Does tea attract a certain type of people?

 

A Reddit post just brought up this theme (here, Does tea attract a certain type of people?).  It's a great question.  Their speculation included adding this, cited in its entirety because this framing is really helpful:

I drink a lot in tea rooms and like to just sit and listen to people talk. Mostly there's a certain type around me though. Students, hippie people, artists, long-haired men, older liberal arts professors etc. I've never had anything like that happen in a coffee shop. Do you also feel like tea is attracted to a certain culture, that maybe goes against consumerism as opposed to people who drink coffee?

I commented this, and I'll add a little more here:

It is appealing to a range of different people, but it might not be a broad range. I've been writing a blog about tea for 11 years, and active in tea groups for longer, meeting people locally who are into tea, and this theme keeps coming up.

That list works for a start; hippies and tea kind of pair naturally. For some reason 30 or so year old guys working in IT can connect with tea, in plenty of cases. My guess is that it's easy to burn out on overdoing it with coffee, and there's a lot of novel experience to be had with tea, and a lot to learn. The "figuring it out" aspect can be appealing, to some.

People with somewhat liberal inclinations, who aren't necessarily hippies, can also naturally connect with tea. It helps being into nature themes, Eastern or foreign cultures, and to some extent aesthetics, since those are subjects that can overlap.

More conservative but open minded, typically older individuals can also get the appeal. For this approach point the exclusivity might connect, more than foreign cultural association. It's possible to learn, know things, and experience things that aren't really easily accessible to others; taken in one way tea can connect with status. Ownership of a collection of valuable clay tea pots might be part of the appeal, approached this way. Any of these people could wear an Asian oriented robe while drinking tea, or martial arts type clothing, but for most this wouldn't apply.

Some common characteristics are implied there:  openness to atypical experience, tendency for exploration, cultural openness, and individual connection with one or more parts of the tea experience (flavor / food oriented, tied to Asian culture, problem solving related to learning about types or brewing approach, appeal related to exclusivity, or ownership of hard to access range of goods or teas).  On the aesthetic side someone might want to wear Asian oriented clothing, or in a more common form they might just like drinking tea outside in nature.  

Drinking tea can be a meditative experience; coffee is perfect for picking up a to-go drink that travels well, and for one range of tea experience spending a half an hour or an hour appreciating multiple infusions of an exceptional version is a main point.  It's easy to see how aesthetics and other factors could adjoin that.

(also included in that post as a comment):  

At tea tasting last month in Bangkok, with people from all over the world. they didn't share one theme in common (besides liking tea), but openness to new experiences and cultural expression seemed common. No one really represented the "hippie" type, but two people covered some limited aspects of that general range (no, not the woman wearing a scarf).

One interesting tangent of all this is how it's natural for people who are into tea to expect some degree of shared experience, and perspective.  It seems like all "tea enthusiasts" go through making this assumption, then probably adjust it later on when they realize that it really does apply, in part, but then to some extent it also doesn't.

I never fully addressed the initial point that people into tea might oppose consumerism, which the OP linked to coffee interest, the person who initiated that group discussion.  Indirectly I rejected it, saying that one sub-segment of people into tea actually lean into purchasing exotic, costly tea types and teaware, using purchasing and ownership as a status symbol.  But at the same time that initial opposition to consumer culture kind of works, for many others.  People into tea tend to want to own a limited, basic set of gear for brewing a couple of different ways, and then it's less common for that to translate into a cycle of continual collection.  That does come up, but not for most.  Pu'er enthusiasts tend to collect the actual tea, since that type changes and can improve with age.  

Let's consider a limited example, from someone in that earlier picture who is one of my absolute favorite "tea friends."  I'm talking about Huyen, in Vietnam; this post works as well as any for an introduction to who she is, even though it's a bit dated now, and there's more to tell.

So what are we looking at here?  Obviously they collect teaware, and are into the aesthetic side.  But to me this doesn't represent a status-oriented pursuit of self-definition, a way to place themselves above others who also like tea, by owning things.  They are unusually into the aesthetic side of tea experience.  This didn't stem from a somewhat recent urge to collect that tea gear, versus focus on the experience; their family connection to tea goes way back.  

They don't share that much in common with American liberals though, related to the generality framed in the original post question.  That US left / right liberal / conservative divide wouldn't even be familiar to them, in the same sense it is to Americans.

Next one might wonder how much difference it makes preparing tea in this sort of teaware, versus using a very basic set-up.  Use of clay pots is functional, and it does change things, so that part isn't mostly aesthetic, even if partly so.

The aesthetic part of the experience adds a layer of function, I would expect.  When I mentioned that many people love combining tea experience with an outdoor setting I meant that it changes what you experience, the tone of it, how it feels.  If I drink tea outside, and I often do, on a cool and pleasant day it's quite different than having it at the dining room table.  Birds, a breeze, plants, natural sunlight; all of these add a slightly different dimension.  The same must be occurring in that comfortable and aesthetically pleasing tea room, in that photo.

This might come across as a little odd, but Huyen's family isn't smiling for that photo, they are expressing how they feel at that moment, and typically seem a lot more relaxed and joyful than just about anyone I've ever met with online.  And of course I meet Huyen in person from time to time; she's in the other picture before that, and in others I'm sharing here.  I don't think all that tea gear brings them this joy, but their lives seem to integrate in a positive way.  They seem radiant.  My take is that it stems from living in sync with their own core principles, and appreciating the connections they have with others, and with varying life experiences.  Surely tea is a part of that.  

Let's go a little further, with another photo example:

Huyen again!  And Seth, another good friend, at the bottom.  This was a meetup at our house, appreciating interesting teas in an outdoor setting (using really basic teaware).

This reminds me of a part of the initial intro to this topic, not addressed specifically there, about discussion forms or range that might go with drinking tea (where that intro was instead about the people doing the talking).  We sometimes discuss a lot about the actual teas, and I've written about these meetups in this blog, and cover some of that, but more often it's just personal discussion, about background, perspective, life events, and so on.  Politics comes up, but discussion tends to steer back off that relatively quickly, as a relevant subject that's not any more interesting than others.  

I guess that it's not so different than when anyone meets for any reason, to talk about anything.  But the shared perspective and experience theme somehow stands out, that travel themes come up, and cultural issues, philosophy and religion, and so on.  I'm sort of implying that everyone has more broad interests and experiences than average, but that's not really what I mean.  It's that these layers of experience seem to come to light, and to be seen as novel and interesting, where something like more mundane travel experience could just be about sharing having had experiences, without peeling back the layers of what those tended to mean.  

Why is an old Laos night market experience novel and appealing, maybe different than a modern Bangkok version of the same thing?  Hard to say, but one could speculate, and share perspective on that.  It's something about feel, and historical context experienced in the present, about a unique setting, and a local culture.

that's Korea; it's completely different

I have a photo with baby Keoni in it just like this (a Luang Prabang market; photo credit)

There's an inclination many travel-oriented tea enthusiasts share to seek out the original, earlier, more authentic tea experience.  It brings people to tea production areas, and old sections of remote Chinatowns, to old shops and tea houses.  

There is novel perspective and deep history out there.  But eventually all of that seems to connect people back to their own present-day life experiences, later on, after they process all of that.  They see that it's all about appreciating the moment, and connections with others, or to a place, or natural environment.  It's about the present continuing and extending the experiences people valued in the past.  It's this journey that can be particularly interesting, to share with others, and to hear of their version of it.

some people are living embodiments of older tea traditions; I see Cindy in this way

This reminds me of some of my own starting points; I'll share a couple here.  One early intro came from a work trip, a visit to Shenzhen, China, seeing a Gong Fu tea presentation at an IT product demonstration area there:

That may not have been the most authentic presentation of that cultural background, perhaps packaged and adjusted just a little, used as background for that other main sales scope theme, but most of what they shared was completely genuine and valid.

the Wonosari tea plantation, on Java, Indonesia. 

I don't travel specifically related to tea, doing family trips instead, but I have seen it growing a few times.  That kind of experience and connection could be especially meaningful to tea enthusiasts.  In that area shown in the photo, in Java, Indonesia, it ties back to the older Dutch history, and on to what modern people experience, and how their tea culture is currently changing.  As tea culture is transitioning everywhere, and many aspects of many local cultures are.  Tea related experience can make for an interesting lens to view those layers of changes through.

Let's take this in a more controversial direction before closing; there can be a darker side to cultural transitions.  All sorts of people would love all sorts of travel experiences, and older cultures and history can end up being packaged for consumption in all sorts of ways (as tea history was in an IT equipment vending demonstration center).

This represents Polynesian cultures being interpreted and presented for appreciation in a popular Oahu, Hawaii based theme park.  Looked at one way there is nothing controversial or questionable about this; these parts of those local traditions are very well-grounded in earlier and relatively recent history.  But this could seem like a caricature of those forms and images, to others, as an example of appropriation.

It's definitely presented for-profit, which isn't necessarily problematic, but that opens the door to a possible tendency to package what works well, maybe even adjusting that content a little, and skip over parts that aren't so relatable.  Did colonization destroy some of that earlier cultural experience and expression?  Surely it did.  This park is owned and ran by Mormons; I suppose that framing doesn't help.  They recruit younger Polynesian adults to work in the park, which sort of helps, but in one sense that's better and in another potentially worse.

I'm not saying that tea history is being obliterated while being re-packaged for Western consumption, but history and culture is always being overwritten, to a certain extent.  Hopefully tea exploration, and especially tea tourism, takes on forms that continue to value what really occurred in the past, and honors and preserves the modern living cultures.  This is the kind of thing I tend to find people at tea meetups most interested in discussing; how what came before translates into interesting experiences and perspectives that are available now.

Reviewing Farmerleaf (Jinggu), Viet Sun (Vietnamese), and ITea World aged shou pu'er

 

I'm comparing three shou / ripe pu'er versions, one from Farmerleaf (so of course from Yunnan), another from Viet Sun (Vietnamese), and an aged version from ITea World, part of a themed aged tea set.  Going in I kind of didn't know what to expect, but I expected the Farmerleaf version to have an edge, because they've been sourcing pretty good Yunnan teas for awhile.  

I suppose it worked out as one might expect; it was a little better, but the Viet Sun was pretty solid, and novel, and the ITea World version represented well-aged tea well enough.

2023 Ku Zhu Shan  ($140 for 357 gram cake)

Ku Zhu Shan old tea gardens, Jinggu area

Fermented in Menghai in Winter 2023, medium-heavy fermentation

Complex mouthfeel, a hint of aggressiveness

Ku Zhu Shan is a village located east of Jinggu town, it has a lot of 'teng tiao' gardens, in which the tea trees are allowed to grow tall with fewer long branches, it's a special way of pruning the trees. This tends to give a more powerful brew by limiting the amount of leaves growing. 

You can notice the leaves are big and rich in tea buds. This tea has a complex taste which will carry you through a long session. You could even find hints of bitterness if you brew it strong. 

This was pretty good (I add the citations after the notes).  There's no way I'd ever spend $140 on a cake of shou, but at least it's good.

Thượng Sơn Small Batch-Ripe Puerh 2024  ($52 for 250 grams)

A nice small batch production from a new ripe puerh making friend of ours in Hà Giang. The raw puerh used to make this tea is spring 2023 high quality old/ ancient tree material from Thượng Sơn that was wok processed which isn’t too common in ripe puerh production. 

This tea brews up slowly into a rich dark brown/ black brew with some mahogany red hues. Sweet with earthy fragrant wood, and herbal dark sugar notes. This tea retains a bit of bitterness which balances well with the heavy sweetness. Thick mouthfeel and a lasting finish with a relaxing qi effect. 

The high raw material quality of this tea shows over the course of the session and performs well over many rounds. This tea is med-low on the fermentation scale and should age nicely with proper storage. 

The description doesn't sound so different than the Farmerleaf version, but this does cost about half as much.  Note that the sample seems to say that was a 2017 tea version (in the following photo), while this is claiming 2023, so it may not be identical.  There wasn't much shou being produced in Vietnam 8 years ago so it seems likely that writing is wrong, or unclear, especially since this listing from the same location is on his site.  [later edit]:  this was a 2017 version of a tea they sell more recent versions of.  Strange it was produced that long ago.

Quality level, complexity, and depth gives up a little (assuming that it is this version), but for as good as this is I'd definitely buy it instead of that Ku Zhu Shan version.  For people into good shou, who value the difference, the opposite conclusion might make sense, but that's as hard for me to relate to as people drinking Japanese green teas.

For the ITea World sample the information will be limited.  It's from this set, 100 grams of mixed aged teas selling for $76 for 100 grams (so it's by far the most expensive, but it's the rarity of other versions driving that pricing, not so much this version).

iTeaworld 2025 New Year Tea Gift Set (Year of the Snake Edition) - The Collection of 10 Aged Teas: Includes 20-Year-Old Ripe Pu-erh, 40-Year-Old Hei Zhuan (Black Brick Tea), 30-Year-Old Oolong, and more

Not much in there about this tea, or even in the site background.  It's Yunnan shou pu'er; that's it.

Review:

Farmerleaf Khuzhu Shan (the rinse):  I'll just pass an on initial impression, prior to the actual real steeps.  For a flash infusion this is pretty good; it's intense and rich, with good depth and feel already.  This will be a challenge for the other two to match.

Viet Sun (Thuong Son):  much thinner and less intense, but then this is only the rinse.

ITea World:  it's smooth, and has depth, but it's not looking good so far.  But then for this being much older, 2003, it may come around quite a bit after a rinse, removing a lot of what isn't as positive fast.

Farmerleaf KS (first actual infusion):  that's pretty dialed in to good shou range.  Some cacao works as a base, along with general earthiness, and then a bit of spice and dried fruit stands out from there.  Intensity is good; I brewed these fast to try a light round, between 15 and 20 seconds, and it's already there.  Depth is good; feel is nice, pleasantly thick.  Aftertaste doesn't extend as with sheng but it does support the experience of complexity.  It's clean.  Even the early fermentation rough edges seem gone, within two years of this being made.  It's a shame that I don't like shou more; this is a really good example of one.

Viet Sun:  there's an interesting distinctive flavor range in this; thinking it through that was the one way that it could hold its own, given the first version is as good as it seems.  There's a perfume-like note (possibly a foreign input, but the rest of flavor is quite novel, so maybe not), and rich, warm, earthy tones, along with pleasant spice range.  It might be slightly thinner and less intense and complex than the first, probably giving up the most related to depth, whatever I take that to mean.  More fragrant flavor range is quite pleasant, and also clean, but the feel and base flavor range (depth, earthy and mineral tones) doesn't match it.

ITea World:  a pronounced aged furniture input is interesting, like aromatic woods and essential oils that have been resting for a couple of decades, or longer.  It's also relatively clean; I guess age does tend to soften rough edges, and this is 22 years old, with the Vietnamese version 8 years old, plenty of time for a shou to settle.  Related to the Farmerleaf version that lack of age could have limited positive nature, depending on the starting point.  Sometimes inky, petroleum or tar-like flavors can transition into a creaminess, over some time.  It seemed to be a bud-heavy version, that probably wasn't fermented to death (absolutely completely), so it probably retained brighter flavors when new.  Sometimes high bud content shou ends up tasting like cacao, as that did.

Richness and depth are fine, and intensity.  All of these are pretty good, really.  I expect a longer soak will really let the Farmerleaf version shine, and improve the Viet Sun results some, and this will just gain a touch more intensity.  This older version could fade faster than the other two; aging can convert flavors in interesting ways but different kinds of transitions can lead teas to "brew out" faster.  I'm probably using one gram or so less of this version, which won't help it in comparison.  

Related to this showing off what a 20+ year old shou is like this really works.  In terms of matching the complexity and quality of whatever this Farmerleaf version is, and the novelty of the Viet Sun tea, that's asking too much.  It's not noticeably inferior to either, it's on the same general level, and that's already a major victory.

Farmerleaf Ku Zhu Shan (#2):  these brewed for closer to 30 seconds, for a longish soak.  It's unusual how good this is, how positive all the layers of flavors and other aspects are, and how it all comes together.  It will be interesting to hear what this is.  

Plenty of cacao stands out.  That can taste like dark chocolate, or the actual powdered coffee bean, or I suppose even a little like cocoa, but in this it's like ground cacao bean, like what you bake with, or even how the nibs smell and brew out (fresh chunks).  Warmth stands out beyond that, a clean version of earthiness.  The rest blends a bit but warm mineral, some spice tone, and what I take to be limited dried fruit input all combine, along the line of a hint of dried dark cherry, but interpretations would vary.  Balance is good, the completeness of the experience.  As for intensity shou is only ever so intense but this is doing fine with that.  Feel is relatively rich, a little oily; it's positive.

Viet Sun:  actual flavor layers are even more novel in this.  It's expressing something more like novel and mixed spice range.  Warm tones are pleasant, and feel is nice, with some underlying mineral, but it doesn't strike that really unconventional balance of hitting every note in sync that the first (Farmerleaf) version does.  It's good, and it's balanced, just a little lighter and less complex and intense in overall effect.  I really didn't expect it to be this good.  I should be mentioning more of a flaw than a lack of intensity across some scope, like an off flavor, odd feel, something like that.  Vietnam just hasn't been producing high end shou for long, and it's not just a matter of piling up some decent material and keeping it wet but not too wet.

As a sheng drinker it's odd switching this back to personal preference as a filter.  I miss that hit of intensity, the high bitterness, sweetness, strong flavor, intense feel, crazy complexity, and I suppose although I don't acknowledge it often the body rush from consuming it.  These are just pretty good.  Maybe on a cold fall day it would really make more sense; it's probably about 31 out now (C; that's almost 90 F), and ridiculously humid.  You don't crave warm toned teas on a day like this.

ITea World:  aged effect, the old furniture theme, and some extra medicinal spice picks up, along the line of whatever that really diverse set of spices they sell you in Chinatown herb shops as medicine smells like.  Like ginseng?  But really complex; like a few different things.  This is warm too, but as with the Viet Sun version it lacks the same intensity and depth of the Farmerleaf version.  Which is odd, because it has pretty good intensity, complexity, and depth.

I think the high buds input in the Farmerleaf version might be impacting the outcome.  Buds-only white teas can end up relatively flavorless (not always), but even those usually have great depth.  You never drink good Jin Jun Mei and feel disappointed by the lack of complexity, intensity, and depth.  Probably finer leaf material are covering one aspect range, and buds input another, and they overlap to balance really well.  Or maybe that's completely wrong.

I'll do one more round and drop taking notes.  These will transition a little over more infusions, but not enough to make it worth writing or reading about.

Farmerleaf (#3):  not really different, but then it was pretty good over the last couple of rounds.  Maybe I'm making it sound like that good balance and complexity really matches my personal preference more than it actually does.  I appreciate it, and like it, but again I'm a sheng drinker.  For whatever reason I really crave black tea experience as well, and can also appreciate oolong novelty and refinement.  I appreciate that this is so good, but I don't love it.  I think pretty much all shou drinkers would, maybe even across liking different styles, since this has a lot going on, and it's essentially all positive.

Viet Sun:  that atypical flavor complexity shifts just a little but it doesn't change.  This probably wasn't affected by an external flavor input (eg. something nearby in storage), because all types of external flavor inputs fade faster instead of just changing in form.  It didn't really taste off, or adjusted, I'm just clarifying that.  You can probably get any tea to taste like old furniture by storing it in an old furniture cabinet for a half dozen years.  Maybe that's actually not a bad idea.  This just includes unusual flavor range naturally.  

ITea World:  this still tops the others in terms of "aged taste."  Warm slate mineral works as a nice base, sweetness and thickness is fine, then lots of flavor complexity joins that, again in an old furniture and Chinese medicinal / root spice range.  

Drinking this on a winter day could seem magical, in a rustic cabin, maybe with some neutral flavored butter cookies, and snow falling outside.  In comparison with two other good shou versions on a hot day in Bangkok, at 12:30 now, not even in the morning, it's more about comparing strengths, what aspect ranges stand out.  Probably I'm losing something in missing the intensity of experience in sheng, turning up the volume in exposure, while these tea inputs add depth to the set of things you already experience.  That, and warm tones match with cold weather.

Conclusions:

All simple enough, the Farmerleaf version is a little better than the other two, the Viet Sun tea is solid and novel, and the ITea World represents aged shou well, giving up some complexity, depth, and novelty.  For people who haven't tried a lot of 20+ year old teas that part would've seemed more novel than it does to me.  It doesn't come up too often, but pretty regularly.

I really can't relate to anyone paying 40 cents a gram for shou, but if that part is fine the Farmerleaf version is worth it.  To me why even pay 20 cents per gram; decent factory shou might cost two thirds that, and that can be fine, since all shou is as close to the same thing as is true for any tea type (just how I see it; obviously shou drinkers probably don't agree).  Here is an example:

2022 Menghai "7572" Ripe Pu-erh Tea Cake  ($36 for 357 gram cake)

This probably was a little rough-edged for the first couple of years, and may not have fully settled yet.  In Yunnan Sourcing's words:

A classic recipe from Menghai. This is an average blend of 7th grade material that was fermented last year, so the cake does not have that just fermented taste, rather it has already mellowed a bit. Another 6 months to a year down the road and it will make even more improvements in taste and liquor clarity. When brewed this cake will taste a little sweet and lighter than the creamy 7262.

That "7th grade" relates to the material being chopped in form, as much as some general quality level.  All three of these teas surely are better than this, but from a "shou is shou" perspective not by much.  Farmerleaf's equivalent value-oriented entry, 2023 Bangwai Ripe, sells for $36 per cake; I'd probably buy that instead.  

William gave me these samples I'm trying from them on a visit here (many thanks for that), and after checking I have some of a 2023 Mengku version yet to try.  Since it lists for $60 per cake it represents another variation of a good-value theme, just not tea as inexpensive as Dayi versions.  Shou really does vary, from heavier flavored from being fully fermented, to being lighter, or even heavier on cacao range if a version includes more buds.  All three of these being pretty good, and relatively novel, might've made it seem like it's normal for above average shou to work out like that.  If a version is from a reliable source and the character is positive one can be nice, complex and well-balanced, but including a bit more rough edge than these did would be quite normal.

For this ITea World version representing the more ordinary range in an aged tea tasting set it held its own better than I expected compared to two interesting and positive shou examples.  It definitely showed off aged effect the others didn't, and some people would value that more than I probably seemed to.

On pu'er knives, and separating cakes and tuochas

 

One of the eternal questions:  do you really need to use a pu'er knife to separate compressed tea cakes, or can you use a letter opener, Swiss Army knife, ice pick, or whatever else is around?  And does the question change when discussing a well-compressed Xiaguan tuocha?

This recently came up in a Facebook tea group, but it gets asked in a Reddit pu'er sub several times a year.  I commented this:

A pu'er knife or pu'er pick can work slightly better than something like a letter opener, but there's definitely no need to spend $50 on something that looks more impressive. Inexpensive versions of the same devices will work in exactly the same way, and just as well. If your favorite vendor only sells something costly, because it's damascus steel or something such, just keep shopping. It probably makes sense to buy both an inexpensive pick and a knife, to see what you like best.

Others answered everything that you might imagine, every possible answer.  That reminds me of seeing a notice of a pu'er knife that actually looked cool recently, maybe not this one, but essentially the same thing:

That style is typically made by a blacksmith of some sort, either crafted from damascus (layered) steel or made from some novel original source, like from a railroad spike.  That would definitely work.  Those tend to cost about $70, which I guess may be about right given the labor that would go into making it.  This site sells them for $100, the first version that comes up on a Google Lens search about them, and in this Reddit post (showing that version) it had cost them $77.

I'd rather buy a tea cake, but that cake would be gone in a couple of months, and this novel knife could last forever.

Crimson Lotus sells this:  "The Bingslayer" Tea Pick  ($14.99)

The catchy marketing name works, and it should be functional.  It's funny how vendors spin all that:

May we present to you "The Bingslayer", First of their Name, Victorious at the Battle of Xiaguan, Breaker of the Iron Cake. Legend has it that this tea pick is so pure of heart that it doesn't open puerh cakes, the cakes open for it to allow it to pass through.

Setting that aside, $15 for a functional tea knife is fine.  Versions that cost $2 or 3 also work, probably just as well, like the one I've been using for a few years that a friend passed on, after I accidentally packed my tea pick in a carry-on bag, and the TSA got it (or actually the Thai equivalent).

my old pu'er pick; I really liked that too

I don't see any version of a knife or pick on either Yunnan Sourcing or White 2 Tea's sites.  Strange.  You would think they would find an inexpensive and functional version to sell as a service to customers, if not so much to profit from.

This Shopee version (like a Thai version of Ebay) sells for about $8; it's not far off what I use now:

Technique, the real problem

The problem people are really having relates to technique, not the form of the device they use.  That cause could get lost as they explore both devices and approach, because their technique would improve as they gradually kept swapping out devices, and the same devices would keep working better and better.  A pick works about as well as a knife, when you are good at using one.  I'll explain how to break apart a tea cake then, or at least how I go about it.

For the loosest pressed cakes it kind of doesn't matter.  You can pull a chunk off the side with your fingers and that won't break the leaves very much, which is the main concern.  More broken material will extract a lot more astringency, which isn't as pleasant.  For harder pressed cakes it works well to start from the inside lip of the pressed indentation (beeng-hole, some say), and work outwards towards the edge to peel off a good sized flake, maybe two inches across.  No matter how you approach it all you don't want to push the knife towards your other hand, so early on using a wood cutting board is ideal, so you stab that instead as you get better at it.  It could also work starting from the outside and working inward, I just don't prefer that myself.

For a very hard pressed cake this won't work very well, but then nothing really will.  It's an option to break such a cake into large sized chunks, probably using some variation of pliers, and then separating the layers by pressing a knife or pick into the side of the chunk.  The main idea is to work along the layers of how the cake or tuocha (ball shape) is pressed, and if you tear a chunk off a cake those layers will be evident.

For a tuocha holding the dome side downward and starting from the rim works well.  You can press the device into this lip, separating off a good sized chunk of the outside, again without pushing that knife towards your other hand, probably by resting the tuo on something that it's ok to stab into.  Typically you can peel off the outer one fourth of the entire tuo this way, piece by piece, and then keep going, working with the now-stranger-looking inner three fourths of the ball shape.

One last concern is what to do with the more broken dust and small fragments that can be by-products of this process, especially when separating tighter pressed cakes.  You have options.  Some people throw that out; it shouldn't amount to much, and it doesn't brew as well.  It could work to save it in a miscellaneous material jar and brew it separately, as a blend.  I like the idea but I almost never do that.  I put some in a tea-bag a year or two ago--from some spare bags a vendor sent along with loose tea--and saw that still stashed somewhere recently; when I actually do it I might not get back to it.  

Or you can let it collect in the paper wrapper and brew a round that's based on more broken material once in awhile, or a mix of finer broken material forms, broken leaves down to dust.  That's what I do.  

It throws off results that round, all to utilize a couple of extra grams of really broken material however often that comes up, but it seems disrespectful to the tea to just bin it, to me.  For looser pressed tea cakes this isn't even a concern; leaves might break a little, but it's not like how things go with harder pressed cakes.  I suppose this is why the "iron cake" form didn't last, as well as related to those not aging in the same way, being isolated from any and all air contact that might enable it in a normal form.

A 2011 mini Xiaguan iron cake, basically, last reviewed here in 2019.  I've tried this in the last 6 months and it's not quite ready yet, 14 years into aging.  In 5 more years I'll probably feel the same way.

Childhood stories from growing up in rural PA in the 70s

 

A recent post brought up the topic of childhood stories, in a very personally impactful way.  I grew up in rural Pennsylvania, with the first childhood home I remember in Cranberry, PA.  We moved there when I was 3 or 4, so I have very vague memories of living elsewhere earlier, but those are only fragments.

Someone recently posted an image of a postcard of that early home in an online group.  Where I lived had been a really old version of a resort, kind of like a motel, but based on the theme of people renting cabins while they traveled on an old US highway.  Even that form of travel experience had ended long before I was born.  US 322, that road, was more or less equivalent to the old Route 66, replaced by the US interstate system in the 1950s.  I grew up there in the 70s; I'm getting up there in age now.

those cabins were kind of elaborate, just small, as houses go

I wrote some stories of that childhood experience in that post, as comments, which I'll share here.  It was another time and another world.  The fragments of memories paint a picture of earlier US culture that is still recognizable, but far different than the current form.  

What was different?  It was a simpler time.  There were no cell phones, no internet, and not so much in terms of societal problems (crime, gangs, drug epidemics, random shootings, child kidnapping, etc.).  It wasn't ideal; some people still did terrible things, and US society was struggling to place that.  Drinking alcohol was so completely accepted that maybe in today's framing it would have been considered an "epidemic."  One set of my grandparents declined in health in their 60s and died in their 70s from impact from that.  

What I communicate could seem idealized, because it relates to positive memories, and societal trends were colored by positive filtering.  Was it so much better that people would more often ice skate, go sled riding, and build snowmen back then?  Maybe, or maybe not.  A reader can place that framing bias for themselves.

On with some stories then, starting with what I typed for comments:

I grew up there, moving there just before kindergarten, and moving away at 13. These comments are right; it's right beside and behind the Cranberry mall, which is where the Sky High Drive-in had been. There was a mini mall complex there at one point. There had been a mini golf place in front of it. My parents had a pond renovated there, but I don't remember what the pond was like before then.

Most of the cabins were there when we moved in. They rented out the best condition cabins as small homes, maybe a half a dozen earlier on. Two older guys who escaped from Polk mental health facility lived there, and lots of other tenants. One of my earliest childhood memories is of climbing under those cabins in the winter to fix frozen water lines, of course at the coldest times. One larger cabin had burned down, and as kids we thought that maybe someone died in that fire.

A giant sawdust pile well behind the cabins area was related to the history of the native forest being cleared to the ground, in the early 20th century. One giant oak remained of that old forest, and the rest of the woods was only some decades old. We called that oak tree George. We lived in the main cabin building, which the next residents destroyed when they moved in. I grew up in the woods behind those buildings, on 100 acres of land. My mom would ring a good sized bell to call us in, from being left to our own to ride bikes, climb trees, or do whatever else.

We planted the trees in a then-empty field that would now block a view of there.  In the winter we would ice skate on that pond. Old artifacts in abandoned cabins were treasures for us, but there wasn't much of value left behind. My parents had an oil well drilled, and it produced, but not much. There were remnants of older oil well equipment on the land. We tapped maples to make syrup there, and picked wild blackberries and elderberries that my mom made into pies.

It was a pretty busy 9 years, and growing up in the 70s I experienced the older world. Holidays felt completely different; family connections were different. My parents developed haunted hayrides that extended from earlier Halloween parties. People didn't even eat the same diets then.  If you look in an old Betty Crocker cookbook people really were eating those odd sorts of foods, casseroles, Jello salads, and such.

That house on the right is where I lived; I remember all sorts of strange aspects of it. There was a root cellar; now people might not have heard of such a thing. I raised pigs in a building that probably should be in-frame blocking the view of the house. 

I learned to drive a bulldozer by the time I was 10; I remember my sister nearly getting injured logging when she would have been about 8 (spectating, but I also did the work). Mowing all those lawns was crazy. Somehow as kids we liked all the garter snakes that lived in the yards, and would bring them inside for a visit, which freaked out our mother. It was an amazing time.

Differences in culture and lifestyle then

All of this paints a picture of a different time, like the Wonder Years movie experiences, and it was really sort of like that.  Things seemed simpler.  Really people had the same sorts of aspirations, habits, desires, and limitations.  It didn't seem like a booming economy made life simple and easy; people worked hard to build lives for themselves.  Both my parents worked, and we rented out those cabins, and did projects like an external house renovation to add income to support their financial stability and goals.  We did our own auto repair, and our own home maintenance, essentially everything.  I raised pigs to support our food supply, and we hunted for game for sustenance, more so than for sport.

Some parts seem idealized in relation to changes that are as negative as positive now.  Holidays have become more commercial.  As children Christmas was about us getting gifts then, but people held family gatherings more, and schools made more of traditional themes like singing carols, and making artwork.  Of course all of that still applies, but not in the exact same forms as back then.

Sky High Drive-In, 1950s (the area in front of that home, photo credit here)

To me this picture reference tells a couple of interesting stories, one part related to what was in those notes.  The small patch of woods in the upper left would be part of that property but not the part shown in the postcard photo.  That's further back (out of frame at the top), and facing right in this photo perspective.

They had stripped that land bare to develop it for farming, which had to have happened prior to 1948, if that drive-in movie theater went in then (per that article).  Based on my understanding of forest and tree growth now that entire forest area around that home really might have only been about 30 years old, or maybe a little older, even though there were lots of 20-some foot tall trees there then.  To me as a child it was a mature, primeval forest, but looking back that's just not how it was.

There were lots of connections to even older culture, and older industrial / economic forms there.  I'd mentioned old oil well history on that land, and my grandparents lived in a place where coal mining had been prominent for quite some time (in Coal Hill, not so far away).  These aren't really cultural aspects, in the sense of talking about holiday observances, but economic themes, land use, and culture all tie together.  

Oil City, one of two nearby communities, was a booming center for petroleum processing in the US in the 1970s, and that has completely ended since; it just doesn't happen there.  Oil was first obtained by drilling in Titusville, PA, a main step in the US industrial era.  An entire manufacturing sector boomed and faded to essentially be gone now between the late 40s and the current day, mostly gone in the 90s.

Drake Well; the first oil well based oil production in the world (and my family)

a reconstruction of Drake's first oil well

Mall culture came and went, since the end of when I lived there and now.  That Drive-In theater was replaced by the Cranberry Mall, which now sits vacant.  A Wal-Mart nearby more or less put it out of business, along with online sales preference, and so on.

These fragments don't seem to do justice to describing the culture I grew up in.  Maybe it sounds more ideal than it really was, or I suppose maybe worse than it was, to some.  More specifics about my own life might help place that time and perspective

Other defining early memories

I grew up with foster siblings.  My father was a social worker, for an entire career, and that idealism, and awareness of that process and system, led them to help kids who needed a temporary place to stay.  At least one lived with us for years; it wasn't always so temporary.  Maybe 20 different kids stayed with us.  It might seem like I'm claiming that it was a more idealistic time, but of course the same general theme carries over to today.  Those agencies compensate host families for providing that support.  Those kids were fine; we never really experienced any of the problems one might imagine coming up.  They were grateful to be well cared for and we were happy to share space and experiences with them.

We grew up with tenants living nearby then too, and had a lot more contact with extended family than seems normal now.  Community orientation seemed different, not just for me, but in general.  I've lived in a number of places since where transplants make up a lot of the local population (Dallas and Austin, Texas, two places in Colorado, in Honolulu, and others) and people seem less connected to areas that they weren't always from.  Family networks aren't there, for transplants, and there are no childhood memories and old family practices to continue on with.

Maybe in some sense even the economically impoverished local area is better off now, in some ways, than it was back then.  Not for the more vacant areas, or hardest hit families, but to me there is a feeling of comfort and plentitude "back home" that wasn't the same in the 70s, to the extent I remember it then.  People didn't necessarily own two cars, a medium sized house, ATVs and golf carts, motorcycles, and so on, and a higher degree of ownership and consumption seems normal now.  It was normal for people to work hard to live a basic life.  Eating out in restaurants was more of an event than a normal part of life, as it has become.  Even trivial new things like McDonald's starting to serve breakfast seemed really novel.

Electronics has changed a lot, of course.  Local television had three channels growing up, as was true everywhere in the US.  We would get some degree of fuzzy UHF reception, where we could watch black and white Godzilla episodes, but there just wasn't much there.  My grandparents had a "party line" phone; you shared the access with neighbors, in the same way two people in a household might both try to use a land line at the same time.  

In general the rest was what one would expect of that level of development.  Later VHS tapes being developed took some emphasis off movie theater experience.  I played Atari video games a lot after that time period, but in my early childhood such things didn't really exist.  We did own Pong, essentially the first video game, as far as I know.  Two vertical white lines simulated paddles, and a dot was a ball, so it was like tennis or ping pong.  

As kids we did a lot of real life playing outside, because even something like cartoons were only shown on Saturday mornings.  It was rough play, in a sense, jumping ramps on bikes, shooting bows, and so on.  Our parents bought us a javelin to play with, the Olympic / track version of a throwing spear.  We took a lot more risks then but somehow it seemed to work out.

this was where we lived next, not far away

I remember nature experience playing a big role in my childhood life experience, and the change of the seasons being very meaningful.  I suppose all of that is roughly the same now, and the main difference would relate to nostalgic framing.  Nature certainly hasn't changed.

the next two generations, mixed together, having one of the same experiences

What does all this really mean, in relation to mapping out societal or culture change?  As much changed in my life circumstances as did related to US culture.  I live in Bangkok now, most of the time, and in Honolulu part of the time.  It's the exact opposite side of the world (that Thai city).

I like the idea that Thailand is just behind the US in a development curve, and a lot of local Thai culture from the past 20 years maps over to the US culture in the mid-20th century.  That's not really how it works, but some parts of that perspective might hold up.  Economic development is occurring just now in Thai society, over the past 20 years, as it was in the 50s through 80s in the US.  There is a relaxed feel, and optimism, and some forms of problems haven't developed yet.  Then also the two cultures are just different.

It's all what you make of it, anywhere and in any time period, and there are always plenty of struggles to go along with the potential and the successes.  The real meaning is tied up in personal relationships.  Maybe that did slip away, just a bit, with so many people in the US living with strangers in shared apartments, versus in homes with relatives they'll know across their entire lives.  It's harder to say to what extent personal financial development is still available in the US.  If you are born into the top 50% of income level it's all but a non-issue, because parents can give their kids the running start they'll need, but I've seen plenty of that bottom half in the past 35 years.  I lived that out, for an extended time.

Again I'm mixing themes.  They seem to naturally mix on their own, that different Americans would have different experiences based on personal history and financial fortune.  Maybe I've only lived in an actual "slum" once in those harder years, and that kind of didn't count, because it was a Mexican neighborhood.  No one there had any problem with me being white.  Now onto race issues; the darker or more complicated themes mix with the rosier images of the past.

I grew up in such a white area that there was no minority theme to feel positively or negatively about.  I can relate to people looking back on that simpler time and appreciating reduced problems, even if I can't usually follow perspective and interpretation of what that had been about, or how it applies to today.  Obviously my wife is Asian now, and I'm the minority, living in Bangkok (most of the time, at least).  Even in Honolulu people tolerate me being white, while seeing it as negative, in general.  It's quite a perspective shift, actually being the minority, versus just being open to whatever degree to others are living that out.

Chinatown outing; not a running theme in my childhood (and Eye represents Cranberry!)

I'm glad that the US became a more diverse place, and that people who are minorities, or gay, or identify through other minority status are more openly accepted.  Does that extend a bit far now, to the extent that some people are just making up status orientations that make no sense?  I really don't know.  Time will tell.

It was nice being a part of that earlier world too.  It had some bright spots.  Challenges were extreme enough that the rougher-edged stories I didn't really cover here could sound awful.  My family built the one house shown; I worked long days bringing that to exist, for most of a year, or it probably was a year in total.  I put roofs on lots of buildings as a child, by the age of 12, or maybe even 10.  I did many things that OSHA would not have approved of.  The toughness comes at a cost.  The worst example was crawling into narrow, enclosed spaces to spread out fiberglass insulation.  The level of exposure to glass fibers, and later effects from doing that, were kind of horrific.

My kids have it easier, but the life of greater ease comes at a cost too.  Work ethic isn't something you pick up without experiencing trade-offs.  Doing a sport isn't the same thing as building a house.  The challenges that they have faced have been quite considerable, just in different ways, relating to adapting to different kinds of schools, and moving from one country to another.  

They've experienced being poor, for better or worse; we are middle class in Bangkok and dirt poor in Honolulu.  Maybe that part is ok, not so much as a memory to be nostalgic about (but then time will tell), but related to being exposed to different conditions and challenges.  They won't look back with mixed feelings on their fingers and toes going numb doing building maintenance work, but it probably will seem funny thinking about sleeping on a floor, or walking places to save money in comparison with riding a bus.

Oddly they never really did need to make peace with being an outsider, even though they're essentially immigrants from another country.  That's part of why we started our US residence there, where my wife and I both went to grad school (at UH Manoa).  Most people are Asian, mixed race, or from somewhere else, and being all three makes you seem more normal than I would ever be regarded as locally.  Maybe the whole world got smaller?  Where I grew up didn't change that much; people are still isolated in that limited range local culture now.  Which isn't such a bad thing, even if there are negative aspects of that, along with the positives.

One last story I wanted to pass on, about how open I was personally to diversity as a child, something that I can't fully place even now.  My grandmother made Raggedy Ann  and Andy dolls for us as kids, and asked us what we wanted, how ours should appear.  I asked for mine to be black (and named him Frank, not really an important part of that story).  Somehow I had a sense that my narrow life experience wasn't all there was, and even as a young child I felt the lack of that exposure.  My narrow horizons have definitely broadened since then, but I now appreciate that cultural background all the more for it.

building a snowman in St. Petersburg, Russia

they visited back home to build them in PA, just not very often

Farmerleaf Jing Mai Miyun and Cang Yuan sheng pu'er

 

I'm reviewing two more sheng pu'er samples from Farmerleaf, versions William had on hand and shared when I met him in Bangkok recently.  One is their Miyun version, and the other Cang Yuan.  The first rings a bell, and I've added what I remember of it in notes, so for now I'll just list Farmerleaf's site descriptions (partial citations; there are more details on those pages):

Spring 2024 Jingmai Miyun ($60 per 357 gram cake)

The 2024 version of the Miyun is slightly improved. Due to the low demand in fresh leaves this year, we managed to get some of the best 'shengtai' tea in this blend. We've mixed the production of our Liu Dui garden with tea made by our cousin, growing close to Da Ping Zhang plateau. We'll see how this supposedly superior material will develop as the tea ages. 

At the time of release, right out of the pressing factory, the tea tastes lively and vibrant, with a light bitterness, moderate thickness, good sweetness and some Huigan. This is a good tea for beginners and as a daily drinker. 

Spring 2024 Cang Yuan ($86 per 357 gram cake)

Spring 2024

Old tea garden material, Pa Pai village, Cangyuan county, Lincang

Complex fragrance, medium body, good punch without much bitterness

This is a well-balanced tea with plenty to deliver. Somewhat similar in profile to Baka and Hua Zhu Liang Zi, it is a highly fragrant one. 

We haven't visited the area, it is located is a remote county at the border with Myanmar, in the far west of Lincang county.

I might add that samples that have been travelling a bit could lose a little intensity, for going through changes in environment, or being opened and closed.  Both of these could be marginally more intense as carefully stored, full cake versions.  Depending on exposure some aromatic range could even evaporate off, but I'd imagine at most they could have just lost a little intensity.

Review:

Miyun:  it's pleasant.  Flavor complexity stands out already, even brewed lightly, a bit of pine or related vegetal edge, and what comes across as floral range.  Feel has some thickness to it.  Intensity will pick up a little on a second infusion, and it will be easier to add more details.

Cang Yuan:  there's an interesting flavor range in this version.  The other had a nice brightness, and this is warmer toned, towards warm mineral, or maybe cedar / redwood / other spice.  It seems negative, describing a tea as woody, but a supporting note matching cedar isn't so far off incense spice, and it can play a similar role in positive flavor balance.  The rest is nice, the sweetness, other flavor complexity, decent feel, good overall balance.  

It's too early to try to place these in relation to a higher or medium quality level, but that is something that will come up, related to talking to William about such things, and considering it for the last tea version I reviewed.  It's not so much distinct aspects or markers that stand out, but that refinement can be better, intensity, clarity, aspects being distinct and clean, balance, feel playing an extra positive role, and so on.  I don't over-think such things; I'm drinking whatever tea I happen to have, and exploring to the highest possible quality level was never a main part of my own exploration project.

There is an old understanding that people tend to appreciate tea for flavor first, then learn to appreciate body / mouthfeel, then later can identify and value body feel (cha qi).  Of course for the third category I couldn't separate the input of both tasted together, but it seems to me that people often really like a drug-like effect that stands out most when they drink sheng on an empty stomach, a rush of change in internal state that you can't easily notice in the same way if you have eaten.  I'm not really endorsing this breakdown of forms of appreciation here, just mentioning it.  I like how teas come together, and different sets of attributes make different teas appealing.

I think the other, the Miyun version, is supposed to be their more budget-oriented version, so more moderate in quality level.  It would be normal to achieve good results using less exceptional material through blending, to balance what a few inputs can offer, but I don't know if that's part of it.  Of course that could come at the cost of diluting down some of the more positive range of one exceptional version, some really interesting flavor input, or a special kind of feel structure, and so on.

Miyun #2:  the brightness is nice in this; there is a fresh, bright note that combines some floral and near-citrus input.  Sweetness level balances that nicely.  Bitterness is moderate for a young sheng, in the normal range, which is pleasant to me.  Astringency is normal; feel has some structure, and there's some edge to it.  To me it tastes like an above average quality version of a relatively normal style of sheng.  I guess Jing Mai origin range tends to be like this?  Pine sometimes stands out more; you can notice that, but it's probably as much from expecting it and looking for it, and you might not place it without that.

So it's good.  But it feels like I'm leaving out how it could be better, what it would be like.  Across all of that range, which is all positive, it could be dialed up just a little.  Feel is nice, and aftertaste adds to the experience, but it could be richer, with that more pronounced.  It could have more distinct, cleaner flavors.  I think that one bright flavor tone range is a main strength; to me that really works.  A bit of vegetal edge is fine, but then I love teas with much stronger versions of that, that tend to have a different overall balance, with more intensity, sweetness, and different novel flavor inputs.

Cang Yuan:  that one flavor range is nice.  The warm tone matches well with a richer feel, which carries over into a slightly stronger aftertaste experience.  It includes some bitterness but lacks the slight rough edge of the other.  Intensity is moderate, as young sheng goes; I wonder how William would take that?  This is still more intense, complex, and dynamic than any oolong, green tea, or black tea; it's all relative.  It's good.  A hint of dryness matches well with the warm tones, rich feel, and aftertaste expression.  I suppose it plays a similar role in the experience as a vegetal edge and slight roughness in the Miyun version.  

At this stage, judging between the two, I like the way the Miyun aspects fall together.  The brightness and sweetness is offset well by some pine and astringency.  It might be more challenging for someone who doesn't drink sheng, because of those, but then it's hard to say what people not started on acclimating to bitterness would make of any sheng.  I'm not saying much about bitterness in these because it's moderate, to me, but it is present.  To me it balances well in both, not really standing out.

Miyun #3:  there was a sort of synergy to how the citrus-like edge and what I interpret as floral range came together, along with sweetness, and that has developed further.  It almost tastes like a lemon drop candy.  That hits your palate first, as you taste the tea, then feel structure next, then the flavor paired with that, a touch of vegetal edge, then aftertaste after that.  It's a nice complex tasting experience.  To me--and this part is completely subjective--this is the kind of tea you could drink two or three days a week for an extended time, and it wouldn't get old.  It covers basic range in a novel way.  

The Vietnamese tea I've been using for that purpose, one a Son La version from Viet Sun, that I'm on my second cake of, is more intense, but also edgier, even harsher.  I'm fine with that; I don't think it would necessarily be better with a couple more years to mellow out, losing some brightness and intensity in exchange for the sharp edge softening.

Cang Yuan:  it's interesting how different this is.  Flavor profile is quite different, warmer, almost into spice range, but it's hard to place within that.  I could relate to someone interpreting dried Chinese date as a flavor inclusion.  Feel is full instead of being expressed as an edge.  It's not necessarily rich, not quite to that sappy sort of character, but there's some thickness to it.  It's mild, as a sheng this age goes, but there is a good bit going on, across a few dimensions.  This seems like it could be an autumn harvest tea, that limited intensity and slightly reduced range.

Miyun #4:  the aspects integrate better and better, and that lemon sort of edge becomes more pronounced across rounds.  I really like this.  The light vegetal edge and astringency are in a perfect very-moderate range to complement the rest instead of detracting from it.  

I did break form and look at these vendor listings between rounds (always added during editing), and this is what I'd described, their moderate cost version, using blending to optimize results, selling for $60 a cake.  To me it's a great value at this pricing.  William mentions in the description that it's a good year for this particular cake, that the material is better than normal.  I could see how with just a little less of that positive flavor, a little less sweetness, and a touch more astringency and vegetal edge this would be pretty ordinary tea.  As it stands in this it's quite pleasant.

It makes me think about that "daily drinker" theme, what is implied.  It seems to sweep in that you would drink better tea some of the time, and then an inferior, budget oriented version a lot of the time, the kind of thing you'd have with a rushed breakfast.  That mixes two sets of ideas that don't necessarily go together:  quality level (also relating to value), and general character, what kinds of aspects would work best for tea with a breakfast versus what you'd enjoy in an hour long session focused on the tea itself.  Who knows about the second; people would find different experiences most interesting.  

Good black tea is great for a really rushed breakfast, but I can brew 10 cups of sheng pretty fast for a standard experience.  One trick is to use two cups, pouring from one to the other to pull out a bit of extra heat.  Not pouring back and forth; once would do, or if you really like the tea cooler you can drink a little cold water from one first and it will draw out more heat.

Cang Yuan:  it's not really evolving much; it is what it is.  Would this have greater "depth," giving it an extra dimension of experience the other lacks, one relative superior range?  Not really.  That can be meaningful to me, it can work out like that, but in this case it's more just mild, and expresses a novel flavor range, warm in tone, covering a good bit of spice, potentially partly interpreted as whatever else.  

For someone who dislikes the edginess in a lot of sheng this may be perfect.  That would seem odd, seeing young sheng experience as harsh instead of positive, at least in relation to better quality tea range, as these are.  Of course anyone drinking almost any "factory tea" is going to be put off by astringency and high bitterness, maybe appreciating drinking those on the still challenging side 10 years later, or after 25 years of age transitioning.

Conclusions:  

Pretty good, especially for these being on the lower side of their pricing range.  The style of the Miyun suits what I like in young sheng, the brightness, freshness, floral and touch of fruit, and sweetness, which is fine with a bit of vegetal edge.  Feel could be richer, and aftertaste more extended, with hui gan carry-over kind of limited, but to me it all works.  I talked through ordering this or not in my mind, since it's not so much, and this plus some good Dian Hong (black tea) for under $100 is a great value for basic range tea to drink for awhile.  I only drink basic range teas, for the most part, it just varies in character because some is from Thailand and Vietnam, lately.  And I tried a lot of samples last year; that's nice for mixing things up.

The other, the Cang Yuan, seems well-suited for someone initially adjusting to sheng, not quite ok with bitterness and astringency yet.  It's a little odd considering which sheng would be good for people who don't like sheng, but I guess preferences would always map out over a range.

I wouldn't expect aging concerns to be much of an issue for these teas.  They would mellow a little more over a few more years, but they're drinkable now.  Maybe someone else would be looking for a relative optimum that I'm not familiar with, something really approachable.  The slight extra edge to the Miyun might transition better over limited aging, but I can't imagine that there would be any reason to hold onto it for a decade or longer, or even to see what it's like after a half dozen years.  To me it's just not that kind of tea.  

Then again I've bought an extra cake of something similar before, just to see how it turns out; I should go back and figure out what that was, and how it's doing.  It was from Tea Mania, that I bought about a half dozen years ago.  They had this annoying habit of labeling white paper cakes with Chinese letter stamps, so it would be a bit of a project sorting out what it is, even after finding it.  Any sensible person would've just written on the label before stashing it, but I have a few cakes like that, not so easy to identify now.  For the ones in only blank white wrappers I never will know what they were.  At least the experience of drinking them is the same, with or without that background.

I never did guess at why the second version of this lacks intensity to this degree.  I don't think it related to the sample experiencing air exposure; that could change things a little, but not this much, to shift the character to a relative opposite.  Versions from Lincang are known as being more intense and bitter, if I'm remembering that generality right.  But then different factors come into play.  Plant types can vary, and not all local areas within a broad area will be the same.  Micro-climate and terroir issues come up related to local environments.  Harvest season changes things, but these are both spring teas.  

Often more wild-origin teas (which this isn't described as, just natural growth, less managed plantation sourced) are more flavorful and distinctive, and also more mild.  I'm not sure if that relates to plant types varying, or the growing environment changing outcome.  So in the end I really don't know.