Guangbie and Hekai 2019 maocha from Chawang Shop

Guangbie left, Hekai right

On to two really fresh this-year sheng from Chawang Shop, described as from Guangbie and Hekai. Both of these teas were a last minute addition to this order, not the main theme I was looking for (young, old, and middle range versions to check on aging process).  Given that I only bought a little I won't see how they age, and may or may not get around to sharing any.

Per usual I reviewed the teas without checking a detailed vendor description first, but based on later copy and paste from their sales pages that follows.


Guangbie: 

Guangbie belongs to Hekai tea mountain. The price of ancient tree tea here is also very high because it is close to the Lao Ban Zhang. We chose this small trees tea with good quality and reasonable price. The tea made from tea trees of different sizes grown in ancient tea gardens. Compared with pure ancient tree tea, this tea is more bitter, but it's very comfortable after drinking.


This tea lists for $9 for 50 grams, so equivalent to a $63 357 gram cake (although this might more naturally be pressed as a 200 gram version; that's just for comparison).  As far as trying tea goes a $9 good-sized sample is perfect.  In these posts I'm often thanking vendors for giving me tea for review purposes but since I've purchased these that doesn't apply.  It's nice that they make interesting teas available though; I'm still grateful.


Hekai:


The origin of this maocha is the same as the cakes we made a few years ago. It comes from the same ancient tea garden in Man Nan Lao Zhai, Hekai.

The palate is fresh and fruity, with notes of wild flowers. Sweet and round, slight bitter and long lasting pleasant aftertaste.


That sounds odd, given what I remember of the tasting notes, since I've just added this days later in an editing process.  This tea was $12 for 50 grams.

Xishuangbanna prefecture, copied from the King Tea Mall site, original image credited to this site

Sure enough He Kai is in the mid-lower left, not far from Lao Ban Zhang and some other familiar place names.  I just did draft notes of a Bada version, and reviewed a Ban Pen tea recently, and some of those other names keep coming up.

Review

Guangbie: really bright and sweet, fresh tasting. Bitterness isn't an issue, in the first light infusion at least. There's a butteriness to the flavor profile, which may extend to a soft and rich feel, that's more common range in oolong. Even the rest of the floral and mineral range reminds me a little of Taiwanese high mountain oolong, that bright, intense pairing of both that's characteristic. It's interesting.


Hekai: totally different; warm mineral range along with deeper, richer flavors. I often say tasting only very similar tea versions together makes sense but the contrast in these might be interesting and pleasant, it just won't help in placing either. I keep going on about teas reminding me of cedar; this is back to that. In the right balance I really like that and it works well here. Sweetness and warm floral tones support the cedar flavor range but that part really stands out.


It's too early for a judgment call, but since I'm adding this comment during the editing I can point out that the Guangbie seems closer to the review description for the Hekai, but there was no aspect description in the Guangbie to match up or else not.  I liked both teas, and it's interesting how much they vary for having a similar local origin, so that part doesn't really matter. 

Guangbie left (as also shown in the following photos)

Second infusion

Guangbie: the butteriness, sweetness, freshness, and floral nature is still present but mineral and bitterness pick up. The level of bitterness is still moderate since I'm going with a 10 second infusion time, but intensity level is more than enough. For some this might've been brewed for too long. Given the mineral range warms a little (towards copper, I guess, but still clean in effect) it's closer to the second, but still closer to where it started.

It's good. The feel works well, wet but with a little fullness, with good after taste. The brighter range and overall balance define the experience, along with that complexity.


Hekai: this is even more intense; 10 seconds was pushing it. It's not bitterness that comes across as strong but instead the entire aspect range. Character shifted more than for the other tea. It still includes warm notes, and floral range, but cedar transitioned to include more green wood tone, again as with the other balanced by sweetness, moderate bitterness, and plenty of mineral. That green wood range tips a little towards dill pickle, not so much the vinegar sourness part but the other flavor. The feel might be less catchy in form than for the other tea but both have lots going on, across that and other range.

Third infusion

Guangbie: more of the same, but this already had been a really unique and positive experience. The floral character may have deepened a little into fruit range, a white grape / pear flavor range close to what was dominant in one of my favorite sheng versions, a Moychay tea from Nannuo. I just tried that again two days ago to see how it was transitioning and I think I did like it the best brand new (to me), less than a year old then. At some point I should buy the next year's version.

Again the flavor is positive in this, and the complexity, and feel, but it's the overall balance that clicks.


Hekai: more warm mineral and cedar for flavor (now less dominant). This covers less range than the other, with less unique character, but on it's own it's a very nice tea, positive and well balanced. I can't really say for sure this tea isn't as good as the other version because there's a type-typical concern for regional origin I can't place, and it's hard to divorce the other Guangbie tea character matching my preference from being good in general.  That tea seems a little atypical per the broader range of other sheng, which makes that kind of call even harder, although it's not all that far off another presented as LBZ (which may or may not have been; I always take that kind of seemingly unlikely claim with a grain of salt, but that tea was nice).

This version isn't far off a Vietnamese sheng version I've been drinking and reviewed. That other tea might be slightly simpler yet but I like it. Right about now brewing a round stronger to check for feel and flaws might make sense but I think I'll skip doing that.

Fourth infusion

Guangbie: it's an insult to a sheng to compare it to an oolong, in general, typically meaning the style is a newer sort not intended for aging, with softer feel, low in bitterness, etc. In a limited sense that really works though, with the flavor profile matching most, but with the type and level of mineral and bitterness clearly placing this as sheng. On the subject of flavor maybe even oolongs never tend to express this white grape / rich pear aspect that I like. Beyond that the brightness, freshness, intensity, and feel all really balance well; even the mild bitterness helps with that.

This probably wouldn't be for everyone, but I mean that in a relatively opposite sense of describing earthy aged versions that literally taste like dirt as positive (or beet, or geosmin; different ways to put that).  A good bit of sheng shows intense floral, a slightly different kind of mineral tone (lighter and dryer, as I use concepts for that), a certain kind of feel structure, and really long aftertaste, and this is just something else.


Hekai: pretty much an opposite range, and not transitioning much. Warm mineral, copper, and cedar come across as more balanced and pleasant than that might sound. This would probably seem even more pleasant if I didn't like this other version as much.  I think that mostly relates to it clicking with personal preference, and linking with one of my favorite prior tea experiences. Even for that Nan Nuo version the first time I tried it (using Moscow filtered tap water from a hotel lobby; far from ideal) it was clear that random selection cake buy had been blessed by the tea gods.  That tea balanced nicely but the intensity really stood out, in the flavor range, with a soft and rich feel for a younger sheng version.

Fifth infusion

Guangbie: bitterness is picking up a little, at a level of balance that still works well. It's a little off the fruit range more into green wood.


Hekai: wood is picking up in this too, but an aged wood tone instead. That cedar had faded back but never really dropped out so it links with that, or at least seems to. Both are onto taste range shifting to be stronger than aroma, not that it would always have to work out like that around this point.

Conclusions

Both are really nice. It's interesting how both really reminded me of other individual teas I'd recently been drinking. It's hard to guess how both would age (that recurring theme), but both are really positive now, one just matching my preference better.  Since I've not posted (or edited) the review for the Vietnamese sheng I'm remembering as similar in character to this Hekai maybe I'll try them together before completing that.  It's easier to catch more in a direct tasting than relying on memory.

I've been saying about different teas that they seem good examples of a medium quality range that could fairly justify selling for more than a moderate standard $40 per 357 gram cake and these seem like that to me, at a rough guess worth double that.  Of course the final version of this post included a price, cited earlier, with both equivalent to a $63 and $84 "standard" size cake.  As I read back through this part I'm reminded of teas I've recently bought priced in that general range, and really these two compare favorably to them; they might well be better.

Of course that also depends on the demand side, tied to an area and typical type preferences, all subject scope that I'm far from sorting out.  A match to personal preference seems more relevant anyway.