2010 Tulin (Nan Jian) Wuliangshan sheng pu'er brick

 

Trying another of a Chawang Shop order, with maybe two more teas to go from that.  It's this:

2010 Tulin Wuliangshan Organic Raw Puerh Brick 100g

This raw puerh brick is made of 2010 spring material from Wuliang mountain. Wuliang mountain is one of high mountains in Yunnan. Selected large-leaves and sun-dried material come from organic tea gardens. The same material were used both inside and outside this brick.

Brewed tea is aromatic, sparkish and yellow. Balanced, powerful with great floral sweet aftertaste.

I've liked a Tulin tuocha version that I keep buying in a local Chinatown shop, and that sounds interesting.  Again the dry storage issue will come up; this will be well-preserved for a 2010 tea.  It doesn't sound like it necessarily needed 15 years of moderate pace aging to be in a good range, so it might be fine now.  Or the usual could occur, that it has great potential for mellowing and shifting a few more years of mellowing here in hotter and wetter environment.  I would guess that this is about as fermented as it would be after 3 years of storage here, just getting started, but we'll see.

One might wonder how moderate cost factors in; this had been listed for $10, now out of stock.  I wouldn't expect it to be much worse based on that low pricing, as if it could only stay in their stock if it had been limited in quality in some way, or that Chawang Shop per gram pricing corresponds to their interpretation of tea quality.  It's probably just that they don't raise pricing that much year to year, which is for the best for a consumer.

Review:

First infusion:  color is a dark gold, so at least this has aged past the brighter yellow stage.  For this being 12 years old that limited degree of fermentation is amazing, or at least it would be if I hadn't experienced it in other versions, two fairly recently.  For many people that's a worst-case outcome, but I'm still sorting out if this is better or worse than it would be if it was much younger but stored wetter.  Maybe not so different, at least as far as total outcome is concerned, in the sense of added up positives and negatives.  I think the outcome is probably quite different though, a lot of small variations in what changed.

Interesting!  There's a lot going on.  A warm honey-like range stands out, and some floral tone, with a rich cured hay depth, and a warmer structure that's harder to place.  Mineral range would be a normal interpretation, and there is that too, at least.  There's an odd, warm, rich smell that a softball gives off, similar to that of a baseball, the smell of leather and cork (I think?)--it's like that.  It's odd saying that this tastes like drinking a baseball; it's more that it reminds me of that.  I guess then I'm saying that it reminds me of leather, that one range.

It would be easy to interpret that as saying that it's bad, sour, towards musty, in relation to the leather, cured hay, and cork description, but it's quite clean and pleasant.  There's a way that an aged Yiwu can gain a lot of depth and then sort of fade across a lot of range, a smooth richness that those can pick up, between floral range and something else, like cured, light wood, or some light spice.  This is like that, in relation to that depth, but the edge that remains is something else.  I interpret it as positive, because it gives the sweeter, lighter, and richer range some real punch, but it's just outside a range of what one would normally describe as astringency.  

Tons of honey comes across in the aroma, the kind of experience you get from smelling the empty cup, and that is one layer in the drinking experience.  It's really that complexity and the way it all integrates that's positive about the experience.

Second infusion:  this wasn't brewed long, not over 10 seconds, but I'd already had the impression that it was brewing fast, and this is intense.  It works "brewed strong," because the astringency is moderate, and bitterness has mostly faded, to the extent it included that.  Richer floral range picks up a lot, even a bit towards lavender.  Some of the deeper tone seems like warmer floral range, maybe chrysanthemum as a base, with some sunflowers filling in richer and sweeter tones (or what I'd imagine those to smell like; I don't have much reference to go on).  It tastes like bee's wax as a result of that input, if that helps, a flavor I find really appealing.  Feel effect and aftertaste experience are both pronounced and pleasant.

Now that I've considered that a vendor like White 2 Tea or Mei Leaf could market this under a bee's wax theme, it tastes so much like it.  "Bee's Knees Semi-aged Sheng," or something like that.  It's odd talking about this astringency level when it's not exactly in a conventional astringency range, more a fullness to feel that includes some drier range.  People would be divided on loving this or disliking it, I think.  If someone expected sheng to be either bright, intense, sweet, bitter and astringent floral range when young or warmer, deeper, complex, heavy and rich, dried fruit / camphor / aged input range when older this wouldn't fit either paradigm.  It's just something else.  I'll try a round brewed lighter, pulling timing back closer to 5 seconds, and see how that changes an aspect list.

Third infusion:  lighter, for being brewed faster.  Flavor intensity loses nothing; at a quick flash infusion this would still be quite strong.

What I've said worked better for describing what I like about the tea, now maybe I can fill in what others could see as more negative than I tend to, beyond just expecting something else, or not loving the general range.  That dry edge could be interpreted as connecting with a woodiness, or even with a touch of mustiness, although I don't see it that way related to the second.  This had to be more challenging when new, of course, and the astringency has only faded quite a bit and changed form, it's not gone.  Often I'll describe an aspect like that as similar to biting a plant stem, or tree bud.  You couldn't really experience positive feel and flavor in this range without some type of feel like that though.

Fourth infusion:  shifting a little, but it's hard to describe how.  Intense floral range still stands out, and a lot of bee's wax warm depth beyond that, with that dry edge filling out feel.  This most definitely doesn't seem anything like a low cost tuocha tea, punchy and intense, hopefully aging to be quite pleasant once all that settles out 15 years later, more where the Tulin version I've drank a bit of was.  This tea is better than it should be, related to my expectations.

Fifth infusion:  more of the same, which is good.  That floral intensity is crazy.  I suppose feel is cleaning up, not that it was off before.  The dry edge is moving more into a sappy / resinous range, which always had been part of it, I just didn't get around to expressing it that way.

Sixth infusion:  I was just thinking about a Tea Forum post about teas being flavored, about how this much floral could be interpreted as from an additive.  It seems too clean though, and too persistent, not rinsing off a bit.  And it's a 2010, sealed package (no guarantee there), super inexpensive tea, from a producer known for making solid and consistent but moderate quality tea versions.  It seems like they just used pretty good material for this.

Seventh infusion:  intensity is finally dropping so that a fast infusion (under 10 seconds) finally starts to come across as a bit light.  I like it this way, since flavor intensity is fine and aftertaste range is quite intense and pleasant.  Feel is rich now with no dry edge.  I'll try a 15 second + time and see how that goes.

Eighth infusion:  really nice this way, losing intensity but with longer time bumping that back to normal.  The list of aspects I've described shift in proportion but it's not worth going through how.

Ninth infusion:  bitterness is ramping up, as the balance of what extracts shifts with longer brewing times.  There was always some bitterness, I've just not typed out that inclusion because it's so moderate, in relation to sheng experience in general.  For a 12 year old sheng it's relatively bitter, but compared to most in the 3 to 4 year old range (not stored so dry) it's still pretty low.  I didn't mention sweetness either, even though that was pronounced, because I was focused more on floral and warm range being interesting and novel.  If I re-wrote these notes in a new tasting I'd probably include it all in a different order, and maybe stretch it out to 2000 words, if I tried to describe everything.  Better not to.

Conclusions:

My own impression is surely already clear, that I really liked it, but I wanted to find out more about this, how it was "supposed to be" in some sense, or what others thought of it.  

I found a Yunnan Sourcing listing for a 2012 version of this, theirs selling for $11.50 (over 10% more, but in terms of cost difference not much at all).  Comments about it from others who bought it mention smokiness; this might've included that too, and it just dropped out over the dozen years of aging.  Those review comments were from 2018-2020, so not so old or new compared to the 2012 to 2022 current age of that version, but towards more recent.

This 2008 Nan Jian "iron cake" (listed by Yunnan Sourcing) sounds interesting too, and still reasonable, $60 for a 400 gram version, sourced from Wuliangshan and Lincang.  Aged in Guangdong, that one says; that might offset the effect of high compression cakes aging slower, but it could probably still use another decade to transition further.  Or it might be like this, at an interesting in-between state, pleasant without entering a more fully aged range.  My friend Ralph reviewed a variation of that in his Daily Tealagraph Instagram page, but it was the 912 version (which is now sold out), and that was 902.  His notes make it clear that aging input was a significant factor, perhaps part of a transition process that's not finished yet:

The deep fruity raisin notes are obvious with some hay and tobacco notes.  Bitterness joins while sipping the first cups. A very deep and intense aroma, although it stays very clean and kind of simple at the same time like factory teas usually do. It features some mushroom flavor as well, not so different to bitter mushroom tea like reishi (ling tsi) or Chaga.

Later steeps bring out an additional flowery camphor aroma that joins the fruitiness and a "chewing gum" flavor that I can only rarely find in some 15 year old factory cakes...

Looking around further it's interesting reading comments about a 2010 version of the one I'm reviewing (sold by YS) on Steepster.  So this same tea I guess, just surely stored in a similar way, with room for slight variations in outcome.  None of the people commenting really liked it.  It sounds like they're not even describing the same tea:  smoky, hard to brew, challenging astringency, limited complexity, bitter, vegetal, sour.  

So what's that about?  Hard to be sure.  I'm sipping this right now; I know what's in the cup, and I'm not insecure about my own preference or judgment being atypical, even though everyone's take is going to be a little different.  There's not much for negatives in this.  That feel wouldn't be for everyone, but dryness coupled with sappy character and rich feel is fine, to me.  Flavor range is good; sweet, intensely floral, adding warm bee's wax for complexity, with some vegetal range, with just a hint of underlying mushroom, so light I'm only noticing it as flavors shift now.

We can't assume that the teas are identical, and they probably do vary a little, due to the storage inputs (especially that; only one review was recent, from half a year ago).  I don't want to move on to conclude that these four people could only appreciate limited range in tea (in sheng pu'er, really).  Other preference and context issues must be factoring in.  Every person mentioned low expectations related to low cost, in their notes; they may have went into this looking for what was wrong with the tea, versus what they might like.  

Not using a (standard to me) Gongfu brewing approach would give bad results for this, for example, Western brewing it.  First comment listing preparation notes mention this, from that most recent tasting:

Steep times: 45, 15, 15, 20, 45.  I drink the wash, hence why my first steep is so long. Brewed in a clay teapot. [using boiling point water, 5 grams per 100 ml]

This would be hard to drink brewed for 45 seconds, and 15 is still a bit long.  Their flavor aspect summary includes "bitter, hay, astringent, vegetal," and hay matches the best to my experience, with not listing floral range as inexplicable if their experience was the same as mine.  Which it wouldn't be, even using the same brick of tea, for brewing it completely differently.  Let's check a second review, from 4 years ago:

The risky buy of the month. It is the cheapest 100g-brick of puerh on Yunnansourcing.us and for a reason.

First, the good stuff: it smells good. The wet leaf has a complex, multi-faceted aroma that is very enjoyable. No fishy smell, no pure decay.

Now, the bad part: it needs at least 5 more years to develop because the acidic taste of the fermentation is there, ready to pounce and overpower everything else. Which is a shame, because there ARE a number of more subtle, interesting flavors. Unfortunately, the only way to bring them all on the scene together is to do super-short steeps of 5-10 secs, and avoid the boiling water. So, you end up “savoring” a weak puerh for a 2-3 steeps – after that regardless of your efforts the sourness pushes everything else in far corners of the palate...

Sourness?  It's not as unreasonable as the two different interpretations make it sound, theirs versus mine.  Concern or expectations of fishy or decayed range from an 8 year old, dry stored sheng is odd (related to the review being from 4 years old).  It's possible that they were mostly right, and for me drinking this 4 years later a lot of what they thought might drop out after 5 more years already did.  One of the other reviews was also from 4 years ago, and not completely different than that one, and the other from 7 years back, which would be a considerably less transitioned version of this tea.

They all emphasize the tea being chopped material, and it is, one going so far as to say they had trouble separating out some to brew.  Chopped material can be fine, but it is typical for more aging input to help with the astringency that results from that, the way different compounds are extracted as a result.  I'm probably drinking a much better version of this for getting to it 4 years later than those last two.

I suspect that I appreciate a broader range in sheng than all of them, that I can enjoy drinking a youngish Xiaguan or Dayi Jia Ji when I feel like it, one 5 years old or less, which would include a lot more astringency edge and bitterness than this, although for this version 7 years ago who knows.  It's not necessarily better to be open to different astringency and bitterness exposure, just a difference.  This isn't astringent though, compared to younger teas, most kinds that are within 2 or 3 years old.  

Just expecting that dry storage is going to preserve the tea might make a lot of difference; if I expected this to be transitioned to a more typical 12 year level of fermentation, under moderate humidity conditions, versus dry, I could be put off by it not being what I thought it would be.

I found this tea to be significantly better than I expected it to be, kind of the opposite of those other reviews.  I thought there would be more limited quality material concerns, that it would lack that sweetness and floral range, replaced by smokiness (which others did pick up, earlier, and in a differently stored version), or mushroom, odd mineral, etc.  It's not strange that there was no mustiness; I expected dry storage to not lead towards that result at all.  I didn't expect it to be anything like the 2008 Nan Jian version Ralph reviewed, which is considerably age-transitioned.

Sheng pu'er aging exploration

First published in TChing here and here.

Looking back through TChing posts I haven't said that much about a subject I've been focused on exploring for about two years, sheng pu'er (although reviewing versions and buying a cake / bing dates back to five years ago).

Aging concerns are only part of that tea type scope.  It might make more sense to start on reviewing origin location variations and move onto other aspect differences and input causes.  But that's too much for a TChing post.  So is sheng aging (fermentation transitions), but I'll write about it anyway, broken by sub-theme to abbreviate things.  Lately I've been more focused on how slight mustiness related to storage conditions can fade over a few months, but that's a different subject.

humidity / conditions related:  the main related factor, beyond the tea itself, is how warm and humid the storage environment is.  Too dry and the tea won't age; way too dry and flavor level will diminish.  This article on storage condition basics goes into more on all that, with this follow-up reviewing outside input about optimums and other factors.  Relatively dry stored sheng might not transition (ferment) very quickly at all, and much more humid storage can impart a range of different musty tastes.  It's slightly more complicated than that but those are the basic factors.

related to the tea itself, the starting point:  some sheng pu'er is great when brand new, not requiring any transition at all (although that is a matter of preference, as all the rest is).  Processing input might "design" a version to be drinkable, or to emphasize storage potential.  Or variation by source area tends to relate to associated character, especially initial levels of bitterness and astringency.  This subject expands so much beyond that very general level I'll only address it further related to other themes (with more on it here, related to the concept of "oolong pu'er").

Laos sheng, a relatively new 2019 version (reviewed here)

slightly aged versions, versus "middle aged":  depending on initial aspects some sheng might be improved, and great, after a year or two of storage and transition, or even three or four.  It could make sense to prefer versions aged for longer, but preferences tend to bunch towards liking "young" (not so aged) or more-fully transitioned versions, with different people describing the awkward in-between time-frame differently.  Really that wouldn't be standard; it would be a function of the starting point and storage conditions, along with preference.

fully aged sheng:  people dispute what that means, although usually a relatively fixed time-frame gets mentioned along with claims.  After 10 years in moderately humid storage teas can transition a lot, but 15 years is typically closer to fully aged.  Even then sheng tends to keep changing, leveling off more in terms of transition beyond 20 or 30 years, per my experience (limited, for versions that old, and the oldest I've tried was still shy of aged for 40 years).  Older sheng can kind of resemble shu (an idea that comes up in discussion) but per my experience it's not hard at all to tell the difference, so they can be more vaguely comparable than similar.

Tulin 2007 sheng pu'er tuocha; getting there for fermentation level

testing aging results, comparison tasting:  I've done lots of this, just not relative to experienced pu'er drinkers; in a sense I'm barely getting started.  In the most recent version I compared three tuochas between 4 and 7 years old (kind of in that middle range), and not long ago I compared 2006 and 2007 CNNP / China Tea sheng versions, one of which may well have been a copy of sorts.  I've not been checking out the higher quality, more rare and sought after origin versions, for the obvious reason, those cost a lot.  This 1980 and 1993 versions comparison covers some typical longer aging effects.

Tea Side Thai sheng, 1980 left, 1993 right

There is limited potential to assess results tied back to inputs if you aren't familiar with the starting point, but an accurate take on that requires tasting the same tea back when it was new.  Some teas that are great initially tend to just fade; some that are relatively undrinkable are quite suitable for positive transitions, and others aren't.  It takes an incredible amount of exposure to piece factors and trends together, but for sheng drinkers it's a labor of love.

2011 Xiaguan FT sheng cake and 2007 Tulin T868 tuocha

One of the first concerns in a combined tasting is whether or not it makes any sense to try the two teas together.  Ideally they'll be very similar, or else it won't shed light on both, and just adds to the tasting workload, trying to do two unrelated things at once.  The dates on these initially seem to indicate that will be at least partly not the case; one is older, beyond them being from two different producers, and pressed into two different shapes.  Beyond comparison it's also partly about me trying more tea and getting writing done in a longer combined form, but I expect these will be similar in some ways.

I'll back up.  I've been purchasing a bit more tea lately (a bit more than not much at all, typically), because I wrote some tea website content for Moychay for limited compensation.  It wasn't enough income to change my lifestyle but enough to cover a few decent tea orders (so in a limited sense that did change my favorite hobby interest experience, and lifestyle).  Two articles on pu'er storage were a lot more interesting than the other standard reviews, it seemed to me, because review posts tend to just repeat, and subjective interpretations of teas vary too much to be a clear guide anyway.  If a reviewer's opinions are similar to your own that can help, but otherwise it's best to hear impressions from a half dozen different people instead and try to average that out. 

I've just submitted a post to TChing summarizing four articles I've written on pu'er storage, which will go up soon, but in the meantime I can mention one was a "basics" general summary drawn from different sources, and a citation summary reference from some good online sources, including one about making home-made moisture control packs and another on storage conditions side-by-side experiments.  Had I mentioned all that before here?

Usually I don't show the typical "haul" photos of what I've bought, beyond for not buying much to have anything to talk about, because that theme gets repetitive in tea groups.  It has a strange feel to it, as if it could be more about bragging than discussion.  Still, it works for both, and someone could intend that one-upmanship version of tone as context or they could not.  For people with more substantial expendable income for tea buys it could seem silly for other people to announce $150 orders of lower medium level quality teas, per their own set of preferences.  Some people are drinking from single tea cakes that cost more all the time.

that Chawang Shop order; modest range versions across types and ages, with this tea third from the bottom

I don't think I ever will experience my own expectations changing to the extent that I usually drink $1 / gram and up teas.  Related to sheng pu'er an interesting twist comes up right away in making and working around such sweeping generalizations:  hold onto a lot of versions for a decade and you then have a completely different market-value product on your hands.

About these, I've already tried this Tulin "Dali Nan Jian Xian" T868 version, having bought tuochas of it locally before, at my favorite Chinatown shop here, Jip Eu.  I can't make a comparison to a range of Xiaguan versions due to limited prior cake exposure but I am now exploring that range further.  I bought a Xiaguan tuoucha of closer to the same production time frame as the 2007 version which might've made more sense to try (looking at that list a 2010 Xiaguan Teji Tuo).  I'll get to that; I was just curious about this cake.

A lot of this trial process, for me, is seeing what aspects tend to change in what ways, and where the patterns lead.  I guess that was the thinking in adding a 2006 Fengquing tuocha version in that same set, checking out range and seeing what else to explore further.

Products background:

Here's a citation of that reference on the Nan Jian Tu Lin brand, along with details about an interesting Yunnan Sourcing related offering, just closer to this Xiaguan version in presentation, as an "iron cake" style bing instead:

Nan Jian Tu Lin tea factory has a long history of more than 30 years producing Pu-erh teas.  Their productions are often similiar to Xiaguan productions in their choice of raw materials, blending and processing techniques... 


It's hard to turn up a clear product description of exactly what this version is, although a "Puerh Junky" blog post tried to clarify that:

’07 “T868” Tulin. I got this back when I was in my Tulin tuo stage... I’ve not run across any Tulin that have the smokiness or minerality of XG. Dunno. To my mind there is more similarity with 6GTM productions, expressing bold floral notes with astringency and bitterness.

The T868 sits somewhere between the ’06 Yinhao and the T861, where the former expresses an unmistakable Fengqing/black tea character and the latter is a perfected creation with a more deciduous forest character, imho. The aftertaste in the T868 is long lasting with more incense and wood notes coming through with later infusions...


The idea of working through a preference curve definitely rings a bell.  That goes on to discuss aging inputs and speculate about how that version has retained liveliness due to being aged in dry conditions in Kunming, which definitely doesn't apply to what I have, which has been hanging out here in Bangkok for quite awhile:


As most of us know KM storage is slow, though there are differences from one facility to the next. The advantage to these conditions is that for spring material like the T868 nothing gets lost. The production is still lively, springy. Nothing is muffled or mottled. Age has tampened the more brash aspects of a young production while the moderately cool conditions have preserved all of the florality.


Onto considering the Xiaguan description, this time from the Chawang Shop description, from the source.  At 8 years along I'd initially expected this Xiaguan cake would be better yet in 4 more years or so, or at least 2 to complete just a bit more mellowing out, with some evolving into different range, but I'd lost track that it had some head start on that per the description.


2011 Xiaguan FT "Yun Mei Chun" Raw mini iron cake 125g


"FT(For Taiwan)" means this small iron cake was a special order of "Fei Tai" Company. Fei Tai Company is the biggest Xiaguan TF and Menghai TF pu-erh tea distributor in Taiwan. It is claimed that the customized products of Fei Tai company reaches a higher quality in Xiaguan TF. The high-level "FT" tea chose better raw materials. Iron cake is tightly compressed, so its qualitative transformation is slow. Definitely tea for longer-term store. High quality early spring large-leafs material from 2009 and 2010, and was used Cang Shan mountain spring water for the steaming process. This cake is not too smokey, typical for Xiaguan teas. The taste is strong and powerful, floral and sweet huigan.


It sounds good, like plenty of background to establish a context, and as if the tea should be pleasant. 

"Long term" can mean different things related to storage but as I take it in this case material being 9-10 years old is getting there, but probably not quite where it will be later. 

That ties back to the Puerh Junky's earlier input that "Kunming storage is slow," just cited.  I'm not necessarily in a hurry, and it would be a lot worse if this ended up tasting musty related to too-damp storage versus just not being as far along as it might be.  I've experienced some degree of mustiness fading again later, but given the context of trying to sort out aging transitions having a bit more change yet to go would be good.

Review

Xiaguan version in a gaiwan

Tulin sheng; odd seeing a tuocha version separating more easily

Xiaguan 2011 FT "Yun Mei Chun" iron cake:  this is brewing a little lighter, in part related to it separating more as chunks, compressed a little tighter than the other tuocha.  That's a switch, related to typical compression levels for both shapes.  The Tulin "Dali Nan Jian Xian" tuocha version is well-compressed tea, but it separated out to be finer loose leaves.  I'll probably have to go with a short round for the tuocha next time to even things out, and adjust more from there.  At any rate this never was intended as a direct similar-type identical-conditions brewing session; they're going to have similarities but already differ based on initial background.

Even partly saturated the Xiaguan is interesting.  There's a faint hint of smoke, a decent level of bitterness (especially for being a light infusion), and an unusual oily feel to the tea, along with dark mineral content that is somewhere between petroleum and well-corroded metal.  Oddly that's all pleasant. 

Xiaguan left; lighter leaves and liquid on the first round

Tulin T868 "Dali Nan Jian Xian" tuocha:  this is brewed too strong.  Right at the time I was going to pour it my son asked if he could try using the gaiwan, the first time he ever had asked, and going through that experience was worth a lot more to me than getting this infusion right.  Of course he poured half of it and the water touched his finger, and he put it down.  I showed him how to do it the right way (or a way that works, at least), by holding his fingers and hand at a different angle, but the tea was already quite strong. 

Brewed for identical times it would've been stronger since these smaller loose leaves were going to brew without the same form of "opening up" the other would go through.  We really might do more of a tutorial and brew something he would like, since tasting some sheng yesterday didn't exactly click for him.  His mother is paranoid about caffeine input (although he drank Coke twice yesterday; apparently the caffeine in that somehow poses less of a risk), but there are a few tisanes around to practice with.

cheeky little aspiring tea drinkers

I already knew that I like the tea but the aspects and balance I like isn't evident in this round; it's way too strong related to it's own version of earthy aspects and mineral a little towards corroded metal.  Brewed correctly all that balances out and the mineral and earthy range supports some sweet, mild character, more like leather or aromatic wood.  I'll describe that more next round, as a fast infusion.

Second infusion

Xiaguan:  loads of smoke picked up in this round; so that's how this is going to be.  There was a time that I really didn't care for smoke in sheng but it helps drinking tea in which that aspects makes more sense than in rough-edged low-quality really young versions.  I wouldn't say this works really well; this tea does seem to need a few more years, or 5.  It's interesting though, and it might be nice drinking a tea like this from time to time, just moderating infusion strength way back to tone down how all that comes across.  I mean the smoke, plus the intense mineral and earthiness, not different than I mentioned last round but a lot stronger, even though the infusion time was much faster. 

All this matches one theme I keep going on about, a concern that younger sheng versions may not have enough intensity to transition newer / younger version aspect range into pleasant and interesting forms after a decade or longer of fermentation.  After 9 to 10 years this is definitely not going through any muted "teen years" transition, or if it is it was way off the drinkable scale for those first years.  For those flavors being in that range the effect still comes across as pleasantly clean, to me.  It would seem normal enough for a bit of mushroom or more types of wood to have joined in, but as it stands smoke and those other narrow ranges seem more pleasant than any muddled mix of all that.


Tulin:  oddly there is a trace of mushroom in this tea, which comes across as a touch of mustiness, like aged barnwood; interesting it worked out that way.  For someone really opposed to an aged sheng version tasting like mushroom it might throw off all the rest, and might not seem so moderate.  I guess I'm ok with it.  I wouldn't call it "clean" in flavor profile but the supporting mineral and sweetness makes it work.  This does seem really aged-out compared to the other, a lot softer, with heavier mineral tones or bitterness shifted in form, assuming those had been present. 

It was my earlier impression that I really liked this tea for not having been through so many examples of sheng aged to this level.  I have cake of a Hong Tai Chang 2006 sheng version, and I've bought a couple others sold as around that time period, and have tried a reasonable number of samples (including another HTC version from 2006), but it doesn't add up to a lot.  I've tried a lot more of another dozen general types of teas, and nearly as much well-aged oolong and white teas as sheng, if combining those two types together.

keeping it simple

Third infusion

Xiaguan:  a nice fast infusion time helps moderate that intensity but five seconds comes quickly; this might work well brewed for on the shorter side of that, or at a lower infusion proportion.  I stopped myself short of filling the gaiwans enough to pack out with wetted leaves but might have anticipated that intensity would be an issue for both of these.  Smoke gives way to a bit more of the dark mineral / corroded metal in this round, but the bitterness falls into a decent moderate level brewed quickly, with pleasant sweetness.  I like it.  Again it probably will soften and transition positively over a few more years (or 5), but instead of that being a disappointment it's kind of what I expected in this case. 

Maybe I really should have picked up a second, since it's only a 125 gram cake, smaller than the larger size Xiaguan tuocha I bought by half.  Then again that's what re-ordering is all about, picking up what worked best, and trying something new.

It's hard to communicate how this is "clean" in effect, given that I've said it tastes a little like petroleum and rusted metal, but it is, in a limited sense.  The sweetness seems to tie to a nice flavor range too, in with molasses-like warm and rich tones.  The feel isn't bad, although smoothening out a little would help, and the aftertaste trails off pleasant warm mineral and that molasses sweetness.


Tulin:  I hadn't been put off by any aged-effect funk in trying this before but in comparison with the Xiaguan it has some, that old-barn range I'd mentioned.  The rest is really nice, sweet and smooth, rich in flavor range, with a sappy feel that coats your mouth, towards how other astringency comes across but quite different in form.  Again that warm mineral really hangs around as a flavor aspect after you swallow the tea, with the feel not completely dissipating, lending both teas a pleasant overall impression of complexity.  If bitterness or the moderate astringency edge in the other version was an issue for someone this tea would be much better; it's much smoother, of course likely related to the age and probably some to storage conditions. 

Value is a main selling point for this tea.  I don't think I'll even mention what I paid for it, but in the range of what the other cost.  I don't like the idea that someone might read this and consider it a good option for jumping into holding some aged sheng, and buy out whatever the shop has.  On the positive side it's interesting, pleasant, and a good-value, and it's rare to even have options of this type when walking into shops.  On the negative side if someone could find older Xiaguan versions around online, like this other one, they still don't cost all that much and could be slightly better.  They're not that uncommon, but demand is high enough that pricing wouldn't necessarily have to be low, and options would keep selling out.

All this reminds me of one of those folk-wisdom sayings:  the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago; the second best time is right now.  I included some younger tuochas in this round of purchases, both to experience their transition over a longer cycle and to try whatever is left after it's ready.  That matches an earlier theme of trying a Dayi (Taetea) Jia Ji version from 2014, which had been improving quite a bit over the last couple of years, although maybe now it's a year or so since I've last tried it.  I do plan to get onto doing some middle-age tastings check-ins at some point.

Fourth infusion

Xiaguan left; still a bit lighter

Xiaguan:  this is falling into a much nicer balance.  That one heavy mineral towards earth range is still a little strong but I actually like that.  It almost comes across like the char effect in roasted Wuyi Yancha, or the one in scorched versions of Tie Guan Yin.  It's not exactly like those, but odd how close it falls in range.  When I keep saying this tea will be better later on I don't mean that it's not pleasant now.

Tulin:  the too-aged wood tone is lightening up, taking a step towards ordinary range cedar instead.  It's odd that I really don't remember that trace of musty aspect from earlier.  It stands out a lot more for the other common ground (warm earthy range, mild molasses-like sweetness, wood tones) serving as a common context, with the differences highlighted.  Tasting it alone the whole aspects and flavors set wouldn't be framed within that indexing effect.  It seems unlikely that the other tuocha was actually different (which I gave away to a local monk; those guys could be a bit challenged when it comes to access to tea shopping).  Surely two tuochas from the same set from the same shop are the same, including storage factors.

Fifth infusion

These will go through a later round transition cycle of some sort but the main story might be told by this round.  The Xiaguan sheng hasn't transitioned much, but the overall intensity has leveled off a little, so that it's easier to balance using normal infusion times.  The feel isn't really astringent but it has an unusual dry edge to it; that may have picked up a little, at least in relation to flavor intensity.  It still works.


The "Dali Nan Jian Xian" is the cleanest it has been; I can see why I might not have regarded that trace of mustiness as so problematic since it more or less drops out.  The main flavor is still wood along the line of aromatic cedar, like the strong smell you experience in a sauna, but brewed into a tea.  The sweetness makes it work, and it's nice how underlying warm mineral gives it a decent balance.  The feel doesn't have the same dryness and structure (fullness) the other tea has but to me that's as well; it's pretty far from feeling thin. 

Sixth infusion, a bit later

Sometimes it can help to take a break and come back to the teas, to get a fresh approach towards interpretation.  That touch of smoke in the Xiaguan, now transitioned more to a light char effect over a heavy mineral range, reminds me a lot of French roast coffee.  I'd like it better than French roast coffee, because I'm just not on that page now, and because it has lots of depth beyond what an over-roasted coffee version would.  Someone with a good imagination could really riff out a lot of descriptions for what's going on beyond that main range; it's a bit complex, and oddly clean in effect given that primary taste.  The aftertaste is so pronounced that it stands up to attempts to clear it by drinking sips of water, to taste the other version without that input.


The Tulin version is where I remember it now; much cleaner in flavor range, plenty intense for a tea that's halfway through an infusion cycle.  This is why I've been sneaking those tuochas into the house, and why it felt really unnatural sharing one with that monk.  One of the monks I was ordained with (a long story) mentioned liking sheng, which is why I made that exception, but I couldn't hand it over until I had a couple more.

Aspects descriptions don't really cover why I like this as much as I do.  It tastes more like cedar than anything else, and lots of so-so tea versions taste a good bit like cedar (not so often, but it comes up).  I don't like the mustiness or touch of mushroom that's still really faint in the background.  If I were to say it also tastes a little like spice or dried fruit, or the feel is catchy in a unique way, that would explain it (as an aftertaste description tends not to, for me; that just adds some depth). 

This Xiaguan version seems like better tea but I like the Tulin version more.  It's aged to a level of subtlety that works for me; I think that's it.  There's only so much shifting intensity or balance you can do by messing around with infusion strength.  It's not fair to leave it at that since the Xiaguan is a couple years younger, aged slower, and that smoke / char / French roast / heavy mineral range might well soften and turn into something pleasant and interesting, even in just two more years, stored here.

Conclusion

More or less what I expected, but the Xiaguan is better at this stage and age than I expected.

It was odd the Tulin version wasn't exactly as I remembered it but I think that trace of mustiness (starting out as mushroom, moving through old barn smell) over the first 3 or 4 rounds might've stood out a lot more in comparison.  Based on drinking this a few times before I think it has another 5 or 6 quite pleasant infusions to go, that it retains positive flavor and just thins in overall effect in the late cycle, so that there's almost no natural place to leave off, and it works to just keep brewing it longer.  It would seem really strange to simmer an inexpensive tea version to draw out a really late round but even that might work. 

I didn't really explicitly cover it in this review but both these teas seemed quite a good value.  Market forces set what teas are worth, where demand meets supply.  I've become accustomed to seeing nice descriptions and story lines pushing young sheng offering pricing to $70-90 per 357 gram cake level (20 cents a gram or so), and it's nice seeing pleasant aged versions in a different context selling for around half that.  Of course all of this is already just familiar ground to many, since these are standard sheng types.