A favorite Thai sheng ("pu'er") from Aphiwat

Perfect timing, reviewing a Thai sheng version just after discussing those in relation to sharing one in a Chinatown tasting session and post.  I just bought this.  Last year I tried three exceptional versions of Thai sheng (pu'er-like tea) from Aphiwat, this producer, and from Wawee Tea and Moychay, and his may have been my favorite.  That last post goes into all that, with vendor contacts, and earlier review citations.

For completeness this is Aphiwat's FB profile link and this is his FB business page, and this post shows pictures of where he lives, and the clothing style that's typically worn by his local indigenous group.  His earlier description of their name was interesting:

We are not Archer Arkhar. The real name is Aownye Gaokhue, or Aownyer Kokhue.  But other people call us Archer Arkha.

Aphiwat

that traditional clothing (photo provided by Aphiwat, for an earlier post)

Review:

editing notes, second round trial input:  I tried this again later, after earlier on--here--struggling to place a fruit aspect.  It's like fresh pineapple.

How could I miss that, and how could sheng taste like pineapple?  I think it would be natural for someone else to interpret it as a lighter lemon citrus note, with other fruit included, and I did compare it to other tropical fruit in the first review.  

Note that I mean fresh pineapple, which is nothing like the canned version.  There are lots of versions of pineapple, and this related flavor is in a rich and warm but also bright range.  Onto the original review.

first infusion:  I think maybe this is just a little better than last year's!  It's absurd how pleasant this tea is.  To be sure some of that is from me growing to love Thai sheng style and aspects more and more over the last two years.  

Floral tone is the main input, rich and sweet, and complex.  It's sweet and intense like lavender, but lighter in tone, maybe most similar to the flowering tropical vines by our house.

There is some bitterness, yet to evolve much, and some other vegetal flavor range, close to flower stem.  There's a catchy warm tone, maybe not so far off honey sweetness input, of course linking to the high level of sweetness, and I think mineral supports the rest, giving it complexity.  

That honey, warm tone, and floral range might remind me of sunflower, or beeswax, maybe also matching some tropical fruit.  

second infusion:  beeswax seems an even closer match this round.  Lots of floral range too, or maybe that's as naturally interpreted as fruit.  

Bitterness is picking up with intensity (although to be clear this had been at a good intensity level last round, and it's just that much stronger for brewing for another 10 second round this time), but it's not bitter at all for young sheng.  Sometimes that's a sign that the tea was oxidized in processing, swapping out some bitterness input for sweetness and warmer tone, but I'm not so sure about this.  

If this had oxidized more than for standard Yunnan sheng processing that would cost it for long-term aging potential.  To me this tea shouldn't be aged anyway, because it's fantastic now, and it would be a stretch to guess that it might get better.  

The sweetness, rich warmth, high level of complex floral and fruit input, and balanced, complementary vegetal range that makes this work as well as it does.  I can't say for sure that this is better than last year, but maybe just a little.  

third infusion:  the rich feel keeps ramping up along with the depth, complexity, and intensity.  Looking closer at the leaves there is minor color variation to them.  It's possible that they've maxed out complexity by inconsistently processing these leaves, with some just a bit more oxidized than others, or maybe some heated a little more, drawing out more fragrance towards green tea character.  It's a happy accident if so; it's great.

Aftertaste experience is really nice in this too, the way sweetness carries over, and the mild bitter edge, floral tone, even the rich feel, to some extent.  A minute later it's still trailing off, and two minutes on it's more faint but not gone.  For sure some Yunnan versions express even crazier degrees of aftertaste experience, but that does add depth.  The most pleasant part of the experience is the initial taste, where you just go "wow!" every round.

fourth infusion:  the floral and fruit intensity is crazy.  I think it could be that fruit even more of an input than floral range, depending on interpretation, really a complex set of aspects.  This might be closest to fresh lychee in flavor, although that can include a mild citrus and spice range aspect that this doesn't, so it's just the light but rich fruit part of that.  It's not far off rambutan either.  

That warmth, which I've said is related to either honey or rich floral tone, is also similar to dried longan.  Dried longan is very pleasant, along the line of dried date but not earthy, maybe a little towards blueberry, or closest to Chinese date (jujube).

fifth infusion:  a flavor list doesn't do justice to how complex, integrated, and intense this is.  Bitterness joining the rest is pleasant at this moderate level.  People link that to a hui gan theme, a bitterness experience that changes to sweetness, sometimes associated with specific mouthfeel forms, but both inputs are there in that first wave of flavor, and both carry over afterwards. 

leaf color variation is even clearer in later rounds

sixth infusion:  that beeswax flavor input also makes this very catchy, along with all the rest being intense and well-balanced.  With twice the level of bitterness I would still love this tea, but it would fall within a more conventional sheng experience range.  The rest shines much more for balancing in this way, the sweetness and other intensity.  

Of course this tea is far from finished; it brewed well over a dozen rounds, but the notes start to repeat, and the write-up runs too long.  This didn't transition to be a lot different in later rounds.

Conclusion

I think I love this tea much more than most would because it's such a good match to my personal preferences.  I love Thai versions of sheng, the typical flavor set and feel of them, and this may be my favorite example so far.  And one of my favorite teas I've tried in general; it's really something.  

The 2022 version had a potential problem in not being as fully dried as cakes tend to be, and it was pressed a little tight, and this version corrects all that.  It was easy to get a 7 or so gram flake to peel off one side with almost no effort.  Since the leaf layering pattern is a little different for this being hand-pressed one might need to adjust a conventional tea-pick or knife cake / bing separation approach, but after that it's easily accessible.

Tea meetup at a Bangkok Chinatown shop, Jip Eu

 

I've let the subject of tea tastings go for quite awhile, aside from holding one in Honolulu this year.  But a Bankgok Tea Tasting theme Facebook group I started has seen more members join this year than ever before, so it made sense to try to meet some of them.  I was going to my favorite Bangkok Chinatown shop to replace an aged sheng cake (Xiaguan) anyway, so I announced the visit as a meetup in that group.

Four others met with me for a pleasant tasting session there; their participation made the event work.  Writing about it is in part about communicating more to them about what we tried, what the teas were, and leads for buying similar teas.  Of course my main thanks go to Kittichai and his wife, the Jip Eu shop owners, for serving as the actual hosts; he was kind enough to share samples of several teas for us, and to keep pouring rounds for two hours.  For me it's always like visiting an aunt and uncle there, which makes buying good tea at great value all the more pleasant.

Conversation points

This is mainly about the teas, adding more about what they are, and reference links, but I wanted to also pass on the feel of discussion, even though I'll cite very little of it.  It's always interesting starting out with what people already like and experience of teas.  A good lead on visiting shops in Little India came up, but I've lost track of those details; maybe at the very back of Phahurat Market?  There's more on that area here.

Brief discussion of willow herb came up, aka Ivan Chay, a rare tisane type that can be oxidized.  I've tried some really nice versions of those, mostly from Moychay, and other novel and pleasant pressed mixed tisane bars.  It would be more odd that willow herb and tisane blends never caught on if decent tea wasn't also slow to gain acceptance.

From there lots of short tangents related to the teas we tried came up, so I'll skip on to that.

What we tried

2006 CNNP (/ Zhongcha) 8001 sheng pu'er:  later I was thinking about how the tasting theme went from heavy to light and back to heavy, kind of unusual.  I think maybe we had stopped by in the middle of two others trying this aged sheng pu'er, which is characteristic for one style (a bit heavy, earthy, slightly rough-edged for being this far through fermentation, definitely intense).  

Readers may think back to trying 17 year old sheng pu'er versions that seemed pretty fresh to them, still including bitterness, not fully transitioning from earlier slightly harsh range onto milder earthiness.  Storage input plays a big role, along with the initial starting point; Bangkok is as hot and humid as anywhere, pretty close to Malaysian storage.  It's not exactly like 20+ years in Hong Kong or Taiwan, but at least fermentation level is equivalent to that.  

I own part of a cake of this tea, reviewed here.  Note that I reviewed that 4 years ago, when it was 13 years old; those extra years of transition since have made a lot of difference.  Of the three more-aged versions--leaving out a Dayi purple label version in this discussion--I might like the CNNP the least, and see it as least refined, with heavy earth aspects that can come across as rough edges.  I've tried it in the last month or so, part of a normal routine of checking in, and it's good, but the other two I like better.  I have a spare cake of that Dayi sheng (reviewed here in 2020; it's better now too), but the Xiaguan runs a bit low.

silver needle style tea, from Fuding:  it came up that the range was a bit heavy, and Kittichai was nice to help switch theme back to the opposite extreme, brewing a pleasant silver needle version.  I didn't catch much for details; maybe this was partly aged, or maybe not.  My guess is that a slightly higher degree of initial oxidation than might be typical for the type added depth and heavier flavors, but both inputs (that and aging) could lead there, probably in slightly different forms.  It was really nice.  

It's hard to do a flavor-list review here by memory; plenty of mineral base stood out, it seemed quite floral, and there was at least one more aspect in there.  We weren't discussing teas in tea-tasting form, offering rounds of input about flavors and other experience, although more of that came up related to another version.

2022 Thai sheng (pu'er-like tea):  I brought some newish Thai sheng (not pu'er, to most, since that's a Yunnan-restricted designation), it seemed like a good time to try that, moving on to heavier but not exactly heavy range.  That shop specializes in Wuyi Yancha (Fujian rock oolong), and Kittichai has family roots in Wuyishan and Anxi, so trying Tie Guan Yin would also make sense.  We just didn't get to either.  To me Tie Guan Yin isn't the most interesting range, even though it can be pleasant, and it takes a lot of doing to get far with Wuyi Yancha, since you need prior exposure to place any given version, and to see how closely it matches your preference related to all the rest.  True of lots of tea types, I suppose, but with sheng my personal favorite we went ahead and tried a Thai version.

It was nice, fresh and sweet, intense, of course including plenty of bitterness.  There is a characteristic flavor range Thai sheng tends to cover, which I'd mostly describe as floral, but it seems possible that I'm missing one or two aspect descriptions that really pegs it.  I cover the source and reference a review in a later part about vendor background.  

It was fairly well received; people are often exposed mainly to young factory sheng versions instead, which can be a little more undrinkable.  Or to moderately aged versions, not onto optimum transition level yet, or to aged versions that don't express the full potential of the type range.  I suppose the CNNP version might've been guilty of that, but style and aspects relate to personal preference, and lots of aged sheng isn't "refined."

2006 Xiaguan 8653 sheng pu'er (full size cake):  this is what I was there to buy, and Kittichai offered us some to try.  I thought it was good.  It was better received by everyone joining.  To me it tasted a bit like aged leather, but another participant added that it covers a lot of the same scent range from smelling cigars in cedar storage, both the aromatic wood smell and the tobacco, which smells nothing like a burning cigar while in storage.  That really is it.  

I had tried the tea last about 3 days ago (after initially reviewing it last year), and it's much more refined than it had been just 6 months ago.  It has turned a corner in the aging cycle.  I bet in about 2 more years it will be really special, so that I should probably be buying a few of these, but my budget is fairly locked down these days, with the moving back and forth between Bangkok and Honolulu.

after a year more than half is gone; I'm drinking more than just to check on it

Vendor references

I wanted to add a few vendor references before this ran too long, related to what we tried.  Of course Jip Eu themselves are a great reference; all but one of those teas is from there.

Qing Fu Cha:  the owner of this online business, selling Thai sheng and Taiwanese oolong, joined with us.  I've tried some of their Thai sheng before (reviewed here) and it was quite nice, although I'll also mention other fantastic options for other versions.  Their FB page is here, and it's probably possible to find their teas in an online outlet shop, which Google search would identify if so.

Aphiwat:  a small local tea producer, selling Thai sheng, the source for that tea I brought (reviewed here last year, compared to one from Vietnam and to a version from Moychay).  I just ordered some from him today, which I suppose is tea blogger code for either that source's tea completely matched my preference or quality and value makes lots of sense, especially when I'm also listing other good source options here.  

An earlier review of a pressed cake version tells that story.  If I could live on only one tea version right now it would his, or Wawee Tea's.  I drank a 150 gram small cake in that first two-month stay in Honolulu, when my kids first started school there, and repeated that with another Thai tea I mention next on the next stay.

Wawee Tea:  a well-respected Thai sheng producer, who I wrote about here.  I've liked different things I tried from them, but one particular new version last year I couldn't stop myself from all but finishing in short order, almost a whole cake's worth in under two months.  

Mind you new sheng or the Thai sheng profile range isn't for everyone; Kittichai, the owner of Jip Eu, kind of gets it but doesn't love it like I do.  I don't think most versions are suitable for aging, and they would be fine, and a little different, a year or two later, but it's as well to burn straight through them.  You absolutely have to be ok with bitterness mixed with sweetness, and I definitely wasn't for the first half dozen years of trying sheng versions over and over.  Then it clicked.  I don't think there's any need to rush that, to see it as some higher form of preference; if you like it then you like it, and it's fine if you don't.

two of the teas I'm describing, compared with one from Vietnam

Moychay's Thai forest-origin initiative:  I might as well add a third exceptional source, related to Thai sheng I absolutely loved last year, this one, with more background on the source here.  It's possible that it's not quite as close a match to my preference as the other two versions, but in a way that's not fair, given that it was their initial production of the type, past early trials (or I suppose this maocha version was, but they're from about the same time).  

I bet they're right there with the other two producers already.  Wawee Tea has been a producer for decades, I think, and there are reviews in this blog of Aphiwat's teas from 2019.  My guess is that material quality is covered in their case too, that terroir and plant-type issues are dialed in.  All three versions were so similar, in such a narrow related style range, that it would take someone with plenty of exposure to notice differences and have a preference.  

those three teas

One thing I want to repeat to make it crystal clear:  the style of all three matches my own main preference; I don't mean to imply that these are better than teas from elsewhere, especially Yunnan, or even from Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam, for that matter.  

Of course versions from the most valued narrow origin areas in Yunnan are superior in a few different ways, beyond better aging potential.  But if your preference matches mine something will really click when you first try a really good example, and your whole tea preference will shift a little.  If it's a first encounter with a tea with bitterness as a main aspect that probably won't happen, which is fine.

That Xiaguan cake must have been relatively undrinkable 17 years ago, when first produced.  Some other sheng versions hit an atypical fermentation transition "sweet spot" in the middle instead, softening and gaining depth without needing that decade and a half to be approachable.  But these two polar opposites seem the norm, to me, that sheng is often best within 2 years of being produced, or even right away, or only after nearly 20 years of very appropriate storage conditions input, or longer.  It was nice that we could experience that much of that range in just three versions in this outing.

How to drive in Bangkok

 

traffic jammed up, with a nice overhead walkway system here, a common theme in Bangkok

some traffic management designs work really well, like this large roundabout

This is an interesting subject, that came up in a recent Quora question.

Of course it's experiential, and you need to sort out how to practice driving safely, and then do that, but some of the differences can be described in writing.  It's harder to drive in Bangkok than in the US, of course.  Motorcycles are everywhere, it's all one big traffic jam, and laws, conventions, and intersection designs seem pretty random, for quite awhile when you start.  Then later it all seems more normal.  

A main part here will be that answer Quora answer content, about if traffic really is bad in Bangkok, and how the context is different, but it might be interesting to start with a tip first, and work back to why that different driving practice makes sense:

You can't really turn your head to check a blind spot, as my wife needed to practice over and over when preparing for a Hawaii driver's license exam.  Eventually you would kill a motorcycle driver if you continually turned away from forward vision for that long.  Glances at mirrors have to serve that function for you; you have to see those cars entering the zones you can't see.  Then this might seem to add risk, related to blind spot awareness, and the necessity of changing lanes on an expected pace comes into play.  Ideally while using turn signals, but other drivers are reacting to other cars' movements, not to that.  And motorcycles use the space between two cars, centered in their own lanes, as an extra small lane, so erratic movement within your own lane isn't really ok either.

The Quora answer content covers more context, of why it works out like that:

Somehow it usually takes 45 minutes to get almost everywhere, unless you happen to be very close to where you are going, or on the opposite side of town, in which case it might take an hour. It’s odd how that works out. Part of that is from us living in the center of town, not along Sukhumvit, but in one of many older neighborhoods on the west side not really close to or extra far from anything.

Accidents aren’t the problem. Streets can be essentially closed for a few reasons, for construction, for VIP processions, or just because current flow of traffic overwhelms road capacity, probably the main reason. You avoid this by learning where bottlenecks occur, and not being there, doing whatever it takes to take another route, or avoiding rush hour. Google Maps has some idea of current conditions but it’s not 100% accurate.

I love visiting Chinatown but I pretty much never try to drive along the main road there

It’s hard to say how to drive in general. A lot of conventions are completely different than in other countries, but it’s all very informal, nothing that would appear in road laws of guidance material. You have to flow with traffic, working within the range of what other people expect that you might do. There is always a motorcycle within one meter of your car, so if you do anything unexpected it wouldn’t take long for you to crash into one of them. You have to remain aware of where everyone else is at all times, but at the same time you can’t maintain constant hyper-alertness, so it has to be a secondary running process, just normal for you.

It takes time, if you are coming from a completely different driving environment; it will feel natural after a couple of years. I remember the first time I ever drove in Bangkok, based on no warning or preparation at all, when my wife was sick one day. Switching sides of the road and car was scary enough, but if you leave a single car length of space between you and the car you follow a steady stream of traffic will pull into that space, possibly within one meter of your car. You have to learn to follow close, 2 to 3 meters from the car in front of you. On the highways all the rules change, but you still need to follow closer than is legal in the US. Highway driving is much easier, to me, but at first others’ range of driving practices seems random.

It’s a bigger problem than driving conventions that the road systems are hard to figure out. Intersections don’t really take on standard forms, and in some cases there are no stop signs or lights controlling traffic flow, you just kind of take turns, with everyone pushing for the right of way at all times. That describes driving in general, really. You can change lanes when there is any hint of an opening, but not related to using a signal and steering into an open spot. You just drift over and take the position when it’s open, having faith that the roughly one car length gap is yours to use. It would make sense to use a turn signal, but if you alert the car at the back end of that gap in advance that driver will cut you off, so you just hit the signal while you go, and then the ball is in their court to avoid the collision.

overpasses skip over high traffic intersections, but traffic flow can be slow on those too

headed out of Siam towards Silom; those people are stuck

Half of all drivers seem to not follow standard queue practices, and over time you learn to pick your spots when you do or don’t. It may not be possible to shift into a left or right turn lane fast enough, unless you really know the road, so you need to be able to drift in when a minor gap occurs, nudging in front of another car. 

If you have to turn from the wrong lane then you do; you can’t “go around the block” in many places. It could add 15 minutes of driving time getting back to where you were, or much longer if you get lost attempting it.  In many cases we won't drive to and from places using the same route, because lots of parts of road systems end up being one-way, or limiting intersection turning access, so there is no going around the block for those reasons; there's very little chance that taking three consecutive lefts or rights would get you back to where you are.

If you can’t read Thai some of what is on signs is going to escape you, about when you can turn left on red, or when a far left lane doesn’t need to stop at a light, and so on. Never mind about all that; making mistakes is fine, up until you get in an accident. Just go with the flow, and learn to follow normal expectations. Turn lane signs above the roads and those painted on the lanes don’t always match, so there’s not always a clear right pattern to follow anyway.

Eventually you will get into a bad traffic jam and spend a half an hour more or less parked, probably within a few days of driving. Try not to drive through that route at the same time of day again, if you can. Threading through a less direct route might take time, but not like just parking for awhile. Until you learn your way around don’t pull the plug at the first slow-down and take side streets either; that’s only going to work when you have some idea of how to pull it off. Google Maps isn’t crystal clear on which roads are one way, or which intersections you can turn at, so don’t expect that app to keep bailing you out either. If it’s all you’ve got you have to go with it, but resets in route planning will happen if you use Maps.

Not driving is better; use the BTS, MRT, and ferry system. The highways are fine, when you want to get out of Bangkok, as long as you drop expectations about setting cruise control and relaxing and eating while you drive. Focus in, and it all works well. Unless you drive out of the city during a holiday weekend, and then you are screwed, no matter what approach you take.

So far so good, and in a sense that's relatively complete, about differences, with only a bit of how-to.  Can we go further though; is it possible to describe how to learn to bridge over from experience elsewhere, and do it quickly?

The extra momentary awareness part is one main key; I could add a bit about that.  Learning to drive in the US is about a very unfamiliar process of ongoing tasks and reactions becoming familiar, and that general context is the same everywhere, it just takes on different forms.  Later driving in the US you can let a knowledge of driving rules and conventions simplify the process for you, and limit what you need to pay close attention to.  Not everyone is going to follow cars using the 3 second spacing rule but you can generally assume that cars will be at least a car length or two away.  When people violate that, and tailgate, it's frustrating, but it's clear that's an exception case.  In Bangkok, and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Thailand, you follow right behind another car, maybe not much over a car length even at lower range highway speeds.  In the city it's at a few meters distance.  A different kind of focus is required.

You can't remain on-edge the whole time, since that's not practical, but you have to build up a more dialed in momentary awareness, with an expectation of shorter reaction times.  It all really works because everyone flows in such a way that others expect them to, not based on cutting their reaction times in half, but it's a bit of both related to adjustment.  In the US you can see a traffic opening, turn on a signal, then quickly change lanes, but in Thailand you need to leave a little more allowance for potential reactions from others, and tend to drift at medium speed, giving others time to react.  There could always be a motorcycle in your blind spot.  And it all works in relation to watching other cars more closely, habitually checking mirrors, all the time, keeping a running tab on where other cars are.  It has to all "run in the background;" if it was all conscious effort any driving would be exhausting.  And it will be stressful for the first year or so of practice, but later after switching over habits and expectations it's fine.

If you hit a motorcycle, a Thai driver with you being a foreigner, you are likely to be at fault, regardless of who did what.  Getting it all right is critical.  I've only been in one very minor accident in 15 years; a large truck passed too close to us when I was turning at a light, with a signal on, waiting for the car ahead to move, and his oversized rubber bumper scuffed our car's paint as it struck us.  In the US there would be no question about fault; he hit another vehicle, queued in the process of making a legal turn, with a signal on.  Insurance reps came out and declared it a no-fault case; it seemed like if there had been real damage they may have entertained a different ruling, but weren't going to get an insurance company process involved over scuffed paint repair.  In a sense I get it; if insurance judgments can be based partly on "from the gut" resistance to allocate responsibility it limits the general escalation of insurance payouts, and general cost.  We had benefitted from one part of that system and outcome for years, so it was our karma to not unfairly benefit from an extra level of fairness at that time, beyond what the system usually supports.

For a long time I had avoided driving on rural highways at night; the scary road statistics here seemed to imply that this was where real danger lies.  Then gradually I drove more and more at night on dark rural highways, and it was ok.  I think the negative stats might relate to two causes that sort of potentially involve me, but which I can partly control:  people might drive drunk more frequently, and drivers on motorcycles are more likely to experience fatality as a result of accidents.  Not all motorcycles have functional headlights, even on dark country roads; that kind of condition might factor in too.  You just need to be more careful, that little bit more alert.  Eating while you drive is a bad idea; you can't just zone out as you definitely can on the US interstate system.  It's best to not drive right beside large trucks, or really any other cars; you can offset risks from other drivers from keeping away from them, when that's possible.

It takes a few years but eventually it all becomes second nature, just normal.  Then you experience an odd bit of related reverse culture shock going back to the US to drive, when everything is again just a little different.  Cars are further away from you, in general, and slightly more predictable, so it's easier, in a sense.  People aren't as forced to flow with traffic as in Thailand there, from necessity, so early on it's as well to watch out for people making erratic driving movements within what they regard as their own space.  Use of turn signals is somewhat optional in both places, so that stays the same.

For American tourists I think most shouldn't drive while visiting Thailand.  Even a great driver from back there would have a lot to adjust to.  Outside of Bangkok or Chiang Mai it's probably ok, but in the cities it's just different, and hectic.  You could always drive just a bit slower than the flow of traffic, and that would cue others in on you being a special case, but even that's going to be stressful.  

There are other ways to get around, which is really too much to cover here, how buses, hiring a driver, tuk-tuks, songthaews, and jumbos are different kinds of options.  Or there are motorcycle taxis, but I'd pass on that too.  It's a good way to save a couple of dollars here and there, in comparison with using taxis, but then you'd be zigging and zagging through tiny gaps between cars, which isn't an experience I'd want to have.

a songthaew, a truck converted into something like a small bus

the BTS runs one level above traffic (shown), and MRT / subway below it

I think of this as a jumbo, but of course there is probably a different Thai name

Assam green and silver needle teas

 

Not long ago I reviewed an exceptional quality version of Assam whole-leaf black tea, sent by a producer friend Maddhurjya to enjoy and to review.  These were sent with it, a green and silver needle version.  They look amazing, and they should be amazing.

As with the first post I'll keep the back-story here to a minimum.  Maddhurjya started working on exploring better quality tea production, new types of processing and equipment use, and organic tea production quite a number of years ago.  He might've been somewhat new to it when we first met, something like a half dozen years ago, but he was making quite good tea then, and it has only improved since.  There's more on him and that project is on FB and Instagram.

It's now on a level with better teas from anywhere else.  The highest end Chinese teas tend to draw on an older and more developed tea tradition, with the absolute best tea versions the result of many decades of tea growing and processing, or really centuries, so the absolute highest quality Chinese teas tend to have an edge on others from elsewhere, but that matters more for some tea types.  Black and green teas are more basic in general style (as I see it), and white (the silver needle) is the least processed broad type, so it might vary a little less.  Differences related to terroir and plant type issues might stand out more than processing being dialed into optimum for these.  But we'll see.

I haven't been drinking much green or white tea for years, but many cycles of trying many teas from a lot of different areas over a decade give me confidence that my judgment will be reasonably informed.  Related to brewing process I'll go with a Gongfu approach, and a pretty high proportion, as is normal for me.  Brewing water temperature might be a little high, possibly around 90, or maybe down into the mid to upper 80s as a thermos I'm using sheds some heat, which is probably not optimum for the green tea version.  But I'm a sheng pu'er drinker, so if it includes a little extra astringency edge, extra mineral base, or if a heavier vegetal tone stands out a little I'll be fine.  It would be sweeter and lighter brewed 10 degrees cooler, which I'll probably be able to comment on a little as I go.

I should mention that some people consider silver needle a certain style of white buds-only tea, and often silver tips is used as a more general term.  Silver needle is often used for the English derived name for a Fuding, Fujian tea version, based on plant type and growing conditions that result in a larger bud form.  I don't even get caught up in naming issues people far more often consider important or restricted, like pu'er (although I do respect the registered Yunnan-origin only convention by awkwardly calling other versions "pu'er-like), or Oriental Beauty, which isn't registered to describe only Taiwanese teas.  I don't have any conclusively grounded opinion on whether this is truly silver needle or instead should be called silver tips, but I'm pretty sure that silver needle is closer to the Oriental Beauty example, not a registered and restricted naming convention, so I think it's fine.

Review:

green tea:  I brewed this round a bit fast, not trying to compensate for the tea needing time to become soaked, instead going with a first light introductory round instead.  Range is pleasant so far, light and sweet.  This tea could have far less of an astringency issue related to being in a mostly whole leaf form.  Umami already stands out, even though the tea is brewed quite light.  I'll save adding a flavor list for next round.

silver needle:  a lot of mineral base stands out in this; interesting.  Often buds-only white teas can be subtle to the point of not tasting like much, with some vague floral sweetness coming across.  That's not how this is.  Sweetness is still pronounced, and there's plenty of floral range there, but at least right away a mineral base stands out most.  It reminds me of how Nepal white teas often strike an amazing complex balance, including all that I've mentioned, and maybe even a bit of citrus.  For people familiar with good Nepal white tea that's clearly very high praise.  This should be interesting.

green tea, second infusion:  I brewed this more like 20 seconds, if anything perhaps slightly over optimum, but it will avoid another comment about these needing another round to get started.  Umami, underlying mineral, and heavier flavor range really stand out in this.  I think it's already to the point where using nearly 90 C water is pulling flavor range to a heavier, less bright and sweet range.  I'll cool the next round to experiment on that, mixing in just a little room temperature water (not sciencey, or optimum, but it'll work).  Floral tone is a main input, along with umami, and from there heavier vegetable range stands out.  It's hard to place, non-distinct, maybe as close to cooked okra as anything else.  I'll keep working on a more detailed flavor list.

silver needle:  warmth, sweetness, and depth really bumped up in this tea.  It's not really that close to Nepal white, which is lighter in form, with flinty mineral, light floral, towards a light citrus edge; that was only similar to the early round profile, it seems.  A much warmer range of floral tone and citrus both really kick in, but it's more like a warmer orchid scent than a lighter version of that, and more like a tangerine than a sweet and light orange.  Rich feel rounds out the experience; for still developing this has a lot going on.  There's even a hint of drier edge, relating either to oxidation input or to a natural mineral flavor tone (feel and flavor ranges tend to naturally couple in standard ways).

green tea, third infusion:  cooling the water (mixing it) did shift results a little, but not too much.  Heavier mineral and vegetal flavors still stand out, along with sweetness, and rich floral range.  I brewed this for a bit under 10 seconds; infusion strength is fine for both even brewed fast.  I won't pin down floral or mineral range much, which are hard to describe, but I will attempt to say more about the vegetal range.  There's a grass aspect to it, but it's complex, and not mostly that.  Vegetable range could be fairly close to okra still.  That gets odd because it's not a heavy, cooked vegetable flavor, but who is familiar with eating raw okra?  It seems like what is happening relates to a lot of range combining.  Rich and lighter floral tones seem to mix, along with a lot of mineral base, grass, some vegetable, and some holy basil spice range.  It's intense, but it's pleasant for being such a clean effect, with decent balance.

I've mentioned many times that green tea isn't my absolute favorite range, which I suppose could seem odd given that I drink mostly young or slightly aged sheng pu'er, which is closest to that.  I don't hate the entire flavor profile range, I just don't like the straight-grass effect, or more one dimensional vegetable flavor inputs.  Sheng often tastes floral, and essentially never like grass or vegetables, although characteristic astringency and mineral base can overlap with some green tea range, and unusual pine-like aspect can enter in (which I just noticed in a Jing Mai version two days ago).  For this green tea being complex, generally positive, and balanced I like it.  I'd probably like a sheng version that's this high in quality and distinctive better, but that's how type preferences and acclimation works.

silver needle:  this is richer, sweeter, heavier on rich floral tones and warm citrus fruit, and thicker in feel.  I think this would naturally appeal to a broader range of people; there is no conflict with aspect preference range to get in the way, it's just good.  It's definitely not subtle or wispy.  This was even brewed for 10 seconds or less; pushing it would draw out even more intensity, although lighter flavor balance would give way to heavier range if you did that, to some extent.  I should push the next round a little to check on that, since I've just brewed these quite light.  It will be more of a test of the green tea; I don't think that you could easily ruin this tea with brewing variations.

green tea, fourth infusion:  I cooled the water even more by mixing one third room temperature version; this will be brewed quite cool, maybe even under a 70 C relative optimum (160 F or below).  Ordinarily that would impact intensity, but I've let these brew for more like 20 seconds, probably just under that.

It's lighter and sweeter, for sure, with feel range not diminishing at all, or the heavy mineral base flavors.  Interesting!  If someone absolutely wanted to keep the heavy grass and vegetal range in check this is the way, use fairly cool water, maybe even dropping slightly below 70 C.  I'd probably see using 75 to 80 C as an optimum, and might even go with 85, accepting some heavier flavors that I don't love as much as a trade-off for bumping intensity way up, even brewed fast.  Sweet floral tone does come across well in this round, with an even stronger mineral base, so it's not overly light, but for being a sheng pu'er drinker I'm accustomed to intensity, which sticks around even with fast and light infusions.

silver needle:  not changed, really; the last description still works.  Heavy floral tone might be bumping up as the sweet citrus drops off, but it's still similar.  I'll probably do one more round to check on changes, back to brewing the green tea hot, and leave off taking notes.  These teas are not half finished yet though; cutting off writing is about keeping this length moderate, and about later transitions not being as interesting to me as describing the basic character of the teas.

green tea, fifth infusion:  the heavier flavors punch is back, related to using quite hot water again.  I suppose it's nice that the flavor can be that dialed into different ranges like that, if one likes.  Other tea types tend to not work out like that; you can shift the range of experience, but not necessarily the basic flavor profile.  The grass and vegetable might seem a bit much to some but to me it's balanced well enough with heavy mineral base, umami, and equally pronounced floral range input.  I like that feel structure too; it has an edge to it, brewed hot and somewhat intense, but again I'm familiar with teas including intense feel along with intense flavors.  

In discussing what I like about sheng with a Yunnan producer friend he guessed that people might just adjust to liking a little more complexity and intensity, then a little more again, until they need a lot of both to get their fix.  Oolongs are plenty complex and interesting, with full feel, but once you follow that pattern it might not be enough, since they tend to give up both--related to sheng--in exchange for exhibiting refinement and flavor aspect range that's a more natural fit to ordinary, unconditioned preference.  Bitterness alone is a big part of that (which of course I've not mentioned in relation to this green tea; they tend to not be bitter).  People new to drinking beer would probably love a mild amber more and then later on IPA and pilsner can somehow seem more appealing. 

It's interesting the bag it came in has a common type of orchid on the front, and the "flavour of Assam" branding.  There is plenty of floral range in both these teas.  This seems to be transitioning more to green beans in later rounds, so there's other range too, but it works better for it all balancing.

silver needle:  not transitioning too much, but a little.  The gradual, subtle drift towards warmer floral tones might be leading into a light spice-like range now.  For this tea being so approachable, while still being complex and intense, you could try out pushing it with full boiling point brewing water and see what that changes.  

It might work as an optimum to start cooler, maybe in an 85 C range, and then keep bumping temperature as intensity fades just a little.  This is still plenty intense, and you can add more to that just by lengthening brewing time, but drawing out warmer tones and a touch more astringency could be good--in the form of feel depth at this lighter level--as the tea softens further and narrows in flavor range.  At five infusions in it's far from fading away, so I'm talking here about messing around to experience change and an optimum.  Or it's great like this, or surely brewed hotter; this is the opposite case of when I'm describing how one might get a decent but mediocre tea to give up a bit more intensity, more about how one might try out a finer level adjustment of brewing process just to highlight what is already present.

Conclusion:

I liked the silver needle more; that really stood out for complexity, intensity, and flavors being in a very positive range.  I liked the green tea more than I like an average good-quality green tea version, and if I was a green tea drinker this would all be framed in completely different context, much more positively.  It's a green tea version that a sheng pu'er drinker could appreciate, but they would still probably like sheng pu'er of equivalent good quality even more.  Drifting off the subject a little, I tend to like sheng versions that seemed to have been heated a bit too much, spoiling a lot of the long term aging potential, and shifting the aspect range, but they can be nice as very young / new versions.

It's interesting considering if these were better than I expected, or different in any way.  I thought that they would be quite good, so that matches.  This white tea intensity was a pleasant surprise; fine bud content white tea can be intense, as this was, but often that comes with negative or neutral aspect range trade-off, for example the mineral tone not integrating as well as this did, or giving up brighter floral and fruit range.  You usually don't get that kind of balance across a range in white teas; it's either mostly a very pleasant sweet and floral high end, or a deeper base joins much less of that.  That's why Nepal white teas really stand out, but they often express a brighter, lighter-tone range, light floral, and bright citrus, not the warm and deeper range.

Probably I'll come to love this green tea more as I try it a few more times, and automatically dial in brewing better, versus messing with it round to round.  To me green and black teas can tend to be more basic in range expressed, which can still work out as a positive experience, in a way that can work really well drank along with food.  I still drink sheng with breakfast almost every day, or black tea, oolong, or shu if I feel like it, but that's not really about setting up an optimum pairing.  I eat plain foods, breakfast cereal, toast, or fruit, and the sheng is often out of balance related to intensity, even brewed light.  I probably should buy more black tea than I tend to, but I often end up reaching for sheng anyway.  It'll be nice to have a couple more options to mix in, while I have these teas.

ITeaWorld Wild Lapsang Souchong and non-wild version

 

Back to it, maybe the last review of teas from this set, since I think there are a couple of others, but this covers most of it.  I've already reviewed their other black teas from Yunnan and Yingde, and a Tie Guan Yin and Mi Lan Xiang Dan Cong.  Results were a little mixed but pretty good, in general, comparing quality level and aspect experience to the quality level implied by the pricing.  The one Yunnan black tea (Dian Hong) and Dan Cong were representative of the normal range, and pleasant, both slightly better than I would've expected for teas from a resale vendor.

But is this a case of that?  They present themselves as involved in the growing and processing steps, not only buying commodity versions.  It doesn't necessarily change a lot either way, but the background can help place how to take any specific claims, eg. that a tea is wild grown, or from a certain elevation.  Their online content looks detailed and diverse at first glance but then when you read closer it's a bit general.  That's hard to place.  It could be that translation issues make it hard for them to communicate details, and that as a new company (a new brand; they mention an earlier history as a different tea company) they had to make all the content that exists within the last year, so of course vendors with many years of history are going to have developed more detailed supporting content.

From there I could speculate, mentioning how I interpret vendor claims in general, who I tend to trust more or less, but it wouldn't add much.  In the end to some extent the tea speaks for itself.  But not entirely; if a vendor makes claims that seem a bit off--which comes up--then you can't really trust any of the rest of what they communicate, about teas being organic, wild-sourced, genuine examples of the type or source area described, etc.  

To the extent the teas match expectations quite well, that the style is what it should be, that's an indicator that they're being open and honest.  I personally often take very general vendor content as an implied negative, descriptions that don't say much, because that content could be copied from anywhere, and doesn't communicate in-depth knowledge of background, but I have ran across examples of vendors selling fantastic, very authentic teas who barely create any supporting content.  

Small Thai producers come to mind; it's hard for them to describe even basic aspects or origin details in English, but in many cases the teas are obviously as genuine and positive (for a typical style) as they come, and the more you talk to the vendors the more you know that you can trust them.  Two people come to mind who I would almost trust with my kids, even though I've never met them in person; the most positive and genuine people I ever talk to really help support my faith in this world, partly offsetting sensational news cycles and all the rest.  Of course that's a bit of hyperbole; I can only think of one other family of close friends we've left our kids to spend time with ever, including relatives, so we just don't trust our kids with anyone, barring that one exception.

About this next set I've probably made a mistake before even starting; flavored teas generally work better brewed Western style, because it gives them infusion time for the right proportion for the added flavor to emerge, in this case smoke.  I'm brewing them Gongfu style; I used two packets of each sample to set proportion where I normally do, at 7 grams per 100 ml gaiwan.  It'll still be fine but for the first two infusions I'm probably going to just keep mentioning the smoke proportion will normalize later.

I thought for sure this would be one unsmoked and higher quality wild source origin version, and one familiar smoked version, since that's the normal two forms, but both are smoked.  So be it; good smoked black tea is really special.  It's going to be a bit much getting through 4 or 5 rounds but I can always take a break and get a snack, and reset the whole process.  It'll be interesting to see if any of the typical fruit aspect common to wild Lapsang Souchong versions can show through past the smoke.

ITeaWorld website wild Lapsang Souchong description (this is $30 or so dollars per 100 grams, 30 cents per gram, what I expected).

Unique smoky pine aroma and longyan aroma, from wild trees.

Wild tea is more natural. Sexual tea tree varieties and well-developed root systems. Grow in a pristine ecological environment. Picked 1 flush a year.

There's a little more there for description but it mostly only mentions a floral aspect.  I just ate a bunch of longan this week, from a local market.  If you ever see a dried fruit version of that it's well worth trying out.  They did add origin location in that listing too:

From the Mountains of Guangxi, Guilin at an Altitude of 800m.High Mountains Produce Good Tea.

This is interesting:

Sweetness does stand out, but oxidation level seemed moderate.  Even the brewed color they showed in a series doesn't match my own results; theirs is much lighter.  I suppose they could've been brewing this tea very lightly, since they showed 10 rounds worth, and I'm drinking the fifth while I edit this post.  Pushing the tea a bit made sense to me, using 30 second or so infusion times at double the proportion they recommend.  For brewing they did recommend using quite hot water, between 95 and 100 C, full boiling point, and that seems best to me too.

the non-wild plant version:  (selling for a bit over $15 for 100 grams, maybe 18 cents a gram)

The raw materials of the tea come from the abandoned tea gardens in Guangxi, China. After the 1980s, these tea gardens were left unattended. They have an abandoned history of 30-40 years. An abandoned tea garden refers to a tea garden that used to be managed by humans. It was abandoned later and has been in wildness for a long time.

No pruning. Higher brew tolerance.No chemical fertilizers and pesticides are used. More natural flavor. Older tea trees. Sweeter taste. Organic tea is grown in the natural environment. No chemical fertilizers and pesticides are used. Safer and healthier.

From the Mountains of Guangxi, Shanglin at an Altitude of 1200m.

They mention a flowery character elsewhere but that's it for aspect description.  

The abandoned tea plantation theme is interesting; that does come up, or variations of that, growing areas left in a more natural state.  Why would tea plants be left abandoned, when the Chinese tea industry has faced fairly high demand over the past 20 years?  I don't know.  If it's not a main local production area an earlier production experiment could've been abandoned.  That theme is familiar from a number of other areas; I can think of similar examples from five other countries (Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos, Georgia, and the Philippines).  It's less common in China, because fluctuations in the economy and tea demand take a different form there than elsewhere.  Here's their image of what that looks like:

Review:

wild Lapsang Souchong version:  smoke does stand out more than the rest, one part of brewing this in what could be considered the wrong way, although that's not clearly determined yet.  The smoke input seems positive, warm, aromatic, and clean.  Of course based on the other teas being ok I didn't expect this to contain fake smoke or anything like that, but smoke input can vary a lot, and this seems as it should be, a tasty pine version.  I'll add more about other flavors next round.

non-wild Lapsang Souchong:  more shows up beyond the smoke; that's the opposite of what I expected.  It really doesn't mean much because both are just getting started.  There's something really unusual in this version, maybe along the line of a sassafras root effect.  I would anticipate that will be even more positive as intensity and complexity evolves, but we'll see.  I'll give both a slightly longer round next time than I usually would, well over 20 seconds, to cut short round of round of comments about how the teas are still early into transitioning.

wild version, second round:  interesting!  It makes me think back to the last time I had any smoked tea; it's been awhile.  Ian of Yunomi shared some awhile back, if I remember right, surely not this version, but along that line.  That was 6 years ago; crazy.  I've tried a couple of falap or bamboo pu'er versions with smoke input since, and two different Indian smoked black teas last year.

That Japanese version was unusually interesting and positive related to novelty, as a whisky barrel aged version, and this version is interesting too.  Smoke level is quite significant but it balances ok, with a clean and sweet profile from the rest.  It's probably going to work out that if I do 5 or 6 rounds worth of tasting the smoke will extract faster, and I could tell more about the rest later on.  Often some more subtle fruit or floral notes can emerge earlier in the rounds, in any teas, so it may not be indicative of what is mixing in with smoke now.  It's hard to place, really.  A faint cocoa note might be present.

other version:  smoke is quite light in this; odd that faded so fast.  It does include interesting spice or tisane range.  One part of that isn't so different than that aromatic, complex, hard to isolate black tea range present in Lipton, the overall balance they blend to draw out.  I'm probably reminded of that because I drank Lipton yesterday at work, triggered to do so by seeing posts about standard tea-bag teas in Discord discussion.  I had been drinking Dilmah tea-bag tea at work (we changed office location and I didn't put any tea or device back in the new one yet), and as expected Dilmah (standard lower medium quality Ceylon) is better than Lipton.

Let's do a more complete flavor breakdown for both next round; I think even evolved a little further that tisane / spice note will be hard to place.  It's interesting how these are the opposite of what I expected, with smoke input heavier in the wild origin material, and the other showing novel and non-standard aspect range.  

The non-wild version is a good bit lighter in color, less red; it may be backed off in oxidation level (that's pretty much the one input that would cause that), and that's also causing unusual flavor output.  That's not necessarily positive or negative; the experienced results determine that value judgement.  In the best cases a careful producer adjusts standard inputs to optimize the potential of a given source material, or I suppose oxidation level could just be a little off instead.  It comes up a lot with oolongs, or adjustment of oxidation level related to Dian Hong, in some cases going way lower than typical to make "shai hong" (sun-dried versions) that aren't as sweet and complex initially but have potential to transition positively with limited aging input, over 2 to 4 years or so.

wild version, third infusion:  well-balanced; I think this is right at the peak of it all settling in together, so I'll ramble on about it.  Smoke is light, which to me is at a good balance point, maybe only slightly a lesser input than the rest, but that gives the rest room to be experienced.  So by "light" I mean that it doesn't blast through as is common with commodity grade Lapsang Souchong versions (which can be pleasant; you're kind of signed up for that in buying one).  The rest is quite pleasant, just perhaps a bit subtle to compete with the smoke input.  Sweetness level is fine, and there's a bit of faint cocoa or quite mild fruit range beyond that, maybe more towards roasted yam than fruit, but it's not distinct and pronounced enough to make for a clear list.  

There's a chance that this tea might've been better unsmoked, that it wasn't really intense enough to balance smoke input as well as other versions.  I think most higher end or wild origin Lapsang Souchong isn't smoked for a related reason, because it's regarded positively without that input, appreciated for what else it is.  Any strong charactered black tea could stand in to complement smoke input, and a bit of rough edge or heavy flavor range might improve results, where a more refined, balanced, and distinctive tea might be better left alone.  

In the other black tea review I mentioned that Dian Hong versions often don't express a lot of higher range / forward notes compared to including depth and complexity, the cocoa / dried fruit / roasted yam or sweet potato, and I think that's another good example of aspect range profile of black tea that shouldn't be smoked.

At any rate this is fine, awfully refined and evenly balanced for any given smoked Lapsang Souchong version, which is good.  Keeping the smoke input light made a lot of difference, even though it's even lighter in the other version.

other version:  fading in intensity a little already; strange.  For where both these teas are pushing them for a 30 second or more infusion time might make sense.  I think they'll both make another 3 or 4 positive infusions but that will probably relate to really stretching them after the next couple, so this next round will be it for these notes.

the wild version is inconsistently oxidized, which doesn't mean anything in particular

wild version, 4th infusion:  smoke fades slowly, and the rest of the tea is a bit subtle, but it still comes across as a complex experience, it's just low in intensity.  Considering other aspect range I tend to see as "quality markers" might help place it; what about mouthfeel and aftertaste?  There's limited astringency range in this tea, related to that characteristic edge, and the feel isn't relatively full either.  It has depth of body, but just enough to support the rest, still below average in intensity.  It doesn't vanish from your mouth after you drink it, but aftertaste experience is limited too.  That's normal enough for black tea, so to me it's not really a negative input, it just doesn't add much.

Refinement stands out as most positive for this tea.  The feel is light but silky, the flavor is subtle but it does include supporting cocoa range, and standard black-tea depth, the warm tones.  Then it's a little odd because you don't turn to a smoked black tea for refinement, but there it is.  You can always bump intensity just a little using longer infusion times and boiling hot water, and that would extract a little more for warm mineral depth and a slight added feel edge.  But you would have to like it or not like it for what it is, you couldn't force it to be a more intense version of tea.

other version:  smoke is gone, and that unusual root-spice edge is all the stronger.  How much one would like this tea comes down to preference for or against that input range.  I like it, but then I've repeated that I like the deeper and unusual tones in Yunnan black teas a couple of times in this, and this is part of what I'm talking about, how that can include spice range too.  Again if someone wanted a full-blast, heavy smoke experience, supported by astringency and earthy flavor rough edges, these teas just aren't that.  To me they're better than that, but preference is a funny thing, there is no one clear and objective "better."  Match to standard expectations, the most type-typical range, wouldn't be met by these, but that's par for the course with smoked teas, that there isn't one narrow standard range.

I brewed these for another round for over 40 seconds (which I don't time; it's just to give an idea), and intensity did pick back up.  There's not much new for transition to report though.  Smoke strengthened in the first example, and fruit picked up in the second, which I'd not really been mentioning.  It's a bit non-distinct but maybe along the line of cooked pear.

I'll skip going much further with any conclusions for these, since I've been concluding a lot.  They're good.  It makes me consider just how good, trying to place quality, but for teas like this style matters as much or more as an abstract quality level.  Some people would love them, and others could find them lacking.  Anyone most interested in an intense blast of smoke and heavy-range, intense black tea would be disappointed.

To place quality level, which I just basically said isn't necessary, it works to compare them to Wuyi Origin's versions, to Cindy's teas, which are the best Lapsang Souchong versions I've ever tried.  They're not that good, related to general quality level, but they're not that far off those, which is high praise.  Cindy's teas tend to be priced in an atypical 30 to 50 cent per gram range, which can generally relate to lower quality teas normally selling for 20-30 being overpriced, or versions others would sell for 50 to 75 cents, or even a dollar or over per gram, being moderately priced and good-value, which is the case for hers.  

I'd expect these are more in the 20 to 30 cents per gram range, as sold, and they're good value for that.  I've not read their listings yet, as I write this initial draft, so if that's way off I'll need to add one more sentence here.  I'll go back and add them prior to the tasting section now.  Later editing note:  just under 20 cents for the non-wild version, right at 30 for the other.  

I looked up Cindy's Lapsang Souchong (Wuyi Origin's), and their wild version lists for less than the others, at $33 per 100 grams, with an old-tree version listing at $57 per 100 grams.  Interpreted one way they're slightly different categories of tea; these ITeaWorld versions are a good value for these styles and quality level.