Someone mentioned really liking a value-oriented Chen Sheng Hao sheng pu'er online awhile back, so I ordered it, and a second cake to make a free shipping threshold (for orders over $70; that's quite fair, on the low side). I don't remember which cake it was that they liked, of the two that I ordered; probably the 2020 version, but since personal preference varies it could have been either.
I like the idea of producers being able to make above average quality, low cost, blended input sheng pu'er cake versions. That was always the theme for the Yunnan Sourcing Impression cakes, to be better than Dayi 7542 versions, and not cost much. They gave up that second part; most Impression versions are over $100 now, or at least they had been, when I last checked.
I've tried a sample set of mixed versions of Chen Sheng Hao sheng before, sent by them for review. Some samples (mini-cakes) were really exceptional, some pretty good, and some more in an ordinary range, but that was the idea, for them to present a set covering different range. Previous individual posts would say more about all of that.
There was a problem with the shipping for this; Flash Express, a local Thai shipper, misplaced this on the last transit step. Eventually I did get it, after some delay. I think that's the second glitch in getting tea through them in about four tries, so they're around 50-50 for losing and then finding packages again, for me.
Maybe it relates to the labels not being in Thai script (their local alphabet). Transliterated place and address name use is very common here, but that may not work well for all local companies. For people living in Thailand, and ordering tea from abroad, you really need to have it sent by standard mail / EMS anyway, so that import taxation is assigned at the local post office, versus packages being held at an import center, that they can't really make it back out of. The process worked, this time, and as things worked out I have lots of other tea to be trying and writing about anyway, so the delay didn't matter. But I'm getting to this fast, after getting it, because I've been curious about it.
2020 Fu Raw Pu-erh Tea ($57 for a 357 gram cake)
Sourcing from Menghai, Yunnan
Blended (Multi-Region)
Tea tree over 80 years
The specially made Pu-erh was skillfully composed by Chen Sheng Hao with an elaborate combination of selected ecological ancient arbor tree aging material teas from tea mountain in Yunnan, China.
It affords liquid with a pure aroma and fine taste and is characterized by a sweet after-taste all its own. The tea has been well stored in the storage center of Chen Sheng Hao. The storage will help the tea to transform its bitter and astringent character into something rich and complex.
2024 Gan En Raw Pu-erh Tea ($41 for a 357 gram cake)
Blended (Multi-Region)
Tea tree over 100 years
The 17-year development of Chen Sheng Hao owes much to the recognition and love of tea enthusiasts who have stood by us through thick and thin.
To express our gratitude to all those who have supported the growth of Chen Sheng Hao and accompanied the Chen Sheng Hao brand, we are proud to introduce the "Gan En" Raw Puerh Tea (357g ) and Gan En 99 Ripe Puerh Tea (200g). The name "Gan En 99" (感恩99) is a homophone for "Gan'en Jiu Jiu," (感恩久久) which means "Long-lasting gratitude."
The raw Puerh "Gan En" has a high, lasting aroma, a mellow and full flavor, and a sweet aftertaste.
There isn't really that much in those descriptions about flavor profiles, but that sort of makes sense. Whatever they would have written originally about a 6 year old version would have kept changing from year to year, and even a description like "pronounced bitterness" may or may not apply well in a few years. I'll add plenty of my own description here.
Review:
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way overbrewed, obviously; overestimating timing to get them started |
2020 Fu Raw Pu-erh Tea: warm in tone; I don't remember the age of this, but it can't be that young. Bitterness and astringency aren't high, yet, which I would have expected from the color, but I'd expect the next round to be quite different. This is quite promising. Hints of pleasant warm toned floral range stands out, and there will be plenty of mineral evolving in this, it seems, and other complexity.
2024 Gan En Raw Pu-erh Tea: a good bit sharper, with more bitterness and astringency, and one unusual vegetal range flavor, that borders on mineral tone, or overlaps with it. It seems to include some citrus as well, along the line of dried orange or tangerine peel.
Of course I've screwed up the proportion again; that's more or less my norm now, never adjusting for teas being on the intense side. These are maxed out, at 8 or 9 grams, which means that I won't get too far through them (or rather I did, by way of drinking a lot of tea, and throwing away the last of some of the rounds). It would make more sense to brew these using 5 or 6 grams, even for drinking one alone, I just don't usually make tea in that way.
A infusion #2, the 2020 version (I wrote notes without looking up names, which didn't add much later anyway): brewed light these seem to still be opening up. Bitterness and astringency are higher, and overall intensity, even for a flash brewed round. Floral intensity and complexity is good; it's pleasant. Feel is nice, although that will keep developing, as aftertaste also will.
For a moderate cost version sheng this already stands out. It doesn't seem like a lot of blending input has rounded off the more distinctive form of individual aspects either. It's mostly covering floral range, which can seem a little general, but some depth to that could be different things, like cooked pumpkin or ripe papaya. A flinty mineral edge is pleasant, and there is warm depth to the mineral as well. It's nice.
B (the 2024 version): that one bitter aspect really ramps up. Someone would have to be ok with significant bitterness to like this. I've eaten a lot of bitter gourd this year, or bitter melon, maybe some call it, grown in our garden in Hawaii, and this reminds me of that, the vegetal range mixed with pronounced bitterness. I'm fine with a good bit of bitterness, but I tend to like more approachable sheng more.
This is so bitter that the aftertaste carries over as both bitterness and sweetness, which is interesting. Usually the bitterness transitions directly to sweetness, but this still includes both. Other flavor seems to be heavy on mineral. That citrus fruit tone might re-emerge once the rest settles down a little.
A #3: not so different; it might be a few infusions until this evolves further. Bitterness, full feel, with considerable astringency, and warm floral and mineral tones stand out. The balance is good. I think it will be better once it loosens up a little more, in a couple more rounds, but it's pleasant now.
B: other flavor starts to develop beyond the bitterness, but that bitterness really still stands out. Did I ever read the product description, prior to ordering this? At least it has plenty of intensity to continue to evolve; there is no way this tea would just die, over any time-frame.
People might place this vegetal range differently. There's a sharpness and heaviness to it that reminds me of pine sawdust, for example when you are cutting a lot of plywood, maybe to put a roof on a house. It's also not unlike bitter melon, or bitter gourd. I just bought that as a pre-prepared herb tea, sold in Royal Project stores here. It's a bit intense, to be infusing as a tisane, even in a trace amount, but if it's as healthy as the rough taste implies then it would be worth it.
A #4: this evolves into a spice range depth; that's pleasant, and a good sign for further aging transition. It's along the line of an incense spice, some exotic bark flavor, agar wood or whatever (just placing the range; I really can't identify that particular flavor). It's not really "loosening up" in terms of initial intensity and punch softening, but it should get there.
B: this does continue to evolve to soften and come across as more complex, but the other has been more approachable and less intense across all the transitions. I don't find that somewhat extreme vegetal range off-putting; it kind of works. It's distinctive, and pretty far from the not so pleasant "tastes like kerosene" sheng flavor that puts people off, the more typical factory version input. Maybe this starts to taste like leather instead of pine sawdust, a positive transition.
But it's not as unpleasant as that makes it sound. Sweetness is good, bitterness kind of works, feel isn't so bad, full and intense, but nice enough. You're in it for the ride, with this degree of intensity, and challenging character, but it works, within that range.
A, #5: now it loosens up, a little, gaining even more warm spice complexity. It's hard to pin down what that newly evolved aspect is. Let's just leave it at warm spice, and give it another read as rounds progress.
In re-trying it during editing I don't mention a dry edge to the feel, which seems to link to a particular range of mineral flavor. For some people that would balance nicely with the rest, for others it could be inconsequential, and for others yet it could be a deal-breaker, a very negative aspect range that ruins the experience. Higher end, more expensive, often presented as gushu material sheng tends to be different than this, to express a softer but full feel, and a lot of depth. So I suppose it's not just personal preference in relation to aspects and styles that factors in, but acclimation to different other ranges of sheng pu'er experience.
B: this loosens up too; that's pleasant! Bitterness evolves to soften and fall into a lower range balance with the rest. Tones seem a little warmer.
A #6: this integrates as a unified, balanced experience better than ever. It's definitely punching above its weight for a well-balanced, complex, and intense moderate cost sheng. Feel is pleasant, and intensity carries over to a nice aftertaste expression. Warmer mineral tones, now transitioned to include a good bit of spice, balance the lighter mineral, bitterness, and floral range.
This doesn't include the aggressive, harsher intensity that might indicate it would still be intense in complex in another 25 years, but it doesn't seem like it would just die either. It's in a nice place for medium age range transitioning, no matter how old or young it is just now. Within the next 5 years or so it should keep on picking up warmer tones and depth, before it eventually might fall into a "teen years" sort of off character, not balancing as well for changing from one thing to another. It would be pleasant during those transition years (the next 5), because it's pleasant now.
B: it's interesting how floral range really seems to pick up in this, as if perhaps it had been there all along, but it needed the bitterness and other vegetal range to quiet down a little to show through. It has a really pronounced green vegetal note, which I've been describing in different ways, as it keeps evolving. Sure, it still tastes somewhat like bitter gourd. But that flavor is quite different when it's hitting hard as a very dominant tone, and when you can get it to integrate with other range (I mean related to cooking with it, but here as it works as one component among others in an infusion).
This may loosen up well too, over the next 5 years, with that heavy astringency, bitterness, and vegetal range giving way to whatever it transitions to. It's not as pleasant just now, per my own preferences, but I suppose for people really into bitterness this is already just the thing. It will probably be the best it has been within another 3 infusions or so, which I may not make it to during this round of note taking. A dozen rounds of intense sheng is a lot to get through. I've been throwing away some of the last of these rounds, to get a little further through, but I've been drinking most of it, so I'm 10 intense infusions in, which is an awful lot. I'll probably do another, to mention some last thoughts on transition patterns.
It kind of goes without saying but brewing 5 or 6 grams of just one of these teas would be a lot more optimum than brewing 8 of both together. On one level I already knew that, but it's a hard habit to break.
A #7: the best this has been, but I could write the same words as the last round and those would work. Warmer mineral and spice tones balance what had been present well. I'll probably taste both of these again and notice that I missed some pretty obvious flavor descriptions. I tried that one Viet Sun maocha again, one of the Y Ty versions, and noticed pronounced mint in later infusions, which I hadn't mentioned. It can work out like that.
There is so much warmth and depth in this that one part reminds me of a very light roasted coffee flavor. You know when the berry notes present in some coffee can still emerge, because roast hasn't pulled it so far in the other direction? Like that. It's not overly berry-like, but something like dried blueberry might fit one part of it. I'm not really pushing the tea hard enough to get the most conventional flavor expression out of it; these have still been very quickly brewed infusions. That would surely mean these are only half spent so far, so that I'll miss the second half of the rounds in taking notes. That's fine.
B: again this balances better than ever too. A full, syrupy feel is much more pleasant than a harsher blast of intensity in earlier rounds. Sweetness stands out more, and floral range. One part probably does relate to a dried citrus peel note, which was much lighter earlier on. It's still a bit intense, and the feel is still a little harsh, in terms of pulling at the sides of your mouth, especially after you drink it.
This might not have fully "loosened up" just yet; it may be best after a couple more rounds, at infusion 7. If I had brewed 5 grams instead of 8 it could be much further along, for using longer infusion times, and speeding up that cycle. Somehow this seemed like a mistake that had to be made. I really don't understand why, but then I'm guided by intuition as much as reason, and I'm probably just botching lots of range of experience in making random choices like that.
A #8: it might be time to start using longer than flash infusions for this. It still provides plenty of intensity in that form, but the character would change some.
B: for this one intensity is high enough that extending brewing time probably wouldn't help; this is enough. The aspects description from the last round still works for both though.
A local Thai tea friend, who I don't know very well, that one guy that gets presented as a tea expert, Stephen, gave me a quite bitter sheng version a couple of years ago, that this reminds me of, in part. It has softened and deepened to be quite pleasant, of course not losing all of that bitterness. This probably includes a little more of a distinctive vegetal range flavor; that was just straight bitterness, with the usual floral and mineral range supporting that.
Ninth round, combined notes: the bitterness, feel structure, and intensity ramp up for the first version, when brewed longer. The balance does shift, back to more typical young or slightly aged sheng range, a couple years into transition. The other tea picks up even more green wood character. I suppose I hadn't been calling it that, but that's where it has shifted to now.
Conclusions:
Very pleasant teas, considerably better than I expected, or even hoped for. They're not even finished in terms of me getting a full experience of them, in general or for this brewing cycle; I can change brewing process and they'll be much different. Within another year or two they'll be different in a different sense, actually evolving some in terms of fermentation transition, no matter how old they are. It will be interesting looking up what these are, and commenting in relation to that.
Related to value you tend to never spend a moderate amount (around $100 for these two cakes, when many in a comparable range cost that for one), and see good results, and these were really nice, for value-oriented versions. Again opinions would vary on that; some people would love them, and find them much better than the factory sheng that they've been experiencing, and for others accustomed to other range they could both seem off-putting.
The "older" version, from 2020, is at a decent place, for people who like a tea with a number of years of transition. I'm accustomed to teas transitioning fast, living in Bangkok, and they surely weren't stored that hot or humid. The storage input seems fine, related to conditions, to the extent someone can say anything about that. They would've been better preserved, if stored quite cool and dry, so at least they are transitioning.
It's interesting to speculate about the high bitterness level and unusual vegetal nature of the younger 2024 version. I think within 2 years it will probably come across quite differently, and I can't really guess about how it will change (especially flavor range, I mean). For a tea sold at that price point it's great, because that's down in moderate cost factory tea range, and it's much better than that. Of course someone needs to be ok with significant bitterness. It doesn't include the challenging astringency that comes with low elevation grown, chopped plantation material versions, but it still packs a punch.
If you spend twice as much you can find versions like the 2020 tea that include slightly more distinctive flavor profiles, and more positive feel, but at this selling price point you probably can't do any better, if you can find anything remotely comparable to start with. It's a perfect tea for a daily drinking rotation, when you feel like that style range; the role I hoped that it would fill. It might hold up well to another decade of storage, and more complete aging, but I may well not find out, since I'll go ahead and drink it.
The 2024 tea might be much better after 2 or 3 more years of "early" character evolution; time will tell. It's fine now, if an intense, bitter, somewhat vegetal range experience works for someone (with more floral flavor range expressed, but a little green wood or bitter melon flavor really stands out). It might age well in the longer term; I really don't know. One part of the "benchmark" theme related to the Dayi 7542, and the like, or typical Xiaguan character, is that you can expect common, known early character type to change in expected ways, but this is a little different.
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