Some intermediate level ideas about tea

First published in Tching here


Related to the social media theme, I tend to like to talk in places where people are newer to tea, because I can help people more there.  The “expert” groups are nice for a different kind of reference and discussion.  Even in those places it often works out that a newcomer who really isn’t very far along the experience curve can help prompt really good discussion with questions.

Here I’d like to explore some ideas from a middle-ground, the kinds of things people pretty far through a learning curve probably took years to become clear on.  Of course in some cases even “the basics” relate to potential differences of opinion, so to be clear this is all just my take.  This moderate length writing format doesn’t allow enough room for full context discussion and treating exceptional cases or opposing views.

Brewing temperature:  

Really a 1000 word post couldn’t do this subject justice, but I want to quickly map out a few ideas.  Those brewing temperature tables aren’t wrong, as a starting point guide, even though their suggestions vary quite a bit.  It’s also not wrong that essentially all teas should be brewed Gong Fu style using boiling point water (or just below it), and short infusions, even for green teas, for some.  But the two contradict.  Preference variation is part of that, but some people claim that using anything but boiling point water for good oolongs is doing it wrong. 

There seems to be a natural progression towards using Gong Fu brewing more once you get familiar with it, and it works a lot better with higher quality teas to use very hot water than it does with lower quality versions.  That sketch doesn’t resolve all the contradictions but it maps out some main themes that lead to some of them.  Really for people who feel they represent a more authentic Chinese tea preparation tradition what “Gong Fu” brewing really is wouldn’t be a simple subject, but a lot of people just use that as a reference to using a different proportion of tea to water, more infusions, and a different teaware device (gaiwan or clay pot, typically).

A recent Liu Bao tasting; Gongfu style brewing can be nice for comparison tasting

Tea exploration, vertical versus horizontal:  

Of course this one really is a matter of preference.  I just talked to a vendor who prefers to stick mostly within the scope of Taiwanese teas even for personal consumption, and that’s fine, very reasonable.  For me it works well to adopt an organic approach, to get to whatever comes next naturally, whether that relates to exploring better quality teas within a limited range or being all over the map.  Or not exploring much at all is still a valid judgement call.  Advocating exploration of what else is out there as an option might bring up an implied “tea snob” context, since there’s really nothing wrong with someone mostly drinking blends, or Harney and Sons-level “pretty good” teas.  Sticking to tea bag teas is pushing it; that’s like someone with a coffee interest only drinking instant.  Up to them, but why?

Trà chít, a Vietnamese example of a rare Chinese version of sheng pu’er 

Appreciating flavor versus mouthfeel, aftertaste, and “cha qi,” drug-like effect:  

Rhat’s already most of what I want to express, that over time people tend to expand what they like about teas.  To me it’s not that I want a tea to have a certain mouth-feel, for example, more that the way varying types of aspects balance can be nice, or not work well.

Varying exposure; South East Asian teas:  

Off the broad themes here, it’s worth considering exploring tea types and sources outside China, Taiwan, Japan, and India.  Not that anyone could ever really “get to” all the tea types in China, or even do justice to just sheng pu’er or wuyi yancha.  The “generalist” approach is kind of assumed then. 

To me it’s interesting trying something new, versus only enjoying ever-improving close variations of past experiences.  Trying teas from less traditional source regions gets you that, even though they are harder to turn up.  There are significant other challenges, like most of the mass-produced oolong coming out of Thailand not being very good (relatively).  And the rarer teas out of Vietnam are all but impossible to even hear about, never mind buy.  Teas from Indonesia, Laos, and Myanmar just aren’t widely available either.  Exploring versions from Nepal might be easier, but then finding others that are hard to find could make for an interesting endeavor.  One good lead for hearing about what’s out there, in detail, is my own blog, Tea in the Ancient World [here].  It’s crazy what has turned up in the past year.

Forest-sourced tea, an NGO project in Laos (photo credit and details, CCL web page)

Tea group themes:  

I touched on this specifically not so long ago so I’ll keep this short. No matter what page you are on there’s a tea group out there that will be a close enough match.  There’s no need to lose hope because some seem too snobby and others aren’t into even hearing about single type loose tea.  Put another way, tea perspective and culture seems to bunch up at those two extremes.

Keeping pace with others in tea exploration:  don’t even try.  The interest is yours, and trying to achieve some benchmark for getting through a certain range of knowledge or experience, or owning a “normal” amount of gear, might only ruin it.  If leaning into those or other pursuits is a good match for you then go for it, or even if making it a competition is.  To me the core of experiencing tea is liking what’s in your cup at the present moment, and all the rest of the context and framing is secondary.  Then again I never really was into “finding my tribe,” related to anything I did.

Functional tea preparation doesn’t require a lot of equipment

Over and over I hear humble-bragging about how “I’m not really a tea snob, but I do own or have tried (whatever it is, often a list).”  A photo alone can imply all that, or a statement like “it’s crazy how many types I’ve tried.”  There are groups for that, circles in which owning tea gear, or tea collections, or rare teas (or all of that) is the norm.  Or I suppose also places where knowing a lot about processing, local Asian cultures, history, or tea genetics is valued, but at some point the themes do run out of enough shared interest level to collect members into a group.

The nice part about a tea interest is that people can make of it what they want.

2018 LBZ sample from a Liquid Proust introductory set

I'm on the last tea I'll review from a Liquid Proust introductory set.  The last version reviewed (a Liu Bao) included more background on what that was all about, with a little about the Sheng Olympiad set version; this will just be a review.  That Sheng Olympiad set is sitting unopened at home; I won't rush to review it given other back-log but it'll be interesting checking it out too.


I've only tried one example of a tea sold as Lao Ban Zhang (beyond one that was at best an obvious fake, but a nice enough tea for selling at a low price level), an autumn harvest single-serving coin example from King Tea Mall.  I won't be able to evaluate this as having a characteristic taste or other aspects profile from that region.  Comparing this tea's character and that sample might not be informative, even if both are from that area, given differences that an input like a varied harvest season can bring about, or processing variation.

In part people value the "cha qi" or drug-like experience of teas from that region, and of course I can describe if I'm noticing that.  That other LBZ (or alleged LBZ, for skeptics) was one of the two strongest teas I've yet to try related to that general type of effect.

that other version (credit the King Tea Mall site)

It works better to pick up an aspect like feel-effect (cha qi) in a very neutral setting, free of all sorts of distractions.  Sometimes where I live is like that and sometimes it isn't.  Today it's in the middle; some people are around to make some noise but my son is at a Chinese (Mandarin) lesson.  My wife will probably start in about a list of things I'm supposed to do within a half an hour so I will have to keep this tasting moving.  Even the expectation of interruption should be avoided, ideally.  I'm tasting the tea outside, which I'll say more about as a variable in another post, which may go up before or after this depending.

An idea comes up right away that I won't address much here.  Is this "real," is it actually from the Lao Ban Zhang area?  It's hard to be sure, even hard to guess out a probability.  If it is this cake should have been very expensive.  I saw one mentioned recently for around $1200; I can't say if that's above or below the normal price range but that sets a general range for expectation.  Unless I've botched the math at that rate for a 357 gram cake a 10 gram sample of this would cost over $33, more in the normal price range for an inexpensive entire cake.  On that discussion post someone commented they bought the same cake for a bit over $700 new, for what that's worth, and Yunnan Sourcing lists versions for less.

In general Andrew, that business owner, seems to have been through a good bit of learning curve already, which is a positive factor.  And he seems quite genuine.  But really who knows; tracking down history for a tea source is a tricky thing.  Most vendors are called into question about something at some point, and it can be a difficult thing to evaluate, unless they've made claims so outrageous that they're obviously false.  Sometimes price-point gets cited related to that, but since this was more or less a free--an almost entirely cost-supplemented set--that doesn't necessarily work.  I won't go further into how to establish judgement about that.  As a general rule if something sounds too good to be true it usually isn't, but that may or may not apply this case.

Review

Starting with the appearance, the tea is mostly in a large chunk of a cake, with mixed green and lighter content. 

The first infusion flavor, brewed a bit light, is very positive.  It's floral in a sense that is hard to describe, with a moderate amount of bitterness, but a light enough input that it balances well.  It makes no sense to try to break down a full description before the leaves are even fully saturated so I'll hold off on that a round.

With or without being LBZ this tea will be a pleasant experience.  Bitterness ramps up in the second infusion, along with other flavor inputs, but the overall character of the tea is great.  And hard to describe.  The flavor range is mostly floral but there's a good bit of mineral below that, with another main aspect that's along the lines of green wood.  Usually I'd mean that as relating to a slightly negative aspect in a tea, tasting like wood in general, or green wood, but it's more important how a tea comes across than if a long flavor list or individual aspect sounds good.  The tea is very nice related to how that set works out, and an aspect list doesn't convey that.  I'll try to describe it better, using a different approach than simple listing.

Bitterness is pronounced but moderate enough to not take over the experience, in a form well-integrated with the rest.  Floral tones are non-distinct for the tea character being complex over-all; it makes it harder specifying a flower type or other description.  Mineral is at a nice level, again well-balanced with the rest and coming across as integrated.  The feel of the tea is nice.  It's quite full in your mouth but not aggressive in any way.  Aftertaste lingers well; the bitterness trails into an experience of sweetness.  Some people value that more than I tend to, tasting the tea long after they swallow it, and to me it just adds another dimension to experience.

The next infusion is similar, maybe picking up just a little depth.  Beyond the floral tone, moderate bitterness (hard to explain what I mean by that, really, so I just won't), underlying mineral layer, and integrated vegetal tone there's a hint of what someone might interpret as smoke.  Really I think it's just that the mineral range is quite complex, spanning different aspects or flavors that all would naturally be considered mineral, and one part of that is unfamiliar.  Part of the range is light, like limestone, and part richer and deeper, like red clay, and another part light in level but pronounced in distinct character, more like volcanic stone. 


It's always a little odd referencing types of stone; you smell those out in nature but isolating a version in a tea flavor is probably quite unreliable.  Beyond all that a bright, sweet component reminds me a little of fruit, not one that I can actually describe, but maybe towards dried mango (or dried peach isn't that far off, to try to place it in a Western fruit).

Going with a very fast infusion on the next round, just a few seconds, still provides a good level of intensity.  The balance works better brewed lightly, although it doesn't necessarily come across as light.  It's still as intense across the entire aspect range as other sheng versions I've tried brewed for 10 seconds or more, or more intense than some across parts.  Real LBZ or not it's nice tea. 

I went back to more like a 10 second infusion to experience the contrast, and will probably switch back to quite fast from there on.  As infusions go by there will be more to say about transitions but the overall effect is of the same character, well-balanced, complex, and intense.  The sweetness and good balance for bitterness along with heavier mineral tones works well.  Old-plant sourced teas (often hard to clearly identify, since that tends to be used so much as a marketing term) have a certain intensity to them, and pronounced mineral range, but to me this just seems like a conventional tea version that happens to be expressed a bit towards that instead.  It's flavor intensive, but with depth beyond that; not all sheng are like that.

I'm not noticing that much "cha qi" effect.  In trying the only other LBZ version I tried (or one seemingly more reliably reported to be that) about this far in I had to take a break and was feeling somewhat stoned.  I'm just not getting that.

That reminds me of an observation from my younger, drug experimentation days (drug-use, to be fair; I experimented and then kept going), related to weed (marijuana).  It was possible to get good and stoned (really stoned, not like feeling an effect from tea) and somehow not notice it, to not be in the right context where it stood out.  Then visiting a 7-11, or any convenience store, would really provide that baseline, and everything could feel really odd and out of place.  Much later on being stoned just seemed normal, so that not being under the influence could be perceived as an experience lacking something. 

It's better to never take a drug habit that far, and ideally skipping even experimentation might be best.  One nice part is that you can work back to really appreciating unadulterated reality, and place drug and alcohol use for what it is, as an input that one can learn to accept embracing to unhealthy extremes, indulge in moderately, or just set aside.

The tea is good; more of the same in the next infusion (up to 6 or so now?).  The balance of those earlier described aspects shifts a little but the basic character stays the same.  I would have expected bitterness to be more pronounced in this tea but I'm really not familiar with any sort of regional-type baseline, and I've noticed that aspect varying by so many factors that it's hard to place it as an expectation and generality even when that is the case.  I suppose the brewed tea and leaf color is slightly darker than I expected too.  That could be the result of oxidizing slightly during processing, or even due to aging over the relatively short span of time since last spring.  Sheng does change color over the course of the first year; that shorter term aging effect is easy to notice.

Within a half hour of writing the last notes (paragraph) the effect of the tea does seem to be kicking in.  My wife took our daughter out to pick up our son and the environment went quiet; that changes things.  I still don't think this is one of the stronger teas I've experienced related to "cha qi" effect but it is notable.  It's more noticeable in a quieter and more pleasant environment; kids banging around and your wife going on about whatever it is just then comes across more the same.

The tea isn't transitioning that much, more shifting the balance of what was there, but an interesting lemony citrus note replaced the earlier hint of fruit, a good number of infusions in.  There's a reasonable chance that it was present earlier but the balance or form has shifted a little, so that if expecting that as an aspect I'd have flagged it some rounds earlier.  Mineral is still pronounced but a bit lighter too, both in the sense of dropping back in proportion a little and to being expressed in a lighter limestone / flint range.

Conclusions

Evaluated aside from that, and beyond the LBZ mystique, the tea is very nice.  It has a complex character that is well balanced, with an interesting set of aspects going into that.  The feel structure could be a bit fuller; that particular marker for tea quality doesn't stand out in this version.  Aftertaste isn't as intense and lengthy as it could be but it's not thin in that regard.  General intensity across flavor and other aspects was in the normal range but not really above average for a young sheng version, but that worked well for me in drinking it on the young side like this.

Lacking a stronger feel-related effect was a bit negative, given that expectation, but since I'm not really so into that I didn't mind it so much.  I don't have much of a guess on the likelihood this actually is LBZ; someone familiar with a normal range of aspects for tea from that area would have more to go on. 


It's conceivable that a processing choice or initial tea quality issue pulled the end effect slightly off the normal regional range, which would account for why the tea wasn't selling for anywhere near $1000 (if it wasn't), but I also have no guess about that.  Andrew seems a bit busy these days, and we don't talk that much by message, so it seemed as well to leave out his input about all of this.  I really liked the tea; at the least that part worked out.

Kinnari Tea sheng comparison (Nyot Ou district in Phongsaly, Laos)

I'm reviewing two sheng versions from Anna of Kinnari Tea; these should be really interesting.

They're Laos sheng, from the far North.  One lists it's from the "bai hao" cultivar, a tea plant type more typically used to make white tea.

William of Farmerleaf was also involved with an NGO project to conduct local training workshops in producing more standard and consistent sheng pu'er versions there, along with Anna and a supporting agency, with details about that in this video.

William mentions a link to more details about that project here, from the Comité de coopération avec le Laos (with an alternate Facebook page reference here).  Part of the introduction goes into that background:


In Nyot Ou, the northernmost district of Laos, tea trees grow in the wilds of the tropical forest covering the slopes of the mountains bordering the Chinese province of Yunnan. The wild tea stems from the variety Assamica, one of the two main varieties of tea. In China, this variety is called “the high tree with larges leaves”.

Growing tea has a long history in the Yunnan region: large tea leaves were used as medicine for at least three millenniums and seem to have already been a popular drink around the second century B.C.

Wild tea trees in Nyot Ou can grow as high as fifteen meters. Old pruning marks observed on some of them suggest that they could have be planted hundreds of years ago. In this case, they can be considered as “Ancient tea”, namely a tea tree resulting from a selection of wild tea varieties.


The rest of the background story is compelling.  I would highly recommend reviewing William's summary video explanation and at least scanning that NGO web page.

This really is the "wild, forest friendly" tea that comes up in discussion and sometimes in marketing claims.  The tea is something else; how it turned out depends on lots of factors, the plant type, growing conditions, processing, etc.  So I'll review it without adding more about all that, but I will pass on a few photos taken from that reference page to visually add more about it.

this photo set copyright of CCL, Comité de coopération avec le Laos.  see related link for content description.

Nammanoy village, Nyot Ou

more remote than where I've visited in Laos, which was already rough travel in spots

Review background

Something unusual came up related to this review; I was discussing my impression with Anna and it didn't match hers.  In particular that related to describing the level of bitterness in the Bai Hao version (sheng version made from a cultivar usually used for white tea production).  I decided to re-taste the teas, without referencing the notes, in order to see if my take was the same.  It was but it wasn't; related to that level of bitterness my impression was different.  

Instead of including the typical round-by-round description (which I now have two sets of notes on) I'll summarize findings for both from both notes.  I can't completely explain the discrepancy, the difference in interpretation or assessment of the aspects, especially that one, but I'll mention some possible factors in a section after the review summary.  It was interesting how even though the rest of the reviews seemed relatively consistent, beyond that one point about level of bitterness in one, interpretation of the flavor aspects did vary some.

Review

First tasting round, Bai Hao Left, Workshop version right

Workshop tea (I'll go tea by tea across rounds in this format).  This tea was on the subtle side but the character it did have was pleasant.  It was a little more intense than the other version related to flavor input, but the "Bai Hao" tea had a creamy fullness to the feel that filled in that experience more.  A warm tone stood out; described in different parts of both reviews as possibly related to autumn leaf or a warm version of mineral, like South-Western US sandstone.  Bitterness was very light; part of what might have been occurring related to seeing the "Bai Hao" version as bitter was noticing a relative difference (with more on that in the other review and explanation).

Some amount of floral tone was present in this version, which trailed into a light version of dried fruit in later rounds.  The tea was noticeably darker than the other version, related to the leaves, and the brewed liquid, which might indicate that it had oxidized a bit during processing (hard to imagine what else that could relate to).  That could also help explain the character.  It wasn't really like a black tea but the normal degree of bitterness dropping out and the flavors extending from light and bright into a warmer, softer, earthier range would all be explained by that.  It even had a mild savory quality to it (only picked up in one of the two review notes versions), a bit like sun-dried tomato.

Bai Hao plant-type sheng:  this tea was much milder in overall character, light in flavor intensity, with a degree of bitterness identified as very low in one tasting and only moderate in another, but the dominant aspect in the experience.  In the review where bitterness seemed stronger a flavor along the lines of green wood paired with that; in the other review the tea was described more as mild, light in flavor, and floral.  A flavor along the line of hay or mild version of wood was identified in the other set of notes; that would probably correspond, but seems interpreted as different in regards to level of bitterness and related flavor.  Feel seemed full in both review impressions, a bit creamy even, and the character pleasant, with enough sweetness to give the tea good balance, but a mild overall flavor.  A mild floral tone filled in background complexity, just light in tone, and subdued in character, how chrysanthemum or even chamomile can come across.

That cuts out a lot of the specific observations but covers the main themes and impression.  To be clear (and probably to repeat myself) the Bai Hao version didn't seem relatively bitter, as young sheng goes, but it did seem more bitter in the first tasting, and very mild in the second.  The rest of the aspect description generally matched.

All of this might be implying some judgement of bitterness as a bad thing, which doesn't necessarily work.  I made this observation in the first round, related to that:

The bitterness is at a great level; for some people less would always be more, but to me this balances well.  

That aspect seemed more pronounced than in the other tea, and stronger in one tasting than the other (the one this comment came from), but to me bitterness can work really well in sheng if the balance of the rest compliments it well. 

Second tasting session; Bai Hao left, Workshop tea right

Possible reasons for variation

This provides a good background for talking through why reviews might be inconsistent; these two in particular, but also in general.  I'll list individual potential reasons for variation and talk through background more within that format.

I'm not a consistent input:  teas can seem different depending on changes related to the person tasting them; energy level, mood, background conditions changing perspective, etc.  Even though I've tried a lot of teas over a long time and feel I probably have a decent taste-memory I suspect that trying a lot of teas of a certain range shifts an interpretive baseline.  For example, I'd guess that if I'm trying a lot of very mild versions of sheng for weeks that my impression of what is a bitter version would change to including a lot less of that aspect as an input.  Quality level probably also shifts as an expectation; if I'm trying a lot of exceptional tea of any type it would be harder for a version to stand out related to being well above average.  Background noise in particular is a very significant input; finer details related to tea aspects drop out with any degree of distraction as a factor.

Parameter variations:  this could make a big difference.  Shifting proportion or water temperature would change outcome, even if proportion difference was offset by infusion timing change.  Using even slightly cooler water would brew a milder version of tea, related to infusion strength and intensity of both flavor aspects and astringency.  Drinking a tea a good bit slower would actually change water temperature, giving the drained leaves a chance to shed more heat in between infusions.  The water used itself would vary results quite a bit, and using filtered tap water might introduce another potential variable, since mineral levels and proportion really could vary some day to day.

Guesses about this specific case:  I hadn't given it much thought at the time but I brewed the tea inside the first time and drank it outside the second, at a concrete table beside our driveway.  It's nice out there; lots of plants make for a pleasant background.  It was a bit cool both days, for us, but maybe as cool as Bangkok ever gets for the second tasting, around 25 C (77 F, or so).  Right, it's warm here.  I was using a slightly lower proportion the second time, not for any particular reason, but that parameter judgment is usually just based on immediate inclination.  Infusion times would have ran a little longer as a result, to even out brewed tea strength, but it's easy to not really compensate for that difference with the right degree of timing change, and to drink the tea lighter.

I think temperature may have been a factor.  I was drinking the tea in a cooler space, on a concrete table versus wood, which may have drawn more heat out of the teaware, perhaps a bit slower due to having more time.  Proportion probably also came into play.  I suspect I always vary at least a little as an input, in every review.  Sometimes I have a long block of free time for a review, setting up a good baseline for background, but I don't always.  I definitely sleep different amounts every night, more or less interrupted, and review teas on Saturday or Sunday mornings, but at different times in the morning.  That kind of input change should be minor, but minor changes could add up.  If kids are around (and half the time they are) the background noise changes things a lot.  Even expectation of finishing more quickly would be an input; working around having a set length of time.

I doubt the leaves varied, but it's worth at least mentioning.  Plantation tea would be made of very consistent plant material input, and probably processed very consistently.  I doubt the tea itself really did vary though, but it is conceivable.  In cases when it's known that multiple types of plants were used in making the tea it would be more a factor, or when evident processing variation would be a cause (slightly scorched leaves, a case of a processing flaw).  I'm guessing that the tea was probably relatively uniform in this case, not a main cause.

It was an interesting experiment.  I won't be running that too often because it takes a long time to do two tastings and to edit notes for that kind of thing.  It seems a good time to point out that I see these reviews as an impression.  It might be more of an objective take than someone with very limited tea exposure and review practice would pass on but I never intended them as amounting to a final analysis.  To really get to that, a balanced, final opinion, it would help to try a tea at least three times, and compare notes on impression from those three tastings.  Four or five would be even better, perhaps using the last round as an evaluation in comparison to the earlier findings.  

Interpretation of basic aspect levels (eg. bitterness, sweetness, level of astringency) really should be relatively more consistent, but interpretation of flavor aspects would naturally tend to vary.