Juan Yian Hong Da Hong Pao (an original DHP version)

I'd mentioned that on a somewhat recent visit to the Bangkok Chinatown the owners of my favorite shop there, Jip Eu, were nice enough to pass on some of a pressed silver needle cake, and another tea I didn't describe.  This is it, a Da Hong Pao from one of the more original source areas inside the park area outside Wuyishan, from a location that Chinatown shop owner described as near Horsehead rock.

last year, but he and I are holding up ok and look about the same

It is strange, holding onto a tea that interesting for a month without trying it.  Things have been busy; our cat was injured, and an uncle here also was, and I was sick (bad for tasting), and side-tracked by some tea samples from Vietnam, and some pu'er.  We're planning a trip to Russia that's coming up pretty soon, in two weeks now, which adds demands.


This really is an ideal opportunity for a tea blog post to go through what cultivars go into making Da Hong Pao, what original versions are (like this one, earlier this year, about Qi Dan, or an earlier one comparing two Bei Dou versions).  Or to show pictures or maps of the Wuyishan park area.  Global Tea Hut did an issue on that area and the teas once, and different vendors add a bit of description, like this Seven Cups Da Hong Pao page.  I checked the "Juan Yian Hong" reference through a quick Google search, which I think relates to a location origin, but didn't really pursue it.  I'm going to skip all that this time and just write about the tea.

original Da Hong Pao bushes (credit Teavivre vendor page)

These shop owners have family in the Wuyishan area, so there's a good chance the tea is a relatively original version, a type that's not so easy to find.  Kittichai (the owner) showed me a picture of him at his small family tea factory that had been inside the park reserve area but was removed when the Chinese government set restrictions for that natural area (in the 70s, maybe that was?).



Regardless of the source history of this tea the quality relates to what experiencing it is like, and not so much about some mystical forces based in a growing area.  There are more or less ideal places to grow the tea, so all that isn't nonsense, but processing is an equal consideration, and final outcome is the main thing.



Just a little more on subjective factors, before moving on to tasting.  One might think that having very high expectations--relating to having been told a story about the tea, paying a lot for it, or whatever else--means that you will interpret a tea more critically, that it really would have to be exceptional to live up to the hype.  In my experience the hype becomes part of the experience, and expecting a very positive, high quality tea makes you judge the aspects that are positive even more favorably, rather than the reverse, being more critical about limitations.

In short, we believe what we want to believe, and it's not as hard as it might seem to get an interpretation of experienced reality to match up with preconceptions.  If you try the exact same tea out in some picturesque remote mountain glade in China and in a small fluorescent-lit plain-themed strip mall shop you'd have two completely different experiences.  You might well accept an average grade Da Hong Pao as something special in the former setting (or even a Shui Xian as a DHP), and it could be easy to miss that you've stumbled onto something exceptional in the latter (not that it would tend to come up often in such a setting).  As a tea reviewer I could claim that I'm beyond all that, that more depth of experience in trying Wuyi Yancha has shifted my perspective to be more objective, but it's hard to pin down the limits of that.  I can sort of tell what I'm drinking, to some extent.

like me drinking tea, but with kids fighting over a Lego batman in the background (credit)

Review

The dry tea scent is really warm and rich, dark-toffee-like, maybe with so much caramel I was concerned about the level of roast balancing.  It's a matter of preference how much is just right or too much but some teas go too far with that roast step.  Tasting tells that story.

On the first infusion the tea is quite nice (brewed lightly, more a rinse I'm not throwing away, using boiling point water, related to all that discussion).  This tea isn't exactly light roasted but the char effect blends right into the rest of the tea, and gives it sweetness, complexity, and depth.  It's so smooth at the same time it's intense that I wouldn't be surprised if this tea wasn't from this year, if aging had let it mellow to where it is.  Not that I've got that completely sorted out, how all of the range of aspects changes over that first year or two, or beyond that.

After opening up a bit the next round the tea is even better.  This is clearly a really exceptional version of a Wuyi Yancha.  They come in different character ranges, with different taste aspects, different feels, and emphasis on flavors or more subtle range, as more aromatic.  Da Hong Pao can refer to a blended tea, but in original versions it's a full flavored tea that's also aromatic, a tea with intensity, complexity, and range.  I can mention aspects into filling out a long list but those wouldn't do this tea any justice, or the experience.  But I will.

The roast effect is well-integrated and balanced but it does stand out, mainly as a sort of dark toffee tone.  That extends into a rich complexity of earthiness that's almost like a light-roasted coffee, adding a layer of flavors instead of one simple aspect.  In other tea versions that would seem like a dark wood tone, meaning that it's in that same place in the rang of experience, but in this one more towards coffee.  That also integrates with a pronounced mineral tone (it all integrates, really), that reminds me a bit of pen ink.  It probably sounds awful, to drink something that's like coffee with ink in it, with a bit of toffee for sweetness, but that's really more a failure to bring across these flavors as aspects through individual description.  It doesn't taste anything like sweetened coffee mixed with ink, but the range of individual flavors overlaps with those flavor components.

On the next infusion the flavors deepen even more, and shift in nature just a little.  The character of the earthiness, which was almost like coffee initially, softened and became richer in range.  It now reminds me a lot of that Rou Gui version of cinnamon, a taste range much richer, earthier, and darker than in the cinnamon we use in cinnamon rolls and other baking.

Cinnamon is really the name for one specific spice version of tree bark, although per prior reading the one we usually get in a grocery store isn't really "true cinnamon," and there is a range beyond the two.  I've been focusing on the taste range, since it's so novel (interestingly novel, for being roughly in the same range as a tea type that's so familiar, but a bit different), but the other aspect range in this tea is cool too.  The feel is nice and rich, and the tea doesn't just drop out of your mouth after you drink it, part of the experience trails off slowly.  That happens more with young sheng but then there's also that bitterness and other mineral range, not necessarily my favorites.  The part I interpret as "hui gan," a lingering sweetness, is an interesting effect but not necessarily more positive than the rest.

Since I've tried a few "Bei Dou" versions I'm trying to place this related to that.  That type is also said to be from more original plant types, closer to the original strain genetics, and also a reference to an area in the park area (not that I remember those versions I tried as referenced by growing location; it's both a plant strain and an area, as I understand it).  Those teas were on the subtle side, emphasizing aromatic traits over intense flavors (for Wuyi Yancha, I mean, since "subtle" comes in degrees; it's not like I'm talking about silver needle).  This tea comes across as complex; it's expressing a lot of range.  The flavor seems most pronounced, to me.  A level of roast difference would shift that, I'd expect, and although this definitely wasn't over-roasted in a way that ruined it going slightly lighter might have brought out a different balance of aspects.

This tea is all about balance and complexity, on the intense side, but it's in no way challenging.  It does still taste like rocks, as those tend to, but in a way that completely works, nothing like cardboard as lower quality versions might.  As much as I've been talking about different flavors I'm not really doing that complete justice, not for effect but also range.  There is more depth to it that could relate to some sort of different aromatic spice too, maybe a root version instead.

It's not really fading much yet (5 or 6 infusions in, but I went with a high proportion, so these are fast steeps), but I'll let it go a little longer to experience a more intense version, a bit over 30 seconds instead of more like 15.  Even though the flavor intensity isn't greater in overall effect that does shift the proportion quite a bit.  The more intense mineral tone that reminded me of ink picks back up at this brewed strength.  That is not a negative experience; it's really catchy.

I think the flavor range is dropping off a little, along with the intensity, so that although the tea is far from done that overall effect of a high level of complexity has diminished.  I would expect the tea to still make another really nice half-dozen infusions, but the pace of transition would normally pick up from here.  Lower quality teas will just start tasting like wood, or towards cork, something like that, and better teas seem to maintain some of that original range better.

Of course it also depends on how you brew the tea.  I'll skip over talking about temperature much, given I just did in this post about oolong brewing temperature, but going with slightly lower temperature (90 instead of boiling point, as I used) would change not just the initial aspects but also the transition pattern.  This tea would work well using flash infusions, and you can actually separate out flavors better that way, brewed very lightly, and still experience the other aspect range.  To me it's nice going a little longer, not brewing it "strong" but letting that intensity accumulate a little, using 15 or 20 second infusion times, based on using a relatively full gaiwan.  The brewed tea liquid in that picture image above would've been a lighter amber-gold instead of reddish if I'd brewed it much lighter.  I'll make this in a clay pot dedicated to Wuyi Yancha next time and see if that changes things.

I made another nice infusion of this, and then accidentally let another one go for over a minute due to paying attention to something online.  It can still produce plenty of intensity, the range just does narrow, down to bringing back a strong version of the char effect, the mineral, and consistent spice range.  It's still not exactly identical to that dark cinnamon tone in Rou Gui but pretty close to it.  Per my experience these teas (medium roasted Wuyi Yancha oolongs) don't hold up to quite as many infusions as lighter versions of oolongs (less roasted teas, TKY or Taiwanese teas), less than ten in the same character range, but that intensity is unique when the aspects balance well, a more than fair compensation.  It would go over ten infusions in same general character range if someone preferred brewing closer to flash infusions, which would still be very good, and it just comes down to preference.

Second try, in a clay pot

trying it at different infusion strengths

I tried the tea again, this time in a pot dedicated for Wuyi Yancha.  It didn't really change much.  I tried a slightly lower proportion, since going with a completely full gaiwan (full after the leaves became soaked) had been on the one extreme.  This would likely involve extending infusion times beyond the 15 to 20 seconds, at least to maintain that same level of intensity, a bit higher than I drink some teas, closer to how I usually like black tea, just backed off a little.

Not that much changed.  I think pushing the proportion to that higher level had worked out better, going with very short infusions designed to bring out a lot of infusion strength in that time-frame instead of letting the process run a little longer at slightly reduced proportion.  I didn't notice the pot as a factor.  It's nice aesthetically using those, it looks cool, and I suppose it's conceivable that tasting side by side with a gaiwan using identical parameters it may really make a slight difference.

Some people talk about certain pots matching certain tea uses better, but then others say instead that the input due to the fired clay being porous tends to be overstated, that even though a waxy coating of tea component oils will build up the input of the clay type and that layer tend to be overstated.  People don't tend to discuss it as a factor but it would seem like the quality of other teas you are brewing in the same pot would relate, that any carry-over to flavor input would tie back to that.  I don't drink much "bad" Wuyi Yancha but this version is above average per what I do drink.

I'm reminded of a tea shop owner once suggesting using a yixing pot makes a big difference, and offering to demonstrate that by pouring the leaves into a gaiwan for an infusion.  She did, and I could taste no difference, even though it was one infusion immediately after another.  That was before this blog was even started (brewing sheng, I think it was), and my palate really should be a little more developed since then, so maybe the error was really in what I couldn't pick up.  I'm not necessarily claiming that my sense of taste and judgement has changed much; I'm saying that it should have.

This tea was still very nice, exceptional even, but I liked it slightly better prepared using a really high proportion.  Or I suppose it could be that it seemed really novel that first time, something slightly different than I'd been experiencing for awhile, and that wasn't true the second time.  Or I tend to vary a little day to day, really; I'm not a morning person, at all, and I mostly try teas in the morning.  It helps letting that go until late morning on the weekends but my sensitivity might related to how many times kids woke me up in the night.  The day after I wrote this as an early draft it was a few, last night none, for some reason.

Conclusions

One might wonder, what is really high-quality Da Hong Pao supposed to taste like?  I'll start with a couple of references I've already mentioned and then give my own thoughts on that.  Let's start with that Global Tea hut description (from page 19 in that reference):

Maybe that.  I've noticed differing degrees of floral aspects and aromatic elements that could sort of be interpreted as citrus, but not so much citrus peel or the zest spray as a flavor aspect.  That doesn't seem to exactly match my understanding of the concept of "hui gan," but that's a long story I'll just skip over here.  Sometimes an aspect in Wuyi Yancha versions is closer to perfume or liquor, in a way that overlaps a little with that citrus spray more than it sounds like it would.  Seven Cups' description doesn't go into that much detail:

Da Hong Pao is a tea made to represent the essential character of Wuyi Mountain rock wulong: a bold red infusion with layered mineral body with a sweet, enduring finish.


A tea blog I tend to mention, Steep Stories, reviewed a version from them, adding more detail to that:

There was a bit of tartness on introduction, a stone-fruity middle and top note, and a gradual, downward spiral into roasty-toasty madness.  Further gongfoolish infusions alternated between sweet, floral, roasty, or—in the case of the last one—some combination or all of the above. Through it all, though, the fruity lean still remained ever-present...


I was really looking for a reference to the aroma aspect, but I must have been remembering that from another Wuyi Yancha version review (also from Seven Cups, if I've got that part right).  Anyway, DHP can vary.  A mineral base is consistent, some degree of roast-related contribution is kind of a given, and from there floral and fruit can occur and can be interpreted differently.


For my own conclusions for this tea, it seemed like a very good version of a Da Hong Pao, well-balanced and complex, with a well-integrated medium level of roast leading to that final character.  It seemed a bit straightforward for emphasizing taste / flavor aspects instead of more subtle aromatic components (a distinction I talk through so often I'll skip doing that here), which someone may or may not regard as the most traditional theme for original DHP.  Complexity and balance stood out as most positive, with mouth-feel and aftertaste in the right range, even if those can be even more pronounced than they were.

You don't tend to find teas like this walking into random tea shops.  It might not be so unusual for someone to love Da Hong Pao, having tried a broad range of versions, without ever trying one on this level.  Of course you never try the best possible version, and personal preference shifts which preparation and aspects are best (eg. related to level of roast), but this one was pretty good.

2017 Yiwu sheng and autumn Naka from Bokuryo (King Tea Mall)

2017 Yiwu (early spring high mountain) from King Tea (Bokuryo)

Naka 2017 gushu autum flavor sheng

Per talking about tea online a chance vendor contact sent some tea to try; normal enough stuff.  This business is slightly familiar by reputation, the King Tea Mall, an online business that moved from one of the main distribution sites / channels to become more independent.

That choice was externally influenced since Ebay--if I've got that part right--discontinued sales of foods there.  The hearsay about the vendor had been good, the little I'd heard of it, but then it works better to evaluate feedback directly related to knowing how a person evaluates different types of teas and sources.  Online marketplaces like Ebay, Amazon, and Taobao (the Chinese version) are best known for being a lottery of sorts, a place to buy inexpensive tea that could be anything.  Depending on the product and source there could be a likelihood of something being a much lower quality of tea than described.  Vendors who are more consistent and reliable tend to be mentioned in discussions, since that's one way to work around completely random sourcing choices.

I'll just describe a few teas as I review them, starting with two here.  He sent a Yiwu (2017; all but one of these are 2017), a 2017 Naka, 2017 Lao Bang Zang (that should be interesting), and a 2015 Bulang.  These teas are presented under a "Bokuryo" brand, but I'm not seeing exactly what that refers to, seemingly related to developing an in-house brand.  A blog section on the King Tea Mall site talks about sources a little but not that detail, about branding.   First I'll do a bit with framing where I stand on pu'er and young pu'er, a section that regular readers can probably just skip past, since it tends to repeat.

Framing; on exploring pu'er and drinking young sheng

I'll keep this short since I keep mentioning it: I'm just getting into pu'er.  I've reviewed over a dozen sheng (more than a half dozen this year, I'd guess), and have tried more than that I've not mentioned, but all that is barely getting started for this tea type.  Of course I'm not really able to judge trueness to type down to a sub-region, a specific village area, and not even well suited for judging past other variations and identifying the broader region character.  It's a work in progress. 

I can describe the aspects related experience of teas, so this will mostly be limited to that.  Of course I'd expect a good bit of astringency and some bitterness from the tea for being so young, even though per my limited understanding Yiwu region teas are said to be more approachable related to such aspects.  I just attended a Yiwu vertical tasting a month or so ago but I'm certainly not claiming that drinking a half dozen teas in one sitting is solid grounding for taste and aspect memory.  It's not; these teas become familiar over time.

It's odd how this concern is relatively unique to pu'er.  A dozen black teas or oolongs coming out of Indonesia is a pretty broad sample of all of it, I'd expect, and it would clear through most of the better tea type-range of one narrow category in Nepal.  Even for Wuyi Yancha, Dan Cong, or Taiwanese oolongs trying a half dozen good examples would go pretty far in exploring the type.  Maybe that's part of the problem; you could drink a lot of those teas without making it to a single good example too, if you were going about sourcing wrong, or were averse to paying market rates for upper-medium level quality teas.

As I tried these teas I kept coming back to how I relate to bitterness that is typical in young sheng, especially brand-new tea, as these are.  I don't love it.  It's much easier to review a tea type that matches natural preference, that you do love, because then personal taste works well as a yardstick.  The same keeps coming up for green teas, which I've eventually just moved away from reviewing (except for Longjing; funny how I do like that, but obvious enough why based on comparing it to most other green tea types).  I do like the brightness and freshness in young sheng, and can appreciate the complexity, so the range is more to my liking, but to some extent those mixed feelings will come across in the review notes.

2017 Bokuryo Yiwu sheng

The tea (listed on a website with more details here) is described fully there:  2017 BOKURYO YIWU HIGH MOUNTAIN ARBOR TREE SPRING MAOCHA ORGANIC CHINESE PUER PUERH RAW TEA SHENG CHA MENGLA XISHUANGBANNA YUNNAN CHINA.

I think that relates to category tagging, the hashtag idea.  The village name is Gao Shan Zhai, with tree source ages described as around 100 years old (so not gushu, as he defines it, at least 300 years old).  I'll get back to saying more about how it matches up with expectations in conclusions..

The scent is sweet and rich, and the dry leaf appearance is interesting, long and twisted, and colorful.  This tea was never compressed, it's maocha, but per my understanding that doesn't change so much.  Maybe it does, a little, since although it's not so unusual to press the teas later re-steaming them to enable that might shift aspects a little.  What I've heard about that it too limited tot work as any sort of guide.  The teas I've tried as sheng moacha did seem different as a category; it did seem to shift the range of aspects overall in common ways, but that could only be a coincidence since I've only tried a few (three others come to mind, and one loose pu'er with a different appearance, including a really interesting version from Laos and a from Myanmar).

that Laos sheng Maocha (from Kinnaritea)

The initial light infusion is nice, and of course there is some astringency and bitterness to it.  It's also fragrant and floral, sweet and complex, at least related to how a tea that's barely getting started on infusing might be.

On the next infusion even more complexity and richness comes out, although the tea is still not really fully "opened up."  It's quite approachable.  I always did have this tension in young sheng between appreciating or even craving that aspect range (the freshness and intensity) and preferring other tea types' more, the richness, sweetness, other complexity, and lack of astringency and bitterness in better black teas or oolongs, for example.  It's nice for the type, and it tastes quite different than taking an aspirin.  Actually that recent Vietnamese snow tea did have some aspect overlap related to that general aspect range, but that's an exception, since it was an unusual version of a green tea made from similar plants not all that far from Yunnan.

With the experience only partly about flavor, and perhaps not mostly about flavor, it seems odd focusing on that.  Related to feel the tea expresses a fullness across your mouth, most pronounced in the sides and the rear, and some on the roof of the mouth, with that and a trailing flavor range and light sweetness continuing well after drinking it.  I don't love that range of experiences nearly as much as expressed by some pu'er drinkers but it is interesting.

On the next infusion the tea must be roughly where it will be for the middle of an infusion cycle, with some room for transition remaining.  Related to flavor I guess it's still mostly floral, but with some light warmer tones filling in some complexity, and of course with a mineral base.  

I get a sense it could be dialed up just a little more, the full feel and aftertaste ranges, that what I've experienced of some teas presented as "gushu" (older plants) were just that extra bit more intense.  To put that "hui gan" range in perspective, I am tasting this tea two or three minutes after drinking it; the sensation remains as a sweetness in the tongue, especially in the rear of the throat.  That comes in degrees though; for some teas it's almost stronger than when you actually drink the tea, and it takes time for it to level off to the intensity of while you were actually tasting it over a couple of minutes.

In that Yiwu tasting session one tea stood out as being different than the others in that respect (the second in the series, I think it was).  It wasn't a 2017 tea, but it was young, within 2 or 3 years of that, as I recall.  This tea seems quite reasonable related to that series, although the range of aging in those complicates comparison.  

For a tea intended to be drank on the younger side it seems fine, striking a good balance for that, and it all works well enough as it is.  As aging potential goes I'd be the wrong person to judge.  One general idea one encounters is that a tea that is very well suited for maximum potential at full aging (15 to 20 years in suitable environment) shouldn't be pleasant and drinkable initially, so I guess related to that it should be more astringent and bitter.  Surely as with lots of factors there would be some room in that for personal preference. 

I went a little longer to check on keeping intensity up (it's not fading, although a number of infusions in,  but the last infusion seemed a little more subtle, perhaps also related to not minding timing), and it's plenty intense at a 40 second-or-so infusion.  That actually ramps up the feel and aftertaste experience at the cost of the flavor; it comes across as more bitter.

To place all that related to my own impression the feel of the tea could be a bit fuller but the general range of flavor is nice, and the aftertaste effect is positive and interesting.  I suspect I'd like the tea better in about two years, once the aspects themselves had shifted slightly in type and balance, but before that freshness had a chance to fade, but it seems reasonably well-suited to being drank right now.  Maybe if I did try it later that pleasant brightness could fade, and I'd change my mind.  It's not as if it's hard to drink, as if it's unapproachable, but the concern is liking the mix of aspects with bitterness as a main element.

2017 Bokuryo Autumn Naka

This wasn't really a comparison review, tastings in two successive days, but I'll list them together.  This tea is a 2017 autumn Naka sheng, so on the quite young side.  It's listed as "gushu," so per his version of tea definition made from tea plants at least 300 years old.  I was originally thinking of tasting the LBZ second but I'll only have around an hour for tasting, with kids in the house adding to a considerable level of background noise, so as well to hold off on checking that out until I've got more time and space.

The dry leaves are darker than I would expect they'd be for brand-new sheng, with interesting coloring.  I'll start a review with tasting after the rinse though, since interesting scent range doesn't always carry over directly to brewed tea aspects.

It's young sheng alright, but as with the last version more approachable than I'd have expected.  Maybe I'm overdoing it with expecting these teas to be really bitter and undrinkable.  It's bitter, for sure, but I'll be able to talk about aspects beyond that, and it will loosen up after a couple of infusions.

Beyond that it tastes like sheng.  That's probably going to be most of the review, it has mineral undertones, some range may seem floral, but more detail about that range is hard to pin down.  Some warmer range could be still more like a different mineral, or more likely a fresh wood, but seems like it's possibly something else.  But I'll keep going; this tea is hardly even opened up.

On the next round it's even more like biting a slighlty bitter version of a tree bud.  The taste is fine, and complex, but it'll be hard to do it justice with clear description; closest to wood, really.  There is something to the feel, and aftertaste, but it's odd going on about those aspects too.  To me those can add complexity to an experience but individually they're hardly even positive.

It's odd considering that it could be seen as either a strength or a weakness of this tea that it's drinkable.  The Yiwu yesterday was probably slightly more bitter, maybe with a slightly longer aftertaste, although that's hard to keep track of.  Neither seems as full in feel as they might be, in a good range for what I like, definitely not thin, but I expected them to be more challenging related to both flavor and feel.

Comparing the two teas is tricky.  This has just a trace of smoke, so little that it would be easy to miss, and instead of mostly floral with a trace of wood this is mostly woody with a trace of floral.  The "warmer" range in both isn't pronounced, but to me it gives both a depth and complexity that really balances the rest.  The mineral tone in this tea also runs a bit to metal (which is not as negative as that might sound).  It's conceivable that it's a different metal range for both; I never thought about it much but as with floral I'm probably not great with separating individual range for that.  Food related tastes are a lot more familiar; fruits, vegetable, spice and such, and metals not so much.

On the next infusion it softens a bit more and picks up complexity; it's improving.  The bitterness and mineral / metal is easing up, and fresh wood tones dominate, with more warm tones trailing towards spice range.


The sweetness that remains after drinking this tea is different than the Yiwu version, at least in part due to the flavor being different.  I suppose that effect seems moderate to me, although it's all quite relative; it's also quite pronounced.  There is just another type of experience out there where that's really intense, where the tea tastes stronger after you drink it, and you taste more two minutes later than when it's in your mouth.  This just trails off, in a manner and level that seem moderate to me.


I brewed it a little longer, per usual due to not focusing rather than as an experiment (up around  a minute, a reasonably long soak, longer than I'd have intentionally let it go).  It does bring out that aftertaste quite a bit; even while you drink it that range impacts your mouth, and remains pronounced after.  The mouthfeel of this tea is light compared to the flavor range and the aftertaste experience; interesting how that goes.  It's not a bad thing for me, that it could be a lot more structured, and together with that flavor both remain as a lingering taste and feel on the back of the tongue and rear sides of your mouth, with some on the top of the mouth in the front, it's just not as present across all of it.  Brewed strong the light metal flavor really stands out; that is better balanced in a lighter version.

For contrast I went back to a light infusion next time, around 15 seconds.  The feel is much lighter brewed this way, of course, but to me it's a more natural experience.  There's plenty of flavor, and it doesn't feel thin, and the aftertaste still remains, it's just less intense.  It shifts flavor experience more towards that warmer range, still with some bitterness, mineral, and a bit of metal, but it balances with a warmer floral-like range, just a little towards a spice.

Even though I'm 7 or 8 infusions in (or maybe more) this tea isn't going anywhere; transition is moderate, and it's definitely not fading.  The warmth and complexity might be very slowly increasing, or really I think it could be that bitterness and mineral are slowly fading out, letting the other range stand out.

I'll have to leave off describing more though since I have to go.  I liked the tea.  It's hard to place related to how much I liked the one yesterday; they're just different, although they do share some common ground.

Conclusions

These both seemed like nice teas.  I'd need to drink both over time, to get used to them, or compare directly to each other or others, in order to really get a better feel for differences and which I liked best.

Per usual the main issues were related to drinking very young sheng in the first place.  Neither was as bitter or astringent as I expected but that range stands out for both.  In both cases brightness, freshness, and complexity beyond taste range was positive.  In the past I've not tried many versions of tea presented as "gushu," and few really stood out related to overall intensity, particularly in relation to aftertaste (hui gan), and also complex feel.  These two teas were positive related to that compared to other range of sheng, well above average but not as exceptional related to the most pronounced examples I've experienced (for example, one tea in that Yiwu tasting session, and a Golding KL boutique shop version of a Jing Mai sheng in this post, where it's compared to a similar Farmerleaf version).  I didn't notice much difference in the two versions related to one being "gushu"--from older tea plants--and the other not.

I suspect I'd like both better in another two years, but then I'd imagine that would relate to personal preference about how aspects tend to change as much as that being the case for everyone.

In a sense it doesn't work to judge teas completely separate from quality level claims, which also relates to tea pricing.  If one of these teas was selling for double the price of the other that would change how they were being presented (and in this case the lower cost version would seem a better value, since they were more just different than one being better).  That's not the case; both are sold for around $25 for 100 grams (one is loose tea, so varying quantity is easy, and the other is a small cake).  Since there is a broad range of commercial teas available in the $40-50 per 357 gram range this also places them as higher quality teas than those, related to that pricing working out to around double that.  They did seem like better tea than a 2014 7542 I tried not so long ago, but it's a different thing comparing chopped up tea to maocha or compressed tea made from whole leaves. 

Normally I don't get stuck on that theme, about value, moving beyond expressing an opinion about aspects and a general impression, into trying to place a tea, but somehow that personal project and vendor context seemed to lead towards that.  I checked Steepster for input, and a few are listed there, but neither of these.  I'll try a couple more samples and consider it further.  One is from Lao Ban Zhang; that should be interesting.  

Tea gear; on brewing devices

Originally posted as http://www.tching.com/2017/11/tea-gear-brewing-devices/

In a sense I’m not the right person to be writing about tea gear; I just stick to the basics related to what I own and use. 

I usually use a French press to make tea at work, and that or an infuser or gaiwan at home.  I own two clay pots I bought in Taiwan (almost certainly not yixing; they didn’t come with certificates).  As is typical I only use those with one type of tea each (Wuyi Yancha and sheng pu’er), with a lot of people narrowing use down to one level below that, a certain tea or a certain aged range.  I’ve not noticed they make a lot of difference in results, but I did brew a Rou Gui in the sheng pot once, and it did seem off, so they must be contributing something.

Teforia; it is / was cool looking (from a review mentioned here)

It was just in the news that one of the better regarded, most expensive brewing devices (systems?) by Teforia has been discontinued.  It seemed like spending $1000 on a way to brew tea isn’t in high demand (actually $1499 per this product review article, which more or less concludes “don’t buy it”).

Per my understanding at least one of their devices was based on a capsule system, and I really don’t have lots to say about those.  I tried a tea made in one at an expo once, and even if it had been better I still wouldn’t be interested.  The same is true of trying Thai tea—the orange spiced kind—prepared in an expresso maker.  A lot of teas turn out better brewed infused in water at temperatures under boiling point, and using 40 seconds of steam contact doesn’t seem ideal.

An online contact developed an automatically timed version of a basket type infuser, under the brand name Teaflo.  It’s the type where you push a button to allow the tea to drop into a mug, except in this case you don’t need to push a button.  An interesting variation of this design based on an hourglass shape was first developed in 2011, the Tea Time Tea Maker, but apparently it still hasn’t entered into commercial production.  Hand made brewing devices that combine function and artwork are another interesting sub-theme, but I’ll only mention an Instagram profile of one well-known example (Petr Novak's artwork / teaware), and then move on. 

Petr Novak teaware; more or less functional artworks (photo credit)

Cost as a concern mixes with function.  A $1000 solution seems like overkill but even an inexpensive infuser or French press is going to cost something.  The standard rate for that Teaflo device seems to be $48 per that link; not so bad.  The automated device that gets mentioned the most, the Breville tea maker, also covers the heating function (kettle part), and it “only” costs $230 at Walmart.

Breville One-touch (credit this product review article)

I usually spend around $10 on basic, inexpensive French press versions, or even less on basic gaiwans, but then I live in Bangkok, where some things can cost less.  I bought a gaiwan for around $8 in the Chinatown in NYC in January, and one well-known online vendor (YS) sells versions from that range up towards $20.  

My parents bought me a really nice “For Life” infuser basket device for Christmas.  It’s a bit of a gamble, them giving me that kind of thing, but it’s compellingly simple and effective, and cool looking, easy to like.  I just looked it up online; it goes for $26.50 on their website.  That seems a bit much, but then it is nice.  You could brew anything at all in it, probably even coffee.  That’s provided you want to make a whole cup of it at one go, and use something like a Western-style brewing proportion (a part that gets complicated). 

infuser at local cafe, like Teavana's (it might be this Mei Leaf version)

I checked what a push-button drop-style maker might cost--the type of design the Teaflo is based on--and Teavana’s normally had cost $22.95, now down to $16.07, unless they’ve cleared all their stock as part of going out of business.  Pushing that button yourself might seem no big deal, but that’s not really the point.  It’s about not needing to time it, or forgetting to do that, about the tea turning out better, or being able to jump in the shower instead of waiting.

a clay pot (not yixing, but along a similar line)

Right around this point it would make sense to start in on a narrative theme.  One possible version:  each to their own; it’s all good to make tea in any way that works for someone.  Or another:  soaking dried leaves in hot water for three minutes really doesn’t need to be gear intensive, and people might be looking for solutions to a problem that doesn’t exist.  A more subtle, developed version than those is possible.  People seem to naturally transition tea interest preferences, related to both tea types and brewing methodology, and a sophisticated mechanical solution that “brews the perfect cup of tea” is not regarded as a natural end point by most tea enthusiasts.  How dare I speak for everyone that likes a certain beverage?  Let me explain.

There is some leeway related to the qualifier “most” in that sweeping claim.  Based on people having so many preferences (yixing or other clay pots, gaiwans, infusers, tea bottles / tumblers, etc.) “most” tea enthusiasts don’t agree on any one best approach.  It’s probably not a radical claim that many people gravitate towards a Gongfu brewing approach further along the experience curve, based on using a higher proportion of tea to water and a higher count of short infusions.  Some tea types give better results made in such a way, and most others just turn out about the same.

It doesn’t stop there; I’ve ran across two other people with “the next best thing” ideas for brewing tea, and there must be countless existing devices and ideas out there.  This article lists more than a dozen, but that’s only scratching the surface.  I’m reminded of someone recently asking in a tea forum if a tea mat that includes a timing device seemed like a good idea.  Everyone there said no.  Of course brewing devices are a real thing, they’re practical, but per my own take—which is only one of many—someone should try out an inexpensive gaiwan before getting too far into other gear.  If that timing step really is an issue a $48 gear solution doesn’t sound so bad.  And it’s worth bearing in mind that in a pinch someone could mix dry leaves and water in a coffee mug, and then strain those into a second one.

lots of teaware at the Lin Mao Sen shop in Taipei