King Tea Mall Nan Nuo and Zi Qi comparison

Nan Nuo left, Zi Qi right

Both of these are sold as 2018 Spring gushu versions; should be nice.  They're part of a set provided by John of King Tea Mall for review purposes, and to provide me with some exposure to different tea versions (many thanks for that).

Related to the "gushu" theme, I don't worry too much about how old the tea plants might really be compared to that description, but to some extent some typical aspects tend to show up along with more reliable claims of tea plants being older (pronounced mineral, longer aftertaste, general intensity, etc.).  The extent to which a tea matches that character seems more relevant than a plant-age average that no one could possibly know for sure.

If I were more into the "cha qi" or drug-like effect there's that; it could correlate to plant age, to some limited degree.  I'm already high on life though.


Per what is becoming a standard approach I'll cite the vendor descriptions here first, which I didn't read prior to doing the tasting and review notes:


2018 SPRING “NAN NUO BA MA” GUSHU 200G CAKE PUERH SHENG CHA RAW TEA


BaMa(拔玛) which means “Old Arbor Tree” in local AiNi dialect. On the elevation of above 1600m in NanNuo tea mountain(南糯山), here has national original forest called GuoYouLin(国有林) . When I went there first time in spring of 2018 year, I was totally astonished by the well preserved natural environment and forests there...

Dry tea leaf is fragrant, long and strong... The sweet taste near sugar cane not just come from HuiGan(one kind of aftertaste when bitterness retreats) but also can be felt when sip tea liquid... 

...Richness, Fruity, Wild flavor, Strength in ChaQi


This is selling for $69 for a 200 gram cake (equivalent to around $125 per 357 gram version).  Given the character (after the review tasting) that seems quite good for value.  I tend to almost never buy any teas approaching 50 cents per gram ($.35, really), which ties to a budget themed issue, but the positive character of this tea really stood out.


2018 SPRING “ZI QI ” CAKE 100G PUERH GUSHU SHENG CHA RAW TEA

This tea was made from spring tea materials of GuShu(old tree) from YiWu(易武) as main and sub-materials of BanPen(班盆 where belongs to BanZhang tea area, also called one of five BanZhang villages).  YiWu tea is famous for it’s softness and floral tea flavor... 

Tea liquid is rich and soft.  Bitterness is stronger than general pure YiWu tea because of mixed BanPen tea from BuLang tea mountains.

Astringency is on medium level.

HuiGan is on high level with unique sweetness from YiWu tea, soft and lingering in mouth even deep into throat.


This version is listed for $30 for 100 gram cake.  It's on the low side for tea material claimed to be from older plants but it is a mix of two types, which isn't usually how that goes, even if it somehow makes perfect sense related to a complimentary character of the materials.

Review

Nan Nuo left (in all of these pictures)

Nan Nuo: the characteristic flavor in one of my favorite sheng versions shows up in this, a white grape / pear fruitiness. It would be possible to interpret that as floral range but to me it's clearly not mainly that, although some additional floral range gives it a nice complexity.  It all comes across well: great balance and intensity, nice clean flavors, good sweetness, a mild but well integrated bitterness, supporting light mineral, good feel and aftertaste.

Mineral stands out a little more than in the version I keep citing as a past favorite (this one, from Moychay, reviewed here), which works.  Looking back on that (and the next-year 2018 description, and another gushu Nan Nuo version from them, the fruit theme keeps repeating, even in this same general range).


Zi Qi (Yiwu and Ban Pen blend):  the character overlaps a little but it's also quite different. It's warmer toned, with a richer, heavier mineral range, and more floral than fruity. The mineral is so pronounced it comes across as spanning a range of warm rock mineral with a hint of metal (maybe nickle?).  These were brewed relatively fast but this is still too strong.

I think outside of that I'd still prefer the Nan Nuo version related to the character range clicking but this is also clearly good tea. I usually follow that with noting that "good" is relative, but quality level is evident in both, the range of markers for sheng is there.  The other is brighter and sweeter, with flavors in a different range, all of which matches my own type preference, but I'm sort of trying to communicate something else. Back on the preference side how the metal edge in mineral tone plays out will define how much I end up liking this version.

Second infusion

Nan Nuo: intensity comes across clearly even in a relatively fast infusion; at a normal proportion (normal for me, at least) flash brewing would be strong enough. Mineral warms and intensifies in this round; in a limited sense it approaches the other version. The sweeter fruit range flavor is still present though, still primary. It seems to be clearly "better" tea than that personal-favorite Moychay version as markers go, tied to the intensity, pronounced mineral, balanced bitterness, and aftertaste, but I'm not so sure that I like it better. That version had a rich feel as well, a creamy edge, and being softer and less complex across some range didn't necessarily seem like a drawback. It was just different in style.

The split in opinion on more drinkable sheng versus more intense versions would dictate preference, in reference to the range I just mentioned, with that implying more perspective orientation than is necessary or easily sorted out or justified. I'd expect this would hold up to aging better but I'd probably not prefer it much different than it is anyway. Maybe it would outshine that version as a 2 to 3 year old version, not as an aged tea but with some transition.


Zi Qi: this is still intense; flash infusions it is. It's pleasant though; that warmer tone and really pronounced mineral works.  The effect isn't so different but it has shifted a little towards aromatic wood range, like cedar or redwood. Calling that spice sounds better, I'm just not familiar with which spices are similar. The other version expressed a pronounced aftertaste but this version's is really strong. The feel isn't really dry but there's a structure to it that comes across as towards dryness. It's definitely not a straight-cedar version of sheng but splitting that and warm mineral isn't completely dissimilar.

The effect of these teas is kicking in, the "cha qi" buzz. Of course comparing them gives up distinguishing which is the more pronounced source of that, and probably throws off a purer experience of it for that mixing. My ordinary brain state suits me well enough, so although it's heresy to express it those types of changes are just different, not necessarily better, or even of interest. I could feel a little clearer all the time but tea can only help so much with that; more consistent sleep and exercise would help more.

Third infusion

Nan Nuo: that light fruit is transitioning to a richer, deeper toned dried fruit range, at this point a little towards dried persimmon. If those aren't familiar it's something to keep an eye out for on your next Chinatown outing. Warmth picking up could be compared to a wood tone, or autumn forest floor scent. Both together, bridging across from light fruit, with pronounced mineral, all works well.

This is already one of my favorite teas to have tried this year. That last Bada version from Chawang Shop stood out for an unusually rich feel and character effect but this adds a couple of dimensions, those marker aspects (mineral, feel structure, long aftertaste), and matching my preference in flavor range. The Zi Qi version would end up being described more positively (or at least seeming so) tasted along with lots of other teas instead.


Zi Qi: this could easily be a tea that clicks with someone more than the character does for me; the complexity is good, positive aspects span a broad range, intensity is really something, and aromatic wood towards spice with warm mineral tones works. It doesn't necessarily come across as sweeter than average and I think I'm biased towards that, seeing it as not just positive taken alone but helping lots of other range seem to balance. The metal trace never did intensify, and to most that would probably just seem like very pronounced and complex mineral.

Fourth infusion

These are intense; this may have to be it before getting a break.

Nan Nuo: more or less in a similar range, but a bit more green wood tone that had only been a vegetal background picked up to be primary. It's still very nice, quite complex and well balanced, just no longer as fruity in character.

Zi Qi: this evolves to express that same wood tone; different. There's more warmer and aromatic wood tone backing it, the cedar, so it's different, but the two are by far the most similar they've been. I should go mess around online until this buzz subsides a little and try one more round, or maybe walking around outside would be better, even though I've got a sprained ankle now. That's annoying, taking 6 weeks off walking normally. It helps with appreciating the little things though.

Fifth infusion

A half hour break settled out some of the stoned effect so I'll try one more round to get a better feel for mid-cycle transitions.

Nan Nuo: at this point this could be a version of lots of better than average teas; that particular main wood tone flavor aspect is common enough. The rest marks it as a good version, balanced bitterness, mineral, extended aftertaste, etc. It will probably taper off to lose range over a few more rounds, and then become less pleasant after a few more, but who knows.

Zi Qi: it is odd how these approached each other in character. Some layers still don't match but they're relatively similar across primary flavor and most others.

[Notes prior to reading the vendor description]:  I'm curious about pricing for these. I've been accustomed to seeing $1 / gram on versions sold as gushu, so that a match to what is implied about typical character becomes the main issue, overlapping with general quality level issues but also tying to a specific form. They generally match the form, but one matches my own likes much better across flavor range, maybe even for general character.  At a guess demand per local area is as much a factor as anything else, which of course I'm not keeping track of.

[Conclusions added later]:  They seemed like nice teas for that price range, $.35 / gram for the Nan Nuo and $.30 for the other (which turns out to be a mix of Yiwu and Ban Pen materials; Zi Qi is just a brand name from an old Chinese story).  There's an odd sort of sub-theme related to me liking Nan Nuo versions, or anyone else really:  they're often fruity, per my still-limited exposure to them.  I looked back through old posts and I tried a boutique version that was probably pretty good three years ago (this one) but in reading that review my impression is that I just didn't have enough sheng background to pull together what I was experiencing.  That applies now too, just in a different sense; it's all relative.

A point in that King Tea Mall covers what I'm getting at:

Also I think this is a kind of tea could be recommended to new comers.


I'm not actually new to sheng at this point but I don't get the impression that fruit taste is what a lot of sheng drinkers are looking for, or even certain flavor range in general, really.  I wouldn't say it's a soft, approachable "oolong pu'er" but it's rich in texture versus structured, with limited versus moderate bitterness, and on the sweet and flavorful side.

Then again Yiwu versions tend to not be challenging either, and those are well-regarded, with versions I've tried presented as better teas often soft and floral, as this Zi Qi version vendor description claims.

Related to that Moychay Nan Nuo version I keep saying is a favorite, I re-tasted that a couple of days ago, in part to get a feel for how it's aging, and also related to a project to try and evaluate quality level beyond individual aspect range (a work in progress).  Even in the first month I bought that I expected it might not be as good as it was then at any point in the future, that it shouldn't be aged at all, since any transitioning away from that initial character wouldn't be positive.  It's not as good as it was a year and a half ago, I don't think, but at least it's partly just different.  That ties into a part of the Nan Nuo King Tea Mall description I didn't cite:

A pity that the unique and floral like fragrance only appears on newly processed tea leaf has turned to weaker and weaker, though I try my best to preserve that in my warehouse. 


The most typical summary and divide of aging concerns one runs across insists that better sheng improves with age, and that a newer style range of smooth and initially drinkable style of versions only degrades instead, with those lacking some degree of complexity, bitterness, and feel structure (astringency character) versus more traditional styles.  All that was covered here.  It's not quite that simple, it doesn't seem.  A lot of that pattern may well be valid but to me distilling down a style opposition of two broad types of sheng drops out or glosses over a range of other character differences.  A lot of good Yiwu could potentially get caught up in being "new style" and inferior just for being naturally approachable, per typical regional character.

A response to that might be that Yiwu is a big area (and it is), and that examples of versions that are initially structured (astringent), somewhat bitter, with intense mineral input exist, and could be regarded as the best versions.  And to some extent I'm guilty of the same problem here that's creating that divide in the first place, framing things as clear oppositions in character, when a complex range of styles and aspect profiles can occur.

In any case these were both really nice to experience.  The Nan Nuo version clicked with me better, and I think it's great as it is right now, but I'd probably not buy a version to hold onto and see how it transitions later.

Farmerleaf summer 2018 Jing Mai Moonlight White

I picked this tea up awhile back, ordered along with a nice Tian Xiang Jing Mai sheng.  I've been busy lately with vacation outings and getting through some other teas.

Moonlight White is a personal favorite, but then lots of types sort of are.  As white teas go I like it as much or more as any other.  Some versions can be a bit savory, with sweetness balanced with rich flavors, but my favorites are bright and fruity instead, including flavors like pear or even berry. 

As with other whites the texture and overall impression can be pleasantly rich and full.  I'll add William's (Farmerleaf's) take in a citation before I post this, but reviewed without seeing those details first.  That citation:


For this moonlight white the fresh leaves of our natural [Jing Mai] tea gardens were spread on flat bamboo baskets and left to dry in the shade of our factory for three days...

Moonlight white will oxidize as it ages, just like Pu-erh tea, but quicker. The few months of storage and the pressing process have already given this tea a red character. It delivers incredibly good sweetness, considering it is summer material from relatively young gardens... 

You can brew it gongfu style, in a mug, or even boil it in a pot! White tea is very forgivable to the tea brewer, this tea will, never feature much bitterness. If you brew it strong, it will just be thicker. The fragrance is woody and reminds of autumn leaves and a walk in the forest after the rain. The mouthfeel has a light texture and the tea doesn't have a strong effect on the body... 


Sounds nice, without too much for spoilers in that.

Review

The first infusion is a bit light but this tea is already really pleasant.  I'll do more with a long flavor list and going into texture next round, but it's already sweet, warm, and rich, with a nice spice aspect emerging.  It is fruity versus savory or floral, but in a warm dried-fruit range, towards apricot or something such, or maybe dried persimmon.  That warmth may relate to autumn leaf but it's more in the sweet dried fruit range than earthy.

I went longer on the second round, over 15 seconds, but this is still subtle.  It would take longer infusions to get more intense flavor out of it, in terms of the high-note range, but this tea has a different kind of depth and intensity that's very evident prepared this way.  Aging these types of versions usually swaps out that forward intensity for deeper, sweeter tones, and this is along that line already, even though it's not even a year old.

Warmth picks up on this second round; autumn leaf is more evident, and a hint of spice develops.  The fruit tone might be traded out a little for that, or at least the brighter aspect range of it, so dried persimmon works much better as a description than dried apricot in this round.  Those are a type of plum hybrid, unless I'm mistaken, so if that's unfamiliar it works to say this tastes a little like a sweet version of a prune, or a fig.  I'll give the tea more like 30 seconds on this next round to see what range it can cover, but really just drinking it light and subtle and sticking with 15 or so might well be optimum.


The initial promise of lighter range fruit kind of faded, and it's sticking with richer and more subdued tones instead.  That's not necessarily bad, since the character is quite pleasant, maybe just a little disappointing given my own personal preference and how it seemed it was going to go.  The intense fruit versions of Moonlight whites can be really nice, in a different way.

Related to the idea of this type of tea being savory there is a richness to it, it just stops short of coming across as actually that, something more like soy sauce.  I keep sensing there is a mild spice tone but that's so subtle it's hard to place, towards cinnamon, but it doesn't quite stand out enough to be clearly that.  Autumn leaf is stronger, but even that is integrated into a mild, subtle, but rich combined mix.

This type of tea gives you options related to how to brew it, or for mixing things up with adding something to it.  That might sound like I'm saying that it needs something added to be better, since I wouldn't dream of mixing other ingredients in with most plain loose leaf teas, but I'm only saying that the character lends itself to that, to matching well with other range.  Dried orange peel (the outer part) or dried pear peel or fruit might lend it a little more intensity.  As to the first part, brewing variations, this would work well made Gongfu style (as I'm preparing it), or Western style, or even "grandpa style," added to a tea bottle and drank with the leaves continuing to brew in it, with water re-added until it looses flavor.  It would even work to cold brew this, or to simmer it, I'm just not into such things.


More of the same on the next infusion; it's warm, rich, and subtle.  I think the sweet and complex smell of the dry tea led me to expect it to be more intense.  From tasting this I'd expect it to be a shou mei, instead of a Moonlight White.  The prepared leaves aren't silver with a dark bottom, so it must not be made of the cultivar that turns out that way, which would account for the aspect range varying.  Shou mei really might be a leaf size / grading term, versus a style, or given how tea terms and types go it could be used as both.

There is a common misconception that any tea leaf can be made into any tea type, which is technically true but only in a limited sense.  Different initial inputs (leaf types, and compounds present in leaves) will only support making good versions of some types of teas.  You can't really make oolong out of Assamica, for example, or at least the experiments in attempting that I've tasted didn't work.


Per one conventional understanding a general range of white teas age very well, picking up depth and complexity over 7 years (a time frame lifted from one of those old Chinese sayings: "one year a white tea, 3 years a medicine, 7 years a treasure").  It's hard to link that to this tasting result, or pass on my own take on conventional aging patterns for white teas, since I've been through a bit with that but don't have it even close to sorted out yet.  I tasted four white teas together of somewhat related types across different ages (here), but really individual version character differences alone made it impossible to draw any other conclusions.  It was an interesting experience, beyond relating to a mild case of caffeine overdose.

It just keeps brewing; a half dozen rounds in it's still not transitioning.  This would make a decent breakfast tea, a relatively neutral background experience to go along with eating pastry and whatever else. 

Lots of people claim they need a strong or robust black tea to really get them going, in part probably related to the flavor experience expectation carried over from coffee, and probably also an expectation that tanins somehow relate to caffeine content.  Since caffeine levels vary by age of leaf material (bud are higher in level than older leaves) most white teas actually contain more, but this one wouldn't necessarily, as a larger-leaf derived summer tea version.  The limited flavor intensity probably relates to summer harvesting as well, and I don't know how often Moonlight versions tend to ever be made in the Spring.

Comparison tasting second session

That initial tasting didn't really seem conclusive; it's odd doing a round of tasting and notes and then feeling like you might not have really captured what a tea is about.  So I comparison tasted it with a relatively similar white tea cake from Moychay, one that seemed to be in between white tea styles as well.

Farmerleaf left (but they look a bit similar)

This won't be a round-by-round detailed review, just a short general impression.  This Farmerleaf tea impression didn't change.  It still seemed positive, sweet and light in character, and pleasant, with a balancing mild earthiness, but lacking complexity and depth.  It still didn't necessarily seem like a standard Moonlight white, but being light and sweet with warmer range for balance is a good start.

The Moychay compressed 2018 Moonlight version was richer, with deeper flavors, slightly more complexity, and a bit of a savory edge along with more dried fruit range.  Looking back I had reviewed that tea in an article posted on the Moychay site, not here in this blog. 

This lacks specifics but for both I'd probably be retracing the usual ground of how in a lot of cases flavor aspects could be interpreted in different ways.  This Moychay tea could've been more intense in terms of pronounced flavor aspects but the Farmerleaf version was even more subtle.


I liked both.  It might seem like I mean something else, when I'm saying that tea seems kind of narrow in character range, not so complex, and lacking some degree of depth.  Some teas are simple, and that can work, if what they express is positive.  White teas in general took some getting used to, and I still find some buds-only versions (silver needle or silver tips) just a little too subtle and vague to really like as much as the rest.  Adding any warmer tones and more sweetness works better for me, even if a version doesn't make it as far as being complex or distinctive.

Farmerleaf left (but they look similar)

In a sense the Farmerleaf matches part of the Moonlight range better for being very light and sweet, since those are often like that, just in those cases often more fruity as well.  But then some versions are deeper in tone, more like dried fruit, with a savory edge, like the Moychay example. 

It's odd that I just read the early notes saying that I like the lighter and sweeter style better, and I may as be clear about what I've only implied up until now, I liked the Moychay version slightly more in this case.  It had more depth, and dried-fruit range can be really nice.  When I said that I tend to like the brighter, lighter, fruitier styles of Moonlight White better (in the intro here) that was a reference to some teas actually tasting like berry (which can be amazing), with other savory versions sometimes tasting like sun-dried tomato. 

Looking back I can cite examples spanning this range, that might help clarify what I mean.  I really liked this Thai version of Moonlight White, because that bright fruit was present, extending towards berry range (even if it was a little subtle in overall character, and tastes really settled at mandarin orange, plum, and teaberry, with some degree of savory range too).  Oddly that was complex in flavor range but even more subtle than these, for lacking that deeper mild earthiness, the autumn forest part; so things can go. 

A Laos version of Moonlight White from Kinnari tea (reviewed here) might be more what I'm talking about related to those sometimes being more savory and not as sweet and fruity.  That's crazy that I comparison tasted that Laos MLW along with two others, buds-only white teas from Laos and Nepal at that.  It kind of makes no sense, and is borderline disrespectful to that Moonlight version to not give it its own post.  Then again mentioning a half dozen other versions for comparison in this review post is definitely atypical.


Further into the range of reviewing taboos I'm curious about comparing value for the two versions, since they seemed so similar, and since I spent money on the Farmerleaf version.  Moychay contributed the other for review, to be clear; they've been great about helping me experience a broader range of teas to review. 

The Moychay version lists for $10 for 100 grams; pretty good for as nice as that tea is.  Farmerleaf's lists for $25 for a 200 gram version; a little more, but really in the same range.  With both teas that inexpensive it would seem wrong to blame either for offering questionable value; if anything both seem a little low in price.  Other vendors might charge considerably more and use more superlatives in their descriptions, and then could still end up selling tea that's not quite as good.

that (then) 5 year old shou mei version 

It would be interesting comparing one or both of these to a standard Fuding shou mei, like the one reviewed here, but two rounds of tasting and all this cross-reference is already a bit much.  I could check those against that same version of that tea but it might have changed since that review time-frame.  Or maybe not; it was a 2012 produced version I reviewed in 2017, so maybe two more years of storage didn't change much.  It's cool that version just made it to that "7 years a treasure" threshold; I should check on that.

lychee season; time to switch over to more of a fruit diet

YS 2018 Tian Jian and 2012 Qian Liang hei cha

I bought and reviewed a few teas from Yunnan Sourcing not so long ago, and they sent these hei cha samples with them (many thanks for that).

Hei Cha should be familiar enough, but if not it translates as dark tea or black tea (probably as well to go with "dark," given English using that other term for something else).  It's closest to shu pu'er, but saying just that really oversimplifies things.  I've liked versions in the past; they're definitely different, spanning earthy and mineral intensive ranges, not exactly the most approachable category but still interesting and pleasant. 

Liu Bao is most common, but these other types of brick teas (one of these is loose, to be clear) tend to have a different, milder, more complex character.  All are earthy, but Liu Bao can often express more in mineral range instead, a slate-like mineral aspect along with some degree of char, charcoal-like flavor.

Per normal process I'll just try the teas and write about that, and cite the descriptions before posting a final edit.  One of these is loose tea but the other is prepared as cubes of cut compressed tea; that's going to change things for brewing process.  It's likely that a Gongfu approach makes less sense than just letting them sit longer in a lower proportion of water, but I'll go with that anyway, since it's the standard approach for me at this point.

For background I'll add the actual vendor descriptions.  It stands out that one tea was produced in 2018.  That's normally not how that goes with compressed hei cha, with most types of them usually aging some to transition before sale (or at least that's my understanding), but Liu Bao (another loose hei cha, like this Tian Jian version) can be sold "younger," when new.  It's possible that the style is similar to that hei cha type.

Yunnan Sourcing vendor descriptions

2012 Gao Jian Shan "Qian Liang Cha" Hunan Hei Cha:


Gao Jia Shan production made from 2012 Spring tea leaves. Pressed into a huge 36 kilogram column called "Qian Liang Cha" (aka 1000 catty tea) and then aged for 7 years before we purchased a whole column and then cut into slices and re-packaged into white wrapper 680-780 grams cake...  

Qian Liang tea is compressed in a long column (typically 36kg) through a laborious process that involves steaming the leaves and funneling them into a three layered cylinder of woven bamboo.  Then a team of 5 to 8 people will simultaneously compress the tea using leverage and then tighten each section with thick bamboo stripling.  Once firmly compressed the Qian Liang "logs" are dried in the sun and then finally cured for months in an indoor warehouse.  In this form they can be aged for decades or even centuries without molding, only improving in taste, aroma and complexity with each passing year!

one disk layer (credit the Yunnan Sourcing page)

Interesting!  Those 800 gram cakes (cut disks) sell for $70, so on the inexpensive side too, as hei cha tends to be.  That would be a lot of tea to buy if you didn't know if you liked it but they also sell a 50 gram portion (for $7), which is enough for limited sampling and sharing.


2018 Cha Yu Lin "Liu Bu Xi Village" Tian Jian Basket Tea:


This is a 2018 spring harvest production of Tian Jian tea from Liu Bu Xi village in An Hua County of Hunan（about 20km west of An Hua, here).  High quality first flush of spring tea was picked and processed carefully using kill-green (frying), rolling, fermenting, and drying and then steamed and packed into these little hand-made baskets.

This is a smoky, peaty, molasses type Tian Jian.  it's very sweet and full-bodied as well.  Very rich and complex.  If you are a scotch whisky fan or want a non-alcohol equivalent then this is the tea for you! 

it did look more like a compressed tea before separation (credit YS page)

Again this is moderate in cost, with 500 grams selling for $56, with 50 grams around $8.

Review

Qian Liang left, Tian Jian right

2012 Gao Jian Shan "Qian Liang Cha" Hunan Hei Cha:  it's not even completely unpacked yet, never mind saturated; this might be equivalent to drinking a second rinse for infusion strength (although some people use longer rinses, equivalent to infusion times), with a third rinse to follow.  It works to help the tea loosen and break up, poking it and tearing it apart early on.

Flavor is earthy, as one would expect long-aged cork to be.  It will probably "clean up" some within another couple of infusions but it could be mustier than it is; this flavor range is still relatively clean, for it tasting like aged cork.  Sweetness often helps the earthier range flavors in different hei cha seem to balance, and that supports this version.    Describing a longer flavor list should wait an infusion or two.


2018 Cha Yu Lin "Liu Bu Xi Village" Tian Jian Basket Tea:  it's quite smoky.  Often that comes across as probably a naturally occurring flavor aspect in some young sheng but I'm pretty sure this tea has come into contact with real smoke.  I'm not opposed to the idea of a smoked tea; in the right balance that can make Lapsang Souchong versions very pleasant.  Those tend to be more modest quality versions of that tea, versus their typically superior quality level unsmoked counterparts.  But then it's flavored tea, so the conventions and overall effect changes.

Again I'll hold off a round on saying much more beyond noting this is smoky.  I expected it to taste like Liu Bao and maybe it does, under the smoke.  It might even balance well once the smoke fades a little and natural flavors in the tea evolve to ramp up.

I'll give the next round for both around 30 seconds, which might be a little long for optimum results but it will get those early transitions moving along.

Second infusion

Qian Liang left, Tian Jian right

Qian Liang Cha:  much improved; sweetness ramps up a good bit more, and the old cork flavor fades to be a good bit cleaner, maybe like really old natural fiber rope instead.  Just a little toffee flavor integrates along with the sweetness, and some warmer and richer tones along with that.  The mineral range that's common in sheng, varying a lot in character across younger and more aged versions, isn't as noticeable in this.  The overall effect is a little towards that of a soft, warm, aromatic spice, it's just still more on the earthy side than that.


Tian Jian:  the balance of smoke is improving, with that pulling back just a little.  At least it's now possible to get a sense of what's beyond it.  This does taste a little like a young Liu Bao, that one vegetal aspect that's in those (which isn't the most pronounced flavor; lots of mineral range is typically much more intense).  It tastes a little like a moderate quality version of black tea, the way those can have kind of an awkward roughness to them.  It's not the kind of thing one would experience too often but much less oxidized black tea (kind of a contradiction in terms, right?) expresses this sort of character, like this one.  It seems to relate to stopping the oxidation process before it shifts vegetal range over to the warmer, sweeter and completely different black tea range (malty, or towards cocoa or other flavors).

This probably really does have one more infusion to go to transition to more of how it will be overall though, so it's a little early for mentioning general impressions.  I'll back off brewing time to a bit under 30 seconds to try them on a moderate infusion strength side.

Third infusion

Qian Liang:  this totally works now; it's where it should be.  Sweetness bumps just a little so that it's now part of a pronounced dark caramel / toffee effect.  What I referred to as an aged cork to aged natural fiber rope transition is onto a range even closer to a warm spice, or in incense scent range.  It leaves off as what I interpret as a heavily malted grain, similar to that really rich scent in processed animal feed.  Back in the realm of human foods I guess it's close enough to Ovaltine.

Compared to drinking a good bit of young, aged, or slightly aged sheng (or slightly age-transitioned, depending on use of terms) this is a bit simple in character.  The flavors could cover a broader range, feel is limited, and aftertaste covers only a faint residue of that sweetness and earthiness.  Shu pu'er also tends to give up a lot of those layers of complexity but to me it still falls in the middle, with all those not completely dropping out, just not expressing the same intensity across a lot of range.  With a lot of sheng I would need to drink at least a couple of sips of water between tasting two versions to try to clear away the aftertaste experience of the last (kind of a shame, sometimes, cutting the effect short), but this hei cha is already gone on its own.


Tian Jian:  much better; smoke and the rest balance now.  That smoke is probably a positive contribution; the tea would be different and simpler without it.  Mineral is pronounced in this but not to the extent in Liu Bao (a typical level; those must vary too).  A Chinese-Malaysian friend (who just sent me quite a bit more of a young version I'll get around to reviewing) mentioned that the char effect can resemble the slight charcoal / roasted edge of crispy pork, with a bit of savory depth to it that also matches.  He's right, and it's present in this too (as in two versions compared earlier in the year, one from that friend in KL).

The vegetal rage is woody, a mix of live or only slightly cured hardwood and bark, the way that peelable barks come across, not necessarily birch or aspen, a warmer, darker-colored and scent bark range.

Fourth infusion

Qian Liang:  I might leave off at this infusion, not because the tea is finished, or because it's done transitioning, but only because most of the story will have been told, and going on about minor later transitions won't add much.  The flavor is essentially similar but transitions a little; it's a little creamier, with a little more of a light spice-tone depth.  This probably would keep up those sorts of mild shifts across another few infusions, only limited by me having used relatively long infusion times so far to produce relatively intense versions of these teas.  Drinking them lighter would also work; that's just how I tend to like hei cha. 

The malt-like sweetness is still nice in this; that balances the rest.  There isn't much for any rougher earthier or mineral aspects to balance against, anything to work in spite of not being mild and positive.

If anything the only limitation is that it's simple in effect; there's decent flavor complexity within a limited range but not much for feel structure or aftertaste.  So I guess how much someone likes it relates to their connection with that flavor, and feelings related to the rest dropping out.  Even shu pu'er can have a richer thickness and more aftertaste, although I suppose this might match a lighter and less complex version of one.  It's nice though; I like it.


Tian Jian:  this tea is completely different; it has transitioned quite a bit.  Smoke has largely faded away, leaving the light mineral base, greenish wood tone, and bark-like earth / mineral.  Neither of these would be for everyone; it would depend on how one takes to the general character and then the flavors.  This tea will probably change a good bit over the next half dozen years, but it would be a long time to wait for as simple as the effect is still going to be.  It probably would smooth out and pick up depth, most likely improving substantially, some over two or three years and more as time goes on.

It's not bad as it is now, just unconventional, even within the scope of the hei cha I've tried, which tend to vary a lot.  Given that there are plenty of other types out there I've not experienced yet that's probably more a commentary on my limited exposure, more than this being that unusual.  The character of lightly oxidized black tea relates to some of what's going on with this, that wood-tone.  It's an interesting combination with a Liu Bao-related mineral range, and the smoke, but I suppose I do like the warmer, sweeter range in the other tea better.

Qian Liang left, Tian Jian right

Again both of these can be brewed in different ways.  It's not unlikely that throwing either in a thermos--at a very low proportion, to be clear, even lower than Western brewing ratios--and getting back to them whenever you happen to might provide even better results.  They would work prepared "grandpa style," drank in a tea bottle of some sort along with boiling water, refilled to make infusions as long as they hold up.  Green tea or oolong might be better for that though; these might "brew out" a bit faster.

The idea of simmering these types of teas comes up.  Who knows how close the compressed version (Qian Liang) is to the base for making Tibetan butter tea, touching up a version with a little yak butter and salt.  Good luck turning up that yak butter; hunting down a goat milk version is probably close enough, or just using ordinary butter.

This might be slightly better than a version of Qian Liang that I reviewed three months ago, a little cleaner and sweeter.  That post goes into background on the type and what the name means, really a distance measurement related to this originally being made in a large pole-like bundle, the same theme covered in that citation.  Or smaller versions are made, but per the description this really did come from a 36 kg pressed version, a huge column of tea.

Conclusions

Not bad; both are decent and interesting versions of hei cha.  Anyone's take on these would depend on personal preference, which is always true of how anyone relates to any tea, but all the more so or novel earthy and mineral intensive range hei cha versions.

Based on prior experience with hei cha I'd definitely recommend trying samples to see which types and individual versions you like best, versus gambling on an inexpensive half a kilo of one.  This other Yunnan Souricing "2007 Xiang Yi "Hei Cha Zhuan" Hunan Brick Tea" (which I reviewed here) might also be worth considering; that was a favorite from another order awhile ago.  Two years of additional aging (since that post) wouldn't have changed a tea that was already a decade old then too much, but any difference would probably relate to a slight improvement, given general perspective on hei cha aging. 

that Hunan brick tea (with just a bit of stem); very pleasant in character

I bet I'd describe that tea differently now, given how much hei cha, sheng, and shu ground I've covered in that last two years, but so it goes hearing input from almost anyone on teas.  There are bloggers around who have been at it for a decade (just not many), but in general they've stopped doing detailed tea version reviews years ago.