It's been awhile! I don't know if I've ever taken a full month off posting here, or even off reviewing, but that just happened. I moved back from Honolulu to Bangkok again, a cycle that will seemingly keep repeating for awhile, so things have been busy. It's odd being slightly overwhelmed by the heat and humidity, again. Running has been rough; a lot of outings cut back slightly for distance while I acclimate.
Nothing is really new related to tea, except that I recently met one of those next level tea experts, Olivier Schneider, which I don't plan on covering in detail here. He's nice.
This post is about retrying a sheng version I've not checked on for a couple of years, a Xiaguan mini cake, not so different than their tuocha shaped versions, but for whatever reasons not as earthy. This earlier vendor description (it's from the Chawang Shop) covers what it is:
FT(For Taiwan)" means this small iron cake was a special order of "Fei Tai" Company. Fei Tai Company is the biggest Xiaguan TF and Menghai TF pu-erh tea distributor in Taiwan. It is claimed that the customized products of Fei Tai company reaches a higher quality in Xiaguan TF. The high-level "FT" tea chose better raw materials. Iron cake is tightly compressed, so its qualitative transformation is slow. Definitely tea for longer-term store. High quality early spring large-leafs material from 2009 and 2010, and was used Cang Shan mountain spring water for the steaming process. This cake is not too smokey, typical for Xiaguan teas. The taste is strong and powerful, floral and sweet huigan.
Odd that FT stands for "for Taiwan" when it's that vendor name's initials, right, Fei Tai? I've seen that for Taiwan reference before; maybe it just worked out that it could mean two things. It's interesting that this is a blend of material that is now 13 to 14 years old, even though the cake is 12, the pressed version of that older material.
Review:
First infusion (after a rinse): brewed a little strong, so the effect is a bit intense; I guess I was still trying to get it to open up. Flavor range seems positive, not atypical for Xiaguan, but on the fruity side as those go. I just re-tried another larger size tuocha version recently that includes more of the smoky and mushroom range, which isn't a favorite. For that tea I was wondering if even another decade would shift flavor profile, feel and the rest, into a place I really like it. I do like this.
Earthiness is present, for sure, which people could interpret in all sorts of ways, as aged wood, tree fungus, leather, or however else they might see it. Feel is resinous, full, and a little dry, so better brewed a little lighter than this round. Beyond that there's a fruitiness that I'll try to unpack better next round.
Second infusion: by fruit of course I mean warm, towards-earthy fruit, maybe most like dried Chinese date (jujube). This isn't so complex that there are lots of layers to it, or a very refined character; intensity and complexity is good, but it's straightforward. Bitterness hasn't dropped completely out but this might be another half dozen years away from a more fully transitioned, aged character, or maybe a decade. Then that's a funny thing, because teas age really fast here in Bangkok, so that fresh, floral sheng versions seem much different a single year later when stored here. I don't remember this being any different several years ago. The earliest impression I have is from an early round of a review 4 years ago:
There's a faint hint of smoke, a decent level of bitterness (especially for being a light infusion), and an unusual oily feel to the tea, along with dark mineral content that is somewhere between petroleum and well-corroded metal. Oddly that's all pleasant.
I mentioned that I liked this enough that I might buy more to age, and I finished that 125 gram mini cake later, and bought two more to store, one of which I'm first trying now. I think I remember this tea differently because it aired out a good bit as I drank it over the course of the year or two after that.
Smoke is not noticeable now, and the oily feel I would now describe as sapiness. What I interpret as fruit I remember from trying this before, not that early time, but over the course of drinking the rest of that. It seems a little odd that I liked this that much for the description, and for not really loving edgy, dry, smoky sheng versions back then, nearly as much as I could relate to them a few years later, after a lot more exposure. I've been considering buying another cake of a standard full size version in a Chinatown shop here, one I've barely touched for it being not quite ready as a 2006 version, but one I see a lot of potential in (this one, an 8653). It's odd that spending 17 years in Bangkok isn't enough aging transition time, but in a few more it should come together.
Fourth infusion: there's something really catchy about the way those flavors balance. I might be missing an input people describe as camphor; it's hard for me to isolate anything as being like that, in most instances, but this is in that range. It's not that one part of the flavor is so pleasant, it's the overall effect. The sweetness and range I interpret as fruit helps it achieve that balance. Probably as with the 17 year old full cake needing more transition time this 12 year old version will be considerably better in another half dozen, and I shouldn't be drinking much of this.
Fifth infusion: a little stronger, brewed a little longer; the earthy rock and rusted metal range really picks up if you don't brew this light, which is the only way to drink it at its best, it seems to me. Not using a maxed out proportion would help with that, but it's longstanding habit, so I go with really short infusion times to compensate. I could imagine this including a touch of mushroom more than smoke, but it's not as heavy on both as the other Xiaguan tuo I mentioned. That's this one, a 2010 Xiaguan Teji Tuo, identified as special grade.
To be clear where I stand on all these I really like a completely opposite style of younger sheng as much or more than this range, even if these were optimized, aged for 20+ years instead of less than 15, or 17 for that larger cake. Some versions I love as brand new tea, and some really shine after a couple years of transition, or in some cases can be great after 4 or 5. I only took one sheng version in this age range to Honolulu for that 2 1/2 month stay, a purple leaf version, and I kind of missed aged teas, but it was nice going through that different cycle of experience. Experiencing variety is nice, and sometimes I crave older sheng experience, or teas like this in the middle, with some rough edges but also interesting character.
Sixth infusion: a bit lighter again, brewed faster, and better. It's not transitioning enough that I'll keep up with notes; it is where it is. The mouthfeel and aftertaste inputs are more positive than I've described so far, a nice resinous structure, and a sweet and mineral intensive aftertaste. It's nice. I've been able to appreciate a one year younger Xiaguan tuo version that I keep buying from a local shop, reviewed here along with two Dayi versions, for appreciating the pleasant range mixed in with some relative harshness. I might be as interested in how slightly aged sheng varies along with having the experience itself, not just learning about and experiencing the end-point potential, but the stages the teas go through leading up to that.
A tangent about goji berries
Kind of taking this tasting summary off the rails a bit I tried mixing the next round in with some goji berries I have soaking in hot water. I drink that infusion and eat those berries about every other day, when I think to get to it, as a diet supplement of sorts. They're a "super food," but who knows what that means. I suspect that them being high in vitamin A content is a lot of it, but it could go beyond that. The taste was interesting; that's one way to try sheng with a lot of fruit input, to mix it with a dried berry infusion. I just looked for a good reference source on that "superfood" claim but mostly only turned up light references, like this one:
...this small red and shiny berry is a real source of essential nutrients for the well-being of your body. It is particularly rich in vitamin C and polysaccharides which are two powerful antioxidants. There are also vitamins A, B and E, but also 18 amino acids, 8 of which directly participate in the proper functioning of the body. Otherwise, organic goji berries also contain 21 minerals and trace elements, including iron, selenium or copper... The composition of goji indeed includes zeaxanthin, an antioxidant that promotes better and lasting vision...
That reference claims that it helps preserve organs, slow aging, and protect against cancer; who knows? Looking further here's a peer-reviewed form of source; it does sound good, as they summarize it:
Goji Berries as a Potential Natural Antioxidant Medicine: An Insight into Their Molecular Mechanisms of Action
The health benefits of goji berries include enhancing hemopoiesis, antiradiation, antiaging, anticancer, improvement of immunity, and antioxidation. There is a better protection through synergistic and additive effects in fruits and herbal products from a complex mixture of phytochemicals when compared to one single phytochemical...
There are studies that reported the presence of riboflavin, thiamine, nicotinic acid, and minerals such as copper, manganese, magnesium, and selenium in goji berries [7]... The high biological activity components in goji berries are polysaccharides, carotenoids, and phenolics [8]...
One of the most common carotenoids found in goji berries is zeaxanthin in the form of dipalmitin zeaxanthin... As for now, the best natural source of dipalmitin zeaxanthin is goji berries. The fractions of beta-carotene (35.9 μg/g), cryptoxanthin, and neoxanthin (72.1 μg/g) are also detected in goji berry extracts [8]...
Sounds good, I guess, but of course I can't connect their claims about health benefits with that information about compounds present. It is odd that I'm not experiencing greying hair much, beyond my beard, even though I'm 54, and haven't needed to use reading glasses yet, but I have no well-grounded idea what main causes for that might be. Exercise, eating a good diet, and sleeping enough are supposed to improve general health, and I attempt all that, and have other more exotic theories about inputs I'll skip passing on here.
This aside is more about passing on a potentially helpful diet input suggestion than a claim or endorsement; it's easy to buy some goji berries and eat a little every other day, much easier than including foods like sweet potatoes and blueberries in a normal weekly diet.
I did recently write about Bryan Johnson's attempts to stop the aging process, here, and I don't think I mentioned goji berries in that. Other than ginseng I can't think of another input described as offsetting aging, not that I follow such subjects.
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I am losing my hair; it's not as if I'm not aging at all |
Conclusion:
This version is pretty much how I remember it, since I probably drank the last of that small cake two years after first trying it, so two years ago now. I don't necessarily think this needs more time to age, in the sense that it's not pleasant now, but I think it will be more pleasant in another 5 or 6 years, so I probably won't drink much of this over the next few years, just checking on it once in awhile. For these kinds of teas it seems to make sense to buy even more than I did, if budget allows, since if I do drink this 125 gram cake over the next 5 years and it really is optimum then I'll be down to 125 grams left, when it's actually at its best. I'm on a tight tea budget, so it is what it is.
I like this version a little more than maybe all the Xiaguan tuocha versions I've tried so far, which isn't so many, maybe only half a dozen, totaling to a dozen versions of related forms (Xiaguan full cakes, other similar style but different producer tuos). It's not refined, or amazing in quality level, just pleasant and nicely balanced, with good intensity and transition potential, and essentially no aspect range I interpret as negative.
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nice visiting the Bangkok Chinatown again |
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reunited with this family member! |
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an iconic part of my work commute |
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a baby monitor lizard in a tree joining my lunch in a park |
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