Comparing Laos and Nepal white teas

Moonlight white lower left, Laos top, Nepal tea bottom left

This tasting was about getting to a few teas I've been meaning to try for awhile.  Anna of Kinnari Teas passed on teas at the end of last year, some versions that were sold as Kinnari teas and some that she had ran across in travels in Laos.  Her teas are great.  Laos teas are great, in general.  If this government initiative to support that industry works out you'll have broader access to try some, but don't hold your breath; SE Asian government projects take time.

Another friend, Somnuc Amnousinh, passed on some Laos teas I've written about as well.  He's not a vendor, just a tea enthusiast who gets out, and related to that he shared some great versions from Laos.  This black tea version works as a good example; it's a crying shame that anyone being able to order that tea online is only a distant dream.  If it sounds too good to miss then you need to get on a plane and fly to Laos.

The third is a Nepal tea, shared by a small producer friend there, Narendra Kumar Gurung.  His teas are produced through a Highlanders Farmers Private Limited tea-coop, which I said more about in this post, sold labeled as Barbote teas.  This review of a black tea version conveys how unique and well-made those teas are, just amazing they could be that good so early in their production history.  It's not as if he is new to growing tea though, and processing very good tea is nothing new in the local Nepal industry.  "Very good" is all relative; in this case I mean in the sense of not giving up much in terms of Darjeeling quality standards, or maybe as good but just different in style.  To me that's impressive.


It is nice knowing such interesting and diverse people through exploring tea interest.  Now that I think of it I've written about all three of these people in one other post about meeting interesting tea friends, here.

I've not actually met Narendra in person yet, and there really is an extra depth to that form of experience.  But it can still be nice sharing ideas through messages, and I've tried his teas, which have all been very nice.  It's probably luck of the draw as much as anything but all of the Nepal teas I've tried, not just his, were very pleasant, distinctive, and somewhat consistent in style ranges.  I won't add more about that background, though, since there's plenty of review to get to.

One of these is a Moonlight white and two are silver tips style teas (buds-only white, not so different than silver needle, but I take that to be a more type-specific reference).  It's odd comparing diverse tea types like that, just sharing being white tea.  The plan was for the contrast to make sense, for the Moonlight White to stand out for being type-typical and nothing like the other two, and then for them to make sense related to each other, with the contrasting descriptions as a base that fills in more about character.  It sort of didn't work out like that, but that's part of it too, seeing how things go.

Review

I used about a 30 second infusion time for the first round, which would be way too long for the shengs I've been drinking more of lately, but for these they'll just be getting started infusing in that time.

Laos Moonlight White (Kinnari Tea):  the tea is great, as expected.  It leans more towards spice than I thought it would, since I was expecting more fruit, but that works too, and the fruit will probably develop more over the next two rounds.  This is warm and earthy enough that it could easily be an aged tea version, it's just not, similar in some limited ways to a well-transitioned shou mei.  It's nice, distinctive and sweet.  As near as I can tell based on drinking a light initial infusion it's well balanced.  I'll do more with an aspect list next round.

I didn't take a picture of the dry teas before reviewing them, a bit of a lapse.  As memory serves this looked similar to Oriental Beauty in color scheme as these teas go, with dark, reddish, and brown leaf colors, not limited to silver and black as is typical for Moonlight White.  I really should take another photo since I have more at home, and may edit this to include one if I end up posting it before I do. 

I didn't do much with photos at all in this tasting; I'm not sure why not, since I am in the habit.  It probably related to family-originated background noise; I can't always wait for the kids to clear out somewhere to try and write notes about teas, and it's really hard to focus with piano playing, banging around, and screaming in the background.  It's like having wild animals in the house.

the sweet little noise makers out for pizza recently

Laos silver tip (or silver needle, if you like):  this is labeled "Yanchaw W;" I don't know what that part means).  For once this silver tips version doesn't taste vaguely like straw and flowers.  A good bit of spice comes across in this tea, even more so than in the Moonlight version, which included more spice than anything else.  Strange.  If anything the proportion is slightly lower for this white and it seems more intense than the Moonlight (although without weighing the teas that's just a guess, a guess that will be more informed once I see the fully saturated leaf volume, when it will still be just a guess).

I'm wondering if this wasn't contaminated by being stored too close to something else, the taste range is so unexpected and intense.  There were tisanes in that storage box too and one in particular was aromatic, an unusual form of compressed fruit tisane bar.  I had some pu'er and other long-term stored teas well isolated in a cabinet, and other samples and in-progress versions in a moderately sealed box in that same cabinet, and miscellaneous samples and boxes piling up all over the place, and my wife collected the strays into one storage box.  It would be odd if this whole review was about flavor the tea picked up along the way, and it's as much an actual possibility as a funny thing to say at this point.  These Laos sample teas from Somnuc were stored in plastic bags similar to ziplock bags, and those are a bit permeable, not a great moderate-term storage solution, and this has been around for a few months now.


Nepal silver needle:  this is interesting, distinctive, and pleasant; not on the weak side for being an initial round.  It does taste floral and like dried hay, so it is what I expect as a default from bud-only white teas, but a touch of unique range mineral seems to give away the Nepal origin.  There's a hint of citrus in it too, a dried peel that could be tangerine versus a sweet version of orange:  that's nice.  I'll leave off the longer descriptions to do a full list for all next time.

Laos Moonlight White left, Laos white middle, Nepal tea on the right

Second infusion

Moonlight white:  fruit isn't necessarily filling in yet but a nice savory sweetness similar to sundried tomato is.  That's primary; the spice range isn't as noticeable, and really at this point it requires imagination to split out the rest further.  Free associating a little to get to that:  milder spice is present, and some degree of light floral, but a sweet version of it, something like violet, or instead like a light version of lavendar.  Fruit is closest to dried apricot; to me that part does stand out.


Laos silver needle:  I hate to say it but this does taste like the spice in a tisane blend I tried not long ago, something really novel from Moychay, a pressed fruit bar that was quite heavy on spice (listed here with a description cut short since it's sold out).  This might be a rare case of an aborted review, leaving off as a warning about combined storage, especially if one of the teas isn't well-sealed.  Using ziplock style bags can be a problem; not much of the rest of how teas are stored is as open to being affected like that.  The tea is quite nice, for what that's worth; that hint of spice works well with the rest.  If it is natural it's a unique, positive aspect of this tea.  It's probably not (more guesswork), and most likely a happy accident that the flavor cross-contamination was positive.


Nepal silver needle:  the mineral, light floral, sweetness, hint of dried citrus peel, and dried hay all works together.  It's a distinctive profile that seems familiar.  I'd probably have to brew it stronger to draw out a thicker feel but it doesn't necessarily come across as thin, I've just accustomed to sheng lately, which are even more multi-dimensional.  I will let this run over another 30 seconds to get plenty of infusion strength out of it.


Third infusion

Kinnari Moonlight White:  more of the same, mainly savory, towards sun-dried tomato, with a bit of spice under that.  Or it could seem more like autumn forest floor:  warm, sweet, and rich, clean flavored but earthy.  Using either as a main flavor-range interpretation (or more likely seeing it as covering both for range) there's a hint of spice as well, closest to cinnamon, but also not so far off nutmeg.  Reviewers with a great imagination would add a lot to that, aspects like warm floral tone or rich berry, like blackberry, maybe closer to that than apricot in this round.  I thought it might be even fruitier but at least it does get to a little of that.


Laos silver needle:  I'm dropping this out of the review process; it tastes like warm spice and fruit, way too close to that Moychay tisane pressed bar.  Now that I think of it that tisane bar would be perfect for mixing with an inexpensive white tea to convert it to a flavored version.  To some that would seem like an unnatural act, way off their own preference, and I tend to not drink teas along that line much myself.  But it seems to work in this, and it's not even brewed together, seemingly just picking up a trace of flavor transferred across two layers of packaging.


Nepal silver needle:  the mix of flavors seems to evolve to include a bit of fruit.  The light tangerine peel aspect already was that, but it seems more pronounced and complex in this round.  It's a bit non-distinct, since it is coming across along with all the rest (mineral, dried hay, etc.), and since the profile extends to light floral too.  I'll guess out a range for that fruit as dried citrus fruit itself, versus the peel, maybe closest to blood orange, quite warm and sweet.

apparently I didn't feel like taking pictures that day

Fourth infusion


This will do for a final take; it's enough tea, even though these are probably only more or less half finished.  Using the longer infusion times would limit the count, so it won't make it to over a dozen as sheng tastings have (which brews a lot of tea too).  White teas are often durable related to what can be brewed from them compared to black teas.  Oolongs are in the middle; it just depends on the type.

Moonlight white:  other than fading a little the general effect is the same.  Even that change could result from a variance in infusion time, from not keeping track.


Nepal silver needle:  still in the same range, but the balance keeps shifting.  Mineral might be stronger than the rest in this round (a flinty / limestone sort of range mineral, lighter stone), with light citrus, dried hay, and floral tone standing out, more or less in that order.  It's quite flavorful as buds-only white teas go, in a range that's pleasant.

Conclusions

I really liked all three teas.  The Moonlight wasn't what I expected but it was nice.  For amounting to a tea storage glitch the Laos white was very pleasant.  I probably never will carry through on using that tisane for making a homemade blended version, mixing it with tea, but it would be great for that, and I tend to just not think along those lines.  I did mention in writing about it elsewhere (another story I'll get to) that the fruit tisane bar might work well for adjusting the flavor of a masala chai, doing a fruit-adjusted version of spiced tea.  That I might get to; it's interesting messing around with versions of those.

The Nepal tea was better than I expected, although I probably should've expected that character.   Buds-only whites so often come across as relatively flavorless to me that I don't start with high hopes but Nepal teas are often on the intense side, and Narendra's other versions have been really pleasant.  Someone with more exposure to Nepal white teas would've done more with placing that, comparing it to other range.  In the past I've been more of a fan of the really intense bud and fine leaf Nepal white versions, which can be heavier yet on citrus fruit with a cool mineral undertone, as Narendra's version of that type was.


Many thanks again to those three friends for sharing those teas.

at a local temple with a visitor recently

probably time to get back to a haircut theme

same week, same temple (Wat Pho), different visit

a photo with my wife and a very respected local monk

Barbote Tea Nepal Black, tea from Narendra

the golden needle version label (this pack was plain)

Narendra Kumar Gurung

I've reviewed a golden needle and white version Narendra sent awhile back, the co-op style producer of Nepalese teas I wrote about last year.  Those teas are sold under a Barbote label through the Highlander Farmers Private Limited.  This review covers the black tea version.



I've tried this tea a number of times, and shared some with friends, I've just not got around to reviewing it.  It's nice; a well-balanced, complex, clean-flavored tea.  The style is probably closest to Darjeeling but it's different enough that the comparison might not be informative.  It might bear some resemblance to a Chinese black style, just not to a specific type that I'm familiar with.  It seems to vary some depending on parameters used to brew it; that can be nice to experience.


I asked Narendra what it was, and this was his input:

It is made from Tagda 78 and Gumtee, both are based on Chinese varieties. About the season, it is from autumn flush.  These were plucked till the Oct till the end of November.  After this we let the garden go on rest till spring that mean by March end.

These teas are from young tea plants, not more than 20 years old, grown by organic methods.


I'll keep this basic then; no need to write out 1500 words every post just to say all that I can think of.  It would work well brewed Western style but I'll prepare it Gongfu style because I'm in the habit.  It might well work a little better that way, but I'd have to try both again over a shorter period of time to be sure.

Review

Malt stands out as a main aspect, a much softer version than occurs in Assam (although those do vary; some versions are quite soft and mild).  A touch of dryness and very light astringency goes along with that flavor aspect, but it's a very soft and mild tea.  The astringency gives it some body and a different feel, no actual edge.  Beyond that the flavor is complex.  A good bit of mineral fills in a base.  One pronounced aspect reminds me a little of sweet corn.  Floral is so common in teas that it would be easy to just default to that description instead.

The aspects might come across more as fruit if the mineral, malt, and dryness weren't pulling it so far in that direction, countering a clearer interpretation of other lighter range.  Sweetness is pretty good; it balances.  I expect the flavors will shift and "clean up" a little next round, that the mineral toward light rust will be cleaner after an initial infusion.  Brewing it light (versus this being kind of medium, infused for well over 10 seconds) might help tease out finer aspect range for description.

Brewed lighter, and being a second infusion, the effect is different.  It wasn't musty in the sense of tea production being a bit off, it just seemed the way the mineral would come across would change.  Some of the warm earthiness, mild malt, sweetness, and light corn is similar to what you might see in different golden tips black tea versions, or even Jin Jun Mei (a Fujian, Wuyishan area origin black tea).  I like that character.  I'll be honest though, I'm really most taken with Chinese style soft and sweet blacks with flavors aspects in the range of cocoa, cinnamon, and dried fruit, or even roasted sweet potato / yam.  But this does also work well, and the way that shifting parameters changes its character gives it a lot of potential.

There's a lot more interpretation that could be applied to the earthy range; aspects like warm mineral, malt, and darker tones like dark wood (or leather, or even tobacco) could be described in lots of different ways.  I've just kind of skipped it here, passing on the general range description.  If you roast corn on a fire (still in the husk), and singe the husk and silk a little that gives you a sweet, rich roasted corn flavor, some caramel, and a darker earthier range from the light char that isn't so far off this.


On the next round astringency stands out a little more.  When preparing black tea Gongfu style at a high proportion small shifts in brewing parameters would change that without any actual transition coming from the tea itself.  This tea is intense enough that brewing it at a low proportion for Western style would still works well (I've tried it that way), and gives a different effect.  Backing off temperature just a little would change outcome too but I think using relatively hot water would be the best way to go, maybe not full boiling point but 90 to 95 C.  It's not as if there is any need to work around astringency as a concern.

Brewed slightly lighter the character does change back to closer to what it had been on the round before.  Astringency drops back and that malt, caramel, and roasted corn flavor picks up.  This tea is best brewed on the light side; the flavors are plenty intense and complex that way, and even the mouthfeel doesn't thin out brewed faster and lighter.  An aspect may hint a little more towards fruit but I'd need more rounds to isolate that better.

brewed stronger, but indoor lighting changes color too

I came back to brew the tea after a long break for a few more rounds (4 or 5 more; using a packed gaiwan for proportion really does extend the count) and a main aspect seemed a lot more like muscatel than I'd picked up on before (a type of grape).  That's the main characteristic aspect in Darjeeling versions, especially second flush, but it can be present in autumn versions too, just typically in a more mild flavor aspects and feel character.  A touch of citrus seemed present too; if anything the tea seemed even better even though it was a good number of rounds of infusions along.

I guess this did seem a bit like an autumn flush Darjeeling, to some extent; a bit subdued as some black teas go for astringency and feel structure, but still flavorful, complex, and well-balanced.  The initial malt aspect reminded me a little of better Assam instead.  Nepal teas are always a bit different, always their own thing.  This is a good example of one, a nice tea.

Barbote Nepal white tea

I'm reviewing the second of several types of teas passed on by that Nepalese producer, Narendra Kumar Gurung, owner of Barbote teas.  The golden needle version was nice, and an earlier round of Spring teas were great, so this should be more of the same.  I tend to like white teas most from Nepal, since they're generally very distinctive, flavorful, and intense across all aspect range, not as subtle as some types and versions of white teas can be.

Review

The brewed tea leaves looks a bit green; this may be less oxidized than the last version (or my memory of it).  I might've confirmed how harvest seasons work out there and included when this was produced, but didn't.  It seems best to just relate an impression of the tea.

My initial impression is positive; the tea is warm, complex, sweet, and very pleasant, with reasonably good intensity.  The earlier version really hit you with citrus and light mineral, even more intense, but there's something to be said for depth and range of aspects in a tea version, and subtlety.  There's no judging a tea based on one sip so I'll ramble on across a few infusions.  This will brew a half dozen, at least, since I'm preparing it Gongfu style.  At a guess it will give slightly better results made that way, versus Western style, but brewing it both ways would identify that better than guessing.

The light mineral from the earlier version is still present, flinty or like limestone versus "warmer" minerals.  It's perhaps just less intense.  This version doesn't seem quite as sweet; it's more subtle, with less distinct aspects filling in additional complexity.  That includes flavors along the lines of wood or grain, but I'll try to break that down further in the next infusion.

The tea is transitioning, or maybe just infusing more completely, more fully saturated after an initial round.  Some vegetal scope fills in that might overlap with green tea character but none of the astringency or grassiness common to that range is present; interesting.  Beyond the light mineral floral tone is the strongest component.  That seems to trail into a mild fruit, towards strawberry jam or marmalade.  It's a cool effect, that much going on in those ranges.  It compensates well for the later harvest version losing the intensity of the earlier one.  The flavors are very clean, well balanced, and well integrated.  It's "good" tea.  Good is all relative, it can mean different things, but the quality level is apparent.

It's odd the way that the tea is so green with edges that are so much darker, surely a by-product of a processing step's input.  I won't speculate further about that, comparing it to whatever else or guessing about the aspects input, just pointing it out.

Citrus seems to be picking up in this infusion; it's more like I remember the last version.  Anyone  who loves that distinctive mix of light mineral and citrus in Nepalese whites wouldn't be disappointed.  This is essentially the profile that seems standard to me.  Citrus is bright, towards lemony, maybe without actually tasting exactly like lemon, or only a little.  It's not that far off how I'd imagine the zest of a mandarin orange would taste.

Perhaps not surprisingly those oranges aren't called that here in Thailand, only referred to as Chinese oranges.  For all I know there could be variations of small, sweet types of oranges in China; that's kind of how that tends to go.  There are lots of versions of papayas, mangoes, and pineapples here, without English translations for almost any of the types, as far as I know.  I just bought a "Holland" papaya; that doesn't seem to be an original Thai name for that one.

This review seems to amount to random observations about flavors versus a comprehensive description.  I'll try to round out more about general character next round, an overall impression.


Warmth picked up a little.  I think part of these transitions is that slight variations in infusion strength allow the tea to show off different aspect range; very light and brighter elements come across more, slightly heavier and flavors seem to warm and deepen.  It's an interesting effect.  That would seem to get lost in preparing the tea Western style, but I can't be certain there isn't some other benefit on that side.  Maybe even brewed to moderate strength for 2 to 3 minutes complexity would seem greater, for example.  I doubt it, but messing around with approach and parameters and testing it out is the only way to tell.

A more complete summary then:  citrus and mineral stand out the most to me, at this point, although interpreting that sweetness and flavor complexity as floral range instead would be reasonable.  Mineral isn't quite as bright and light as I remember in the spring version; it's a bit warmer, towards a different kind of rock.  Feel isn't thin but this type of tea doesn't have as much feel-structure as some other types; it's not as full and round as oolongs can be, or as complex in feel as sheng range goes. 

Aftertaste experience is also moderate; it doesn't leave your mouth quickly, but isn't as drawn out as for some other tea types.  It's a generally flavor intensive experience though, which works well enough for my preferences.  The flavor has good complexity and depth beyond that.  An underlying tone might be grain or wood, or to me closer to a warm, neutral tone flower type, like chrysanthemom.  The overall flavor is so complex that a bit of dried fruit might join in with the rest, but those more pronounced aspects stand out more.


I let the next infusion run a bit longer, adding jam to bread since I'm having this tea with breakfast.  There is a simple tip for how to only taste the tea when tasting along with food: drink a couple of sips of cool but not cold water in between food and tea.  For more taste-experience precision skipping the food is better, while still cleaning your palate along with that using the water, but even for a tea blogger tea can be an integrated part of the rest of life, not something set aside for some functional or ceremonial form and context.  Or it can be that; someone could be wearing special clothes sitting at a special table in a special room instead; it's just up to the person.  For getting the most out of tasting for review detail keeping background noise and distractions to a minimum is critical; even turning down the music or turning off a television program makes a lot of difference.


Brewed a little longer the mineral tones emerge stronger, and citrus drops back.  Sweetness still gives it balance but the overall effect is different.  Even the citrus shifts from a bright lemon to a richer, heavier orange peel, or maybe relates a different kind of orange.

I brewed the tea a few more rounds and it's not finished yet.  Later infusions stay positive but longer times draws out more of a woody aspect, which works ok with remaining citrus and mineral.


On a different topic, the subject of tea blogger bias came up recently.  Is it clear how much I liked the tea, where it stands in relation to others, and what I see as its limitations?  To me it's good tea; a good version for the type, in a style I personally like.  I liked the spring version just a little more for being more intense, and maybe slightly sweeter, but after a few infusions of transition this isn't so different.  Related to other Nepal white teas made in a similar style it compares well; it seems above average.  Then again the versions I've tried were all fairly consistently positive, which could just relate to the luck of the draw.

The main limitation seems to be that the style might not be for everyone.  Flavor intensity (or even flavor aspects range, what it tastes like) is positive, but feel is a little thinner and aftertaste a bit less pronounced than for other tea types.  It's a set of concerns that applies to black teas in general too; they're often pleasant in flavor but might give up overall aspect range to oolongs or sheng.  Not to shou / shu pu'er so much, it seems to me, but even those can be very rich and full in feel.  Mostly the taste range just might not be for everyone.

It would be hard to judge that (trueness to type, quality related to the rest of the same range of tea versions) without direct comparison with a good version of a similar Nepalese white tea.  Not necessarily tasting them together, but using that as a benchmark.  Those seem more consistent than oolongs, sheng, and even black teas seem to me; most I've tried were quite nice.  Someone could drink only below average woody or cardboard tasting Wuyi Yancha for years, or only younger sheng that tastes bitter and a bit like kerosene or snuff.  Yiwu would tend to be floral and sweet instead but even for teas from that broad area drinking only the lowest cost versions might naturally turn up the worst examples.  From what I've experienced of Nepal white teas in this style versions being pretty good is normal.

Other business

I never really did include much of a "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!" section in a post.  I hope that you have had a great holidays and end of the year, leading into another positive and interesting year.  Of course 2018 had some glitches to work through, on the broader scale of events, but sometimes people go a bit far with the negative spin.  The world we had known is continuously ending, and some aspects of present reality are typically a bit messed up.

It's been a busy week here; lots of Christmas details to work out, three trips to a local play area, a good bit of tasting, and the normal errands never stop.

As usual I mostly just want to share pictures of my kids; they are the center of all I do.  Tea works well as a hobby for me to have an interest and focus beyond the work and parenting role but they still mean the most to me.

Christmas with family

an Elsa doll; Santa knew what she wanted

the Funarium, a Bangkok play area

their favorite gift

my view from the final edit too

we usually travel now, and add more activities this year instead

Nepal golden needle from Barbote Tea (from Narendra)

This is part of set of teas that Narendra sent, the Nepal tea producer who started small scale production (with background covered here).  They had already made a nice white tea version and black tea that I've reviewed, with limited additional background on a Facebook business page.

The short version is that they make nice Nepalese distinctively local origin teas.  Adding just a little to that, Narendra's vision is to get develop the capability for small, local growers to produce tea through a co-op style initiative, versus routing production and sales through a larger central factory system.  More value is added at the local level, and more of the final return stays there too, benefiting farmers (ideally).  The better the tea is the better that will work.  That's why they've made a running start on producing exceptional tea, along with getting the right help and using the right equipment as inputs.

To be clear I'm judging this tea against all other Nepalese teas I've tried, and against a standard of teas from everywhere else.  It's still pretty good.  "Curving" that some for being a new development it's still better than one would expect it could be, by a good bit.  The tasting description fills in details related to that.

Review

The first thing that hits me is honey.  It's a warm, rich, version of it, the way that bees' wax smells.  I'm brewing this using a modified Western style, designed for making three infusions, or possibly even four, with this first one on the light side.  I brewed it at slightly over a standard Western proportion but only for between 2 1/2 and 3 minutes (without timing that; my versions of these descriptions are never set up as brewing instructions guidance).

I'm partly on break today for this being a holiday and I've already met Somnuc this morning (dropping off tea as part of a tea swap, but I only caught him on the way through a local airport link station), and need to get around to playing with Keoni.  He's the Laos guy who passed on some interesting Laos and Vietnamese tea versions he's turned up while traveling.

Somnuc in travel mode

This reminds me more of one of Cindy's Jin Jun Mei than I would've expected.  I reviewed three of awhile back; I'd have to check and see which one (probably similar to the "honey aspect" version I reviewed this year, with their listing for that here).  Those teas essentially are golden bud-based versions, just much different than other similar themed teas from other places in China.  This one is not all that far off that aspect range at all; kind of strange.

I'm not claiming that this tea is as good as their Jin Jun Mei, to be clear.  Those teas stand out from the range of everything else I've ever tried, not a fair bench-mark for anything from anywhere else for being too refined and exceptional.  They're just better instead of only being different, in some objective sense.  Sharing some aspect range is a great start though.

Brewed light like this the body will be on the full side but it will probably pick up a drier, more structured feel brewed just a little heavier.  It already lingers related to aftertaste effect after drinking it, a good bit as black teas go, even brewed lightly.

a full mug doesn't show off the true color; it looks dark

the same tea in a shallow cup is reddish-gold

I feel like I'm not getting far with flavor description, and this Western style approach doesn't allow for catching that over the next few rounds as Gongfu brewing does.  It's pleasant but still a little subtle, with a rich feel even brewed lightly, but that lower intensity level makes splitting flavors out trickier.  It tastes a little like Jin Jun Mei, but that reference only works for people familiar with that.

Beyond the bees' wax and medium-dark honey a very mild form of malt fills in a deeper base, like a sweet version of grain, or exactly that, a version slightly fermented to change complex starches to sugars.  Mineral accounts for some of the structure but it's hard to identify beyond all that other complexity; it fades into the background.  I've been drinking so many SE Asian sheng lately that the mineral seems really light in this in comparison, but then the whole profile is different.

It's a normal weakness of such teas to be "off" just a little, to be woody, or include a touch of sourness, or in between the two along the lines of balsa wood, but this is really clean-flavored instead.  I'll go longer on the next infusion and describe it prepared that way.  This kind of tea still can transition some through rounds but maybe not as much as some other types; it's my impression that shifting intensity changes its character more than round-by-round transitions.  It would work just as well brewed Gongfu style but per my past experience it doesn't make all that much difference for this tea type.

I brewed the second round over three minutes but it didn't change character much.  It might've picked up just a little edge, a bit of extra mineral with the malt changing form just a little, but a soft one.  It goes without saying but I meant "malt" in the sense of ovaltine or malted milk balls versus Assam; a soft, complex, sweet-grain flavor versus an edgier, mineral intensive, feel-structure coupled flavor aspect.

I forgot to mention one factor that enables change in this tea (and others, but in particular in this one):  temperature.  I was using water just off boiling point from a hot water dispenser but didn't pre-heat that infusion device (a basket-style For Life cup with lid).  That ceramic cup would pull out a significant amount of heat.  Often using water a bit off of full boiling point temperature for black tea might be a good thing; it doesn't necessarily need it to draw out the same range of flavor and feel-structure.  It just depends though; using the hottest water possible will just add a bit of edge to the tea, which for some would be essential, and for others not desirable.

In Gongfu brewing circles people often make the claim that not using full boiling point water with a lot of teas robs them of achieving their potential, but then those people are able to use infusion times of between 5 and 10 seconds to moderate some aspects that aren't positive at some infusion strengths.  And preference can develop to what you are used to, or to what you expect to like, and for them boiling point water with high proportion and very short infusions is gospel for brewing process.  Some even brew green teas like that, which seems a bit extreme.  But then expectations and preference do set the precedence, not objective best practices.

The flavor list from those first two rounds is nice:  tastes like JJM, bees wax, medium dark honey, light malt for structure, and some mineral.  It might make sense to interpret some of this as a warm type of floral, sunflower or something such.  The sweetness could come across as toffee instead; that would also account for some of that warm tone.

The complexity isn't bad, just limited.  This type of tea just isn't about that, just as it's also not about feel-structure, an astringency edge.  On the positive side it has a rich, clean, reasonably broad flavor profile (just complex within a narrow range), that partly matches some teas that are in high demand.  And it's easy to brew, probably hard to screw up, with that softness letting you focus on getting the best flavor balance without astringency as a concern or negative factor.

It's good enough tea that I'd expect tea enthusiasts to love it; it's not as if it's limited in the sense of quality, or lack of depth.  The limitation is the range it expresses for aspects; it only covers the ground that it does.  Drawing more of a feel-related edge out of it would be possible but it would take doing; it's not really about that.  I wouldn't really call this an "everyday drinker" related to what that usually implies about a moderate quality level tea, but it is easy to brew and would work well with breakfast.


I let the next infusion run for well over 5 minutes, starting from the cup being hot already, so to the extent it's possible to change aspect outcome on the third infusion brewed Western style I can describe how that goes.  When I said this tea would make a fourth infusion (or maybe more) I meant that this type of tea won't completely stop ("brew out"), and the infusions won't become negative, so using a quite long infusion to get one or more beyond the normal cycle will work.

It might even be worth simmering it to see how that goes; I've been seeing discussion of that approach recently.  A boiling versus infusion approach is only commonly referred to in two contexts (beyond making masala chai, which is something else, about making a tea and spice mix):  some people simmer white teas, typically more for a compressed shou mei version than a bright, fresh bai mu dan, or it's not unheard of for someone to stretch one last infusion out of an aged sheng that way, after going through a very long cycle of extending infusion time to get a few extra that way first.

The flavor is the strongest it's been on this third infusion but the body is thinning a little.  It's not changing, not transitioning in that sense, and still on the subtle side.  Using a higher proportion would bump the intensity a little but the character wouldn't change; it's a subtle, soft version of a black tea, more or less the black tea version of silver needle or silver tip.

Conclusions

I like the tea.  My personal favorite for black tea is Dian Hong (Yunnan black leaf-based tea), especially because of the flavor intensity those can convey, cocoa, dried fruit, roasted sweet potato, and so on, so a mild bud-based black is a good bit off that range.  But I still like it, and it seems to be well above average for quality level for orthodox black teas in general.  This tea would be perfect with a light afternoon snack, complex and flavorful enough to provide a pleasant input, but soft and subtle enough that it would work well with mild pastry or butter cookie.  It could work with breakfast too if someone is good with milder black teas with breakfast.  I like different tea characters with breakfast every day, depending on my mood that day.


I have several versions of Nepal teas to try so if my impression changes I can mention it related to reviewing others, but the general idea is always to pass on a clear impression, not to get to the bottom of an objective description.  To me it doesn't work that way; interpretations always vary, and overall-impression of type and quality level depends on degree of background experience.  Earlier on in a blog-reviewing process I'd often try teas a few times prior to final write-up but I'm keeping too busy with posts lately to do that, and combining multiple forms of notes really doesn't work well.

The white tea version (probably similar to one that I already reviewed) will probably be my favorite.  That style of Nepal white tea is distinctive and different from teas from other places, even much different than Darjeeling range that I've experienced (although their white teas can be great in a few different ways).  Nepal versions tend to have a bright, intense fruit to them, between an orange and lemon citrus range, with a lot of mineral almost as intense as that input.  At any rate I'll post further about what I think of those other teas, a few other types that Narendra shared.

with a best friend on a Christmas presentation day

warming up by hamming it up.  they're all so cute.