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Ban Zhang left in all photos (Nannuo right) |
I'm trying two more teas from a tasting set sent by the Chen Sheng Hao vendor. They're a curator vendor, per their description of background, seemingly specializing in sourcing better quality sheng pu'er. I take all marketing claims with a grain of salt, but let's consider their own description:
Meng Hai Chen Sheng Tea Co., Ltd. was established in 2007 by Mr. Chen Shenghe, a tea lover who has worked in the tea industry for more than 50 years. At Chen Sheng Hao, we’re passionate about sharing the rich history and unique flavors of Chinese tea with the rest of the world. Our single origin teas highlight the characteristics of the regions and tea trees from which they’ve grown. Our award winning blends come with a time tested reputation for proper aging.
Sounds good.
I have reviewed two other versions, presented as the more basic range in that set (of 7 small cakes, 28 grams each, divided into four sections in a "candy bar" style). To me presentation as small cakes is an especially catchy form, but of course the tea experience itself is the thing. It worked better this time separating out the leaves, as shown, prying apart the quarter disk section, which removes part of the functional convenience of just breaking off a chunk, but either way does work.
In this round I'm trying one presented as one of the best of the set (a few are described that way, as of unusual origin or award-winning versions), from the Ban Zhang area, and one presented as a conventional example of Nan Nuo origin. I've had good experiences with tea from that area before (both, really), not that I've tried enough that I'm certain I've experienced a typical range.
Their website descriptions (an excerpt from the whole set):
2022 Yin Ban Zhang (银班章)
A blended raw Pu-erh selected materials from the Ban Zhang area. This tea has powerful "Chaqi". The beginning taste is bitter and slightly astringent with quick sweet aftertaste.
2022 Ban Po Zhai (半坡寨)
Sourced from Nannuo mountain with a light sweet orchid aroma, subtle woody aroma, and lingering sweet aftertaste.
Quality level is only indirectly implied in those descriptions, of course. It's interesting how it works out, that there is a difference. It's not as simple as that one factor shifting how positive an impression is though, but that's a lot of it.
Review:
Yin Ban Zhang: as always a little light for a full breakdown, on this first round, but then that's how I try teas. Sweetness is very nice; that definitely stands out. Flavors are bright and complex already, largely in a floral range. That flavor set is catchy already, towards fruit, or juicyfruit gum. A hint of early bitterness implies that will pick up.
Ban Ph Zha (Nannuo): a little flat compared to the other, but that could easily also relate to starting slower. The two mini-cake materials separated differently, and this stayed in full chunks, while the other flaked off to become more loosened tea. This seemed to be pressed a little harder. I'll give it a few extra seconds and describe more next round.
Ban Zhang 2: this is nice. Bitterness did ramp up quickly, and sweetness and very complex flavor dialed up as well. I suppose it's possible that there is a type-typical flavor range for Ban Zhang area teas that this expressed. I've tried three versions from there, I think, or at least teas presented as such, but my memory isn't good enough to reach back to three different tastings over a number of years. I could consult review notes here but won't; teas vary by other factors than typical character per origin area.
Flavor intensity and that balance of sweetness with bitterness is nice. And the feel structure, and the way aftertaste lingers much longer than is typical. I'm not sure if I'll get far with breaking this down further than tasting like floral range towards fruit, leaning towards juicyfruit gum effect. Those markers identify this as better quality tea (intense and sweet flavor, positive bitterness, feel and aftertaste), but I'm not sure I enjoy it so much more for it seeming better. Good complex flavor and positive character is already enough for me, and some of the aspects that seem like quality markers are more positive to experience than others. It is interesting.
Nannuo: warmer toned. It comes across as more subtle, but that's really due to the relative intensity of the other version. It's in a normal range. Warmer mineral is where that tone is mostly expressed. Flavor range is floral; I'll see about adding to that description in the following rounds. It seems good; flavors are positive, the bitterness is at an appropriate level, a little lower, in good balance, with decent feel and some aftertaste experience.
I've been drinking fairly approachable Vietnamese young sheng, brand new versions, and it's interesting getting back to more of a Yunnan style. Both of these may have been more challenging two years ago, but probably still fine to drink then. Two years of normal storage for moderately tightly pressed cake won't change so much, but approachability may increase, and more extreme edge of bitterness and astringency may transition some. A vague freshness will drop off, but that's not the kind of aspect that's easy to describe or place. For a lot of young sheng limited initial change is mostly positive.
Ban Zhang 3: hitting its stride; more intense and integrated. Even at a slightly lower 7 grams proportion--I surely brew 8 or 9 more often--I'll need to keep times fast to keep intensity / brewed strength moderate. Tones warm up, matching the other's. Stored in warm and humid enough conditions these really could have changed a good bit in two years, but at a guess that input was moderate. Then again I'm comparing that to Bangkok, one of the hottest and most humid places one could find, where a year can really change a pu'er.
Flavors are complex; there's a lot one could say for interpretation. Range is mostly floral, but to me it leans towards fruit. It's hard to specify which fruit, but to add a guess similar to fresh lychee, maybe also with a touch of citrus. That warming occurred across mineral range; if it keeps extending it might resemble some sort of spice tone more, since that's a relatively common transition pattern.
Nannuo: as the other picks up more and more intensity this seems more and more flat. Really it's pretty good; flavors are positive, feel is nice, there is some aftertaste experience, moderate bitterness complements the rest, and warm tones join floral range. It doesn't necessarily need to be pushed to express more intensity; there's no reason it should need to match the other tea. It's just a different kind of experience.
Ban Zhang 4: vegetal range picks up, a bit towards pine. It's interesting, as combined with the floral range, fruit, and warm mineral. There's a lot going on with this. Feel deepens and becomes richer too, trading out structure for fullness. With the general warming tone across infusions it's a lot of transition to experience.
Nannuo: I do like this tea, even though it's much simpler, less intense and complex. Warm mineral and floral range is joined by a touch more fruit, towards dried fruit, like apricot. Bitterness has eased up, in a really limited, moderate level at this point (maybe still a little higher than in the young Vietnamese sheng I mentioned, for reference). Feel structure is significant but not challenging. There is some aftertaste experience but it's not pronounced in comparison with the Ban Zhang version.
This tea would seem better if not directly compared with the other; it gives up intensity across all of the aspects range.
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before mixing rounds to adjust for brewing these too long |
Ban Zhang 5th and 6th infusions: it's not a great idea to comparison taste this tea along with another version; that's not really a surprise. The flavor and mouthfeel intensity is going to be adjoined with body feel effect and impact on your stomach.
People value the former, the head and body buzz, but I tend to take steps to offset all of it. I ate breakfast just before this tasting, and just ate some mixed nuts and chocolate to settle my stomach. I don't have stomach problems, but still take steps to keep it that way, not blasting down a liter of strong tea with no protective food input. Eating offsets feel effects, noticing cha qi, which is fine for me.
These teas would be fine brewed much lighter, using 10 second infusion times, or less, but I'm not making that adjustment. Writing while tasting is part of it; it's easy to lose focus for 30 seconds, and that's way too long an infusion time.
Intensity really is a bit much this round. Typically I'd brew the next round as a flash infusion and combine the two, to dilute that. This may be the first time I've used that hack during a tasting, but let's do that.
This is still strong tea. Brewed infusion strength is back to normal, diluted down, but lighter than normal might make even more sense. Sweetness is intense, floral range and other flavors also are, rich feel and aftertaste are intense. Even tempered by food input the drug-like cha qi effect is strong.
I don't identify as a drug user, but then it's odd how tea and exercise experiences I seek out probably include a lot of that kind of input, which is surely no accident. I run like I'm training for something, 10 to 12 km at a time, even in heat, pushing up hill sections, and never connect that with craving the endorphin buzz from it. I drink a lot of wild-origin tea, which seems pleasant to me, and could possibly be safer, but I probably also crave feel effect that I'm not explicitly noticing. Usually; sometimes I do notice.
Nannuo: plainer, simpler, and less intense, but this would come across differently without the comparison. It's good, complex, refined, and well-balanced. But across all the aspect scope the other is a little more extreme, sweeter, more floral, with more supporting flavor range, richer in feel, with longer aftertaste, just dialed up. The other tea would make more sense if you drank it brewed much lighter, appreciating that intensity in a different experience context.
This works well at a normal infusion strength (normal or medium for me; that would vary by person).
It's tempting to say that per some potential preference it could be seen as better than the other as a result. That seems a stretch, but it doesn't seem to work to say that the other one is just better since everything is so much more dialed up. In one sense it is just better, but in another just different. It's clearly better quality tea, and the styles are vaguely similar enough that it doesn't work to say that someone might love this one but not the Ban Zhang tea. It's possible, but probably not.
Next round: trying them lighter the Ban Zhang is better, pleasant that way, and the Nannuo is way too thin. It may be giving up a little sweetness already, or it could just be how it comes across brewed too light. I'll drop the note-taking here, since it runs long for me to write and readers to go through, and 14 cups of tea is plenty at one time (over an hour or more, this has been, since I've also been doing other things).
I suppose these did fade a little fast for drinking them on the stronger side, related to trying a few more rounds. It was a busy day yesterday, as my weekends tend to be, and rushing trying two teas and taking notes led to less careful brewing, letting infusion times run a bit longer as a result.
Conclusions:
I've concluded so much already, and don't want to just type it again. It was interesting how one tea was so much better, that much more distinctive, intense, and higher in quality level, and the other still kind of held its own, to a limited degree. It was in a character range I like; that helped.
Maybe both versions resembled what I've tried before from those origins; as I remember they did. Styles vary some too, so I mean within that limitation.
For one being flagged as representing a distinctive, unique tea version and the other representing an area and different kind of experience they were both positive and appropriate. The Nan Nuo version is better than a typical factory tea version, of course, more in the range in-house specialty production teas tend to land in. Not on the high side related to that typical quality level, since plenty of vendors are putting out really nice teas as their best versions, but good, and pleasant, certainly not representative of lower-medium quality "basics" tasting sets.
Related to separating the leaves initially, breaking them apart, that seemed to help with consistency of brewing. People who are ok with--or really don't care for--brewing dragonball forms would probably know where they would stand on this kind of issue.
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