This tea is from Aphiwat, again, who I've been buying Thai sheng (pu'er-style tea) from lately. He sent it with that tea to try (many thanks!). I won't get into the natural growth / old plant theme here, but there are pictures of plants that are probably related in this earlier background post.
Some odd background for tasting context: I'm part-way through a 5 day fast. I've never tried to write review notes while fasting before. Even drinking black tea may not work; all I've had is salt (potassium and sodium), a multivitamin, and magnesium and calcium supplement tablets today [at time of first draft, of course, not final editing, since I finished this later on]. I've not eaten food for awhile, for days, and have only drank limited tea and a tisane, only once for the last.
I don't know if my palate will be off or if low energy level and focus will be an issue. Of course notes here will guess about that, and then I do try this tea again in a later summary at the end, along with a related version, and that different context did change things a little. I wrote about what fasting is all about in a recent post, and how that went, and about combining fasting, running (really!), and meditation.
Review:
first infusion: that's really unusual, heavy and deep in flavor. Of course I'm wondering if my sense of taste isn't unusual too, if that's not contributing. At a guess it's not, but there's no way to test that [at that time; trying it later would be an option, and I did].
It's hard to place in relation to other black teas I've tried. I suppose it seems closest to Yunnan style, Dian Hong, but it might borrow a little from better orthodox Assam style range too [later I switch that around; it's more like orthodox Assam, but it seems reasonable to leave early mistakes in interpretation in this]. Deep mineral tones ground it all, and rich earthy character is another base. Fruit is included, along the dried cherry range. Usually there's a higher end, lighter tone joining all that, and sweetness seeming to link to some range, but this seems to be medium in sweetness level, and the depth, richness, and heavier flavors stand out.
That's the part that reminds me of Assam, I think, that those don't tend to be sweet either, and not necessarily light in aspect range. One part of this is even similar to the malt in Assam, a soft and rich version of it. Complexity spans a broader range than many better Assam versions might, even for it missing a higher tone range; there is a lot going on. Part of the depth reminds me a little of the roasted sweet potato range in Dian Hong too. This is really something.
Dian Hong often don't exhibit this sort of intensity, I think in part because producers are using summer material to make them, in between the more favorable spring and autumn harvest leaves, which are used to make sheng pu'er. Even subtle Dian Hong can still be great though, because the range present can be all positive, sweetness can be favorable, and mineral and deep flavor tones can make up for generally lower intensity. Feel is often rich. Of course there would be other kinds of versions, that are off the scale intense; I probably keep trying more subtle versions for not being willing to spend a lot on it.
In tasting the last of this round it seems most like cocoa to me (or cacao, the ingredient used to make that). I bet this is the kind of tea that seems to express a completely different flavor range brewed light versus heavy, still an overlapping set, but quite different. I'll do a light round to check on that.
second infusion: brewed fast (maybe just under 10 seconds) the intensity is still ok but it is quite different, narrower in range. A little longer would be more optimum. That is such an unusual flavor set, more of the dried cherry fruit range, roasted sweet potato range, or maybe closer to butternut squash, warmer tones, and mineral base, with some malt.
There's a chance that this is higher in sweetness level than I'm commenting and that my body is desperately seeking carbohydrates, and realizes that there is none of that in this, so other compounds that I usually identify as sweet may be getting set aside as irrelevant (in my perception). Feel is good in this, nice and full, and even brewed quite light aftertaste carries over.
It's good tea, of course, but it would take some unpacking to say how good. In terms of an objective quality level it's pretty far up the scale, as distinctiveness, refinement, complexity, and intensity goes, and what I see as quality markers like fullness of feel and aftertaste. But what about match to my subjective preferences? I said in a recent Assam review that I love Dian Hong more, even though the black tea I was reviewing was clearly about as good as a version was going to be, just in that other range, which isn't completely unrelated, as Assamica based teas from different areas.
Most versions one would find wouldn't be nearly this good (of Dian Hong, or of any tea type, really), as quality level alone goes, so this would probably surpass most Dian Hong just for being better tea. But I might like a version that's not as good just as much, if the aspect range was exactly what I like most. More cacao and sweetness, drop malt out, add more roasted yam and sweet potato base, even if another version was slightly thinner and less complex, I mean. This is quite good though; it seems like splitting hairs. Compared to the two ITeaWorld black teas I reviewed a month or so ago this is almost certainly just better in quality; preferred style range doesn't matter as much when a tea version is clearly significantly higher in quality level.
third infusion: of course it's even better brewed to a more optimum infusion strength, at just over 15 seconds at a high proportion (maybe 7 or 8 grams per 100 ml gaiwan). Cacao is stronger, and the malt note decreases; that's nice. I think people accustomed to drinking broken leaf or CTC Assam tin versions might be thinking of a dry, almost harsh malt tone that seems to adjoin astringency in those, but it's not that. It's not exactly malted-milk ball or Ovaltine range either, but much closer to that. In between Ovaltine and cedar wood tone, I guess.
I think my palate is a little affected, related to being so far into not eating, several days. Or maybe it's the diet of mostly salt water? I'm not sure that I can perceive sweetness in a normal way just now. The basic flavor tones I think I am reading in a similar way. It seems like my body is judging flavor input mostly related to caloric value at this point, and feels a little let down. A teaspoon of sugar would taste amazing compared to this, or a handful of nuts, milk, anything contributing sustenance.
My body needs to let that drop, because there's two more days left in this five day fast. My mind was mostly at peace with it from day one, which usually isn't how that goes, but my body is still feeling it. Once I get ketogenic energy use normalized a little more, burning my own body fat, it might all feel more natural. 3 1/2 days into not eating, or consuming any calories, is a strange place to be.
fourth infusion: to me this just keeps improving; that is nice. I could push it a little harder since the intense mineral and earthier range base is fading, but it has good depth and intensity as it is (again brewed for just over 15 seconds). Splitting the flavors into a list, as I did, is a little tricky, because it all integrates really well.
Talking about transition changes now would be about the proportion of the earlier set changing. The light dryness that seems to connect with malt flavor tone keeps fading, and rich cacao and dried fruit tone picks up. Calling that feel dryness is surely misleading; only someone familiar with that feel input from tasting dozens of similar teas would make that particular connection. It mostly comes across as rich in feel.
I wonder why this includes a malt tone, as Assams do even more, but Dian Hong tend to not, at all? Would that be from plant type input, soil differences (terroir), or growing area temperature? It could be any one of those, or a combined output of all three. From smelling the dry leaves you only get rich sweetness, including the cacao range, and some fruit. There is a chance that my interpretation of the flavor profile would shift if I perceived sweetness in a more normal way, if I wasn't fasting. That's not intuitively how that would work but we seem to key in on sets of related aspects when we taste tea. A minor flaw can really shift how we interpret other aspects, or a gap related to what we expect also can.
Varying interpretation of aspects is possible at this stage; it may not be just a different proportion of the earlier set, so that may be wrong. Tisane-like aspects pick up, mild wood tone, or sassafras root, along that line. Dried fruit always was subtle enough that dried cherry was partly a place-holder for what is hard to clearly identify, and supporting roasted sweet potato range was a little clearer, and cacao more so.
Aphiwat may send a different type of black tea to try and I could compare this when I'm eating again, related to me ordering extra sheng to send to a friend (for trade for tea; I'm not that nice). I wish my budget allowed for me to be, to buy and give away tea, but I've not posted about a standard $150 or more tea order for a year and a half for a reason. It's expensive to live in Hawaii part time.
fifth infusion: perhaps fading a little at this point, but a catchy dried fruit tone picks up. It's still not pronounced enough to be easy to identify, but I think it's more like dried longan or dried Chinese date, jujube, than dried dark cherry, the initial flavor. Malt has really dropped out and a spice-like range now covers that warm tone, or maybe it's just a very aromatic version of roasted sweet potato, towards root spice. Probably pushing this tea would provide a few more quite positive rounds, using full boiling point water and 30+ second infusions. I'll test that.
One earlier concern I had was drinking black tea on an empty stomach, a very empty stomach. It hasn't been a problem. I think more broken leaf, lower quality black tea would be more of an issue, or maybe just really intense whole-leaf Assam. The astringent feel in your mouth seems to match up with what is going to happen to your stomach, which can easily be offset by eating foods with complex carbs and fat in them.
sixth infusion: of course intensity rebounds brewed a little longer. That fruit input now reminds me of teaberry, a little towards a berry, mint, and tisane set, in a very catchy range. It's possible that someone might like this sixth infusion more than all the prior ones, which is not how infusion transitions tend to go. Maybe I do. I don't hate malt as an input but swapping that out for berry is nice, and warm underlying mineral input bumped back up from adding a bit of infusion time (maybe 40 seconds).
I suppose this is what Gongfu brewing is all about, revealing more that a tea can offer than having it brew out in two mixed together Western rounds. Even if it's ever so slightly catchier that's enough tasting notes, and enough writing for me.
Speed round review; comparing two batches from Aphiwat (later)
He did send a second version to try from a different batch, along with ordering more sheng. They have numbers but it seems like those are batch numbers, and I know of no other differences. Part of reviewing these is to see if my sense of taste is different than it was back during that fast. I don't remember that I've ever directly compared two small batch versions from the same production season and producer before. Trying final production versions from one flush from a producer is something else, similar, but those could've been blends of other small batches.
The first infusion I brewed for awhile, nearly 30 seconds, to skip the part about not being able to taste them.
"21" version, the one I already reviewed, first infusion: it's pretty much how I remember it from not so many days ago, rich, with a touch of dryness and astringency edge, but far from astringent. Flavors are positive, with warm and rich malt standing out, mineral base, good sweetness (maybe that is different), and warm flavors towards fruit tones, maybe even trailing over to sun-dried tomato range (so umami, sort of, but nothing at all like in Japanese green tea). I think it balances better without my palate being a little roughed up from not eating, but I'm picking up similar flavor tones.
"04" version: similar but different. It might be a little less full, with less sweetness and fruit. The malt tone is similar, but feel could be a little softer. There's plenty of a savory edge to this too, maybe even more so, or it could just be that it stands out more for the fruit tones being miler.
It looks to contain less bud content, as if it's a different kind of material, presumably from a different harvest time period. From a more northern source it might make sense to say it could be from later in the growing season, not as early a spring production, but spring is a strange concept here in Thailand, without any winter to define it on the one side.
We have a hot season, a rainy season, and cool season, and it's really hot and humid the whole time. Plants don't experience one start and end of a growing season, at least not in our garden in Bangkok. Fruit develops and ripens per whatever timetable that fruit plant is on, I think with a lot peaking in August or so. That is when the rainy season goes from a little rainy to a monsoon range, which it's in now, months after the main April and May hot season peak. Further off topic, I've been the gardener at home lately, for being the only person there, and I "brewed" fallen leaves to make a variation of tisane for the plants again. It's like a stand-in for compost mulch, I guess.
21 version, 2nd round: I should probably be trying one of these in comparison with that really good orthodox Assam Maddhurjya sent me a month or two ago; it seems pretty close in style.
If you look for it that warm honey sweetness tone from the sheng is present in this tea too; it's very catchy. Tasting while fasting did throw off what I would normally interpret as sweetness. Sweetness doesn't relate to a carbohydrate input in this sense, of course, it's about other compounds coming across in a comparable way (amino acids, maybe?). The strength of this tea is how well it all balances; it makes it harder to do a flavor-list style review breakdown, but there's a lot going on that integrates well.
The general list is what I've already covered (malt, mineral base, fruit, touch of honey, maybe a little spice or aromatic wood tone beyond all that).
04 version: less complex, less sweet and fruity, with more of a neutral wood-tone range. It's still quite good, but the other being just slightly better--more intense and complex--makes it seem more limited. It still has a soft, rich feel but with less structure to it. It seems odd saying either tea is astringent given how far on the opposite extreme this is from broken leaf black tea.
Sweetness still integrates well with the rest in this, and again I notice less of a gap related to how my carbohydrate starved sense of taste mapped out the other version just days ago. Both of these would be fantastic as daily drinkers, for tea consumed with food, both good enough to appreciate alone, just focusing on the tea.
Conclusions:
Just fantastic! Eventually I will retry these and Maddhurjya's orthodox Assam enough to get a feel for how similar or different they really are, which I'll probably not mention here, since all this went long anyway.
I just organized a really nice tasting outing at a local Chinatown shop, Sen Xing Fa, with most credit to that being amazing due to them, for managing and providing it all. If I do get around to holding another event where I'm sharing more teas myself I should let others try one of these versions.
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