The tea community in Bangkok is really coming together, and the event Huyen and Seth, two friends, just held is a small part of that, and also a sign of how the rest goes. It was themed around Vietnamese teas, kind of an odd part, since Thai teas are finally coming into their own, but somehow that part makes sense too. There are a lot of people from everywhere in Bangkok, and cultures from across Asia and around the world merge to make Bangkok special.
This writing is mostly just about that event though. Huyen and Seth are researching for a book on Vietnamese teas, and this is their second visit here, after also being here last January. Of course they travel more in Vietnam related to that subject, but cultures and flow of traditional goods mix, so some Vietnamese tea history collects in Bangkok too.
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beautiful teaware on display in a Bangkok temple; some of it is from Vietnam |
The tasting theme was about sharing unique and interesting tea versions, and the background, the context it came from. Vietnam's story of tea is different from China and Thailand's, but it all overlaps some.
We tried an aged oolong from the early 90s first, representing a critical stage in tea production development there. As with in Thailand rolled oolong in Taiwanese style, based on plant types and processing from Taiwan, first entered into production in both countries right around then. Aged oolong is something people seem to love or mostly not get, since it mostly picks up an interesting depth and a bit of plum-like taste. As a sheng pu'er drinker I'm a bit ruined for all the other range; I can appreciate refined and complex oolongs, or black teas with interesting depth, but I mostly need that atypical intensity just for tea to seem normal.
We also tried a young / newer Vietnamese sheng, and another modern oolong variation, from the #17 cultivar. That's usually called Ruan Zhi, in most references and by most people selling it, but per some review I think Bai Lu might be a more accurate name for it. Ruan Zhi is sometimes described as a reference to an earlier range of plant types (with more on that here, and here, with those two posts probably not saying the exact same things). So it might be more related to the more original Qin Xin range (or Chin Shin, per another transliteration form).
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the original plant type table from an interesting Taiwan tea reference |
All that is just a tangent though, nothing like a central theme of that event.
The tasting did well to balance background, history, plant type information, ideas about processing, and stories with the direct experience we were having. Since Huyen and Seth have been traveling and researching Vietnamese tea for a year, or more, it would've been easy to let the tangents and background take over, but they managed that well.
The attendees were one of the most interesting parts, to me. Because a dozen or so (11?) people attended the tasting divided into two groups, and I heard more from the one sub-set I was in, but everyone seemed on the same page related to really appreciating and getting the experience. Really anyone at any exposure level can appreciate better teas, but it's also nice when shared prior exposure helps support discussion range. A few of the participants were tea vendors (an unusually high proportion), and the rest already loved diverse tea types.
We also tried aged Vietnamese sheng, a light rolled oolong very similar to modern Taiwanese versions in style and quality level, a well-oxidized rolled oolong (sometimes marketed as red oolong), and lotus tea, an amazing and distinctive type that Vietnam is known for. The sweet, licorice flavored taste of that lotus tea was wonderful; to me it really stood out from the rest. But then I'd imagine different participants would've connected most with different versions, depending on their preference, or which seemed catchy in a novel way to them.
For having over a dozen people in total attend (counting Huyen, Seth, and I) the form and flow went really well. I've tried holding events before, managing the brewing and pouring aspects myself, and even a much smaller event can be a challenge, with only half that many people attending.
The hostel space they stay in, at the Pastel House in Suttisan, is perfect for this sort of thing. Another half dozen people could have joined, and table space would have still been sufficient. It was a large, quiet, comfortable open space.
So is Bangkok on the cusp of foreigner and Thai tea enthusiast appreciation taking on a new, more complex form? Maybe. But this kind of thing tends to evolve gradually. The new commercial tea events, expos, can be developed quickly, and the next post here will be about a continuation of the series of "Taste of Tea events, with one going on now in Central World. But tea preference and private social groups transition over time. Of course all that really started a decade ago here, among Thais. In an earlier form groups formed around shop customers, people joining related to appreciating tea in places like Double Dogs, Tea Dee, and Ong's tea, a shop that had been in Paragon, now closed.
All of this brings up an inclination to link to lots of old posts here, going on about visiting these shops, going to events, or holding them. None of this is centered on what I've done or experienced though, and that would seem implied by that, that somehow my experience represents, or even shapes, this local tea culture. I've just been here to see it. Shops really support it, and many other tea enthusiasts and vendors pull these interest groups together.
I'm also not really part of a "tea clique" here. I was in an online version of one, with Huyen, Suzana, and Ralph; that really helped make Covid seem less isolating, back in 2020 and 2021. Locally in Bangkok I know some people into tea, and that's nice; it works out without being part of a close circle of tea friends, or some form of networking group.
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meeting Huyen and Seth online awhile back |
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I met Huyen and Ralph first here, at Jip Eu, and many others |
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people connecting was the nicest part |
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