Farmerleaf Jing Mai ancient tree 2016 autumn sheng pu'er

Posting the first half of an interview with William Osmont of Farmerleaf on TChing reminded me to get back to trying their teas; I still have a couple of pu'er samples left.  Although it's a touchy subject in general this one is an "ancient tree" Jing Mai sourced version (from autumn of 2016, described here).  William will say more about what that means or doesn't mean in the second half of that interview, which in his case definitely doesn't relate to specific claims about advanced ages of trees, so I'll leave that part alone for now and go on to review.


Initially this tea has a bit of bitterness to it; I guess that's a good thing, how it should be.  Some of that aspect doesn't ruin the experience of drinking young sheng but it's not exactly positive to me either.  Initially it will be hard to tease out what's going on with the tea besides that, as pronounced as it is, but such teas tend to "loosen up" a few infusions in.  Still, it's all relative, and some sheng have tasted just like taking an aspirin, and this isn't there, there's more going on.  It has some floral tones and mild earthiness filling out range beyond that.

It's interesting running across the idea that some sheng are more or less intended for aging.  I can't really can't add much about that; the short version I recall running across is that a bitterness aspect converts to being aromatic later.  It makes you wonder if processing tends to be adjusted to change character related to that potential, or more that different versions lend themselves to drinking very young or else aged instead due to naturally occurring factors.  Someday I might be able to taste a young sheng and try to project ahead to what it would be like in five or ten years but I certainly can't guess at that now.  At any rate William mentioned an intentional input that did affect this teas character in that product description, just not described there related to aging potential:


We gave a relatively strong kill-green process to the leaves in order to release the best of this tea. A side effect of this choice is the presence of many yellow flakes. We sorted out the largest ones, but there are still some in the cakes. They add sweetness to the tea and tone down the bitterness. The aspect of yellow flakes is not appealing to the Chinese tea drinkers; therefore many tea producers use low wok temperatures in autumn to avoid having yellow leaves. It results in reddened tea which can be more fragrant but features less throat and mouth freshness.

Yu Bai making tea (photo credit Farmerleaf)

Even by a third infusion, one of those just a quick rinse, it starts to mellow out.  That bitterness--not astringency really, actual bitterness--starts to transition to being mixed with strong mineral tones.  Although the tea isn't really so astringent in the sense of feeling rough or "mouth puckering" it does have an interesting feel to it, which is related to that.  It tightens the sides of the back of my tongue most, but since I'm not on that page in terms of aspects preference that doesn't mean much to me.


On the next infusion it falls into an even better balance.  A light wood tone, picks up, with a good bit of sweetness, and some floral scope rounding out the balance.  It's funny how preference works out; that character range is both the reason why young sheng isn't my favorite type of tea and also why I like it.  There's a freshness to the effect, and an interesting complexity and balance, with layers to the experience.  But it's still not warm, rich, and easily approachable as better black teas are.  It could just be a preference curve issue, related to a natural transition of likes over time.


I liked light oolongs the best initially, TKY and Taiwanese styles, which are very approachable and can be quite complex, and still do enjoy interesting versions, but the ordinary versions I started on can be a bit boring now.


From there the transitions level out and it just keeps going, of course brewing lots of tea, as if it could just continue indefinitely.

tea, in Jing Mai

I would guess that I would like the tea more in ten years but that's not based on much; I really don't know how it would change.  I guess that's part of the appeal of drinking lots of sheng and aging it, to experience that transition, even the uncertainty, even if it's not always positive.  For me it's nice to have more tea-space out there to experience, like visiting an interesting place on vacation and knowing you missed a couple of interesting sites; it leaves more to get to later.


I can't place this related to a non-ancient tree version, even though I reviewed one by them not so long ago.  So lets roll the whole process back and try out a side-by-side comparison of that tea and this one.  There is one limitation, that these aren't necessarily supposed to be identical styles of tea separate from that source difference.  For example, it's harvested at a different time, March to April, and there could be intentional processing differences leading to character differences.

Comparison tasting Farmeleaf's Jing Mai Miyun with this ancient tree version

Farmerleaf Miyun 2016 Jing Mai sheng

One more disclaimer:  due to personal preference scope I'll end up emphasizing differences in taste, when one running pu'er theme is that taste is only one of several aspects to appreciate, and to some not the main one, or maybe not even in the top three (related to effect, "qi", mouth-feel, and aftertaste).  I'll mention feel, for completeness, but it's odd doing that when I'm not really into teas feeling a certain way, some degree of fullness is interesting and that's about it.  Here goes anyway.

The flavors range of the two is comparable, it overlaps, but both are quite different. They're both a little floral, with mineral undertones, and a trace of bitterness, although not so much when brewed lightly the first few infusions.  That's not how I put it in the first tasting notes, related to bitterness level, which could relate to an expectations shift, or brewing differences.  Or I've been up and down related to a throat infection that comes and goes, and it seems at least possible that even being mostly over that perception of certain aspects shifts more than others related to changed sensitivity.

The ancient tree version is a lot sweeter and brighter.  That brightness almost comes across as citrus, as a citrus spray like effect, when you bend the peel.  The Miyun includes more earthiness, mainly coming across as wood tone, but there is more to it than that.  The wood is complex, light and bright fresh wood in a complex range that extends to wood bark.

ancient tree source left, Miyun right

On the fourth infusion I went a little longer to get more feel for the feel, but the teas probably haven't leveled off into the character they'll show more of later. The bitterness picks up brewed stronger, of course. I don't mean the infusion strength is stronger than typical for other tea types, just not as light as I often brew sheng; the steep time was still about half a minute.

The ancient tree tea picks up a lot of structure, a feel that's hard to describe, and a long aftertaste.  It feels full, like a tightening across my tongue--more the sides, in the back--and in the rest of the mouth, that settles into a dryness on the rear of my tongue at the end.  Someday it might make sense to me how anything remotely like that range of sensation is pleasant.  I don't dislike it, it's just not particularly interesting to me.  Mineral elements are pronounced, maybe towards shale.  That aftertaste takes awhile to wear off, like the effect from that one Golding tea in the last comparison tasting with this Miyun (so I guess to some extent I've compared both vendor's old-tree versions, just indirectly, both comparison tasted along with this Miyun version).

The Miyun picks up a touch of smoke, which isn't bad with that aspects mix.  It has a full feel, just not as full in comparison with this other tea; tasted side by side it comes across as a good bit thinner.  They both have some sweetness for balance but the ancient tree has more.  It's hard to separate floral tones, there for both, they're similar but perhaps a little different.  I think focusing on that would go better brewed very lightly, not just light but wispy.

I seem to pick up a trace of smoke in the ancient tree tea now, on the next infusion. The brightness wears off a little and more of a wood tone picks up.  It falls into a nice balance together, although it was fine before too.  Brewed lighter that feel is still present but less pronounced.  The Miyun gains a little more smoke, less bright yet, with that wood tone pushing to earthier, towards a light mushroom, just not getting there.

Of course mineral undertone is strong in both, and a trace of bitterness, but that's quite light when brewed lightly, and it subsides across infusions more than the other flavor range.  It's a little stronger in the ancient tree tea at this point but they both do keep transitioning.  It's nothing like taking an aspirin, or at least only a little like that.

ancient tree source left, Miyun right

It's funny how similar and how different the two teas are.  It wouldn't be possible for me to appreciate that tasting them days apart.  I guess it would be possible for someone drinking tea only for flavor to prefer the Miyun, provided the earthier tone worked well for them, and more smoke, and different woodiness.  But the ancient tree tea has a lot more going on, more initial brightness, more sweetness, more structure to the feel and aftertaste, and a bit more complexity.  It even starts to pick up a touch of spice tone later on, closest to nutmeg, but not exactly that.


This "ancient tree" effect starts to make some sense to me; maybe if I keep with it and try a number of other examples it will be even clearer.  Aging teas and relation of different aspects to aging potential is another part of the larger pu'er picture, and I'm woefully behind in doing much with that.  There are just so many teas out there to try, and pu'er hasn't become a natural main preference, but given how much I like the only old version of a sheng cake I do own (now 11 years old, perhaps just getting interesting) I really should get on that.

Farmerleaf Jingmai Miyun sheng (Spring 2016), compared to a Golding pu'er

Farmerleaf 2016 Jing Mai sheng pu'er

Golding (KL vendor) 2016 Jing Mai sheng pu'er

I never did get around to reviewing pu'er from Farmerleaf, that Yunnan tea source that really probably specializes in pu'er more than the other types I did review (mostly black teas, although a moonlight white was also really interesting).  I just noticed on their website they'll be on break from sales for a month, starting in a day, for what that's worth.  They do make tea; likely related to that.

Since I had some of a Golding shop privately pressed Jingmai pu'er to compare it to (two, really, so I just picked one) I went ahead and tasted this alongside a Jingmai 2016 gushu sheng from them (tea from old plant / tree sources).  To review, Golding is a Kuala Lumpur shop that sources and presses their own tea cakes.  Or has them pressed, most likely, but per my understanding the process is a lot more hands-on than someone ordering tea cakes to re-brand from a local producer (like Farmerleaf).

I'm finishing up a post about Yunnan tea growing and sourcing issues based on interview input from William of Farmerleaf, and he produced some Youtube videos on the subject (here).  It's a bottomless subject, with answers always leading to more questions, but if it's of interest his videos make for some good input.  He's French but he's been living in Yunnan, and working with his wife, who is from a tea farming and producing family, so what he's passing on is relatively first hand experience.  There is also more on processing in the description for this particular tea on their website.

Switching around between tea types--reviewing different teas every week--comes at a price, and I'm not so well-calibrated for pu'er these days.  I've tried one sheng since I checked in on that subject last, a tea I picked up in NYC from Sun's Organic Shop.  That tea was ok, I just don't get around to reviewing everything I try.

This subject of trying lots of teas versus sticking to a more narrow focus is something I've discussed before with a tea-type specialist who may be familiar, Imen of Tea Obsession.  She wrote about that a little in this post, about horizontal versus vertical experience, but it's all what you'd expect, and there's not much there.  To some extent you have to give up depth for range if you choose to focus on everything (or choose not to focus, really).  I also didn't study under a master, or take classes, so best to take anything I say for what it's worth, as some guy trying things and thinking out loud in writing.

Review part:

Based on the first tastes the Farmerleaf tea is nice.  It's just a little bitter, with plenty of floral character, and strikes a nice all-around balance.  Of course there's always the hurdle that pu'er drinkers might be more focused on the feel of the tea or the effect, and I might notice this or that about feel but apparently I'm not properly tuned to notice the cha qi input.  I'm not saying it's not real, I just can't notice it enough to describe it, I can just sort of tell there is caffeine in tea.  I've heard people say lots of conflicting things about that subject--who hasn't--but I'll just not go into it here.  It wouldn't work to guess about that factor in this case anyway, due to doing a comparison tasting.  Probably that's problematic, per some takes, mixing those cha qi inputs, but I think I'll be ok.

Related to cha qi--more tangent, that never gets old--there are so many active components in teas that it doesn't need to necessarily be some mystical force that acts via magic.  No one ever seems to get to the point of measuring different compounds, and describing their effect, beyond noting there is caffeine and theanine in teas.  Aging could change those, or tea plant age really could correlate.  Or maybe it's some of both, pharmacology and magic.  Lets check on some input on all that from a tea book source I've been mentioning a little lately, Tony Gebely's "Tea:  A User's Guide:"


Tea leaves contain many amino acids, the most abundant of which is theanine. Theanine, specifically L-Theanine, is responsible for promoting alpha brain wave activity and a feeling of relaxation. L-Theanine in concert with caffeine can induce a state of “mindful alertness” in the tea drinker... 

The main Methylxanthine in tea is the stimulant caffeine. Other methylxanthines found in tea are two chemically similar compounds, theobromine and theophylline. The tea plant creates these chemicals as a way to ward off insects and other animals... Methylxanthines also contribute to a bitter taste in the tea infusion. The level of methylxanthines in tea depends on the variety and cultivar of Camellia sinensis used, the climate, the age of the leaves, and the propagation method (seed vs. cutting) used on the plant. 


No claims about transcendent experiences there but given those two categories don't exhaust his description of tea plant components there is plenty of space for chemicals rather than mystical forces to cause unusual effects.  Then again, sometimes different perspectives and descriptions can be right in different ways.  So back to the tea.


The Golding tea might be a little more bitter.  It's odd that doesn't match my old review; I do wonder how often I'm completely wrong about teas.  Bitterness is a relative thing, and I'm a bit put off by teas that come across like taking an aspirin, which of course could also stem from using inappropriate brewing techniques.  Neither of these teas is anything like taking an aspirin, really towards the opposite end of that scale, not so bitter at all.  Relating to that earlier subject, drinking different types inconsistently could lead to making significant brewing mistakes, but over time it all sort of gets sorted out.  The subject might seem simple, since the main brewing factors--beyond sourcing, storage, and aging--are teaware related, and tied to aspects of the water itself, then related to water temperature and proportion, and timing.

On the next infusion I'll try to get a bit further into those descriptions, although again I don't expect to get too far with "feel" differences.

Farmerleaf version left (but they look about the same)

As a rough description floral with a bit of bitterness really does describe the Farmerleaf tea.  There's just a hint of smoke, so light that you could miss it, and of course substantial mineral tones underlie all the rest.  There is an interesting structure to the tea, the way it tightens your whole tongue as you taste it, but still feels a bit wet, then transitions to a feeling in the throat after you swallow.

plumeria, growing in our yard

The exact same description matches the Golding tea, but at the same time all of those aspects are a little different.  The floral comes across a bit heavier, more like perfume.  The range of flowers is a bit similar but I don't think I would make it clearer by guessing what flowers they are.  Lots of flowers come across in between lavender and wildflowers to me, or some are like orchids instead, or else light and sweet like a daisy, or a touch earthier like a chrysanthemom or sunflower.  The floral scent in these teas is in the first range in that list, a sweet and rich, I suppose not so different than plumeria.


I smell tropical flowers here in Bangkok, including lots of plumeria, which were also common in Hawaii, and orchids are around.  There are lots of flowers at our house that I'd only be able to find out the Thai names for.  But someone with a much better grasp of floral scents could do a lot better, could pin it down to types.



The next infusion I brewed a little longer (not so much due to experimenting, just not careful, but the effect is the same), providing a good input to both how the effects are transitioning, and what the tea is like brewed slightly stronger.

The bitterness is still the main element in the Farmerleaf tea, but it's subtle enough that it doesn't really detract, as long as one is ok with some bitterness.  For drinking young sheng it kind of goes with the territory.  The general effect is still quite approachable, with lots of floral range layered below that, and with complexity picking up.  The hint of smoke dropped out entirely and it seems there is a hint of cinnamon in place of that.  It all works.

The Golding tea has a little more bite to it, but to me it's still soft enough.  It is interesting the way the flavor and the feel remains after drinking the tea, even transitions a little, but to some extent that's true of both of these.  I walked away to do something else at one point and noticed it lasts something like 15 minutes, maybe longer, so that taste and feel just tapers off, seeming nearly permanent.  I'm not sure if that's a good thing.  It seems a bit pronounced, as if the general effect would be just as nice in a much lighter version.

These teas are brewing to a nice golden yellow.  I suppose that might mean more to someone else, slight differences in shades.

It's a good number of infusions in but it seems these two teas might still just be getting started.  The Farmerleaf version goes to a nice place, with the different attribute ranges falling into a good balance.  That initial bitterness tapered off, and some warmth and complexity picked up.  The hint of spice didn't increase, maybe shifting towards a bit of woodiness instead, still it's nice for filling out a range.  These teas are both clean flavored and lively.

The stronger floral still stands out in the Golding version, with the feel and aftertaste effect moderated by switching back to a relatively light infusion strength.  Compared to brewing other tea types all of these infusions are on the light side, but the teas are so intense they work well in that range.  The balance is still nice for the Golding tea, just quite different than for the other, even though aspects are similar.  Bitterness did moderate a lot; it's an input, but not so pronounced.  Maybe that's what I meant in that earlier review, that bitterness tapers off quite a bit once it loosens up, or maybe I was comparing it to sheng that really are like taking an aspirin.

Farmerleaf tea brewed leaf

I'm going to be feeling these teas.  I keep saying I don't notice cha qi, or even caffeine, but there are limits to that.  Maybe part of what I mean is that I don't drink tea for effect, even though to some extent I must, just not on a level I'm clearly noticing.  I do recognize when it's too much; hard to miss that.  I did a white tea comparison tasting not so long ago and it really was.  I'll go a couple more infusions and give these teas a rest.

People say some types of teas are a lot more relaxing than others and I've always been a little suspicious of those claims.  It seems like if you think you will be relaxed that's an easy enough state to get to through the power of suggestion, by just relaxing.  Then again I did take an early nap about two hours after drinking these teas in the late morning; maybe there is something to all that.

Golding tea brewed leaf

Next infusion:  that warmth keeps picking up in the Farmerleaf version, it keeps improving.  Now it's woody inclined towards spice, but even more complex, out towards aromatic and warm root or bark spices, or maybe both.  Floral gave way a bit to make space for that, with nice sweetness still present, and I like this balance even better.  The aftertaste stays pronounced but the feel has softened back into a more "normal" tea range.

The Golding version stays more floral, still quite strong, but warms a little more too.  If someone loved a really, really pronounced aftertaste this tea would be perfect for them.  Even for loosening up many infusions in it brings out a tightness all along the middle of your tongue, and you can feel it in the throat after drinking it.  You could drink it for a whole afternoon, a few sips every 15 or 20 minutes, and just stay in the experience.  I'm still on the fence as to whether that's a completely good thing or not.  It's interesting.

Both were nice teas, both interesting.  The Golding tea was nice for a really pronounced sweet floral range, with an interesting aftertaste effect, and the Farmerleaf tea was nice for developing into more flavors complexity.  In this case they were similar enough and different enough that comparison tasting made sense, and probably did help shed light on finer points of both.

Myanmar old tree sheng pu'er-style tea from Tea Side

There is one more pu'er sample I'd been looking forward to but it had slipped my mind, from Myanmar, sent by the Tea Side vendor with an order awhile back.  The type is clear enough to me; the same as pu'er, but from another country, so nearby a distinction is a bit odd, just across a border.  Sheng may or may not be considered hei cha, since it's really not fermented, but mapping out that term more is a project for another post.  There is a lot of interesting background I could go into related to this tea, obviously, and I will include a bit of background review after the tasting review sections.  I will start with their description though:


Unique tea. Dry leaves aroma has unusual notes of grape wine. Tastes like no other sheng I know. There are notes of wine, berry jam, plum, grapes and cut wildflowers, tartness of fresh tea. The finish has light and beautiful fresh peach.


My review list-of-flavors differs a little but I completely agree that the final impression is very unique and positive.  This is one of those teas where the overall effect is amazing but it's hard to express which set of aspects leads to that.

that is a big tea tree (photo credit)

I'll clear past one other part of their description first as well, that the tea trees are ancient, 1000 years old.  Of course that subject has been a bit beat up lately, to the extent that many vendors would be inclined to just leave it alone.  The trees are massive though; it's clear enough in the pictures that they are very old.


People tend to only live for 80 years or so, give or take, so first-hand accounts couldn't verify that claim, and there wouldn't be pictures or written descriptions from even a century back, given the location.  I'd be inclined to just set that aside, and judge the tea on it's merits, accepting that based only on the images this is definitely "old tree" hei cha, and the actual year-count doesn't matter.  Personally I'd have no trouble accepting that the trees could be much older than 100 years old, and how much older doesn't matter to me, or even that the plants passed the century mark, really.


One last point:  the tea is sold compressed as a cake / bing, but the sample was from the same tea but in loose form.  Maocha, people tend to call that, although it seems odd to me that means either unfinished tea that is still being processed or else finished sheng that didn't get compressed.  At any rate it's a relatively new tea (2016), so aging differences related to that pressed form would seem to not come into play just yet.

Tasting review

On to review then.  I'd tried a loose prepared sheng from Thailand awhile back, also from older tea trees, or so that story went.  It was nice, different, not great.  Now that I think of it that really was awhile back, more than three years ago, before I started this blog, so there's no write-up to mention.



The scent of the tea is not what I expected,  sweet with a raisin - like scent aspect.   I brewed the tea a bit lightly, based on experience with other sheng working out well that way.


The taste is different.  There is sweetness to it, and an unusual character.  Raisin is part of it but not dominant. To be honest it has a flavor profile that's hard to describe.  Mineral is present, but not as pronounced as in some sheng, and it's not bitter or astringent.  The taste is mainly vegetal, but in an unusual sense, like that unusual flavor when you bite into a grape seed, a bit tangy.  Below that it's complex, warm and full, and someone could probably separate out all sorts of flavors, maybe floral aspects, or a subtle but rich fullness as in dried hay.  But separating out any is tricky;  it integrates into a full experience that's hard to break apart.

From the complexity, the taste range, and the feel presentation it seems nice, maybe a good bit better than nice implies.  My personal take leads back to how much I love sheng pu'er, or really don't, and I think I'd like it a lot more if I loved the type more, and I could place how the aspects relate to my own preference better with that as context.  It's nice, per a distant memory quite a bit better tea than the Thai version, more complexity, more interesting subtle aspects, definitely more honey sweetness, nothing like taking an aspirin.


I feel like I didn't really do the tasting justice, that I wasn't able to get my senses around the experience.  There was enough for one more brewing session so I decided to try it again, this time compared to another pu'er (a Yunnan version, so real pu'er, by the regional definition), and see if that helped.

Second tasting; comparison to a Nan Nuo pu'er

I tried the tea again tasting it side-by-side with one of the Golding samples, the Nan Nuo (first reviewed here, a tea produced independently by the Golding shop in Malaysia).  My first thought in tasting both:  the teas are too different for comparison to work well, but at least the contrasts might be telling.  In retrospect I probably should have tried the Jing Mai tea along with it instead (reviewed here), but it may work better than it seems at first.  In general when you comparison taste two teas that are very close in style that helps highlight minor aspects or underlying aspects that are harder to notice drinking one tea alone.

The Myanmar tea is floral, smooth, and light.  There is a richness to the tea and an underlying complexity, but it's subtle.  It's not like I've been brewing it so wispy thin there is not much taste to go on, the tea just comes across as complex and rich without having lots of pronounced flavors; different.  But then it is just getting started.  There is a trace of sourness and bitterness as well that gives the tea a fuller effect.  Those might sound negative but I don't mean it that way.  When you struggle to pick out what's going on that gives the tea that full effect it seems like it is those elements, which are pleasant in that light presentation, even if a list of fruit flavors and such might sound better.

The Nan Nuo tea is not so subtle.  A smokiness stands out, and also complexity, but in a different range.  It's possible for the stronger astringency to stand out, to be out of balance, but easy to temper by brewing lightly.  There's more of a savory effect to the tea, not exactly like the strong umami in a Japanese green but it seems possible the aspect overlaps.  This tea also has a touch of sourness, which comes across differently in the different context range.

The Myanmar tea develops a bit early on.  It's also rich, but sweeter, lighter, with an effect more like a butteriness.  The flavors depth is almost like a touch of salt is present.  It's still not forceful related to flavors-list aspects standing out, maybe mild mineral and floral.  I suppose that salt could really be a different mineral element, not something typical in other teas described as tasting like stones.  The fullness in the flavor context is hard to describe, partly related to that, but with a depth of subtle aspects mixing, something like dried hay, maybe more like a mild version of sassafras root.

The Nan Nuo tea moves to be a bit more vegetal, hard to tease out particular vegetables though, maybe artichoke.  It tastes a little like tree bark can smell though, out of normal foods and spice range but closer to the latter, with mineral and a touch of smoke added to that, and a trace of tartness.  The feel is interesting, and it somehow corresponds well to those flavors, a juiciness with a little dryness.  The bitterness and astringency can move towards that of biting a grape seed, potentially something to work around, or someone might really enjoy that effect.

The Myanmar tea gains depth,  opens up more, but never did need to loosen up in terms of being unapproachable. The fuller taste moves into something like a fresh cork, probably better than that sounds though.  Maybe sassafras root still works better for description, with just a touch of fruit, a hint of raisin.

Both of these teas were much better than those aspects citations sound to me.  Both were complex, refined, unique, and positive.  To keep saying the tea from Myanmar (Tea Side) was subtle it might sound like it didn't have much to offer, but the actual experience was the opposite, it just didn't come across as a clear list of flavors.


I pretty much never get excited about an aftertaste effect, or different feels of teas, although I can sort of see where people are going with all that, there is a lot of range to be experienced.  Only some of what stood out for these two teas was on those levels.  Both teas were interesting within the range of flavor as well, but still subtle and complex within that scope, and quite different from each other.

Background research

I'll try to keep this brief; the post runs long already, but there are a few interesting threads to follow a little.  Past research into tea types based out of Taiwan have identified native plant types of variety Assamica tea coming out of Myanmar and Northern Thailand, as listed and in this research article:

I2	Burma	A	Introduced variety	B	Original from Myanmar
I3	Shan	A	Introduced variety	B	Original from Thailand
I4	Shan-1	A	Introduced variety	B	Original from Thailand
I5	Shan-2	A	Introduced variety	B	Original from Thailand
I6	Shan-3	A	Introduced variety	B	Original from Thailand
I7	Shan-4	A	Introduced variety	B	Original from Thailand

Of course I don't know which plant type this tea is from, and the reference to this study of plants being imported from Thailand doesn't indicate that the original plant versions weren't from Myanmar instead.  The tea plants native to Taiwan are listed as "landraces" instead of "introduced variety," since the study is about teas growing in Taiwan.  But that designation seems to only indicate plants are native in the sense that past origins can't be traced back further.  Another research article summary offers an interesting observation, based on examining genetic characteristics of local plant types:


The cultivated teas in the estates of Southeast Asia region also belonged to C. sinensis. However, the native cultivars in Myanmar and southern China had a genetic similarity to C. taliensis and C. irrawadiensis. 


It would take a lot more review to know what to make of that, but interesting.  It seems quite possible, based on genetic testing results, that this variety Assamica tea should be unique.  The other issue, which is also likely to remain mostly open, is how long tea plants have been growing in this area.  If it's less than 1000 years the age claim couldn't possibly be true, and even if longer there's still the matter of how old the actual tea trees are.  This reference gives some insight to the history:


Any attempt to understand the natural environment in which the tea plant evolved... is hampered by the fact that it is very doubtful whether any truly wild tea still exists. In Yunnan there are patches of tea still to be found which appear to be wild, with the occasional large tree which is several hundred years old. It is difficult to decide whether these plants are truly wild or might better be described as feral, that is the residue of earlier cultivation by native peoples. Charles Bruce explored much of Northeast of Assam in the 1840s and discovered a large number of tracts of apparently wild tea amongst the Singpho people [25]. However, both he and, a century later, Frank Kingdon-Ward [26] noted how the tea plant had been spread by the Shan tribes migrating through Burma and Manipur as far as Assam. An ancient route connecting Yunnan to Assam through Burma is known to have been in use at least as early as the second century BC, and possibly much earlier.


Fascinating stuff!  This is implying tea trees can only reach several hundred years old, but then it is a historical study, not a botanical-oriented work.  The author doesn't really speculate how far back regional tea plant distribution occurred but offers that more than 2200 years ago is possible.


For most of you that's enough with the research, plenty of history and plant type genetics, but for that other minority I'll mention a couple of other studies, related to Chinese (Yunnan) plants instead:


ISSR DIVERSITY AND GENETIC DIFFERENTIATION OF ANCIENT TEA (CAMELLIA SINENSIS VAR. ASSAMICA) PLANTATIONS FROM CHINA: IMPLICATIONS FOR PRECIOUS TEA GERMPLASM CONSERVATION

Genetic diversity and differentiation of Camellia sinensis L. (cultivated tea) and its wild relatives in Yunnan province of China, revealed by morphology, biochemistry and allozyme studies


You might wonder, how could any of that possibly be relevant to me, to what I'm drinking.  Trace compounds do cause the taste and feel in brewed teas, along with the input of processing, which changes those present.  But all that gets complicated.  Related to that consider the following excerpt from the latter source:

As a whole, caffeine content had the highest variation with CV of 22.7%, water extract solid showed the least variation (13.4%) and content of polyphenols (20.0%) and free amino acids (18.8%) showed intermediate variations.


I would assume that implies two different answers for relevance depending on personal interests.

Golding Jing Mai gushu sheng pu'er

This is the last pu'er sample sent by Golding, a shop in KL, Malaysia, a Jing Mai gushu sheng pu'er, tea from old tea tree plants.  They are in the process of updating website content, to add more detail, and there's an additional Facebook contact; always different pictures and notices on those.  According to the shop owner this version is a 2016 tea, with only a 2013 version shown on that site.


My first thought on tasting the first infusion was that this is something different, likely my favorite of these samples, but more comparison tasting would help determine that.  It's still sheng pu'er but the range of some aspects is different, aromatic and floral to a different degree.


I'm brewing this way on the light side,  following up on that working well for others.  Aromatic and floral pretty much describes the main initial infusions,  but doesn't do them justice.  That flavor must be a certain flower, maybe in the orchid range, but not the light, sweet, bright honey orchid familiar from Dan Congs.  It's richer and rounder, a step towards lavender.  Or maybe that just is close to lavender; I'm not great with floral scent memory.


The overall effect stands out in the sense of being novel and interesting,  but not at all in terms of which particular aspect is so interesting.  This is a new way for a tea to have a rich feel, a general theme that comes across differently in different exceptional teas.


Some of the effect must be from what's missing; the flavors are clean and balanced, with no negative aspects at all.  There's no bitterness (which wouldn't be negative to people who like bitterness), no astringency to speak of, related to that bite.  Mineral tones are part of the context of flavors but that aspect range is subdued, nothing pronounced, and not related to any corresponding bitterness or astringency.

The tea isn't transitioning so much; not sure where I expected it to go.  I brewed one infusion longer to check that effect and it did start to have that astringency in sheng; apparently completely eliminating that is possible through brewing lightly, with the same general flavors aspects.  It's interesting to consider where preference for that might lead others to brew the same tea in different ways.


It's a nice characteristic that this tea isn't going to stop brewing any time soon; around 10 infusions in it seems to be getting warmed up.  The flavors soften a little, gain a bit more depth, but don't shift much.  Even brewed lightly it's got a fulness to the feel,  and a lingering aftertaste.  As far as mouthful effect or where the tastes land on your tongue someone who cares about that could do reviewing it more justice.

Conclusions

After trying these I'm still not clear on where I stand on pu'er.  There's something to the type, of course, a novelty and depth of different dimensions not found in other types.  Aging adds yet another.  I reviewed that topic in another post, and the one thing everyone agrees on is that there are different approaches and preferences related to aging.


I really enjoyed the different pu'er versions I tried from Golding, this one, a Bulang Dragonball, a Jing Mai Xiao Shu, and a Nan Nuo gushu.  I suspect that if I went back and comparison tasted them I'd change interpretation a little, and probably add more depth to the descriptions.  There is a lot more story to be told about Golding producing their own teas as well, about experiences with that process, and insights into the types of pu'er-related claims that make for heated discussion in tea circles.  Some of that I may get into later based on more input from a Golding owner.


At the same time sheng pu'er doesn't match my natural taste preference as well as more roasted oolongs, or even black teas, mostly related to Chinese-style versions of those.  That doesn't stop me from enjoying pu'er and green teas, also well outside that range, and I'll continue with pu'er.  I bought a cake of an aged Hong Tai Cha Thai version this year (so really hei cha, not pu'er), the third sheng cake I've bought, in addition to several shou.  I experience some degree of natural preference shift in different teas and types, changes over time, and it's been interesting to see to what degree I can anticipate and lead that.

More on Wuyishan teas is coming next, along with reviews of an interesting set of samples from Nepal, but I will get back to pu'er.

Golding Bulang Dragonball (sheng pu'er ball)

Interesting looking!  I'm not seeing this on the Golding shop website, but then they've communicated they're updating that site content now, with an alternate contact for them through Facebook.


Even the initial brew, with the ball just starting to loosen up, shows where this is going to go.  The tea is nice, good sweetness and complexity, with lots going on, and some of the astringency / bitterness /  mineral element / medicinal aspect common in sheng.

a little edgy to be tea drunk

Other pu’er drinkers might contest any of those descriptions as common sheng pu'er elements, although what I mean in general is probably clear enough.  Astringency isn’t used here in the same sense as in Assamica black teas, for sure, closer to related aspects in green tea.  Bitterness is often confused with astringency, even though they are different things, one being a taste (bitterness) and astringency a mouth-feel element.  More tasting will help determine which is present in this tea.


The taste range includes some mineral, it’s just not as clear that relates to the other flavors / aspects I’m saying it could typically tie to, that astringency and mineral flavors could be related.  “Medicinal” is more commonly used to describe an unusual aspect found in older teas, typically as something positive.  But then different medicines would have different tastes, so there would need to be more inter-subjective agreement on how it should be used for that description to really be meaningful.

All that aside, the tea is nice.  There is lots of honey sweetness too, along with floral tones, some mineral range, and below that a trace of a pleasant earthy aspects, maybe something towards leather, with a bit of spice.  I’m ok with preference for teas within that sheng character range, so all this just requires some dialing in and unpacking.


Early on even a flash infusion works, barely giving the tea a few seconds, tempering the more challenging aspects down to a background element.  The tea is even positive toned way down, brewed quite lightly, of course depending on preference, still letting the nice flavors step forward.  The flavors and character are going to soften and transition just from the tea loosening up and coming to life beyond some initial infusions.


After some it does soften a little, with that honey sweetness remaining as the primary flavor aspect, with floral elements and minerals below that.  I’ll leave off with the mouth-feel description since I don’t have developed preference related to that anyway.  The tea is nice, with good complexity, but it’s hard to separate into more flavors; I’m mostly just getting that basic set, and I’m not so good with breaking down “floral” into specific flowers.  Based on the dry scent it had seemed like there was a little more range that would come out, earth or spice, but it remains faint, or maybe only present in my imagination.  The mineral might correspond to a trace of overlapping vegetal tone, not like a green tea tasting like green beans or bell peppers, but there might be just a faint touch of something.  I'm not noticing much in the way of actual bitterness, just a touch at most.


Even though flavors are mostly in the range of honey, floral, and mineral aspects, not a description of my favorite tea types, the tea still works for me.  The flavors are really clean, and the character softened to a nice range.  I wouldn’t give up dark roasted oolongs and black teas to focus on sheng pu’er based on this one tea experience but it’s nice enough, pleasant.  Many infusions along that trace of spice did start to pick up a bit, it seemed.


It seemed to me there is enough complexity to the tea that different brewing approaches could draw out different aspects more, so even though I didn’t experience lots of transition the tea seemed like it probably could potentially express more range, in that sense.

Beyond the review

The tea raises some questions.  It’s not normal for blog posts to point towards gaps in what is covered, typically just citing a description and moving on, but I’ll do so.  It struck me as odd the tea wasn’t more astringent or bitter.  Per a Tea DB post that gets into sub-regional version characteristics of pu’er bitterness would be characteristic of Bulang pu’er, and of course younger sheng pu’er in general:


Located in Menghai county, Bulang stands in stark contrast to the light and subtle aftertaste characteristic of Yiwu. One of the principle tea regions for Menghai tea factory, Bulang raw pu’erh is usually bold, bitter, and strong flavored. Due to its proximity with Menghai Tea Factory it commonly finds its way into ripe pu’erh. It is less likely to find Bulang marketed as Bulang than Yiwu, even though it produces alot of tea. Perhaps most notably, Bulang is also home to some of the hottest, pu’erh areas including: Lao Banzhang and Lao Mane.


Very clear!  So different areas cover different scope, and designations can overlap, to some extent.

Back to the tea not actually being bitter (or even astringent), it makes me wonder if the tea hasn’t been aged, or how aging changes related to smaller pu'er shapes.



That citation also starts into pu’er origin areas, to what extent different teas from the same area express different characteristics, which I won’t follow up on here.  Based on experience with other tea types characteristics can vary a lot or not much at all by the type of tea.  Some black tea types or light oolongs can be relatively consistent, varying by quality level but not as much in range of aspects, or put another way some tea types tend to be relatively consistent by aspect.  Wuyi Yancha or Dan Cong oolongs can vary a lot, not just as different quality levels, with different aspects per equivalent teas.  Those express a wide range of characteristic flavors, aromatic components, preparation styles, etc.


Some of the rest of what remains open relates to my own preference, and preference development.  It seems at least possible I like this tea compared to those other pu’er versions from Golding more due to becoming more familiar with sheng range, again.  I don’t think that's a significant factor, but more tasting might help pin that down.  It just seemed like a pleasant, easy to appreciate tea, for some maybe not bitter and edgy or “structured” enough, per preference for such things, but quite nice to me.


All this reminds me of a more general consideration, the difference in interest between actually experiencing drinking a tea and in reviewing tea background (cultivars, processing, regional sources, types, storage issues, etc.).  To me they are two completely different subjects, even though they do overlap.  I have an interest in both, in learning lots about tea (and discussing all that, here or in groups), and in experiencing different teas, but for me I experience both almost as two different interests.

I can completely relate to people who are much more interested only in drinking tea, an idea raised by a friend recently.  Some knowledge of types is required in order to place orders but maybe not a lot more than that, maybe more accurate for other types than for pu'er.  Sorting out source areas, age, and storage conditions is required for pu'er, some of which you can skip if you can just trust a vendor to pick what you like (which is typically a cue to mention the White 2 Tea vendor; make of that what you will).

It's not as if I'm digging so deep in this post; it mostly does just say what the one tea version tastes like, so here just related to typical area-type characteristics.  Looking back the last version of abstract tea research in this blog related to Darjeeling cultivars a month ago, although research into a Wuyi Yancha type strayed a bit too, and I was covering a lot related to cultivars from Taiwan last year.  I may do more with pu'er background based on more Golding vendor input later; we'll see how that goes.

Golding Jing Mai Xiao Shu sheng pu'er

I feel a little like writing one of those tea reviews that just basically says "wow."  That would definitely be easier than describing this tea.  I tried the tea twice to adjust brewing--the running theme for me getting back into pu'er--and more tries would make it more familiar.  One obvious thing is nice initially:  it doesn't have the mineral / green tea / smoke / taking an aspirin bitterness young sheng pu'er tends to have.

Since the Golding Shop website doesn't include full details, and it was only described as the name, Jing Mai Xiao Shu pu'er, I asked them to describe what it is:


The Jing Mai Qiao Shu is from the year 2013, so it is not really aged, just lightly so... The Jing Mai Xiao Shu is of the small/young tea tree variant. It is approximately +- 80 years old. Hence Xiao Shu = Small tree if translated literally. Gu Shu/Da Shu means old tea tree, and for these, we use only trees that are above 100 years old. 


Given all the debate and accusations over pu'er source descriptions and tea tree ages in the last few months that goes straight into controversial territory.  I'll get back to all that in another post, eventually, leaving it at that for now.  I will mention that they are directly involved, on-site in Yunnan, with the leaf sourcing and production of their privately made pu'er, so it's not just a case of someone repeating initial producer claims.  Most agree the impression of the tea itself is more critical than the age of the trees, or even origin location and other back-story, and the tea itself was nice.

Review:

Even the dry tea has an unusual scent to it, rich, sweet, with a bit of spice, and one other element it's hard to make out, maybe along the line of brandy (sure not really it, but that gives the idea).

It took a few infusions to really get the tea going, to loosen up and extend the expression of flavors, but even immediately there was a nice range of aspects going on.  Floral was probably the dominant aspect range, with just a hint of the spice I picked up in the smell (or thought I did).  Spice can be a nice range for teas to express, as often happens not one clear spice element I found easy to pick out, towards clove, but really stopping at a different aromatic bark spice range.  The rest of the range didn't get any easier to describe, floral, just a touch of date, leather, and wood, and more pronounced minerals, but not the sharp, light, flinty limestone range minerals, more like how a dark red clay might smell.

None of this sounds great, to me at least, but the effect was really nice.  There was an overall balance, a subtlety.  As far as feel and aftertaste go this infusion level seemed a little light to really get the most out of that.  Drinking a tea brewed very lightly can mask negative aspects, for example offset astringency, but to an extent it can also make it easier to separate out minor aspects, even though that seems a bit counter-intuitive.

People more into pu'er seem to pick up preferences that could make perfect sense with a lot more experience, but I'd not have an opinion as to what feel or aftertaste elements are desirable.  At the end that rich mineral taste remained as an aftertaste, in an unusual range, not something I've experienced before, and that did seem nice.  I almost want to say there was a dryness to it but that's not the right word; it just had an unusual feel in the center of the back of my tongue and the roof of my mouth.  That didn't change things much for me, for better or worse, but it was interesting.


I think drinking that Hong Tai Chang Thai hei cha did help me appreciate this.  I wouldn't say the two were similar but there was some overlap in the range of experience, the unusual tastes, relating to adjusting to more mineral aspects in teas.  This one is a good bit cleaner, more subtle and sophisticated, and somehow more interesting in general.  That tasting comparison wasn't direct, for what that's worth; I tried that tea over the two days prior.


Some of the dark wood / leather / unusual mineral range was similar, just very faint in this tea, but the trace of spice not so much, and for being in such a strange range (novel to me) the flavor aspects were pleasant.  The tea is quite subtle, even though listing a lot of flavor elements and other aspects might seem to contradict that.


Across infusions the tea didn't seem to change much, but then I suspect someone more familiar with a taste range would pick up more transition, or if someone was more tuned in to other aspects maybe related to those shifting too.  There wasn't much in the way of astringency or a bitterness to subside but the tea did become a bit smoother all the same.  I suspect these brewing parameters were getting close to a "right" range, much as there might be such a thing, but I'll experiment a little, try it just a little stronger and see what happens.

Second tasting review:

Even the initial wash gives off sweetness and complexity, a rich floral taste with some underlying element that is really interesting, towards red wine or spice.  I just read an interesting article on pu'er fermentation that gave one reason for discarding a rinse rather than drinking it, more for shou or aged sheng.  It relates to what fermentation actually is, what the micro-biological components are doing and what trace compounds are being created, but I'll hold off on mentioning details just yet.

Related to talking to the vendor about the tea he wasn't getting that spice element, so maybe it's just in my imagination, or I'm interpreting something else in an unusual way.

The tea is still subtle when brewed slightly stronger, still with great complexity and interesting character.  Unusual aspects are layered together, just nothing too forward.  There is plenty of floral tone to it, and a lot of mineral going on, but somehow that more minor aspect that gives it the extra layer of complexity is more interesting, since it seems to pull the rest together into a really unique experience.

The tea isn't really bitter but there is a bit of effect across a broad range of tastes that supports an impression of fullness and complexity, and a little bitterness is part of it.  It's so light that it's really more about filling in range than an element that's either positive or negative.  It would be easy to overlook the role the sweetness plays, since all the rest works better with that as another context element.

As infusions pass the tea softens and becomes more full but I'm not experiencing a lot of flavor aspects transition, maybe just shifts in the balance of the different aspects.  The feel shifts from the sides of the mouth to the rear of the back of the tongue.  But then I'm still not clear on how that sort of thing is interesting or relevant.

It's a cool tea.  The general subtlety makes it nice to drink water along with it--not warm or cold, neutral in temperature--to keep experiencing it more fully, with a fresher palate.  I might contrast it with a Dian Hong I reviewed recently, a great Chinese black tea.  It had lots going on, and great character, but it was all right there to be tasted, with one interesting feel element as background.  Then again maybe someone more familiar with this tea range might say the same thing; a reasonable number of aspects are right in front of you, no mystery to it.

I don't need to consider if I like the tea, as I've been going through with others lately, since I do, but I do wonder if I love it.  I wonder how my experience of it would change over time, or how the tea itself would, with age.  Pu'er has been that one tea type I didn't really get around to, the unexplored range.  Teas like this one highlight that there is still a lot of novelty to experience, beyond interesting aspects into different overall effects.