Mandal Goan Darjeeling and Mawlyngot Indian oolong

first flush Darjeeling left, Mawlyngot Meghalaya oolong right

A friend passed on an Indian tea I've forgotten the background on (that turned out to be an oolong), which I'll try along with a sample of Darjeeling I've been meaning to get to for months, from Tea Leaf Theory.  It's a first flush Darjeeling that looks relatively completely oxidized compared to those sometimes being in between green and black; interesting.  The other tea is made from slightly more whole leaf material, and it's relatively oxidized too.

That background should be clear to most, about how many Darjeeling first flush teas fall in between categories, not fully oxidized as conventional black teas, and definitely not intended as oolong.  Some go by the designation of white tea instead; that would relate to passing on a bruising step, along with limiting oxidation.  This isn't a processing background theme post, more about these teas.

That friend, Suzana Syiem, is the founder of a Facebook Tea group that I'm also an admin for, although I'm not the most active admin there.  A lot of monitoring Facebook groups is about making judgement calls about posts or comments in relation to group rules, and it's easier to do that in the International Tea Talk group where I'm the primary admin, so the judgement call is however I happen to see it.  Even something as seemingly clear-cut as member approval may not be; it's possible to flag which profiles are less "real," typically created for commercial purposes, or maybe for trolling (not so much an issue in tea groups), or some are commercial versus personal accounts.

I met Suzana a couple years back; she's really nice

About the teas, Tea Leaf Theory only lists producer background:

A lush green tea village on the mountain slopes of the Himalaya in Darjeeling at 5500 ft above sea level, known as Mandal Gaon. Like any other small tea grower in Darjeeling Mr Moktan also used to sell green leaves to the nearby tea factory but he hardly had any control over the price. With the liberalisation of the tea plantation laws in Darjeeling, Moktan also took to tea plantation organically.


The other tea is definitely more of an anomaly, produced in a small village in India, Mawlyngot, located in the Meghalaya state.

I reviewed this having no idea what it was.  Indian oolongs tend to never really seem like oolongs to me anyway, more like a black tea with backed-off oxidation level, similar to how first flush Darjeeling comes across.  This "Tale of Two Backpackers" blog post fills in some background (just not about the tea, so much):


The story of Mawlyngot is like that of a phoenix. At about 45 km from Shillong lies this somnolent village in the East Khasi hills of Meghalaya. The locals believe that the people from the Indo-Bangladesh border had migrated down the River Umsong and settled down here. The early villagers cultivated corn, millet, potato, chilli and banana in low yields that were not sufficient for their daily sustenance. And to aggravate the situation, the men were fond of the local country liquor ‘pyrsi’ made from rice and millet. The villagers had very little education and fought with penury. The place was infamous for alcoholism and drunken brawls...

...From a failed village, Mawlyngot is now producing one of the best teas in the North-eastern region of India...  The Urlong Tea Integrated Village Cooperative Society now produces purely organic and high-quality tea and supplying their produce to different parts of India as well as in Australia...


Sounds good; let's check on their results.

Review:

Darjeeling left, oolong right

Mandal Goan first flush (Batch No. TTLT 19, Ramro Cha):  a little smoky; that's different.  Since that's not a natural flavor associated with Darjeeling (as it is with sheng pu'er, for example) I'd assume this has came into contact with smoke.  In the right type and proportion that can be positive, but it is unusual.

Beyond that the tea is very interesting.  Feel has some structure to it, and richness, but it's not astringent, edgy, or dry.  Flavor complexity is good, and the range is interesting.  Dark earthy tones stand out, along the line of dark wood or rust.  To clarify, rust is at the edge of a mineral tone, or is that instead, and dark wood in this isn't mahogany range, more oak tree bark.  A bit of fruit tone fills in behind that, light citrus, or something such.  This may be a much different tea once some of the early round related flavor aspects shift next round.


Mawlyngot oolong:  the color is a lot lighter; this isn't as oxidized a tea version.  Interesting that came up in comparison with a Darjeeling first flush [then again with the missing back-story filled in that makes perfect sense].  I've drank a lot of types and styles of tea and this just isn't familiar; it's cool how that can keep happening.  It doesn't taste like black tea, necessarily, not oxidized to that level, without the astringency edge or structure, with flavors in a different range.  That's not good or bad, just different, but it does make for a double take when you first try it.

The primary flavor range is closest to something like pandan leaf, subtle, complex, rich in flavor, but light enough it's hard to place right away.  I love pandan leaf tisane (herb tea); that's going to help in this case.  Oddly there really is no black tea edge to this at all, no astringency, none of the associated malt and earthy flavor.  Being well off the norm is one thing, not overlapping at all something else.  The feel is rich and smooth, a bit full, as can happen with some herb teas, but typically doesn't.

Flavor intensity is low; that doesn't come up all that often across all tea types.  For white teas it does, and an aged Yiwu had a similar effect not so long ago, diminished in terms of flavor intensity but not body / feel.  Oolongs tend to be milder in character than black teas, with some exceptions where the form is just different, but even most of those contribute more flavor intensity.  Someone not open to a broad range of tea experience wouldn't care for this; it's not within normal range.  Judging it without that as a factor shifts related context to personal preferences.  It works for me; I like it.  I don't love it; it's not pulling off being completely novel in a way that's well above average for match to likes, but then it probably has some character transition yet to go through.

Editing notes:  I really might have guessed that this was intended to be an oolong.  It hardly matters, if it's an oolong or a much less oxidized than usual black tea, since the two are the same thing in the case of Indian oolongs.

Second infusion:

Mandal Goan:  color has evened up; this is slightly lighter, the other slightly redder.  Smoke lightened up in this too, and it never was a dominant flavor aspect, just noteworthy, odd for being present at all.  There's still a faint hint of smoke but it's essentially gone.  It's interesting the way that mild astringency and warm mineral flavor range seem to couple, and carry over to an aftertaste experience.  It's cleaner than that probably sounds; not murky in any way, with a good level of sweetness for balance.  Earthy tone is still slightly cured hardwood tree bark, maybe more along the lines of one year old hickory tree bark than oak.  I worked with a lot of wood as a child; it's interesting how this brings memories of that back.  We grew up a bit like Abraham Lincoln.

"Behind" that there's what I'm interpreting as a light fruit aspect.  It seems to really be a complex range that's hard to distinguish for not being in the forefront, a bit of citrus, along with something like not completely ripe nectarine.  It all works well enough; it makes for an interesting mix.


Mawlyngot oolong:  this really sticks with the tisane character theme but shifts.  Pandan leaf range is still present, but it adds more along the lines of warm root spice, or maybe even mild tree bark.  Now I'm curious what this even is, or how it manages to fall so far from the entire range of Camellia Sinensis scope.  I think it really is "tea," from that plant, but it's odd that versions never get this far out of the normal character scope.  It has the depth and body that very few tisanes ever have, one of the main differences between real tea and every other kind of dried leaf that I've tried.  I want to say it expresses more flavor complexity too, but that's only true in a limited sense.  It hits on more levels but forward facing flavor aspect range is limited.  A tisane blend could match this.  One couldn't match both the flavor complexity and full feel; it tends to not work that way.


Editing notes:  it is close enough to oolong scope, just not like Tie Guan Yin, or Jin Xuan, Wuyi Yancha, Dan Cong, Taiwanese versions, and so on.  Low flavor intensity was different for those first two rounds but that shifts on the next infusion.

Third infusion:

Darjeeing:  quite a bit of shift in how this comes across, probably in part related to pushing the tea a bit, letting it brew for around 15 seconds instead of 10.  Feel is interesting; that one astringency related element definitely ramps up.  The warm mineral starts to take on a salty character a bit stronger.  Optimum for this probably was back in the 10 second range.  Sweetness and other flavor (wood, light fruit) still work, just not as well in this balance.


Indian oolong:  this is at optimum brewed stronger.  One part even starts to resemble black tea more, a warm mineral and woody edge.  It had tasted a little like hardwood before, or hardwood bark, but that's stronger in this round, more of a central aspect, with other complex tisane flavor range now filling in as secondary flavors.  Feel is just right at this level; thick, rich, and full, but still soft.

Again the interesting part of this tea is the novelty; it almost seems like someone's take on novelty would define their reaction to it. 

Fourth infusion:

I think this will tell enough of the story; I'll let the notes go after this.

Darjeeling:  the balance is nice again after returning to a shorter infusion time (around 10 seconds versus 15; it's not that different).  Woodiness and underlying mineral stand out, along with supporting sweetness and other complexity.  Full feel, cleanness, and aftertaste fill in the experience, they support it.  The fruit seems closer to grape now; that probably is transitioning.  Did I just review a Darjeeling version without citing "muscatel?"  Sure, like that.

I like this tea but don't absolutely love this character range.  I'm more a fan of the cocoa / sweeter roasted yam and sweet potato Chinese black tea range.  It's not the astringency edge causing that, just general character overall.  For Darjeeling my favorite experience has probably been Gopaldhara's autumn flush versions, which are a bit mild in terms of feel, with lots of positive flavor aspects, and some degree of overall subtlety.  This particular tea version I'm reviewing would work even better with the wood dialed back a little and the fruit cranked up, but it would still be in the same general range.  It's quite good tea, very positive, balanced, and refined; it just comes down to style preferences.

Indian oolong:  more of the same for this version; it hasn't transitioned.  The flavor and feel structure is a lot closer to a standard tea version than it was for the first two rounds; probably someone brewing this Western style would wonder what I've been going on about, or think I just had it all wrong.  Back to the idea of preference for styles, this works better for me than the other version.  I would imagine that's not a relatively uniform response, that people would vary on that point.

If this had any flaws the entire experience would be quite different.  By that I mean that I'm not interpreting the unusual character as a flaw, which I would assign to an off flavor, sourness or mustiness, texture aspect that doesn't work for some reason, sweetness missing, unbalanced effect from varying oxidation levels, etc.  Including smoke could be seen as a flaw; that would just depend.  Per my interpretation this is just an unconventional tea, not a flawed version, and it's instead very well made, and based on what seems to be good plant material.

both on the green side; that Mawlyngot version is relatively whole-leaf as Indian teas go

Many thanks to both the Tea Leaf Theory vendor and Suzana for passing these on; I might've added that earlier.  It will be interesting messing around with this second version to see how it reacts to parameter changes.  I don't get the sense it's even possible to screw it up, and careful brewing wouldn't seem to be required to work around any limitation (eg. pronounced astringency), but it might change outcome a little.

Oddly not much changes in interpretation or brewing process related expectations for not "getting" the tea category initially.  Some people think oolongs should be brewed using relatively cooler water (kind of a long story), but I'd use essentially the same approach for a black tea or oolong, water not far off boiling point, related to using a heating and dispenser system that doesn't maintain full boiling point temperature.  I always tend to go with a high proportion and base infusion timing off results the last round, across types.

my wife never makes it into photos here, and Keo never smiles for one.

Shillong, Meghalaya Indian black tea from Suzana Syiem

I met an online friend from India not so long ago, Suzana Syiem, someone I'd been talking to for awhile.  It's nice when you meet someone you only knew online and it feels really natural, as if you'd been friends for a long time, with no strange alignment of perspectives to work past.  It's not necessarily a deal breaker when it goes the other way, since different people can approach things in relatively different ways and still find common ground.

should be cool to experiment with

I passed on some tea samples and she gave me a few different things, an Indian snack and food item, and a commercial masala spice blend (I'll be talking about that later), and this really interesting looking tea.  I'll get back to saying more about that origin, from the Meghalaya region outside of Shillong.

Review

I don't usually start reviews with the dry leaf scent but why not.  It's interesting, sweet and complex, with a bit of earthiness but more along the lines of a dried fruit, like raisin or grape.  It doesn't smell that much different than I'd expect a second flush darjeeling to. 


There is a trace of mustiness to the scent; it'll be interesting to see how that plays out.  I could swear Suzana recommended brewing the tea Gongfu style so I will.  There's enough to check later how Western brewing works out, and for black teas it tends to usually not make much difference.  For a few types a Gongfu approach really is different but for more the results are about the same.

About water temperature, some people would use full boiling point for this, but I'd think dropping down to 90 -95 C instead would be a more common approach, and would work better.  I'm using a water filter and dispenser system that never maintains full boiling point temperature so I'm erring on the side of a bit off that for all teas.


On first taste:  wow!  This tea is much different than I expected, a lot more complex.  There is sweet fruit there, and an earthy range that's common to a lot of black teas, towards malt, but a hint of smoke as well, and probably a couple other things I missed on the first sip.  It's not really exactly like any tea I've ever tried.  That part is nice; different is good.

just getting started

The complexity is really something.  It has a few main layers working.  As far as the effect being musty it seems like it might clean up a little on the next infusion but it's not really off, it just could be cleaner in effect.  That part comes across as a bit of damp wood, or like the scent of those those fungus that grow on the side of trees.  The flavor is more bright and clean than murky though; that part relates to one flavor layer, more earthy in an unusual way than musty.  It's all hard to pin down.  There's so much fruit that separating it out as distinct types is an issue; it does seem like a rich version of citrus, with a little grape, not so far off muskatel, or really that probably is a good description.  The smoke is just smoke.

Since this description seems a little chaotic I'll try again in clearer fashion the next round, brewing that fast, since intensity is only going to be an issue if I let it go too long.

I'm seeing why she would recommend to brew this Gongfu style.  It shifts a good bit; it would be a shame to let this soak for 4 minutes and not experience that (although the results would probably be nice that way too).  Earthiness picks up, the malt, and the smoke stays even, or maybe drops off a little.  The complexity related to damp wood or fungus drops back; it's that little bit cleaner, not that it was as musty as seemed possible from the dry leaf smell.  The fruit integrates into the earthy range on this round more.  I suppose it still does include some citrus and grape but that joins in more with the malt and deeper mineral base.  It picks up a bit of resinous character, like pine needle, or pine pitch really, that is common in buds-heavy better versions of Assam.

It has a lot of aftertaste compared to other black teas; it's not at all gone after you drink it.  As I keep saying in sheng reviews I'm not overly attached to that, but beyond getting to experience that one extra aspect it adds to the overall impression of complexity.  The real story of this tea is how it manages to balance with so much going on.  It totally works.  I suppose it would work just as well or maybe better if the proportions shifted in different ways, if the fruit stood out more, or if the feel was lighter, and so on.  For having this much intensity across a broad range of aspects and expressing so much that's positive without flaws turning up it's great.  And I suspect it will seem a good bit different on the third infusion, so there's that extra level, it seems to transition quite a bit.

even a bit light it's still really intense

On the next round the citrus really did kick in for some reason.  It's intense, in the range of dried orange peel.  It tastes as much like orange peel as those tea-stuffed tangerine peels I've been trying (I think those were tangerines, maybe mandarin oranges instead).  It's really strange that this tea could jump in citrus aspect level like that over one round.  Teas shift aspects and transition but not usually like that, with one part that hardly stands out emerging to that degree.  Malt picked up too, along with that pine resin, and other earthiness dropped out; the smoke and other damp wood earthiness is more or less gone.  It's almost like I'm drinking a different tea.  Suzana really hooked me up.

Astringency ramped up a little too.  I didn't change the length of infusion times--I don't think; I'm not measuring that--but I might have let it run a few more seconds.  The tea might have just fully hit stride for brewing, picked up the infusion pace on it's own.  Being a chopped leaf tea changes things, and it's not typical to use a black tea version of one for brewing Gongfu style in a packed gaiwan.  At least backing off the proportion and using 15 to 20 second times versus really short infusions would seem more conventional for this tea version.


The next infusion was just a quick in an out; the intensity is fine at this level, and it moderates astringency being lighter.  The character seems to have stopped shifting; it's as it was last round, just lighter.

I'm tempted to guess at where this stands related to other Indian teas I've tried, but it's really just overlapping in character with others from here and there.  It's not like Assam or Darjeeling, and not really "in between" the two in some way, although in very rough terms that would sort of work to make that claim.  Those are the only two areas in India that I've tried tea from, with the exception of the Lochan's teas, from the Doke plantation (which are nice, and seem to draw on experimentation with different styles).

The intensity, pronounced malt, and pine resin aspect remind me of Assam.  Citrus can occur in those, and does, but the fruit complexity is more like Darjeelings can be.  Really Darjeeling covers a lot of range; I'd be discussing this in comparison with second flush here, which is really still a broad scope.  They use different tea types to make those, and grow them under different conditions, with variation in processing making a lot of difference.  It doesn't work to say "second flush Darjeeling is like ___," although including a muscatel aspect would be really standard.  The better Darjeeling versions express a subtlety, complexity, and narrow, distinct character that this moves away from a little. 

I'm definitely not saying this reminds me of a tea-type blend versus a single-plant type, as I've mentioned in a recent Assam review.  It just covers a good bit of aspect range.  If a tea isn't made from one distinct plant type, sourced from within a narrow growing region, the mix can come across in a way that rounds off distinctive, separate aspects.  This isn't like that.  It's my impression the broad set of flavors occurs in this as a natural result of tea character, not because it's made from different plant types, or from versions grown across a broad area.

Of course a lot of that is guessing.  I'd love to hear back others' impressions about these themes but that's not how this blogging practice seems to work.

the leaves kept on expanding; different

On the next infusion I transferred the tea to a larger gaiwan; it expanded more than I expected it to, probably more tightly twisted than I thought it would be, even for being broken leaves.  The smokiness picked back up a little; interesting.  Mineral too; it's still heavy in citrus but with a different balance.  On the infusion after I let it go long due to getting a phone call; astringency picked up, and woodiness, but the character isn't changing as much as I'd expect for this many rounds out of a black tea, it's staying a lot like it had been.

Conclusions, tea area research

This tea is really interesting; I'm glad I have enough left to try it a good number of times, to mess around with approach.  I've always known that there are lots of different areas and styles of tea in India I've not made it to (beyond falap; I'll get to their version of bamboo pu'er eventually too), and it's nice to try one.

credit the India Tea Association

Interesting; lots of places there produce tea that I've not tried yet.  Upon looking closer Shillong isn't listed as one of them, on that map.

It can be difficult to compare the two map references, since the areas aren't familiar to me, but that first map lists Guwahati as an auction center within Assam that more or less marks the Southern extent of that growing area (and region), with Shillong well South of that.  Never mind.

Some of the history of the area I looked up turned up an interesting reference (from Wikipedia):


Shillong was capital for composite Assam during the British regime and later till a separate State of Meghalaya was formed. David Scott, the British civil servant of the East India Company, was the Agent of the Governor-General North East Frontier. 

During the First Anglo-Burmese War the British authorities felt the need for a road to connect Sylhet and Assam. The route was to traverse across the Khasi and Jaintia Hills. David Scott overcame the difficulties his administration faced from the opposition of the Khasi Syiems – their chiefs and people. Impressed by the favourable cool climate of Khasi Hills, they negotiated with the Syiem of Sohra in 1829 for a sanatorium for the British. Thus began the consolidation of British interests in the Khasi-Jaintia Hills.

A serious uprising by the Khasis against foreign occupation of their land followed. It began early in 1829 and continued till January 1833. Eventually the Khasi confederate chiefs were no match against the military might of the British. David Scott negotiated for the surrender of the leader of the Khasi resistance, Tirot Sing Syiem...

Shillong (credit:  Windrider24584 at English Wikipedia) 

Maybe some of Suzana's ancestors tried to cast those nasty British imperialists out, a half a century after my American ancestors did just that.

The rest is interesting, but there is no mention of tea.  Climate is covered, which sounds cool but mild enough to grow lots of different things.  Some random ideas from that article:  the Shillong area was referred to as "the Scotland of the East," in a good sense, with literacy rates well over 90%, and Christianity as the main religion.

I won't be able to find out much about typical local tea styles but it was nice reading around about different growing areas.  A familiar Indian tea vendor does mention some background of the Meghalaya growing area:


When prospectors sent by the East India Company explored the country for potential tea growing, Meghalaya too was considered an option. But the Khasi ruler of the time refused to allow migrant labor to be brought in. Tea is a labor-intensive commodity and with insufficient labor available, Meghalaya dropped off the plans. 

In the 70s, the Tea Board of India sent a delegation to explore tea growing in Meghalaya. They found it immensely favorable and tea plants from both Assam and Darjeeling were brought. Three regions were earmarked for tea – Umsning in Ri–Bhoi district, Tebronggre in West Garo Hills and Riangdo in the West Khasi Hills. Assam variants are now growing in the lower altitude places in Garo while Darjeeling style teas are growing higher – altitudes of 3000-5,500 ft can be found here. 

The government has set up its own brand, “Meg-Tea” that is available in green and black orthodox versions. Elsewhere in the state, 20 farmers from Mawlyngot village set up a cooperative to market their green, black and white teas under the name “Urlong Tea”.  On the ouskirts of Shillong, the 90s saw the beginnings of yet another estate – LaKyrsiew...


Suzana might know which of these cooperative sources this is from, or it could be something else, but that doesn't seem to change much since none are familiar to me.  Regardless of the rest of that background it was a really interesting and pleasant tea, on the unique side.