Greengold Georgian Mze Etseri (yellow) and Qvevri Etseri gaba processed black tea

 

Mze yellow tea left, Qvevri gaba black right

I picked this first sample to review randomly, Qvevri Etseri, not knowing that it was gaba processed.  I tend to not like those.  A sourness often comes across that makes the experience less pleasant than if it wasn't there.  

I tried a second tea afterwards, their Mze Etseri (including the plantation name, per one description), to help keep moving through a broad set of samples they sent for review (many thanks for that!).  It seems to tell more of a broader story about how personal preference mixes with more objective quality themes in evaluating teas.  

Quality level is pretty good for their teas.  I don't tend to mention flaws, as much as describing tea aspects and character that one might like or not like.  Limitations in intensity or sweetness don't come up so much, but someone might see balance or refinement as issues, given the styles tend to be novel.

I can cite descriptions from a catalog that I've downloaded from their website in the past, which isn't available through the main links there to it now.  They might be updating descriptions or types range in that.  These had been listed in that reference through their main web page:

The grape flavor reference reminds me of how purple leaf Assamica tea versions tend to include sourness and fruit along the line of grape.  Probably I would've "noticed it" if I'd read that description before the tasting, inclined towards that interpretation by that.  

I don't think anyone's interpretation is a clear, objective, final description of tea aspects, but if you taste the teas a few times, and stay open to varying interpretations, the description outcome would be closer to that.  It's not practical for tea blog review; trying them once and writing and editing notes takes hours, and it's too many hours doing two rounds and then merging notes.

I interpreted that flavor as floral and then fruity in later rounds, not exactly as citrus, but that could work, as a less intense version of that.  I did mention honey and nuts; their description is fine.  Marzipan is an interesting description, and one that's not familiar to me; here is Google's description of that (surely an AI compiled version):

What is Marzipan? Marzipan, also known as almond candy dough, is a smooth and pliable confectionary paste made from almonds that can be used as a cake icing or molded into candies. It features a clay-like consistency that makes it easy to handle.

Review, Qvevri Etseri gaba processed black tea

#1:  that touch of sourness is definitely there, but it's balanced by other pleasant flavors, and not so pronounced.  There's no chance this would be a favorite version as a result but it might be fine.  Other people don't mind that aspect as much as I do; personal preference works that way.  

Other warm tones are a bit malty; that part is nice.  Mineral depth is pronounced, seeming to extent to a touch of salt.  There's never salt in tea, I don't think, but it's interesting when some mineral range can resemble it.  Some of the rest might lean a little towards cacao, but I'll do a more complete flavor list over the next round or the one after, when it all seems clearer.

#2:  that transitioned a good bit, mostly in a positive sense, but one part is mixed in pleasantness.  A wine-like character entered in; that's nice.  A kind of funky vegetal flavor range also picked up, along the line of endive or mustard greens.  Or maybe neither of those is right; I tend not to eat that kind of vegetable.  It's like dandelion leaf, if that helps, which probably doesn't since that's not something people eat.  Spice-like tones also pick up a little, but they're not easy to make out beyond the warm tones, touch of sourness, warm mineral, hint of cacao, and odd vegetal input.

#3:  it falls into slightly better balance, but this is still really strange.  It's hard to imagine someone drinking this and experiencing one of their most favorite flavor profiles, but then preferences do vary.  

People tend to drink gaba processed teas for a relaxing effect, and I won't notice that.  I'm not sensitive to drug-like effects from tea, and I'm feeling a bit hazy from experiencing an unrealistically long day yesterday.  I ran 12k (8 miles), walked 5k doing errands, watched Kalani play for two hours, then did more errands, busy from 8 in the morning until 9 at night.  I'm feeling it.  I'm quite calm but tired.

#4:  this is brewed a little stronger.  I don't think that will help with separating and defining flavors, it's just to try it made differently.  A sun-dried tomato savory aspect picks up.  This would be quite pleasant without that one sour note.  With it I wouldn't drink this just for flavor experience.  At this point that savory edge stands out most, along with a wine-like background flavor, and then warm tones below that, some mineral, that sourness, and more vague warm flavor not so different than cacao, but really not distinct.  It seems that one vegetal aspect evolved and split into a wine-like flavor and the savory sun-dried tomato part.  

I'll probably drink one more round and then set this aside; it would be nice to try another version to get through more of their teas.  Apparently they make a lot, and I'll be leaving Honolulu to go back to Bangkok in two weeks, for the summer, so it would be nice to finish more of this cycle of tastings.

#5:  maybe this balances the best that it has so far; all the flavors are evolving to integrate better.  It may be for the best to brew this Western style to get it all to mix from the first infusion.  It comes across more like a standard black tea, with those odd flavor inclusions mixing and reduced in intensity.

In a sense this isn't a fair trial because I don't like gaba teas.  Maybe a reader who does can read through all this and place how they would like it if that sourness wasn't interpreted as a negative inclusion.

Mze Etseri, yellow tea:

#1:  this is nice.  It's unusual, and interesting, but not as challenging as I found the gaba version to be.  It reminds me of trying yellow teas in the past, but I may have only ever tried three versions of those, or at least that's all that come to mind.  There's an unusual flavor aspect in them, as I remember, which is also included in this, a fermented light edge, not dis-similar to how one type of cardboard smells, like a shoe box.  But it's better than that sounds; it mixes with other flavor range in a nice way.

Brighter honey and floral tones stand out, along with dry mineral and that cardboard edge, which might be closer to balsa wood.  I suppose there is a faint hint of sourness in this as well, but it's hard to notice, and depends on judgment whether it is even that, where you couldn't miss it in the gaba version.  A flavor that I'm describing here as floral stands out; it's distinctive, and I think truly in that range, but it could be interpreted differently.  Warm sweetness makes it all integrate well, along the line of the taste of beeswax (or smell of it; beeswax is an odd thing to try and taste or eat).

#2:  it's even better.  A creaminess really picks up, in the feel, which can at times remind you of the taste of cream as well, as occurs in this.  The flavors I described last round integrate a lot better, and they were already pleasant then.  Those include rich floral tone, honey sweetness, warm mineral, towards beeswax, and then a touch of butter or cream.  Feel is a bit thicker, and aftertaste lingers in a pleasant form, even though I brewed that last round fast.  

At their best these Greengold teas can really catch lightning in a bottle, extending into really novel and pleasant range, balancing well, coming across as very refined.  Then other versions aren't quite as polished, or include flavor range I don't like as much; they vary.  Which versions are which, very novel and positive or else a bit of a miss, might vary with preference.  In some cases trying a version more than once can shift interpretation, since novelty can be very positive or else a little hard to relate to.  That might not apply as much to this version, but if someone had never tried anything similar to a yellow tea it might apply quite directly to this.

#3:  another shift; a touch of fruit seems to come out.  It's non-distinct enough that it's hard to place though; maybe along the line of yellow watermelon, a little sweeter and different than the red version.  There's a freshness and brightness to this, which is odd, since that contrasts with the warm tone and hint of extra fermentation effect, a deepening of the flavors.  But it integrates; it comes across as all one experience, even as one flavor, even though it's actually complex.  

Maybe instead of describing the fermented range as like cardboard or balsa wood it's more like how a library smells; a mix of paper and binding materials scents, complex from relating to thousands of books, but also kind of distinct.  To me it's pleasant when combined with the fresh floral and light fruit range, but then someone else might not like it; I think that part relates to personal preference (again) instead of objective judgement.

#4:  an interesting spice tone picks up, quite similar to lemongrass, just maybe not exactly that.  A long infusion might draw out something else entirely; I had planned to stop taking notes here but maybe I'll try one more round.  A richness to the feel and flavor of this might also relate to nuts, to something like Brazil or macadamia nut (probably the second).

#5:  that was a really long infusion; I got distracted and forgot the tea.  It's still ok brewed extra strong, just with a stronger underlying base, which has shifted to light green wood tones brewed so strong.  There is no astringency edge to come up but the related feel is stronger, a little towards structured or drier.

This isn't all that close to green tea character, not vegetal, without the same feel edge.  It's hard to compare it to any other tea type; it seems most like yellow tea.  The closest might be a mild green tea like Taiping Hokui, or a fresh and sweet oolong like Bao Zhong / Pouchong.  

Conclusions:

Of course I liked the yellow tea version a lot more.  Maybe it is even better (objectively), beyond just matching what I like most.  Then again I never could relate to what people see in gaba tea versions, which supposedly has to do with feel effect, and it must also relate to preference or openness to that flavor range, the distinctive sourness.

To me the second yellow tea version was really distinctive, interesting, well-balanced, and positive.  Parts of that apply to the first too, the gaba version, but it's hard for me to move completely past that one flavor note.

where I run, beside Diamondhead, with extra clouds since it has been rainy lately

the kids!  it was mix and match outfit day at her school.

Run training update from Honolulu, Hawaii; lessons learned

 

Running has went well while living back in Honolulu; it's a beautiful place to be outside, and the weather is perfect for it.  At least compared to back in Bangkok it is, where it's always way too hot.

This update isn't meant to be informative related to training approach for experienced runners.  I'll still include some "lessons learned" related to experiences at the end, but many runners have been through a lot more training scope than I have.

I've looked into what I might be doing differently if I was training more seriously before, watching the typical training theory videos, which would go better if I was 20 years younger, or on steroids / hormone replacement.  At 55 I need to work around limited recovery capacity.  I'm up to running 37 km / 23 miles per week recently, so related to volume that's not bad, but I'm not running as fast as I was a year ago, so intensity (speed) has needed to drop out, at least until I can work back up to that.

Some general and aesthetic background first:  I live at the Eastern edge of Waikiki, near Diamondhead, and run around Diamondhead three times a week, then out and back the Ala Wai canal after that.  It's beautiful there.  It was a stretch moving up to that weekly volume, but it works out.

view from the Diamondhead hill, on a really early outing

the opposite side of the run, the end of the Ala Wai canal, after circling that volcano

there really are a lot of rainbows here

Back to running progress

That's what run pacing looks like recently, if anything on the fast side.  I brought a watch that tracks heart rate but lost the charging cord on the trip, so I let that part of tracking stats go.  It was interesting varying running intensity but I can feel how that's going, and more typical challenges are pulling together motivation, effort level, sorting through stiffness, and breathing.  

That initial 10 minute km--in the stats / picture--is from walking over to the park (I start it at home since that phone has no active SIM card in it), then a short stretch, with a second warm stretch after a warmup run.  It takes doing loosening up.

A typical route looks like this:

I usually run the 12 1/2 km route, doing the canal out and back; that's slightly longer, going through that other neighborhood area.  There are two hill sections on the route and I'll usually walk a little at the top of the first steeper one, or sometimes both.  Frequency looks like this:

I wasn't running that far at the beginning of April, the current 12 km, and switching over took some doing.  Sometimes I walk a good bit, hike, ride a bike, or swim, and I've been ice skating twice in the past month, and mixing activities can tax training recovery.

Lessons learned

All well and good, but what do I understand differently now after this experience?  I ran an equivalent amount last May, but still my impression of it has changed a little.

Effort required to run at a relatively normal pace, for me, that 6 minutes per km (9 1/2 minute miles), stays on the high side.  I could be clearer as to why.  It seems like it's hard to improve conditioning without varying training intensity, doing faster shorter interval running, so that the normal pace feels more moderate.  That risks injury for me, if I don't take that slow, and for whatever reasons my interest has been to increase training distance instead.  I'm really running to stay in shape, and to experience it, not to train for fast race times.  I don't race.

I haven't fallen into a clear routine for timing, related to exactly when I run, and I think that throws off making improvements.  Early morning is most pleasant, but I'm not a morning person, and that requires running without ingesting any caffeine first.  I need to also eat when I drink tea to protect my stomach, or at least that's how I see it, so I can't run too early if I have a light breakfast.  Sometimes I run in the afternoon instead.

It's interesting how relative effort related to body tension and breathing forms works out.  For pushing it for distance increase it's hard to fully recover, and carrying leg and body tension from not being completely recovered seems to add a lot of extra work (and adds a few minor aches, of course).  It's odd how the two things inter-relate, experience of tension and effort level required to run.  I've experimented with shifting posture, relaxing my shoulders, and using different hand positioning to help with relaxation while running, but I would expect that what works for anyone is a bit individual.

Often I'll experience a very stable, slow form of breathing that only evolves as I fully relax, usually after 6 km.  I might push that pace to as fast as 6 minutes per kilometer, but often that's not fully sustainable, and I'll alternate a faster and rougher breathing pattern.  I don't know what that means, but it seems the faster and shallower form might relate to my body clearing lactic acid or carbon dioxide faster, or maybe I just need more oxygen.

Related to that running theme of muscle and soft tissue recovery, very light activity, like swimming or walking, seems to speed that process up.  Youtube running channel content producers always claim that slow "recovery runs" work better than rest days, and it seems that might be right.

I think I could push it a little harder.  I'm concerned about injury, since I've experienced three very minor injuries in the 5 1/2 years I've been running.  Those issues were nothing that required much treatment, all just extended extra soreness in a tendon or ligament, but taking a month or more off running definitely throws off progress.

It's not just that; part of the running experience is about enjoying it, relatively speaking.  Focusing and leaning into the pace over a shorter run, for example for 45 minutes, isn't so bad, but pushing it doesn't work well with longer hour and a half range runs.  I could emphasize the divide that's already happening in these runs, starting slower, and changing pace at the mid-point / 6 km mark, but part of the conditioning input that's not as clear in the stats listing is about grinding out two uphill sections early on.  Leaning into the hill climbs is a little rough but also kind of pleasant.

To offer others advice, for people regularly doing shorter runs or always at a moderate pace, it worked well for me earlier this year to divide a run into an initial slower pace then a later faster one.  It was odd how close the two were in terms of actual running speed, both essentially right around 6 min / km or 9 1/2 min / mile, but easing off a normal pace just a little made it feel much less intense.  In a sense that's like using the first 5k of a 10k / 6+ mile run as a long warm-up, which is probably not ideal for maximizing training effect, but it took the sting out of working up to normal effort level several times a week.

some of that is heat stress, running back in Bangkok

she is hardly ever in the social media photos

light hikes can be nice here, very scenic

ITea World An Hua Dark Tea / Hei Cha

I'm reviewing the third of four hei cha / dark tea versions sent by ITeaWorld for review (many thanks to them).  This follows review of a Liu Bao and Hubei compressed mini-tablet version.  Those were pretty good; better than I expected.  

I hadn't learned it at the time but the Hubei version was processed from black tea, which explains why it didn't seem like a pressed green brick version (what Hubei is known for) would seem as warm in tone as it did.  The Liu Bao was a drinkable, mellow version, not always how those go, but the trade-off of intensity and complexity for more approachable character would be positive for many people.  Maybe it was the pre-fermented style, similar to shou in pu'er; that would explain that.

Before even trying this it wasn't what I expected.  I'm most familiar with a hei cha type from Anhua that's a long compressed log-like shape, which is often then presented as discs, sections cut off that large shape.  Apparently there are other hei cha versions from there.  I looked up a reference that says a little about that:

https://exquisiteleaves.com/anhua-dark-tea-introduction/

Basics

Geography: Anhua Dark Tea is produced in Anhua County and Xinhua County in Hunan Province, China.

History: In 1524, the expression ‘dark tea’, was used for the first time in print. It specifically meant dark tea from the Anhua region.

Tea type: As indicated in its name, Anhua Dark Tea belongs to the post-fermented dark tea type.

Tea plant: The tea plants growing around Anhua County are middle-sized bushes.

Processing: ‘Smoking’ / drying the leaves over pinewood is what gives Anhua Dark Tea its unique character. Different types of compression and wrapping result in Anhua Dark Tea’s different variations.

Variations: Heizhuan (Dark Brick), Huajuan (Patterned Roll) and Tianjian (Heavenly Tips) are variations that offer premium teas of the highest quality.

This version is smoked too; you can tell that before brewing it, from the dry leaf smell.  The type I had been familiar with is this one:

https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2012-li-yuan-long-shi-liang-cha-anhua-hei-cha

Qian Liang tea is compressed in a long column (typically 36.5kg) through a laborious process that involves steaming the leaves and funneling them into a three layered cylinder of woven bamboo.  Then a team of 5 to 8 people will simultaneously compress the tea using leverage and then tighten each section with thick bamboo stripling.  Once firmly compressed the Qian Liang "logs" are dried in the sun and then finally cured for months in an indoor warehouse.  In this form they can be aged for decades or even centuries without molding, only improving in taste, aroma and complexity with each passing year!

This other style of tea would tend to be aged a bit before sale, and this version being sold is less than three years old now, as described in part of their website information:

This sells for $20 for 100 grams, for a sample set of 20 of these teas in 5 gram samples.  That's inexpensive as above average quality teas goes but still in a fair range, given hei cha tends to cost a bit less than many types.

On with how it came across.

Review:

#1:  smoky.  It was easy to tell from the dry leaf scent that this is a smoked tea. 

I got distracted online and brewed the first infusion way too strong, and used a flash infusion to dilute it, really drinking two together.  I'll go lighter on the next round; intensity seems pretty good, a bit much brewed long like this.

Pine smoke comes across most; that will probably fade some over the next couple of rounds, letting the rest shine through.  The rest of the flavor profile is pleasant, just less distinct for strong pine smoke overwhelming it.  It tastes clean, warm and rich, and has good depth.  Gongfu brewing may not be ideal for this tea type; often for smokier teas brewing them Western style works better, letting aspects that would turn up across a number of infusions mix together instead.  We'll see, and I can try it again, since it's a sample set with 5 samples of each type.

Some people see warm teas as more a fall and winter theme, and where I am now it's always room temperature out (in Honolulu).  Bangkok is in the middle of a rough heat wave, up to around 40 C / just over 100 F, more iced tea range.  I seem to be fine with drinking different teas at different temperatures, only once in awhile craving something that relates to that theme.  I'm feeling relatively low energy today and some calm, mellow tea like hei cha sounds good, versus getting blasted by high energy sheng, the usual.

it's bright and sunny here but not hot

#2:  smoke still stands out but the profile has already shifted a lot.  There's a little less pine effect in this smoke but the basic smoke taste is perhaps even stronger, like smelling a campfire.  Other lighter and brighter warm tones are just now starting to show through more, but it will probably work better to list them out next round.

#3:  much nicer balance; the smoke is on an even level with the rest, nicely integrated.  It matches the character of the rest well.  I really like smoke teas when the tea base is suitable, like a well-made Lapsang Souchong.  Lots of those don't balance well though.  Warm mineral provides a nice base for the rest, to the extent one sees the layers that way, or else the smoke could be interpreted as such.  It doesn't taste like it would be a complex or fruity tea, beyond that one input, but warm tones are complex, and there is sweetness helping the rest balance well.  The effect is relatively clean; some hei cha can seem a little musty, off in flavor, or even sour.  

It's hard to break down that warm range.  There's mineral, like dark rocks, and warm tones a little closer to black bread.  Maybe very minor inputs relate to spice or dried fruit; it seems complex in comparison to just covering mineral and warm earth range.

#4:  for the rest continually ramping up that smoke really hangs in there.  It's pleasant how full the tea feels in your mouth.  Hei cha tend to be simpler and less refined teas, covering less flavor range, mostly a range of warm earth and mineral, with less developed feel.  The feel is nice (not exceptional, but pleasant), and this has decent complexity, even though the flavor range is complex but narrow set.  Aftertaste is interesting in this too, the way some of that warm mineral hangs around.

#5:  not transitioning much.  I'm not doing the mineral complexity justice here; there are really a few tones mixing in that, like warm rocks, a bit leaning towards spice, and a touch of struck match, a hint of sulfur.  It's not complex in the sense of covering a lot of range, but at least there is complexity within that range.

#6:  this is fading a bit, even for that infusion running longer.  It seems like whenever processing oxidizes or ferments a tea quite a bit, or maybe even related to a roasting transition step, you trade out some durability in the tea for that change.  Sheng would be half finished at this point.  Then again sheng is so intense I would've needed to use much shorter infusions; maybe it's just that.  Brewing that first round as two infusions, both a bit strong mixed together, probably didn't help either.

Conclusions:

Pretty good.  It's a basic kind of tea, as hei cha tends to be, but the smoke component worked well with the rest.  People really into smoked teas might love this, and others could see it as tasting like an ashtray after the initial blast of pine wore off (the smoke form didn't retain the pine note past the initial rounds).  

The first rounds probably would've balanced better if I hadn't brewed the first a bit strong, and this may have been just as good used to prepare three infusions brewed Western style.

The tea itself contributed other flavor range beyond pine, smoke, and mineral, just nothing too distinct.  Still pretty good, for what it is.

Diamondhead, that old volcano we live near, from a beach further away