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.
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Aphiwat |
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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.
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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.
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