100 and 300 year old plant material Bing Dao sheng pu'er

 

A local tea contact passed on some amazing tea, sheng pu'er from Bing Dao.  Usually with tea of this origin you end up considering the likelihood that it's really from Bing Dao, but in this case I'm pretty sure that it is.  It's an interesting story as to why.  Here's a limited description of what it is:

"...all from Bingdao laozhai Fengzi hao brand authentically laoshu (below 200 year old tea tree) and Gushu (more than 200 year old)..."

That source is perhaps the main local (Bangkok) tea expert.  

I don't use that term "expert" lightly; there aren't many people I would refer to as such.  I accept that Olivier Schneider is both a tea expert and pu'er expert; that works as an example.  Earlier on he wrote articles in puerh.fr, but he has moved on to different kinds of exploration in the decade since, including tea production.  It's just an example. 

Lots of vendors know lots about tea, but their focus tends to be narrow (generally; not always).  Producers end up experiencing depth that others just can't match, but generally within a different type of narrow range.

This tea expert is Steven Liu, author of his own tea blog, here (which I think is a pen name; his formal name isn't a complete secret).  He's been writing that for 14 years, a year longer than I've been at it.  He is creator of a main Thai tea group on FB (with almost 80,000 members; not bad), and a main Thai tea marketplace group on there as well.  He hosts different kinds of talks and seminars on tea, and travels to events related to tea, reviewing tea production; all the usual themes.  Local tea enthusiasts all know him, even more than me (a lot more; he is a local Thai, and is more connected).  

He didn't buy this tea, a producer he is in contact with and was visiting gave it to him (or essentially that; I'm writing this from memory of a message discussion).  It's real.  How good it is makes for another subject, but it's almost certainly a pretty good, type typical version, with "pretty good" being used in an unconventional way.  Skipping ahead, it is exceptional (both; I'm trying a 100 year old material version and 300, both from 2025).

Since I haven't described us as being close local friends, why would he share tea of this caliber with me?  Longstanding tea enthusiasts would get it; it's natural to share tea, and you would extend that further with people who would appreciate tea versions more, or who you share other commonality with, like writing about the subject, running FB groups, and holding events.  Reviewing a Bing Dao version here not long ago reminded him of the theme, and he felt that I should try a real, good version, which is very kind (my deepest thanks!).

Review:

100 year old plant source:  it's really good.  That's what I would have expected, so these teas will be up against some high baseline expectations.  It will make for a good opportunity to describe how that factors in, and what I make of drinking exceptional tea (sheng especially), versus pretty good and pleasant versions.

A hint of dry mineral will probably turn to stronger and clean mineral next round, and that's it for even vaguely negative aspect input.  Even that's more positive than negative.  Sweetness is good, and tone is bright and pleasant.  The flavors span floral range, with a lot of mineral base standing out.  Bitterness is pronounced but moderate, but it will probably reach the level this tea provides when fully wetted next round.  It all balances really well; it's refined.  All of that for the light first infusion.

300-400 year old plant source:  this is similar, but I'll end up focusing on and describing minor differences.  It's sweet enough, and floral, with mineral standing out, and limited bitterness.  One part of the tone is warmer and deeper.  This might develop more complexity, and a slightly different flavor profile.  

For the flavor being just a touch warmer, mineral and bitterness being more subdued (a little), and for it seeming to cover a different kind of depth this seems like it could be a year older.  These teas seem pretty new though, maybe a 2025 version instead of 2026, but seemingly not really aged.  [later editing note:  that guess was right, they're from 2025].  That's in relation to them being here (in Bangkok); in a cool and dry environment these could be 3 or 4 years old, and just not changed much yet anyway.  For here maybe the first half a year these were exposed to local conditions changed them faster than I expected, and these are really from 2026 [so to be clear it's not as if I really could tell.]

It's hard to pin down how plant material being older changes things, because it's hard to rely on that story of background being accurate, even from more reliable sources.  This local tea contact, Steven, visited Bing Dao, and he is really into the background and details related to tea, so I'm guessing that these are as reliable and legitimate as you could get [with just a little more detail in the intro part, but not much].  And he's not selling these, at least to me, and I think in general; he just shared them.  We're more contacts than friends too; I've only met him once, in person.  Some people into tea are open to sharing, sometimes especially with people who can relate to what teas are.

I've described this tea as expressing more warmth and depth, but it would also work to say that it's leaning towards a spice range flavor, like incense spice or aromatic tree bark, maybe like agar wood (not that I'm really familiar with that).  I explored tisanes more in an earlier life phase; I would've had more familiarity with that range then.

100 year old plant material second infusion:  very clean, with good intensity, and a very pleasant flavor profile.  Floral range is bright and sweet, and moderate mineral base and bitterness match that well.  The flavor picked up quite a bit of range.  You could phrase that as complexity--including more elements--and depth, seeming to span some range that serves as a base for the rest (mostly mineral).  Aftertaste carry-over is pleasant, and the limited bitterness does trail on as sweetness (hui gan).  Feel is significant but it doesn't really center in one place in your mouth, causing sensation across a lot of it, relating to a moderate mouth watering effect.

This tea is better than it needs to be for me to appreciate it.  It all really balances well, with flavor and every other aspect quite positive.  It's not as if it could be too good, if that could somehow be a limitation, but beyond a certain quality range the teas seem to justify a good bit of attention and respect, so that you can end up putting work in just being fully present for the experience.  It's not entirely negative to drink tea mindlessly; that can be positive in a different way.  There are other things one could focus on, like drinking it outside on a sunny and breezy morning, cats walking by, and so on.

300-400 year old material:  bitterness and mineral base are more moderate, but this includes a lot more depth and flavor range.  It's a simple tea still, in one limited sense; the range it covers is limited, but it works well, it's very pleasant and refined.

Older plant material sheng versions can be less intense, especially related to the strong bitterness and heavy mineral edge.  That's happening with this.  Other complexity enters in, often, as with this expanded flavor set and richer feel.  This has evolved to cover more root spice range, something like sassafras.  I don't mean that it tastes like root beer, although that could be partly accurate.  

I grew up in a forested area, in Western PA, and certainly don't remember the scent profiles of a lot of kinds of trees, but when I was younger I was very frequently exposed to them.  I would climb trees, dig up a lot of things that made no sense to be digging up, and we cut a diverse range for firewood, I guess like in Abraham Lincoln's life story.  A number of fresh root types have a cool, bright, almost fruity smell.  Maybe this part gets a little strange, but I would crush leaves to huff the scent as I hiked in later years, in Colorado.  Especially pine and sage.  In the garden I'm drinking these in I don't do that, but flowering vines do share their scent at different times, which is pleasant.

Someone else could see part of this flavor as falling within vegetal range.  I had okra with breakfast; I suppose it's not completely different than that kind of scent, or flavor.  But to me a light root spice interpretation is more natural, for this round.  It's a stretch to call a light, bright, sweet root spice flavor vegetal.

Drinking water between rounds tasted very sweet, an interesting after effect from some sheng versions.  Sometimes that relates to a strong bitterness and sweetness intensity, and these aren't intense in that way, in the sense of that experience being strong.  It's still pronounced though.  For as mild as these are they could be a little older than I had guessed, 2025, and that softened bitterness and astringency could relate to 2 or 3 years of settling input.  I would guess that they're relatively young though, only a year or two old, and they're just like that, intense in a different way, that's not harsh or intrusive.

100 years, third infusion:  that's so pleasant!  I've tried tea presented as Bing Dao in the last few weeks, but I can't really do much with connecting or associating this with that, or rejecting commonality.  It probably seems similar.  If that tea was this good it was really good, and as I recall it wasn't so far off this for general taste range.  Light floral range pops more in this than in the other older plant material version, which also includes other flavor range.  The sweetness and floral intensity balances really well with moderate bitterness and light mineral base.

300-400:  it's interesting how this overlaps with the other version, but is so different, in a different sense.  This includes more flavor range, as I've already described, with bitterness and mineral playing a more limited role (although it's moderate in that too).  The part I keep describing as different spice range seems to transition to mint, or at least including mint.  It's catchy.  Of course that's a light and herbal mint, like spearmint, not a sharper and heavier peppermint.  Maybe some would call that camphor, but it's a light expression of it, if so.

Going back and trying the first the bitterness and slightly drier feel stand out, when those seem really well balanced with sweetness and floral intensity before you make that comparison.  One more infusion might be enough for now.  I can kind of feel these teas, but it's not too much of that part that's an issue, just that this is already a lot of tea experience.  I'll hold a tasting tomorrow; I suppose in a different way I'll go through a lot more then.  But with more emphasis on a social aspect, and some related ideas; it's different.  This requires focus.

100 years, fourth infusion:  not so different than last round; I should probably keep this short, since it was already a lot to read.  It improves, becoming catchier and better balanced, and the balance was already good.  The floral range might include just a little dried fruit at this point.

300-400:  the impression of depth still stands out.  It's interesting how that works out; you can't really place what is causing it.  Broad flavor range and feel thickness are part of it, but it's more than that.  Flavor intensity is pronounced in one sense and limited in another.  It's definitely not a sheng version that smacks you in the mouth, but it's not thin or limited either.  It lacks the limestone light mineral in the other version, but there is a mineral base.  It's refined and balanced, but that's probably not so descriptive.

I think this is a tea experience that a lot of people would value quite a bit, but it would help to have tried a lot of sheng to recognize and relate to it.  It really is refined; the parts come together well as a whole.

later infusions:  obviously this wasn't anywhere near the end, I just stopped taking notes.  Later transitions are sometimes interesting, but in general the first 4 or 5 rounds tell the story, and the rest is more about how it holds up to a lot of infusions.  But it's usually not worth writing hundreds more words about, or reading them.  The main reason for limiting notes is to keep this text volume readable.

Conclusions:

Just fantastic teas, probably about as good as anything I've tried, and perhaps better than I can fully appreciate.  In one sense I have basic tastes, which I won't go too far into here.  If you read about the teas we just tried in a tasting, in the last post, that could help explains how I absolutely love teas that are flavorful and distinctive, but not "refined" in this sense, especially Thai and Vietnamese versions.

I can't expand too much on placing what I experienced of them.  One concern comes up, about noticing the typical, distinctive aspects range for local origin typical versions.  Bing Dao is said to include a cooling sensation after you drink it, and to include honey sweetness (and maybe other characteristics; that's just what comes to mind, of standard hearsay).  One part of a flavor reminded me of mint at one point, but I didn't mention a cooling effect.  It's likely enough that if I was "looking for that" I would have noted it, regardless of how prominent it was.  Same for the honey flavor, maybe.

It's not unusual for me to try a tea a few times and notice something I had missed, even if I tried to do a complete review of what I had experienced earlier on.  Interpretation of experience works out like that.  But how can you fully value something novel and sought after, like a cooling sensation after drinking a tea, if you aren't noticing it?  I suppose that I couldn't.  It leads into considering other learned preference for experiences, but I'll skip another tangent on that.  

The teas were great in some pretty conventional ways, extending that a little into interesting and unusually pleasant range.  But I'm no clearer on whether or not the other tea I recently tried was "real Bing Dao" or not.  I don't think it was this good, but that can be hard to place.

the cat was fixated on a squirrel during the review tasting

he was hanging upside down by his feet, eating part of a flower

she is Siamese, so a Thai cat in two different senses

Thai and Vietnamese black tea and sheng pu'er at a Bangkok meetup

 

it wasn't this meetup; I forgot to take a picture (but this is Seth and Huyen)

I finally hosted people for a tea meetup this weekend, trying some really nice teas, that went well together as a set.  The main focus was on Thailand and Vietnam origins, but the two last versions didn't fit this post heading description at all, as aged Yunnan sheng (2004 from Dayi / Taetea), and 2020 Fu hei cha.  I took no pictures of the event or participants; that's an oversight.

The sequence of teas worked out well.  The people joining were in a good place to appreciate them, so discussion was pleasant, including range beyond tea.  This will leave those parts out, and focus on the teas, and why the order made sense.  That last part is a lot of the meaning here, about how trying a diverse range of teas can really inform the experience of everything in the set, more than a narrower theme.

In one sense these were all really good quality teas, and pleasant versions, and in another sense just basics range.  It's interesting how that works out.

101 Plantation Thai Oriental Beauty:  I've reviewed a lot of these teas, some recently, with this one reviewed here.  It's a pleasant, drinkable, very approachable place to start, tasting like honey, citrus, and cinnamon as OB tends to.  This version is pretty far up the scale as quality level for Thai OB goes, one of the better versions that I've tried.  

rolled leaf form OB on the left

That said, it still includes just a bit of green wood flavor input, and some of those positive flavors could be a little more intense, so it's just on the pretty good side of the Taiwanese range, better than average, but not comparable to the best of the best.  Which is still pretty good.  Given the price is moderate all that adds up to a cue for Thai local tea enthusiasts to order it online as soon as they hear about it, because it won't be around long.

Wawee Tea black tea:  I love this tea, which is kind of a main running theme across these versions, that they're what I like, just now and in general.  It includes plenty of cacao and fruit, with warm floral tones, and no tartness, which to me detracts from the overall experience.  The balance, sweetness level, and intensity are good, beyond that flavor profile being quite pleasant.  

I reviewed this tea in comparison with the next one we tried from Viet Sun in this post; strange it worked out that way.  I already mentioned loving both tea versions; it relates to that.  That detailed description doesn't exactly match what I'm saying here about these teas; so it can go, that you can really zero in on specifics in a combined tasting, spending an hour on just experiencing two tea versions, versus drinking them in other ways.

It's not so far off a standard Dian Hong style.  By that I mean that it includes a lot of warm mineral range and depth, and even though I've described it as including bright, intense, forward flavors--or at least that seems implied to me, as I read this.  It is as much about that depth as it is the forward range.  Which works well for me; I like that style.  With any tea experience there's an emergent "how good?" effect that relates as much to match to preference as any of these aspects or styles that I describe.  This tea version works really well for me.

Viet Sun Vietnamese black tea (Y Tý Air Dried Black Spring 2026; probably sold out now, that's generally how that goes).  

This version smells really sweet, and lots like cacao, with fruit notes coming in beyond that, and it is really intense.  It switches that focus on depth, or equal balance with warmer, deeper tones, for that blast of cacao and fruit.  But it balances just as well, just in a completely different way.  Flavors are really pronounced and clean, without a hint of anything negative, or any flaw.  This is a fantastic version of this style and form of tea.  The guests could really relate to both, and to the difference between them.  But it was time to shift theme.

Wawee Tea sheng pu'er (or since it's Thai tea just sheng, or however you prefer for designation):  in drinking "light to heavy" it could seem more intuitive to get to this tea first, because the tone is lighter.  It's bright, fresh, and intense, with lighter fruit and floral range, a bit of bitterness, and limited vegetal range.  Sweetness is great, balancing the rest.  It's a great match to what I love in drinkable young sheng, especially that overall intensity.  That's why I had us try this after the black teas instead; it's way more intense than them, even though flavor tones are lighter.  Sometimes people have trouble relating to a balance of bitterness included in a flavor set but everyone present seemed to relate well to this version.  It is approachable, not overly bitter, as some sheng can be.

It made for an interesting discussion point, about how aspects like bitterness and astringency can vary, and about why I describe factory teas as one particular thing, often in somewhat negative terms.  That came up again later, as we tried an aged Dayi (purple label 7542, from 2004).  It goes without saying that lots of teas from factory production tend to be even more intense, and less approachable, sort of "designed" for aging, even though it just works out that way.  The leaf being broken--often--lends to this harsher effect and greater intensity.  Then there's really a divide between the main producers, Dayi / Taetea, CNNP / Zhongcha, and Xiaguan, and how the rest of the smaller producers come across, which is not unified.  But that's a lot to get into here, even at the higher level summary, as we just did.

Viet Sun Y Ty sheng (I think the H'mong version, instead of the Dao):  this is my favorite of the set of Viet Sun teas I bought earlier this year, or at least it was, so it was nice trying it as well.  It's not so far off the Wawee character, but a little more refined in a sense, and intense in a different way.  I suppose the flavor profile is different.  I wasn't trying to clock specific flavor lists in this kind of tasting, especially for going through a lot of brewing details fairly quickly to keep it all moving along.  And we had a nice snack, maybe after this tea version.  There's a good local bakery in the Suan Dusit University, a main branch of the Home Bakery, that makes nice pastries, croissants, and egg tarts, and we had a nice mix.

those two Y Ty origin versions

This was one visitor's favorite; he really connected with these approachable and pleasant sheng.  Bitterness is pretty moderate for both of these versions, and intensity is significant but not challenging.  Flavor sets are pleasant; to me they are easy to relate to.  But again it was time to shift theme.

2004 Dayi / Taetea purple label 7542:  this tea is finally aged to where it should be, after 22 years in hot and humid Bangkok storage, so just a bit ahead of schedule.  It was a huge shift, moving from black tea, then light and approachable sheng, then onto well-aged sheng pu'er.  But it helped that the tea is still intense in terms of positive flavor range, and not challenging in any way.  4 or 5 years ago it would have been.  Of course it tastes like old furniture, old books, or like an old cabin in the woods would smell.  But clean; the hot and humid storage isn't as musty as one might expect.  

Specific storage areas can include that kind of input, a bit of extra fermented cardboard, or cement block.  Getting air contact right helps.  In one sense this might seem to mean very little air contact, since if you set this tea out on a shelf it would go dead.  I store the teas wrapped in either the plastic wrapper they come in, or in multi-layer packaging, or both, and then they're in storage boxes that get opened relatively regularly.  If you only opened a storage box every other month you could limit that extra inner layer of containment.  But it's more common now for people to use mylar sealing envelope type storage to keep them very contained, after conditioning to a desired level of moisture / humidity content.  It's always 70% or more humidity level in Bangkok, so it's fine, in a decent range.

This tea is pretty good; there's more I could say about that.  The people joining seemed to get that.  Where we rushed through the black teas a bit more, saving them for drinking some mixed together for a large cold-brew batch later, we did a couple of extra rounds with this.  I tried keeping proportion moderate for the two younger sheng, using longer infusion times, so we "used up" the potential for those better.  I was brewing two combined infusions ("stacked") from a 200+ ml gaiwan, mixing that to serve as a bit less than 400 ml split by 5 people; a good bit for this kind of tasting theme.

2020 Fu cake (this was the Lincang origin version, reviewed here):  I've taken to including one of two similar Fu hei cha versions, from Oriental Leaf, as a last round for tastings.  It's very different than the rest, no matter what we drink, and heavy in character, but quite approachable.  The uniqueness works well; everyone always loves the tea version, and it's one last eye-opening indicator of how much range tea can cover.  

These versions--there is a second from a different origin that's similar but different--can taste a bit like yeast or fresh bread, extending into a fresh rye or dark rye bread flavors.  There is a touch of citrus and honey from the jin hua / golden flower input.  Depth and complexity are great, and it's all way more approachable than one would expect.  It can be a little bit of a shock trying something so novel so far through a tasting experience, but it's interesting to end on that kind of surprise.

The guests really got the teas.  Two I've met at least a couple of times before, at these tasting meetups.  Two were new to Bangkok, exploring South East Asia, as many guests have been before, a bit transient.  I miss some of those people, or I suppose a lot of them.  I've been lucky to meet so many bright spirited, charming, enthusiastic, and open tea drinkers.  People bringing different perspectives helped discussion extend in interesting directions beyond just focusing on the tea.  

We talked a bit about Thai culture, the local art scene, what temples are like, differences in SE Asian countries, travel, and so on.  The subject of Japanese tea ceremony came up, but it's a lot to fully treat in depth, so as with many other tangents we only brushed through mention of a few points.  It can be problematic for the discussion to feel balanced in covering so much range in such a limited form like that, or some developed tangents can leave some guests out.  In this meetup it all really worked.  Size of the group matters; 5 of us joined, with 5 people either cancelling or being tentative and then not coming, and with 10 people it would've been much harder to manage.

we met inside instead of out here this time; it's a bit warm lately

the other garden space

fence view facing the other way, with a mango hanging, and cat checking out a squirrel

my nemesis; he eats the mango before they're even ready

Bing Dao origin shou pu'er

 

I reviewed a sheng pu'er from Bing Dao from Oriental Leaf recently, here, and this is a shou version, the pre-fermented pu'er range.  Many thanks to this vendor for providing this tea for review!

To me two thoughts come up immediately when considering Bing Dao shou pu'er.  1) is it real?, 2) does it make sense to pre-ferment (wet pile) Bing Dao material, to turn it into shou?

It's probably real.  It's from a main producer in that area, Mengku Rongshi, per description from this vendor, so that would comparable to questioning if a Lao Ban Zhang from Chen Sheng Hao is real (known for a long term sourcing contract in that area).  It could still be fake, and people can think whatever they want, and that conclusion is a knee-jerk reaction in some tea circles.  But it's probably not.

Does it make sense to pre-ferment some of the most exceptional tea material you could find in this way?  Not to me, no, but of course it's for people who like shou more than I do.  I'm a sheng drinker, and I'd rather drink above average sheng than the best shou available.  But is seems a bit harsh and judgmental to say that the range shouldn't even exist.  It makes no sense to me, but it would to some others, with different preferences.

Let's consider the vendor listing:

Bingdao Aged Ripe Pu-erh (2026 · Coin Cakes) — Mengku Rongshi

40 grams worth, five 8 gram coins, sells for $14.50, which does sound kind of low in cost.  It doesn't say when the tea material was produced, even though it claims to be aged, which people could take as a second red flag, if so inclined.  The divide between spring and fall material comes to mind; they could be using autumn harvest tea for this purpose, and the material would be worth less to start with, and the origin area would still be the same.  In sheng you can often pick up a bit of difference in intensity and character type, related to autumn harvest versions, but it may not stand out as much in shou.

I tend to value the tea experience more than the story anyway, so it matters less, from that kind of perspective.  Their description:

Ripe pu-erh from the Bingdao growing area in Yunnan — one of the most regarded tea regions in China — fermented using Mengku Rongshi's box fermentation method and aged before release. No waiting required. The tea is ready to drink now, packaged in individual tins of five 8g coin cakes. Each coin is scored with a cross so it breaks cleanly into four pieces — a practical feature for adjusting your brew weight. Available as a single tin (40g) or a full box of eight tins (320g). [that sells for $110, again lower than you would expect).

Bingdao is a tea-growing area in Shuangjiang County, Lincang, Yunnan — the same county where Mengku Rongshi has been based since the family began making tea in 1935. It is one of the most sought-after origins in Chinese pu-erh, known for material with a distinctive character: clean, sweet, with a cooling finish and strong salivation that lingers after the cup is empty. These qualities are not common in ripe pu-erh, where fermentation often softens or masks the character of the raw material. Getting them to carry through into a finished shou pu-erh requires both good material and careful process.

The Process

Mengku Rongshi ferments this tea using their box fermentation method — a controlled approach in which the tea is managed in enclosed fermentation units rather than open large-pile wodui. Temperature, humidity, and timing are monitored and adjusted throughout. The result is a cleaner, more precise fermentation with less of the off-notes that conventional large-pile processing can introduce...

Aroma: Sugar and caramel lead, with a background of fruit and dry wood. The cup aroma carries a clean, candied sweetness.

Soup: Deep red, clear, and bright. The texture is smooth — silky is the word that comes up most often. Not thin, not heavy; just even and continuous.

Taste: Sweet and smooth, with a distinct sugar-and-caramel quality throughout. The Bingdao character comes through in the finish: a light cooling sensation on the tongue, strong salivation, and a clean rock-sugar sweetness at the back of the throat that stays for several minutes.

Smaller batch shou processing has been a somewhat well known theme in "the West" for the past decade or so, but there isn't that much of it made, so there aren't lots of options to try different versions.  But it's no secret, and examples do turn up.  It's more typically presented as an experimental approach, not something a vendor has been carrying out for a long period of time, so results might vary.  

Here's an example of a Thai vendor, Tea Side, producing 2016 and 2018 versions, posted in 2019 here.  Those were good.  Not like this, but the material surely didn't have the same potential, and it was the results of processing after some trial and error, but not a couple decades of consistent production (or whatever this relates to).  This was a review of their 2021 version, in 2025, probably representing a more developed, slightly age transitioned version, as a more developed example (which they described as "Chocolate Noir;" both that and this Bing Dao version share pronounced cacao flavor).

Review:

First infusion:  I let this soak for well over 30 seconds, so that it would open up in the first round.  I didn't use a rinse, which wouldn't work as well for a pressed shape like this anyway, since you would be rinsing only the outside surface.

Flavor is really nice.  As shou goes; I'm not a natural shou drinker, which I'll address more in an intro that I add later.  There's a pronounced cacao note, the main thing you notice.  Then an inky minerality, and what comes across to me as rich dried fruit, that could be interpreted differently.  Some shou has a funky sort of fermentation related input that fades after a couple of rounds and if it's in this it's really moderate, and hard to notice.  It can taste like wet cement block, petroleum, fermenting cardboard, or in worst cases like fish, or fermented fish sauce.  There's really none of all that.

Body / feel is really thick, of course.  Cacao carries over most in the aftertaste, so far.  There seems to be a savory aspect included, that's not strong, so it relates more to background, giving it depth.  It tastes a little like sun-dried tomato.  That's quite a lot of aspect range for the first round, but then this is brewed strong.  Shou never really picks up problematic aspects when overbrewed, or put another way, it's hard to really overbrew it.  I'll try it lighter though, and see what that changes.

Second infusion:  this round I brewed for 5 seconds, just long enough to stir the leaves around a bit with the lid, then poured back out.  Intensity and feel strength drop, of course.  The flavor profile doesn't change that much, but how it comes across does.  Warm mineral tone evens up with cacao for intensity.  Fruit isn't as noticeable.  That fruit was so rich and heavy that I'd have to make up a dried fruit type to come close to capturing what it was / is.  Prune is close enough though, dried plum.

This is pleasant brewed light, and intense enough, but probably brewing between 10 and 15 seconds would be an optimum, for me.  That's a really strong infusion strength, for using 8 grams in 100 ml for a tea this intense, but it works for this type.  

Dark bread range seems to enter in as a main flavor range, replacing some of that earlier set, or combining with it.  Really dark bread, like pumpernickel, maybe just without that one seed spice flavor input.

Third infusion:  not so different than last round; that description still applies.  Heavier dried fruit range might be lighter, on towards a dried berry input instead.

Is this so exceptional that it justifies existing, changing what should have been great quality material sheng into a shou / wet pile fermented form?  Preference for types enters into that kind of analysis and conclusion.  To me no; this must have been better as sheng.  But for people into distinctive, unique forms of shou the answer might be different.  It's really for them, not for me.  It will be interesting to see how pricing works out, which kind of factors in, but again that's a separate theme.  I think ordinary but more exceptional factory shou is good enough, and represents the type range well enough, but again that means little coming from a shou drinker.

I've been through this before.  A friend passed on a gushu shou from some known tea area before, and I had trouble placing if it made any sense, for it to even exist.  It has been nice having that better shou available to drink during fasts.  I have other more ordinary range shou around for that, and I might have drank through half a kilogram or so of it on fasts over the last three years (I fast a good bit; four times a year, five days each fast).  But it's nice trying something a little different and better.  I've kept experimenting with what else my stomach can tolerate, without much success beyond aged white tea, and very limited other hei cha range.

In trying this round again the flavors seem to flatten out a little, losing distinctiveness related to covering more scope (now mineral and dark bread, plus cacao, and limited dried fruit).  It's nice that it's so clean; often a touch of what leans towards sourness comes across in shou.  You wouldn't identify it as sourness, necessarily, but it relates to aged books or old cardboard smell in way that starts to be comparable.  Cement block mineral is more of a Liu Bao thing, and more general mustiness often relates to a storage input, or at least seems to.  None of all that is present in this.

Fourth infusion:  the balance of those different flavors is interesting.  I let this brew between 15 and 20 seconds, and that brings back intensity that works better for me, of course related to infusion strength.  

Feel includes some richness and fullness, and aftertaste carries over, but for a sheng drinker all other tea range can seem a little limited related to those.  Shou can be oily and thick, so I guess it's just a different effect, not less of one.

The flavors I had already mentioned integrate well at this stage.  They're harder to identify as separate aspects or notes, which doesn't necessarily enhance or degrade the experience, it's just different.  I suppose the dark bread aspect is shifting towards a lighter spice note, which is still related to that dark bread theme.  You wouldn't really necessarily identify this as tasting like cacao or dried fruit at this stage; it combines with the rest, and mineral base, spice, and dark bread have shifted to be more of what you pick up.  I suppose I see it as including that range, giving it complexity, but you can't really separate out those notes as they seemed to be expressed earlier on.

I'll give this another longer yet infusion time, around 30 seconds, and that might be enough notes for this.  There is late stage transition to note and consider, but I'm often fine with skipping that part, seeing the main story as already told.

Fifth infusion:  it picks up more strength as mineral depth than the rest.  It's a relatively different context for a comparable effect, but Dian Hong black tea can land in a similar place, related to a general pattern, of expressing depth more than forward flavor.  I like that in Dian Hong; it works for me, even though it could easily be regarded as a flaw or limitation in a tea version.  In this it's fine.  I think a shou drinker would relate to it more as I do with that black tea, than how I do trying this round.  It's interesting, and not overly negative, but not necessarily appealing either.

Mineral tone changes.  I really could probably review this tea again and just write about how the mineral tone is coming across each round.  Descriptions of that end up being vague, mentioning rock types, or partial comparisons to non-food related inputs, like fallen tree bark or petroleum.  

I suppose as higher level, general character summaries go this may come across as expressing a clean version of forest floor notes, to some.  That can be very pleasant when it works well, and this is clean and positive.  Imagine yourself sitting by a bubbling spring, in a wet, cool, green forest, on a spring day, with pines sheltering you, and ferns filling in the forest floor.  It tastes a little like that would smell, with wet rocks and fermenting fallen tree logs standing out.  Of course I'm picturing a specific place in describing that; I'm from the forests of western Pennsylvania.  There's a feel to such places that captures your imagination, making you think that animated local spirit influences might actually be real.  I digress.

The tea is pretty good.  I'll add more about that in conclusions, after adding a vendor description.

Conclusions:

It's interesting seeing caramel in the initial product description.  That's the kind of thing that you would notice if you had read it in description, since it would bring it to mind.  Rich, warm toned, relatively sweet tea could always be identified as tasting like caramel or toffee.  I just didn't make that connection.

It's interesting considering how good this is; is the quality level really as high as shou tends to get?  Are the flavors and other character roughly as positive as any other shou that I've tried.  Sure, they are.  That would mean more to me personally if I loved shou more.

It would really seem a waste of this tea to drink it as something your stomach tolerates well when fasting.  Fasting doesn't exactly throw off my sense of taste, but how you relate to flavors is different then.  A baseline for a lot of life experience shifts.  To me it adds an underlying layer of stress to life experience; you are always not doing something, that your body is inclined to do, to eat on a daily basis.

Of course when I re-try a later round I notice pronounced sweetness, which I do associate with caramel (per the comment about the power of suggestion).  I'm writing the edited version in the early afternoon, which isn't usually how that goes.  This is probably the cleanest version of shou I've yet to try; there is no fermentation related murkiness.  It makes you wonder about the actual age; over just 3 or 4 years a lot of the early fermentation effect clears up, any off flavors, but over a decade or more depth picks up, tones clean up a little more, and some limited forward flavor range gets swapped out for that depth.  This could be more than 3 or 4 years old; it would explain that clean character.

For shou drinkers I suppose this would be a must-try sort of version.  Some people might even miss the rough edges, the heavy, complex, intensity that good factory shou brings across, bumping that intensity at the cost of including rougher aspect range, and edgier feel.  This might seem too refined.  But then it's interesting trying extreme ranges of different tea types, to help place the rest.  

To me that even applies to bad tea; that rough, harsh, problematic Chinatown shou, that's earthy in an off way, and a touch sour, helps you place the middle and higher ends of shou range better.  You might not make it through a whole cake of that kind of thing, if you end up buying it, and it might be better for your health if you didn't.  But it's nice experiencing the full range of what tea experience can be.  This version represents the "higher" end instead, which people would relate to differently, depending on their individual preferences.

Oriental Leaf Bing Dao sheng pu'er

 

I'll copy the vendor's site listing here before posting this review, and just write a few comments first, then the notes.  Bing Dao is one of the two higher profile, known sheng pu'er types, along with Lao Ban Zhang.  Other origin area types would be great too; it just worked out that way.

I've not tried much of it, at all, maybe only a couple of versions.  So this won't get far with describing what it type-typical, and will focus on this tea.  I think it should be sweet, floral, and complex, with great depth and refinement, supported by a pleasant mineral base, and balanced bitterness.  But then that works for a lot of sheng range in general.  Maybe the flavor range should be distinctive, in a way I'm not recollecting.  Let's see how it is, and maybe refer to a second or third reference later, beyond the product listing description.

This is presented as a coin, or tiny single serving cake.  To me that opens up faster and works better than the dragonball / pearl style, letting all of the tea infuse at the same rate.

  

It's in an 8 gram size, with an indentation in the coin enabling splitting it to drink in two 4 gram parts.  That would make sense; for better quality tea it can work to go lighter on the proportion (than 7 or 8 grams per 100 ml volume worth), to enable more careful control of brewing timing.  At 8 grams you are more just flash infusing the tea, versus really dialing in the strength you want.  

I'll still use 8 for this initial tasting; it's more my habit, my own personal norm, and that changes things.  7 grams would be enough, but 8 isn't too much, even though I'll probably end up mentioning the trade-off for using a higher proportion in this.

Let's check the Oriental Leaf site listing:

Bingdao Aged Raw Pu-erh Coin Cakes — Mengku Rongshi ($17.50 for 40 grams, for five 8 gram coins)

Raw pu-erh from Bingdao's core growing area, made from 2020 harvest material that was aged before being pressed and released. Mengku Rongshi — the brand widely credited with establishing Bingdao's reputation — has been sourcing from this area since 1984. Classic Bingdao character: rock-sugar sweetness, a clean cooling finish, and strong salivation that stays long after the cup is empty. Compressed into 8g coin cakes, packaged in small boxes of five. Available as a single box (40g) or a full set of eight boxes (320g)...

Mengku Rongshi has been sourcing from the area since 1984, long before it was a name anyone outside the local tea trade knew. When the brand released their first Bingdao tea, the "Mother Tree" ( 母树茶), in 2005, it was among the first to formally introduce this material to a wider market. 

The raw material for this tea was harvested in 2020 from high-grade Bingdao area gardens — one bud plus two leaves, selected to the same standard as the brand's other Bingdao products.

Rather than pressing immediately after processing, the brand held the material in dry storage at their Yunnan factory — allowing it to settle, integrate, and develop before compression. The first batch was pressed and released in 2023 after aging in dry storage. Subsequent batches — released in 2024, 2025, and 2026 — draw from the same 2020 material, pressed and released in their respective years.

After leaving the factory, the tea has been stored in Xi'an, in northwest China. Xi'an's climate is dry, with low annual humidity and clear seasonal variation — a natural dry storage environment that allows aging to continue cleanly and slowly, without the intervention of high ambient moisture.

To me that was interesting background, so I included a bit more than I usually do.  I don't include the typical "is it real?" discussion point in this.  It probably is, but some people always question everything related to high demand origin teas, and there isn't much more to say about that.  For some maybe the cost would seem too low; it is a bit reasonable, which some could see as a red flag.

So this is 2020 material; interesting!  I didn't guess that it was that age transitioned.  Value seems really good for this high an in-demand region, and the quality and character is positive.  On with the notes then.

Review:

First infusion:  the smell is already sweet and floral, before trying it.  This will be a bit light for taking notes on flavors though; it's still opening up.  Initial impression is positive; it is sweet, floral, and complex.  But the next round will tell a more detailed story.  There's a bright, fruity, creaminess to this already, even though the intensity is low.

Second infusion:  bitterness emerges, along with more other sweet flavor range.  Intensity is good; this really hits on a lot of levels, even though it's really still opening up.  The mineral is a little intense, along the range of a dry rock type, maybe limestone.  Bitterness balances reasonably well, but it's still evolving, not even at its normal, opened leaf infusion character yet.  Flavor range is mostly floral, but it leans towards fruit.  

Aftertaste is starting to pick up already, even though the tea intensity and character isn't in its normal form yet.  It's clearly quite good.  Given how this is coming across I'd expect the next round to be much more intense, even brewed fast, with bitterness, mineral, and an astringency edge as pronounced as it will be, evolving to soften over the next two rounds after.  But we'll see.

Third infusion:  intensity is interesting in this, even for being brewed fast.  So it's on to the trade-off of using a high proportion already; there is no dialing the timing down to try a lighter infusion, at this proportion.  The mineral tone seems to include a little dryness, which isn't coming across as a flaw, but it is distinctive in a way that some would love and others might not.  It will probably fade soon anyway.

Intensity is good; it's a strong tea.  Sweetness level is pronounced; that works.  Floral range flavors--they're mostly that--are positive, complex and reasonably well balanced.  All of this seems a little non-specific, but that's my early impression so far.  I'm wondering how new or aged this is; I didn't catch a year.  It has a bright, fresh, young sheng character, but the warm tones suggest that it may not be completely new, maybe 2 or 3 years old.  But it's hard to tell.  A tea could be this fresh after 6 years in cool and dry storage, or longer, and a year or so of heat and humidity could draw out this kind of character here in Bangkok.  Within 2 or 3 years teas start to take on middle-age form here, what would be more conventional after 5 to 10 years elsewhere.  [Later edit:  it's 6 years old, older than I expected].

At this stage the hint of dryness in the strong mineral base would determine a match to preference for someone.  Then if that evolves, as I think it will, it would be something else later.

Fourth infusion:  a syrupy feel picks up; this had expressed fullness of feel structure before, but now it's in a different form.  The flavor tones warm just a little.  It's still mostly floral, but a hint of caramel range is emerging.  Someone could interpret this as expressing a light citrus edge; that could make sense.  Or I guess if you are really "looking for it" it could be as fruity as floral, maybe along the line of including some mango, or dried longan.  It's complex, but within a limited range.

Then mineral is a lot of it as well.  The dryness that I associate with that mineral tone isn't dropping out, maybe only shifting form slightly.  It comes across in the aftertaste expression, and seems to match with a dry structure in the feel.  This includes bitterness, but it doesn't carry over as a strong hui gan aftertaste sweetness effect.  Moderating intensity may serve this well, using the 4 gram approach instead.  It has plenty of sweetness and flavor to express, and brewed quite light it might fall into a different kind of balance.  That's not intended as an "oh no, I've screwed this up" kind of observation, more about where an optimum might be.

I drank a little cold water to reset my palate after this round, and experienced that sweetness effect that can come up, where it tastes like there is sugar in it, a carry-over from the tea effect.  The mineral and trace of dryness seems to mask that part of the aftertaste effect, for me, the sweetness after swallowing, but the water really brought it out.

This tea seems a bit strong, the stoney cha qi effect.  It would be nice if I liked such a thing more.  I have a history with drug use, well in my past now, so I avoid almost anything that shifts my balance of perception, I guess with the exception of running.  Tea also does, but I eat first, or with the tea, to offset that.  My normal mental balance is fine; my energy level varies a little, but my mental state is typically clear and positive enough.

Fifth infusion:  this is the most positive this has been.  The bitterness and astringency edge are fading, and strong flavors stand out all the more.  Mostly floral, still, or that could be interpreted as floral with some fruit input.  The touch of creaminess that stood out very early on is ramping back up.  It comes across as creamsicle, as a touch of orange combined with actual cream, or ice cream.  The other fruit range I was describing included a hint of citrus, and the rest isn't closely related, but it adds to overall complexity.  Intensity is pretty good too; I'm not intending to downplay that here.  And overall balance, refinement, etc.  

This tea should evolve positively over the next few years, and then I probably wouldn't like it as much as a more aged version later on, since it's positive now.  It's not one of the more approachable, easy to drink, oolong oriented style sheng pu'er versions, but it's not challenging at all either.  Mineral intensity, bitterness, and a touch of dry feel (astringency) balance well with the rest, but those wouldn't suit everyone in the same way.

For feel input alone drinking 4 grams of this at a time might make more sense.  It's strong.  Five rounds of two teas--a common review comparison form here--usually doesn't contribute the same kind of stoney effect.  I'll either try one more round and get blasted or take a 15 minute break and come back to this.  Maybe the break; it's kicking in plenty already.

Sixth infusion:  it falls into better and better balance.  The bitterness, astringency, flavor range, and depth are all the best they've been.  Tones were warming, and I suppose that hasn't changed since the last round, but it's warmer than earlier rounds.  The flavor list stays the same as described earlier.  I suppose within a round or two the overall balance will shift enough that it will seem different, or if I brew the next round fast enough that might change things.

Seventh infusion:  for brewing two infusions one after the other, and a second one lighter, intensity finally dropped off a little.  It's fine this way, but it's not more magical, or completely different.  To me the feel range is positive in this, but it's also intense, with a bit of drying effect, just less than earlier.  Good sweetness and positive flavor balances that, but in other really nice tea versions that can come across more as fullness than structure, if that makes sense.  Taken one way it sounds like I'm describing oolong in comparison with sheng; I mean within the typical range sheng expresses.  

It's interesting that it's a cool morning, at 10 AM, but I'm sweating a lot.  This tea is affecting both my mind and body.  It has been an unusually rainy monsoon season, raining every day for a couple of weeks; that's a lot of it too.  

During that flooding cycle period last week it was over 80% RH during the days, the most humid I've ever seen it.  It must be in the high 70s just now (77%, 30 C, feeling like 32, my phone says; that relative heat index sounds a little unreliable).  A second source says it's 89 F (32), 73%, and feels like 103.  I'm going to go run in an hour anyway; I finally beat that foot problem I had, by taking a month off of running.

Eighth infusion:  smooth, balanced, complex, and tasty.  The mineral starts to resemble a hint of smoke, changing form from rock to include whatever other range.  It's definitely not dropping out.  For someone who absolutely loves sheng intensity this expresses an interesting and positive form of that.  That distinctive feel might not be for everyone, the heavy astringency structure and bit of dryness.  For a young sheng drinker it's just normal though, not even that pronounced in form, since remotely "young" factory sheng would express much more rough structure and dryness.  7542 would take a dozen years to be this approachable, or maybe 20 under dry storage, and by then the positive fresher flavor aspects would have shifted to a less distinctive, middle-aged form.

I suppose it's fair to say that I liked the Ban Zhang tea version character I just reviewed better.  Stronger sweet flavor range stood out even more, and feel wasn't as structured, or dry at all.  That's because I am acclimated to tolerate, or even crave, challenging, intense sheng versions, but I like strong flavored and sweet but approachable forms the best.

Conclusions:

So very positive.  It's not meaningful to say that I happened to like some other origin and source version better; that was more about my own style preference than a quality judgement.  Looking back on the review notes comment that might have related to really liking the fresh, bright, intense floral range that can tend to start transitioning to warmer tones within a few years, even if it can come at a cost in terms of heavier bitterness and astringency in some versions.  For me a broad range of bitterness is fine, if it balances with the rest.

It's interesting considering that this is a 6 year old tea version.  It had definitely transitioned some, but not nearly as much as any tea spending 6 years in Bangkok would, regardless of starting point.  The initial brightness and freshness is long gone when a tea spends that long here.  It seemed younger, to me, but that probably partly relates to that biased expectation of rapid aging.  10 year old dry stored sheng versions seem really fresh to me.

General quality level seemed positive, and character was nice.  It was a good sign that it kept brewing positive infusions, even well beyond the 8 described here.  It just wouldn't give out.  Let's consider their type-typical aspect description:

"rock-sugar sweetness, a clean cooling finish, and strong salivation that stays long after the cup is empty." 

I don't know.  It was sweet, and flavors were very positive, with good aftertaste expression, especially related to length and "returning sweetness" effect, hui gan, even without a higher than average level of bitterness.  Body feel and stoney effect really stood out; I tend to not notice that much, but for this I did.

I looked up an old Bing Dao listing to see if the character seemed similar or not, even though comparing two random versions of a general type or origin example is relatively meaningless.  The sample size is too small.  But I did review a four year old Bing Dao tea coin in 2022, here.  I guess it sounded a bit similar.  I didn't have a cost to compare it to; that seemed to be something a friend had shared earlier.  So I guess the point here is that you really need to keep trying different versions to have a baseline for comparison.  A couple of examples seeming somewhat similar is hard to place.

This tea experience reminded me of a recurring theme in this blog, about how sheng drinkers acclimate to bitterness and then later really crave the tea intensity (more about the second).  This tea was intense.  To me that's a great thing; it made for a very pleasant experience.  For others maybe it could seem a bit much, if they were more into oolong or whatever else.  It didn't have challenging feel structure, overwhelming bitterness, or unusually heavy mineral tone intensity, but it was intense across different range, just refined and balanced at the same time.  Especially for a 6 year old version; it must have softened and mellowed over time.

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.