A friend just sent me some very interesting Thai white tea, produced by an Akha indigenous group in the Chiang Rai area. His name is Tóth Tamas. I guess that he wouldn't be Google proof, so anyone really interested could look him up to talk about details related to local teas.
And that's pretty much it for background. This almost has to be a case of wild-origin material use, with this being from variety Assamica plants; that's how this kind of thing tends to go. There are a broad range of tea plant types grown in the Chiang Rai area, but one sub-theme of that is old, seemingly pre-existing Assamica plants being used to make versions of pu'er (pu'er-like teas; if it was made over the Chinese border, on the other side of the Golden Triangle, then it would be pu'er, but that's a region-specific name). Or it could be made into white tea.
There are other plant types growing wild, variations of Taliensis, or whatever else happens to be out there. Sometimes versions that aren't from more standard plant types can be great, or sometimes odd. Then if they seem off you can't really know if that's from plant genetics or errors in processing steps. We'll see how this goes.
I should add that teas like this, wild origin white tea, if it is that, you should experiment with brewing in different ways, because it sometimes can give quite different results brewed differently. If your silver needle or bai mu dan lacks intensity adjusting brewing relates to trying to bump that up, but in other cases even basic flavors can vary. I will try this brewed Western style, maybe eventually even grandpa style, but I may not get back to mentioning it here, unless results are quite novel.
Of course I'll use a standard Gongfu approach; put as much in the gaiwan as can fit (probably less than normal for me, for as open as these leaves are, probably 5 or 6 grams in a 100 ml gaiwan instead of 8 or so), brew it using water not far off boiling point, using infusion timing that seems to work out, adjusting each round based on the last.
Review:
first infusion: interesting! A few flavors stand out right away, versus just one seeming dominant. There is pleasant sweetness and light floral range. It's almost perfume-like, in the way that an extra aromatic component can seem a bit like the solvent or carrier part of those, a little towards liqueur-like.
Mineral shows through; that should pick up more as it gets fully wetted. Some of the mineral extends into an unusual direction, almost to a light soapiness, tasting a little like soap. That's not as dramatic or negative as it sounds; expressed as saying that it tastes like an unusual salt compound or mineral is more neutral, and that also kind of works. I suspect that in the way that versions of astringency edge or flavor can kind of "burn off" from young sheng in the first two rounds, or smoke flavor might, this will drop out.
second infusion: it's pleasant again, not so different than the first round, maybe just slightly stronger. That unusual mineral flavor, that I've described as similar to soap, isn't going away. I don't see it as negative as it must sound. Because it brings up that association for me the way it combines with sweet floral range makes it taste a little like a dryer fabric softener sheet. Maybe that's not a helpful description.
The overall impression is that it's floral, sweet, bright, and clean. I suspect that a unique plant type input may be causing this one unusual flavor component. The Assamica plants in the north of Thailand have been around for awhile, maybe a few hundred years, and genetics could have drifted, or related but slightly different plants could be around. Then you also hear about another kind of input that's quite hard to place, of plants picking up local flavors from other plant types growing near them. Intuitively that might not make a lot of sense, but it seems to really happen, that wild-origin material teas are complex in flavor in unique ways that can be unusually unique.
Intensity is pretty good for this. I'm not brewing it too long, on the order of 20 seconds, and infusion strength is fine. To be clear I like it. That one flavor input isn't necessarily coming across as a flaw, more just an unusual character.
third infusion: it's pleasant. It is transitioning some; I'm getting too hung up on that one input to really do justice to describe the rest. It's very clean, bright, and sweet in overall effect, so it doesn't taste like a flawed tea version. Light mineral supports that other range nicely, and the one part I'm mentioning seems to link in between floral and mineral range. Warmer depth is harder to place; it might have a touch of vanilla. The brightness is mostly in floral range but it tips towards lemon, it's just not completely there, not actually citrusy.
It probably sounds like I'm describing this as one flaw or aspect away from being a truly amazing experience. Maybe someone could take it that way. I don't, necessarily; it's pretty good.
I own a cake--or over a cake really, since I bought a second--of a truly unusual local Northern Thai sheng version, that's sour instead of including a trace of odd flavor input. That's probably from being made from unusual material, or that could be from less than optimum processing. Every time I drink that I have to re-adjust to decide if I like it or not, and then in the end I decide that I do. I haven't re-tried that in awhile. This is much more conventional and approachable; I'm talking about one possible interpretation of a minor flavor aspect. If you interpret it as atypical mineral it's back to being quite normal. If it reminds you too much of soap or a drier sheet then it could be quite off-putting; that would seem reasonable.
fourth infusion: brewed slightly stronger warm tones really come out. Lots of floral range is still dominant. Rich feel and aftertaste add depth to the experience.
Then I suppose one part reminding me of a fabric softener dryer sheet people would be divided on. It just seems to be unusual mineral tone linking with the floral range causing that effect. If this had been stored in a laundry room that would also add up, but my guess is that's it's just a natural flavor inclusion, triggering my imagination in an unusual way. Probably the whole story has been told already, but I'll go one more round to see.
fifth infusion: that really is pleasant. White tea isn't usually this rich, complex, and intense. The feel is full, and warmth covers a nice range, given so much of the character is light and bright. I guess one part of that flavor profile would divide people. Overall I like it. But swap out that one aspect and add in just a touch of dried fruit or honey tone and this would be one of the more exceptional white tea versions I've ever tried. As it is it's still pretty good.
Right at the end a strange thought occurred to me: would I necessarily know if one of my neighbors was doing laundry? I've never smelled that before, and it has never seemed to impact a tea tasting session, but it's an interesting thought. I am trying this tea outside, and it's also quite normal for flowering vines to give off strong scents at random times, usually in the evening. The only thing I've ever smelled from my neighbors is food cooking. I typically don't notice that, but when I fast I'm unusually sensitive to food scents (I'm not fasting now).
One tree, not so far from me, is shedding an unusual volume of flowers just now, a massive amount of them. It's possible that I've been going on about a contaminant from the environment. I doubt it, but maybe. There's just something odd about the tea, most likely.
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the flowers are on this tree |
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you can sort of see them in the yard, below the tree |
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