I'm reviewing a second tea from Oriental Leaf, a China based vendor who sent teas for review (many thanks!). They seemed to specialize in hei cha as much as anything else, the first version's type that I reviewed. That tea was quite pleasant, a Fu brick golden-flowers version. This is sheng pu'er.
It's a little odd that I'm not seeing mention of what it is beyond that, sheng from where. This is represented as TooPure Raw/Sheng Puerh Tea Cake, with a code number identification of T007. It lists for $2 for a 10 gram sample, and $68.50 for a standard cake (357 grams).
It says that it's a blend; it's possible that a number of location inputs was used. Someone might interpret this as "generic sheng," as being too plain to have an origin location, but blending different areas' teas together can make sense. It's possible that this is a main White 2 Tea vendor theme, that it can work to make well above average sheng versions by creating atypical, broad area sourced mixes, versions more balanced than any of the inputs.
This is the third China based vendor that I've been contacted by and have reviewed teas from, two this year, with ITea World originating last year. I can't really speculate what's going with that, why it's happening now, when it hadn't before, but of course I'm going to guess anyway. It would only require for a tea vendor to know a bit about tea, and hopefully tea vending, then also about online sales, website sales page development, and English language use to pull it all together. Maybe the last part is a main influence, that even though relations between China and the US have been a bit up and down as of late the broad study of English language there was initiated quite awhile back.
It's even more speculative, but a cooling in the Chinese economy could be adding pressure for people to initiate new sales ventures by seeking opportunities abroad.
I suppose it doesn't matter. I think this recent shift is probably positive for "Western" consumers. There have been a limited number of main sales channel businesses that have supported a lot of the Western tea enthusiast markets, and expanding on that can allow for supply and demand to settle in a more natural way, for more options to emerge, and potentially for value to increase.
Review:
#1: as always the first round is too subtle to get a full experience from it, but it points to where things are going. This seems relatively age-transitioned, not like 10 or 20 year old versions, but reasonably far along for this being a 2021 tea (shown on the wrapper). In quite dry conditions a sheng might only transition this much in 6 to 8 years.
I'm not as opposed to dry storage as many are; it's a way for teas that don't need a lot of transition to stay relatively the same for awhile, losing the most intense astringency and bitterness slowly over time. Then sometimes an odd flavor note can enter in, one part of what people object to, tasting a bit sour, or like cardboard.
It's a warm-toned version of sheng. It probably was before any aging input; this is one part of a broad continuum of normal range. Warmer mineral base usually adjoins spice or aromatic wood tones in such sheng. Plenty of people could go further, and place origins for which this general style is typical, but I'm not really great at keeping a large matrix mapping of origins to styles in mind. The more common Yunnan origins I'd be sort of familiar with some character from, but then even for that I'd be mixing broad and narrower areas, based as much on how things tend to get marketed as related to geographical scale designations that make sense.
I'll review this based on character, describing aspects, and I can place quality level to an extent, but not so much trueness to type tied to origin areas. It might be possible to look up more about this cake, and producer, but that doesn't always work.
#2: I brewed this round fairly quickly, but intensity is definitely still moderate, not light. That's normal for sheng at this proportion, that faster infusions are fine (maybe brewing 8 or 9 grams per 100 ml gaiwan; I kept it moderate, related to my inclination to really pack out the gaiwan). Heavier, warmer tones pick up. Bitterness and astringency are fine, still medium, lending complexity to the experience. Sweetness level is kind of medium, not as pronounced as it could be.
Flavor range is warm: warm mineral, towards wood tones, with a bit of spice. It may develop to include more spice or dried fruit range; that's a nice transition for this kind of style. For now there is some floral range supporting the warm tones, but it's mostly oriented towards aromatic wood or even incense spice, just more woody at this point. It's a little early to be speculating about earlier starting point or aging potential but I'll get to that.
#3: it might've picked up just a little more complexity; as far as that goes it's fine. The warm-toned character is what would make or break this tea for people.
I've been mostly drinking intense, sweet, floral and fruity young sheng for awhile, more of it from Vietnam and Thailand than from China. Producers in these places often include a little extra withering in the processing to add some oxidation, countering or eliminating some of the bitterness and astringency. The effect is quite different than when moderate aging does the same thing, 3 or 4 years, or at a higher level 6 to 8 years, all depending on storage conditions.
That other range of teas is relatively opposite from this one. It's not really challenging, to me, with the 3 years of transition moderating aspects that probably were so earlier on. But this character never was what I liked most in sheng range.
It's pleasant in a sense; I don't mean that it's of low quality, or is hard to appreciate in general. Quality level is kind of moderate, but style is as much or more of a concern. It's decent, but it's the kind of sheng that is warmer in tone, again towards spice and wood, which will probably age to taste a lot like wood in another decade or so. Or maybe spice tones will evolve more; I can't be sure. There is a "greener" vegetal range countering that warmth, offsetting it, giving this complexity and balance. It's divided between greener wood and a connection to that other floral range.
#4: more of the same, really. Intensity is nice in this; it's at a decent level. With more sweetness and just one more interesting aspect range it might come across better, differently. As it is it's fine, for the character it expresses. It will probably be similar and keep swapping out edgier, greener range for the next few years, so this may be fine as a kind of medium aged version.
Related to general quality level I think it's pretty decent. It may even be exceptional in another decade; I'm not the right person to guess. Teas that emphasize wood tones haven't been a favorite for me, in the past, so I think the same kind of challenge in preference would probably carry over to aged range too.
This may pick up just a little more complexity as it settles in to this local climate, the unusually high level of heat and humidity. It rested for a couple of weeks but that's not really enough. Storage conditions can impart slight negative aspects to teas, for example a mustiness from pushing it for humidity level, that can fade over a longer but limited cycle, over a couple of months, but this tastes clean; it didn't experience that.
#5: the balance is fine; it might be integrating different flavors range better as it transitions through infusions. This may be a blend of relatively different inputs, accounting for why it covers warm mineral, wood tones, floral range, and vegetal edge that's harder to isolate, I suppose closest to green wood, or potentially interpreted as some sort of medicinal range. Overall intensity is good, which could've related to it being relatively challenging initially.
It's strange claiming that this may work out well as a medium aged tea, in the 5 to 7 year range. I've drank plenty of sheng aged to a moderate level, but it's an odd theme, to me at least. Some versions can be very pleasant once initial challenging range settles out, without the tea needing a full 15 to 20 year cycle to age, but more often it's at one extreme or the other, best when drank within the first 3 years or else best quite age-transitioned. A vendor friend that I just met (again) mentioned liking some sheng at medium age ranges (5 to 10 years, or whatever that meant); it's not that atypical a theme.
I'm not seeing this as competing well with the narrower origin, newer style, higher quality in-house teas that tend to sell for $90 to 100 per cake, when brand new. Really that mixes a few separate themes: quality level, style / character type, preference, and market demand for a particular style. The last part relates to different vending outlets; price range shifts by the other factors, but also just by where a tea is bought. It's the style in particular that throws off making that assessment. I think quality level is fine for this tea, it's that the style doesn't match what I tend to like most, but it's still pleasant.
In comparison with most "factory sheng" this is at a higher quality level. Then again style just varies too; for teas produced from chopped or broken material astringency tends to be much higher, and those can be quite hard to appreciate without a full aging cycle. With enough acclimation, and within a unique preference context, someone could drink 5 year old Xiaguan tuo tea or Dayi 7542 and like it, but it generally doesn't work out like that.
#6: it's a gradual process but this is improving over the rounds; that's a good sign. A deeper fragrant floral range shows through more now, a perfume-like character. It's replacing the warmer tones, so this comes across as lighter.
That mineral edge has an unusual character I've not been describing, I suppose tasting like rocks, or even tipping a bit towards cement, and that's still present, but also in a lighter balance. It was overshadowed by warmer range earlier on, which is fading across rounds now.
#7: this is the best this has been, more floral and fragrant than before, with rich feel replacing astringency that came across as structure earlier on. Often teas in a similar flavor range, really more applicable to those earlier rounds, when wood stood out more, can exhibit a thinness in the feel and general character, and this doesn't. It's complex, feel is full enough, and aftertaste extends the impression of complexity. I suppose to "name names" some Changtai teas tend to be like that, limited across a dimension that can be hard to identify, although I suppose their higher end range wouldn't be, and complexity, feel, and the rest would be just fine.
I've mentioned bitterness in relation to this tea, but it might've come across as understated in the description. Sheng tends to be bitter, until it ages quite a bit, and at a moderate level I might just mention it in passing and then drop it, accepting it as normal context, even though it is a main input / aspect. It's moderate in this version, but still quite significant, in a normal range.
Over time sheng drinkers accept bitterness as a positive input, as giving balance to the rest, but for people new to the type it could seem a little challenging. Even for me drinking straight through 7 rounds gets to be a lot; it's easier to experience when drinking tea with food, as I typically do with breakfast. Then your palate can switch between experiences, and the effect doesn't seem to build up so much. Feel and overall intensity can be a bit much too; this is strong tea.
#8: this is softer, more fragrant, and more approachable at this stage, I suppose potentially even fading slightly in intensity, but not much, if any. Probably for people not adapted to sheng intensity brewing this kind of tea lighter would make sense, using a proportion of 5 grams for a 100 ml device, and still using moderate brewing times [I just noticed that's their proportion recommendation on their web page, during editing these notes; that's an unusual coincidence].
It's tempting to try to place quality level for this tea even further; I've been drinking some Yunnan sheng lately, and lots from other places. But again I think the quality level isn't likely to be an issue for people as much as the style, whether or not they like this range of tea aspects. It will be interesting to try this a few more times, to get a deeper impression of it, to see if it changes over some weeks, or if being more familiar with the range helps me relate to it. Then the next theme would take longer, seeing how it changes over the next couple of years.
Conclusions:
I've already concluded enough, but I can clarify my interpretation as a recommendation (for or against the tea, I guess). For someone just exploring sheng this might be fine, but typically people buy samples early on, to avoid being stuck with teas they don't like.
For people onto the middle of the experience curve it depends on preference for character / aspects; some would like warmer toned sheng versions more than I do. I really liked that hei cha version, which of course is warm in tone, so I can clarify this clarification further. Aspects work as sets, with the overall balance either making sense and working for someone or not. Often one particular aspect can cause the rest to fall into or out of balance, inputs like sweetness, bitterness, or astringency.
For sheng I like a high level of sweetness, and floral tones, or versions including fruit even more. Jing Mai sheng tends to be approachable (to relate this to a somewhat broad origin area, which seems to often relate to a standard form, even though not all versions would), and a typical aspect set works for me, lighter floral range, which often includes a bit of pine.
I suppose related to liking Thai and Vietnamese sheng made to be even sweeter and more approachable, often using some extra oxidation input to achieve that, one might say that I like "oolong pu'er" variations.
If someone wanted to try a whole cake of a sheng type (which probably isn't the best idea early on, even though that's one approach I used) this could work, related to being approachable. People sample first for a reason though; trying this and others they sell, and some hei cha, would place it in relation to preference better than guessing from a description.
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