Kinnari Tea Xayaboury Laos Shai Hong (sun-dried black tea)

I'm behind on trying lots of teas; probably a good problem to have.  Anna of Kinnari Tea dropped off some when visiting Bangkok (mentioned in this post), and I've really been looking forward to getting to them.  Yesterday was kind of a long day, starting out with my relatively new practice of running (2+ miles, not far yet), and ending with a family Christmas gathering (prior to Christmas; I write these posts in two parts, making the notes along with later editing).  It will be nice tasting a "comfort tea," a style of black tea that I really like.

my wife (in purple) with two of three cousins, the two guys

the one on the right isn't mine; hopefully she didn't pick up any bad habits

These are never far off Yunnan blacks, teas from right at the edge of Yunnan (at least when similarly processed, given the tea plant types are so closely related).  That last version from Somnuc was great for being pleasant and novel; we'll see if this compares well to that.

Review

The initial flavor is a bit subdued; that was to be expected for this black tea type.  It should open up a bit and gain depth and sweetness across a couple more infusions, but this tea type gives up intensity in a trade-off to achieve a different aspect range, and to be able to pick up some depth and complexity across a few years of aging.  The aspects it already shows are nice:  soft, sweet, rich black tea sweetness, towards the dried fruit and light spice range that is typical.

Where that other Laos black tea I just reviewed has a bit of tree-bark character to transition off of, not musty, but earthy in a completely different sense, this is very clean in effect from the start.  Beyond that the general range isn't all that different.  I'll revise that general description to a flavors list in the next round.

The intensity really did pick up; this probably has one more round of opening up to really kick in too.  It seems to me that some teas describe better than others; some are so close to a typical, standard type and set of aspects that it would be easy to just flesh out finer details.  This one not so much.  It's not atypical for sun-dried black tea but those do vary, and the interesting character range, the style variations, doesn't describe well.

Fruit and spice still stand out most; I'll start with that.  A slight earthy dryness hits you just as quickly establishing the balance that defines the experience.

My tasting area just turned into a winter Lego Disney cartoon theme screening area, with Elsa and Anna in that video, so I was bumped to the outside tasting theme.  It's a nice reset.

As far as pinning down the individual aspects in this tea it's hard to separate them.  Fruit, earth, and that slightly dry mineral structure could be described in lots of different ways, and what you really notice is how it all balances together, not whether the fruit is dried cherry, dried tamarind, or if it contains citrus, or relates to roasted squash.  Maybe all of those; it's complex.  If there is any citrus that would be very mild, just a bit of dried peel to balance the rest.  It probably works as well to say it all tastes a bit like dried persimmon since I think that's closer.  The spice range might pick up more later; for now it's a faint trace of cinnamon.  The earthiness isn't too far from a tropical dark hardwood flavor.

The spice range did pick up on the next infusion.  Sometimes it must seem like I've edited those predictions back in later, right?  Except when they're wrong, of course.  Cinnamon does seem like part of the spice range but it also seems like a different aromatic bark or root component, I'm just at a loss for which.  It's not sassafras, the general taste in root beer.  It's not clove either, but the way that a more aromatic part works together with a richer, deeper range is a bit related to that in form.  The touch of dryness is nice, related to a warm underlying mineral range, which isn't pronounced.  This tea isn't astringent at all but having that slight edge fills in some feel range, adding to the overall complexity of the experience.

A little more fruit and sweetness might be nice but that could develop in the next infusion, or probably would within about a year to a year and a half if left to age.  It would probably be better yet after two, and maybe just fading after four.  Of course I'm guessing; I've tried a number of shai hong versions (sun-dried black teas) at various ages but if you don't try the same tea and track how it was versus how it is there's no piecing it all together.

(Next round) this overall balance is really nice.  I've tried versions with more fruit but this earthiness is good, and fruit balanced with a bit more spice range makes for a great effect.  This tea doesn't seem to be transitioning a lot as black teas go, but then the last similar tea I reviewed might have more for including a range of material types (adding yellow leaves; maybe varying beyond that), and the relative inputs of those may have been shifting.  This version is simple in character, as some teas go, but catchy in overall effect; every sip makes you crave drinking the next one.

I probably would have described this tea completely differently a year ago, or at yearly intervals, due to interpreting the same aspects in different ways over time.  To me it seems like I'm zeroing in on better descriptions that are more accurate, that would mean more to a reader, but I'm not completely sure of that.  It might just be a personal convention shift, a different form of interpretation of experience, more neutral in accuracy and effectiveness.

More of the same next round.  It's not really fading, and I went slightly longer to compensate for the round count (infusing it around 20 seconds, maybe slightly longer), so as a result I'm drinking this slightly stronger.  It's nice this way too.  The earthy edge that takes the place of astringency is a little stronger, but this tea is soft and approachable, just a bit complex, so it would work well even stronger.  Optimum is lighter, it balances well there, but it's not like sheng that often just doesn't work well outside of the narrower range for which it works best.


On the next round the tea is just thinning a bit; I probably went a bit shorter on infusion time, 15+ seconds instead, adding to the effect of diminishing.  From here the only remaining story to be told is how brewing it for 45 seconds to a minute to compensate for further fading changes effect.  Based on only one longer infusion earthiness picks up, shifting to a lessened proportion of fruit input, and even less spice, really, even though that somehow seems to tie to the dark mineral / dark aromatic wood underling tone more.


All in all it's a really nice tea.  It was definitely cleaner in overall effect than the last Laos black tea I reviewed, and probably a little more refined.  And more standard in character type / aspects range.  I think I liked that other one a little better for being novel, for the complexity taking an unusual form, and for fruit range being so intense, which is a good match for my personal preference.  This traded out some fruit for spice and other earthy range in comparison.  Shai hong can be subtle when first produced though, and this tea would probably be better in a year, and better again in another year after.  It's hard to factor in that potential in evaluating one since you don't get to experience it, until later, at least, if you have enough around for it to stick around.


This tea isn't separate from the range of Yunnan Dian Hong produced, not different in character or any lower in quality.  As with the sheng pu'er from Laos it's made in mountain ranges and from tea tree types (usually forest-grown older plants, but that would vary), that are continuous with those in Yunnan, with processing styles varying per individual practices, not separated by country borders.  This tea is probably a good bit better than the average version of "Dian Hong" sold by conventional vendors in the US; what makes it through would vary in character and quality level.  Yunnan produces most of their teas as sheng pu'er, because the demand is there for that, and the selling price also is, with some moderate quality versions being converted to shou pu'er instead (typically; of course that would vary).

Good luck finding any Laos teas on the Western market.  Beyond a resale vendor carrying Anna's (Google that), and one other mainstream producer (who's teas aren't quite this good, per what I tried of them, and not widely available in "the West" since they're not US or EU based), they're just not around.