I'm trying the first of a dark tea / hei cha sample set from ITea World, a newish China based vendor, who sent these teas for review. It's hard to place them in relation to standard Western outlets, but they seem to be in between a typical high volume vendor and curator vendor, selling teas that are above average in quality for good value pricing, but not the same as small-outlet curator versions, who sometimes offer unique quality range but at much higher pricing.
That amounts to 100 grams of tea (20 in 5 gram samples), selling for $19.99, so 20 cents a gram. That's pretty reasonable. Hei cha doesn't tend to be as costly as many other general types but for pretty good quality hei cha 20 cents a gram is still very fair.
Hei cha is one of my favorite ranges of tea, even though I drink a lot more sheng pu'er, and have had a lot more oolong over a long period of time.
The one detail that comes up in this review, related to this Liu Bao version, relates to age. It's from 2018, so 5 1/2 years old now, not old enough for a "raw" / sheng version to age to where it seems to be, necessarily, but that's plenty of age for a well pre-fermented version to settle. I don't know which it was, and this review covers more on that type divide.
Review:
#1: that tastes just like Liu Bao; that seems like a good start. The general style of tea can come in two types, as ripe or raw, shou or sheng, matching pu'er forms. As with sheng and shou pu'er the tea is either extensively pre-fermented, wet-piled to process it in a way comparable to aging effect, or else not. There must be more to it than that, since raw / sheng Liu Bao is nothing like sheng pu'er, not at all like a green tea, or variation of that. I don't think I've written a post here on the differences either.
This version is smooth and rich; it would seem to either be a shou equivalent form or else significantly aged. I have a lot of a raw Liu Bao version that a friend from Malaysia shared that has been settling and mellowing out for something like 5 years now, and it's not there yet. Flavors are clean in this, nothing off or challenging. Often a wet cement block sort of lighter mineral range comes up in Liu Bao, and this has underlying mineral, but not that. It's intense and complex enough I could do a flavor list review but I'll hold off until next round.
#2: I let this go a little long; my wife interrupted me during brewing. For breakfast brewing I would brew another round very light, a flash infusion, and mix the two, but for this I can just say what it's like brewed strong. That's not idea for breaking down a flavor list but it makes the feel and other character stand out more.
Warm mineral tones did pick up, common range for Liu Bao. It doesn't taste exactly like cement block, more like slate. Another part leans towards rich dried fruit, along the line of Chinese date (jujube). It's odd how clean, full, and smooth this is; a touch more rough edge really is normal for Liu Bao. This could actually be a well-aged version, something a decade or so old. Or it's pre-fermented and that went well, and some aging removed the different musty or earthy tones that come along with that.
Sweetness is pretty good in this. It's moderate, not as sweet as sweeter range shou pu'er tends to get, in versions that can also taste a lot like fruit or cacao, but it has a toffee like sweetness that balances the rest nicely. Of course earthiness is a main aspect range too, non-distinct enough in this that it's hard to describe. It does have a touch of root-cellar depth to it, but it's clean and subtle, and integrates well with the rest. We actually had a root cellar during my childhood, a dark and musty place we loved to lock each other in. It was nowhere near as clean in scent as this.
#3: It changes quite a bit, cleaning up. Often for Liu Bao this would relate to it becoming more drinkable, but in this case it's just a style difference. That touch of dried fruit shifts to become more like spice. Maybe even a range of spice, possibly covering root spice and bark spice, two ranges I'm not great on separating further into sub-types, particular scents or flavors. Some of the earthiness and mineral base seems to shift to a warmer and sweeter tone too, a little towards cacao.
I'm making this sound different than Liu Bao, right? I mean that the base of mineral and earthiness I've described is still there, still the main part of the experience, but the more subtle flavor tones that go along with that are shifting to these ranges. That point seems to get lost in reviews where a new flavor tone or two are added for each round, so that teas sound like a half dozen completely different styles across the whole review. It's natural to focus on the changes, on the evolution, and to not keep repeating the description of the flavor base.
For once I'm not reviewing two teas at once here, so I could focus more on feel effect. I had a long, rough day yesterday, and came back to sleep another hour or two after dropping Kalani off at school, so I'm a bit groggy for baseline. I don't feel the same light rush of energy sheng tends to contribute, but a mellow and calming lift works well for this context. Just as vendors seem to overemphasize strong, clear, uplifting cha qi, sheng pu'er hitting hard, I get caught up in expecting and valuing that. There's always lots to do, right, and we often need that pure, aggressive energy. I'm taking a relaxing day today, even though Eye keeps mentioning one thing after another I can do while I have extra time.
#4: more of the same transition, but very limited in form; this is leveling off to where it will probably stay. I'm brewing a 5 gram sample, not the usual 8 or so I use for maxed out Gongfu brewing, so the related longer times will make this fade faster. At this rate I might get another 4 infusions, but they will be less intense than the first 4. It would've worked to brew this a good bit lighter and those could add up to 10, but to me this works well brewed on the strong side, as I like shou pu'er. Or I might have brewed 10 grams instead, two samples, and used quite short infusion times brewed even stronger. I don't tend to finish teas in one session brewing that way, which isn't much of a trade-off, since I can have a few rounds later.
#5: The light spice note has shifted towards a marshmallow flavor; that's nice. I've experienced that in 2 or 3 other teas across the years, and it's typically quite pleasant.
I've not been mentioning how I see this in terms of quality, trueness to type, or in relation to personal preference. I think it's pretty good Liu Bao, quite a bit better than I expected. You would have to push it a bit to get intensity out of it; it may have mellowed with age, or somehow could've started out as less intense to begin with. Liu Bao is often a little edgy and challenging, and very complex, and this is closer to the opposite. Even the "ripe" / shou versions can have intense and slightly harsh edges, just warmer and earthier than the light mineral and more astringent edge than younger raw / sheng Liu Bao, and this never did, from the beginning.
It's fine in relation to my preference. I'm a sheng pu'er drinker, and can relate to shou pu'er and Liu Bao perhaps a little more directly than green tea, but it's still not my main preference range. When I feel like it I drink that type. People tend to claim that warm-toned teas match well with cold weather, that the warming feel--extended to Traditional Chinese Medicine internal context claims--is more suitable then, or for people with a certain body character type. It's not as hot where I am now (Honolulu) as it always was in Bangkok, but the current 25 C / 75 F weather outside isn't cold. It's a little cool to me; I run cold. I suppose this would make more sense on a cool spring or fall day, or during an English summer.
#6: hanging in there. A bit more savory tone picks up, like sun-dried tomato, but not so pronounced that it seems like that. Some of this transition relates to it being pushed more, using longer times. If there had been heavy warm tones or astringency those would really stand out more now, but as it is this stays quite smooth and rich, very approachable. A touch of mineral tone comparable to how volcanic rock smells did pick up, a bit warm and iron intensive. That's not exactly like how a crow-bar smells but close enough, to pass on an idea that doesn't tie to having smelled volcanic soil. I suppose volcanoes aren't uniform in character, mineral content, or smell; I guess that I mean here.
This seems like a good place to leave off; this already ran long. One part had related to conclusions so I'll skip going further with that.
It's a good start for their Liu Bao range, better than I expected. I suppose for people seeking out edgy and intense Liu Bao experience this could be a disappointment, but for me it being approachable, smooth, rich, multi-layered, and light on rough edges and aggressive earth tones was all positive. Pushing it a bit would draw out more intensity, but it is what it is. Flavor complexity is fine, not bad, but there is room for improvement. I've ran across a list of type-typical flavors recently; maybe I'll do more with passing that on later on.
Aging could've brought it to this aspect range, and I'm not sure how else Liu Bao would ever be this moderate in intensity. It will be interesting seeing their take in a product description, and that background. [later edit]: they mention the production year, end of 2018, but nothing further about processing input, to what extent it was pre-fermented in original processing. It is what it is then; pretty decent, maybe not the most exceptional or complex version of Liu Bao, but quite approachable, well-balanced, and pleasant, fine for quality level.
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