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Yiwu left, Bulang right, in all photos |
A bit random, I picked out some extra aged sheng sample versions I had from Moychay from quite awhile back to try and review. They had passed on quite a few teas, in part related to helping out with some text review, and I reviewed a lot of them, but still have others on hand (many thanks to them!). Oddly there are some really, really old teas in that set I just never got to. Whenever I'm sitting down for a relaxing weekend tea and writing session I never feel like this is the perfect time to review something from the 70s, but I should go there at some point. One is aged green tea, something I've always been curious about.
I had picked these expecting them to work as a contrast more than a comparison, since of course to the extent broad areas have regional characters Yiwu is known for producing sweeter, aromatic, and approachable sheng, low on bitterness, and Bulang sometimes more intense versions, although in some cases this isn't necessarily along the line of challenging astringency that requires a lot of aging. But then generalizing by area has never been one of my things, because way too many factors tend to combine for that to be as meaningful as it's often presented to beginners. Or maybe it's just that I don't have the memory or appropriate structured exploration approach to keep track?
This may make for an interesting read, an older TeaDB blog post reviewing a lot of Bulang versions. They were about a year into blogging back then, in 2014, so it was commentary based on relatively little prior exposure, but it still might be interesting. Their blogging history is six months ahead of my own starting point, both in 2013. I suppose that input is all the more relevant because James was writing about teas from this time-frame then, since both these versions are from 2009.
The theme of these being relative opposites did work out, as described. That's a far different experience than comparison reviewing two very similar teas, which enables zeroing in on minor character and aspect differences at much higher resolution, but it's still fine to note and pass on broad strokes.
Review:
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Bulang (left) is a little darker; the Yiwu from the cake "beeng hole" could slow transition a little |
2009 Yiwu Zheng: interesting; I suppose both will be for two different reasons. One issue that I've had with some Yiwu that I've tried in the past (not that it works to generalize across a broad region across many other inputs) was that intensity had dropped out with significant aging, leaving behind a rich experience with good depth but little flavor compared to where other aged sheng stands. To an extent that's the case for this; it has positive warmer tones, and lighter wood or spice / vegetal range, but flavor is subtle, not so intense. Compared to a less flavorful silver needle version that's not true at all, and the opposite experience of greater depth (feel range, complex warmer tones, some degree of aftertaste) makes it not come across as wispy, it's just not intense, as sheng pu'er across most of the standard range typically is.
I'll do more with a flavor and other aspect list next time; that one observation works for a start. It's positive, what I do experience, and it might improve considerably over a few rounds, so this is offered as an initial impression, not a developed or final judgement. There's a trace of an aged book or furniture note in this that might be really nice, if the other aspects balance in a certain way.
2009 Bulangshan Qiaomu: much more intense, of course. Bitterness hasn't dropped out of this version, but lots of other rich, warm tones support that. I suppose for this version I'll be saying that it would be better to try it in another five years instead, that it's just not at the most favorable part of the aging cycle, given where it started. I don't need to project back to a likely starting point to try to determine that; I mean that based on what I'm experiencing now it seems to exhibit a lot of potential for further positive change. Again I'll end up leaving these initial comments as more of a first impression than a developed description of the experience.
To add a little to that part though a touch of mushroom comes across in this, which I would expect to fade to include more warm tones and different sharper / rougher range. Warm mineral, along the lines of iron rust, stands out a lot; I would expect that to soften and transition to a sweeter, more approachable depth as well. There's a hint of dried fruit tone in this; maybe that will develop. Or maybe not a hint, a substantial input instead, but the other intense range makes it harder to appreciate as a main aspect.
Aftertaste really lingers, but at this point it's mostly a sort of rust mineral range that's as negative as positive, so it's hard to appreciate that as a positive input. I'll need to be careful about infusion time for this version; the other would be fine brewed for awhile, at high intensity, but this will be optimum in a much lighter range. From wetted leaf appearance I'm brewing more of this version than the other, but the first was comprised of larger chunks, so I expect that it will expand a good bit, while this was all loose initially (the sample included a chunk and loose material, and I brewed the loose part). It's probably more broken material as a result, which is bumping that astringency level, the way compounds extract much differently from broken material compared to whole leaves.
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no need to mention that I don't believe in filtering |
Yiwu Zheng, second infusion: it's improving fast; this is sweeter, richer, warmer, and cleaner than the first infusion. That happens; lots of sheng range cleans up or loosens up over the first two infusions. Depth in this is nice, the way it's not intense in flavor but there's a lot going on at that one level, a lot of rich fullness, in feel and taste. It's smooth, with no unpleasant inclusions, and essentially no bitterness, or at least very little. For flavor range there is a cured (dried) hardwood range that stands out most, but then also a nice aged book sort of flavor, and some spice range that's hard to break apart as distinct descriptions. It could be interpreted as vegetal too; it includes a warm richness that is present in roasted dried seaweed, just not the umami blast that shows up in Japanese green teas, the other part of that flavor experience.
I wouldn't necessarily disagree with someone interpreting a main aspect as floral, it's just not the association I tend to make. The way chrysanthemum adds a warm, rich, neutral flavor tone is very present in this. I suppose I like it more for liking chrysanthemum, now that I think of that. It's nice, and different. I own a Yiwu sheng in this age range (a 2008) that's not so different, half of a brick I bought some years back, but this retains more intensity than that, with a bit more flavor complexity. It works better for that. I reviewed that tea in this 2019 post, but I've tried that in the past couple of months, checking out what it's like that much later on. Odd in looking up that link I referred to a TeaDB post describing them trying a lot of Yiwu; what are the odds.
Bulangshan Qiaomu: better; cleaner and sweeter. This will also really hit its stride next round, I think. Bitterness has scaled back already, and some of the richer complex flavors stand out a lot more. The rust oriented warm tones are cleaning up to a nicer mineral range, with more spice and dried fruit showing through. This will probably be even better after a half dozen infusions, the kind of sheng version that really shines in the second half of the rounds. I'll need to eat a snack, walk around, and wait for awhile to get to that, for brewing way too much of these teas to gulp through in ten fast rounds of tasting. I should've considered that; back to making the same mistake I did countless times when tasting such teas over past years, brewing two full gaiwans worth of sheng at the same time.
Astringency, bitterness, and a set of warm flavors seem to really link as a set. In one sense it's quite clean; storage input or other material flaws don't seem to stand out. In another, related to both flavor and feel, it's not in a very approachable place just now; I get a sense this kind of tea could be just great in another half dozen years, once transition goes just a little further. If I owned a cake of this I'd be in no hurry to drink it, maybe trying a little every other year to see how it changes, not so much to experience that, just out of curiosity about how that works. It's funny how I think the other version is only going to lose intensity from here, that it can pick up some warmer tones, but it's essentially where it will be, and as good as it will be. Just guesses, of course.
Yiwu, third infusion: brewed liquid color has evened out a bit; strange. Both are on the reddish and dark side, as one might expect from 14 year old sheng. Warm spice tones pick up, from the earlier set. Woody or vegetal tone drops off, and the lighter chrysanthemum range warms. Sweet rich tones are a little towards toffee, just somewhere in the middle instead. Astringency can keep fading from a slight dryness to a smoother tone as this ages, but it's not at all challenging or unpleasant.
Bulang: changes are positive; again this probably will be even nicer in late rounds. The more challenging feel--a touch of dryness--and bitterness input, and rust mineral range, keeps scaling back, as richer, sweeter spice tones pick up. This develops some of the aged furniture character that older sheng tends to pick up, which I guess relates to aromatic oils and fragrant warm wood tones. Even in 3 or 4 more years I think this would be much nicer, but a half dozen should start in on whatever it's optimum will be, and it might be quite pleasant at 30 years old.
I might guess about storage conditions inputs, but that's hard to do without really knowing starting points. 14 years is plenty of time to know if storage is too wet; less pleasant heavier aspects will enter in, mustiness and such. And to know if dry storage is suppressing a conventional transition pattern; teas stored like that change slowly, but bitterness will fade, and a slight sourness might develop. Warm tones might seem to almost never enter in.
Yiwu, fifth infusion (I skipped notes on the last round): intensity isn't dropping out; it stays similar to how it was before, even though I'm trying a round brewed quite fast, under 10 seconds. Again green wood flavor is as pronounced as anything else, which could be interpreted in all sorts of ways, as vegetal, as neutral tone spice, or flower input, etc. It's fine; I can appreciate sheng in this character range. I wouldn't want to drink it too often, and wouldn't spend too much on it, but it's nice.
Bulangshan: this is the nicest this has been, quite a number of infusions in, and brewed very light. The more challenging dry feel and edgy mineral tone have eased up, allowing as much of a balance of warmer mineral, towards-spice, and hinting at dried fruit range show through. It's complex enough that no one part stands out, beyond that feel and mineral range a bit like rust, again softer in this round-transitioned and light brewed version.
I tend to drink Xiaguan tuo versions that are not even close to ready sometimes, when I feel like it, checking out what middle of the process transition character is like, so this is far from the most challenging range I experience on a fairly regular basis. It's also not what most people would probably prefer, really needing to keep going to get to more positive aged range. At least it's quite clean in effect, beyond that one feel edge being a bit much, so the potential for positive development is quite good. Again not in 3 or 4 years to finish mellowing out though; this could use another decade.
I drank a benchmark cake type Xiaguan with breakfast today, the day after writing these notes when I edited this, a 2006 8653, which I guess this comment reminded me of trying. There's an odd saddle-leather sort of flavor input in some Xiaguan, pronounced in that version, that I like, but that makes it impossible to compare this tea to. For being a few years older and stored in Bangkok that tea is getting pretty close to where it should be for aging transition, with this 2009 version not all that close yet.
I doubt that it's going to shed much more light on these but I'll take notes on one more longer infusion, around 20 seconds instead, and move on to a more general assessment, of how good I think these are, how they both match my preference, and related to further aging potential.
Yiwu, #6: that one edge of aged books / furniture is much stronger brewed longer; interesting. I suppose that someone could appreciate that aspect on its own, or others might even dislike it. Some green wood tone joins that, in a sense opposing it, since those aren't a natural pairing. Other warm tones fill in depth, chrysanthemum tisane range, so overall complexity is fine, it's pleasant. This would be nice in years to come, but it will just become more subtle, and the "greener" aspects will fade as much as they'll transition, I expect. Within a half dozen years there won't be much flavor to appreciate, and warmth and depth will stand more alone. I don't mind that, but it's not the most interesting final result.
Bulang: this is the most pleasant this has been, and probably a series of minor positive changes are only going to start now, so the main review of what this tea has to offer is only beginning, right where I'm ending it. The early faint mushroom is noticeable again brewed stronger, but there is plenty of clean aspect flavor range to go along with that now, towards dried fruit, or in a warm mineral range, not exactly onto seeming "inky," but towards that. One part of the warmer mineral range almost matches how roasted Wuyi Yancha oolongs turn out, with underlying warm tones linking with a more forward range of higher end roast related input. Bitterness is still present, but it balances with those other flavors and feel range better. The dry feel is also still notable, a main part of the experience, but it has softened too, allowing flavor to stand out more as an input, even though the two are different parts of the same overall experience. It's not bad. It shows as much potential as it includes positive experience at this point, but it's still fine.
Conclusions:
Both of these seem relatively positive to me, like decent examples of those styles and fermentation levels. Moychay aged sheng varies a lot, with some more inclusive of flaws and limitations, which is generally matched with inexpensive sales pricing. Then some they seem to regard better, described in more positive terms, but I suppose perhaps more importantly selling for much less. These may not be highest-tier, most positively regarded selections but both seem ok, pretty good.
If it's not already explicit enough from those comments I tend to see sheng versions as interesting and positive, or not, based on their character, but tend to not try to situate them on a quality level or trueness to type scale. Versions just vary too much for that to work well, across too many levels of aspects. For some other tea types, for different types of black teas or oolongs, for example, it is much easier to zero in on a conventional form versions match or else don't, and to isolate aspects that work as quality level markers. Let's go with an example, to describe what I mean.
Dian Hong is a favorite black tea range, Yunnan black, which varies a lot in character (opposing what I'm setting out to express), but I like versions for being rich with good depth, complex in flavor range, and also simple and approachable in a different sense. Positive flavor aspects, and flavor complexity and intensity, mark those as interesting and positive, with feel also factoring in, and to a lesser extent aftertaste (/ finish). A half dozen flavors tend to come up more than others (roasted yam and sweet potato, cacao / chocolate, warm spice that's not necessarily often cinnamon but in that general direction), and sweetness level tends to be good, so it's down to a flavor set, intensity and complexity, and lack of flaws. Here I've been describing a much broader flavor range, emphasizing feel a lot more (mouthfeel, although others do focus on effect, body feel), and stress aging transition as a main concern and input, with some of those aspects potentially regarded as either positive or negative depending on preference. If you love Dian Hong those tend to be limited in appeal, good, or really good; it's not that complicated. For other tea types specific flavor range or feel might serve as a "quality marker."
For the Yiwu limitations related to aging potential seem to stand out, how one type of initial character tends to evolve. I've not said it but I take it as implied that I mean that sheng that starts sweeter, brighter, more aromatic, less bitter, less astringent, and more approachable as brand-new or 3 to 4 year old aged versions tend to fade later versus experiencing a lot of change-over. It's hard to place why this went so far into green wood and even vegetal character (for me, at least), but limited bitterness and softer, richer feel indicate it's pretty far along towards initial levels of those changing over. Then warmer tones didn't develop so much yet, and to some extent I think that they never will. This will soften, deepen in character to a very limited extent, and will fade in intensity; there just isn't much left to indicate it can change to another form. Which is fine if someone happens to love this character. I can appreciate it, but I think I would like where the Bulang version ends up in another decade a lot more, or even 3 or 4 years, stored here in Bangkok.
The Bulang version is harder to appreciate as it stands now, with a dry feel and rust mineral flavor not an optimum experience. In a sense it's still clean though. It's possible that the rust mineral tone I'm discussing relates to what I've described earlier as sourness being caused by too dry storage conditions. I'm not completely certain of that though; this tea is really in between well-preserved and an average level of transition for that 14 years of time, not at the one extreme. At a guess it's an effect of this being in an odd place in transition form, changing from one thing to another, but not there yet.
I'm not the best person to guess if that one aspect range, the set, really, indicates good or poor further transition potential, or some particular initial character limitation, or a particular storage input. Part of this character is so positive that I'd expect this has generally good aging potential, but a rough edge of a different form might seem slightly more positive, for example a harsh and rough feel versus this degree of dryness. Maybe I never did make what I meant by that clear enough; it's feel that isn't unlike that from unripe fruit. Still, in 5 or 10 years this will be quite different, and the potential seems generally good, if perhaps not optimum.
It's interesting considering how this matches or is different from the 2006-7 range Xiaguan, Zhongcha, and Dayi versions I have, how those are perhaps slightly further along in transition, but were edgy as could be 2 to 3 years ago, not necessarily dry in feel but plenty rough, rougher than this is now. [It's that comment that triggered me re-trying a 2006 Xiaguan cake version]. Anything I'm saying about guesses for how this will change over 5 to 10 more years are just that though, guesses, not really informed projections.
It will be interesting trying to look up website descriptions and placing these against what they say. That could be very limited though, since Moychay descriptions don't generally aim to tell a full story for you like that, about how they place that against other range, or how they see aging potential playing out, or maybe even a full snapshot of current aspect experience. They fill in some about what the teas are, and you need to take it from there. It's interesting catching their site comments (usually automatically translated versions, since it's a Russian vendor, so people comment in Russian), where tea drinkers with very different experience levels and preferences try to fill in the rest. Let's check that.
Moychay site information
Main Russian site, listing this 345 gram cake for $108:
The bouquet of the ready-made tea is mature, woody-and-fruity with balsamic, autumnal, herbaceous, mushroom and nutty notes. The aroma is deep and warm, fruity-balsamic. The taste is dense, smooth and juicy-tart, sweetish, with fruity sourness, spicy nuances and a refreshing finish.
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credit the Moychay site, of course |
Some of it matches, but it's not generally helpful, since that conflicts with my impression as much as it matches it.
That lists for $136 on their Amsterdam site, which could seem unfair, for costing that much more, but if you add import shipping expense and some tax to that the increase may not include much profit, especially beyond allowance for extra handling and maintaining another storage facility. They mention the producer, Yiwu Mengsong Chaye Zhanqiexian Gongsi Factory, which for most people would enable looking up background and comparable options more than it would ring a bell. The description is essentially the same in both websites.
It's interesting considering flavor profile described in the first main site comment:
Tea with two characters. Make the water hotter, the exposure longer - woody. Cooled water, shorter strait - fruity...
Dried fruits, prunes, dried apricots in aroma. Chill in the aftertaste, pleasant menthol... The first infusions are quite dense, in the aroma of boards and fruits, depending on how long you brew... In later straits, apples and pieces of wood taste.
I don't know about all that. Beyond the wood tones there is some fruit to experience, but it's more woody. I suppose I could try to brew this at 80 C and see if it really does change everything. Nope; I just did pour the water into the cup first to absorb out heat, then used that for brewing, and it's a little softer but not so different in flavor profile, as they describe.
Other reviews there mentioned lots of dried fruit and menthol. I don't know; I don't see it. More comments are from 2021 than present, and it would've been slightly different then, but all that dried fruit wouldn't have dropped out in two years of further aging. Early floral tones can transition kind of fast, but that's something else, more pronounced over the first 3 years of aging, not from year 11 to 13. If you read about dried fruit in a description it's easy to look for it, and then find it, even though in a blind tasting it might come across as a secondary input, or not something that you notice at all. Let's check out the other one.
This main site listing is archived, so it has probably sold out. There's no way to know what it listed for, the pricing, because that's not shown on an archive page, and there is no Wayback machine archive of this page. Their description:
Sheng Puer from Menghai Juming Chachang Factory...
The bouquet of the ready-made tea is mature, woody-balsamic, with notes of oak moss, spicy herbs, autumn leaves and dried fruits. The aroma is deep and warm, complex, fruity-balsamic. The taste is full-bodied and mellow, tart, sweetish, with a slight bitterness, citrus sourness, nuances of spices and lemon-mint finish.
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nice looking leaves |
Again that doesn't match what I'm experiencing, but then interpretations do always vary.
Review comments are all over the place for this; there are no consistent consensus opinions to pass on. I would think for this seeming to be listed in 2021 (when the comments occur) people would be mentioning aging potential versus what it's like now, and a couple comments do bring that up. It would seem strange to me to drink straight through this as an 11 year old tea, back then. Even now I might not check it again until 2024 if I owned a cake, maybe twice next year, then see how it is again in 2025.
Scanning comments some strange input comes up. In regards to aroma someone mentions that "it's already close to shu pu'er," (really?!), then also claims that it tastes like dried fruit and grapefruit. Here's an example I agree with more:
Liked it! Mint sheng) Minty-menthol flavors are often accompanied by a noticeable bitterness, and this one is very mild, slightly astringent, like a wild pear. And it seems that it can still be stored and it will only get better, although now the taste is already well balanced.
The potential and atypical feel stand out in my own notes, if not the mint and menthol reference. Trying it again that kind of works, but that could be true of all sorts of descriptions. One comment mentions that the pricing is moderate, which for Moychay aged versions might mean they had been listing it as a 11 year old version for under $100, or maybe around that. It does need another 5 years to settle even now, two years later, but it should be pretty good in 2026, depending on how that dry feel issue settles out.
The nicest part is that Moychay sells these as samples, or intermediate amounts, so someone could try lots of different versions and see what they like, as with Yunnan Sourcing. It wouldn't work well for someone outside of Russia, just now, but eventually that war will end, and their Amsterdam outlet is already available to anyone. For that $136 Yiwu cake (on the Amsterdam outlet) a 25 gram sample sells for $9.50 (8.75 Euro; what's up with their exchange rate bottoming out like that?), so trying a good bit of it isn't so expensive. At 40 cents a gram that's costly compared to young sheng whole-cake rates, but samples always work out like that, you pay more for opportunity to buy a little of a cake to try.
As to match to personal preference for both I appreciate a really broad range of types of sheng so both are ok for me. The Yiwu I see as more ready now, with the Bulang version better set aside for some years. I'm really into younger sheng these days, liking either nearly new more approachable versions, or how some that doesn't need 15 years of age works out after just 3 or 4 years. I've been cycling back through all of what I own over the last few months, after being separated from my teas for two months at one point, so aged range is as familiar as ever, but I really like younger versions as much or more. Not typical tuocha form teas, I don't mean, which really need a decade to settle, the other styles instead.
That shouldn't mean anything in particular to anyone; everyone is on whatever page they are, and that can change. Most of this post covers that a main appeal of older sheng is that the transition patterns are interesting, an extra level to appreciate experientially, and to place within interpretation, and to try to match to preference.
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