I'm reviewing two more teas shared by that friend who is a co-owner of the Iris Cafe Nimman in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The hong wulong is from Wawee Tea, as was the last sheng version I reviewed recently. For the black tea it's from Wang Put Tan, a Thai producer that I'm not familiar with. I don't know more about it, but if someone is really set on finding it that producer link is your starting point. Turning it up may or may not be possible, since small batch production does occur in some cases, with not everything being made to sell at higher volume as a standard type.
Related to their business theme, the Iris Cafe Nimman, it's kind of the opposite of an old Chinese shop that sells dozens of types of loose teas, and not really an updated mall-type version with a more curated, medium quality list either, but they do tasting events related to good specialty teas, so they're probably worth checking out for locals there or people visiting. So far I've only described what the shop is not, not what it is, so I'll include some of what that owner said about that:
We do sell teas by the gram, in 50 grams bags, of medium and higher quality. Teas can be enjoyed onsite as a gongfu session or using western preparation. The menu is eclectic, from flavored French teas to high end, like good shi feng longjing.
In terms of theme it's a coffee shop. It lacks the decoration, decorum, and cultural aspect of Chinese tea houses for sure - just like most matcha shops are not all that Japanese, instead based on modern design themes.
So that's it; really a hybrid of a standard coffee shop theme with a lot of traditional Chinese tea house offerings included. Sounds nice.
On tea type word use, "wulong" really is a better transliteration of the Chinese term for oolong, but since oolong has become a standard and accepted English word only a limited subset of people take it up. They're not wrong, or even more right in one sense, but that gets to be more about how one views living languages and borrowing of words, at times changing transliteration forms, than about tea history or background. "Literally" really does mean "figuratively" in one sense, and in another it still doesn't, no matter what some dictionaries opt to include.
"Red oolong" more often refers to a very oxidized variation of Taiwanese style ball rolled oolong, so oxidized that it's essentially a black tea. That meaning and style could vary, and of course this isn't a ball-rolled tea.
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hong (red) oolong left, black tea right, in all photos |
Review:
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interesting the oolong started slower, maybe related to a varying bruising / kneading step |
Hong Wulong: a bit subtle at this point. That can relate to not using a rinse, for the first round to always come across a bit light. It's promising, but it's as well to describe it more next round instead. What the heck; it's interesting for being subtle, and rich and warm, with one layer a honey sweetness range, and another a sort of caramelized grain tone. This will be unique, but intensity could be an issue.
Thai Black: this got a much faster start, so describing it works. It tastes like a novel and good version of black tea. Sweetness stands out, and rich warm tones, with a single fruit note very pleasant amidst a lot of other things going on, sort of in a dried dark cherry range. No, that's exactly it.
We visited my brother living in New Mexico (Alamagordo, kind of out there, not so far from where the nuclear tests were, I think), and picked dark cherries, and dried them there at home, and the results were fantastic, with this flavor note a call-back to that experience. I'll do a longer list next round for this too though.
Hong Wulong, second infusion: seemingly this is going to stay subtle, even as different flavors and layers unfold. It has great depth and positive feel, and there's plenty going on, so what I mean is that it's quiet on the higher and more forward side, or some might call that fragrant or aromatic flavor range, but it's not missing that, the balance is just unique. Warm and rich tones stand out most, the base layer, and beyond that a rich feel. There is pleasant aromatic range, towards spice tones, which someone could see as including floral range, I guess, but it's harder to break apart for being subtle. It still seems complex because there's so much going on at that one deeper layer, the base. It's a little like coffee flavor, one part, and another is that rich sweetness from Wuyi Yancha that's also hard to pin down, between molasses, leather, and warm wood range, or maybe a little of all that mixed together.
It's clean in nature, refined, and the balance is better than it sounds, for one part of the range seeming a bit muted in comparison with the rest. In noticing the cacao (noted on the sample label) one part is like that, it includes it, but it's one part of a complex range, all of which seems a bit quieter to me than a heavier tone base. Maybe this "spatial" arrangement of flavors isn't familiar, or doesn't seem even potentially descriptive, so people who can't relate to that at all can just ignore that part. It might just be part of how I personally map out a broad range of different aspects, not a universal way people would naturally interpret all that.
Thai Black: this is more forward / higher end range oriented, which is quite normal for black teas, with a good, rich base. That one dried dark cherry note is already giving way to warmer and deeper tones.
I like the tea (and the other version too; I tend to forget to include that). The feel is a little thin, and it has some complexity but not in the sense of an overall balanced intensity, so it's more on the page of including some positive flavors that work well together, rather than stacking up as a refined, balanced, most exceptional version. Which to me is fine; a tea that tastes good, in a novel range, with a positive feel, and no notable flaws is fine. Every tea doesn't have to cover everything.
Hong Wulong, third infusion: I brewed these longer, at 30 seconds or just over (of course I'm not timing anything), because both will be fine at higher infusion strength. I backed off proportion just a little in relation to my norm, so they needed 15 seconds just to be equivalent, versus a more typical 10, but longer could work better.
Intensity increased along with infusion strength, of course. Usually that will increase tea feel, the astringency, and increase intensity of what I've been calling base tones, with aromatic range stronger too, but you can only relate to so much of that at one time. Brewing a tea very light is much better for identifying lighter aromatic range, it seems to me, maybe even better in general for analyzing a tea, but for this tea it kind of wasn't optimum. Cacao is still there, so that label note is right, but I'm accustomed to how that can really be a main dominant aspect instead in some Dian Hong. Here it's a bit lost in the warmer range, in spice-like tones, or warm mineral range, molasses sweetness, and what seems similar to roasted oolong notes, toward dark wood or rich leather. Everything in this is positive, and it works well together, but it's only hitting a limited range of aspects.
Trying single-input versus blended teas can work out like this. The trade-off in blending (as normal Shui Xian Fujian oolong versions would be) is that you gain balance and complexity across a broad range and lose the distinct notes, the few positive individual flavor inputs I've been describing. I guess that works for all types blending, really. I must admit that I'm more of a fan of this theme, of accepting whatever trade-offs in terms of balance and broad range complexity occur in order to experience that more limited range. Then in some of the most exceptional, best made tea versions, based on using exceptional material, you seem to be able to have it all, and get distinct positive flavors, complexity, depth, great feel and aftertaste, intensity, balance, refinement, etc. This covers half that set; not bad.
Thai Black: this actually has as much rich feel and slightly more aftertaste than the other tea, even though it's a black tea version versus what seems to be an oolong (hong oolong would mean red oolong, so generally used to mean more oxidized oolongs, which tend to be about as oxidized as lighter oxidation black teas). And even it's a little thin in body across one part of the range. Higher end astringency, mouthfeel as texture, isn't bad, but there isn't much to it, but then it has a depth of feel that comes across as a general fullness, just stopping short of richness. Am I even still making sense?
For flavor an inky sort of mineral depth evolves, which might sound bad, but I like that. Early fruitiness has given way to richer spice-range tones, for the most part, pretty close to cinnamon, just not exactly that.
Hong Wulong, fourth infusion: more of the same, which is a good thing. This really has been evolving to a more evenly balanced nature, which I might've mentioned last round but didn't. I mean that the flavor profile doesn't seem to express a gap in one "section or part." Complexity picked up a bit too; warmer tones still have a nice base covered, but lighter sweet range now a little towards dried fruit fill in a "higher end" too. Sweetness is good in this.
That warm fruit range might be similar to dried tamarind or dried longan flavor, not exactly either, but towards that. Molasses-like rich sweetness gives it all good balance. Even feel thickened a little, and aftertaste isn't pronounced, but also not missing. It's nice. It doesn't remind me of one typical type style, which I don't see as a bad thing, maybe slightly more positive than negative.
Thai Black: one part of this I've not described well is really catchy, something that hits you right away. Maybe it's much harder to identify because it's a set of aspects, not one thing, but it integrates in your experience. It could be the way a set of aspects resonate together, so it comes across as ringing does in sound, as a repeating resonance. One base mineral tone, like slate, seems to match a narrow middle layer, like that earlier-dominant cherry fruit, and then there's a higher end sort of rich floral note that's much harder to pin down, but it's integrated with that set. Back to walking off the map, I guess. Cinnamon range is transitioning to really taste like cinnamon.
It's not complex in the sense there's tons going on, distributed across layers of levels, but that set jumping out and then balancing in that way is very pleasant. Rich feel helps too, and limited aftertaste experience lends complexity, with good sweetness level making it all work better. As for smoke again unless that's tied to a deeper mineral / base earthy tone it's just not there, and if it is that it's a great contribution.
Of course both teas are far from finished, but this is a good place to leave off taking notes, since another interesting transition or two won't change the overall story much.
Conclusions:
I guess I like the second better, the black tea. Both include interesting aspects across a good range, both express a decent degree of depth and complexity, in ways that could be interpreted as including limitations. It's a little harder to place how a lack of flaws enters in related to both; they're not there, so you can't directly evaluate that, beyond the first covering a limited aspect range, not being completely balanced. Both have a clean, refined nature in part related to that.
The flavor set is more interesting in the black tea, I think, and it was more balanced across a broad aspect range. If cacao really was more dominant in the oolong version that might've been better, but it's fine as it is. For both you either have to appreciate the way it all comes together or else these could be hard to relate to, for not matching a conventional Chinese style.
There's a trend in some tea enthusiast circles, and tea appreciation, of a sort of one-upmanship, which I try to reject expressing or being a part of here. In some discussion tea versions need to be the best of a standard type, or really unique related to a set of aspects, or very complex, refined, and balanced, or else they can be all but dismissed with a mediocre quality range judgement, interpreted as "so-so." I don't mean that as blaming anyone; my point is that there's a natural progression to drink better and better tea, until eventually that progression can throw off enjoyment of most of what exists (potentially; again this isn't a critique of Western tea culture, or anything like that). Loving these simple tea versions, which are not necessarily the most complex and balanced, or representative of one type, could potentially drop out, even though they are very interesting, unique, and positive.
A tea friend just expressed that he sees Chinese teas as setting the standard for everything else, in terms of style and quality, so that if other teas tend to be equivalent in terms of experienced aspects and character then you might as well focus more on standard Chinese versions. I get that, but you're going to see the same diversity of experiences within Chinese teas too. That's unless you seek out "most representative" examples of standard types, which producers may provide you based on use of careful blending formulas, mixing inputs until they can give you what you expect. Or the best of the best tea versions are something else, covering it all, but that's something else.
In that blending theme discussion I'm not talking about combining Assam and Ceylon to make English Breakfast Tea, I mean that individual production batches always have a limited character range, which can be taken as flaws, for not being more complex or balanced better, or else a natural character best appreciated by focusing on what is positive instead. I place this by paralleling it with wine blending; usually that works to sell mediocre wine as better mediocre wine, but in the case of exceptional Bordeaux blends it's something else, about harmonizing and maximizing already positive but limited range inputs. Someone might love good blends most or else good individual varietal types, and neither would be wrong. Enjoying it all is possible.
But then these are just my thoughts. What do you think?
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