Lincang and Fenqing Fu cake hei cha

 

Lincang origin version

Fengqing origin version

Fengqing version exterior; it's slightly darker than the other version

Lincang left, Fengqing right, in all photos

I'm reviewing two more Fu brick (cake) teas from Oriental Leaf; many thanks for them sending them for review.  Again these include plenty of golden flowers, Eurotium Cristatum, the fungus said to add positive character, complexity, and maybe even health benefits to this type of hei cha.  I'll start with their description:

On Taoism - Jingyang Golden Flower Fu Brick Tea - 190g Cake ($38.50 for 190 gram cake)

This 190-gram round Golden Flower Fu tea cake is the miniature packaging version of another of our best-selling 350g cakes. Although it is small in size and a bit lighter in weight, the quality of the tea is the same as that of the popular product.

The classic Golden Flower Fu Brick Tea from On Taoism Tea Factory is a signature product of our tea house.

We offer two options:

One is black-wrapped, made from grade one dark tea from Lincang, Yunnan, with a more intense tea aroma.

The other is yellow-wrapped and made from a particular grade one dark tea from Fengqing, Yunnan, with a deeper tea aroma.

Both types of tea undergo post-fermentation and flowering processes in Jingyang. The buds in the red packaging are more tender, while those in the black packaging are more durable for brewing.

These high-quality compressed tea cakes were produced in 2020. They stand out for their ability to be stored long-term and transform, resulting in a more mellow taste.

The most distinctive feature is the high density of golden flowers in the compressed tea cake. These golden flowers, a beneficial microorganism, signify high-quality Fu Brick Tea. To emphasize this feature, workers split the tea cake in half before it left the factory, allowing you to see the dense golden flowers upon receiving the tea. As mentioned in a previous blog, the number of golden flowers is a crucial quality indicator of Fu Brick Tea; the more golden flowers, the better the quality.

This Fu Brick Tea, with its unique round cake shape, supports the traditional and natural growth of the golden flower fungus. Unlike the brick shape of traditional pressed tea, this tea undergoes a unique post-fermentation process using Jingyang water in Jingyang. This process, involving controlled exposure to moisture and air, enhances the tea's flavor and aroma. Thanks to the cotton paper packaging, the rich, high aroma can be appreciated even before brewing.

The Golden Flower Fu Brick Tea offers a unique taste and brewing experience. The tea leaves, known for their durability, can be brewed over 15 times. The taste combines fresh, sweet notes and a returning sweetness with a clear and bright soup base. The On Taoism Tea Factory maintains a clean workshop, ensuring the tea's high quality without washing.

I checked and that larger version (On Taoism - Jingyang Golden Flower Fu Brick Tea - 350g Cake, also from 2020) costs $65.50 for a 350 gram cake (19 cents a gram), which is relatively close in price.

It's a little confusing separating out what I've experienced of the two cakes in relation to this limited description, since I always add the product background after the tasting part.  The black labeled version, the Lincang (on the left in all these photos), is said to have more intense aroma, and the other tan labeled version, from Fengqing, is said to have deeper aroma.  If by deeper they mean warmer in tones that's how I placed it, and it might be slightly more complex.

The color difference is interesting (the Fengqing being darker in appearance); there has to be more to the story about fermentation processing differences.  I suppose in the end it's more about the experience than the story.  Both were good.  I think I liked the Fengqing version more, but that might change, if I brewed both a number of times, in different ways.  I might use a Gongfu / gaiwan brewing approach and relate how that goes in a different post.

As far as value, is $38.50 per 190 grams a good value?  That's 20 cents a gram, equivalent to a 357 gram sheng cake costing about $70.  It's hard to say.  I don't doubt that this is a unique character and quality level offering for hei cha, that if you kept trying lower cost versions, which would be out there, they mostly probably wouldn't match it for quality and distinctiveness, over and over.  There could be exceptions, but you might own kilograms of lower quality teas before you found one, unless sampling first worked out.

The other Fu brick tea I reviewed from them (YXT Jingyang Fu Tea Classic Yellow Can 300g, reviewed here, described in a vendor page here) sold for $50 for a 300 gram tin, so for 17 cents a gram.  It wasn't that far off this range, but as far as I remember these are a bit more distinctive.  I'd have to try all three to really confirm that; I last tried that within the last week or so, but it can be hard placing the finest level aspects.

One difference is whether or not these can be bought as samples; these small cakes cannot.  If someone knows that they like this general range of tea I don't think buying one for $38.50 poses much risk; they're quite nice, and type-typical, if anything just better than average.  Determining which one of the two they might like better is a different story.  To the extent I describe one as more positive than the other that may relate mostly to my own preference.

For background context I'm on day 3 of a 5 day fast, not eating for that time period.  That changes my palate a little but not too much.  Sweetness seems to come across slightly differently.  I'm not concerned about these affecting my stomach, as most tea types would, since I checked on that effect yesterday, trying another Fu version they sent.  It's like drinking shu pu'er; not a problem.

Review:

brewed Western style; this should be as favorable as using a Gongfu approach

#1, Lincang:  pretty good; brewed a little light.  I'm not familiar with Western brewing this type of tea, and also not familiar with how much weight the flakes off this cake amount to.  Eyeing out sheng pu'er to brew in a gaiwan is familiar; it always just works out.  Even for Western brewing sheng I might not get it completely right; I just know how that tea looks in a gaiwan, even if varying compression changes the appearance and form.

Flavor is nice.  Of course it's in that odd range, including a dark bread tone, with a bit of yeast input, warm mineral, and decent sweetness.  A bit of what comes across as non-distinct spice adds complexity.  It might be towards fennel seed, matching the dark bread flavor range.  I'm not noticing much of a dried fruit input; a very limited amount of that range could turn up in similar teas.

Feel is pretty good; on the full side.  Those aspects trail as aftertaste, adding more impression of intensity and complexity.  There are no noticeable flaws.

All that is positive, but how good is this, compared to the other versions, or in general?  It being being brewed differently than I've most often been brewing these and my palate being a little off related to fasting make it hard to judge that.  It might be slightly more complex than the YXT Jinyang version, or slightly more distinctive, but it might not be; I might be remembering that wrong.

Fengqing:  warmer in tone, of course with some overlap.  The dark bread tone is darker, more a pumpernickle instead of a dark rye.  The mineral is darker (warmer, or even heavier, however one chooses to frame that).  

There is still a light aspect range in between yeast and fruit in this, which is comparable in the other version, which I only summarized as yeast-like there, stopping short of describing that as fruit.  It's like a citrus peel sort of edge.  In going back and tasting the first a hint of fruit tone is there too, but more pronounced in this one, easier to pick up.  That might relate to this being brewed slightly stronger; proportion seems a bit higher for it, but only a little.  

Again it's hard to judge the amount in the flakes, the way the tea separates.  It wouldn't be with just a little more exposure, but this tea type is still a little new to me, in the sense of brewing it regularly.  I first explored Fu brick teas ages ago, maybe 7 years back, but of course that doesn't help with judging an infusion's worth by appearance.

Those darker tones and the fruit make this come across as closer to chen pi shu pu'er.  It's not like that, instead much earthier in tone, maybe with a little more depth, and way less citrus.  In this it's a faint hint, not as strong as the yeast-like aspect, which might come across more like an aromatic spice.

This is complex enough that someone with a good imagination could see all sorts of flavors in it.  I suppose brewing both Gongfu style would really lend itself to that; the compounds and flavors that are extracted shifts some round to round.  One of the strengths of this tea type is that you can brew it quite strong and appreciate an intense and complex character.  I didn't this time; these were brewed for about 4 minutes, or maybe 3 1/2.  I'll give them a longer soak next round to see how that goes, but of course some of the input of the "golden flowers" fungus has already extracted, so the flavor profile was going to shift either way.

Someone suggested simmering this type of teas in an online comment.  That could be interesting.  I wouldn't expect it to be so different than using a long soak, a 7 or 8 minute Western infusion, but maybe it would be.  Eventually I'll probably get to that. 

Lincang version leaves, left, are definitely a little lighter

Lincang, second infusion:  this is pretty strong; I let this soak for over 15 minutes, essentially fully brewing out.  The infusion strength is different, and flavors come across differently.  Earthy tones are all the more dominant, a strong version of autumn leaf.  That still includes some bread tones, like a dark rye, again including some spice range, along the line of fennel seed.  

One light tone I associate with the golden flowers (fungus) relates to a yeasty aspect, not completely separated from a brighter fruit tone, but again not exactly like fruit.  If you think of a warm citrus input, like a chen pi / dried tangerine peel, then it seems like that.

Is it better brewed stronger?  I think so.  Body is nice and stout, the feel.  I suppose it even resembles one part of a brown ale or stout beer character, that dark bread-like range.  As with any tea type not everyone would love this, but people on this page for aspect preference would.  It might be a little better than the better of the other two Fu hei cha versions from Oriental Leaf, or maybe just different.  

It would help to try all three together, ideally with brewing dialed in, and probably not while fasting.  My palate is fine, I can taste it in a similar way, it's not like at the end of being sick, when things are muted.  There's just some slight variation.

Fengquing:  this is even more different.  The fruit tone in this shifted; it's not mostly a warm citrus range now.  It's hard to place though, because it's a bit complex.  One part might be like dried apricot, but that's hard to separate out from the warmer tones that are stronger.  Warm earthy range is still a bit like pumpernickel bread, one part of it, and there's warm mineral range, but it's complex, not limited to that list.  Maybe it's just related to this being brewed from a slightly higher proportion but I seem to like it better.

Overall tone is warmer, and there might be a touch more fruit, setting up a different kind of balance or different inputs.  It comes across as more complex and intense.  The wet leaves are much darker; there is more of a story there too.  Looking at the wet leaves the difference in leaf amount is quite limited; this might be brewing to a slightly higher intensity level without that being a main factor.

One nice part of this tea experience is what isn't there; there is no pronounced astringency, no rough feel, no off earthy flavors, and of course no bitterness, or objectionable mineral tones.  You could brew this as strong as you like and there's nothing to avoid or work around.  Or it would work lighter, as in the first infusion.  To me why not go inky strong; it's suited for that.  These would work well thermos brewed, or "grandpa style."

And it's easy on your stomach.  If you try drinking most kinds of teas, especially this much of them, after 2 1/2 days off eating you're going to be in trouble.  Shu pu'er is pretty forgiving for that, and aged white you can get away with, just not at this dosage, drinking four large cups.  I always feel a deep emptiness two or more days into fasting, and that doesn't drop out, but there is no discomfort from drinking these, even plenty of them.

I'll skip taking notes on a third round; I'll need to keep this moderate, and two giant mugs of tea over an hour + is plenty.  It would be nice to conclude if these really were better than the YXT version, but I can't confirm that from memory.  They seemed a little more complex and interesting, but it's a stretch to conclusively say that.  I'll try these brewed Gongfu style later, and see if it works out better, or not as well.  

I wanted to also share photos related to making a holy basil / tulsi tisane during this fast, a chance to use herbs from our garden.  It was quite pleasant, and the first time I've used that herb as a tisane in a long time.

there's a few holy basil plants growing, and a small lime tree in the photo center

I've been brewing tea for the plants too, from fallen leaves

2022 Yiwu gushu sheng pu'er and 2023 Gedeng arbor sheng

I'm reviewing two more sheng pu'er from Tea Mania, a Yiwu and a Gedeng version.  Yiwu needs no introduction, and Gedeng isn't familiar, so I'll refer to the site descriptions for background (for both):

Yiwu Gushu 2022 ($100 for 200 grams)

For this bingcha tea leaves of up to 300 year old tea trees (gushu) from Yiwu were used and made into a bingcha. A certain similarity to the very-popular Lucky Bee can’t be denied. In addition to the typical Yiwu aroma, there is a well known depth and clarity from the gushu leaves and a hint of camphor.

Who are Tea Masters Panda and Yang Ming?

Tea Masters Panda and Yang Ming are good friends and experts when it comes to Pu-erh. Yang Ming is a local tea farmer of Yiwu and descendants from a family with a long tradition in Pu-erh making. Incidentally, our popular Lucky Bee teas are from Yang Ming’s tea fields. 

I guess 50 cents a gram sounds reasonable for this type and quality of tea.  It's beyond what I would spend on tea, but it seemed pretty good to me (I always add the descriptions after making notes).  The only description here is a little like Lucky Bee, that character is standard for Yiwu, and it includes a hint of camphor.  I didn't notice the camphor, but it did seem like normal Yiwu range to me.

Gedeng Arbor Pu-erh (note the listed version is 2020, and I've reviewed 2023) $83 for 357 gram cake 

Tea Master Panda has graciously shared with us a prized gem from his personal collection: the Gedeng Arbor Pu-erh tea. Known for its profound and rich aroma, this tea, meticulously preserved, stands as a unique treasure for tea aficionados.

Arbor tea

The Gedeng Arbor Pu-erh tea is crafted from leaves harvested from Arbor tea trees, some of which are up to 100 years old, in the Gedeng region. These leaves are pressed into bingcha using traditional granite stones. While there is some resemblance to other teas of the six old tea mountains, the Gedeng Arbor Pu-erh is more herbal and full-bodied. In addition to this typical Gedeng aroma, there is a depth and clarity, along with a hint of camphor.

This makes comparison with a listed item tricky, because this is a 2020 version instead of 2023, the sample that I tried.  I specifically mention in these notes that this tea is in a good place now, and I wouldn't hold onto it for another year or two if I owned it, I'd just drink it.  I'm sure that it's fine as a 4 year old version, maybe better in a limited sense, and the starting point may have been somewhat similar, that year's version.  Those are all still just guesses though.

Maybe the one unusual flavor note I keep mentioning, or set of them, is a "typical Gedeng aroma."  Again I'm not so sure about the camphor.  It seems like the kind of thing that people end up looking for, and finding often enough, and then I don't.  Once in a long while something will taste like camphor to me but that's rare.  In talking to another friend recently about this particular aspect he guessed that maybe people tend to place what seems like pine flavor as camphor, related to expecting it, while others use a different interpretation related to not expecting it.  Who knows.

If this was identical to the 2023 version then 23 cents a gram (what that works out to) would be a pretty good price for that tea.  There is a running "older is better" understanding when it comes to sheng, that a few years of age are better than none or one, and 20 years is better than 10, but to me the first comparison doesn't always work.  Some teas that are approachable and pleasant right away only lose positive character, even after as short a time as two years (over that first year there is change, but typically not a complete shift).  

The 2022 Yiwu was considerably more age-transitioned (changed by fermentation, really) than the 2023 Gedeng; two more years could change a lot.  I'm not implying any particular conclusion here, just talking around how the inputs and outputs work out.  

Preference also factors in; there would be people who tend to always love 3 or 4 year old sheng versus new, 1, or 2 year old versions, and also the opposite, in relation to more approachable character sheng.

small discs again; Yiwu is on the left in all photos

Review: 

Yiwu, #1:  these are really on their second infusion; I let the discs soak for one minute first, then tore them into pieces, then this is a second round, brewed for another minute.  It's not optimum, since it will brew tea that had wetted first too strong, and not start in on the core of what is still compressed, but it's one way to jump-start the process.  

Doing a lot of messing around with partially soaking them and using a pu'er knife to separate them apart is another way, or just brewing the outer part in early rounds and the inner tea only after a half dozen infusions.

Character is warmer than I expected; this is two year old tea, but it has shifted a good bit in that time (I expect; surely this didn't start out slightly oxidized).  Rate of change depends on storage conditions; I guess this wasn't stored in a very cool and dry place, which is probably more optimum.  Better than here too, in Bangkok, where teas and people living here end up being heated and steamed, living daily life at 90 F / 30 C and 70% RH.  Living again and storing teas back in Honolulu would be good, dropping that temperature a little.

It's floral, I guess.  It has decent complexity; there's really a few things going on.  Floral range is part of that, maybe even complex floral range, then most of warmer tones might relate to a mineral layer.  There's often a catchy sweet note in Yiwu, which is generally floral, that I might be able to place more clearly than that, and this has that distinctive flavor aspect, or set.  It's a sort of brightness, that stands out in a complex and refined character.  

There's nothing challenging about this tea, as expected; there is a little bitterness, but not much, and astringency is moderate.

Gedeng:  there's a pronounced fruit note in this.  It reminds me of experiences with Nannuo versions before, how that has stood out in some of them.  Maybe not identical to this but pretty similar.  It has decent complexity too, and just a hint more edge to the feel, but it's also quite approachable.  Again there's very limited bitterness, but some, which is nice for balancing the rest.  For an oolong drinker maybe that's a medium level; I mean for sheng of this age that input is limited.  It's too early to call, on the first infusion that's strong enough to make notes on, but at this stage I really like this version better, for how that one note makes it more unique, standing out in a background of other floral and mineral range.

These will only brew a more conventional round next time; this was while they were still opening up, saturating all of the leaf material, or at least most of it.

Yiwu, #2:  evolving a little, gaining complexity, but not so different.  The depth in this is nice.  Flavor range is fine too, and feel, and aftertaste is positive, but there's another emergent range of it having depth that is something else.  I suppose a mineral base is a part of that, one main thing contributing to it.  It's nice the way that bright and sweet notes, and good complexity, integrate well with warmer and deeper mineral tones.  It seems pretty good.

Gedeng:  this has evolved too, again in the same direction it had been expressing last round.  That one note is really nice, a bright fruit tone.  I could try to describe it in relation to fruit flavors but it's not going to completely work.  It's also mixing with floral range, and a mineral base, and it's not striking me as closely related to one fruit flavor.  Still let's go there.

As far as I know there is no such thing as dried mangosteen, but if there was this might taste like that.  You eat that fruit by chewing the fruit part off from an attached seed; there is no way to pull it apart.  There's a brightness, sweetness, and complexity to this fruit tone, like that.  It's not so far off some forms of dried mango, just not exactly that either.  

Mango isn't just one thing, because there are lots of versions of it, as with apples, and they vary just as much, or maybe more.  I absolutely love my favorite versions of mango but I tend to see the most common ones here more, which aren't as nice.  Then there is the holy grail of versions, something absolutely fantastic that you run across somewhere, and almost never get to see again.  I'm not saying that this tastes like the best possible mango, just going on a tangent there.

Yiwu #3:  I'm brewing both of these a bit stronger than I typically would, because both are approachable and can handle it, and I want to clear through the issue of some not being saturated yet.

Being brewed just a bit stronger than I typically would warmth and mineral range comes out a bit more.  Brewed more lightly the sweeter floral range would stand out more.  I'll try a fast round next time to check on that.  Of course I'm not still brewing these for a minute; I mean that using a 20-some second infusion time makes them stronger than I would usually prepare most sheng.

Again complex floral range stands out most, and warm mineral depth, with sweetness seeming to tie to honey flavor, that warmth.  It's pleasant; it all integrates quite well.  If this is some $1 a gram version, as it probably is, it's in the right character range to demand a high price, I just wouldn't buy teas priced like that [editing note:  it's not, the price is lower than that].  On a relatively open tea budget it could make sense; this is complex, refined, free of any flaws, and sort of on the unique side, except for being one of the most familiar broad origin ranges (there must be many local area distinctions with Yiwu, that I'm not familiar with).

Gedeng:  it evolves a bit.  That one note I've described as similar to a warm dried tropical fruit is changing, more into spice range now.  I've tried to explain what I've meant by "root spice" recently, and it's not unrelated to that.  Like sassafras root, related to root beer; let's leave it at that.  

When you drink a lot of tisanes over a long period of time lots of others come up.  Not if you are using Yogi tea producer sources and such, I mean if you can search a little broader and deeper.  There are bark spices that are out there that are sweet, complex, unique, and distinctive, way beyond cinnamon.  I went through over a decade of exploring tisanes, before I ever got into tea, over a decade ago now, so most of the names of the more interesting types I've long since forgotten.  Sage was my overall favorite; I guess that could work as a recommendation.

It's interesting comparing these two in terms of in reference to my own preference.  I really like that one distinctive note in this Gedeng tea, and it's quite pleasant how it's evolving, and how it integrates with a promising, complex, and refined base of other flavors.  In some abstract sense maybe the Yiwu is better tea, it really has depth and refinement going for it, but this adds an extra touch of interesting character.  Then I suppose others might dislike that flavor instead, and would find it off-putting.  It's funny how preference works out.

Yiwu #4:  I'm blasted from all this tea already; brewing it strong to get it to fully infuse really caught up to me.  I ate a couple of cookies to settle my stomach and slow the drug-like effect input but I'll need to take a break after this.  I suppose all that is good for someone into "cha qi" drug-like effect.  It's not really my thing.

Sweetness level seemed to drop in relation to comparing this to the taste of cookies (oatmeal with cream); that's natural enough.  After drinking some water as a reset it's more back to normal.  The effect is different for brewing these faster and lighter, not much over 10 seconds that last round.  The bright and sweet tone doesn't come out as much as I'd expect, and it's all a bit muted.  At least 15 seconds would be better, maybe even 20 again.

Gedeng:  intensity seems higher for this one, either related to this transition phase, or just how that one dominant note seems to carry the rest.  Again it's a main input that is really a bit complex, and is shifting in form across the rounds.  A catchy floral tone stands out now too, on the same level for comparative intensity.  A hint of vegetal input may be creeping in, like a light green wood tone.  It's odd that all that is changing while the Yiwu just went a bit quieter.  

These are one year apart in production date, Spring 2022 for the other, 2023 for this.  The leaf color is much darker for the Yiwu.  That's how things would go, that a version being one year old enables some transition, and two twice as much, but stored dryer that Yiwu wouldn't have changed nearly as much.  

For some sheng versions they're so intense and approachable right away that a few months rest might be helpful but they're really good new.  I bet both of these were just fine within a month of being produced.  Then a relative optimum for the first year or two of transition could be harder to place, but more challenging versions than these would be better after 2 or 3, while these may not be improving.  I like where the Gedeng version is at right now, and the Yiwu is fine, interesting for including so much depth and complexity, but I don't think hanging around for another year or two would be favorable for either.  They're good now.  

Of course it's partly a guess but I don't think there was ever a challenging range for these that needed to settle out, harsh astringency or over the top bitterness (which some people like; the stronger the better).  I just reviewed a Lincang version that was a good example of that; it was fine for people who love getting blasted by bitterness, but for me another year or two of rest will probably improve it, or maybe 3 or 4 in that case.

Yiwu, #5:  these I brewed for much longer, more like a minute, not because that makes sense, but because I was answering a message online.  It will be interesting to see what a stronger infusion turns up in them.  For positive flavor and body / feel experience it's not optimum, but sometimes flaws can be more identifiable if a tea is brewed stronger.  Or it's just a different perspective on the same tea.

Mineral is so strong in this, and a range in between wood and spice stands out.  It's actually not bad, brewed too strong like this.  It has great depth, and the balance still works.  It seems to imply that it will shift towards a vegetal range in later rounds, but that's ok too.  Nothing else like a distinct flaw turns up.  Of course warmth picks up brewing it like this, feel gets heavier, and sweetness is more moderate.  All that is a normal shift related to higher infusion strength.

Gedeng:  a green wood tone is a little too strong in this; it doesn't work quite as well.  I suppose an overbrewed round is more about seeing how it will go anyway.  That one vegetal range is a little harsh, but nothing else seems like a flaw.

Yiwu, #6:  back to sweet, lighter, more balanced, full in feel, and refined this round.  There is a vegetal note creeping in, maybe to both of these.  Someone brewing these lighter could be experiencing the same general transition level (between rounds transition) at 7 or 8 infusions along, or more; trying to get the discs / coins to open up and brewing a round extra strong really speeded things up.  Carefully separated tea from a tea cake brews better; it is what it is.  

This is fine at this round though; character is nice, balance of aspects is good.  The broad floral range input is even less distinct, now combined with warm mineral and some vegetal range picking up.  Sweetness comes across as more limited.  It still seems refined though.

Gedeng:  of course it's much better, brewed appropriately.  It's harder to place how the fruit that had transitioned to spice range is coming across now, which always had been mixed with floral range, and underlying mineral.  It all integrates.  Feel is nice; it's picking up a liqueur-like quality, that matches with some of the aromatic flavor range, or seems to.  

It can be hard separating preference from quality level determination in this.  I really like this style and set of aspects, and it seems like pretty good tea, but the two kinds of impressions mix.

I think I'll leave off taking notes here.  For pushing these teas a bit hard the transitions from here would represent more of what would typically occur in the 8th or 9th rounds, or maybe 10th or 11th if someone brews tea lightly, which isn't going to be as positive as earlier rounds for these teas.  I wouldn't say that I've botched the brewing for these, but limitations enter in related to brewing tea discs, as with dragonballs.  

That could be positive instead of negative for using a grandpa-style approach; the tea would really hang in there for lots of rounds brewed while left in a tea bottle or jar.  To me it would kind of be a shame to brew these teas this way, for being as good as they are, but if someone had a good bit of them and liked that approach then it would be fine.

Conclusions:

It's all already kind of there in the review notes part, but I can add some summary.  I liked the Gedeng version more.  It was interesting and distinctive, and the novel flavor aspect--a set of flavors, that transitioned--really worked for me.

The Yiwu was good too.  In some ways as far as quality markers go (aspects I see as identifying how good a tea is), overall balance, complexity, and depth it may have been a little better.  The Gedeng version was pretty good too though; it didn't have flaws, or thin spots in character.  I probably liked it more for being a year younger, for not transitioning as much.

Other people would already love Yiwu character, and would get hooked on minor character aspects that probably do actually tie to the gushu / plant age theme.  I'd probably just buy the Lucky Bee version instead, the newest one they sell, which seems to be 2022.  It's $53 for a standard 357 gram cake, 15 cents a gram instead of 50.  Or as I've mentioned before Tea Mania sells a sampler set; that's one way to see how you think it all works out for their types, quality level, match to preference, and value.  Then there's always the complication of meeting a cut-off level for free shipping, but most people don't have a problem with sorting out what else to add to a cart, it's the opposite that's more problematic, narrowing that down.

I've been trying different pu'er lately this year, back into broader range exploration.  One of the nice things about Tea Mania was always that value stood out, that the teas were always really good for the selling price.  I tend to avoid 50 cent to $1 a gram products but this really applies to everything I've been trying from them.  It's all pretty good tea, especially related to how that compares to the price.  I've been trying some teas selling for more that weren't as good.  In these reviews I tend to not dwell so much on value, only implying that it's a concern when it comes up.  Personal value really relates to match to preference, in the end, more than an objective quality level, so it can be hard to say that a tea isn't worth it.  

You can sometimes identify a market price, sort of, but a version has to be a really standard form or type to enable that.  It might've come up as implied in the vendor description that this one version was standard, pleasant, good quality gushu Yiwu, as if it could be compared to a norm.  I don't think they meant it that way, though; I think it was more a limited comment about flavor profile.  

It doesn't work well to taste a tea and peg an objective quality level, degree of match to standard type, typical market price, and comparison of that version to other vendors' alternatives.  Maybe some people can do some of that.  I comment on some of those things, not all of them, but I generally keep it a bit limited and vague because you can only go so far with it.

Hakusei white sencha

 

I recently did a three sample green tea comparison that didn't seem to make that much sense going in, comparing Chinese, Vietnamese, and Japanese versions.  It was what it was; I expected the Japanese sencha version to be different from the others, and it was.  In a sense it was much higher quality tea, an exceptional version even for that type range, but then also just different in character.  

Liking green tea the least of any broad category makes it tricky spelling out just how good or how desirable any versions are.  I can appreciate higher quality levels, and distinctive aspects, and can describe what I see as conventional aspect range and quality markers for different types, but personal preference stops working as a main yardstick.

I'm reviewing another even more unique sencha sample passed on for review by Peter, the owner of Tea Mania.  We've met in the past, with him visiting Thailand regularly, and having lived here at one point, and we met again here not long ago when he visited.  I bought tea from Tea Mania several times; their earlier Lucky Bee Yiwu cakes were always exceptional, and an unusually good value (and surely still are; they didn't discontinue the line).  Now they've moved into selling plenty of Japanese tea range, and gushu versions of sheng pu'er, and some other types.

I'm not sure what to expect of this.  Surely it's not white tea in the sense of a Bai Mu Dan I just wrote about.  Peter covers what it is in the website product description:

White Sencha Hakusei

Discover the unique white Sencha Hakusei, carefully harvested in the picturesque village of Hoshino in Yame, renowned for its idyllic tea gardens and crystal-clear starry nights. This tea is the result of a natural mutation that turns the leaves a delicate yellowish-white – a fascinating characteristic that makes it a true albino tea and is therefore also called golden Sencha. This special coloration is accompanied by an exceptionally high amino acid content, giving the tea a rich and deep flavor profile.

Albino tea

Tea Master Akihito Takaki recognized the uniqueness of this mutation and created his own cultivar by collecting seeds from these plants, aptly naming it Hakusei – “White Star”. This name not only reflects the color of the leaves but also pays homage to Hoshino, meaning “Star Field”, where the night sky reveals its breathtaking beauty.

In Yame, a region known for its mountain valleys, Sencha cultivation is a rarity. The lower temperatures in these valleys lead to a delayed harvest, about a month later than in lower and flatter growing areas. However, these climatic conditions endow Sencha Hakusei with an extraordinary depth and complexity of flavor. White Sencha Hakusei is thus not only a testament to Master Takaki’s innovative tea artistry but also an expression of the unique landscape and clear skies of Hoshino – a true treasure for tea enthusiasts who appreciate the extraordinary.

A bit poetic but all that kind of works in relation to how unique the experience is.  It's funny how it's a polar opposite to that Bai Mu Dan experience.

There is little to be said about value; this sells for $23 for 50 grams, so essentially 50 cents a gram (46).  It's probably accurate that no other teas are like this, and sencha in a comparable quality range might normally cost more.  It's not really aggressive pricing, if anything on the low side.  But then the experience wouldn't appeal to everyone, so it's back to that theme, how preference factors in.

It's funny considering that the Bai Mu Dan sample sold for 60 cents a gram, more per weight than this tea.  I try to keep things positive here, and let the readers read between the lines, but this is much better tea than that version.  If someone hates sencha they wouldn't like it, but it's clearly a couple of levels higher as tea quality and distinctiveness goes, at the other end of the scale.  

Related to my own personal preference I'd be just as happy drinking a fairly rustic and basic Dian Hong black tea, and I mostly drink sheng pu'er now, but it should be easy for most readers to place what that really means, how type and aspect range preferences work out.  Sometimes novel experiences can transcend that range of inputs, and to some extent that occurred while trying this tea version.

Review:

#1:  that's interesting.  You expect a blast of umami and seaweed, and it's there, but there is a lot more going on.  The umami range in this tastes a good bit like fresh soybean, which of course matches that Japanese food theme.  Sweetness is nice.  It has a depth to it.  Even the highest grade sencha leans so far into those couple of notes that the intensity can end up seeming like a drawback, as if it's too much.  The extra complexity in this works in a different way.

Mind you it tastes like seaweed too, and someone well off the Japanese tea and food preference range just wouldn't like it.  At least for me it seems to have a good bit of depth and complexity; it seems to balance in a nicer way.  From a Chinese tea drinker perspective; it's hard to know what that's really worth.  There is even warmer tone included, I guess matching some of the barley tea theme.  A lot of Japanese food and drink range combines together in this.  It goes without saying that it's clean in effect, intense, and refined; of course it would be, given those flavor aspect descriptions.

#2:  Intensity dials way up, and it was already intense.  Vegetal range shifts; this tastes more like split pea soup this round.  It's funny how a salt oriented mineral note matches with that.  This is nothing like any tea I've ever tried before; that's interesting and pleasant.  And again to me this is a lot more interesting than a tea version dialing up umami and seaweed to a level of 11 on a scale of 10.

It makes me wonder how many other people would try this and be captivated by it, or pleasantly surprised, or wouldn't like it.  I suppose people inclined towards Japanese green tea would judge it more favorably; it's not so unusual that it falls outside that general theme range.  Maybe it wouldn't challenge what they've already experienced as much as that comes across for me.

There is nothing remotely like any other white tea experience going on with this; that's not a surprise, given that it's presented as a variation of sencha.  Of course it's an unusual green tea form.

#3:  it's settling back more towards standard green tea range (high end Japanese sencha, to be clear); umami and seaweed pick up.  It sort of works better like this, balancing a lot of unusual, refined, and intense flavor inputs, now centered more on standard range.  It's quite complex.  

The savory note keeps shifting, including different range.  It tastes a little like fresh potato juice this round.  Why would anyone know what that tastes like?  When you cook potato it's normal to taste a little of it raw; it's like that, vegetal in a very unusual way, with mineral only leaning towards salt, but much more intense.

#4:  intensity dials back a bit; it might be better for that.  Of course I'm brewing this quite quickly, using unusually cool water, so it shouldn't necessarily be off the scale intense, but it kind of is.  This is an unusual presentation of tea leaf, shredded in a unique form, that's definitely an unusual mix of colors.

Umami and some seaweed stand out now, with unusually complex other vegetal range.  It's along the line of fresh soybean, but also close to sugar snap pea; that second may make for the more natural interpretation.  

So much umami!  I know I said that it's nice that this is dialed back a bit, not only straight umami and seaweed, but it's still awfully intense, and four rounds is a lot of it.  I've just experienced a month's worth of umami exposure in not so many minutes.  Maybe another round will be enough, and if I don't say anything about later transitions I can live with that.

#5:  mineral picks up a little; that's nice.  I bet this will keep changing, and that it would be quite interesting brewed in different ways, coming across quite differently.  For sure this has amazing potential as an ice brewed version, the approach where you just put a little over very fresh and clean ice cubes and then drink it later as melting ice brews it.

For anyone remotely on the Japanese green tea page this is interesting and worth trying out.  I still don't think I'd buy this; it's too far from what I like most.  But it has been awhile since I've had a completely unique, previously unknown tea experience, and this is that.

It's interesting in relation to trying a pressed version of Bai Mu Dan yesterday, an aged tea, 9 years old.  The contrast there is that it was exactly like what I'd experienced from Shou Mei and Gong Dao Bei before, with so little variation off that standard range that it was a struggle to identify any atypical distinctions (still nice though, for someone into that experience).  It's for the best that I didn't try these two white teas together.  After trying sencha along with Chinese and Vietnamese green teas a week or so ago I had enough of the radical contrast theme, which of course doesn't shed much light on anything.

This tea was pleasant, and definitely intense, refined, novel, and distinctive; a very interesting experience.  I'm sure that my brewing approach and perspective in relation to personal preferences didn't do this tea justice, that for many it would shift from quite novel, high in quality, refined, and distinctive on to absolutely fantastic.  Surely it's casting pearls before swine for me to taste and write about Japanese teas.  So it goes.

Derrick Jensen on teen development and environmentalism

 

not the article I'm starting in about, but also relevant, here

A friend recently shared an interesting short video by environmentalist "philosopher" Derrick Jensen, about development problems young people encounter.  It wasn't really mostly about that, since he was extending that idea--really about personal development and transformation--to include why culture needed to change, especially in relation to environmental perspective.  It adds up to a range of interesting ideas.

I'll cover what he said in this, explaining it a bit, especially unpacking that extended range.  I'll mention a second longer interview where he clarifies what he meant, and covers more of the rest.  His more general point is that the current Western perspective on environment isn't tenable, that we are headed towards ecological collapse.  

The more specific early point was that young people feel an inclination towards personal transition, in their late teens and early 20s, and experience this as an inclination to an (end), since they don't realize that it's about personal development, not personal extinction.  Of course this is edited to take out how he framed it; these websites and platforms are so restrictive now that if include certain words all of the writing will be censored. 

I think he's missing a big part of it all, a layer that really goes in between those two ideas.  I think young people do experience a real transition phase, as he describes, and agree that the current impact to the natural environment isn't sustainable in the long term.  

He talks about people blowing up dams in response; I'm not sure that his radical eco-terrorism approach is practical.  Then I think he's not fully unpacking how cultural supports and required culture change needs to happen, instead of applying this radical end-of-the-world approach.  It could work as a critique, in a limited sense, that he's copying the immature, not fully considered approach of young people towards their own problem (I must change, which can be accomplished by personal cessation) onto how Western society needs to change.

Maybe society will crash and end in spectacular fashion, and 90+% of all current humans will be extinct over the next few decades.  It's more practical to consider other possible outcomes.  As a talking point it works well, as a way of really placing broader environmental issues.

Let's start with the initial video, which is interesting, and framed in a novel form.  His words:

These kids want to (end).  And the reason they want to (end) is because they're teenagers, and when you're a teenager you're supposed to want to (end), but that (end) is supposed to be metaphorical and spiritual.  Your childhood has to (end) so you can become an adult.  But nobody's told them that it's metaphorical and spiritual, so they have this () urge, that they then actualize in the physical world, as opposed to through ritual or through maturity.

I've often thought that it's similar that you know this culture is so wretched and so many people are so very, very unhappy.  They want this nightmare to end and they don't recognize that the death that they want is a cultural (end), and is a spiritual and metaphorical (end), especially because within this culture you know the spirit is separated from the Earth, and from the flesh, and so you know you can't have this transformation that simply occurs in your body.  And so they (end) the world and all physical reality as opposed to that spiritual transformation.

Great stuff!  It's clear enough what that means, isn't it?  At least the first part.  It's about the "hero's journey," the Joseph Campbell idea that young people faced with self-discovery demands typically undergo a pre-established pattern of internal transformation, initiated by first looking outward for the basis for changes that really need to occur internally.

Derrick Jensen covers more on all this in this extended Youtube video, again on Why Young People Want to (End) (interviewed by a conservative Youtuber, who wasn't really into the environmentalism theme so much, so it's scope is limited there).  I won't fully break that down, but this is based more on his broader take from there than the minute or two clip version.  It includes that video clip, and his direct explanation of it, but then the whole video is a longer expansion on the same ideas.

I think that we can accept and set aside that the first half works.  People have different experiences in their youth, and suicidal thoughts aren't experienced by everyone, but to some extent the transition patterns do apply in different forms to everyone.  These are interesting points, but there isn't a lot more to make of them.

The second part we can do a lot more with.  Do people really want their native culture to come to an end, seeing it as untenable?  He doesn't even cover there what the problem is.  His take is mostly about environmentalism, although surely there must be other dimensions he doesn't get to in that other second explanation.  I found another video where he covers it all more directly, which I'll draw on more after some limited discussion.

Only the deeper basis for his ideas really helps explain what the problem with environmental destruction is.  Of course climate change is coming, and we're in the midst of a die-off of many of the other species on the planet.  One of his early works was about how trees really do communicate with each other in a vast range of forms, exchanging chemical messages, seemingly communicating intent and concern for other plant life.  It helps to see the natural world as having inherent agency and value, in order to not place humanity as the single main goal to be served in this world.  Then a conclusion that human civilization should either radically change form or else should end makes more sense.

 

I want to keep the scope limited to these ideas, because it's plenty to discuss, but in another famous online talk on anarchism he leads into other range as follows (from "Anarchism and Queer Theory Jeopardy):

Here's the problem is that or one of the problems is again the sort of black and white thinking where just because there are some social norms that are oppressive therefore all social norms must be destroyed and that leads anarchism to some atrocity-inducing madness.  For example there is a long correlation between anarchism and pedophilia and support for pedophilia...

Of course he's not moving towards supporting pedophilia, surely the opposite, but he is developing problems with a conventional take on anarchy itself in an unusual way.  This point doesn't adjoin or support the rest of what I'm actually getting to; the idea here is that he is communicating parts of a broad set of ideas, broader than I'll even point towards, and that it all may hang together better than it seems when just considering parts of it.

Sketching out Derrick Jensen's issues with society

The direction he is taking these ideas, in the original clip, and the longer explanation video covering the same scope, is that "Western society" or industrial based human civilization is fatally flawed because its interests directly conflict with the basic survival of the natural world.  He seems to think that ecological catastrophe is already well underway, and that the natural world will be further impacted in devastating fashion by the continued existence of modern technological human society.

What to do about that, if we accept it?  He calls for it all to end.  That's bold, pointing towards the collapse of human society as a positive outcome.  He literally suggests that people blowing up dams is one possible positive step towards ecological recovery, advocating radical and extensive forms of terrorism.  

Is he serious?  It could just be an extreme version of a talking point.  The way he frames it all it's not though.  Wouldn't a vast majority of the people currently alive relatively quickly come to perish if this happened on a broad scale, a dropping out of supporting infrastructure, which would be followed by a human die-off?  Sure.

So he's crazy?  Unless he means all of this in some figurative sense then he is radically disconnected from practical reality.

Following an old guideline form in philosophical discussion we can try to interpret his ideas as making the most sense possible, as filling in what he should have said, if he was more reasonable, developing the ideas some.  Again, to be clear, I'm not going to fully do justice to his ideas, because I'm not about to go and read a half dozen books in order to write an even better 2000 word commentary blog post (although again, I will work with more direct background content I've turned up at the end).

Is our current society--the US version, let's say--truly a "wretched nightmare?"  Kind of; that actually kind of works.  US society is far less stable and positive than it was 25 years ago, and many of the deep-seated flaws were already evident then.  Division of wealth is much more problematic than it was then; crime also is, health problems related to people's diets, social issues, etc.  

I've recently seen a couple of test case issues that highlight this in more specific forms.  In one a pharmaceutical industry insider explained how the US drug approval system has evolved to put so much weight on private interests, and the input of solid financing, that drugs are now approved that people know don't work.  It's documented that they don't, by the very research used to support their approval.  How and why?  Because the system has morphed to accept the influence of potential profit as the highest good.  Corporate interests pay for studies and re-position what they express, and then pay for support within approval agencies.  It becomes irrelevant that the drugs don't work; that's not a critical point.  When early acceptance guidelines emphasize the importance of effectiveness, and evidence assuring that, it works to just change those guidelines.

A second video I've seen recently was by a young woman reviewing what food additives are in current commercial food and health care products (this one), which can be identified as probably bad for your health.  She ended up throwing away a lot of what was in her home.  Many of these chemical compounds are banned for use in the EU, because likely potential negative impact is known, for ingredients like food colors, preservatives, artificial flavor inputs, or stabilizers.  

The "why" is the same; because it's profitable.  Corporate interests control regulatory input more than a respect for the common good.  It's cheaper for huge corporations to use chemicals instead of natural product inputs to mass produce goods, and influence with legislators and then indirect influence with regulatory agencies have led to this.

Of course it keeps going.  The petroleum industry has suppressed uptake of renewable resource fuels; essentially everyone already knows this.  It's a call-back to the lead industry limiting already-known awareness of the impact of that compound, or to the smoking industry delaying the finding that smoking definitely causes cancer by decades.  In general no significant government decisions or restrictions are decided based on the long term health of the environment.  The US government has taken a hands-off approach to even climate change resolution; they're not playing any role in it, beyond making it possible for corporations to also avoid the subject.

I'm not really trying to argue these points.  If you think the opposite is true, that the US government has US citizens' and the environment's best interests in mind, and that it all might somehow turn around, then that seems to ignore a very obvious and pervasive reality, to me.  In a sense such a person would live in a more pleasant reality than this real one.

The next transition, "killing the world"

If Derrick Jensen really is advocating radical environmental terrorism, and the end of human civilization as we know it, then he's extending the same set of perspective context and final conclusion from the suicidal teens all the way up to a societal level.  We can't tolerate this impact to the environment, so we need to kill civilization itself, just as impending personal transition could be resolved through death by suicide.  He covers all the background here.

Surely Derrick sees this.  One way to resolve this problem is to accept that it's all intended in a figurative sense.  He is talking about blowing up dams not because people should do this, or it really would serve some purpose, but instead because it describes just how radical a change would need to be, just not one that actually takes that form.  

US corporate control of government needs to end.  People marching with signs won't help, and people writing books also won't.  Blowing up dams probably wouldn't be a practical resolution, but some shift on that level of severity and completeness is required.  It's absolutely impossible at this time, given the current set of conditions, but then he's saying the impossible will need to happen.  I kind of agree.  One dam coming down would be kind of a shame but it might be worth the sacrifice, to raise awareness.

I don't see any potential practical resolution either.  Actual large scale terrorism probably really wouldn't be helpful, as a step towards expanded dialog.  Protests extended to the level of public rioting may be.

There is no likely trigger for this to occur, that I can see.  People protested unfair treatment by the police in the US last, as waves of broad protest went, but then underlying tensions from pandemic experience helped stoke that discontent, and it was an openly known problem for decades that justice isn't blind to race or economic status inputs in the US.  Millions of people had been through negative personal experiences; this was not an abstract issue.  Maybe that really did help, a little.

Climate change being likely to greatly impact the next generation, and the ones after, is something else.  It's gradual and subtle, up until an environmental input destroys your own home, and then it's not.

Why does it seem that Derrick means this end of civilization mandate literally?

It all works well as a hypothetical statement of importance, a way of framing the context.  If humanity cannot stop impacting the natural environment, and if this seems to clearly be leading towards ecological collapse, then this form of human civilization should be ended.  Of course it's framed as an imperative to work on the first two, that way.  So why do I take it more literally?

In that second interview, that I mentioned but didn't discuss yet, Derrick implies that this is what he means, that industrial society must be attacked, literally.  He says that this demand is difficult for people to fulfill because industrial society is feeding people, providing them with safety.  It's all offered as if a radical solution really is a main one on the table, that people should temporarily turn aside from their own clear interests and go and blow up a dam, literally.

To some extent he's really saying that we need to burn it all down.

Again in a limited sense I agree.  It's not workable to have corporate interests and the main goals of a very small and very wealthy minority set government policies, and determine government functions.  We see this failing in a number of critical ways.  The unequal division of wealth in the US has become untenable, within the last decade.  This is too fast for things to change so negatively and so completely.

Derrick explains that this has been going on for thousands of years, and that the natural environment in the Middle East is a clear historical reference to where it was headed.  He claims that places like Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, and others were not wastelands, 2 to 3000 years ago, and that human societies turned lush and productive lands into what they are now, mostly deserts.  Maybe; I'm not really much of a biologist.

In studying the philosophy of history a recurring theme came up, that civilizations experience a natural lifespan of origin, expansion and development, aging, stagnation, and radical decline.  In the two forms this was presented in, in Middle Eastern Islamic philosophy and in a US based offshoot in the early 20th century, there was no clear explanation of the cause for this transition.  Ecological impact could've been a main driver, or a naturally progressive unequal distribution of wealth, related to infrastructure burden, or any number of other causes.  Maybe relatively complete destruction of the environment is a universal theme.

Maybe even if the reset form is problematic, actually causing any end of civilization from within, this is the only trade-off that would stop the process.

Even though it's a bit secondary one point Derrick raises is worth considering; there is no possibility of a successful "green movement."  People are arguing over generation of power being sustainable, which is 20% of the energy actually consumed by any society.  If that could be 100% resolved, which is already impossible, the problem would still be only 80% solved.  

I suppose a die-off within humanity is promising.  If somehow 90+% of everyone alive today died within the next two decades, and were not replaced, it's possible that under 1 billion humans could be sustained in a different kind of way.

Another impossible alternative

Something is being left out here though, along the line of the disconnect between elected governments and who is really running the US.  

People continue to identify as conservatives or liberals in the US, as Republicans or Democrats, and as I see it this elected leadership is clearly not acting in the interests of the country as a whole, or the citizens of the US.  It's not industrial society that needs to be rejected and deleted, it's the US political system, and any other version that can turn a blind eye to critical factors, like the destruction of the natural environment.  All US elected leaders, from the last dozen Presidents on down to local leaders, serve themselves and the financial interests that support them, not the people, or the country.

It just trades out one impossible task for another, deleting a system of rulership and control instead of an underlying mechanism or layer, the industrialized economy.  There is no way that this can be changed in any way.  A vast minority of that layer of controlling interests would need to want to make the same change in order for initial stages of it to begin.  It would run counter to their own best interests, as those are currently defined.  Overall consumption of goods would need to be completely reversed, which is all but unforeseeable.

To some extent it's not industrial society that people can't wrap their minds around rejecting, which would prevent them from continuing to eat.  It's the false paradigm of divisions of people into two broad types, conservatives and liberals.  Even if that were to fall it's not a given that it would lead to much more complete transparency and better intentions within human experience.  There are some real aspects to this divide, but at the most functional level it means nothing in relation to the more official meaning.  There is no "good side" to be on, only the two bad sides, both of which fully support the status quo.  

Republican and Democratic leaders know that a main goal of leadership has long since been driving the wealth divide, the good of the few.  They know that the pharmaceutical industry isn't mainly focused on promoting good health.  It's known that food quality is dropping to a dangerous level, that a lot of what people eat is now poison, which is a means towards food production companies making good profits.  It just keeps going from there.  It's obvious that the natural environment is going away.

Ignoring climate change is just one more relatively benign example, even though it is known that this will severely impact the next two generations, and possibly human experience beyond that.  It's known that US government debt is untenable, that the collapse of the US is being assured by each subsequent annual budget.  The role of outrageous defense spending is obvious in relation to this point, and the primary goal of personal profit in that pursuit, instead of national security.

So why would Derrick set his sights back on infrastructure, on the continued existence of modern industrial society?  To an extent this is the most direct link in the cause and effect chain that threatens the natural environment.  Carbon release unbalances global climate, and deforestation and species extinction literally eliminates the earlier natural environment.  Derrick sees that environment as a higher natural good than human existence.  I don't completely blame him.

But why, since he is also a member of the human race?  I suppose the myriad of problems in human societies must be a big part of that.  So many human stories are about suffering now.  You wouldn't need to be on the receiving end of too many of those forms of societal failure to truly resent it.  There is so little hope for comprehensive reform now, essentially none.

These large scale disasters are our only hope, really.  Nothing will change for as long as the current status quo goes as "well" as it currently does.  We can't realistically dream that a small group of well-intentioned billionaires are already planning out a form of this broad reset for us.  It would be just as practical to count on alien intervention to change things.

I saw a humorous bumper sticker post promoting "vote giant asteroid strike 2024."  Derrick just completes that connection, as a real hope.

I too love animals and the natural environment.  Maybe as much as anyone else I get it.  It's hard not to think that things will need to get infinitely worse before they can get any better.  Hoping for the end of US civilization seems a bit extreme, but I get it, it does make sense, on one level.

2015 aged Peony white tea mini cake

I'm reviewing one of the last samples from a set by Oriental Leaf, sent for review (many thanks).  This is described as Peony, also known as Bai Mu Dan.  Often Fujian (Fuding area) pressed white teas are Shou Mei instead, made mainly from older leaves, with Bai Mu Dan a mix of buds and finer leaves.  Typical processed style seems similar, between the two, but overall effect, the aspects, can vary a good bit in relation to the different material type used.

I'll keep this simple, citing their description after making notes, and writing what I think of it in those.  9 years old is a suitable amount of aging input; often 7 years is cited as a somewhat full transition level time period.  It would depend on storage conditions, and the tea would keep changing later, but 7 years is long enough for a lot of the basic changes to occur, picking up depth, warming in tone, etc.

2015 Aged Second-grade White Peony White Tea Mini Cake  ($6 for two 5-gram samples)

White peony tea  (Bai Mu Dan), a type of white tea characterized by its large, open leaves, is typically picked in the spring when the young leaves and tea buds are most tender. Peony tea has a light, delicate flavor often described as floral or fruity and is lower than silver needle.

This tea is made with second-grade tea leaves, which are slightly lower quality than first-grade tea leaves, but at a more reasonable price. The tea has a more complex flavor and a more prolonged aftertaste.

The tea has been aged since 2015, further developing its flavor. The tea has a rich, mellow taste with notes of honey, flowers, and nuts. The aftertaste is long-lasting and refreshing.

This tea is perfect for experienced tea drinkers who appreciate the complexity and depth of flavor that comes with aging. It is also a good choice for those who enjoy the mellow taste of white tea. The caffeine content in white tea is relatively low. Different types of white tea may require different water temperatures for brewing. White peony tea can be like loose-leaf tea or compressed sheets. The quality of white tea depends on factors such as the source of the tea plants and the processing methods. 

So far so good.  I think that's more a myth than actual reality that white teas are lower in caffeine level, but it's not that much of a red flag that the vendor shares that.  Some people still think that.

The description works, matching the tea experience.  The cost seems ok, $6 for 10 grams, or 60 cents a gram, even though that's on the high side in relation to buying in higher volume.  You can brew two rounds for those two tablets worth of tea, at $3 each, and it wouldn't change that much if it cost $2 instead.  It's on the high side for Shou Mei, but it's not Shou Mei.  Samples tend to cost a bit more per gram; it's just how that often goes.  They do sell these same samples for less when you buy more of them, so you can scale up purchase amount and reduce cost, if that's of interest.  It's as well to just try teas first though, to see what you make of them, before committing to buying much.  

Different vendors bundling more mainstream, common types and grades into sets that are quite moderate in cost doesn't contradict all that.  Here we would probably be looking for uniqueness, for an aging input making this tea more interesting than a standard white tea offering, and I'll return to whether or not that shows through in the conclusions.

Review:

#1:  I gave this a nice long soak to get infusion started, about a minute.  It will still probably be a bit light, since tablet or disc shapes take time to open up.

Yep, it's light.  Flavor that does show through is positive, quite promising (a hint of floral tone, and a hint of cinnamon spice).  Often this range of white tea forms can be too subtle, so that I tend to never buy pressed Shou Mei versions.  Maybe for this being Bai Mu Dan it will include more sweetness and floral range; we'll see.  

The tone for those should have warmed over 9 years, but if this was stored completely sealed in that multi-layer material sample package it might have been relatively preserved, unchanged no matter how long it spent in there.  I think the transition process is different for white teas than sheng, not involving the same degree of bacteria and fungus input, actual fermentation, but I'm not sure if it can change with essentially no external air contact input.

I'll give it another minute, to make sure this gets going.

#2:  thickness, sweetness, and intensity all pick up, but it's still not there yet.  One more long soak may only get the tea fully wetted, so the fourth infusion may tell more of the story.

One interesting type of background enters in that people can sell aged white tea that's not really aged.  How?  It's easy enough for producers to let white teas oxidize more during processing, to give them a long wither (let them sit), then the color will change, and flavors will deepen, in a vaguely comparable way to what 7 to 9 years of aging would cause.  Could I identify the difference?  Maybe, maybe not.  It would help if I'd been drinking a good bit of aged white teas over the last half dozen years, instead of very little of it.  I can still describe character, and if it's quite positive, even though "artificially" achieved, then it's still quite positive.  

"Real" aged white tea can still lack intensity and complexity, it seems to me.  I suppose that more dried fruit range should evolve, versus a partially oxidized white tea version just increasing warm tones a little.  Real aged versions should probably be a little sweeter, but when teas are subtle to begin with making that determination can be problematic.

People say that you should "use trusted sources," but then they never seem to move on to what kind of vendor profile or backstory is likely to indicate that they are trustworthy.  A vendor can be very convincing and still ingenuine, or provide very limited background information and story and still be telling the truth.  You need to be able to judge the tea itself, and that requires a lot of experience.

#3:  in a sense this is really nice, but in another sense intensity is so low that there isn't much to experience.  That's normal for a lot of white tea.  If I were to say that it tastes like warm floral tones, cinnamon spice, and rich autumn leaf scent, with a mild toffee-like sweetness, that wouldn't be wrong, but it's all just so light.  Some vendors would add another 3 or 4 flavor aspect descriptions, varying them over rounds, all but guaranteeing to you that flavor complexity and intensity are positive.  Then the tea might still be subtle like this, expressing a hint of this or that.

Bear in mind that I'm a sheng pu'er drinker, and oolongs tend to come across as limited in intensity to me; my expectations are dialed up a bit.  Acclimation can lead to that.

I'll let this brew just over a minute again, and it might show more intensity, since it's finally in the range of being fully wetted.  Four minutes of total brewing time is a good bit, but while half of the tea isn't soaked through yet that part hasn't been releasing much flavor.

#4:  the cinnamon evolves a bit more than the rest.  This is pleasant, just still on the subtle side.  You could have a comparable but more intense experience buying decent Oriental Beauty (relatively more oxidized Taiwanese oolong, that comes across as fruity, with some spice).

Since preference is always a main yardstick I can't necessarily clearly identify limited intensity as a flaw, but to me it's like that, a limitation.  Of course it's possible to push the tea, to use full boiling point water, higher proportion, and a longer infusion time, and intensity will pick up.  I'm brewing something like 5 or 6 grams in 100 ml gaiwan, it looks like, so using a minute for infusion time isn't as much when you consider this is using less material than I typically do (more often 8 to 10 grams, with proportion maxed out, even using much more intense types of teas).

I'll give this a two minute soak and then leave off the notes.  It's fine; it's ok.  People on this page for tea character would enjoy it.  People getting rocked by sheng pu'er intensity most days would probably see it as a miss, more often.  Even a black tea or oolong drinker could see the limited intensity as a problem, but that would just depend.  It's normal for white teas though; this is in a normal range.  I would have a standard Shou Mei version from 7 or so years ago stashed somewhere; I could keep going with comparison.  There wouldn't be much point though; there would always be the question of just how good that version really was, if it expressed the best of the range or if it was below average.

#5:  Since I hadn't ripped the pressed sheets apart even after infusing for nearly 6 minutes now the innermost layers aren't completely soaked through yet.  Getting the most out of this version probably relates to messing with it, to doing that.  I did just break it all apart and re-added the water, giving it two infusions with the same liquid, but brewing temperature must have dropped way off, since this has been soaking for well over two minutes.

It's slightly more intense, richer in feel, with deeper, warmer flavors showing through.  It's nice.

Just how nice, though?  Does it seem definitely "real," tea that actually has been around for 9 years?  Is the flavor distinctive, complex, and compelling?  To me it's just pleasant, none of all that.  But then I don't love aged white tea that much.  It always promises to deliver on deep, rich, complex, varied, sweet tones, and then when you try it it's fine, and those things are there, if you look for them, but intensity is limited, and complexity occurs across a relatively narrow range.  It always seems like maybe there's a different, better example out there, that you just aren't sourcing right to find it yet.

I can go a little further with that.  In 2017 I did a combined white tea tasting that didn't necessarily make sense, this one:

Comparing compressed white teas, shou mei, gong mei, and one freestyle

Those teas ranged from 2008 to 2015, so the oldest then was supposedly 9 years old, as with this one.  One is Gong Mei, the style of white tea that contains even more bud content than Bai Mu Dan, if I've got that right.  Probably it's not quite that simple, and there is more to typical background themes and typical style, but it works to say that both are represented as not being made from mostly older leaf material.

I've drank most of all those teas since, just not all of them.  I think a chunk of the Gong Mei is at the bottom of a storage box somewhere.  I use aged white tea to drink while fasting, to get a break from shu pu'er, since those two types work best on an absolutely empty stomach.  I'm not sure any changed all that much in relation to aging another 7 years since, which would make the one 16 years old now, but I think it's already gone.

That older version had been kind of so-so in quality level, so the aging status is less meaningful.  Maybe they were "faking" aged shou mei versions even back then, 7 years ago, and it was just more oxidized white tea, not a version that old.  Who knows.

I didn't frame that as a selling point but aged white tea can be great to drink when you are sick.  It has a depth to it, and sweetness, and it's quite mild and approachable, and all that fits perfectly well when you are too sick to appreciate stronger versions of teas.  I would've been happy to drink this when I had the flu last week.  

Or day to day preference varies; maybe just for a change sometime.  I wouldn't be open to spending much on having this kind of experience; white teas like this tend to not cost all that much, and to me there isn't enough distinctive about the experience to justify that.  Then again if someone had never tried decent aged white tea and wanted to that would increase the draw quite a bit, and this probably wouldn't turn up for 20 or 30 cents a gram either.  It'll be interesting to see a listed price.

Conclusions:

So it's 60 cents a gram; a bit more, probably related to this being a sample, and tied to the distinctive aged version and Bai Mu Dan parts.  It's fine as an experience, and fine for trying this kind of tea, but I think someone would come away from it questioning if they had the best range of this kind of experience.  

What about the "second grade" part; couldn't it be better as the highest grade?  Would the aging input be clearer to identify and stronger if it hadn't been quite as completely sealed from all air contact?  White tea doesn't necessarily ferment, like sheng pu'er, but limited air exposure might help it transition, being stored in a cake in a wrapper that's not well-sealed.

As with trying lots of other samples lately I think this is fine for an entry into this kind of experience, but for people already further along the path this would be similar to what they've already explored, and they'd probably be interested in seeking out even more exceptional ground.  Or at least an inexpensive aged Shou Mei from a Chinatown market shop, sitting all but forgotten in a basement section, would be so inexpensive that it would be worth buying 357 or so grams to have an easy to drink white tea around.  

If this had "popped" just a little more, extending into dried fruit range, for example, then it might justify being a next level experience better.  As it is it's fine, pleasant for this kind of thing, just a bit unremarkable.