Bankit Wangi silver needle style tea

Another great Indonesian tea!  They actually call this tea silver hairy buds (with more about Bangit Wangin on Facebook, here) but it would be typical for marketing to reference silver needle,  even though some reserve this as a partially regional designation.

The dry tea is very aromatic, sweet and floral, with just a little muscatel.  This seems to be a typical profile for Indonesian silver needle style white teas (the floral part), but it's no less positive for resembling others that I've tried, and it might be that extra bit sweeter and more floral.

large, silver, "hairy" buds

The taste is sweet, floral, and full, with a notable smooth, rich feel.  The primary taste is familiar,  floral in the range of a light smooth lavender (but then, for the millionth time, I'm better with other scent-memory than flowers).  Beyond that there is some complexity of flavors going on.  The sweetness might vaguely resemble a light honey, but that doesn't seem to add much.  The difference between this and other Indonesian silver-needle style (buds only) white teas is that of intensity; this tea is really sweet and floral.


In terms of flavors it's all a bit subtle, not lending itself to writing out a list.   In fact I keep drinking it and I'm stuck on that point:  what else does this tea taste like?  I fell back on a tasting trick, thoroughly washing my palate with plain water to get a fresh taste.  Some of that mineral richness I've come to expect in Indonesian teas had been there.  Between that and the sweet floral aspects there is a rich flavor element, along the line of sunflower seeds.  I get a faint impression of spice but it's not clear enough to put a name to it.  Going beyond that I might just be daydreaming.  For as bright and sweet as the floral aspect is someone picking up fruit wouldn't seem unreasonable, maybe in the range of some type of berry, or tied to that muscatel scent element, I'm just not pinning that down.

Rodino!  a rare tea related visitor in Bangok

A friend visiting from Indonesia (Jakarta), Rodino, passed on the tea, along with a couple of others.  He just started writing a blog about tea himself, or really beverage themed in general.  I'll probably keep drifting back to the subject of Indonesian tea for having a friend on the scene there, a very good thing given how nice the teas I've tried so far have been.  It makes sense that agriculture would go well there based on how Indonesia looks (see related post on a trip there), a paradise for plant life, aside from the odd catastrophic volcano eruption, and even that must be great for the soil, once the devastation subsides from the more intense versions.


Giving this tea longer soaks over more infusions keeps bringing out lots of flavor, moving into clean wood tones, still sweet but less sweet.  The smooth fullness switches over to a more textured fullness, towards dryness but not dry, all aspects that work well together.  Some versions of white teas, silver needle-type styles in particular, can be a bit too subtle for me to enjoy as much as other types, just hinting at some mild earthy tones, but this was nothing like that.

no reference scale here but these are big buds

It might help to compare taste this with another Indonesian white tea, and I do have a bit of a couple left, even one type I never opened from that trip in December, but I didn't get to it around the time of the initial tasting.  An online friend visiting Bangkok gave me a good bit of this tea so I could, but instead I'll just compare based on tasting another later.

Comparison tasting with another Indonesian white tea, over different days

I tried the Toba Wangi silver needle style tea for comparison, just not side by side, two days later. I'll have a go at comparing based on memory.


It's less floral and sweet than I remember the Bangkit Wangi, but since a floral aspect is a main component there seems a chance they are more equivalent in this respect than I'm remembering.  The floral element is rich, sweet, and luxurious, just not as intense, and as usual hard to place by description.  I looked back to find an earlier review but apparently I'd only mentioned it in the post about a Bai Mu Dan style white from this producer, White Beauty (some good tea).


Beyond those aspects there's also a mild earthiness, which comes across a bit like chamomile, but much fuller and more complex, in part approaching the range of dried hay (in a good sense).  This played the same role as one closer to sunflower seeds in the Bangkit Wangi, just shifted a little in taste.


My general impression from this tasting is that it's in between those mild-flavored whites I was referencing, mild teas that you feel as much as taste, and the Bangkit Wangi in terms of really intense, distinctive flavors coming across, especially in that floral range.  It does have that full feel a lot of nice white teas have, in this case so pronounced it almost felt like a roundness, even though I'm not sure myself what that means.

I cold-brewed the tea, not able to put in enough infusions to finish it in a session, storing it in the refrigerator with warm but not hot water to be drank again the next day.  Somehow that really drew out a much more intense sweetness and floral effect, in the range of those sakura (cherry blossom) green tea bottled teas, but a bit better for being natural, and not based on green tea.  It made me wonder if the tea couldn't provide a range of different results based on variations within conventional brewing parameters.

Where was I going with this comparison again?  Regardless of that, these exceptional versions really have me coming around to silver needle style whites, but for Toba Wangi's teas I'd go with the White Beauty instead for novelty.  This does seem a natural place to close but since I was already discussing the Bangkit Wangi teas a little with Ronald, the plantation manager, I'll add a little more background on that tea, what might have led to it being so intense (for a white tea; they do tend to be subtle).

Input from the Bangkit Wangi owner about this tea

Ronald mentioned the Bangkit Wangi silver-needle style tea is based on Camelia sinensis var assamica and from Gamboeng clone.  It seemed really sweet and floral to me to be based on an Assamica type, but then I'm not as familiar with white teas as others related to different general type and cultivar origin inputs.  That does help explain how those buds could be so big.

He gave the following input that he felt contributed to the tea being as sweet and intense as it comes across (only edited slightly to keep this short):


1. The age of tea plant

Our tea plantation started in 1920’s by the Dutch people in which at that time colonized Indonesia, during that time the tea plantation is grown mostly in our region in West Java. During that time the root of our tea plan is already span deep underground to 5-8 meters. 


2. The water content 

Inside our plantation there lies a water source from the top of our plantation in which it drops down in veins through our plantation to then compile back to a water fall called Citamboer waterwall (Tjitamboer). 


These two seem to go together, don't they?  Strong, mature plants develop healthy supporting root systems, and these roots enable plants to take advantage of natural irrigation paths within the ground.  This distribution would surely both filter the water and add minerals to it.


3. Organic practice

Our plantation recieved an organic certification in 2007...and at this time we don’t use any pesticide whatsoever.  We found out that the plant itself is getting stronger in battling their common enemy such as pest and wild bushes and weed.  So by looking at this we can be sure that the tea itself is building their own immune in battling the common pest and also fighting for nutrients from common wild bushes to feed the young bud leaves.

This last idea is one I've heard claimed of Wuyishan area teas as well, that only the strongest plants survive the various external challenges, and that supporting the plants by providing a pest-free environment throws off the natural balance, and can impact the taste of the teas.  Who knows, really, but it's also familiar from the case of Bai Hao / Oriental Beauty teas that a seemingly negative input of insects biting plants' leaves can potentially have positive effects in the outcome of teas.

Another interesting idea we didn't discuss, that tends to come up, is that the influence of other types of plants can change flavors in tea plants growing in close proximity.  Again, who knows, but somehow all these factors together did work towards creating some exceptional characteristics.  Processing is another significant factor, with this plantation drawing on roughly 100 years of experience.  Maybe that's not so long by Chinese standards but plenty of time to sort out making some very nice tea.

Indonesian teas: an overview

Originally published as:  www.tching.com/2016/07/indonesian-teas-overview/

I vacationed in Indonesia not so long ago and more recently ran across some exceptional Indonesian teas.  I'll try to say just a little about Indonesia and describe the teas I've tried, definitely a tall order for a short article.

This interest started for me during a visit to Java and Bali last December.  I went through a similar discovery process after visiting Vietnam awhile back (we live in Bangkok, so both are sort of local travel).

a helpful girl scout

I absolutely love delving into new regions, and beyond tea Indonesia is amazing, crowded with ancient temples and active volcanoes, and ringed by beaches.  There are 45 active volcanoes on Java island alone (more on those here).  My wife considered cancelling the trip last December after hearing about earthquake activity there (see this related reference) but all that isn't as scary and dangerous as it might sound, just normal for them.


The people were among the warmest, friendliest people I've met in any country, even compared to Thais, who really do smile more than most people.

How Indonesian tea is unique, about regional variation

Wonosari tea plantation, outside Yogjakarta, Java

It's difficult to specify common traits in teas from a region like Darjeeling, although some patterns of styles and tea characteristics do stand out, but for whatever reason it works better for a country like Thailand.  Indonesia is a bit different.  Climate and volcanic soil types provide a common growing context, to some extent, but types of plants grown and styles of teas are still evolving there, especially for better specialty teas.

Articles in popular press tend to claim that few Indonesians are aware of this category of tea, of better versions of tea produced there.  The claim is that the best teas tend to be exported (the opposite of what one hears about countries like China), although to some extent that is probably starting to change.  Galung Atri, one owner and tea maker at the Toba Wangi plantation, a newer family ran tea business, says that most of his teas are still consumed within Indonesia. Some are from local Assamica plants, other from modern hybrid cultivars imported from Taiwan (in particular using the Si Ji Chun / Four Seasons plant type), with style and processing influences from China and Japan.

Galun's own input about the teas and processing is interesting (with more background in the linked profile interview):


We have two plantations as I mentioned before, both growing a single clone tea plant type, Sijicun for Sinensis, and Gambung 7 for Assamica (best for white tea).  The oldest tree just around 5.5 years old, and the youngest one just one years old...  

I have more background with the Wuyi style techniques...[and] prefer the Wuyi styles the most.  I tend to modify processing a bit for my technique.   ...producing this Chinese style tea is more like an art.  It depends on climate, weather, plucking time, condition etc., and China and Indonesia are really different in terms of growing conditions.  

My experiences with Indonesian commercial teas

Mt. Bromo, smoking a little more than normal then

They aren't bad.  A range of teas are sold in grocery stores that might not be acceptable for slightly spoiled tea enthusiasts but the teas are far better than standard versions of Western tea-bag tea, and might cost even less, quite close to free.  Jasmine black tea is a common local style, of course with green and black tea also sold.  Oolongs are not so commonly produced, but buds-only silver needle-style white teas are more widely available.


There are plantations in both the East and West of Java.  It's perhaps not exactly their main island, since Indonesia doesn't seem set up that way, but it is relatively populated island with Jakarta located there.  Different plantations would make different types of teas, and people on Java could easily enough visit those to try teas, or travel to other islands where tea is produced.  We visited Wonosari plantation near Yogyakarta last December, a former Dutch plantation.  The teas were good, and interesting, but sort of ordinary level, not mass-produced tea in the normal sense but not quite on the normal level of specialty teas.  A silver needle-style white tea was an exception, a very nice tea.

My experiences with specialty / better quality  tea

I first tried a Harendong plantation black tea over a year ago, and that helped spur an ongoing interest in better black teas, a recurring theme in my writing.  The teas I've been trying this year from Toba Wangi are equally amazing, great teas in an interesting variety.  The styles of those teas becomes difficult to describe, more about discussing inputs and tea aspects than pinning down a general type, but they were mostly influenced by Chinese tea styles.

Toba Wangi White Beauty; definitely different

One nice black tea reminds me a little of better versions of Assamica teas from Thailand, not exactly like any Indian, Chinese, or Sri Lankan teas I've tried, different than Vietnamese black teas as well, but maybe closer to those.  A Sinensis based black tea was very similar to a Chinese black tea style, malty, sweet, and soft, with a taste range including dark cherry, wood tones, and yam.


The one Toba Wangi oolong (Wu Mei) reminded me a lot of a Dan Cong (which I compared directly in this review post).  Unlike the other Dan Cong examples I've tried there was no characteristic astringency, so I mean it was similar in the sense of the sweet and intense floral flavor profile and general effect.  Astringency is not always a bad thing, of course, in the right amount and presented the right way, and a mild version is a nice compliment to the fruitiness of some Dan Cong teas.  The Wu Mei also works well for being a smooth, mild tea, and if someone's preference is to brew their tea a little stronger it still works really well across different brewed strengths.  Their White Beauty white tea is even more unique, not like anything I've tried, sweet and subtle with a nice fruit element.  I think I would have been even more impressed by it if the Wu Mei oolong hadn't set the bar so high, and didn't match my own personal type preferences so well.

It's my understanding that processing has as much influence as the other factors in the final result, so it's not surprising that more style consistency doesn't emerge, that the teas can come across as novel interpretations of Chinese teas.  To clarify that, I mean that Thai lighter oolongs made from Jin Xuan or Ruan Zhi or Si Ji Chun are consistent in style as much because of drawing on consistent processing methods inherited from Taiwan as from growing in similar conditions.

Indonesian producers are still exploring stylistic inputs, as Galung of Toba Wangi said still integrating practices and knowledge from other places, in addition to growing new types of tea plants.  For example, one of the owners of the Harendong plantation mentioned developing a tea roasted in a certain way to mimic some of the flavor elements typically found in coffee (maybe somewhere in between a Dong Ding style and dark-roasted TKY?).

This is even more interesting in light of the long Dutch tea history.   This type of openness to experimentation and related positive results makes it an interesting time to try Indonesian teas.

Toba Wangi (Indonesian) gold needle black and green needle teas

These two teas from Toba Wangi (an Indonesian tea producer) are the last to review from them, and more amazing stuff.  They're not really so connected that review in a combined post adds much, but that's also part of trying to write shorter reviews, to squeeze them down to a manageable summary.  There are common threads in all these teas, just exhibited in vastly different ways in the different styles, and some of that should come across in these descriptions.  Getting right to it then.

Gold Needle black tea

This tea reminds me of lots of better examples of Chinese black teas.  The taste is complex, not just related to there being layers of flavors to list out, but with a nice overall effect of lots of aspects coming together.  It's just one more example of why black teas are one of my favorite types, with a lot more range and complexity to them than they seem to get credit for.

Basic flavors:  dark cherry, malt, earthy tones, towards dark woods or leather.  Under those there is a mineral aspect that integrates well with the rest, not one that's easy to describe, probably related to the mineral rich volcanic soil the plants grew in.  There is another sweet fruit element that really ties back to Chinese black teas I've tried, maybe closest to yam, and a hint of cinnamon as well.  Lots going on with this tea!

To me such teas work really well or aren't so great based on the balance, how the sweetness and astringency play out, how the different flavors come together,  how clean the effect is.  This tea is soft and clean tasting, (using a var. Sinensis, Si Ji Chun / Four Seasons, I think it is), and it matches that general profile type, as much as the unprocessed plant type input relates to one.  One other favorite, a Thai Jin Xuan based black tea, had a little more of floral sweetness and fruit, but this tea compares really favorably to any other black tea I've tried. Surely part of that is my own preference for this particular style, not just about black teas but related to this type of version.


There is something going on with this tea that's hard to describe, a unique feel that overlaps with a taste range, sort of common with Jin Jun Mei and better than average unsmoked Lapsang Souchong I've been drinking lately (with a comparison post on those here, and more struggling to pin down the most subtle aspects).  There's a bit of flavor aspect range in common, but also feel, a type of dryness.
  

For me at least, when I first tried better Jin Jun Mei I sort of liked it, then that distinctive profile later really clicked and I really craved it. Related to the Lapsang Souchong that dark earth, mineral, and malt is common, with other flavors and the feel varying.  That tea works really well when brewed to a lighter balance point, somehow really making perfect sense at one level.  This Gold Needle black tea seems relatively flexible, working well at at a broad range of different strengths, but there probably is an ideal balance point that careful brewing would identify.  That would differ for different people, so it's nice the tea works well across a range or brewed strengths like that.


I've been drinking one other Toba Wangi black tea lately, an Assamica tea type, and it's interesting noting differences in them.  They have a lot in common, but this tea comes across as less earthy, and slightly different in terms of astringency, both with quite different flavor profiles.  Both are softer black teas, so this element gives them a full feel, nothing like "bitterness," which of course is really a flavor, not an accurate description of astringency, which relates to feel.  I really love Sinensis based black teas--var. Sinensis, of course--but I could imagine someone with different natural preferences going the other way, or I guess not even liking black teas so much.  But one would have to try better versions like this one to really know, since this is worlds away from Lipton.

Green tea needle leaves

The dry leaves look unusual, long and twisted, but that is sort of Galung's signature style for tea processing.  Needle is in both names, and all the teas look a bit like Dan Cong to me, maybe this one more than most.  Per Galung his tea making style draws on various influences but more from Wuyishan versions instead (with more about that in an interview with him here).  The dry tea smell is earthy, floral, and vegetal and rich, lots going on with this tea.

The first taste confirms it's a green tea, but a good bit different than any green tea I've ever tried.  It's quite rich in feel, with a good bit of depth, too much going on to take in withing just a few sips.  It's just what I expected from them.  I'll start with a list of tastes, or just start there,  since such an approach wouldn't do description justice.

A sweetness stands out, a taste similar to fruit, probably closer to orchid range, which carries over and changes form from similar elements in the Wu Mei oolong and White Beauty.  It's a little like the bubble gum flavor in those classic pink cube-presented brands.  It's better than that, cleaner and more complex,  but that gives a range.  Or maybe just saying the honey orchid, similar to one Dan Cong aspect, already covers that more accurately.

This is really an example where a tea tastes exactly like one thing, but it's easy to not place it at first, since it's not a common aspect:  toasted coconut.  I tried a flavored tea from the Monsoon tea shop once (in Chiang Mai, Thailand) that was quite similar,  but in this case that flavor is natural.

Beyond that mineral tones stand out more than vegetal, but there are lots of flavors layered together.  The tea is quite soft, with limited astringency, nothing towards bitterness.  I've been drinking a little Taiwanese oolong lately and this tea gives up some fullness of feel compared to that style, but it's not thin.  It actually compares favorably related to that "feel" aspect when compared the last Dan Cong I tried (which I didn't write about).

Green teas are not my favorite but this one bypasses any reservations I have over some of the typical aspects, the grassiness and such.  In a sense it fulfills the potential a Wonosari plantation tea had but didn't fully exemplify,  drawing out some comparable flavors (mineral tones and sweetness, apparently regionally related) without the flaws (eg.  not as clean in effect, a bit softer).  Brewed a little stronger the body picks up more and astringency is experienced as a slight roughness, but the general impression is that the tea is easy to  brew and doesn't require special preparation to offset anything.  One shouldn't brew it too strong, and of course it's a given to use well below boiling point water for all green teas, but that's it.

The only negative one might experience is that it's still a green  tea, so a preference against the type, but as with their other teas it doesn't work to pigeonhole it as a characteristic type.  Other green teas can show that sweetness, or express a floral range, and complexity,  and avoid astringency,  but I've never tried one that accomplishes all that in a similar way, and the character is distinctly Indonesian.  To me it even shows some oolong character related to the way some of those aspects come across, it's just that that fresh "greenness" shows it to be a green tea.

Both are awesome teas, better than just good examples of standard black and green types, distinctive and unique.

Xin Ren Dan Cong from Cindy Chen compared to Wu Mei Indonesian oolong

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Toba Wangi White Beauty, a unique Indonesian white tea

Following earlier reviews of great black and oolong Indonesian teas, and a vendor profile related to where those were made (Toba Wangi plantation), I'm reviewing the most interesting looking tea of the set, the White Beauty.  It's white tea from buds and leaves, so in the Bai Mu Dan / Peony range, but it's not really like other white teas I've tried, definitely unique.

Review

The appearance and dry scent of this tea is amazing.  It really is sort of black and white as in the picture, or more silver really.  The smell is very sweet, and complex.  Fruit in the range of peach stands out, although maybe shifted a little towards what a dried peach might be like, not that I clearly remember trying dried peach. There is some floral aspect to it too, and a rich, sweet, complex smell close to sundried tomato.

from the vendor, looking even more black and silver

The brewed tea is a dark gold, shifted just a touch towards the range of more oxidized teas.  The taste / flavor profile includes peach, but it's complex, so it's not clear at first if that's even the dominant flavor.   It's quite floral too, a sweet floral tone towards lavender.  One aspect ties back to the sundried tomato scent but it's very subtle.  The tea has a nice natural sweetness, and a pleasant feel, but a really strong and long finish stands out.


For all that description I feel like I'm only scratching the surface in "getting" this tea.  I brewed one infusion a little stronger and the profile shifted a lot.  Some of the subtlety dissipated but the body and feel changed completely, with more mineral related tones picking up.  As the infusions progressed it seemed to me that the fruit element faded back and the floral picked up even more.  The peach range shifted a little into blueberry.  The dry leaf smell had initially implied that the tea had potential to express a rich and sweet vegetal range, the sundried tomato, but it never really did develop as much as the fruit and floral.


Later yet--the tea kept brewing lots of infusions--both fruit and floral faded to let a more earthy fresh hay element, not far from a lighter wood.  Hay is still sort of in the vegetal range, of course, moving towards light earthiness, but the underlying character moved from sweet to rich.



I was just discussing with an online friend how silver needle style white teas aren't really a favorite and this tea helps highlight what I meant by that.  I tried the Toba Wangi silver needle style tea not long ago,  and it was nice, with some overlap in aspects, rich with a lot of floral.  But this bud and leaf tea has that extra complexity that comes from really being two types of plant elements, with lots of flavor aspects and good complexity.  That extended range comes at the cost of some of the subtlety, and emphasis on some distinctive light elements that is possible in buds-only white teas.


Related to that, I recently retried that silver needle style tea and it had lots of character, great flavors, mostly floral, and nice sweetness, with good depth and a nice rich base of underlying flavors.  This is probably a good place to mention that there's always more to the story of how a traditional tea type is made in a certain narrowly defined way, or even in cases when it's not tied to a region by definition should be related to one informally, so even restricting that to description "silver needle type" would likely be partly inaccurate, even though that's common in vendor naming for a range of styles of white, bud-only teas.  Maybe a general name works out better in Mandarin, except that I don't speak it.


But then I'm really not planning for this to drift into a second review.  I'm just saying that maybe my preference for Bai Mu Dan or tea and bud style white teas will shift based on drinking more white teas, or maybe that's already underway.  I'm kind of buried under bud-only white tea these days, with five types at the house now, from three different countries.  These include a second from Indonesia (from West Java), after finishing a third from there recently, with one from Thailand, and another from Sri Lanka, some of which I plan to mention again later in a comparison review.

A guest review

Ok, so not really a guest review, but an online friend described this tea in an interesting way, which I'll pass on here (from Rodino, if that means anything):

It reminded me alot in smell and taste of the Moonlight White from China Life, though it had a much younger and livelier taste. Like a cheap riesling, then it got interesting in the aftertaste. Tasted like Peach Gummy Rings! Remember that stuff you can buy at any gas station?


Maybe it was like that; there is definitely a very unusual, very sweet taste element and "finish" to the tea.  When I tasted it again and thought of those candies it did seem a close match, although even better for being a natural version of a similar flavor.  I'm also sure Rodino meant the "cheap Riesling" comparison in a good way.


Sweet and fruity teas can sometimes remind me of how artificial banana flavor can come across, as in the banana malt milkshakes I loved as a teenager, but I usually don't mention that in reviews.  The effect is usually more positive than it sounds, similar in effect to an artificial candy element but not exactly the same.  I guess if it were a breakfast cereal, like Fruit Loops, somehow that would be easier to relate to.  To me those taste a lot like pandan but that wouldn't be a familiar flavor in temperate climate countries.


Rodino and I talked more about the tea after I made notes for this and he also mentioned melon as a component, and I must have added at least one more potential trace element.  It's the kind of tea that's not so simple to narrow down to a list of flavors, and that really wouldn't do justice to the overall effect anyway.  It seemed like one could experience a lot of range of different aspects based on small shifts in brewing parameters, or maybe even just from noticing more going on, with sort of a layered effect happening (maybe relating to the mix of buds and leaves?).  White teas can be like that, also possibly related to an unusual oxidation level input, not fresh and grassy or vegetal as green teas can be, not earthy or heavy on tannins as black teas can be, but in an unusual place in the middle.  At best they are flavorful but still subtle, sweet, rich and complex, like this one.

Indonesian grower profile with Galung Atri; on Indonesian teas

I've been reviewing some great teas from Indonesia recently, a black tea and an oolong from Toba Wangi plantation, and these are really only the beginning (maybe with even more updates on their Facebook page).  Since the uniqueness of regional teas and the status of their industry and tea demand are of interest to me I've been discussing this with the owner, Galung Atri, and I've extended this into a grower profile interview, following.

If you aren't familiar with Indonesian teas, these teas I'm trying really aren't typical, although I can't say there aren't other equally interesting and great teas out there, since I'm just getting started on this origin myself.  I visited Indonesia in December (two words--active volcanoes!) and didn't find anything like these on two different islands (the Eastern part of Java and Bali), in spite of visiting a tea plantation on that trip, so I doubt Indonesian teas on this level would be easy to turn up anywhere.

1.  Could you share a little background about yourself, what led you to be interested in tea, is the plantation from an older family business growing tea?


My tea business was started by my father.  We`ve been in this business since 1972 (Local Indonesian Green Tea).  There are three major roles in the tea business:

1. Tea Plantation / Tea Farmers as a tea producers.
2. Trader as a collector from tea farmers and act as a first layer quality control. 
3. Retailer as a packer.

Our company started as a trader and we are still doing this business.  My father and I planned to build a tea plantation since 2009 to produce a special tea (planning about use of clones / tea plants, place, etc.), and started planting in 2010, 40 hectares for Sinensis Si Ji Cun (around 26 hectares planted), and 70 hectares for Assamica Gambung (around 40 hectares planted).


Editorial aside:  Si Ji Chun is a common plant type in Taiwan, also referred to as Four Seasons.  Here is a recent blog post about the type, and an earlier post with more cultivar types background, a subject that keeps coming up in this blog.  Note that table shown in the second post lists cultivar / plant types by region and final tea product type in Taiwan.


This division is fully handled by me, with my father of course still acting as a mentor.  So for  the time being, I've continued studying in China for three years, and in Japan for one year, learning about tea as much as possible.

After four years, my plantation started producing tea leaves, importing a machine from China for processing.  I asked my master from China to teach me how to produce Chinese teas, then I began producing tea on my own.

I loved to drink tea since I was a child, but my interest on this business began after my graduation.  And for now at 27 years old I’m the youngest tea master in Indonesia (tea master as a tea maker, which they call a tea master).

2.  To what extent has the specialty or higher quality tea industry in Indonesia changed in the last decade, according to your understanding (on the side of what is produced)?


The specialty tea industry in Indonesia is still like a baby, with just a few companies making these types of teas, and it`s mainly for the export market, not for local consumption.  It just started around ten years ago or so, so I can say it's just beginning as an emerging market.


3.  In what way has awareness and demand for higher quality Indonesian teas changed in the last decade?


It has changed over the past six to eight years, but not much, as most people aren't really aware of better teas, or how to get those teas.  I am a part of the Indonesia Tea Lovers Community, a group that educates peoples about tea.  It helps to market our tea as well, since we need to sell tea to continue what we do.




4.  Related to discussing tea plants, different types in use, ages of some plants, can you say a little about what types of tea plants you grow (var. Assamica versus Sinensis, Taiwanese hybrids, local plant types).  What are the oldest plants that you grow on your plantation, and the youngest?  What changes do you plan in the future related to use of new tea plant types?



We have two plantations as I mentioned before, both growing a single clone tea plant type, sijicun for sinensis, and gambung 7 for Assamica (best for white tea).  The oldest tree just around 5.5 years old, and the youngest one just one years old.  We are expanding the tea planting every year, until its full planted.  And we have created our own nursery, so its 100%  pure single origin clone.

5.  Can you describe more specifics about tea processing techniques you carry over from China?  Where did you train to process tea, and what types of existing processing techniques do you use or have revised?

their Wu Mei oolong

I have more background with the Wuyi style techniques for tea processing, and I learned in study with my master that I prefer the Wuyi styles the most.  I tend to modify processing a bit for my technique.  I learned the basics, and improvised myself from there, because producing this Chinese style tea is more like an art.  It depends on climate, weather, plucking time, condition etc., and China and Indonesia are really different in terms of growing conditions.  It cannot always have the same result, but the basic characteristics can’t be changed.



6.  Is there a tradition of local Indonesian tea processing and related techniques, and tea products, that you draw on that make some teas more regionally unique, beyond just influences from being grown in Indonesia?


My Green Tea processing combines Chinese and Indonesia styles.  I do an outdoor withering which I take it from Chinese green tea style processing technique, so it has a unique characteristic that cannot be found in any other green tea.


7.  Related to one particular processing technique, why are your teas more tightly twisted than one typically experiences from other tea types?  Does this help give them their unique character?


Tightly twisted tea is just a shape, part of my tea processing style.  I mean it's more like my tea identity, so peoples know my tea from its shape.  The black tea is a bit of a different case because the shape plays a role in the oxidation process for that type.

it really is sort of black and white in real life

8.  Can you say a little about the unique white tea type you produce (White Beauty), what style it falls closest to, or what input lead to that development?



My White Beauty is like an Oriental Beauty  or bai mu dan style, with a similar processing technique. But the clone is different, as I mentioned, based on the Gambung 7 clone, which is really good for White Tea.  The first leaves are still silver in color.  I showed it to couple of tea specialists in China and they were amazed.




9.  Is there any particular limitation to growing tea in a tropical environment?  Is heat an issue, or the lack of a cool season, or the lack of a change in sunlight trigger that informs the plants of changes in seasonal times?

that White Beauty again, closer up

The main limitation of tropical environment relates to a tendency towards astringency in the tea.  No matter how I try to limit or get rid of the predominant astringency it is still there.  That is from the typical tropical climate and soil.  I have discussed this topic with fellow tea masters and they have  similar understanding.  On the other hand, we can produce tea throughout the year.  The Dry and Rainy seasons are really good for plantations though.

Another aside:  based on having tried a black tea, oolong, and now that White Beauty (with that post only in notes stage) none of his teas are particularly astringent, all smooth bodied, balanced teas.  Per Galung this is a result of processing choices that offset natural tendency for less balanced astringency.


10.  Is there a particular issue related to Indonesian people's tea awareness you would like to mention?  In Thailand an example people just aren't aware of loose tea brewing in general, so that even relatively common types of Thai oolong are not widely consumed, and awareness of more rare and higher quality teas is very limited.


In this case, Thailand has the same problem as Indonesia, people just drink tea when they are thirsty instead of appreciating the uniqueness of it.  In Indonesia, along with related economic growth, now people start looking for better teas, and start to spend more money for specialty food products.  Thus I could say the market is emerging.  I don't have any quantity left for export, as all we produce is consumed by the domestic market, but then my product quantity is still limited too.


11.  People in other places are using flavored teas and herb and fruit blends to bridge the gap between current tea preferences (RTD tea, flavored tea, bubble tea) and more traditional tea drinking.  Do you plan to take such steps, or to instead just create better awareness of more traditional teas?


I am not a fan of blending teas.  I love straight tea; I love to explore the tea character and tastes.  I do what I love, and as for now I wouldn’t start on blending teas.  I just learn some about that subject in order to sharpen my palate.  I do some blending just for Jasmine tea, since Jasmine tea is a traditional Indonesian tea, so this works well related to demand here. 

In conclusion

Amazing input, really not so much to add to that.  I love it that so much work has went into drawing on different resources and inputs and in the end it results in such a unique product range.  

Not long ago I talked with a tea cafe owner here (Bangkok) about emerging trends in tea preferences, maybe more a discussion of getting people into tea than about developed appreciation, and the perspective emerged that some people can see old-style tea preparation and learning as too formal, or too involved, or even boring.  It's great that the Toba Wangi teas are originating directly from those older traditions, without a narrow focus on creating what people already know about and demand, and more emphasis on producing the best teas that they can.  It shows in the teas.

As unique and exceptional as the black tea and oolong I already reviewed were that White Beauty really is a bit unusual; more to follow on that tea.

Wu Mei Oolong from the Toba Wangi plantation in Indonesia

A little back-story:  this is the second tea I've reviewed from this source, after trying an interesting black tea recently.  I visited Indonesia last December (they have active volcanoes there!), and had tried one very nice tea from Harendong plantation prior to that, but didn't find any great teas on that trip.  Grocery store tea in Indonesia isn't so bad, and it's almost free, but it's definitely not great.  That black tea was sort of a warm-up since a few others from them look amazing.

Review section, Wu Mei oolong:

The dry tea smells like nectarine, in the range of fruity, sweet, and light.  The dry tea leaves are long and tightly twisted, on the vendor site described as looking like a dragonfly.  There are some different colors showing, definitely not the dark brown of highly roasted oolongs.  In tasting it I was surprised that it seems exactly like a Dan Cong (Chinese oolong), or at least it did to me.  In retrospect it looks like a Dan Cong too, but I hadn't made that connection.


The tea brews to a golden yellow, nothing like more oxidized and roasted oolongs, which might be more light amber or golden red instead, at the opposite end of that oolong spectrum.  The taste is bright fruit and floral.  At first it seemed more based on fruit to me, but upon reflection it's really a good bit more floral.  At first it seems like a very simple, unified taste, but then later it seems more like a complex flavor that comes across as very simple and clean.


The exact floral description I can't place.  This is really my weakness when it comes to tea reviews, scent and taste memory for flowers.  It seemed possibly a type of orchid since it's very sweet but I can't distinguish between those, or be sure that's it.  I discussed it by message with the plantation owner immediately, while still drinking it, and he said he thinks it tastes like "mi lan" flower, or honey orchid.  Here is an interesting reference related to typical Dan Cong types and flavors, and that makes the list, but of course matching the taste is the difficult part.  The taste matches what I do remember of various orchid smells, but it's much lighter and brighter than actual honey.


As for other taste elements or description, it comes across as perhaps related to a type of melon, a bright, sweet aspect that's not exactly like one particular type of melon but still seems related.  I don't like most melons, actually, so odd to say that, but I do like this tea.  The taste aspects are completely positive, if all that makes sense.

There is even a trace of that astringency that can come with Dan Cong, but it's very mild, really just a hint of the crispness that can relate to a novel form of astringency in some versions, a counterbalance of sorts.  If you brew it strong--which you normally shouldn't, per my own preference, but I tend to experiment--it will increase and be a primary flavor element, or maybe more of a feel, and it's not so positive that way.  Brewed lightly it's got a great balance, with nothing that someone would normally consider astringency, just a light feel of a little additional body, but still very smooth.  People already familiar with Dan Cong might be thinking this is enough description already, I get it, but for others these other aspects are sort of hard to explain.


The taste is strong and consistent across infusions, although with more tasting I might work out more about transition or possible variations.  After brewing the tea for many infusions I cold-brewed the leaves to draw the rest of the flavor out, and it made one more normal strength infusion and one lighter one, both of which were nice.  The tea works amazingly well cold, very light and refreshing, almost as sweet as if the tea had been sweetened, which comes across as a natural taste element that blends in well with the rest of the flavor profile.

It seems like I could somehow be even more specific on some of these points.  As I see it they've recreated a good version of a Dan Cong, which is no small feat.  Surely that wasn't really the original goal, instead just creating a great oolong.  From talking to Galung, the plantation owner, the choice of degree of roast related to what made the most sense for the tea, and they've nailed that.  And the oxidation level, and for all I know that tightly twisted preparation may help with the final effect as well.


The next day I tried a conventional commercial Dan Cong version I have at home for comparison and the general profile is really similar.  That tea suffered in comparison to this one from Toba Wangi, not nearly as nice a tea, even though I would have described them similarly, bright flavors that are floral in nature, with mild astringency, etc.  That tea wasn't as bright, the flavors weren't as clean, and the astringency came across as stronger, muddling the feel and the flavor profile that makes this Wu Mei oolong so special.  It is a nice tea, just not quite on the same level.


Two types in and these Toba Wangi teas are just amazing.  For most producers that would already be the best they have to show, but there is much more:  a golden needle black, a "needle" style green, and most intriguingly a White Beauty bud and leaf white tea that looks nothing like anything I've ever seen.  I'll be in touch about those.

Toba Wangi Indonesian black tea

Back story

I reviewed a great Indonesian black tea from Harendong estate last year, and visited Indonesia last December, so I have been looking forward to trying others.  I did try some teas on that trip, really nothing quite on that level, just some teas that were better than grocery-store tea, and some interesting grocery-store teas.  Per online discussion I'd ran across some good leads so it was just a matter of time, and it all finally came together.

This black tea is interesting, and unique, a very good tea, the kind of black tea more people should know exists.  I also received some other amazing looking teas from the Toba Wangi plantation, a novel oolong, an interesting green tea, a great looking white tea (in a unique style, a variation of Bai Mu Dan style), and a silver needle-type variation, so I'm just getting started with this review.  Per a friend in Indonesia that just tried many of these same teas this black tea is good but the others are amazing, so I'll try to not slack too much on the reviewing pace.

Related to that Indonesian Harendong black tea I'd mentioned, at that time I did try a really nice Ceylon from the same source, the Tea Journeyman shop, definitely another high quality tea.  But in spite of exhibiting some very refined positive aspects it still retained a familiar standard Ceylon flavor range and "briskness" (astringency).  This black tea is on it's own page, not exactly like any other teas I've tried.  I reviewed "wild" Assamica black teas from Thailand not so long ago but this is really something else (along with a Jin Xuan based black tea from Tea Side in this post, and another local wild tea from the Monsoon shop in this post).  It almost leads one to drift off into thoughts of terroir versus processing inputs, asking questions that probably can never be answered, but on another level it's best to just enjoy the tea.

long, twisted leaves

Review part

This really is an excellent example of a black tea.  At first I thought I'd talked to this plantation owner about plant types and this was going to be from Si Ji Chun, the Four Seasons var. Sinensis plant type from Taiwan, but this is definitely var. Assamica.  That distinctive earthiness from black teas of this general type is unmistakable, although the expression of flavors is very "clean" in this tea, not always the case for such teas.  I don't mean that it reminds me of a standard Assam or Ceylon, but although I've had some pretty good teas of those types and from those regions nothing quite like this.  Of course it's possible that's just a gap in what I've sampled.  Some other tea types from this source are based on that cultivar / plant type from Taiwan, confirmed by more discussion, so it will be interesting to see what type of character results from that.

The dry tea smell is straight chocolate covered malted milk balls, maybe with a nice floral sweetness.  If I were back in the US I'd buy that candy and do a direct smell comparison.

The taste is clean, earthy, and sweet, with just a hint of mustiness that can relate basis in that plant type, just a very light, pleasant version of it, and not "muddled" as they can be.  I usually prefer the way really good var. Sinensis based blacks come across that little bit more, the way they can emphasize fruits, with an unusually bright character for black teas, but this tea really works.  At first it just seems very nice, complex and interesting, but the tea goes through some interesting changes across infusions that makes it all the more unique.


The first infusion brings across some nice malt aspects, like malted-milk malt, not that earthier, drier range, with cocoa, black cherry, and natural sweetness.


In the second infusion a hint of spice shows up, a distinctive clove element, which is really nice along with the normal taste range.  This transition is a bit unusual, given that I was using a Western brewing style, for a black tea to not just hang in there but to evolve flavors, kind of even improve.

As a bit of an aside, even though I almost exclusively drink plain teas I've tried to get that "clove" taste element to combine in with spice blends in making masala chai and a Christmas-themed blend this year, of course achieved by adding clove.  Even in a mixed spice and tea blend it's hard to balance, to keep the clove taste but not overwhelm the tea, or make it peppery, but here it just naturally shows up, subtle but well integrated, pleasant to experience.

still-twisted brewed leaves

The feel and general effect of the tea is great, with nice clean flavors, and a soft feel, limited astringency, with just enough to give it some body.  I'm reminded of another tea reviewer-- Kevin Craig--saying another Indonesian black tea was "juicy," which seems to apply here too.  The sweetness balances well with the other tastes, perfect for me since I like a slightly sweet black tea.

What's next

There are a lot of other tea type reviews from this source coming, as I mentioned, including a golden needle type black tea, that one a Camellia Sinensis var. Sinensis.

their picture, and it really does have an unusual look like this

The processing style of this particular tea seems a bit unique, especially related to the twisting shaping used, in terms of appearance, and also related to the final outcome.  I think there is more story to be told about that relating to the owner of the plantation, related to that unique processing.  He is nice, and very approachable, but I'll hold off on citing some of the input he's provided directly for later posts.


He's definitely a tea enthusiast himself.  Anyone that operates a tea plantation would be, on some level, but they wouldn't necessarily push the boundaries in terms of plant types used, processing techniques, and developing new styles not used before in a region, drawing on processing used from different other areas.


I get the impression that making a half dozen great Indonesian teas is really just the start.  Of course I really do need to circle back to trying more Harendong teas but I'll be reporting back about those others from this source first.  The one white tea, pictured here, looks especially amazing, a Bai Mu Dan style based on including a lot of buds, but then so does another oolong, prepared in a twisted style reminiscent of Wuyi Yancha.