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these images are from trying it back in Bangkok |
This is a tea I received just prior to leaving Thailand, that I'm only now getting around to writing about, nearly a month after first tasting it. It's good. This particular style of tea has aging potential, so in a sense the experienced aspects are subdued, or maybe not even optimized, related to processing leaving potential for positive future change. It will work well to say more about that along with the tasting notes.
The producer FB page is here and main website is here. I've been writing about other versions, mostly sheng, so this post isn't really about introducing them or that other range. This tea is sold out, a post there said, pretty early on after it was pressed, so it's as well to contact them directly if interested in versions, to see what is still around, or order what is about to be listed. This production area is in the north, in the general Chiang Rai area, which I've written quite a bit about over the last year and a half.
Review:
First infusion: brewed a bit long to skip the part about saying the next round will tell more. There's a tartness to this I may not have noticed as much before. At one time I really disliked tartness in black red teas, but like some other flavor range I've come to accept it better with more exposure, and inclusion in positive and balanced versions that it worked out ok in.
Overall this tea is nice. Tartness isn't an optimum flavor range inclusion for me, but the rest balances ok with it, and decent sweetness and good complexity compensate. One part hints towards a malty range, not like dry and aggressive Assam, but covering a bit of the flavor in those. I suppose there's a faint touch of cocoa in this, and a little of the mineral edge that's distinctive in Ceylon, that one profile range that really marks those out. There's some fruit; I'll describe it better across more rounds.
Second infusion: I more or less flash-brewed this round, to get a feel for the opposite extreme, brewed very light. Color is still intense, the deep red, and feel and base of flavors is normal, but the higher end / forward flavor range is quite thin, as one might expect. It's funny how it has so much feel and base complexity, but also doesn't taste like much, more lacking aromatic range than the mineral tones that come across through tongue-based sensation. It even includes a good bit of mouthfeel, not really dry or heavy, but it coats your mouth well, and links to an aftertaste experience. Maybe this is a good black tea for a sheng drinker. I'll do more of a flavor list review letting this infuse for a bit over 10 seconds next time.
Third infusion: that flavor list then: tartness, warm mineral tones, that bit of malt, dried fruit range, along the line of tamarind, but not clearly defined. In a sense this isn't matching what I led into about it being subtle, but I mean that the sweetest, most aromatic, warm-toned, chocolate, cocoa, and warm floral range that fully oxidized and oven-dried versions doesn't come through.
With shai hong, which tend to be oxidized a bit less, it seems like backing off that complete expression of black tea range, the full oxidation input, allows for sweetness and depth to increase over a few years, but at a cost, related to drinking it this young. This tea was produced a year ago, but just pressed recently, in the last two months.
Fourth infusion: it's improving across rounds; that's nice. Slight dryness eases up, and tartness, with more warmth, depth, and complexity evolving. Range towards cocoa / cacao is increasing, but it will never fully develop as a main theme, per trying this plenty of times already. Complexity is positive in this; there's a lot going on, just not all of it, or maybe even most of it, across the forward flavor range. It has depth. It's not the sweetest kind of black tea, but I really do think an impression of that would increase within a couple more years of storage. That might mostly be because some other aspect range settles, more that that it actually tastes much sweeter, but what we really pick up is a final balance, how it all comes together. Add a touch of salt to any tea, just less than you can readily identify, and a lot of the balance changes, it doesn't just taste slightly salty. But don't take my word for that, try it.
Fifth infusion: more of the same; this isn't really going to keep changing across rounds, as sheng versions tend to. It's fine, pleasant to enjoy now, but it will probably be more interesting, and come across as more pleasant and complex, after it ages for a couple of years. I'd expect that increase in positive character to even back out fairly quickly, as aging some other types goes, and that after 4 or 5 more years it would just fade, not changing so much and improving. But then this is fairly tightly compressed, so maybe that time-frame will extend as a result, and this will only be at it's early peak in that 4 or 5 years, and after a decade it will just taper off, versus that long. I bought it to drink though, to have some black tea around, so if there's any left after 2 or 3 more years there won't be much.
Conclusion:
This may seem to imply that this tea needs to age transition more than I see as necessary. It will improve, I think, but it's nice now, just not in the sweetest and most aromatic form, compared to fully oxidized oven dried versions. Sweetness is fine but I think the effect of that will increase, maybe as much from other range changing and the overall profile shifting.
I really do like extra sweet, sweet potato, roasted yam, and cacao flavor intensive Dian Hong just a little more, but this will move to a space closer to my main preferences over a few years (I think), if it sticks around. I wouldn't have brought it to Honolulu this time if I had planned to just set it aside; I'll drink some, maybe a good bit, or even most of this.
I had considered doing a comparison tasting with an aged shai hong version (there's one set aside and getting to on the older side at home), or trying it with more conventional black tea, but those ranges might be familiar to many, and I'm out of the habit of reviewing entirely lately. I can write a separate review of a sample from Wawee Tea later and refer back to this.
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the corner I write in now is worst-case for degree of clutter |
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the view outside, Waikiki |
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jungle hiking recently; conflicting approaches to posing |
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happy Easter! |
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a modest egg decorating session |
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