King Tea Mall 2018 old tree Laotian and Ban Pen sheng comparison

This should be familiar ground, even though I'm not really familiar with the "Bo Ya" reference.  I last tried an old-tree locally produced Vietnamese sheng the day before yesterday, and I've tried a half dozen versions of Laos sheng in the past half a year or so.  These samples were provided by John of King Tea Mall for review; many thanks for that.

Editing note:  these notes stayed a draft for over a week due to travel, but that doesn't change much, except the timing in that one statement is now relative.


The Bo Ya product description follows, along with an explanation of that name:

Tea Name: BoYa written as 伯牙 in Chinese Character which belongs to 1st one as below:

1) 伯牙 (BoYa)，sheng cha
2) 子期 (ZiQi)， sheng cha
3) 桐琴 (TongQin)，Shou cha.

高山流水遇知音(GaoShanLiuShuiYuZhiYin) is a well known story happened more than 2000 years ago in China. When BoYa was playing zither, occasionally ZiQi came by and attracted by the melody and directly pointed out when the melody was describing towering mountain or babbling stream. So ZhiYin(知音, understanding melody) is used for describing bosom friends from then on.

This tea was made from spring tea materials of GuShu(old tree) and wild tea both from BanPen (班盆 where belongs to BanZhang tea area, also called one of five BanZhang villages) . Unique aroma from dry tea leaves from ancient tea tree with refreshing  mountain flavor and wild tea floral flavor...


So it's a blend of different materials--different, but not that unusual.  Some might be put off by the idea that old-tree sourced tea really would be used in a blend, but I take all the origin accounts with a grain of salt anyway.  The tea is what it is in final character, and either that's a good thing or not, and the story-line or actual background seems less relevant, in terms of it being normal for marketing exaggerations to change details a little along the way.  To the extent that older plant sources or more natural growing conditions ("wilder" teas) change aspects and outcomes those are completely relevant, as the origin location is, but as soon as you try the tea it all becomes academic since it is what it is in terms of characteristics.

That listing goes on to describe it further in terms of character, which I'll leave out here.  Related to cost this sells for $38.99 for 100 gram cake, so out towards the top of an upper middle price range for sheng, at least given my bias towards seeing a moderately priced range as typical.  For some people versions that tend to interest them might typically start at $1 a gram and go on from there.  It's simple enough math to sort out that this would relate to around a $140 357 gram cake, which is more than standard sized new sheng often tends to cost, except for those $200 per 200 gram cake versions, which are presented as relating to a different quality level and in-demand type.

Xishubangbanna prefecture, from the King Tea Mall site, image credited to this site, more info

May as well reference the other tea description while I'm at it:


Made from tea leaves of Gushu (old trees ) in MAN KA village located in Laos near the border of Laos and Myanmar.

Tea leaves were picked and processed in the Spring of 2018 year...

That is a flavor I have never tasted before. Though there is near the south border of YI WU tea region in China, but the taste is far different. Also different from teas from other regions in Yunnan.


This tea is selling for $24.99 per 100 gram cake, so at least in a comparable range for quality as implied by the pricing.  It would equate to just under $100 for a 357 gram cake, so really more in a standard upper medium range, with the other in a less common middle ground just beyond that.  Demand for teas varies quite a bit by origin location though, and for all I know that's on the low side as Ban Pen versions go, since it's an origin that comes up.

The main detail listed is that it tastes different than Yunnan sheng; that kind of works.  I can't imagine that I would ever feel like I have any baseline at all for all the sheng from Yunnan but there's no need to state that as a criticism, or imply one, just pointing out the obvious, that it's an unusual point to make.

In terms of process I'm switching form here and using a light proportion of these sample amounts versus the whole sample to result in tasting a packed gaiwan (the other choice I more or less always make, given an option to brew a high proportion or low one).  I'll need to extend infusion times a little beyond what I usually go with and the transition cycle will run faster, but this will probably allow me to go beyond 6 or so infusions I normally taste in one go and see the teas through until a relative end.

Since I like sheng brewed on the light side compared to almost all other tea types it might've made more sense to be using a related approach all along, and maybe it is time to alternate and experiment with that.

Review

Laotian Man Ka left, Ban Pen version right

"Man Ka" Laotian:  that's really nice right out of the gate, not even fully saturated yet.  There's a novel buttery quality to it that stands out right away, in terms of sweetness, softness, rich feel, and even flavor.  Everything else balances really nicely, that sweetness, the subtle richness, a mild level of bitterness, and subdued mineral undertone.  Other flavor range is more towards wood and floral range that hints towards fruit.  I cut a part from the description that works better cited here:

Since local people are not good at process puerh tea, my supplier brought workers from Yunnan to there and taken sun dried completed Mao Cha back to Menghai, Yunnan.


Of course I believe that was accurate related to production process (what really happened).  I've mentioned lots here from suppliers and review assessments that Laos sheng (and from SE Asia in particular) are quite inconsistent, but it's going too far to say that no local producer in Laos can make decent sheng.  I've tried versions that would contradict that myself.  To be fair they weren't as close to the style of better Yunnan versions, in general, or maybe even as a whole, across all of them, so this discussion is about relative consistency and variation as well as trueness to type.

I see this more as another case of not being careful with language use rather than as an inaccurate or biased statement.  I've cited a video before from William of Farmerleaf, who worked with Anna of Kinnari Tea and other parties to do processing training in Laos (covered further in this review post), and in general small farmers there were said to typically benefit from improving prior levels of processing skills.

This tea is good; that's the main thing.  It will shift as it fully infuses and might transition a good bit beyond that, given the other quality markers standing out early on.


"Bo Ya" Ban Pen sheng:  that flavor is really catchy.  I tried a tea presented as a Lao Ban Zhang some months ago that had a really interesting fruit-like flavor (or maybe floral, but in an unusual form) that this may or may not resemble.  I don't recall that I wrote about that since I tried it in that one local shop here, in Jip Eu, sold as coins (or "flapjacks," as White 2 Tea markets at least one related product shape).  After trying it again I'd go with complex floral as a main flavor range, as a good bit of floral flavor scope collected together.  Bitterness is quite moderate but it is just getting started; the final character, the early version of it, will show up more in the next round.

It's hard to keep track of inputs but I've notice that more "wild" tree sourced material (or teas presented as such; who knows which claims are most accurate) tends to be flavorful in distinctive ways and more mild, related to bitterness and astringency.  Then older tree material, versions sold as gushu, tend to be on the intense side, often with significant bitterness and pronounced mineral input, often with pronounced aftertaste as an aspect.  Of course teas vary by so many inputs and I'm so far from sorting it out those observed patterns may be of little value, along the line of guesses about generalities.  At any rate I'll do more with the experienced aspects description for both in the next round.

Second infusion

Laotian version left, Ban Pen right (still unfolding)

Laotian:  the flavor transitioned quite a bit, and it may have one more round to go to get to its normal aspect range in the early cycle.  It's hard to describe.  It's still smooth, sweet, floral (in part), and a bit buttery but the vegetal range shifted some.  It might be closest to wood but I would mean something relatively completely different by that than I usually do, and it always relates to different things anyway.  It's nice the way the tea is soft in feel but has some fullness to it, but a really pleasant aftertaste carries over anyway, an increase in sweetness right after you drink it.  Most often that would pair with an experience of bitterness but somehow something comparable happens with this tea with very little of that first scope; experience of sweetness bumps up then without much bitterness as a prelude.

It's different, in a good way, and obviously a quite pleasant version.  I kind of want to say it's "good tea" but that's almost too loaded a term to use in most cases.  Oddly it gives up a little, to me, for being this refined and subtle, since more local Laotian teas often express more flaws or style inconsistencies but they gain back something in truly novel character to compensate, as distinctive types of flavor intensity.  This is unusual but it's similar in style to Yunnan versions, just the end effect and flavor profile shifts a little, but not much.


Ban Pen:  I won't really be doing this justice in describing it; what's appealing about it is subtle.  Both of these are on the light and soft side related in part to me brewing them so lightly; cutting proportion enables moderating intensity.  Complex floral still works as a description but an unusual edge of mild bitterness and feel complexity has kicked in, completely changing the tea.  Aftertaste effect was interesting in the first version but really pronounced in this tea, even for drinking it quite light so far.  I'll let both run a little longer for infusion time to say more about feel, aftertaste, and flavor aspects next round.

Third infusion

Laotian:  gaining a little more infusion strength bumped up the input of bitterness and altered the feel a little.  This works well across the range, from what I'd consider to be very light earlier to what is normal for me now, or I suppose what others could still consider to be a light infusion (although their impression of an optimum I'd have trouble relating to).  The aspect range is well-balanced, refined, and catchy.  A little more bitterness might still work just as well but given the unusually positive flavor it's nice with that limited too.  And it's nice that the feel is full in a different way than normal, and that a reasonably long and complex aftertaste experience works out with minimal bitterness included.  The other tea is probably what a lot of sheng drinkers are shooting for as more of a better-case range but this works well for me.


Ban Pen:  I don't see this as completely unrelated to the other in character, just different.  They're both sweet and floral, both mild, both working well for being grounded by very limited mineral ranges, which might play more of a role in overall effect than is apparent.  Mineral range is less limited in this tea's case, but the floral tones stand out more, and a trace of integrated bitterness contributes a lot, on the low-medium overall level.  The feel isn't as structured as for a lot of sheng but it still works as significant; the overall balance is good.

Back to that "presented as LBZ" version I had mentioned, I was struck by how a really catchy flavor range paired in an interesting way with other character that was mild in nature.  It's easy to see types of intensity as a marker for really good tea, more flavor intensity, more bitterness or mineral, aftertaste, etc., and those being moderate but balancing well makes for a different effect.  More isn't always better, even for aspects regarded as positive.

I feel like I should say something about "floral" flavor range, in either of these teas' cases, but I won't, leaving off trying to describe that.  For someone more on that page, for floral scent awareness, that would probably be the main story to these and a natural place to add the most description but I'm just not there.

Fourth infusion

Both of these are transitioning a little, and will continue to, but for as vague as these descriptions are coming across I'm thinking of shutting the tasting notes down and just enjoying the teas.  They're both more similar than ever in this round, coming from different places and working towards not being all that different.  The butteriness in the first isn't in the second, and the way bitterness plays an interesting role in integrating with a complex floral tone is missing in the first, or at least a similar form of bitterness at a comparable but moderate level.

The flavor profiles aren't as far off as I would've expected though, the "complex floral" ranges found in both.  The bitterness in the second couples with an extension into a mild wood tone, give or take, giving it more complexity, and the aftertaste experience is more pronounced.

Conclusion

I don't have more to add since I'm finishing this post from notes form over a week after I actually tasted them, due to traveling some last week (to Udon province in Isaan in Thailand, if that rings a bell).  To me they seemed to represent good examples of middle-range sheng versions, of teas a good bit better than better-version factory teas or higher quality but still inexpensive blends, which themselves are better than the random low-cost sheng I've been running across in travels and reviewing.

I can sort of get why sheng versions billed as a good bit higher in quality (often pegged around the $1 per gram price level) are different and really better, but these teas are probably about as good as I tend to appreciate as different, with others just standing out for markers for higher quality level being present as much as them matching my preference better.  Some sheng enthusiasts might automatically react that I've just not tried enough of a better tea version range, versus only developing preference, and I can't reject that as a possibility.  Surely that's part of it.  It's not exactly how I see the themes and types as mapping out but I have another dozen or so versions to try at home now, between samples and new cakes stacking up, so maybe I'll know better where I now stand in terms of different variations in another two months or so.

As I keep re-trying the same teas I've been writing about a theme I've mentioned lots of times in this blog comes up:  a review based on only one tasting is just something of a first impression.  It's hard to gauge if any number of different factors might not throw off how I interpret any given tea on a certain day.  I was tasting a lot of them in upper 30s C / around 100 F temperatures lately, and I'm not sure if that couldn't affect either taste sensation, or just re-frame of internal reference enough to change things.  Acclimating to a slightly new range of aspects by trying a tea version a few times helps, and working through variations in parameters used.  Just changing expectations that vary according to what I've tried in the recent past can change impression.

These aren't intended as excuses for being inconsistent in descriptions; it really does seem like the experience of the same teas varies a little across different sessions, or in some cases more than a little.  I think interpretation has more to do with it than any "raw experience" input, and at a guess I'd expect everyone to experience varying degrees of being inconsistent in how they interpret the exact same experiences over time.  Teas sitting around longer, acclimating to local conditions over more than a month versus just two or three weeks, might well make a lot of difference too. 

Per usual none of this is heading towards any tidy summary; just rambling a bit about context. I might get around to doing a re-tasting of some sheng versions I've been drinking regularly to see if it bears all that out or contradicts it.

the main new thing has been rejoing my kids after their 6 weeks in the States

supposedly a Naga (dragon spirit) resides here.  I should write about that.

3000 year old human remains, from a 5000 year local history

all of this might be 3-4000 years old; it makes you think

Comparison tasting three Moychay shou pu'er (1999 to 2017)

I've done this theme before, right, here, or trying more aged version shou samples here?  There's more.

I've got a good number of teas around from different countries and wanted to review one of these three shou versions from Moychay for an unusual reason:  the label of a cake.  In reviewing others I ran across a translation description, and it reads "peace. hard work. tea."  And there's a picture of a Soviet-era communist looking guy on the front (unless that's just my interpretation).

2017 Menghai shou / ripe pu'er

I like shou anyway, and it will be interesting to check out more of their products range sooner rather than later, while I still have some memory of the others. 

Shou works really well as a breakfast tea, as something good enough to be quite interesting and pleasant but usually not such a subtle and high quality tea that you would want to set aside an hour and a half just to drink a long round of a tea.  They're really complex, and easy to brew, and work relatively well with food, if that's how you want to take one.  The best versions have a bit more going on, a different level of aspects to appreciate.

Low to medium quality and price shou work out much better than sheng on the same range, even if the character is also quite different, and at the higher end sheng variations and aged versions can be much more diverse, refined, and interesting.  Of course I don't just mean $200+ cakes; moderately priced sheng can still be nice, but you tend to pay quite a bit more for aged versions (and fairly so), and choosing good quality but moderate cost versions takes some doing.


On this review theme, it does seem like the comparison reviews are getting to be a bit much, that eventually I should let that go a bit and just describe a few single teas in posts.  I'll get to that.

Menghai 1999 big tree sourced shou

2008 Menghai shou cake

All of these are sold as different types of teas, varying most in description by age, since all are only listed for source as being from Menghai county.  I won't really get into their product descriptions here, even after the review description, since the comparison review sections tend to run a little long.  One might naturally expect that the oldest cake would be best (beyond the input of one having been better quality tea or processed differently to begin with), but we'll see.  The 1999 version is the only one cited as coming from older plant ("tree") sources, and it's made from the most whole-leaf material used, based on cake appearance.

Moychay 2017 Peace, Hard Work, Tea cake

Moychay 2008 "Tree" shou cake

Moychay 1999 old tree Menghai shou

Review

As usual the tasting order was chosen intuitively, instead of in a sequence that actually makes sense.  I was drinking them together anyway, round by round.  I hadn't checked the ages of the teas, and with the third (2017 version) I didn't know it during tasting, because it's not listed on the label front.  These notes kind of assume it's relatively new, as I'd written them on tasting, with that year added during editing.


Tree label image tea (2008 version):  interesting!  There's that one typical flavor in some shou that I can't place.  It's gotta be towards betel nut, or light camphor, but I really don't exactly what those taste like.  Camphor isn't right (I do have some idea of what that's like; Thais are really into healing balms); it's too sweet, aromatic, and too far towards dark wood or spice.  It's not that far from a old, aromatic, dark tropical hardwood smell, mahogany and such.  But it's clean, not musty at all, even though this is only the first round.  The feel is nice too, full and rich, with enough trailing aftertaste to make it a full experience during and after drinking it.

I wouldn't say the tea is as complex as it could be, beyond there being that flavor complexity and those different layers to the experience.  That range of flavor is full but integrated into a narrow set.  It trails out a little towards some aromatic spice or cocoa but basically it's just that one set of things I can't describe well.  The feel is soft and rich but full, quite velvety.  It's clearly better than average shou, to be this clean and full and show off that much complexity, especially right away.  In terms of flavors others can express more range, but this could pick up a little depth as it goes.


Old man label image (1999 version; that guy looks a little like Bodhidharma):  This experience overlaps, but at the same time it's interesting for how different it is.  The same:  it's also full and rich, on the velvety side, with a good bit of sweetness, and good residual aftertaste, not thin in any sense.  Different:  the taste range isn't far from the other as broad strokes go but it is quite different in a sense, related to finer level aspects.  There's an aromatic spice note that stands out, again something impossible to pin down.  It reminds me a little of sassafrass or licorice because those are the only root spices I'm familiar with but it's not either of those.  Saying it's in the middle between them sort of works, but it would be off a bit towards a dark, aromatic tree bark (not cinnamon; more dark and aromatic in a different sense).  It comes across as a brighter, higher note, more interesting for integrating into that richer, deeper range.

Both of these express that depth that's common to a lot of shou, a bit towards tar, but not close enough that comparison comes to mind, just earthy with a deep mineral base.  It'll be interesting to see where both go from here, the transition, and what layers add on.  They're both really complex and approachable, so there's nothing that stands to improve from any "off" aspects dropping out.  There's a conventional idea that young shou would tend to be like that (less than 5 years old), with a lot of fermentation taste yet to fade, but in my experience it just depends on the shou.  My take is that it's hard to get great complexity out of a shou that's sweet and clean tasting when young, not "off" at all, that they lose something for being really drinkable right away.  It would require pinning down variations in degree and types of fermentation better to predict what's going to work well at different ages.  I'm just noticing some of the most obvious results from such patterns, not even close to putting that together as clear cause and effects.


Soviet guy label (2017 version):  this tea moves a bit towards the petroleum side of the others, so that using that as a description does seem to work.  That must sound worse than it actually is.  It's my impression that this sort of aspect or effect is a sign of a younger shou version that will smooth out a lot over the next few years.  It may relate to that aging potential I was just talking about.  I've notice that as a pattern in this Kunming 7581 brick tea before.  I didn't re-review that tea after it spent another year aging, when it became creamy, rich, clean, and complex, with most of that aspect dropping out, or really swapping out, transitioning.  I could still drink this 2017 tea but the other two are in a more approachable range related to their earthiness.  Of course this being the initial round it's possible all three will be a bit different in another couple of infusions.

I could be clearer what I meant about aging potential.  There is an idea with sheng (raw pu'er) that if a tea is sweet, balanced in feel, floral or fruity versus a bit bitter, and easy to drink when it's young then it has been prepared in such a way that it's better right away but has very limited aging potential.  It's that "oolong pu'er" idea, although my sense was that ideas about processing approaches and other forms of inherent aspects were mixing in those discussion citations (local origin related and such). 

A 2014 Jia Ji Dayi tuocha I bought awhile back (which I mentioned re-trying in this other Moychay shou comparison post) served as a decent example:  initially it was hard to relate to, at two years old, but in such a way that it seemed to show potential, and just a couple years later very pleasant, but still showing a lot of potential for improvement.  Some other Yiwu sheng have seemed to go the other way; they're bright, sweet, floral, and pleasant earlier on, with just enough edge to balance well, and then some of the 5 to 10 year old versions I've tried were just flatter, faded out, as opposed to improved.  I'm not saying Yiwu sheng can't age well but I am saying that I've experienced cases where versions seemed to fade more than improve.


After the first round I liked the middle, oldest version best; that balance worked well.  But it's way too early to call this.

2008 left, 1999 top, 2017 right (also referred to by label image following)

Second infusion:

I gave these around a 10 second steep and that looked to be a bit long for the proportion.  I'm sure they'll be drinkable but it would be interesting to try a fast steep next to compare results.

2008 left, 1999 middle, 2017 right (same order throughout)

barely opened up yet

Tree (2008):  On the one hand this flavor profile is a bit basic and subtle, especially for a shou, but on the other it has really nice depth, and it's catchy.  That dark wood / old furniture taste really works well over the earthy mineral range base.  It hints a little towards spice, or maybe cocoa, and the sweetness could be interpreted as dried fruit, towards dried tamarind, but at the same time it comes across as a narrow, integrated flavor range.  It's funny how that's a contradiction.  The experience is that of a contradiction; this seems like a relatively simple flavor set, as shou goes, but it has a lot of depth to it.  That rich fullness, velvety feel, and aftertaste may be part of that; the experience happens on different levels.


Old man (1999):  With this tea it's more the case that a good bit of clean, multi-layered complexity pairs in an interesting way with a more pronounced narrow aspect range within that set.  That flavor is towards aromatic spice, but something odd, like frankincense or myrrh.  Who in the world could separate those out to a range of distinct scents?  I should drink this tea with an old hippie.  The sweetness and earthiness extends a little towards dark chocolate; that part is cool.  Interpreted differently that range might seem like dried dark cherry.  All of this range is really far from the more petroleum oriented aspects I'm expecting to taste in the next version.


Soviet guy (2017):  this tea is transitioning quite a bit; it's not what it had been.  It's moving towards a dark wood / spice range not so far off the first version's.  It just has an extra layer of depth to the range, and more intensity.  Mineral is much heavier, like that strange smell of a volcanic soil beach, or even that you might smell in the lava flow area, a very dark rock.  It works to interpret that as "peat" instead, but that shift from petroleum to peat seems to indicate it might clean up even more over the next couple of infusions, who knows into what range.  I like it but for someone new to shou this would be too much.  At the same time I suspect in another two or three years that story would change a lot, that this might just be a young version that has room to shift character and clean up a lot.  I haven't read the descriptions--even much for labels, since parts are in Russian--so the theme is sort of to taste these without that input first.

Again I liked the "middle" oldest version best, but that first sample drew closer, and for as fast as the third is shifting character I'd expect the comparison to be different in the next round.  I'll go with flash infusion (5 seconds; I'm not great with the speedy version of pouring tea in and out when tasting three), which should change how they come across a little.

Third infusion:

That was probably still closer to 10 seconds; messing with three versions slows things down.  Even smelling the wet leaves makes the different apparent in the tasting clear, the variance in the levels of different earthy and aromatic aspects.

Tree (2008):  These teas look almost as dark but the lighter intensity is apparent in the tasting experience.  I'm ok with shou brewed a bit heavy, with a dialed up flavor intensity and feel, but this is more standard for how I'd prefer any other kind of tea, and still on the heavy side for how I'd like many best.  It didn't transition that much, it's just lighter, so to keep this from stretching out I'll move on.  It works lighter, but then it had worked well a bit thick too.

Old man (1999):  This version works even better lighter.  It has more complexity to work with, and a more interesting flavor range than the first, so there's plenty to experience this way, and being brewed more intense than this lighter round probably takes away more than it adds.  I'm saying all of these feel thick and are velvety but really this one is on a slightly higher level related to that, and the aftertaste stretches on more.  It's probably because this tea has had time to transition all of the earlier, earthier range to a rich, sweet, complex smoothness.  It works as an example of an answer to that question:  can shou really age?  Beyond the 3 to 5 years to "clean up" fermentation range flavor not much, but in the right tea it can keep gaining depth and smoothing out.  Oddly this overlaps just a little with that Lao Man E huang pian version, which was thin in terms of flavor complexity (in one sense), and also just in a different range, but amazingly thick in terms of feel, aftertaste, and a subtle aromatic aspect.

Soviet guy (2017):  the petroleum and dark wood / mineral are still there in this but it's picking up a bit of that one marine element people tend to describe as "fishy."  It's funny how I like this tea but the description has to sound almost entirely negative.  I get the sense that if you move forward in time 4 years or so this is going to be a completely different tea, while those other two might just shift a little.  To me this is a tea someone would buy to experience and then hang onto, to taste a couple times a year to check in on, or a few, but really to experience as a later version.  This must be what gets described as a high level of fermentation.  It's probably a year old, although it could be two, and really needs a few more to shine.  The creaminess also picks up a bit, that one Guiness stout effect; I wouldn't be surprised if that comes through a lot more in later rounds.

That could be a problem for someone who doesn't have anywhere near a typical pu'er storage environment at home.  For almost anyone living anywhere "too humid" doesn't come up, since you'd have to be living in a swamp in Louisiana for this tea to mold if you sat it on a shelf.  It's 70 to 80 % relative humidity level here in Bangkok a lot of the year and it's fine, close enough to ideal.  I don't know how that transition would go if I were living back in Vail, Colorado where I spent most of my 20s (Avon, really).  It's bone dry there, so it would fade a bit, but would it transition, or just drop in intensity and stay where it is now?  I'll post this in a CO tea group and ask them.


I don't usually feel a "buzz" from shou, no matter what I'm drinking of it, but one or more of these teas is affecting me a bit.  As I keep saying you give up identifying that from a tea in these combined tea tastings.  In a sequential tasting you can tell; it sets in fast, but going by rounds like this not at all.  I might say I'll try them later and get back to you about which it probably was, most, but I won't.  I'm only "on the clock" for tastings on these weekend sessions and I'm not saying anything about other experiences.

leaves opened up more; plenty dark

nice rich tea; not for everyone's taste preference though

Fourth infusion:

Tree:  This tea isn't fading but it is more subtle.  This tea seems to be fine for a clean tasting, reasonably complex shou, a version that can be drank light and still work or inky black.  But the next one works on another other level or two, and as I'm interpreting it the third has more potential for aging transition to go well.  Bumping up the infusion strength would give this tea the effect of greater complexity since everything going on would be more pronounced, and with nothing negative for aspects it would be good that way.

Old man:  This tea isn't transitioning but the broader and very positive range of flavor aspects stands out in contrast with the first version.  It's just much better tea.  The first version is drinkable and positive but much less complex and not as interesting.

Soviet guy:  This tea isn't really transitioning either; it wouldn't much, between infusion 3 and 4.  At this point it's more a matter of how later rounds go, what broad themes follow and how it lasts in later rounds.

Conclusion

This seems like enough reviewing, even though there is a bit more to be described.  I liked all three teas.  The first seems like a nice drinkable moderate quality shou, the kind that would work well as a daily drinker, with great aspects, just a little limited in complexity.  The second has more going on across a couple of levels; to me it seemed like really good shou.  The third showed a lot of potential.  All of those fermentation related flavors should fade quite a bit and it should be a completely different tea in the next 3 to 4 years.

It wouldn't always work out that the oldest tea is clearly the best; shou can be made from different quality source materials, or fermented to different levels, and can vary in other ways.  I think this wasn't a fair comparison in that the one year old version really does need a couple more years to settle.  Maybe a ten year old shou would tend to be better than five year old version, all other things being equal.  The hearsay on aging shou is that past 5 years old they tend to not change as much, but the older versions I have tried (10 years and older) were typically smoother, with more depth.  Some having more interesting character than others seemed to relate to those other factors, to source type, processing differences, and overall quality as it all worked out.


I don't always go there but I'll mention cost and value related to these teas.  Looking them up on the site now the "Soviet guy" 2017 version lists for $21.17 for a 357 gram cake (quite inexpensive), the 2008 version for $16.33 for a 100 gram cake (or around $58 for the equivalent larger cake version), and the 1999 version 100 gram cake for $35 (or a bit over $110 for full size cake, multiplied out).  That's quite a lot of cost spread, but that seems fair to me, how that age and quality range should work out.  The lowest cost tea works well for an example of one that might be great in another 5 years, or even a good bit better in 2 or 3, if kept under the right conditions, and the other two were on the next corresponding levels, one a pretty good shou that's ready to drink now, and then an older version that has those extra levels of positive aspects.

One part people newer to the subject might miss is that this aging process isn't simply a matter of throwing the tea in a conventional warehouse and letting it sit in whatever conditions happen to occur; temperature, humidity conditions make a lot of difference, and maybe even degree of air flow.  If something goes wrong the tea can lose quality and value or be ruined.   The cost should be higher for the additional value input, and it makes sense on the demand side too, that shou that aged well is a more attractive product.  It tastes better, and probably gains other complexity.  Vendors with a lot of experience would move well past guesswork on what type of initial aspect range is going to turn out in what way but some end consumers would only tend to relate to experiencing the final ready to drink version.

It'll be really interesting to keep trying these and the other shou, to become more familiar with them through repeated tastings.  I would probably shift judgment a little after a few more rounds of tastings but that's how it goes with reviewing; it's about passing on an impression.

I should update their pictures on here

this one got in a scrap at summer camp; not good

I don't usually include my picture; at a local water park a week ago