I've recently met a tea enthusiast from Singapore, through social media contact, talking about tea and exchanging some samples here in Bangkok. He's also a very small scale vendor, selling under the brand / business name Ez Teasy. There may be no online sales site to reference, but he does have an Instagram page. It probably wouldn't hurt to at least mention his name, but given how some people are about online privacy I'll leave even that out.
It would've been interesting comparing the pricing level of these two teas with each other, and in relation to the quality of the tea, but that's fine, it's not really necessary. He passed on a good version of black tea, a Qimen, a decent Jin Xuan, and a couple of green teas, with this only covering the first two.
I'll skip saying much about his philosophy of tea, or other background we discussed. The short version is that he thinks appreciating good tea doesn't have to be a difficult, complicated, gear-intensive process, requiring formal training or a long learning curve. I definitely agree with that. Pretty much all tea enthusiasts think that plain, ordinary, unadjusted teas have a lot to offer, in comparison with tin-presented flavored tea blends, which might stand out more in specialty grocery store aisles. On with trying two versions of those.
Of course it makes no sense doing a combined tasting of two unrelated tea versions. I'm in the habit of doing combined tastings mostly to save time, to get to more, and after doing that dozens of times it's a familiar experience, and doesn't take much away from focusing on one, or comparing two similar versions, which would actually make sense.
Review:
Qimen: it's quite good, but you could pretty much guess that from the appearance alone. It's made of buds and very fine leaves, so that it resembles some versions of Jin Jun Mei, the ones that include both kinds of content, which some people claim aren't an authentic style. Flavor range isn't so far off Jin Jun Mei; this could be that. That comes in a range of styles, and it would be like a more typical black tea version, than the buds-only versions that taste like beeswax and honey.
This does seem to include a bit of honey and beeswax flavor range. It's complex enough that it's hard to specify what the main flavors are, because there is a lot going on, even though it's all integrated, and entirely pleasant. From there one might guess about dried fruit, or focus on a mineral layer. A warm tone is a little bit savory, not so much that sun-dried tomato comes to mind, but along that line. Cacao would be a reasonable interpretation, even describing that as a main flavor not, or the main one. I won't brew a stronger infusion next round--lengthening infusion time--but the tea might open up a bit, showing even more, even without being brewed stronger.
Jin Xuan: not fully opened up yet, but there's enough intensity to see how this will be. It's a good version of Jin Xuan. Creaminess is the main aspect in such a version, typically, at least for a version without much for roast or oxidation, and this is nice and creamy. Remaining range is typically sweet, floral, and rich in feel. This covers all of that. Vegetal range can be regarded as negative, although if someone loves that it can be neutral or positive. This includes some; vegetal range is on par with floral tones in this early and light round. We'll see how it evolves as it opens up.
Qimen, #2: intensity jumped quite a bit, even though I'm using a fast infusion time. It would've made sense to go with a lower proportion for a tea like this, to offset that to compensate for what was going to be high intensity, but of course I didn't. 4 or 5 grams would be plenty, and this sample only had 7 or so in it, so I went with that amount.
Warm tones come out stronger, good sweetness, and what I interpret as bark spice and rich dried fruit. Cacao is still a main inclusion. Rich feel is nice in this, and the aftertaste from all that trailing over. This is a pretty good example of this style of black tea. It would be hard to find better. The only time I've had Qimen even vaguely like this was when Dylan of the Sweetest Dew sent me a few versions to try.
Then it's harder to place this in relation to my preference. For someone who loves this style this would be fantastic, but I've always loved Dian Hong more than Jin Jun Mei, or good unsmoked Lapsang Souchong, which this is closer to, maybe especially the first. Or it could seem to be in between the two in style, combining aspects from both (from good versions of both). I like it, and I can appreciate it, but I might love a version of something else that's at the same quality level more.
Lots of Dian Hong (Yunnan black) ends up being a bit basic though, lacking this kind of intensity and complexity, and especially refinement, so even though I love that style it tends to fall short of this quality level. Which can still be fine; it's not a problem to appreciate more basic tea experience, if you are on that page. You don't need intensity, complexity, refinement, finish / aftertaste, and all the rest at a high level. I suspect that a lot of Dian Hong might be produced from summer harvest material that's not as suitable for making sheng pu'er, drawing on the least potential version of what is ever harvested, but that's more a guess than an informed assessment.
A hint of sourness might be the only flaw or limitation. I don't always notice such a thing, because I don't mind it at all at that level of input, but for people more sensitive to it, opposed to it, it could seem like more of a limitation. To me it just matches the rest of the style.
Jin Xuan, #2: Richness and creaminess are very nice; again vegetal flavor range standing out just a little more than floral tones might be the main limitation for this version. To some that would be something of a deal-breaker, and to others I'd be splitting hairs, and this could seem like exceptional tea. It's clean in flavor effect, and bright, with good intensity, good sweetness, rich feel (which could always be stronger, but it's ok on the scale of that), and decent butteriness. Real Jin Xuan never tastes exactly like butter, more just a bit creamy, as this does. I have limited or perhaps no experience with fake flavored versions.
Qimen, #3: depth keeps picking up; this is probably as far as that could go. It's nice the way that cacao grounds the rest, and there's so much going on beyond that. It's smooth and clean, intense and complex, even moderately refined.
I've been drinking through a lot of Thai origin Dian Hong style black tea that includes a comparable level of sourness, that I really love. I could drink it every other day, and never get tired of it. Huyen, my friend from Vietnam, visited and tried that tea, and I think liked it, but was not as familiar with the Assamica based tea range, so it wasn't as natural a fit for her preference. The sourness seemed to stand out to her as more negative than it did to me. I'm still seeing this as more a match to that other range, to Jin Jun Mei and Lapsang Souchong.
Jin Xuan, #3: creaminess really stands out, but that might be staying consistent. Warm mineral undertones seem to pick up a bit. Those often stand out more in a #17 / Bai Lu / Ruan Zhi plant type based version. This is as creamy as Jin Xuan typically get, but flavor range could be a little sweeter, including a bit more floral range. It's still quite nice. If you buy random Thai oolong in a tea shop or Royal Project shop it probably wouldn't be quite this good, even though there is surely better quality range out there. Intensity might not match this, and creaminess could be less pronounced, even though the basic flavor range has more room for improvement.
Qimen, #4: not really changing. There probably was some shift in the proportion of what I've already described but you need to be really focused in to pick up on that sort of variation. Doing a combined, unrelated tea tasting throws that off, as does background noise, and there's a bit of that in the house today. The kids are here, and I just checked on the cat, and Eye is around preparing for something.
Jin Xuan: more of the same. To me this is quite pleasant, even though it's only sort of an upper-medium quality level, with lots of room for improvement. It covers the basics well, with decent flavors, good intensity, feel, and creaminess. It's clean, doesn't include flaws (beyond limitations), and is drinkable. This would be a really good breakfast tea, or might work especially well cold-brewed, since that draws out the most sweetness a tea has to offer, leaving behind astringency, even though this doesn't have a problem with that.
It's interesting how one of these, the Qimen, represents an exceptional quality of a tea type you just never see, and the other is a basic, standard version, to me. In Thailand most oolong is #12 (Jin Xuan) or #17 (Bai Lu or Ruan Zhi), although there are others, and Jin Xuan is common enough out of Taiwan. I suppose the Qimen should be priced a good bit higher as a result; it could cost twice as much as the oolong, and that would still be fair. In terms of how much I like both they're on more even ground. The types and styles are completely different but I like both about the same.
That could seem odd, since the Qimen is definitely a higher quality example, and I drink black tea as a secondary choice in relation to sheng pu'er now. Rolled oolongs have a basic, broad appeal to me; they're easy to appreciate. I'm not sure why I never drink them. I guess it might be that black tea serves as a good alternative to sheng, quite removed in style, so that limiting most of my tea experience to both works well. Of course I keep trying other things, for review, and just checking in with other teas I have around. I've drank quite good Dan Cong and good basic Liu Bao in the last week, re-connecting with the rest of my tea collection, which I left behind living in Honolulu for 2 1/2 months.
I think black tea is probably the most suitable as a breakfast tea, but then this Jin Xuan version would also work, and I don't feel like I'm missing anything drinking sheng pu'er most days. Some people would connect both with different climate inputs, but I can drink all three here in the ridiculously hot weather in Bangkok. I did ice down the coffee I just drank yesterday afternoon; that's novel, but also sort of a different subject. I sometimes drink iced jasmine green tea here, the inexpensive, basic version that comes in those dark orange tins. But this is tangent after tangent!
These teas were really nice, distinctive and pleasant in two different ways. The Qimen represents the best of a type and style range well, and the Jin Xuan doesn't quite as much, but both were pleasant to drink (to me).
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