Bangkok tea tasting meetup

 

Some local tea enthusiasts and I joined for another tea tasting meetup, at our house in Bangkok.  As usual the people joining were the main part, what worked, and as usual I'll say more about the teas instead.  I'll mention why this set of people was interesting, and why the chemistry worked, but then go on about what we tried.

They were all past attendees of other tea tasting meetups I had held (or one was only at an event I also attended, not exactly the same).  That's never been true before, maybe.  Or maybe it has been; a couple events were at least pretty close to that theme.  It was interesting that one guy attended a couple of events 7 years ago or so, one three weeks ago, and the other two I've met over the last few years.  It felt a little like community coming together, but the exposure form is still a little unconventional, that mix of contacts over years.

The attendees were all into tea.  Often someone brand new to tea will join, to experience something different, and that works, mixing people appreciating the same teas for different reasons.  But getting people to meet with comparable experience and local history, having been in Bangkok for awhile, had everyone on the same page.  Instead of that leading to more in-depth discussion of the teas it worked towards comparing personal stories and perspectives, which is also good, probably better than going on and on about flavor aspects.  So it's a little irrelevant to the main story to play up what we experienced, but this is a tea blog, so let's focus on that some.

I'll include mention that one person joining is the owner of the Tea Walla vending business; that's worth a look.  I don't have more to say about those teas based on trying them, but we checked out a couple by smelling the samples at this gathering and they're good, probably better than most of what we tried.  But these teas were chosen related to novelty, to providing an interesting set of experiences.

The teas:

Thai white tea:  we started with a Thai white tea a friend had sent me.  It had a touch of external scent earlier, seemingly from being stored in a laundry room, but over the two years that I've had the tea that completely faded.  It was subtle, but nice, a bit sweet and floral.  For a sheng pu'er drinker mild, sweet, and subtle tea isn't ideal, but it was a good way to start.  For this range of style, as a novel, complex, but mild white it was good.

101 Plantation Thai Dong Ding style oolong:  I've reviewed this not long ago, so there's a more complete description here.  This is a relatively moderately oxidized, above average roast input level, reasonably balanced rolled oolong.  Ordinarily the balance wouldn't work well for a Thai version of this, and a couple of flaws would stand out (too much roast input, an off mineral, wood, or cardboard sort of note, a touch of sourness, etc.).  This isn't like that.  It's good, but not great.  

It's an interesting style of tea to try, and it works well in a light to heavy sequence, for being on the approachable side.  Usually a version of this style would include more limitations, an off flavor, or a lack of complexity, but this version balances well.

Osmanthus fragrance Dan Cong:  this was kind of a miss, but that was the point of trying it, to see how it worked out.  A vendor sent a sample set last year, from ITea World, including a lot of really nice Dan Cong, but the packaging was paper with a plastic inner lining.  It's possible that would hold up well, as a completely sealed tea, and also that it was so permeable that something stored in that form in a hot and humid climate for over a year would be dead (a year and a half, or more).  

It was quite transitioned, so closer to dead.  For multi-layer packaging or mylar you can keep samples around for a few years, but for this material type it's much more likely to not hold up.  Any ziplock / sandwhich or freezer bag material is even worse; that's a lot more permeable than it would seem.  

It's not a huge loss, since it's some samples that were given to me, and I tried one of everything, but the set included two of everything.  But those teas were so exceptional last year that it's a loss of experience opportunity.  It was really good tea, and now it has changed a lot.  For the aged versions in that set--I think there were some--they might still make a lot more sense.  For the very bright and fragrant versions they're surely all much diminished.  To me the lesson was interesting; you need to mind storage and packaging limitations when you keep tea around, especially in a very hot climate.

I lived in Hawaii a good bit last year, twice between January and end of May, and should have brought those with me there then.  There are so many things to consider when moving around like that tea storage issues don't factor in, and I tend to bring a few basics, in decent quantity, so I don't run out.

Viet Sun Y Ty sun dried black tea:  we had tried an oven dried black tea at the last tasting, and it was interesting checking on how a "shai hong" style black had transitioned since I bought it last Spring, maybe a half a year or so ago now.  It probably had picked up some flavor intensity and depth, as those tend to.  Few black teas age positively in that way, but that's a main theme for sun-dried black teas.  It was quite good.  And interesting; it's not a style that so many people would be familiar with.  Being from Vietnam instead of Yunnan doesn't necessarily change a lot, but versions from both places vary quite a bit, so it's all something slightly different to explore.

this tea version is on the right

Viet Sun tall trees sheng pu'er:  finally on to sheng!  Reviewed here:  Tủa Chùa Tall Trees Maocha Autumn 2024   

But this isn't a bright, sweet, floral, bitter, and intense style, so not really type-typical for sheng.  More wild origin material tends to be warmer in tone, not as bright, and flavorful in a different way.  This was like that.  Steve's description of it is interesting, which I just saw related to looking up that post:

This area has some of the biggest tea trees in Vietnam and many are allowed to grow tall. This area is close to Laos and has a different climate than many other tea areas in Vietnam giving teas from here a unique profile. It it very dry and sunny for much of the year here.

This area is known for its signature orchid/ citrus flower fragrance with a citrus, fruity, forest almost tobacco range of flavor... 

Bitterness was fairly moderate, and astringency wasn't challenging at all.  Maybe it had evolved a little since trying it earlier on, but as a 2024 tea it had been changing for awhile.  It was interesting for trying sheng that's not the most typical in style.  For someone not necessarily into the blast of strong flavor, bitterness, and astringency this might be better than a typical young sheng version.

Bing Dao sheng, from Oriental Leaf:  this is a pretty good version of a sheng, and probably a fair representation of Bing Dao, reviewed in this blog here.  But a local contact / friend sent some even more exceptional Bing Dao material versions not long ago, so there is another level.  It's bright, sweet, floral, not too astringent, with limited bitterness emerging after the initial round.  It was probably hard to focus on it to appreciate just how good it was, in the midst of trying so many other teas, with discussion as a main focus.  

Oriental Leaf's description includes part of the background related to what I'll be describing:

Raw pu-erh from Bingdao's core growing area, made from 2020 harvest material that was aged before being pressed and released. Mengku Rongshi — the brand widely credited with establishing Bingdao's reputation — has been sourcing from this area since 1984...

The raw material for this tea was harvested in 2020 from high-grade Bingdao area gardens — one bud plus two leaves, selected to the same standard as the brand's other Bingdao products.

Rather than pressing immediately after processing, the brand held the material in dry storage at their Yunnan factory — allowing it to settle, integrate, and develop before compression. The first batch was pressed and released in 2023 after aging in dry storage. Subsequent batches — released in 2024, 2025, and 2026 — draw from the same 2020 material, pressed and released in their respective years.

I think we tend to adjust to the younger material character, to expect what is normally experienced in the first year or two, which includes plenty of intensity, sweetness, freshness, and bright flavors.  This kind of aged version, six years old, would have moved on to express depth, trading out parts of that.

But it worked as an example of pretty good sheng.  Not necessarily as "the star of the show," as one might expect from a Bing Dao example, under those circumstances, but it worked well as one part of a broader set of experiences.  It was probably the best quality tea that we tried, of course, but for covering so much diverse range it just seemed like one more part of a broader experience, instead of a defining point in that.  

In a different themed tasting all of this would've been discussed at length, but with the social exchange focus it was barely noted that it was a well-settled, partly aged version.  Really drilling down into background and analysis during a tasting can be helpful and informative, but in a different way it's nice to just experience what the teas offer.

2006 Xiaguan 8653 (reviewed here last, a few years ago):  it was quite a switch, moving to such a heavy, intense, fully aged, barnyard oriented sheng version next, but it was time.  If we hadn't covered so much white, oolong, and black tea range we could've added another more conventional sheng in the middle, and I had one set aside with what we might try for that, a standard kind of bitter, not very aged version.

It was what you would expect.  Barnyard flavors were quite heavy, but kind of on the clean side, for what it was.  I really like this tea.  It's much better than it was 3 or 4 years ago, when I had reviewed it, since it really is ready now, and hadn't been.  Most sheng drinkers would already know where they stand on this kind of range, but for others it might be hard to relate to for being so novel.

Oriental Leaf Fu zhuan (Jinyang Genshe 2010 Fu brick tea):  we ended on a different Fu hei cha version from them this time, one reviewed here.  It's a little different than the conventional style cake versions I usually try at the end.  Instead of the heavy yeasty, honey, and dark bread oriented range it included some vanilla spice, and lighter warm tones, maybe like graham cracker instead of darker bread.  It was nice.  

The people joining seemed to connect with it.  I think maybe it's because trying a drinkable, sweet, complex, and very unique tea after the rest of a long sequence really makes that version stand out.  It's very clean in effect; that's probably another part of it.  The other teas were unique, and covered different parts of that range in different ways, but this was a real shift, in a drinkable and pleasant direction.  

The Xiaguan we had before it, for example, people are either already conditioned to love or else they probably wouldn't.  That tea isn't bitter, rough, astringent, musty, or earthy in objectionable ways, but it's a unique thing, that's not a natural fit for preference without some acclimation.  Good, pleasant Fu zhuan hei cha is something anyone could appreciate, with or without focusing on it.  It's approachable.  Usually versions would have more limitations than this one did, and not be quite as intense or complex, or would include more odd flavor range (odd spice or mineral, wood, whatever it is).

Someone mentioned that it seems like a flavored tea, but at the same time it clearly seems to be a natural outcome, that the mix of complex flavors had to be from natural inputs, just in an unconventional final character.  That's the level of understanding people with these kinds of experience would apply to this range of different teas; that's exactly how it is.

But again it was nice to me that it felt more like a social gathering than a chance to demonstrate tea knowledge or expertise to others, for everyone.  Tea works exceptionally well to give people space to just sit and talk, and experience that novel sensory input range, so that discussion can fill that space.  It was nice.  I'm grateful to those people joining for contributing their time, for making it like that.