2016 Kokang Myanmar sheng and 2011 Mingdee Thai sheng

the Kokang version left, Mingdee right (in all photos)

In visiting a local tea shop a couple of weeks ago, Ju Jen in the Paradise Park mall, a tea contact I was there to meet shared a few teas with me, including these.  One is a 2016 Kokang Myanmar sheng, and the other a 2011 Mingdee Thai sheng.  I have two other versions of Kokang sheng around, part of one cake (2018, that was) and two small older cakes (I think from the same producer).  

Kokang is both an area in Myanmar and a producer name, if I've got that right.  The category name of pu'er doesn't necessarily apply to these, being from Myanmar and Thailand, but they're the same type of tea, made from the same general type of plants, related Assamica versions.  

Mingdee, the producer, rings a bell but I may have never tried any version from them.  I think them and Wawee Tea might be the two main producers, but the subject of Thai sheng keeps such a low profile it's hard to be sure.

that shop visit

Review:

2016 Kokang Myanmar sheng:  it's pleasant.  It has picked up good warmth and depth in the last 7 years, for sure.  The brighter floral notes are transitioned away but there is plenty to appreciate; complexity and balance are good.  It seems as well to turn that into more of a list on the second round.  Bitterness is non-existent but it will probably kick in more next round.

2011 Thai (Chiang Rai / Wawee) Mingdee:  generally pleasant but this may be right in the in-between age transition place where teas tend to go a bit quiet.  Pushing it later may help a little, but if it's at a point where former compound profile is half transitioned to different forms that may only go so far.  Again checking on a list of aspect will probably go better next round.

Kokang, #2:  nice!  This range is familiar.  Sweetness is good, and mineral base (in between light and warm, or maybe spanning both), with an earlier floral range (likely prominent earlier) now shifted to warmer tones, cedar wood, spice range, maybe a touch of warm dried fruit.  Whether or not this is a relatively optimum aging level for drinking this could vary by preference.  

The vendor sales page for the other Myanmar sheng I own (one of 3 versions) described it indirectly as good but not great, along the lines of typical for tea material like this.  That was from Chawang Shop.  Maybe this had slightly more complexity, intensity, and aging potential, so the other could be a little more faded at this point.  It would've made more sense to compare this tea with that but I really wanted to try both of these, and I have a few other teas around to get to.

Mingdee:  it's not bitterness that's ramping up but depth and mineral base really is.  This is clean and complex, just not overly intense.  I think it has great potential to age into a more subtle aged range, not the kind of tea that's still undrinkable after 12 years, but one that can finish transitioning in a few more, picking up more complexity in a different range.  

Mineral depth is unusual in this, for being so heavy and warm in tone, and for dominating the rest of the flavor profile.  I think that's partly an effect from the other flavors still shifting from younger to older form, so it seems quiet, because there is a broad range there, but all at a subtle level.  As younger and brighter tones finish dropping out the deeper and warmer ones will be more evident.  It might turn out like aged Yiwu sometimes does though, on the subtle side.  Those can go further into flavorless, if not well-suited for aging, but some might just be subtle, or I suppose others yet more intense as aged sheng than I've experienced.  I might have only ever tried a half dozen relatively fully aged Yiwu versions, so that sampling is too limited for broad generalizations.

Given that I'm reviewing 7 and 12 year old sheng versions the timing for this evaluation is a little off optimum; these would tell a more complete story in 5 more years.  Those small 2006 Kokang mini cakes, are surely not ready even for being 17 years old, so I've not been re-trying them yet.  That style seemed suitable for 25 years of aging, given how the hard pressed form will slow transition pace.  I'll still try one over the next few years but it won't be ready yet.

Kokang, #3:  there is definitely a very catchy flavor aspect that's common in Myanmar sheng, that I've not described here yet, and probably not done justice to pinning down elsewhere either.  In a younger version one would naturally see it as floral + light mineral, but there's a little more to it.  It might be a spice range sort of flavor, along the line of bay leaf.  I've used bay leaves in cooking but not very often, so that's partly a guess, which conveys some general range.

Mingdee:  this is still quite subtle but it's evolving in a positive way.  Heavy mineral is still present but other range is balancing with that more now.  It's more in an aged furniture range, a mix of aromatic wood tones and non-distinct aromatic oils.  A bit of cedar wood dryness and edge joins that, but it's not dry in feel, it just has a dry component.  Texture / feel will keep shifting over the next half-dozen years too.

Kokang #4:  this keeps improving; that's always nice.  Depth and the way it integrates gets better and better.  That one hint of harder to define aspect seems to have a shifted to include a touch of lemon; it balances well with the rest.  It doesn't have the richest feel, or much aftertaste at all, but the feel it does express is positive.  There are no flaws, and the balance works; it's hard to place how those enter in as positive inputs.

Mingdee:  maybe fading just a little, although that probably relates to variations in infusion time, which I don't track closely.  There is nothing new to add.  I have a couple of things to do so I'll try one more infusion and quit the notes, even though these aren't quite halfway finished yet.  I'll steep a little longer so I'm not commenting that this is hard to place, which will probably shift results a little again.

Kokang #5:  this is quite pleasant.  That touch of citrus (lemon), light spice background, nice mineral base, mix of warmer and lighter tones all integrates really well.  It could easily seem disjointed or at an awkward phase instead; maybe in another 2 or 3 years it will be like that.  I'm not sure this has great aging potential, to be honest.  Intensity is fine at this stage but as it swaps lighter for heavier range that may fade, and it's not that intense now, for a 7 year old sheng.  

I might prefer to drink this particular tea aged 3 or 4 years, back when it hit a little harder, and retained more younger notes, but had lost a lot of it's more youthful challenging rough edges.  It's good now though, I just don't know if it would be better or worse in 7 more years.  There's a good chance it will fade (just a guess, of course).

Mingdee:  more or less the same as it had been, mixing the same aspects described in earlier rounds, with proportion and overall effect not changing too much.  At least this is really clean in effect; there are no flaws from storage inputs or original negative character.  Limitations only seem to relate to what wasn't present initially, to the potential it had for aging.  

I think this would be quite good in 5 or 6 more years, but that's only if someone likes subtle aged sheng, versions where intensity is quite low, and rich feel carries the weight of a lot of what you experience.  The warm flavor tones and mineral base won't completely drop out but with this being limited in intensity as a 12 year old tea I'd expect it to be on the subtle side as an 18 year old version.  Which is ok, if someone is really on that page.  

It's more natural for me to prefer versions with lots more intensity that need a little more time to complete transition.  Those sorts of "challenging when young" versions, that aren't quite there at 18 years old, develop great depth, good balance, complexity, and really interesting flavors, but only at closer to 25 years old.

For drinking at this stage it's still pleasant.  That touch of dryness doesn't come across as overly negative, and the flavor balance isn't bad.  It not being optimum relates to an imagined potential, not a real experiential gap, beyond what isn't in the cup right now.

Myra visits while I do the tasting

Conclusions:

It was interesting trying two very different tea versions, again.  It's interesting how the much younger one worked better in the current aspects balance than the older version, per my preference.  There is a common perception related to sheng pu'er that older is better.  To me every version has an optimum transition level, but that can only be defined in relation to someone's individual preference. 

For focusing mainly on aspects and only doing tangents on aging potential and likely earlier changes it seems like I've not fully addressed how much I like these.  This style of Myanmar tea, and the distinctive aspects that seem tied to there, I really do like.  Familiarity alone might make it more pleasant, and it fits in with what I've been drinking most and liking more recently.  I drank half a small cake of that one related Myanmar tea about a year ago, a tea I took to Honolulu to drink regularly there.  It's not tied back to the same producer, but very similar in character. 

The other might seem somewhat related to all the Thai sheng I've been drinking, but the style was probably different to start, and I'm not regularly drinking any from a 12 year old age range.  To me this probably isn't a completely ideal tea for long term aging, but then it probably wasn't in a very approachable when young style either, more in the middle.  That doesn't make it bad, but it loses a little.  

It may be at its best aged in the 16 to 18 year range, or at least relatively already peaked then, perhaps better yet at 25 to 30 years old, but also not so different.  If this had spent more time in Bangkok it might be more fermented (transitioned) now, but to be clear I don't know where it stayed.  It doesn't seem like it started as a very challenging version, so maybe not completely unlike the ones I drink now, or it would still have more for rough edges, beyond a bit of extra dryness.  The North is still tropical but not as consistently hot and humid as here; not even close.

Both were pleasant and interesting to try.  Both are much appreciated; it's nice having a local friend who shares teas like these.

another small shop in Bangkok, off Soi 6 in Yaowarat (Chinatown), not related to this post

the market alley it's in

Myanmar sheng "pu'er-like-tea" gushu from Alex Phanganovich

 

I met a nice Russian guy recently at the Monsoon biodiversity study themed talk at a local Monsoon Tea shop.  Not Alexey Reshchikov, I don't mean, that researcher who presented there, although he definitely fits that description too.  There is a post in the works about that event, and forest biodiversity research.  Since that outing Alex and I met again at my favorite local tea shop, Jip Eu, and swapped some teas, and again between this tasting and the final post edit.  I'll try some of a tea that he passed on now, a Myanmar origin gushu sheng (which isn't pu'er, but it's made from the same plants in the same way, just one country over).

The gushu theme brings up some associations.  Of course it means old tea tree, and as I recall from back when I tried to pin down terminology more the age cut-off for the type can vary (normal usage; there probably is one clear convention).  Alex didn't play up the "wild" origin claims related to this, but if a tree really is over 100 years old it tends to not be growing in a plantation context.

There was a time when I thought I could identify aspects that were common to old-plant source sheng, more so than now.  The problem is that there are so many inputs related to final sheng character:  age of tree plant (it would make a difference), plant type, growing conditions (rainfall, soil related, sun exposure, etc.), and of course processing makes a lot of difference.  Storage changes a lot, even within a few months, but to a limited extent you can sort of "look back" to where any given aspects set probably started.  With that many variables it would be easy to get parts of it wrong, related to guessing out all causation, why a version is like it is.

I had thought that gushu sheng tended to be more intense in a limited sense, with more mineral undertone, often not quite as astringent, and potentially even slightly mild in flavor, again in a limited sense.  I thought that mouthfeel and aftertaste varied in characteristic ways, but then again the inputs all kind of mix.  I don't "get" feel effect, cha qi, enough to have ever been clear on that part.  The "wild plant" genetics issue complicates things, and variations in processing styles also do.  And trying teas presented as gushu that aren't really from old plants could throw things off; you can't identify clear patterns if your basic data set is corrupted.  

Now I tend to just not overthink things, going with whatever the experience is.  It helps in this case that I can't spend $1 / gram on teas I drink, so the subject comes up less frequently, and I don't have as much "skin in the game" as I might.

This is an odd case for me having tried this tea before, that day in the shop.  My reviews tend to never work out that way.  It's not because I think the more blind tasting is somehow better, although there are pros and cons to that, as there are to comparisons versus single tastings.  It's just how it seems to go.  If I buy a cake of something I could just as easily taste it a half dozen times before reviewing it, I just don't.  For samples there often is only two tries to work with.

This tea starts out really bitter, then that eases up after a few infusions, and really keeps mellowing out beyond that.  At one time I thought Myanmar sheng was like that in general, but I've since tried versions that aren't.  I think it relates to a plant type input difference, as with Lao Man E, but I don't know that.  Maybe I was more interesting to hear out when I thought I had more answers.  On with the re-tasting then.

Review:

First infusion:  brewed quite light, but still very bitter.  That's just getting ramped up too; the next round will probably be much more bitter.  I've made my peace with sheng versions being bitter but on the extreme side of that I don't like them as much.  The intensity and overall character is pleasant, beyond the bitterness, if that's not seen as an issue.  Related sweetness is nice, and flavors are clean, and overall balance is good.  I will surely like the range of effect after the third or fourth infusion better, once that intense bitterness plays through.  It's odd how it dropped out in this, the degree to which it did, in that earlier tasting session.  It's normal for some sheng to "loosen up" and be more approachable after 3 or 4 rounds but not so much for them to completely change character.  Transitioning a lot can come up though.

Maybe "bitter" is too vague; it comes in both degrees and types.  This isn't nearly as strong as I expect next round will be, but the actual taste is like biting into the flower from a dandelion.  Not as medicinal as taking an aspirin, but as pronounced in sharpness of the effect, just a little more vegetal.

Second infusion:  intensity picked up.  I went just over 5 seconds for brewing time, not short at all related to expected outcome, but I want to keep this part of the cycle moving.  It's actually slightly better for other range picking up, even though the bitterness did too.  Some vague warm tones increased, mineral range, and beyond that.  I suppose a warmer floral tone is the best description for that, with the sweetness of the dandelion (one other part of the floral experience) being joined by warmer toned floral.  This still needs two more infusions to be where I'll actually like the flavor.

This is a good place to re-visit how some people wouldn't focus on flavor at all, more on the body effect, or at least valuing mouth-feel and aftertaste a lot, the overall experience.  It might be possible for me to change lifestyle and become more in tune with the drug-like effect of teas.  Sitting at a desk for a work-week seems to not help, the mental sluggishness that goes with that form of unnatural experience, and the effect on your body that pairs with it.  I exercise a little to offset that, running, mostly, and had been doing yoga, but my instructor is back in India for now.  Meditation would probably help.  During the pandemic I had been meditating for 20 minutes most days, a fruit of recovered time from my commute dropping out.  Maybe I felt a little clearer then.  

Yesterday I went through an odd experience that is dropping my energy level a little this morning.  There are political protests in Bangkok now, related to people claiming that the last election wasn't fair.  The military oriented government just shut down the train system yesterday, during the Friday rush hour, to prevent access to those protests.  I walked 8 to 10 km through crowded streets and rain to get home (5 to 6 miles, for Americans).  I'm feeling it.  

Ordinarily grabbing a taxi would make sense, and it probably was possible to walk a mile or two directly away from the disruption, and then take an indirect route home, but I'd planned for my wife to pick me up in the middle, and complete gridlock extended to that area too.  Bad traffic is normal here but it was strange seeing block after block of cars just parked,  for miles.  The government had shut down some subway access too, and local bus service, intentionally crashing the public transit infrastructure; not so nice of them.  Luckily I like to walk.  This will just delay a run I would've probably did today.

it did take about that long

Third infusion:  coming together nicely; the next round will probably be more where I enjoy the aspects.  This is brewed for about 5 seconds, fast enough to be light, but even shorter would work at this proportion.  It's just a matter of habit to always brew the same tea proportion (a high one), but I could vary that.

It gains a little more depth, with that bitterness softening and integrating.  It doesn't have a strong floral punch, or a lot of sweetness, or intense flavor beyond those ranges, but that's not so unusual.  It could be gushu, or maybe it's not; I don't think I'd know.  Aftertaste intensity isn't really what I would expect for that.  Bitterness trails on after you swallow it but the general effect is a bit light.  Mineral depth is notable but it could ramp up more than this.  Really judging how the bitterness ties to the rest is what evaluating this tea is about, and quite-bitter sheng isn't my thing.  Personal preference isn't a necessary condition for evaluating a tea but it doesn't hurt if it works out to use that as a yardstick.

Fourth infusion:  this is more in a range I like, with the rest ramping up while bitterness drops off.  Probably one more round will be even better, with that transition that much further.  This includes warm mineral and floral range, along with bitterness, but the balance is still tipped towards that one aspect.  It's nice how much depth joins that, and overall intensity, and how clean the overall effect is.  It picks up a richer, "rounder" feel.  Aftertaste gains more duration and intensity, and it's less of just that one note coming across.  I'll break down next round to more of a list, given how I'm saying the transition stands.

Fifth infusion:  just as the tea is getting to where I like it more I'm losing attention span for making notes.  It still lacks some of the range that makes sheng really work well for me, the sweetness, floral and fruit complexity, hints of spice and such making flavors interesting, rich creamy feel adding depth, etc.  It's pretty good tea, it seems, but much better if someone is ok with bitterness playing a dominant role in the experience.  Which I don't love.  It's more balanced now, more complex, so there is more to appreciate, but mineral and very mild floral tone fills in along with the bitterness.  A neutral sort of fresh cut wood vegetal range adds more beyond that, but it's mostly the experience of depth, not so much that being positive, or leading to a great overall balance.

I think this does contribute a bit more heady feel than I usually pick up.  I eat along with teas in order to cut that range back, because I'm not into drinking tea as a drug-like experience, but I get it that many people tend to be.  My life's ordinary mental or physiological experience balance is fine, so I don't crave shifts in it.  If I want to relax I just relax; if I want to feel excitement or energy I do something exciting.  My kids are all about being on that latter page; I could go chase one of them around.

That reminds me of a funny micro-game my daughter has taken up playing.  She's on the agile side, a natural dancer, and has long since loved games where she just vanishes and hides.  Her latest twist is that she hides right behind me, out of my field of vision.  It sounds like it wouldn't work, and it doesn't when you know it's coming, but if I'm not thinking of it then it can, and she can mirror my movements.  I can't tap into quite that level of ongoing spirit of play, but it's literally going on around me all the time, so I can, through them.  For this moment zoning out seems nice, recovering from the long march home, and enjoying the ever-present monsoon rain.  I should probably be drinking a black tea.

yesterday's game was rolling them up in blankets like a burrito

Sixth infusion:  the best it has been, per my preference; I think it will level off for a few infusions like that.  The bitterness has eased up substantially, and that cut-wood tone is giving way to more mild but light floral range.  The balance works better.  I'm still done with taking notes, tired of writing.  You can imagine how I'd enjoy these next few rounds even more, and then stretch it out for a few more after that.  

It's good tea.  It's not a perfect match for my preference, and doesn't strike me as really high quality tea, the kind of version that really stands out, but it might be gushu, and it definitely has good intensity, clean character, and balance.  

Pairing that much bitterness with no traces of negative flavor or other range isn't a given; just a touch of off mineral or fungus would ruin this effect, or the wrong kind of smoke input would.  A little more sweetness would also improve it by the same amount; it is what it is.  To be clear I think my personal preference for type limits this more than the general quality level.

Conclusions:

Trying a different Myanmar sheng helped place this, a version from Chawang Shop that I reviewed awhile back.  Glancing through that review I think I like it a lot more now; it might've needed more time to settle after shipping in April, or maybe it just developed a bit for ramping up to this humidity level.  The short story is that it wasn't overly bitter; it balanced sweetness and floral tone, and overall flavor complexity and moderately full feel with a bit of bitterness.  At the same time the range it covered was also a bit limited, and all of those positives were only relative; it was good but not great. 

I'm not sure which tea was better in terms of some objective quality level.  Thickness of feel and aftertaste can serve as markers for identifying that kind of thing, or overall intensity, and sometimes a strong base mineral tone is present in gushu versions.  

That one bitterness note being so dominant in Alex's version made it hard to really appreciate the rest as much.  In those later rounds, even past the ones I made notes for, some creamy feel and a touch of lemon flavor stood out a little more.  Positive later-round infusions are a good sign, and it's more to enjoy.  It does kind of work to keep track of how many rounds a sheng brews, that are positive in character, and use that as a quality marker, but me not paying much attention or making notes for late rounds throws that off.

It doesn't seem like this ends with tidy conclusions; the teas were what they were.  Myanmar sheng is usually pretty good, relatively speaking, and these count as that.  This Kokang version also works as an example, which I didn't get around to mentioning here.  There is really positive other range, or greater depth and refinement, that the best Yunnan versions can exhibit, but that doesn't detract from how pleasant these two teas were.

Alex will move to the Chiang Rai area soon; stories about tea harvests and such should turn up as a result.  If you have leads for what to check out there pass those on and I'll let him know.  This blog doesn't have a "contact" section but the related Facebook page would work for that.

visiting with Alex at swim class; that avoids cutting a tasting short to go there

he met Kalani there; that doesn't come up too often

Kokang 2018 Myanmar sheng "pu'er," compared with YS Impression

Yunnan Sourcing 2018 Impression left, Kokang Myanmar dragonball right (2018, I think)

I found a set of sheng pu'er dragonballs I'd misplaced, passed on by the Kokang Myanmar vendor about a year ago (many thanks again for that).  Tying back to the theme of combined tasting, I just saw a post about the 2018 Yunnan Sourcing Impression cake selling out, and thought to try this Myanmar version along with it.

Why that makes sense:  both are from 2018 (I think), but both should be quite different teas, one from Yunnan, designed to be an inexpensive but well-balanced blend, the other made from narrowly sourced local tea (presumably).  So the contrast is the theme, to see if I can tell how much local character differs, along with spotting aspect differences related to a blend and narrowly sourced material.

Shape will throw things off; dragonballs aren't well-loved in tea circles because it takes some messing around getting them to open up.  You can only brew that one quantity, and even then the first few rounds don't match how fast other loose tea from a cake or tuocha saturates and opens up.  A lot of the early rounds tasting is going to relate to looking past infusion strength differences and these being at different places in an infusion cycle.  On to that though, with the usual amount of chatting about tangents.


It's odd that I just took a month off reviewing teas.  It sort of related to the pandemic, and also to running low on tea samples yet to try.  I could write another half dozen posts if I went back through everything, or an endless series with re-tasting as a theme.  I've been trying spare teas on hand that aren't interesting enough to write about, random sheng samples friends passed on, medium quality oolongs, or green teas from here or there.

I've been doing a lot of retasting too; I typically drink a sheng version that I've had around for a year or longer with breakfast, something different every day, with other teas mixed in.  Yesterday I re-tried a Vietnamese sheng version I really liked with breakfast (this one), and went off-script and had a wild plant version Thai sheng with lunch, produced by Kittichai of the Jip Eu shop.  That last tea has evolved to be much more positive since I reviewed it last year, dropping out an odd sourness, and touch of storage mustiness, and picking up floral tone that has somehow shifted over to fallen leaf character over the last two months.  I'll get back to that, passing on those sorts of updates in a review.

I can add a little about this Kokang tea from their website (not this specific version, but in general):

KoKang is one of the six self-administered zone in Myanmar located in northern part of Shan state... 

KoKang area being situated at elevation of 1800 to 2000 meters above sea leave, tea plants grow into century-old, big leaf tea trees since they were left undisturbed and no cultivation. KoKang tea plants are grow in perfect ecological system with no use of pesticides which can harden the soil and degrade the quality of tea leaves. Due to it remote location, poor transportation and special political condition and administrative situation, KoKang was left alone in undeveloped and therefore KoKang teas were left unknown to the world. 


The other teas I've tried from them really were worth checking out.  It's produced quite close to Yunnan, but I agree with the idea that comes up that it's not fair to think of this as "border tea."  It's just not from Yunnan, or China; related but different.  The tradition is older than the modern border; I think this had been part of China at one point, not that long ago.  And to me sheng being from other places gives it an edge for being novel, versus being close enough to the same thing.  Where it is from might be of interest, from their website:

Review:

a somewhat long soak for the dragonball really barely started it brewing

2018 Yunnan Sourcing Impression:  these first 2 or 3 infusions will really be about getting these to even up in a brewing cycle.  I infused this for around 10 seconds, plenty of time to get it started after a rinse, letting the ball sit for longer.  I'll probably use a flash infusion next time, for the Impression, to even out differences, since the dragonball still looks like a ball, only wetted related to outer leaves.  I last re-tasted this first Yunnan Sourcing tea in the last few days, so this will be familiar.

It's nice, a little light, slow to get started but pleasant.  Bitterness is moderate, and an interesting mineral and sort-of-towards-spice tone stands out.  Mineral is like rusted iron pipe, which is probably more pleasant than it sounds.  It would be natural to interpret the other flavor range as closest to cured hardwood, and that's part of it, but it leans towards spice in an interesting way.

To be clear I wouldn't expect anyone trying or reviewing this tea in the US to experience exactly the same character since this has been stored in quite hot and humid conditions here in Bangkok for the past year (related to reviewing this along with the 2017 version a year ago).  Teas transition fast here.  They tend to lose bright, fresh character quickly, which wouldn't be positive for everyone or in all cases, but if a tea (sheng) would've benefited from some transition that happens quick.  It seems to draw out warm tones, comparing changes to what I see in dryer storage versions I buy. 

Malaysian storage can easily include a musty edge, onto slate mineral, or the range of damp basement character, or even geosmin (beet / dirt) over a longer time period.  But to some extent air flow seems to be a critical factor along with storage temperature and humidity, so final effect can vary.  I think sheng stored by the local shop I keep mentioning, Jip Eu, is stored without significant air contact (relatively sealed up), so they tend to be a bit musty right away, which fades nicely over a few months.  All of this is speculation, just guessing, but it is based on experiencing a modest number of teas changing over a few years of time, and trying versions that have been set aside by others for a decade or longer.


2018 Myanmar Kokang sheng:  there's not really enough flavor extracted to say much about this yet.  It seems bright and sweet, with pleasant floral nature, but that could just relate to how a very light brew comes across.  I'll need to tear this apart and give it two more rounds to get a decent read.  To be clear I don't hate dragonballs, as some do, but to me they're not exactly the ideal form for experiencing sheng; they don't brew quite as well.  For moderately above average quality sheng examples it doesn't matter so much, but I get it why people really into optimizing experience could see that as a problem.  These are about the same amounts of tea (8 grams), but it doesn't look like that in the early pictures.

Second infusion:

2018 YS Impression:  I really brewed this for a half-dozen seconds, fast but not a flash infusion.  Bitterness has ramped up but this level works for me; it balances well.  Feel is reasonably full, with flavor complex.  Aftertaste could be more pronounced but it's enough to round out the experience, to add to it.  Flavor range isn't so different than last round:  bitterness stands out, and there is some floral range, and cured wood tone, underlying mineral (with a bit more dry mineral along with the warmer rusted iron in the first round), and a nice hint of a spice range.  I never really did clearly identify what that was in tasting it a few days ago, but then I was "off the clock" as far as even trying goes, just drinking the tea.


2018 Kokang:  a decent hit of smoke joins in this.  From the character I'd guess that will probably fade over the first few infusions.  There's one related smoke flavor aspect that tends to drop out, which I would guess is from charring the leaves in processing, an actual smoke taste, which is how this seems, and another different version of smoke that seems natural to some leaf input.  Again, just guessing.

Bitterness level isn't so different than in the Impression but the character is way different, across all the aspect range.  This is thinner, which probably relates more to it still opening up.  Floral tone is present too, as another primary range.  It seems as well to hold off on more breakdown a round or two until it gets wet.  I did manage to pull apart the outer half of the ball after the last infusion but that means that the inner core of the tea still isn't completely soaked yet, and won't be past a first infusion until the round after next.  The next round might be a good place to describe how that shifts early character differences.

Third infusion:

There is still an inner core of the dragonball, but due to pulling it apart that should get soaked over this next round (the fourth).


Impression:  to me this balances really well.  It's only as good a tea as it is (pretty good, I think, but upper medium), and it's a blend, but for being that it's quite positive, maybe better than it should be for the moderate pricing.  Scott had mentioned in one place the early idea was to create a moderate cost blend to compete with teas like the Dayi 7542 and I think it's better than that, or maybe it's just that I like the character type better.  7542 is barely drinkable to me within 2 years; it's more set up for drinking it as a young version after 3 or 4 years, with better character after 15.  Of course a lot of that has to do with the leaf not being nearly this whole; chopped leaves express more astringency, and come across as more bitter, requiring more aging time to mellow.

The base primary wood tone might not suit everyone, but there is nice floral aspect (a little), and that hint of spice as interesting and positive forward range, and a nice broad mineral base to add complexity.  Moderate and balanced bitterness, good sweetness level, rich feel (relatively), and some trailing aftertaste add to the overall effect.

Out of all that there's something novel about the feel, the way in which that is thick.  Without that cool hint towards a spice note (something along the line of nutmeg, but that probably isn't it) it wouldn't be as interesting, but it would still be positive.  It would be natural for people to interpret the flavor complexity and mild spice range as tied more to a root spice instead, I think.  The woody tones cover both cured hardwood, a richer, deeper range, and the bitterness seems to tie to a tree bud type of experience, a fresh sappy note with a bit of bite.


Kokang:  smoke is still dominant.  Even if that would tend to transition away to other range naturally in this dragonball presentation it's going to take a fourth infusion for all this tea just to start infusion (although the first round hardly counts; it had barely started), so the normal transition cycle is delayed.  Some of the leaf content has had two complete infusions already, so that transition will be inconsistent. 

The tea seems pleasant; it doesn't seem like interesting character and quality is an issue. I think it will pick up a bit of intensity on the next round once it's all brewing.  It shares some of the woody scope with the Impression, but that comes across more as green wood.  Bitterness level might be lower, although it is tricky identifying that apart from infusion strength differences, since changing infusion strength will shift the balance of which aspects you pick up the most.  Flavor comes across well beyond bitterness and astringency even in a lighter version.  Next round should work better for a fuller description, and it will also tell how that smoke effect is going to play out, if it really will drop out.

Fourth infusion:

Impression:  more of the same, really; I'll skip repeating all that.  Nice though.  I'm thinking I notice a bit of fruit, but then I did just eat a banana in between rounds, and someone is eating crackers and strawberry jam beside me, so maybe that's from thinking about fruit.


Kokang:  smoke is fading; it's a minor aspect now, maybe not even something one would pick up without "looking for it."  Mineral is really strong in this, again a much dryer version of it than stood out in the Impression at first, which shifted from warmer range to lighter in that tea too.  Sweetness is good, and a touch of floral range works.  The balance is good.  It comes across as slightly narrower in range than the Impression does, especially covering a little less flavor scope, with good feel structure but one that's less rich.  Level of bitterness isn't high but it's definitely substantial.  I get the sense this is still transitioning to where it will really be over the next two rounds.

It seems pretty good; I'd be open to buying a story about older plants and natural growth related to this.  The narrow-source versus blended tea character (in the other) didn't result in as pronounced a difference as one might expect.  I think this did naturally balance without the mixing that helped the other version, that it wasn't thin across any particular aspect range to begin with.  It was probably just a coincidence that there are as many parallels in the aspects present in both.

Fifth infusion:

Impression:  it's not transitioning fast, not changing to be something else, and the aspects present aren't weakening.  Sometimes an early-rounds bitterness and astringency will ease up over the first 3 or 4 rounds, and to some extent that probably did happen.  It probably is similar but slightly more approachable, which was never a problem anyway.   There's still a nice balance between the mineral range, warm wood tones, lighter floral range, and something hard to place, a lean towards spice.  It might be something along the line of dried tamarind, so really a darker (or warm), unusual fruit tone.


Kokang:  smoke seems slightly more notable than I remember from last round, probably shifting with infusion strength change.  Mineral is really strong, towards flint or limestone, almost leaning a little towards chalk, without that feel.  Vegetal range, only a minor supporting aspect in this, is in between green and warmer cured wood tone, with some vague floral range balancing that out.  All that balances and works better than it might sound.  It's clean, and sweetness and bitterness levels work well.  Flavor intensity is good.  That heavy mineral is characteristic of older plant input, and the moderate bitterness matches how that usually works out, more natural growth.

Later rounds can still tell a story, and a tea transitioning positively across more than a dozen rounds is a good sign for tea quality.  But I get bored making notes, even if those are limited to a half dozen words per series of rounds.  I'll probably taste these one more time and let the writing drop.

Sixth infusion:

Impression:  hanging in there; this is thinning just a little in range but it's still quite pleasant. As I remember from drinking this recently it will retain positive character for plenty of additional rounds but will keep thinning (in aspect range, and thickness of feel), and will pick up woodier tones.  Or the other range will drop back, and wood that's present will show through more, however one sees that.


Kokang:  smoke is quite faded again; strange.  I think the light mineral seems to form a linked range with that, so with minor shift in intensity it can come across different ways.  It would be possible for someone to interpret this wood tone as being more vegetal than I have, to say it leans a little towards kale or green tea.  I see it as more just wood, adjoined by floral tone, which is more dominant in many other sheng versions. 

It's interesting how the intensity of this is really standing out in comparison with the Impression.  Some of that could relate to getting a slower start, to being a couple of rounds behind, but I think it's also part of the natural character.  It covers a slightly narrower range (in flavor and thickness) but expresses a good bit more intensity across that scope.

Later rounds:

I tried a couple of rounds later and didn't take notes, but I can pass on a general impression.  The Impression version seemed closer to aromatic wood than I remembered from earlier, towards cedar or redwood.  That's not bad, just a slightly different interpretation than I'd been repeating, but still quite close.  The Kokang version included a relatively pronounced pine needle aspect; I think that was new, a late-stage flavor transition.  I probably liked that better than the series of aspect ranges that came earlier; it's nice when a tea keeps improving over late rounds.

Conclusions:

I kept considering which tea I liked better.  I do like that Impression cake, and up until the later rounds I probably did like it better.  Right at the end it was fading a bit and the other Myanmar tea was still going through positive transition, so it was better, at that stage.  I'd expect that tea to work out well stretched for a long count of infusions.  The Impression hangs in there; it was just fading a little, and beyond the flavor moving into wood range it keeps brewing.

Maybe overall I liked the Impression better at this point, but I think the Myanmar tea probably has more aging potential.  Maybe brewing both another 3 or 4 rounds would change that (which I'll get to); if the Myanmar tea is just as positive over that many rounds, in a form I like even better now, my overall take on both might be even. 

I don't know why someone would want to keep 8 dragonballs around for a long time, but if they did those would probably keep improving.  They were wrapped in a light foil wrapper under that paper cover so maybe they wouldn't transition fast at all, isolated from air contact that much.  Aging 64 grams of tea packaged to take up a lot of space would seem strange anyway.  That tea is probably better than it was when first produced but I think this is probably a decent time to drink it, at this relatively early stage of changing with age.

It seemed like the Myanmar tea was probably made from really good material.  At a guess the processing worked out to make a quality tea but didn't exactly optimize that potential.  The tea was smoky originally, probably from being charred a bit during the frying step, and just slightly cloudy early on, which could relate to it not drying optimally at the end of processing.  Of course I'm guessing; I don't make tea.  I liked it, and it was interesting, clearly a good version of sheng, so I don't mean all that as criticism of how well it comes across in general.

having pizza for dinner outside during lockdown, with a good group to be isolated with

Wild Tea Qi Wuyi Yancha and Kokang Myanmar oolong

This runs long.  I tried the Wild Tea Qi Wuyi Yancha oolong, and made review notes, but there just didn't seem to be enough story there.  It's ok, maybe quite good but not great, or that final judgement on my part could relate most to preference for style.  I really liked their Yunnan black tea version (Dian Hong), and a Moonlight White, and to me it wasn't as interesting, positive, and distinctive as those.  I went back and forth on whether to even publish that, since I typically won't mention a tea I don't like, but in some cases versions being closer to ordinary isn't much to talk about either.

Then I also had a Myanmar Kokang oolong I've been meaning to try, so I did a second tasting adding that, and adding a Wuyi Origin Rou Gui for comparison, making that a three-way tasting session.  It's not fair tasting together with that particular Rou Gui version, any oolong of similar type, because it's my overall favorite Wuyi Yancha example.  It still does work as a baseline, just more as a potential end-point than standard type metric.  Altogether it's not a story about a single, exceptional, distinctive tea version, but it covers a lot of what different related oolongs are all about, even spanning versions from two countries.

This starts with the first tasting, only the Wild Tea Qi version, cut down a bit so it doesn't run too long.  The page for that tea version is here:  

Handpicked at over 4,500 feet high in the rich volcanic soils of the Wuyi Mountains, this tea is COFCC Certified Organic. It's a pure wild tea with tender and thick long-shaped smooth brown and green tea leaves, with dark red edges. This is a rare, special Da Hong Pao (Big Red Robe), with a unique rock aroma unlike any other. You feel it mellow, smooth, round and somewhat complicated with various tastes blended. You'll be further overwhelmed by its fragrance! Rich, lingering fully around your nose and mouth, a special "rock aroma"!

Wuyi Mountain Farmers Collective This is an incredible farmer’s collective deep in the mountains of Wuyi Shan(Wuyi Mountain). The farmer’s livelihood comes from Wuyi Oolong and Wuyi Black teas. This is a rare village wherein the profits are divided equally amongst the group, which is truly “fair trade.”

their website says more about those traditional Chinese themes (qi, fire / earth / air types)

It gets a little strange explaining to what extent that really is versus isn't Da Hong Pao, but I'll go there (with a whole post on that theme here).  The two modern cultivars closest to those original plants are Bei Dou and Rou Gui.  If a tea version really is one of those it typically gets described as such, versus being called Da Hong Pao, which is now more frequently used as a name for blends.  Marketing content tends to never say that though; funny how that works out.  Wuyi Origin's site is an exception; here they list a "blended Da Hong Pao" version which is exactly that, a mix of types.  

I'll say more about strengths and weaknesses related to both themes in the review comments, but it's what you'd expect; you give up distinctiveness in moving away from a narrow source type, and can achieve a much better character balance even from less balanced tea inputs.  Or cover up significant quality flaws in source inputs, which is where the theme shifts a bit, since mixing can offset gaps, but can only go so far in covering over negative aspects.

These groups of plant types can vary in genetic background, so it's possible that a farmer may not have a clear category name to assign to one, and they really could understand a tea plant type to be quite similar to earlier Da Hong Pao (perhaps when no one really knows what it is).  As I tend to often comment about sheng pu'er source-plant age claims at some point it's as well to evaluate a tea based on how it is, and take the stories and background with a grain of salt. 

Review (Wild Tea Qi version):

It's what one would expect for an above average version of Da Hong Pao.  Maybe not specifically a Bei Dou or Qi Dan, but I can't really claim to have those cultivar types completely down, since I've only tried a few examples of each.  If I'm remembering right--and if extrapolating from a limited sample set makes sense, which it really doesn't--both are relatively aromatic, lighter and inclined towards a light floral or liqueur like aspect, with plenty of mineral base.  But take all that with a grain of salt too; after someone tries a lot of versions only then they can accurately discuss generalities.  I'll just stick to describing this version anyway.

This has a lot of that dark caramel flavor medium roasted versions have.  It might even be from last year, since per my understanding that allows a producer to use a higher roast level to get a lot of complexity then settle the char effect back out.  It probably is, not based on judging the character, but just related to the roasting process taking time after an initial Spring harvest, and related to getting these samples awhile ago.  

This doesn't taste like char, a slight carbon flavor that comes along with upper-medium or heavy roast level.  Sweetness is good, and it's relatively complex and clean.  There's just a hint of the cardboard box flavor range that marks more average versions, but this is really better than that level.  It's probably better to let it develop a few rounds before making an final conclusions though.

There isn't really any one narrow set of markers or quality indicators for this type.  Flavor matters, feel should be thick, and aftertaste is less of a concern than for lighter oolongs and sheng, but vanishing after you drink it isn't a good sign.  Level of roast is an issue; that goes along with flavor.  Some better versions have a cool liqueur-like quality, almost like perfume, which can be towards floral range or else tipped a little towards brandy instead (just more about how an impression comes across, not matching the taste).  It's not a bad thing if versions include some fruit flavor, and floral variation is normal.  For Rui Gui a "dark" or slightly earthy version of cinnamon is normal, and Shui Xian covers broad range, with other types falling across a broad scale.  

The effect of the roast changes over the second infusion, as does the flavor profile.  That touch of cardboard transitioned towards dark wood and cinnamon; it's better.  Char still isn't noticeable, although there's just a trace of it, but this flavor profile is heavy enough that it's not remotely close to a light roast.  That balance is good, to draw this much heavier flavor out of it without drifting into a char effect.  The cinnamon is similar to the version in Rou Gui; this could be Rou Gui.  Sometimes that can completely dominate the flavor of a Rou Gui version, or it can integrate, or in some cases those are fruity.  The balance of this is nice, the way the aspects all fall together.  It could be a little thicker but Wuyi Yancha aren't usually as viscous as some other oolong types.

I'm going with around 5 second infusion times, related to using a relatively high proportion of tea.  This would be fine using 3 or 4 second infusion times; the proportion is that high, and the tea is intense.  To me this is close enough to an optimum.  I'll probably add more time after another 2 infusions or so, depending on how those work out.

(Third infusion):  It's not so far off where it was the last round, shifted just a little in proportion.  It still has a mild earthiness standing out, with a dark cinnamon like flavor and dark wood.  Related to the "rock" part in rock oolong warm mineral tones are filling in as a base for this.  It could stand out more since the hint of char and other flavor complexity is more dominant.  

This is definitely an above average quality version of this general type of oolong, but it could be more distinctive in flavor scope.  Blending balances out character in teas at the cost of giving up specific aspect range, a distinctiveness related to expressing less scope, and this does cover a bit of range.  A single type of tea can still cover a lot of range, be complex, and balance on their own but individual aspects still stand out more.  [To be clear these notes were made prior to checking what it is, with the original source description not making mention of any blending].

(Fourth infusion):  Roast effect bumps up along with that; using longer times may draw more of that out.  In this case that pairs really well with the dark cinnamon effect, so to me it works.  At some level heavy roast is used to cover flaws in Wuyi Yancha versions, and to get mixed types to balance together better, but this is made a bit more carefully than that, more along the lines of optimized, but still at an upper medium roast level.  

The limitation isn't in the aspects, it's in what isn't expressed, if someone would have a preference for a different style instead.  Per my preference the roast level could be lower (or higher, per someone else's, but to me any higher I'd see as a limitation, or even flaw).

(Fifth infusion):  this is holding up well, a good sign.  If anything the balance may be improving; it may be gaining more subtlety and range, with earthiness dropping off, warmer mineral tones picking up, and a pleasant thick feel also increasing.  Brewing a lot of positive infusions or transitioning positively aren't necessarily clear quality markers, in the sense that these would really closely tie to how good a tea of this type is, but they are positive enough to support that.  Since it's not all that different I'll try one more round and leave off taking notes, now up to letting this brew around 15 seconds.

(Sixth infusion):  this has turned a corner for fading, with char picking back up for the longer time drawing it out.  Since cinnamon diminished a bit prior that leaves only less subtle flavors balancing against it, or not really balancing as well.  Char will define the taste experience from here on out.  

Second tasting, comparing Wild Tea Qi oolong, Wuyi Origin, and Myanmar Kokang oolong

Wuyi Origin lower left, Wild Tea Qi top, Kokang Myanmar oolong right

The color difference alone is interesting in these; the Wuyi Origin Rou Gui is much lighter, certainly not as roasted, with the Wild Tea Qi a good bit darker than the other two.

Wuyi Origin left, Wild Tea Qi middle, Kokang right (in all pictures)

Wuyi Origin (fruit style Rou Gui):  as I said it really isn't fair comparing any other Wuyi Yancha version to this one.  It's my personal favorite, and a very highly regarded tea version (local Wuyishan competition award winning, or at least a similar version was).  It's refined, complex, and incredibly well balanced, with positive aspects that just keep going on.  It tastes like peach; somehow some versions taste a lot like the characteristic earthy cinnamon and some don't.  

That pronounced fruit balances really nicely with a medium level toffee sweetness, on a base of mild but complex mineral tones.  Roast is what I'd consider to be lower medium level.  I'd consider the Wild Tea Qi version to be upper-medium roast level, but that's only because so many oolongs in that category are just plain burnt, setting up tea leaf cinders as their own roast level.  

Wuyi Origin makes both, cinnamon heavy Rou Gui and this fruitier version.  I think the difference is in plant types, with growing conditions also factoring in, and of course processing, but I've not had those sorts of discussions with Cindy for awhile.  There's that part to consider too; I'm not impartial when it comes to their teas.  When we talk online it's not mostly about tea, more about how our kids are doing, and life in general.  This tea version is from 2018, one Cindy sent just to share some.  Even though I'm not claiming to be impartial you go to any tea group and search "Wuyi Origin" and other takes will echo mine though.

one of my favorite tea pictures; Cindy out among some bushes

I suppose I should mention that I helped Shana Zhang, an owner of Wild Qi Tea, start the International Tea Talk Facebook group years ago, still one of places I'm most active online related to tea.  I really like her; she's kind of trippy and idealistic in interesting and positive ways, all about ancient Chinese traditions and being one with nature.  

credit Shana's FB page (which mentions another book coming out soon)

Wild Tea Qi:  this wasn't nearly as pleasant during the first infusion trying it the first time and that comes up again; it tastes a bit like cardboard, with woody range beyond that.  It's as well to say more on the next infusion, once the first round rinses that flavor into a more promising range, if the last brewing pattern holds, and it really should.

Kokang Myanmar Oolong:  it's not fair trying this oolong along with one of the best versions of a comparable style I've ever tried and one that's good but just not on that level.  It's woody; wood spans a range of aspect character in this, cured hardwood, with a touch of greener wood, and a heavier note of fermented tree bark.  At least it's complex.  It will probably show better character on the next round too, or there won't be much point in comparison tasting it.  Brewing this quite lightly (these brewed for approaching 10 seconds, adding a few seconds to wet them initially) it might do better.  The sweetness level isn't bad, and it's not as muddled / earthy / "off" as it might sound in that description, it's just not expressing as much positive range either.

Oolongs from non-oolong producing areas often tend to miss the general range for style.  Sometimes they can strike a really positive balance even for doing that, if a producer can adjust inputs to get to non-standard but interesting and positive results.  Again I'll withhold judgment and see if a fast-brewed round works better for this.

Second infusion:

Wuyi Origin:  as tends to happen flavor intensity has dropped off a little (aroma, if you like to use that concept as a description), with "taste" or depth of the experience picking up since this was made (a year and a half ago).  If the roast level was higher giving it that rest time would be ideal; roasted this lightly it probably would have been slightly better one year ago.  Or maybe that would be a matter of preference, and the tea would have just changed character slightly instead of getting better or worse.  Either way it's still great.

Wild Tea Qi:  this is much improved.  Brewing it faster and letting the initial rough edges transition changed a lot.  It still tastes woody, but cardboard has almost entirely faded, and cinnamon spice is picking up.  This needs to be brewed lightly; that level of roast and overall intensity requires it.  There's an inky quality to the flavor, as actual pen ink smells, a tie-in to a form of mineral.  In the Wuyi Origin version mineral was present as a smooth, light base but in this case it's a main taste instead.  There's char too; not a lot of it, but enough that someone opposed to that taste would hate it (or on the other side moderate enough that someone with preference for a lot of that could be disappointed).  

The balance is fine; it works.  It still seems likely to be a blended tea, that it probably used mixing of types to get to this balance, or variation in more wild-grown plant material would accomplish essentially the same thing in a different way.  It's much more straightforward than the Wuyi Origin version, not "sophisticated" and subtle, but for being in a different style that's fine.

Kokang Myanmar oolong:  it's working better.  It's also still mainly woody; not the most promising range or aspects balance outcome.  Fermented tree bark has pulled back; this is a cleaner mix of aged wood, normal cured wood, and some green wood input.  Beyond the flavor the character isn't bad; it can be hard to appreciate that.  The astringency / feel is in the right range, as the level of sweetness is, and the thickness of feel and aftertaste is positive.  

This just may not be suitable leaf type to make oolong; it might be that continuing on with oxidation and making it into black tea could lead into sweeter, different flavor range.  I'm not the right person to even guess about that, just throwing it out there.  If someone had never drank above average Wuyi Yancha, if the cardboard and woody aspects still seemed normal to them, this might seem fine, a decent example.

Third infusion:

Wuyi Origin:  the flavor range might be deepening a bit, trading out some fruit for more toffee and light, balanced mineral range.  There is a liqueur like quality to this feel and aroma character, a thickness that seems to pair with an unusual type of complexity in the flavor range.  Overall effect is clean; there isn't a single trace of aspect out of place, no hint of muddled earthiness or char.  The aftertaste is wonderful, the way those flavors taper off as layers.  Again it's just not fair comparing other oolongs to this.

Wild Tea Qi:  this version compares better than it has in any other round.  If someone strongly preferred this flavor range (a bit inky, as mineral go, with some cinnamon, and dark-wood range) I suppose they could like it even better than the first version.  They're just quite different things.  It covers a lot more aspect range, and heavier roasting shifts the final effect.  Char isn't problematic in this round; it's softened, and you can pick it up, but cinnamon is just as heavy.  It's probably an above average Wuyi Yancha version, related to trying random types, or definitely better than you'd find in a local shop that doesn't have sourcing down to the same level.  To me it's not quite on the same level as the Wuyi Origin tea, but to some extent they're just different things.

Kokang Oolong:  this is the best it has been too; nice to see.  Wood is giving way a little to other complexity.  It's still so woody that it's hard to say what, necessarily, but that range has cleaned up and narrowed down to be much more positive.  I guess it's drawing closer to spice, or at a minimum shifting over to include forest floor (right, not a dramatic shift).  

If this were a bit more muddled in effect it would be really bad, adding just a touch of sourness or mushroom, for example.  As mentioned in the last round it being clean and balanced across all the range beyond flavor saves it.  It's not a tea that I'd want to drink regularly but it's not bad tea.  It's probably as close to black tea character as to oolong, to be honest.  It doesn't have the astringency edge but the earthiness and other flavor range is closer to black teas than to almost any oolongs.

Wuyi Origin left, Wild Tea Qi top, Kokang Myanmar oolong right

There's at least a chance this wasn't roasted at all.  The other two versions are much darker in color, even though the Wuyi Origin Rou Gui is relatively light in terms of roast effect (probably lower-medium as they see that scale though; Wuyi Yancha oolongs can be quite light in style).  If this is well above average for standard oolong oxidation level and not roasted at all then of course the results would be atypical, related to Fujian Wuyishan oolongs.  I can't imagine that any heating step is going to remove the woody flavor range, and swap that out for something else, but then me saying anything at all about processing is already going a bit far.

Conclusions:

It's hard to be clear on how well I'm factoring back out personal preference for style.  I can appreciate blended Wuyi Yancha versions (not that this Wild Qi Tea version is one, the style just overlaps with that normal outcome), but they're not a personal favorite.  It might well be an acquired bias.  It's normal enough to see ever-narrower input and type selection as better in modern tea circles.  Blending has a place too though, and there are strengths to that approach, and output character.  Not just covering up flaws in inputs, I mean.  You can get a broader range of aspects that way, and arrive at a more carefully controlled balance of them.

I like lighter roasts too; that would factor in.  The general ideal is that whatever level of roast suits that initial attribute set is best, not that lower or medium is objectively better, but preferences for type and character are what they are.  It might seem like I just spent two review sessions worth of comments explaining how I saw this Wild Tea Qi oolong as good but not great, then walked back my reason for concluding that.  The point here is that "not as good as it could be" related in part to preference for style.  

I'm not sure that it makes any sense to remove preference entirely and try to place a tea on some sort of an objective scale.  For narrowing down a type to a specific form that could work better (eg. as a light-medium roasted, fruity versus cinnamon style Rou Gui).  I kind of kept concluding that "it's a blend," but I hope that framing for that take was clear enough too.  It covered more aspect range than very narrow Wuyi Yancha source-input types tend to; how or why that occurred I don't really know.  Normally that happens because input plant types were mixed.  Using plants growing under slightly different conditions (eg. on a hillside, or a flat section near it), or of different ages, or from slightly different genetic material (naturally inter-bred) could seemingly lead to a similar outcome. 

The Myanmar oolong it's hard to be as positive about.  If they keep adjusting production process variables maybe they'll get there, or else maybe this should just be made into black tea instead.  Their sheng pu'er is definitely from further along that type of learning curve; it's pretty good by Yunnan standards (of course with "pretty good" too vague to be meaningful).  I still have a black tea from them to get to but since I've tried it in that expo tasting session I know what it's like; good but not great.  It might make for a rare case of trying something unusual and somewhat positive that still doesn't lead to a story worth telling.