Gopaldhara Maharani and Maharaja of Darjeeling (1st and 2nd flush)

 

Maharani left, Maharaja right, in all photos

It's been awhile since I've been on this subject, reviewing Darjeeling, and I've heard of changes since I was.  Peter Jones, a coffee and tea expert and manager at the Trident Booksellers and Cafe in Boulder (probably a good place to grab some tea), has mentioned how Gopaldhara has been working with plucking standards, and new harvesting and tea processing methods.  A little off standard theme here, Peter was just cited in an interesting article on using plant based milk versions for coffee drinks.  Gopaldhara's earlier, standard teas had been some of the best Darjeeling versions I've tried, so any improvement on that level sounded promising.

What kind of changes, one might wonder.  Harvesting more whole leaf material, for a start.  This has long since been a main difference between Chinese and Indian teas, although in rare cases Indian producers have been changing that.  I've tried a lot of whole-leaf Assam versions in the past couple of years, with varying results for processing styles and quality level, some quite impressive.

The subject of Indian oolong comes up again.  The earlier versions I've tried from India were nothing like oolong, only semi-oxidized black teas instead.  That's fine, as long as that processing works out well, if results justify making a tea in that style.  Matching Chinese processing and final results never would be possible, due to plant type and terroir differences; the outcome would vary.  It will be really interesting to check on more recent progress in semi-oxidized tea range.  

Of course first flush Darjeeling most often isn't fully oxidized, leaving it somewhere between black, white, green, and oolong range for inputs and final style.  And that works; backing off oxidation level lets the freshness and floral intensity shine through much better.  The point in these changes, as I understand it, isn't to copy any other style, but instead to maximize the potential of the leaves and to create a unique, distinctive range of new Darjeeling styles, based on what worked well in the past.  I'll have to do an interview post on that, since the philosophy of tea and historical tie-in all sound as interesting as the results themselves.  The details of processing differences alone is a fascinating sub-theme.  

Those stories being relevant depends on those results; making a new range of uninteresting or only somewhat pleasant teas could only be a stepping stone towards doing better.  But I think Gopaldhara is well beyond that point, that this status describes "Indian oolong" attempts in the past better.  Not to say it never worked; in the past I've loved one Indian oolong version that just landed close to second flush Darjeeling for style.

I really need to research what these tea types are since they are labeled by brand names.  A few are a little familiar, but in general it's mostly completely new to me.  Only one actually says "oolong," and only one references being first flush tea.  So I picked two with unfamiliar names, which I'll get back to describing further in an edit addition to the notes.  These are Maharani and Maharaja of Darjeeling.  I'd assume that means something like "king and queen of Darjeeling," but even the term doesn't ring a bell.  I live in a country heavily influenced by Indian culture, in Thailand, but it's also equally or more influenced by Chinese culture and modernization, so not much for traditional Indian terminology carries over. 

I'll brew these Gongfu style.  In very rare cases brewing Western style does actually work better, but it's more common for it to not make a difference, in cases when Gongfu brewing doesn't produce clearly better results.  For some black and green teas it seems not to matter, for example.  It's hard to pin down exactly when either approach makes the most sense; as you try brewing lots of types of teas in different ways the patterns seem clearer to you.  But of course that depends on personal preference, with quality of tea factoring in.  

It's easy to keep obtaining decent, but less than well-above-average quality, or not-true-to-type versions of teas, even if you try the same sub-type of tea many times.  For using a narrow sourcing approach that should happen; it would be expected.  It's just as common for people discussing teas online to mention that they've only ever tried 2 or 3 versions of a type (or even 1), and then continue on about how that type works out, extending that to the rest of the range (related to source area origin, unusual tea type, aging as an input; whatever it is).  That's fine for people to work with the information they have, but in learning about any subject you need to be able to filter or adjust weighting of sources, or factor in biases, or personal judgment error.  For some of these versions pushing into new stylistic territory the whole point is that the character is new, but I'll see how these two versions match up as I try them.

Gopaldhara's site input on those teas:

Gopaldhara Maharani of Darjeeling – First Flush 2020

The name itself signifies queen of all teas, the best Darjeeling First Flush tea from Gopaldhara Tea Estate which stretches up to 7000 Ft. The pluckers are very careful while plucking the leaves and make sure only best shoots with prominent buds are plucked. The leaves are mostly comprising of single or two whole leaves and a bud. The leaves undergo mild oxidation process to ensure all the exquisite flavors are prominently present. Then they are gently rolled which helps them in opening up by the pot when brewed. The dry leaves look greenish with lots of tips which gives a smooth and perfectly balanced cup. The texture is light yellow and bight amber cup liquor which will remind you of the freshness of Darjeeling hills. With each sip you can immediately fell the fruity and sweet clean flavor. The tea is smooth with no astringency and has taste of very matured and fruity tea.

The top elevation of Gopaldhara which stretches from 5500 to 7000 FT is planted with the best quality clones. Also the bushes are fresh as they have just come out of hibernation from the prolonged winter of almost 4 months from December to March. During the first flush also known as spring flush we have 100% growing shoots and get excellent buds with either single leaf or two leaves and a bud. The flavor is prominent as the weather is also very dry and cool which ensures very slow growth.

First Flush teas are known to be slightly oxidized. This tea is also made in the same way but it is sufficiently oxidized to ensure that all the exquisite flavors are prominently present. That Fresh Feeling of Darjeeling Tea is naturally available.

The plucking is of such fine quality that the tea is only needs to be hand sorted and the machines used to make the tea are very less. It is a true delight and one of our First Flush Darjeeling tea.

Gopaldhara Maharaja of Darjeeling – Second Flush Muscatel 2020

Maharaja of Darjeeling is one of the best second flush teas in the Darjeeling hills, made by AV2 bushes. This is a finest & rare Darjeeling muscatel tea from the highest elevated garden of Gopaldhara Tea Estate.

It is 100% handpicked with no machinery involved. The garden workers are very careful in their plucking to make sure only the best shoots with prominent buds are plucked. The top elevation of Gopaldhara Tea Estate which stretches up to 5500-7000 Ft is planted with the best quality AV2 bushes, the most preferred clones in Darjeeling.

The tea is super fine to taste and has all the characteristics of a premium tea. It brews into a very bright orange and clear cup having smooth fruity taste and muscatel character. The finish is long, honey sweet & captivating. It is one of our finest second flush teas and a must try for every summer tea lovers. With all these qualities it definitely qualifies to be named as the King of Teas.

Nice that I won't have to go back and change any of those notes then.  Just kidding; I would probably explain it if I hadn't said that's what these are, but I would leave the notes as they were.

Review:

I could start to write this review based on scent alone, and then carry that further based on appearance.  The first whiff of Maharani of Darjeeling shows a lot of intense muscatel, a flavor I've not experienced in this intensity for a long time.  Beyond that there's a freshness, a bright floral and vegetal edge, with a clean depth to the scent range.  I tend to never talk about dry leaf scent because it can not match brewed results, so to some extent it doesn't matter.  

The Maharaja is warmer, richer, and probably a little sweeter, but also with pleasant muscatel range, probably oxidized more.  You can tell that it likely is from the color, but also from scent alone.  These will be good.  Not good as in "pleasant tea," and not bad; good as in a unique experience, on a quality level that you can put time, effort, and resources into finding and still not run across.

I'm not going to discard a rinse of these teas.  That sort of goes without saying, but given that people with different backgrounds might read this I might as well be clear on it.  That's recommended for sheng and shu pu'er, and hei cha, and not uncommon for rolled oolongs, and from there it just depends.  It comes up a lot in Chinese brewing process, for some people almost universally applied.  I tend to draw that line after sheng, shu, and hei cha, and not even rinse rolled oolongs, but it does help the first infusion get going for those.

Maharani of Darjeeling:  a fascinating experience.  Muscatel does stand out, and some floral nature, and the rest is going to be hard to describe as clearly.  There's a thickness and a creaminess to this tea; that almost shouldn't be there, for this first infusion just getting going, since it's too soon for that positive range on this level to set in.  There's a slight edge of astringency and vegetal flavor to this, the kind of thing that would be dominant in a lot of Darjeeling experience, that would challenge a taster to really appreciate the tea for it standing out so much.  Here it's complementary, a secondary context-range level.  The overall effect is very balanced and clean.  Sweetness is good, flavor complexity is good, there are no negative aspects, and it all hangs together well.

For as much as I've said that description doesn't do the experience justice.  There's a creaminess to the floral tone (flavor) that matches the feel, a warm and rich tone, as I'd imagine sun-flowers to smell, but I don't recall ever smelling those.  Part of the bright freshness leads to a lemony citrus, beyond a citrus range being warmer with more depth, the muscatel effect.  It's quite good; unusually so.

Maharaja of Darjeeling:  warmer and richer, all the differences one would expect for oxidation level being ramped up quite a bit.  I guess that sort of maps onto expectations for first and second flush versions [later edit:  because that's what they are].  This version is a little more muted at this early stage, more as I would've expected the other to be for this being a fast first infusion.  I suppose a lot of the same aspects in the other tea are copied over to this, the citrus, a thick feel, good balance, sweetness, and depth, just in a completely different range.  I love true black teas; it definitely works for me.  There is no significant edge of astringency in this, although a hint of warm mineral and very light malt add a bit of complexity, again in a complementary fashion, as with very different light edge in the other version.

It seems like intuition (guessing) made for a great introduction to these teas, related to selecting these two.  In a sense these are the two sides of Darjeeling teas, how first and second flush tend to work out, just in a very high level form.  Third flush is closer to second, at best, more often relatively fully oxidized, but with a different subtlety and depth, trading out intensity for other range that can be very positive.  Maybe even more so, if the balance works perfectly.  Really that's what I remember most about Gopaldhara teas from trying them a few years back, that one third flush version (Red Thunder).  It definitely worked.  That 2019 listing called Red Thunder an oolong; regardless of name or type identification if it's as good as I remember it previously it's worth picking up a lot of it.

I'll hold off on describing this second tea further until the aspects show better next round.

Second infusion:

Maharani:  this picked up a lot of intensity and depth.  That astringency edge ramped up too, but the balance is still great.  The vegetal flavor and astringency I speak of is like biting a flower stem, nothing like grass or green beans or the rest.  Floral tones warm up; this is leaning a little towards dried fruit range at this point.  It's not there; it just shifts from bright floral tone closer to one like lavender.  I don't think you could brew lavender and get it to taste this much like floral range, even if it was edible.  I just looked that up, you can eat lavender, but need to be careful about quantity or else a soapy aftertaste joins the positive flavor (Wikipedia's take, not mine).

Citrus covers a lot of range in this, again.  What I interpret as muscatel and brighter lemon is joined by what tastes like orange peel zest to me.  This tea is so intense that a positive aftertaste trails after, joining the creamy feel in adding depth to overall experience.  This is clearly one of the best Darjeeling versions I've ever tried.  Sometimes a tea range never makes sense to you until you try a really good version of one, then you have an "I get it!" moment, and later even lesser quality versions seem better, they make more sense.  This tea is more than good enough to trigger that kind of experience.

Maharaja:  this is a really nice tea too, I just feel a bit blown away by the other to appreciate it as much as I otherwise might.  It's very positive, but in a range that seems more standard to me.  Warm, rich tones cover positive flavor range, and the feel works well, smooth and full, with a bit of supporting structure.  The second part is towards dryness but not dry, just adding body.  Flavor depth carries more of the weight of the experience, consisting of richer citrus and floral tones, supported by some warm underlying mineral tone that is easy to miss.  

This is really good tea, but the novelty and added intensity of the other version outshines it, per my take on the experiences.  This might work better to drink more of as a beverage, that warmer, richer, deeper range.  I guess that could sort of relate to how if you take a sip of Pepsi and of Coke the brighter, sweeter flavor of Pepsi will seem more positive, but to drink a can of either Coke might work better for many, as an experience that repeats a lot.  

Sweetness is really positive in both of these teas, just in a different range in both.  A lack of negative aspects also is; that can be harder to place.  It would be very normal for a different, heavier, challenging astringency edge to join both experiences, but it's not there.

Third infusion:

I'll have to go to a yoga class soon, so this will be a final take until after a break.

Maharani: transitioning; all those flavor aspects are different.  I'll not do justice to how, for being in a rush, and the difference is so subtle description wouldn't go far anyway.  A caramel sweetness seemed to pick up in this, and rich warm tone.  That very mild astringency dropped back, from a minor supporting aspect to hardly present at all.  This is a smooth as a light rolled Chinese oolong, not at all what you would expect for a Darjeeling in this oxidation level and other flavor range.  They can be smooth but not like this.  Floral range and citrus combine in a wonderful way, not so different than as described before.

Maharaja:  more of the same; clean, complex, well balanced, interesting.  Warmer citrus and floral tones play a similar role but in a different form and different context.  That overall balance stands out; amazing to have all those aspects work so well, and then integrate this well together.  These are truly exceptional tea examples.  And I'm just getting started.

I used slightly more of the Maharaja leaf, an error in judging quantity by eye (how I always do it), but that worked out somehow, the intensities match each other perfectly.  This second tea will probably "brew out" as fast as the first too; you give up a little duration in trading out flavor and other aspect range with oxidation like that.

from a couple of infusions later, but I never did get back to taking notes

Conclusions:

Just fantastic teas.  I drank at least 4 or 5 more very pleasant infusions, and the leaves aren't finished yet, but I didn't take notes about those.  It seemed similar, probably just with some slight transition in aspects.  Not enough that it left out a lot of the story in skipping that part.  It definitely held up well, continuing to produce very positive infusions, without aspect range transitioning in any negative way.

It's cool that these turned out to be first and second flush examples.  It's not the most impressive blind tasting feat to have noticed that, but still a good start for getting back into Darjeeling.  I probably did review versions of at least one of these teas 3 or 4 years ago, which is probably why it seemed like those terms might mean king and queen.  I doubt the mapping to flush (harvest season) was stored anywhere in residual memory, but that part was simpler to spot, even from dry leaves.

I may have evaluated the first flush version more positively for not having tried a tea like that for awhile, with the second flush (standard black tea) more comparable to drinking a lot of black teas over a long period of time.  I end up drinking some really exceptional black teas too, from lots of countries; the benchmark range I'd be expecting would be pretty high in quality level.  Dian Hong, or Yunnan black teas, are a personal favorite, so just not matching that style and range might come across as less positive.  Make no mistake though; that Maharaja version seemed like very good tea.

Jing Hong Da Hong Pao cultivar oolong

I visited the Jip Eu shop in Bangkok twice recently, first to buy some Xiaguan tuochas to give away and keep (from 2012; not quite ready yet for ideal fermentation level, but they are drinkable), and then to pick up an aged sheng cake, which I'll get back to talking about in a later post.  The second time I also bought an extra version of the local Thai sheng Kittichai made that I listed in a post about favorite sheng versions.  I just drank that tea again a few days ago; it's funny how it starts out a bit strange in early infusions and then just keeps getting better, and never quits.

On the first visit he gave me some of a Wuyi Yancha version to try, which he described as from a Jing Hong cultivar, said to be one of the types derived from the original Da Hong Pao bushes.  I've researched and written about that subject before (here), concluding that only Bei Dou and Qi Dan are cultivars tied back to that origin, to one of the original plants.  Looking around online I ran across the idea, again, that Que She is also sometimes claimed to be related, to have origins from one of those plants.

more on the DHP tea plants and legend in this TeaSenz article (photo from there)

Who knows, really.  I started a Tea Chat discussion about this back in 2015 where that Que She idea came up, and this vendor page supports that idea.  I tend to not really trust random vendor input; people often just pass on "traditional knowledge," which can come in varying forms.  I looked around the Seven Cups site for their take, since I had talked to Austin Hodges a little about that way back when, but it only says there are three related cultivars in a Qi Dan sales page, and never mentions what they are.  Qi Dan and Bei Dou links seem fairly well accepted, with a lot less support for Que She being that closely related.  Of course the fact of the matter isn't directly determined by volume of hearsay.

Searching research sources didn't help, although an exhaustive enough search along that line probably would turn up evidence.  A reference like this might help, Genetic diversity of oolong tea (Camellia sinensis) germplasms based on the nanofluidic array of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers.  Two problems come up in using such research to connect modern tea plants to prior traditional associations, and the second is a deal-breaker:  that paper is only available for purchase, not publicly accessible, and it would be necessary to map against all of those original plant versions to establish this type of connection, in this case.  If the research included genetic mapping of all of the remaining original Da Hong Pao associated plants that would work, but taking that step seems highly unlikely.

There's another problem beyond those:  tea plant genetics are only part of the story.  Processing fresh leaves into finished tea accounts for most of the variation in tea style, and a large proportion of the quality level causation, with climate and terroir issues accounting for a lot of the rest (annual rainfall, sunlight exposure, soil quality, weather suitability for harvest and processing, etc.).  I'm definitely not saying that the plant type doesn't matter, because of course it does, but that's only one input among many. 

So who knows what this "Jing Hong" really is.  It could be a direct descendant of an original DHP plant or it could be something else entirely.  In a sense it doesn't matter, because the tea is whatever it is either way, and I don't think Jip Eu even sells this, so it's all a bit academic.  Kittichai said that a friend had passed it on.  

Da Hong Pao is most often a blend of inputs instead, and Qi Dan and Bei Dou are often considered their own cultivars, but also the two most original Da Hong Pao versions.  It's also conceivable that this tea has a different name, or that it's closely related to another plant type.  If it was only somewhat genetically related, part of a later plant breeding outcome, for example, that would put it in an unusual grey area. 

that more recent visit, meeting Kittichai's son

Review:

really light oxidation and roast level, even apparent in the dry leaf

his type description; even the Roman script part doesn't ring a bell

First infusion:  clearly exceptional tea.  The style is lightly oxidized, with a very light roast level as well, so this would likely appeal to people or not based on that context.  As I take it this is essentially the most popular current style of better Wuyi Yancha, with lower quality versions tending to be oxidized and roasted a bit more (or a lot more, related to roast level).  Some of that relates to convention, and some to which preparation works best for which starting point character.  I don't have more to add about that, just saying.  You tend to hear a lot of conflicting ideas about what is most conventional, traditional, or most ideal, but it seems as well just focus on the tea experience and not the story lines, to decide what you like.

It's light enough that the vegetal nature still carries over more than is typical for this category of oolongs.  It's my take that this is probably exactly the result they were aiming for.  A smooth fullness is pleasant; it gives the tea an overall depth.  This includes some of a cognac like character that only better Wuyi Yancha versions express, along with some underlying mineral tone, and floral tone more pronounced than both in this infusion.  It's the unusually thick feel that really stands out, along with a pronounced extended aftertaste.

It's hard for me to guess at what a conventional selling point pricing would be for this tea, but at a guess it's more than I would tend to ever pay, far more than the $30 per 100 grams Jip Eu sells pretty good Wuyi Yancha versions for, perhaps well over $1/gram.  If this is as rare and sought after as Kittichai expressed, as a third main cultivar type from original Da Hong Pao plants then it may be unusually costly.  He gave the tea to me, so I didn't experience that part, but I should ask.  

To be clear this is my favorite Bangkok shop and I visit frequently (not regularly, just when I get around to going, but often), and handing out really exceptional version samples probably isn't part of their normal business practice.  I was in there recently and he gave me some An Hui (I think it was; definitely a Hunan hei cha), so it's not atypical.  They are like family to me, at least related to how I experience visiting.

my wife was my driver for the last visit

Second infusion:  this only brewed for 7 or 8 seconds but the proportion is so high that it's about optimum.  I can back off proportion a little more than this but it's about how I like it best, pushed roughly as far as makes any sense, or maybe just past that per a more standard take.  

It picks up even more depth in the second round.  It was fantastic the first round, so descriptions really aren't going to keep up with how good this tea is.  I could imagine that vegetal edge throwing some people off, and some newer to the type might even like far lower quality and more standard versions better.  By "more standard" I mean more standard for a moderate quality range; again I think for higher quality versions of this type this is quite typical.  It would be a shame to let this oxidize further and then blur it's character with a higher roast level, but it would probably work really well going slightly further with both inputs.

A perfume-like character comes across.  In the first round I had described that as being like cognac, and to me that sort of aspect range spans a continuum, expressed as liqueur-like or perfume-like in related expressions.  People familiar with it will know exactly what I'm talking about, and for others there would be no way to make it clearer.  It tastes like perfume smells, not just the floral range, which is there, but also the solvent part, a little.  

To say that it's positive or pleasant really doesn't do it justice; it's distinctive, and you either value it or you don't.  This is what teas of this general type and quality level are about, to me.  Oddly I could appreciate a much more common, standard, moderate range set of aspects about as much, related to match to preference, but it's impossible to not appreciate how good this tea is.  Feel, aftertaste, flavor range, overall balance, higher quality marker aspect presence; it's really something.  It would be a real shame to brew this Western style, or for anyone not at all on this page to drink it, and see it as mediocre tea.

Third infusion:  floral range bumps a little; this is intense.  It's a sweet, rich, and complex floral range, towards how lotus flower smells.  The part I've described as vegetal is shifting some, gaining warmth and depth, off green wood into more cured hardwood, but sweet, like cherry wood (those hardwood trees do tend to smell a little like the fruit they produce, often enough).  

The feel structure is great; I've not really done that justice, beyond saying it's "thick."  The talk of where it impacts parts of your mouth never did really do much for me, even if I could follow it, or of form, dry versus richly structured, etc.

Fourth infusion:  every round I've brewed faster, down to under 5 seconds this time, and intensity keeps up, with character improving every round.  In terms of description what I said about the last two rounds still works, with only proportion of what had been present shifting this time.  That perfume-like character is intense.  The way it all balances is amazing; no description would do that justice.

Fifth infusion:  it continues to transition, but in a way that's hard to describe.  The feel is a bit creamier now, not just smooth, rich, and structured, but actually feeling more like cream.  Pronounced floral range dominates the taste, along with the perfume-like character, including some of the solvent range along with that floral.  There is still a warmer vegetal tone, like cherry hardwood, and just a trace of flavor towards greener wood or plant stem.

Sixth infusion:  not really shifting.  There's a warmth to this tone that the sum of all described aspects might not seem to imply, and it all integrates and balances really well.  Add just a little of the wrong kind of astringency or vegetal tone and that would be lost, but it all combines perfectly.  

This is surely one of the best Wuyi Yancha examples I've yet to try.  It wouldn't work to say "best," given that quality level and drinking experience doesn't work like that, or preference to type, but if someone was more into that sort of ranking maybe.

some lightly oxidized oolong

Seventh infusion:  vegetal is picking up in relation to the floral perfume tone, although really that could relate to a minor parameter shift, a change in timing.

There's probably a lot more to say about the next half-dozen infusions, since this will keep going, but I won't say it.  The tea is great, a perfect example for that one style and type.  

It seems snobbish to say "not everyone would appreciate this tea," in the sense of "getting it," and I wouldn't mean to imply some sort of higher level understanding by that.  It represents a distinct style, one that people buying Da Hong Pao or other Wuyi Yancha versions in the US might not tend to experience frequently.  I don't mean the cultivar, but claims relate to that part might work too.  It's lightly oxidized, and not very roasted, but all that is more about the balance, the final character they were aiming for.

Maybe this was unusually expensive tea, and maybe it wasn't, and shouldn't be.  But it is very well-made, in my opinion.

visiting a water park on Thai mother's day

Mama Nid joined as well

Keo won a discount for next visit in a draw (not sure what the shaka is all about)

Chinese beans and ice after that visit; I've been hooked on that lately

Three favorite sheng

Someone mentioned in a Facebook group comment that it might be interesting to hear my three favorite sheng, related to suggesting one.  It's an interesting idea.

I responded that it seems trickier for aged sheng, because it adds the extra dimension of someone else trying the same tea and experiencing something else, unless the storage was identical.  Somehow beyond that consistency issue it's a bit harder to evaluate aged sheng, for other reasons.  

I've tried enough that the general type is familiar, but not in the sense that I can easily place what's going on, and how it relates to a broader range, for area-specific character, aging inputs, guessing back to starting point aspects, and so on.  Aged versions are more subtle, but just as complex, with my own preferences still evolving.  I can appreciate some that have a lot of wet storage input, that have fermented to a high degree, and in that particular typical way, but I'm still working out what I like best related to that.  And also related to the drier storage range, and what's in between, what most people would see as more an optimum.  Just sorting out how those terms are used, or others like "natural storage," takes some doing, and that use wouldn't be consistent.

To avoid that and other complexity I'll limit this to young sheng, to relatively new versions, not overly adjusted by aging / fermentation.  I won't necessarily try to frame this as either absolute favorites or best examples, since I can't commit to making those distinctions.  Different teas are nice for different reasons, and my preference is a moving target.  But I will pick some that are interesting for different reasons.  

In the end this becomes more about me liking variety and novelty of experience than about the best teas. Ordinarily this should relate to naming a village area and specific producer, and a different kind of answer related to judging quality levels might have fallen closer to that.  If I had included most favorable impressions related to samples the list would also be completely different, but it's a different experience drinking teas you have more quantity of, to try over and over, to become familiar with.  I just don't buy $.75-1 / gram versions of sheng; it's not in the cards related to my limited tea budget.

Tea Mania Lucky Bee Yiwu (2016):  that link is actually a re-review along with the next tea on this list, a Nannuo version, which was also reviewed earlier in a different post.  This Tea Mania Yiwu probably isn't the best tea I've ever tried but it's definitely one of my personal favorites.  It was nice when I tried it initially, a couple of years ago, and seemed like it would be really exceptional with more age.  And then it was more exceptional, and still is.  Sometimes Yiwu can be light in terms of structure (feel, astringency) with intense and sweet flavor, typically over floral range, but this had some structure.  Of course Yiwu is a big place; it kind of doesn't make sense to expect teas from a very broad area to be all that similar, so that is about what one often tends to experience, but that varies with lots of factors as inputs. 

There's not much more to add about why I like this so much.  Feel really picked up a nice richness, creamy and thick, and flavor is very positive, and intense.  It all balances.  I can't really project ahead to its future, after further aging, when it will be best, but this post isn't about that anyway.  In terms of value this punches way above it's weight, as I mentioned in a review of a later version recently.


Moychay 2017 Nannuo sheng (also reviewed in the last link):  I liked this tea for a completely different reason, because it not only needed no aging (fermentation), it was probably going to suffer from experiencing any of it.  And it did change in that way; it's not as good as it was when I bought it two years ago, per my personal preference.  It was intense in flavor, covering fruit range, something along the line of pear and white grape, and very approachable, not astringent at all.  Intensity and sweetness were really nice, and freshness.  It's still really nice, I just liked it better with that earlier character.

the label was really cool as well (not the most critical factor, but why not)

It had leaned a little away from conventional sheng character for not including much bitterness or astringency, but as it was presented that really worked.  I guess that relates to a post about "oolong style pu'er." I could imagine lots of sheng enthusiasts seeing it as not what sheng is supposed to be about at all, but I absolutely loved it.  I picked it at random in the shop too, based on a hunch, without trying it; that's not how that outcome usually goes.

that St. Petersburg shop; small, but packed full of interesting offerings

Jip Eu in-house produced Northern Thailand wild sheng:  this is one of the strangest versions of sheng I've ever tasted.  It's an especially odd inclusion on this list because it's hardly similar to sheng at all.  When I first tried it the tea tasted odd, a bit sour almost, or maybe just strange in a way close to that.  Without all that much aging it picked up a lot more sweetness, in floral range, then a good bit of autumn leaf character.  I don't think it's finished yet; I'd be surprised if it tasted anything like it did the last time I tried it not so many months ago 

I've only owned this tea for about 10 months, so it's really strange that it's changing that fast.  Not so much the first change; at that shop they tend to store teas a bit isolated from air contact (I think), which works for aging them, but then they need a few months of higher degree of air contact to clear up a bit in aspects range.

That Jip Eu owner actually made it (he's from a tea producing family), but he still placed the origin date between 2012 and 2014 (so this is older tea than the post framing described).  For anyone else saying that they produced a tea but lost track of the year that would be absurd, but for Kittichai it makes sense.  And unfortunately for me as well too; without an email trail or dated Google photo reference who knows when different things I've done happened.

It seems possible that part of the reason it varies is for using a range of different plant-type inputs.  At a guess they all really are Camellia Sinensis variety Assamica, but even that might not be true.

I might have bought it that day, visiting with Ralph

I love the tea for being novel.  Just judged on match to preference it's not all that far above an average, compared to the rest of what I have around.   For being unique it really stands out.  For not costing much at all it was one of the better value purchases I've ever made.  To some extent that's here nor there, since you can't experience that value in the brewed result, but it's still a cool part of it.

Additional mentions:

Yunnan Sourcing Impression cakes:  returning to the value theme, the two versions I've tried of this I really liked (a value-oriented in-house produced version).  Not enough that "favorite" enters as a theme, but there is something about a really solid, well-balanced "basics" cake.  It could work as a favorite in terms of that type-range and value.  

I suppose per my main preference I like single-origin themes better than the balance blending can achieve, but then I might lean so far into experiencing mostly narrow origin types that this actually seemed novel to me.  I do like some Dayi and Xiaguan versions, and went through a CNNP phase, but this is slightly better, or at least just different.  Gambling on buying cheap cakes from unknown producers in different places is something else; those tend to be flawed enough that these others stand out all the more in comparison.

2018 Impression; another nice label

gambling on grocery store tea in Shenzen; it was ok, not above average

Chawang Shop maocha:  there's something interesting about a really fresh version of sheng.  Maybe it improves further after a few months of settling; I suppose that could be a matter of preference, or could depend on the version.  But it's cool tasting that difference, how it is at first.  This post compares two versions from last year, 2019 Guangbie and Hekai (related local areas), and this one compares a Mengsong version with a fresh Laos sheng, a combined tasting that may or may not have made sense. 

those Chawang Shop sheng versions, Guangbie and Hekai

Myanmar / Laos / Thai / Vietnamese versions:  there were way too many of these reviewed here to cite distinctive examples, but it definitely works to say that trying outside of Yunnan origin SE Asian versions has been a favorite experience.  Sometimes these seem non-standard, sometimes in exactly the same character range as Yunnan teas, and sometimes they're way off.  I just saw an interview with Anna of Kinnari Teas (a Laos source, and a friend) about how teas from just outside of Yunnan often make the trip across the border to "become" Yunnan teas.  It's not fair, right, that they can't be sold as pu'er, since that's a regional designation, but once they make that trip it's really easy for resellers to just skip the part about mentioning where the tea is really from, or blend with it.

a Laos version passed on by the owner of Kinnari Tea

a Hatvala Vietnamese sheng version

2018 Kokang Myanmar sheng

Often these are "wild origin" teas; the plantation theme common to Yunnan just doesn't copy over so directly to these other countries.  Thai oolongs are produced in plantations, just not so much the sheng.  The stories about tea tree ages probably typically don't mean much, but I think they're usually not making it up that it's not farmed tea.  

Non-standard processing is an odd twist; it's not unusual for a version to seem like green tea, or lean a little towards white character, or to be a little more oxidized than seems normal.  Since I value variety in tea experience as much or more as zeroing in on trueness-to-type and highest quality level even all that can work well for me.  I suppose that's why this might as well have been presented as about seeking value and variety in sheng experience instead.

I'd mentioned in an off-theme post about not having a picture of Kapil, my yoga instructor

a better shot of Kalani

I don't love the experience of yoga but it seems to help