Oriental Leaf Jin Hua sheng pu'er dragonball

 

I'm reviewing a Jin Hua dragonball version of sheng pu'er, provided for review by Oriental Leaf (many thanks for that!).  I don't really know much about the background, so I'll go right to the listing information first:

On Taoism Silk Road Black Pearl Jin Hua Raw Pu-erh Fu Tea ($40 for a 200 gram tin, or there's a sample size, three 7 gram "pearls" for $4.50).

On Taosim has long focused on crafting Fu tea (茯茶) using quality raw leaves from southern China. The Silk Road Black Pearl is an interesting expression of that approach — Yunnan raw Pu-erh material from Lincang, sent to Jingyang in Shaanxi province for the traditional Jin Hua (golden flower) fermentation process, bringing two distinct tea cultures together in a single tea...

Bai Ying Shan (White Eagle Mountain, 白莺山) sits in Yun County, Lincang, along the middle reaches of the Lancang River. It's a tea area known for a relatively diverse range of tea tree varieties. This tea is a blend of several cultivars from the area, including:

Er Ga Zi (二嘎子): A wild hybrid transitional variety. Known for its smooth, soft liquor, naturally high sweetness, and low bitterness or astringency.

Mengku Da Ye Zhong (勐库大叶种): The classic large-leaf Mengku variety.

Mengku Xiao Ye Zhong (勐库小叶种): A smaller-leaf counterpart from the same area.

Bai Ying Shan is not a hyped or speculative single-origin mountain. The material cost is honest, and so is the price. This tea is designed to be a reliable, everyday Pu-erh — something you can drink without second thoughts.

It mentioned being from 2024 material, which was fermented after that.  I didn't notice that much golden flowers input or secondary fermentation effect, so I'll have to speculate about how these noted aspects relate to that, or don't, in the conclusions.  Calling it a dragonball is kind of a marketing expectations judgement; in "the West" I think that's the most common term, but calling the shape "pearls" can work.  I think of that as relating to jasmine white tea, which are always smaller, but again naming doesn't change anything.

That last part they mentioned is something I had meant to comment on.  After writing review notes I had this tea again, and it works well for something to have with breakfast, to not pay that much attention to (as I did then).  And in a sense I think this "daily drinker" theme is often connected with a low-medium quality level more than it has to be.  Tea can be pretty good and still work well without the extra focus.  I drink sheng versions all the time that serve this role well, from different places, often enough as SE Asian sheng versions.

But to extend that a little good versions of orthodox Assam comes to mind, as a tea style that's great with food.  Or Dian Hong (Yunnan black); it's not that close, but still not so far away in character.  I can't really spend 45 minutes just focusing on a tea most days, and would get bored with repeating that over and over if it did work out that way.  People do mention using lower quality teas as something to drink with food, and others for focusing on over a longer time, but I drink a broad range of teas with breakfast, and don't think through this quality level cut-off issue too much.  If I really want to experience the tea more of course I won't eat while drinking it, but beyond reviews I mostly have tea with breakfast.

Review:

First infusion:  getting this dragonball to open is going to be an issue, as is typically the case.  This infused for over 30 seconds and it's not strong enough to really say much about flavors and the rest.  Maybe it will be bright, sweet, and floral, or maybe I'm getting that wrong.  

Often it works to pry the ball open once it has been through two or three infusions, and if you don't rush it leaving the ball sit in a closed gaiwan between early rounds can seem to let it steam to open.  I'm mostly just giving it long soaks early on, letting it sit for more like a minute on the second round.

Second infusion:  this unfurled much better than these usually do.  I'm not sure why; they all seem to be compressed to the same degree, or at least you can't tell the difference.

Bitterness stands out; this was brewed for awhile.  But it's in a pleasant form.  Sweetness also stands out, and what seems to be floral character.  It will be easier to do a flavor list from a lighter infusion, so I'll write it out next round.  Feel is positive already; that strong infusion form draws out some extra astringency but in general this seems rich and full instead of harsh and dry.

Third infusion:  it's a touch cloudy; that's interesting.  It's more a bad sign than a good one but it doesn't necessarily mean much.  Flavor include significant bitterness.  I didn't use a really fast infusion and that might make sense for this.  Sweetness is still good, but unpacking generally floral range beyond the bitterness is still tricky.  

There's an intensity that sheng drinkers end up craving, and this has it.  Sweetness is really pronounced, feel is full and intense, flavors are strong, if not particularly distinct, and bitterness stands out.  For people accustomed to other kinds of tea this wouldn't be that pleasant; it takes acclimation to like this style and form.  But this is a positive example of that, if one is ok with moderate bitterness.

Fourth infusion:  it's the best this has been, balancing nicely, but bitterness is still the main flavor input.  Or taste, if someone uses those terms in a different way.  A faint hint of smoke enters in, but it's still bitter, sweet, and floral.  A touch of fruit might be picking up, a bit of citrus to join the mostly floral range.  Brightness of tone and freshness makes it positive.  Plenty of mineral range grounds the experience, adding complexity and depth.  

A good number of years ago I would've had trouble relating to this tea, earlier on in sheng exploration, but now I like it.  If this had a rougher astringency feel it wouldn't balance nearly as well, but the feel intensity is in a good range.  It doesn't stand out as a great tea version, but it seems like a good example of this particular style range.  

Fifth infusion:  some vegetal range picks up this round.  It's hard to place; sort of a spring forest scent, nothing too pronounced.  It seems like the floral tone range deepens and warms as well.  A little supporting fruit hasn't changed, and it's still not very pronounced, a matter of interpretation whether it's there at all.  

To me this is the kind of tea experience that I tend to crave once in awhile, but not often, or most of the time.  It doesn't match with food experience particularly well, but you could have this with the right kind of breakfast.  Heavier and warmer flavors would work well in opposition to it.  I'd rather have a mild black tea with something like French toast and bacon, but a lighter or mixed tone breakfast would be ok with it.  I just had scrambled eggs with Thai spinach (amaranth), some pear, and rice with milk and cinnamon, as a porridge, and that would be ok.

Sixth and seventh infusions:  the brightness, sweetness, and freshness fades over these rounds, while intensity is still good.  The profile thins a little, and that hint of smoke shifts to be a hint of ash.  It's not as positive, but still pleasant.  Extending the infusion time so much for the first two rounds probably speeded up the transition cycle, so that at least some of this tea material is now brewing similar to how it would be brewed for a higher infusion count.  There are trade-offs to this presented form, and that's one of them.  Convenience is what you gain on the positive side; this would travel well, compared to carrying around a cake and pu'er knife.

Conclusions:

I had this with a breakfast within a few days after writing those notes and it was well-suited for that.  So I guess I changed my mind?  I might have been thinking that this would be light for pairing with a heavy American style breakfast, but I typically eat two eggs, often scrambled with spinach, and also some fruit, and either yogurt or a croissant.  It's not that heavy.  It all goes well with a light character young sheng, typically, even if those are more intense, bitter, and astringent than this was.

This doesn't sound like a hei cha style tea review.  I didn't even mention it, approaching it as normal sheng, and nothing in the character shifted me off that context.  Maybe there are warmer tones or a slightly different flavor profile; to some extent that's probably true.  I end up drinking a good bit of sheng that's oxidized more than is typical, for the most standard Yunnan sheng, so I wouldn't necessarily give limited style deviation much thought.  

But this expressed bitterness, and some feel structure comparable to normal sheng, it just wasn't challenging or rough.  Floral tones stood out, and a touch of citrus, and a hint of smoke, all of which doesn't sound like hei cha.  Probably if you are "looking for it" you would notice a touch of extra yeast-like flavor, and maybe even a little more honey than is typical for sheng, characteristic of that fungus input.  And it might seem like it had transitioned more than generally occurs in two years, but to me that's so variable related to storage conditions input that it doesn't mean anything in particular.  Teas change a lot here in Bangkok in two years.

It's good.  Related to value it's fine; 400 grams would be $80, so cost is moderate as decent sheng goes ($70-some per standard sized cake amount).  Someone might be disappointed if they wanted to experience a good bit more hei cha style effect, since this just seemed like sheng to me; some of their other sort of hybrid processing versions are a lot more like that, covered in earlier reviews here.

I was just drinking an earlier Fu zhuan version from them (Oriental Leaf) as Bangkok experienced heavy rain (for two days; it's flooding), reminding me how warm toned teas go well with different cooler weather.  It's never cold here; this is about as close as it gets.  The tone of this Jin Hua ball shaped tea isn't that warm, although it's not as bright and light as some sheng.  To me I can drink light, young sheng most of the time, and it matches my mood and relation to the weather, but then I only live in the tropics, so a rare 20 C / 68 F cool morning only happens a few times a year.

Oriental Leaf Fu zhuan hei cha comparison, Lincang and Fengqing versions

 

red wrapper Fengqing version on the left, in all photos

I'm comparison reviewing two exceptional Fu cakes from Oriental Leaf.  I think the zhuan part relates to a brick form, so I guess these aren't that, but it still helps identify the material type, for people accustomed to only seeing them pressed as bricks.  

I've recently tried what seemed likely to be the best example of Fu zhuan hei cha I've yet to try from them, reviewed here.  The comparison theme serves a few purposes.  One is to get through versions and samples of teas faster, so that I can review 10 or so teas a month, instead of 5.  

Then it also plays a role in highlighting minor differences between similar versions, which is why I'm using it for this review.  It would be hard to spot differences in feel, sweetness level, aftertaste expression, and so on when reviewing similar versions days apart.  Even isolating flavor aspect differences could be tricky, if a basic flavor range is similar.  It works best for very similar character versions; trying two completely different tea types just adds work, and probably limits what you can notice.

These will be exceptional, it's just a matter of how.  All of the Fu versions I've tried from them have been great, and that's not going to change for these.  That last version was surprising for eclipsing earlier examples, and just being on par with that would be good.  

I'll add the vendor descriptions here first, which I always add back in to the post review notes after trying the teas.  I should also add that these were sent by the vendor for review (many thanks!).  The days of bloggers connecting with producers and vendors to review teas are winding down, or just blog writing is, but it's nice carrying on that form, especially to communicate about interesting and unique teas.  

I had others try those earlier Fu versions in a number of gathering based tastings, and essentially every person saw the version we tried as a highlight.  Work out visiting me in Honolulu and Bangkok and you can place that for yourself.

On Taoism Jingyang Golden Flower Fu Brick Tea - 350g Cake (2020)  ($65.50)

A 2025 World Tea Champion winner where five years of patient aging and Yunnan's finest spring buds unite with Jingyang's legendary flowering craft to deliver a Fu Brick Tea of extraordinary golden flower density and silken, honeyed complexity.

Jingyang Golden Flower Fu Brick Tea — Naturally Flourishing Golden Flowers, Mellow Sweetness, Silken Body

Abundant Natural Golden Flowers (Jin Hua)

Masterful Jingyang Flowering Craft (Fahua)

Smooth, Sweet, Zero Bitterness

Ideal for Daily Wellness and Long-Term Aging

What Makes It Unique

2025 World Tea Champion — Superior Leaf Award: Internationally recognized for best leaf profile and cup character, validated by blind tasting from global experts.

Extraordinarily Dense Golden Flowers: This tea has everything we look for: excellent base material, perfect "Golden Flower" growth, and great aging potential.

Premium Yunnan Spring Bud Material: Unlike conventional Fu Brick made with coarse autumn leaves, this tea uses 2020 spring harvest with exceptional bud density from Lincang and Fengqing.

plenty of golden flowers (the Fengqing version)

the Lincang version

nice looking leaf material, not chopped, as hei cha in general would often be

The black wrapper version is from Lincang, the red from Fengqing (from good Yunnan Assamica plant tea material, where a lot of hei cha source material would come from elsewhere).  I could see why this stood out in an expo event competition; these are pretty good.  Again, as related to trying two other smaller cake versions earlier, one matches my personal preferences better, but both are nice, distinctive, complex, and lacking flaws.

Related to that pricing, $65 for 350 grams, these are much better than any pu'er versions you would buy for that cost range.  The type costs less in general, since demand isn't as high, but for tea of this quality in general under 20 cents a gram pricing is pretty low.

This review doesn't mention golden flowers (which are there).  They add a distinctive yeasty, fruity sort of flavor input, which at best comes across as fresh bread and honey or dried fruit.  Those flavors get mentioned, I just don't elaborate on guesses about the fungus causing them, versus the original material.

Review:

Fengqing:  very nice!  It includes the range one might expect, if anything a little more distinctive and pronounced than expected.  Sweetness stands out, along a toffee or light caramel range.  Flavors are relatively light and bright; a main flavor is similar to fruit cake, a mix of bright range dried fruits, particularly something like dried apricot.  There is spice, and warmer tones, but those are secondary, and the warmth is limited.  There is warm mineral range, but that will evolve more as the tea is fully wetted.  I'll do a longer flavor list next round.

Lincang:  spice is heavier in this, and the tone is slightly warmer.  It's also exceptional.  That spice range is going to be hard to describe; I think it's more than one thing.  One part might be clove, and another cinnamon.  

Of course there is a yeast-like aspect to both, so some description to fresh bread or cinnamon rolls would make sense.  I'll try to sort all that out next round.

Fengqing #2:  it's pleasant the way this set of flavors integrates.  It may or may not sound like that; it is atypical range, related to a lot of other tea types' character.  

Dried fruit stands out, a little stronger, maybe heavier toned this round (for being brewed lighter, or relating to more leaf input than fungus related flavor).  Yeast flavor has already dropped back, but another part of this does relate to a fresh bread flavor.  The type isn't easy to specify; maybe closest to fresh cinnamon rolls or sticky buns (which are kind of the same thing, just presented differently).  

Light and warm mineral supports the rest, giving it a depth.  Pronounced sweetness seems to help tie it all together, now more clearly in a toffee range.  It's very clean in effect.  Feel is full and rich, and it provides some aftertaste experience, with some of the warmer tones and sweetness carrying on after.  

Lincang #2:  spice develops further.  This is really more than one kind of spice.  A warm incense spice stands out, something like sandalwood.  There is no astringency bite or sharp edge to this, but it includes spice range like a cooked form of ginger, a different kind of medium toned note.  That's closer to cooked lotus root, if that's familiar.  It doesn't come across as sweet as the other, but it includes sweetness.

Mostly related to personal preference for sweeter teas and fruit range I like the first better, so far.  But this balances well; the flavors are complementary.  Slightly stronger dark bread tones works well with the rest.  I've been brewing these a little strong because they work well that way.  The flavor intensity would support lighter infusions still being pleasant.

Related to comparison with the other earlier versions these might be a little better.  It's been awhile, so it's hard comparing across months of time since earlier exposure.  And when I drink tea just to enjoy it, or even in informal tastings, I tend to break them down as descriptions less, which sort of could help with analysis and ranking.

Fengqing #3:  it evolves; warmer tones keep ramping up, and lighter sweeter range is replaced by heavier sweeter range.  The earlier fresh cinnamon roll is closer to a fresh darker bread now, not a heavy version of one, but not light either.  The earlier dried apricot has changed to a heavier dried fruit, or mix of dried fruits.  Feel is still thick and rich; maybe even a little heavier.

As a sheng drinker one might consider if teas that lack the intensity and punch are somehow less appealing.  Flavor intensity is fine in this, but young sheng, or sheng with limited aging, is typically aggressive, in terms of feel and flavor, and this isn't that.  I never completely stop drinking black tea, versions along the line of Dian Hong, or related SE Asian forms, so I stay in contact with preference for a different range.

Some of this character isn't different than flavorful and intense black tea, that expresses a lot of depth.  The flavor profile isn't a close match, but it does overlap.  The warm mineral base and fullness can be comparable, again only related to black tea versions that emphasize depth.  The bread-like range is different.

In giving it one last taste before the next round something like dried blueberry might make for a good interpretation of part of it.

Lincang:  this evolves to include more spice range, again along the line of incense spice, perhaps close to sandalwood (although my incense spice range memory awareness is now limited).  It comes across as a little dryer.  Really it is sweet and full, with good depth, but small differences across a similar range stand out in comparison tasting like this.  A touch of fruit edge might relate to a warm citrus peel, not like chen pi (aged tangerine), but still not so far from that.  

There's almost a savory effect.  It's not similar in flavor that it links to related to sun-dried tomato, the other form of savory / umami flavor that tends to be expressed, beyond seaweed that's more common in green tea forms.  This might resemble dried seaweed a little, the roasted sheets version.  But it lacks the vegetal range; it's just the savory edge.  And that is secondary to the warm spice and dark bread context, along with warm mineral base.

Fengqing #4:  this shifts a good bit.  That dried blueberry I had mentioned is closer to dried cranberry now.  It's not exactly tart, but the fruit flavor has changed.  Maybe dried dark cherry works better.  The warm tones have shifted from a bread-like yeast note closer to cacao.  This is much closer to one set of flavor aspects that can come up in black teas, that dark cherry and cacao pairing.  The base feel and deeper flavor range context is different.  It doesn't include any of that sharpness in black teas, present in a very limited form in soft and full black teas.

Feel is a little creamy.  You tend to only associate that with milk oolong, or at least light rolled oolong, but it works as a description for this.  It's reasonably close to a milk chocolate and dried fruit experience, layered on top of warmer mineral and earth tones.  It's harder to isolate the earthy range in this, since the rest stands out a lot more, but I think it plays a role in this seeming so full and complex, and balanced.  It would be natural to just interpret it as warm mineral, but I think it's both, also including mild and sweet earthiness.  

Something along the line of a touch of sweet leather gives an idea of what I mean, but this doesn't taste that much like leather, it would at most relate to a base flavor tone.  Of course that vertical layering is something I'm adding in interpretation; I really do "see" the flavors in that way, but it's probably more in how I frame them than a naturally occurring positioning that everyone else would also experience.

Lincang:  that one spice note dominates this, and then there is a lot of depth and complexity beyond that.  I guess how much one likes this tea might relate to how they experience that one flavor aspect input, as much as the rest.  To me it's squarely within the range of incense spice experience, but I guess someone else might see it as tying to medicinal root spice, or something else.  If you think "bay leaf" when you taste it then it seems to resemble that conventional cooking spice.  

Since other spice range supports that aspect experience it's really complex, even if it's natural to see it as simple, with one note supported by others.  The rest sort of resembles that complex mix of spice inputs in pumpkin pie spicing, which of course overlaps quite a bit with masala chai spices.  I suppose preconceptions about flavors, what one expects, or associates with different complex ranges, would affect interpretation.

Fengqing #5:  this will probably be enough for note-taking, even though these won't be finished.  

Somehow yeast range seems to pick back up.  Interesting; that had seemed to fade.  That relates to a complex flavor set the golden flowers contributes, which seems to extend well beyond yeast, into some of this fruit range I've been describing.  The feel of this is interesting, and pleasant, really well balanced and full.  There is still that pleasant set of dark cherry and cacao flavors present.  This would work well as a Christmas tea with nothing added to it.

Aftertaste intensity is unique.  It's not one main flavor carrying over, or a set, but the rich feel and depth of flavors, and sweetness, all linger on.  Compared to sheng intensity or oolong creaminess and floral range it's limited, but it has a lot of depth, so it doesn't come across as limited.

Lincang:  the main spice note falls into a more even balance with the rest, letting this integrate the best it has.  Those other complex flavors worked well as supporting range before, but now it's all of a similar intensity.  It comes across as softer and fuller, and maybe even sweeter.  A yeast-like depth resembles a light rye in this, a fresh bread note.  Apparently this will brew a few more infusions that are even more pleasant, complex, and balanced, instead of narrowing in scope.

Again related to my own preference the first version stands out more.  I can appreciate spice range flavors, layered with fresh bread notes, but an even sweeter dried fruit and cacao set of flavors works better for me.  This probably relates to a difference between people who are attracted to lots of sweet flavors and deserts, like dried fruit based deserts, or even chocolate and ice cream, and others who like a savory and spice oriented range more.  

Why not both, as differing experiences at different times?  I do crave plenty of intense, bitter, aggressive young sheng, but my main preference within that range is lighter, fruity, strong but approachable versions.  Then sometimes I'll have Xiaguan that's not all that close to ready, and the variety of experience is nice.  A Da Xue Shan origin (I think it was that) "cannonball" form version works well to cover both ranges, and to balance, even related to being transitioned but far from fully transitioned, from 2017 or so.  I just looked it up; it was 2018.  The point is that some of my favorite teas aren't sweet and fruity.

Conclusions

A lot is concluded in this already.  The teas are good, from good plant material, sold at a good value.  I liked one more than the other (the Fengqing material version), related to it being sweeter, a bit fruity, and for tasting like cacao, while the other included more incense spice range, that transitioned to being more balanced by other inputs in later rounds.  

Both kept brewing; I tried another pleasant round that day, and two more the next day.  They needed more time for those 5th through 7th infusions, but you could stretch timing and keep going, or even simmer that type of tea, if you wanted to get the last of it.  Plenty of tea types you drink until the character is unpleasant, but these don't drift into tasting like some version of wood in late rounds (per my interpretation; maybe that simmered round would be off in some way).

To me a next question is how these would compare to the last exceptional Fu zhuan I just reviewed from Oriental Leaf (a 2010 Jinyang version).  I don't know, but I can guess, and might write about comparing them.  These are quite good but I think that tea was great.

You tend to miss things in trying a tea just once, as I do in these reviews, but I have to accept that limitation or else I would need to write and compare two sets of notes for each post.  There might be a difference in body / feel, flavor complexity, or depth between versions.  You can easily miss an important input that's kind of "in the background," like a touch of sourness, or a minor flavor.  I noticed mint on a second tasting of one recently; it was secondary, in terms of intensity, but it adjusted how the rest came across.  I would probably just compare the version that I liked better; three way tastings get to be a bit much.

Those earlier two On Taoism versions (identical tea, listed here, and reviewed earlier here, but sold as 190 gram cakes) were essentially an equivalent option, just sold at less volume, and a slightly higher cost (but still around 20 cents a gram).  I had reviewed them brewing them Western style.  That works, but for teas this good it's interesting to me to see the development of them across Gongfu rounds.  

If I'm in a hurry in the morning I'll still sometimes brew exceptional tea Western style, to keep things moving, and it's nice that these work both ways, as better black teas do.  For good oolong you kind of lose too much from transitions, but for inexpensive and medium quality rolled oolong, as most Thai versions are, Western style is still fine.  If an oolong version is limited in quality or flawed enough Western brewing is better.  Initially I kind of expected more limitations from these teas, an extra rough edge or feel gap, but they're solid, complex and well-balanced.

an orange kitten helped with this tasting

Oriental Leaf Fu zhuan hei cha (based on white tea)

 

I'm reviewing a Fu style hei cha from Oriental Leaf (sent by them for review; many thanks!).

Baicha Fuzhuan (Fu Xi & Fu Bao)  ($45 for 190 gram brick)

Baicha Fuzhuan is a unique style of Fu brick tea made using white tea leaves as the base material. This tea is naturally fermented to develop “Jin Hua” (金花, golden flowers) — a type of beneficial fungus (Eurotium cristatum) traditionally prized in Chinese dark teas.

What makes this tea stand out is its smooth and sweet profile, with the light floral notes of white tea combined with the earthy, mellow depth from fermentation. The result is a gentle, aromatic tea with both clarity and richness — offering a fresh take on classic Fu tea.

Crafted by On Taorism几于道, this tea proudly represented Orientaleaf at the 2025 World Tea Championship, where it won the Superior Award for both Best Leaf Profile and Best Cup Character...

The side of the box clearly states: “Source of Fu Tea: Jingyang (茯茶宗源地),” honoring the tea’s origin. Jingyang is historically known as the birthplace of Fu brick tea.

I've left out that it's sold in either red or yellow wrapping, with the tea the same.

So it's white tea processed as Fu style hei cha, similar to one other version I've tried from them (here).  It is a bit mellow and fragrant; results seem generally positive.  The notes cover that.

Review:

first infusion:  interesting!  It's not really subtle, but it's on the mellow and balanced side, with lighter tones showing up a lot more than I expected.  Fu zhuan is never heavy, earthy, and peat-oriented, as shou pu'er can be, but this is a little light in tone as others go.  A distinct sweetness that I see as connecting to the fungus (golden flowers) input stands out.  Often that will couple with a yeasty sort of note, and that's subdued in this, not overpowering, not even overly pronounced.  So it is earthy, a bit like a light rye bread, combined with light floral tone, but it's rich and creamy as well.  

I expected more intensity, but for this being clean, complex, and balanced by positive feel, and including a limited but also diverse flavor range, the overall balance is nice.  I'll be brewing this for 20+ seconds to keep the intensity up.

second infusion:  heavier flavors enter in, and intensity picks up; it will be easier to add more of a flavors list.  The bright, yeasty, towards rye bread and floral range (chrysanthemum) tones are still present, but a whole other range adds to that.  Warm, clean, balanced mineral range joins it.  I suppose it seems in the general spice range, or tied to that, so that warm mineral and moderately warm-toned spice seem to link.  The spice range is complex; one part is light, like ginseng, and another leans towards bark spice, just not cinnamon.  

Sweetness is nice; that helps the rest balance.  The effect being so clean also works well.  There is no off earthy or mineral related input, no mustiness, no challenging astringency edge, and so on.  Feel is somewhat full, kind of moderate, not as thick as the creamiest and thickest teas but with plenty of good feel to give it balance.  It's nice, altogether.

There are distinctive flavors that people could identify in different ways in this.  What I'm describing as yeasty rye bread, ginseng, or warm mineral people could interpret completely differently.  Seeing a part of it as relating to some type of dried fruit would work.  I see the chrysanthemum oriented warm and smooth floral range as secondary, a supporting element, but someone else might see it as at the core of the experience.  Describing some of those parts as light wood tones would work, along the line of driftwood, maybe, something smooth and rich but not astringent.

third infusion:   it transitions a little, but it's hard to say how.  A light dried citrus peel note seemed to enter in.  The former light, brighter range rye bread (dominant range) is transitioning, so that warmer, heavier flavors pick up more intensity.  Aftertaste is longer, the finish, and warmer mineral range picks up, joined by a slightly more structured feel.  I suspect that I could drink this during a fast; there is so little that's challenging in the mouthfeel that it might also feel fine for your stomach when conditions are problematic.

It's almost as if the golden flowers add a different kind of character in this.  There's a brighter, yeasty, towards beeswax range that often is included, and that's not completely missing here, but the tones are warm, soft, and balanced.  It's more towards that warm floral range.

it brewed darker later rounds; I must have infused that quickly

fourth infusion:  not so different than last round; it seems like this might lose intensity over a few more rounds and that will be it.  Compared to some of what I've reviewed it might sound like this had a shorter story to tell, and I guess in a sense that works.  It's also nice drinking a more mellow, basic, somewhat complex but not challenging tea.  

As a sheng pu'er drinker I tend more often crave that bright, bitter, flavor intensive, and astringent intensity.  This connects closer to my black tea preference, for which I like more of the opposite, teas that are comforting and basic, with depth but not so much complexity and intensity.  Sometimes it's nice to not be challenged by your tea, even in the sense of appreciating a lot of complexity and refinement.  It's distinctive and complex enough; I mean that it's approachable and agreeable.

I just reviewed a black tea that was almost too good, that works as an example.  You just wouldn't have such a tea with breakfast, and it would waste the experience to not focus mainly on that for at least 45 minutes or so, or a half an hour if you were rushing it a little.  You would need to be in a somewhat clear mental space to really relate fully to it, especially related to changes across infusions.  This hei cha you could just drink, with a breakfast, while doing other things, or just relaxing in the afternoon, without paying too much attention to it.  Or it is unique and pleasant; you could focus on it if you wanted to.

It's nice how today is our first day of the cool season.  It's still in the upper 80s out here, just now, 32 C (so about 89), but the much drier air feels completely different.  The rainy season in Thailand is quite hot.

Further conclusions:

That's already most of what I thought of it.  Related to it really being a white tea, as a starting base for further processing, that explains why it was so mellow and yet also fragrant, including nice floral range and lighter spice or wood tones.  It's good.  Good enough to win an award at a tea expo or contest?  Sure, I suppose.  It did, and it was pleasant, complex, balanced, and unique.

This makes me consider value; one of the benefits of appreciating Fu style hei cha is that it's often cheap, although if you need to seek out better versions and try lots that aren't as positive to get to an exceptional one that adds cost, effort, and delay, and what you waste on shipping also factors in.  Often a slight rough edge or off flavor can adjoin otherwise interesting and pleasant range, or other limitations.  Then drinking older versions can mellow a tea out to make some of those limitations drop out, and let depth increase, but then it's back to adding significant cost.

This was $45 for 190 gram brick.  For sheng pu'er that's a typical range; that would be something like $85 for a 357 gram cake.  For standard Fu zhuan range it's a little high.  But then this isn't standard Fu hei cha, it's a variation, and a higher quality example.  That other white tea based Fu processed version was sold as 10 3-gram mini tablets for $15.50, so for around 50 cents a gram; significantly more.  But then the sample theme works out like that too; you don't buy a 10 gram pu'er sample for the same unit price as a 357 gram cake.

In that post I think that I concluded that there's not an industry standard price range for teas this unique.  I suppose existing demand would also be limited.

I reviewed two 190 gram Fu cake versions from them last year, not identified as based on white tea, or some other atypical variant, and those were priced at $38.50 for 190 gram cake (two variations of it).  Compared to what market outlets like Yunnan Sourcing or King Tea Mall sell that may sound like a lot, but trying low or average quality Fu zhuan hei cha might identify that this budget-oriented approach is problematic, for the reasons I mentioned, because lots of it isn't that good.  If the idea is to buy the cheapest possible tea that could be great, but how enjoyable the tea is factors in a lot, for most.  Those were really good tea, surely in the high end of the range as Fu zhuan hei cha experience goes.  

This version is even more unique, and whether someone sees it as better or not might come down to personal preference.  I think it would appeal to a broad range of people, more so than average quality Fu zhuan or other hei cha.