Bing Dao sheng pu'er coin

Seeing discussion about Bing Dao origin sheng pu'er lately reminded me that I've long since had a sample Bing Dao mini-disk I'd been meaning to try.  I think my friend Noppadol probably gave this to me about three years ago (it's stamped as a 2018 version).  He sells some tea, here, and it involved with making a decent Lamphang origin Thai sheng (reviewed here).  I've got a tuocha of that hanging around too, and already drank one.

first try at a public tasting event, with Noppadol left and Sasha and Nok beside him

I couldn't find much about this tea brand, beyond reference to it selling other teas:  GEXIANG Brand Yiwu Guafengzhai Pu-erh Tea Cake 2019

coins are cool, like a tiny cake, and they don't unfurl slowly like a dragonball

I won't try to guess if the reputation of that shop implies anything about the tea; that's too indirect to really be meaningful.  Do I think this is "real?"  I'm not even sure what that means in this context.  Bing Dao is definitely an origin area, but people discuss it in terms of broad or narrower defined range.  Sergey's Geography of Chinese Tea book would be a perfect place for reviewing that, or looking through Olivier's puerh.fr to see if there's an article on it.  This post draft had included "but I won't" ending that sentence, but I found a citation about it in a blog post of mine from 2019 looking for something else (from puerh.fr):

Bing Dao is the group of village Bing Dao

From the point of view of local Bing Dao (冰岛) is quite eccentric to Da Xue Shan and Mengku . Nestled in Northern Mengku , Bing Dao village is quite far from the summit, the boundary between Mengku Valley Nanmei .

Bing Dao is now though and definitely the most famous village of Da Xue Shan, but also all the Yunnan and more than 2000 euros per kg of crude maocha (2014) , authentic teas Bing Dao reach prices which no young puerh could have asserted before. If it is less than a decade that we see such a craze around Bing Dao, the reputation of the village and its tea is not new and dates back to the fifteenth century.

We often hear that it is the village of Dao Bing originate all tea plants Mengku see by extension the local variety " Mengku large leaves" that can be found now in many region of Yunnan. This is not entirely false , and many gardens teas Mengku we probably born between 1500 and today from seeds or cuttings from Bing Dao, based myth Bing Dao mother of tea of Mengku , myth echoed by the famous pancake Mu Shu Cha (literally "mother of tea trees ) produced by Mengku Rong Shi from 2005 and completed the advent of this village.

So there's that, and more in that article.  I mentioned trying a huang pian version of Bing Dao in that post about a poorly attended tea tasting (where I ran across that citation), but I just don't count huang pian as a conventional character example, and it was that (presented as that, maybe it wasn't really Bing Dao, and maybe it wasn't really huang pian).

Type-typical descriptions always vary, throwing around terms like aroma, fragrance, floral, bitterness, mouthfeel, and so on.  I've scanned through a dozen versions in the past month for it coming up a lot and it doesn't narrowing as a result.

The point here is to see what this tea is like, and make notes on that, edited into a blog post.  After I try a few more, if I ever do, I can compare those to a dozen online summary descriptions and make of it what I will.  All that would be really unsatisfying for some people, not even making a start on a "is it real?" matching process, or at least the background review.  I did a longer cycle with more steps "sorting out" if the LBZ versions I kept trying might be "real," but it was unsatisfying adding extra steps.  For now I'll either enjoy this tea or else I won't.  

To add a guess though:  based on whatever narrowest definition of Bing Dao is out there it's "not real," but if the term is used loosely (incorrectly) as a broader area reference maybe, or maybe not.

Review:

First infusion (after a rinse):  interesting!  This has depth, already.  It's mostly floral, with a good bit of underlying mineral, but those sorts of list descriptions don't really capture what I mean by that.  There is a catchy and distinct flavor, so there's that, but the overall effect is cool.  That distinct flavor is probably really a complex set, a band of rich floral tones that borrows some from fruit range.  The mineral form is really distinctive too.  It's light in a sense, like limestone, but it also contains some warmth.  Depth of the overall experience is interesting; for this being a light first infusion it includes good mouthfeel and aftertaste.  It will be interesting to see how it evolves.

Second infusion:  that infusion was on the fast side too, not over 10 seconds, and intensity ramped way up anyway.  That complex underlying mineral tone is almost the main thing noticeable in this, the dominant aspect range; that's different, it tends to never work out like that.  It still has really pronounced floral range, that leans so far towards rich fruit tone that it would be open to varying interpretations, but the mineral part is really something.  A plant stem like vegetal range connects the two, making it all seem continuous, and somehow even more intense for hitting across a broad range.  Good sweetness makes it work better and bitterness is present but moderate.  This would've had to have seemed different four years ago; that's a long time here in Bangkok.  

I'm not sure how well "balanced" applies as a summary; this is novel, so it would be open to interpretation how positive it is, or how well it all integrates.  I like it because I tend to value novelty, and there's nothing negative about it, and the overall intensity and the aspects themselves are positive.  But it's still odd.

Third infusion:  I am getting the impression that this is higher quality tea than I tend to drink.  It's definitely more unique in style than what I tend to encounter.  The next round is similar:  intense, complex, with bitterness offset by nice sweetness, floral tones, and warm mineral, complex in a few ways beyond that.  

I'm always saying aftertaste is pronounced but this occurs in a different way.  Not about time duration; it doesn't last that much longer than any other version with significant aftertaste intensity, beyond a common trailing-off effect.  It's just intense after you drink it, across feel, based all around your mouth, and related to trailing sweetness.  That catchy mineral range is strong while drinking it and after.  It's warm and a bit metallic now, like sucking a penny, but it includes other mineral tone as well.  It reminds me a little of getting toasted pumpkin seeds right recently, when I steamed some fresh pumpkin, that earthy, rich, complex flavor of the seeds themselves and the warmer roast input.

Fourth infusion:  some transitions occur but for as wordy as this is becoming I should take a round off and say more next time instead.  A really pleasant floral tone picked up, so warm and sweet that it's in between plumeria and orange citrus.  It's too bad I didn't try this tea years ago when I got it; I might've been able to buy more of these.  Even higher pricing than I tend to spend on tea would seem fair for this.  Then it's awkward considering that further as specifics; if this thing is 5 grams, and it was priced at $5 ($1 / gram), would I buy that?  Probably not, but it's probably worth it, in terms of buying into a more unusual experience, even setting aside a back-story theme.  I'm accustomed to Thai spending practices, and although Starbucks coffees do cost $7 here I wouldn't buy them.

Fifth infusion:  a first faint hint of aspect that's not clearly positive enters in, a bit of woodiness, or a mineral range that smells like hot sand.  Even that complements the rest though.  That crazy level of feel and aftertaste experience including mouthfeel is relaxing a bit, with this coming across as juicier but less intense.  I'm sweating like I'm in a sauna, probably related to humidity level as much as temperature or this tea radically altering my bodily functions.  It's 32 or 33 out, so not hot for us (91 F), but it's also over 70% humidity, from raining a lot lately.  No one else in Bangkok is sitting outside drinking hot tea at noon today, even in the shade.  

I'll have to check on my kids lunch soon and never tend to do these reviews in two parts, but it seems unfair to this tea to report on the first half of the cycle, or to rush through three more infusions (which is how I always address that).  On to the rushing then.

Completely off the point, I got my first covid booster three days ago, a Pfizer, after two Astrazeneka shots last year, and today is the first day I'm really back to normal.  Or close enough that I feel normal; my immune system took that hard, really gearing up for war, it would seem.  Nothing too troubling came up for side-effects but it all really added up.

Sixth infusion:  the main thing that stands out is how catchy this is, that set of complex aspects coming together.  It hits hard in a few ways but it's how it integrates that works.  That one mineral part is so strong and so closely associated with mouthfeel that it's almost as if I can taste it with the roof of my mouth.  The floral and fruit range is really complex, and linked to the warmer mineral, through a lighter vegetal range.  That warm mineral seems to exhibit depth from being tied to other range, maybe root spice.  There's so much going on that it comes across as a dynamic experience, as if there are moving parts to it.  Nothing is really moving though, beyond the aftertaste shifting form quite a bit.

Seventh infusion:  not transitioning so much; maybe I will throw in the towel, for now.  That hint of citrus seems slightly stronger in this, but that could easily be the kind of thing that varies with slight infusion time variation. 

This has been an interesting and positive experience.  I could probably describe the feeling side of this experience better (towards cha qi effect) if high humidity wasn't causing as much reaction.  I don't mind sweating, and it's normal for me, but it was really dry up until this rainy period about five days ago, so the change feels more extreme.  If I get time I'll go run in the afternoon heat; that should be even more interesting.

Of course I can't say if this seems like Bing Dao to me or not, because I don't remember that I've ever tried a version, so probably didn't.  It's very positive and novel, which seems a good step towards that being more likely.  And the tea being like it is works well either way, no matter what it is.

Later:  it was interesting how bitterness didn't really fade but other flavors did, through a good number of additional infusions, making it proportionally more bitter.  Since that bitterness level had been moderate it still seemed quite positive, just odd that it worked out that way.

Conclusions:

It was good, as described.  I don't really have any more to add about the Bing Dao storyline theme, or how I would place this in relation to other sheng experiences.  It seemed a bit novel, which is always nice, if a tea is this pleasant.  

It's seemingly better tea than I tend to buy, so I would only be attempting to place it in relation to other samples I've tried that are better than I tend to buy in any volume.  That just doesn't seem meaningful, to go on to broad conclusions about style or quality level, beyond these impressions, so I won't.