This is a sample that Steve of Viet Sun sent for me to try (many thanks!). It's from Lùng Vài, a location described in his related white tea listing as follows, a white tea that I reviewed last year here:
This tea was processed in the Moonlight White style from old and ancient trees in the Lùng Vài, Hà Giang. Lùng Vài is northeast of Tây Côn Lĩnh mountain, the tallest mountain in Hà Giang province.
I don't know that this sheng (pu'er-style tea) is also from old trees but that's the running theme with a lot of what he sells. I don't tend to put much weight on that in terms of likelihood of effect on outcome, or any singular causes / claims, and let the tea experience speak for itself. Wild origin material sheng is often more unique and interesting, and better, and of course risk of pesticide contamination would be lower, but it's still about the brewed tea experience in the end, not the story line.
I've ordered several versions of new sheng listed on the Viet Sun website for spring of 2024; I'll get back to writing about those later.
Review:
#1: pretty intense for a first round; no need to go through about how this will open up later. Bitterness stands out, and warm flavors, and depth. This isn't the bright, sweet, floral and fruity sheng style I've often ran across in the Vietnamese samples, it's much warmer in tone. To me warm mineral stands out most, the flavor base, but it would also make sense to interpret this as close to wood tone, or related to a range of inputs causing that effect. For once I'll actually brew this lighter the next round to get a better read on it.
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brewed color may not change as much as camera light sensing shifts |
#2: it's a powerful tea, I'll give it that. This isn't really my favorite style for sheng but it's still easy to appreciate. Sweetness is ok but not the same as for versions with brighter, lighter flavor tones. Brewed quite light, more or less a flash infusion, bitterness moderates. Feel is structured, and aftertaste effect adds depth, so those aren't really limitations. The warm tone centers on warm mineral, including other range like cedar wood, not so much drifting over to spice or dried fruit.
#3: it gains some complexity, but the primary flavor range is the same, warm mineral, extending into wood. It brings up the question of how this would have changed in the two years since it was produced. That depends on storage conditions, and it's not easy to map character backwards, to say exactly how a tea was based on how it is. Astringency probably would've been higher, and bitterness even more pronounced. This isn't one of those "red sheng" versions, more oxidized, sweeter, initially a short step towards black tea.
To be clear if someone's main preferences center on this style it would be a really good tea version. It's clean, complex, and intense; nothing really seems like a flaw. It's nowhere near as harsh as standard "factory tea," which would typically be much less whole in leaf form. It just lacks the brighter tones I tend to prefer.
#4: the balance of earlier flavors shifts some but it's similar enough that there isn't a lot to say about that. Cedar like wood tone stands out as much as the mineral base now; that picked up.
#5: to me this improves as the character softens. I'm not noticing much for interesting transition; it's in the same range.
I gave the 6th infusion a little more time and the fruit / apricot range had started to emerge (a flavor reference to checking the archived product listing and description after the 5th round, in the following Conclusion section). The balance was better than before, a good sign. The 7th hadn't changed much more, but it wasn't less pleasant than any before, really hanging in there. Sweetness may have came across even more, related to the heavier mineral and woody tones easing up.
Conclusion:
This felt a bit unsatisfying as reviews go. The character had positive traits but I had trouble relating to the aspects, really related to preference issues. It's not a favorite style for me, even though it's clearly pretty good tea.
Then that makes me curious, how was this represented in the earlier website listing? How was it described, and what was the pricing? I looked that up in the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, since it's not listed now:
Lùng Vài is located on the eastern side of Tây Côn Lĩnh mountain, the tallest mountain in Hà Giang province. This tea makes for a very interesting comparison to the high alpine fragrance teas of Thượng Sơn which is located on the western face of Tây Côn Lĩnh mountain.
This tea features a warming, honey-apricot flavor with herbal, nutty undertones. Brews up into a thick dark golden soup with light-medium bitterness and astringency. Nice huigan and focused qi for me.
Season: Spring 2022
Picking Standard: 1 bud, 2-3 leaves
Region: Lùng Vài, Phương Độ, Hà Giang
Elevation: 1000m-1100m
It lists for $48 but without a weight for the cake that doesn't mean anything. I'd guess that this was a 200 gram cake priced on the costlier side related to what they sell, versus a 357 gram cake that was inexpensive, but it could have been either. Hà Giang is their main tea production region for this range, per my understanding, so the theme of a local reseller getting deals on less conventional versions probably wouldn't apply to this, and it probably sold for an above average price from the producer.
Was it "honey apricot, herbal, and nutty?" Maybe. The flavors would've shifted some over 2 years so it shouldn't be identical to that description, it's just an interesting reference to consider. Often teas will soften, gain depth, lose initial freshness, and trade out some brighter intense tones for warmer and deeper aspects, retaining most of the same flavors in a different form. Over two years in a cool and dry location sheng doesn't change so much; in hot and humid storage a version really will.
I've avoided mentioning aging potential here. I really don't know how this would change in two more years, or 15 more. There's a relatively narrow profile for factory teas that seems to relate to one type of aging potential but these old plant, wild origin teas are something else. Versions that are atypical for being oxidized a bit more probably still have good potential for very moderate further transition, over 2 or 3 more years, but not for the full 15 or 20 year cycle. For this I don't know.
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