It might include something along the line of vanilla.  There's a touch of creamy effect, that could be interpreted as relating to a caramel sweetness input.  There's a lot going on, but it comes across as a broad and integrated range.

I suppose I like the second version better, and see it as a more novel and higher quality level tea.  It's approachable; there isn't much to it that I would expect some people wouldn't like.  But it's nothing like a conventional more oxidized oolong version, like a rolled "red" oolong, even though it's kind of along a similar line in some ways.