I've been off reviewing Moychay tea versions for awhile, at least here, posting some to their own site instead. Some of their pu'er cakes have tended to sell out so it seemed best to review this version while it's still available. It seems to indicate on the label that it was harvested in 2016 and pressed in 2018, so it's really two years old, but since that part is in Russian I'd need to confirm that from their site.
To be completely transparent this tea was provided by them for review, and I did limited content writing for them as described in the last post. I like to think that I'm still completely objective but you know that goes; life experience in general has a subjective character to it.
The label seems to reference two types of tea, since Bai Hao is often used as part of a reference to silver needle tea (Bai Hao Yin Zhen), but that could only be a reference to the material made into a white tea version, to the buds, with this a sheng pu'er instead, so processed differently with a completely different character.
I'll check their product description to see, which I didn't read prior to the tasting:
"Bai Hao Puer from Wuliang Mount" was compressed in the North-West tea region.
...twisted leaves and silvery tips. The aroma is intensive, spicy-herbaceous... with woody, nutty and floral notes... [similar to] a hot, juicy red apple.
Brew tea with hot water (80-95 ° C, the lower the temperature, the softer the taste) in a gaiwan or in a teapot made of porous clay. The proportion is 4-5 g per 100 ml. The time of the first steeping is about 5-7 seconds. For each second, increasing the amount of time for each subsequent step, if necessary. You can steep the tea up to 10 times.
I couldn't guess how much this tea would cost based on reviewing it, since I really liked it and quality seemed evident, but style was a little unusual and source area affects demand and price. It lists for $36.50 for a 357 gram cake. Of course how much anyone likes the tea determines if that's just about right, too much, or on the low side, and to me it seems the latter, quite low for this tea quality level and final character. I've been trying teas that cost twice that amount that I don't like as much, or that don't seem any better (two different judgments, since personal likes and demand for types and styles are different subjects).
The catch is that the style is atypical, which could lead someone to really love it if it clicks for them (as I do), or else dislike it. But either way the market demand isn't as clearly settled as for type-typical versions, for what people already expect and are looking to buy. White teas tend to cost less than sheng (just not always), and although I see this as a sheng version with unusual character versus in between styles that could potentially just be a judgement call.
Review
The first infusion is a bit light but the character is already evident; it has a hint of smoke, some bitterness, and good structured feel, pleasant and mouth-watering but full. It's not overly sweet, not light and mild, and on the intense side, so the style seems ideal for some aging. Bitterness could be more intense but it's on the high side for teas I tend to prefer young. This will probably soften and transition a bit over the next few infusions but I expect this is roughly how it will be. A hint of fruit comes across early; that may well evolve.
Those next-changes speculations are meaningless because in the next lines I'll say instead how it actually is, but somehow it seems to frame what I'm experiencing just then, to describe it in a different way.
On the next infusion it just develops in the same direction, with a bit more intensity across the same range. It's relatively intense, and it all balances reasonably well, it's just that between that punch of intensity across a range of aspects including medium level bitterness this really may work better in a couple more years, or may evolve well over another decade. The fruit tone is pleasant in this, complex enough that a single description wouldn't capture it. It seems closest to dried apricot to me. Fruit is a little heavier than the smoke already; that's dropping out fast. To me the bitterness and mineral undertone stand out even more.
Later edit: I didn't make it explicit this far in but this style just struck me as clearly sheng while reviewing it, and I don't keep mentioning that for context, but I do keep commenting about unusual style aspects that sort of map to other range.
To me, and this part is a judgment call, all of this represents a relatively higher quality tea version. I didn't check what it's selling for [at time of making tasting notes], or how Moychay describes it; those parts will express their opinion about it.
A couple of factors throw off making that kind of general quality level judgment. I've drank some pretty good sheng lately but I've also been onto some pretty rough versions, decent but moderate in quality level, and I'm not sure where that leaves my judgment and expectations, if I'm really keeping it all well sorted. Also demand for source area factors in a lot along with some general, objective quality level: a tea from a known, in-demand area can demand a higher price, and can be described positively just for matching a typical local character, while another tea that's also roughly as good from elsewhere could seem more modest just for differing in pedigree. Demand is inconsistent. And personal preference could shift what is most desirable; that's always a main part of the background context.
It softens a little over the next round, the third infusion. A trace of smoke is still present but that has mostly completely faded, with fruit giving way more to dominant mineral now. It's nice the way that the feel is wet but also structured, and the bitterness level balances well. Intensity stands out, and pronounced aftertaste, and the way that bitterness transitions into sweetness.
More of the same on the next infusion, but the sweetness and fruit edge are changing. It's odd that the fruit tone matches up with typical white tea aspect range better, but the rest of the character is definitely sheng. The feel is full and rich enough, versus structured, that it leans a little towards how round and full oolongs come across. They're just not typically paired with bitterness in flavor range, and the aftertaste typically takes a different form. The dried apricot is lightening up and changing, moving into dried pear range. It could be my imagination but a faint hint of spice seems to be evolving, along with some other vegetal range I'll try to describe further in following rounds. It'll be interesting to see how Moychay describes this tea, both what it is and the aspects.
It's a gradual process but it's cool how this tea keeps changing a little every round; not all sheng does that. Some of the standard markers for quality sheng definitely show up in this version: overall intensity, mouth-watering feel that includes moderate astringency / feel structure, well-balanced bitterness that transitions to sweetness in aftertaste, a pronounced aftertaste effect (although to be fair only moderate as those go), pronounced mineral flavor as a base, and a clean, complex, and pleasant flavor range.
It's interesting to also consider drawbacks, weaknesses. It's not really that but some people could prefer a different style, for any given tea type or version. This isn't really an "oolong pu'er," or very drinkable modern style version, so much so that the bitterness could pose a challenge for some, but if anything that aspect could be a bit moderate related to supporting a good 15 year transition to positive full-aged character. What do I know about that though; working through those cause-and-effects is where I am now. I typically see smoke flavor as an aspect as a flaw, probably mostly due to just not preferring it, but that did drop out after early rounds.
A half dozen infusions or so in this is the best this has been, falling into a really nice balance. The intensity is definitely not diminishing but the bitterness has leveled off to balance well, and the smoke is gone, leaving behind mild fruit over a pronounced mineral flavor base. Some of the supporting vegetal range people might interpret differently, maybe similar to green wood, but without the edgy level of astringency bite that might naturally pair with that type of flavor range. To some extent that range has edged out some of the fruit. I suppose a floral interpretation instead might work, better at this stage than in prior rounds, but maybe even then.
More of the same on the next round. There's really something else about this that reminds me of white tea that I'm not communicating, even though a lot of the aspect range obviously doesn't. That taste range does, the mild fruit, and the smooth "roundness" I described as being similar to oolong feel can overlap with how full and rich some versions of white teas come across. Not most, but it can work out like that. The brightness of this character is interesting; I could relate to someone interpreting a trace flavor aspect as being a bit lemony, at least in this round.
It's a good thing I'm not comparison tasting this with anything; it wouldn't be like anything else and it really does seem to take trying 10 or so rounds to tell the story of this tea, given how much it has transitioned. All the same I'll just try one more and let it go; I have a limited attention span and things to do.
It seems the same as the last round anyway. Intensity might finally be tapering off a little, the profile finally thinning. This probably only has another half-dozen rounds to go, up towards 15 infusions for the cycle, but then I do tend to typically go heavy on proportion as a personal preference choice.
Conclusions
[Original notes version]: All in all it seems a very pleasant, positive, novel tea. Most of these character elements aren't that uncommon in any given sheng but as a set it is really different, and the way it all balances together is very positive. I wouldn't be surprised if they're selling this as upper-mid-range cost tea, around $70-80 per standard cake size, given how positive a lot of the aspect range is, but then in some cases they seem to sell really good tea versions for moderate pricing. It might well relate to demand for tea from this area, and tied to the style being a little atypical, as much as how good they see the tea as, only the quality level issue.
[Later thoughts]: Related to pricing the last comment got it; this is a $36 cake, as priced right now. Given that it's three year old tea (only pressed in 2018, but harvested in 2016) this must have started out as more bitter and really intense. It's definitely not white tea; the "bai hao" would make sense as a reference to being high in bud content. Kind of unrelated, I just bought a high bud content sheng version in China that's about as far from this in character as it could be, tasting a lot like mushroom. I'm not sure what I expect from that, why that seemed like a good idea given my normal preferences in sheng character (for not tasting like mushroom), but at a minimum I can check on adjusting to different range, and see how it ages.
I don't know where this tea is going related to aging past this 3 years, and into the more fully aged range, given it's not what I'm used to at all. At least it's really pleasant now. It's not at all that one "drinkable when young" style, given that it's more intense and more bitter than those would tend to be after a few years of mellowing out. This might be unusually good in another 8 or so years or it might fade; as I keep saying I'm still working that part out. It could be like an aged white but better, since it didn't start with a character so inclined to fade, so flavorful and sweet but in a different sense mild. It's probably a good candidate for drinking half of and forgetting about the rest, then either seeing that as a wise move for getting good value out of it before it faded later on, or kicking yourself for not buying a cake to stash if the transition turned out to be really positive.
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nice to add random pics of her here again; a "fierce" look |
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the range of different smiles really gets me |
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with her brother and a cousin |
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