Laos Tea Tasting in Moscow, review of a black tea and shou

I'm in contact on Instagram with Daria Biryukova, who is involved with Laos Tea, a Russian based business that produces local tea in Laos.  She invited me to an informal tasting at a bookstore after seeing a post about us visiting Moscow at that time, the week before the Western Christmas (the Russian version is on January 7th).   Alexander Zhiryakov, a tea maker and business founder, was preparing the tea.

This event description is also an introduction to a review of two samples they passed on, beyond only covering the tasting.  That outing was around a month ago now and my general impressions of it are still clear but finer details not as much so. One tea poured was an oolong, the other a black tea.

The oolong was a bit unconventional, interesting, and maybe a little rustic.  The black tea was nicer and more refined, pretty close to a style of Dian Hong I had brought with me to drink (on the trip, not to that event).  Alexander wasn't quick to compare the Laos teas to any other origin style, since teas' character does vary related to lots of different inputs, and they did seem distinctive.  But that tea did seem to taste like a Dian Hong (along the same lines as these), which for the most part is a good thing.

always nice being in a picture once in awhile

I've heard of Laos Tea before, years ago the first time.  Most recently it was mentioned by another online friend who runs Kinnari Tea, another Laos tea producer.  A Bangkok tea friend who is stingy with praise said that Laos Tea's sheng was ok a few years ago, which is a more positive endorsement than it would sound, but still not much to go on.

Alexander and Daria were very nice and the event was enjoyable.  We talked about tea and also culture and travel, if only a little, since two discussions in two languages were running at the same time.  One guy there was from Siberia, I think it was.  He encouraged me to go and visit some remote region, I think in part because it was funny to him to promote that place as a tourist draw.  Alexander definitely has a lot of experience with different teas and travel to draw on in discussion.

Tea review:  Phongsaly shou pu'er and Banchicho black tea

Laos tea Banchicho black tea

Laos Tea Phongsaly loose shou pu'er

both teas brewed (black left, shou right)

I've tried these tea samples they passed on before, on that trip, but reviewing isn't part of my vacation routine.  It takes time, the tasting and then editing, and it's hard to account for water as a variable, or to overcome differences a shift in climate can put your sinuses through.  Traveling to a more ideal setting and doing a tasting would be an interesting experience, like on a camping outing with good weather.  The water in that Moscow hotel seemed fine, so I'm guessing that I had a relatively sound initial impression of the teas.  In St. Petersburg the hotel water was so bad I switched to buying an inexpensive Earl Grey to drink there.  They don't have kettles in Russian hotel rooms, it seems, as they do in most Asian versions, so without bringing or buying one you're at the mercy of whatever hot water is available at the cafe or restaurant.

I'll review both tea prepared using a modified version of Gongfu style brewing, at a low enough proportion one might see it as a modified version of Western brewing instead, or in the middle.  Even more unconventionally I'm drinking both together.  Comparison won't help at all (they're not similar enough for that to be useful) but I'm working through a slight backlog of what I mean to write about.

On first taste the shou is as I remember it, but it will probably improve after the initial rinse and first infusion.  It's not unpleasant in any way, not "off," and beyond that earthy, towards peat and dark wood, with a little sweetness.  It seems like normal shou.

The black tea is slightly better than I remember it.  It's relatively clean flavored and complex, with a lot of bud content extending a base of malt, a clean version of forest floor, and sweeter elements trailing towards a dried fruit and into a touch of pine.  It's not so much that taste of pine needles, instead that texture and hint of dryness that is normal in bud-heavy black teas.  One of my favorite bloggers (Amanda of My Thoughts Are Like Butterflies) used to call it a resin-like quality, which as I take it she meant in a good way.  I like that aspect, I just like leaves-only black related tea versions more.

The shou did improve on the second infusion.  A trace of mustiness eased up, still not completely clear but not pronounced.  Per my understanding--not memory; I've lost track of a specific production year--this tea is 3 or 4 years old, so the initial fermentation tastes should've had plenty of time to fade.  In my past experience shou also experiences changes related to storage conditions, so it is possible to open a 3 or 4 year old version that's a bit odd and experience it clearing up in fermentation related aspect range a lot over half a year or so, once it gets some limited air contact.  One relatively commercial (mass produced) shou version I tried last year moved from tasting like petroleum to being smooth, creamy, decently balanced, and tasting nothing like petroleum.  That tea was about the same age, improving based on being opened to be exposed to a little more air contact for less than a year.

black tea left, shou right

The flavor intensity picks up too, beyond improving, but it's still in typical shou range.  A touch of creaminess (think "Guiness stout") joins in the peat and dark wood, and the depth starts to resemble French Roast coffee a little.  No spice-like complexity or anything like fruit adds to that.  It's not that far from a standard-issue Dayi shou I bought from Yunnan Sourcing last year, one billed as tasting like fruit, which was clean and decently balanced, but also just in the general neutral shou range.  For someone on this page this tea would be fine if it didn't cost much, since it is a basic shou.

The black tea is more interesting and distinctive.  It does remind me of lots of other black teas, and I don't get an impression that it's great tea, but it's nice.  The flavors are clean and reasonably complex.  Soft malt works well as a base, and there is earthiness and other sweeter range beyond that.  It's one or two interesting flavor elements away from being much better tea, mostly limited by nothing really standing out about it.  A touch of woody forest floor gives the malt some depth, and the balancing sweetness makes that work, but both the description and the experience would work a lot better if there was something else to it.  That forest floor component hints a little towards a root-bark spice aspect, but it equally hints towards dried wild mushroom, in the end settling in the middle range of soft malt and clean flavored light wood.

Neither tea transitions on the next infusion or later ones.  Providing a number of consistent infusions is positive, and related to feel of the teas and the rest they seem fine.

Conclusions

If a vendor had sent these two teas I might skip mentioning them in blog review since doesn't make for a novel story or work well for vendor promotion to conclude that a tea is "ok," good in a more moderate sense of good, but the whole experience was interesting, that event and trying tea versions from a unique location.  

The teas were nice, and it is always interesting trying teas from different origins.  These versions weren't really presented as two teas that best represent their product line, or the best they make, it didn't seem, just samples of what was on hand.  Either this black tea or the other we tried Alexander said was thrown off by heavy rain late in the harvest and processing cycle, an input that wasn't positive.  That other black tea in the tasting my favorite, as I recall.  I bet their sheng is better, and that other black tea versions would also be.

I have tried a number of teas from Laos before.  I first visited Laos exactly ten years ago (funny how fast that went), and we didn't see tea then, and I wasn't so into it then anyway.  On a visit about two years after that I bought tea directly from a farmer, and also coffee, one step towards getting drawn into loose tea.  The teas weren't very good, from that small farm, not on the standard level these are, probably due to their processing skill being limited.

Laos tea in that bookstore; I should have focused in and picked up more

They sold a few more teas at that small bookstore but I didn't get around to buying any others.  That early in the trip I was a bit single-minded about searching out Russian teas, which sort of worked out and sort of didn't.  I bought two Russian teas later (at Perlov and Moychay shops), a green tea and a compressed tea presented only as "not any conventional form of hei cha."

some earthy, unusual tea, but I'll hold off on description for now

Post-script; more about that trip and a Russian sense of humor

Related to the Russia trip in general, some relatively trivial experiences sum up the tone of experiencing the culture, which I'll share here.  I've already talked about main highlights like seeing auroras or the experience of visiting Red Square, and this is about how the people seemed instead.  As broad strokes go Russians were mostly friendly and helpful, and seemed genuine, but one part of interactions was unusual, funny in a different way.

Of course I don't get Russian culture, and only took away so much insight from spending two weeks as a tourist.  People were a bit of a contradiction, in a way that sort of worked.  They were reserved but friendly, not cheerful but pleasant, at times a bit condescending but in a way that didn't really seem mean spirited.  If anything instead of being insulted by that type of joking I took it as a sign of familiarity, and a type of inclusion, related to us being in on the joke more than being a target of one.


The first:  my wife and I were walking together and she turned to say something, but directed it to a random Russian guy by mistake (I was probably lagging, looking at something).  He was startled but then laughed and said “nihau,” Chinese for hello.  It’s difficult to explain why that was funny, to him and to me (but not so much her).  I doubt he was convinced that she was probably Chinese, and in fact she's Thai.  Or maybe he did think she was Chinese, and I misread his take on all of it.  It seemed an indirect example of how Russian humor can be funny but not necessarily in a conventional way.  Why was it funny for that guy at the tasting to say you could see an aurora at some remote lake in Siberia, when it's not that far North and you can't?  It was just a form of banter.

our guide, Ivan, saying "I'm not your fond memory; take a picture of a stuffed bear"

I can't really explain it, but since I'm doing anecdotes I'll add one more.  Late at night we tried to check out of a grocery store, using self-checkout since only that was open.  It wasn't completely working; that kind of thing isn't always seamless in any country.  The guard there told staff to help us, in Russian, and as an aside commented on our status by saying in English "help me," mimicking us crying out for help.  It was funny, but I suppose it wouldn't be funny to everyone.  A Thai or American security guard would not think to say that.  Of course he was in the process of helping us, and over and over people helped us, and my final impression of Russians relates to that, of people being friendly and helpful.


My overall favorite memory was of taking those long escalators up and down to the metros, carrying my daughter on them.  There we talked about what we were going to see, or what we just had seen, about the cold weather, or the the trip in general.  We saw images of a circus or ballet on signs in St. Petersburg, triggering excitement before and after experiencing those.  Another fond memory is of walking around the Peterhoff palace with my son, talking about the trip, and about the unusual feel of visiting gardens in the winder.  My favorite part of every trip travels with me, the experience of spending time with my son and daughter.

I was usually holding her

typical view back down the escalator

elevator group selfie

Keo at Peterhoff Palace

on a hop-on-hop-off local tour bus

flashing V signs and drinking shakes in a Moscow burger restaurant

chilling in Gorky Park

funny I don't remember this, a TV fire

at the St. Petersburg Bolshoi circus

Vietnamese Oriental Beauty from Ha Giang province

I exchanged some teas awhile back with an online friend in Vietnam (or contact; whichever concept you would use), Huyen Dinh.  I did finally get around to sending her back some tea but I won't go into what: just some of what was around. 

It's a little unconventional reviewing the teas she sent because I don't know specific sources, who produced it.  That's true if you buy a tea from a typical online producer too; they would sell it as this post is labeled--with type and area--but the origin wouldn't be more specific.  Any potential marketing angle drops out since she's not selling this tea, she's just another tea enthusiast.  In a way that almost seems better.

Here is a map reference of where that tea is from, Ha Giang, right beside China, a reference from Hatvala (one of my favorite Vietnamese tea vendors).  They sell an amazing Oriental Beauty version, which I reviewed here, that is quite type-typical compared to Taiwanese versions, only exceptional for being an above average quality example.  This will prove to be a bit different, not necessarily related to being inferior, but different in character.

Review:

My first impression is that it doesn't look exactly like a Taiwanese OB, which are often more brown and white, with multi-colored shades related to those.  This has more of a black and white appearance, more similar to a moonlight white or a bit like the Vietnamese snow teas.  It's quite well twisted, so compact that I overshot the quantity a little and ended up with a gaiwan mostly full of brewing leaves once it infused.  That doesn't throw off the brewing effect, in most cases, it just requires using really short infusions.



It's quite heavily oxidized, really a black tea in an Oriental Beauty style.  OB's are a very oxidized version of oolong (70% gets mentioned sometimes, but it's hard to be sure of what that means, or if it doesn't consistently mean any one thing).  It's not so unusual for some versions to seem to blur the line, to be that little bit more oxidized and to seem like a novel black tea instead of a well oxidized oolong.  How well the aspects and overall effect work out are more important, although I guess someone else might value a tea matching an expectation of a type more than I do.

trying it out brewed a bit heavier

The brewed tea flavors include some earthiness typical of black tea, that malt and mineral range, and also plenty of fruit.  Mineral is pronounced but I'll skip guessing out what rock it tastes like ("warm" will do; not like limestone).  That fruit range isn't the typical light and bright OB flavors (citrus, muscatel, spice), but instead deeper fruit flavors, black grape, raisin, currant / elderberry, and some limited brighter range towards mango or pineapple.  The overall effect is unique, a mix of other types and styles.


It does transition through infusions, with some of the heavy mineral and maltiness giving way to even more dried fruit.  The fruit effect brightens; the black grape and currant seems more like blueberry as it keeps going.  It's a very cool aspect range and overall effect, especially that transition cycle.  But also the balance the aspects strike too, the way it comes together.  The flavors range is very complex and clean, and the feel is nice and full, with no notable flaws.

well-oxidized small leaves

Conclusions

It reminds me a little of an OB version from Yunnan, from Farmerleaf (which I reviewed here; they take down their own site pages once a tea is out of stock, so there isn't one).  Looking back the flavors range was a bit different, with that warmer and slightly earthier, mixing in cinnamon, pastry, and heavier fruit (raisin and cooked yam, a bit in between fruit and a sweet vegetable range).  Both are unconventional in appearance and character.  Both are relatively more oxidized and off-typical-region versions of Oriental Beauty.  With Farmerleaf teas coming from Yunnan (and that tea from Jing Mai, within Yunnan) these aren't produced that far from each other.  I could speculate about similarities related to local climate or plant types used but I really have no idea, it's just interesting to consider.

I really liked this tea.  It wasn't as light and bright as some Oriental Beauty versions are, but for more typical examples you have to get a really good version for the bright, intense flavors to be really complex and not exhibit any musty earthiness, or to not transition in a way that's completely positive.  I'm not claiming that medium quality OB versions tend to taste like cardboard, the point is that only better examples show off that intense fruit range in a really clean and bright way that holds up through an infusion cycle, typically transitioning some in nature as you brew them.  This fruit and general character is different, more of a black tea, with some heavier fruit and some nice berry aspects, but it paralleled how it works out for quite nice more-typical OB versions in that range. 

You can usually adjust parameters and get some variation in aspects from an OB, with them performing well across a range of preparation approaches, and I'd assume that's true of this tea too.  I don't have lots of it but enough to make it again, at least once or maybe twice more, so I can check on that.  For some that would lead to the challenge of optimizing the brewed tea character, dialing it in, and for others messing around and exploring changes would be more the point, but it works out well either way.

Many thanks to Huyen again for providing interesting, unique, and pleasant Vietnamese teas to try.

Trying Moychay black teas from Georgia (teas bought in Russia)

These two teas I bought in Russia, in Moscow, in a Moychay shop there.  They're from Georgia instead of Russia, which is still trying something new to me, so just what I was looking for.  I'll post some pictures of tea shops but this post is really about reviewing the teas.

I just did post a long travel-blog theme review of visiting Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Murmansk (seeing Northern Lights) but I'll steer clear of most of that scope too.

one of the Moychay shops in Moscow, where I bought these

Yesterday (at time of making notes, at least) I met Sasha Abramovich (FB contact here), a local guy who I've talked to online about tea and we first tried this version.  He's local in the same sense I'm local in Bangkok, not from here but living here.  He just toured the tea producing areas of Darjeeling and Assam so that made for plenty related to tea to talk about.  He translated the package description, which is in Russian, and compared his impression to other Georgian teas he's tried.  I won't really be doing justice to talking about Sasha or the teas' background, since this a review runs long enough as it is.

I might at least mention that we tried two other very nice teas yesterday, a Castleton Moonlight white, and a Thurbo Darjeeling.  Both tasted like good first flush Darjeeling, bright and fresh, sweet and fruity, complex and not overly astringent.  I just had a similar experience trying a Makaibari first flush version I had left over from samples shared by the Lochans (a good source of various Darjeelings, and a producer of their own Doke location products).  It seems odd circling back to focus on Darjeeling first flush well into winter (in a post about Georgian black tea) but I think I might say more about that last tea later in another post.

So many tangents, so little patience to write pages about them.  I was planning on cutting short tasting notes and reviews this year.  All the comparisons and long tasting sessions last year started to extend into two page tea write-ups, going a bit far.  In the past I've researched new locations or tea types when writing about them, and there would be plenty to say about teas from Georgia, but I won't, at least not in this.  I talked to a half dozen people about those Georgian teas and everyone said different things, all quite interesting and worth hearing but difficult to summarize.  Most of those people read the Russian descriptions (I've been talking to a good number of Russians about tea lately), and a few others had substantial background with Georgian tea sources, one essentially a tea producer there.  For now I'll leave off at mentioning a Georgia-local Facebook tea group, which is more accessible using English than one would expect.

Related to the two specific teas, this initial label content was completely in Cyrillic, not an easy starting point.

The pricing I can decode on my own; around 60 rubles equates to one US dollar, so those two versions are around $8 per 100 grams and more like $20 for the other.  For Thais it works to divide rubles by two to estimate baht, so 245 baht (give or take) per 100 grams and then also 630.  With one tea costing 2 1/2 times the other one might expect it to be much better (or at least I would), but things aren't always that simple, the supply and demand factors, and personal preference can muddle what is "best."

The full description is on an English language Moychay website, with the container lid on the right in the image as this tea (I think):

friendly Moychay shop staff

"Organic Red Tea" is made of spring shoots of wild tea bushes (harvest May 2017) grown in Guria County.  In appearance: tiny, lengthwise twisted leaves of dark purple-brown color. The liquor is transparent, chestnut color.  The brewed tea has warm, refined, fruity-biscuit bouquet with berry, herbal and citrus hints. The taste is refined, silky, sweetish, with berry acidity, transforming into refreshing finish.


That's pretty much what Sasha said, and the price matches up, give or take some conversion fluctuation.  I didn't see a listing for the second.

I'll refer to them here as "the first and second," not much of a place-holder for specifics, but that's how I wrote the initial draft, and going with "wild and not-wild" instead isn't handier.

More back-story, in pictures

Even though I'm not really saying more about Sasha, Moychay, or Georgian tea in this post I can pass on some pictures.

visiting with Sasha Abramovich (contact and photo credit here)

a nice Gongfu brewing area in that shop

looking ahead; something different from that shop

Moychay staff in St. Petersburg (a different subject)

I'd mentioned in the last post that I found two shops at the same time in Moscow, also the Perlov tea shop (quite near this Moychay branch), which I'll get around to saying more about along with a tea review.  The exterior and interior of that shop was beautiful, but I was slightly disappointed to find the selection as commercial boxed teas or one regional version per type jar tea, without much for local or regional products.  Both presentations can still be fantastic tea but based on prior expectations it's not exactly what I was looking for.  I bought a Russian green tea there, one of only two Russian teas I found, and an "Ivan chai," or willow herb tisane, which I'll review later.

Picture references related to that:

Perlov tea shop

these could be good, just not what I was looking for

Review: 

the previously referenced wild organic tea from Guria County

It can be tricky keeping track of labeling when you can't read it, but these prior two pictures do match, that's the Russian description of that tea I tried with Sasha, matching the website description.

the other tea, as of yet not really well defined (by me at least)

I'm writing these initial notes related to a first round, and I think brewing it a little stronger the next time and being a second infusion will tell more of the story.

The first tea that I'd already tried yesterday is nice, more or less matching the description for it.  When I first tried it the tea seemed a little disappointing, I think related to build-up, carrying around teas for awhile like that, and trying tea from a new country.  The parameters were probably just a little off too, since it was much better today.

The package description said it tastes like bread or pastry, with some fruit aspect, and a bit of citrus.  We had tasted it using relatively standard parameters for Western style brewing and I'm shifting that towards a hybrid of Gongfu instead, which to some people might just be considered a low proportion and longer time frame version of Gongfu brewing.  Or others would see it as tea brewing practice abomination, I guess, to adjust parameters to whatever you like versus following some convention.  I've brewed a lot of black teas a lot of different ways so how variations shift results is familiar, it just varies for different teas.

The tea is like that description, which works as a starting point.  The bread or pastry like element gives it a rich body and nice flavor base, not unlike that found in some Taiwanese black teas.  That fruit and citrus comes across as a tartness that reminds me of a Dan Cong black tea I've reviewed.  Tart black tea isn't unheard of but it's not really typical of most types.  The complexity is ok, and it's not really off or flawed in any way.  I suppose it might trace over into balsa wood or cardboard flavor a little, not exactly off or flawed, but not ideal related to that aspect range either.

Up until that cardboard part it sounded pretty good, didn't it?  Tartness isn't a favorite aspect for me in black teas, and I don't love it when it's dominant in oolong oxidation level Dan Cong, the more normal version for teas from there, but I could imagine others relating to it differently.  I do love orange citrus in black teas, in wild Lapsang Souchong I've tried, or variations in Oriental Beauty, but I'm picking up more cranberry than "warmer" citrus in this.

The second tea--I think sold as an inferior grade of tea, or at least at a lower cost--looks the part of a superior tea, whole leaf instead of broken.  At first I was considering if I mightn't have that switched.  After thinking it through the tartness in that "first" version (listed as berry and citrus in their description) seems to more or less guarantee that the shop staff didn't accidentally switch those labels.  The "second version" leaves are long, twisted, and whole versus being quite broken for the other tea.  They're medium brown in appearance versus a darker black too.

The taste of the second version is fine, maybe just a little thinner.  It comes across as warmer, with less fruit, and not tart.  Toffee or caramel is more pronounced, extending a little towards a spice aspect, not cinnamon but towards that.  Again there is a woodiness that starts to remind me a little of cardboard.  That's really not that uncommon in Taiwanese black teas, per my past experience (which this aspects set reminds me of).  Shifting brewing aspects can minimize it, and bring out the flavors more beyond that trace of mustiness, but it's part of some teas that is more or less something to work around.

first version ("wild") left, other right

Second infusion:

The first tea version (the "wild" leaf tea) is similar to how the first infusion had been when brewed a bit stronger in this second round, but now fully "opened up," as much as that relates to black teas at all.  I am liking this tea quite a bit more than when I had it with Sasha that first day.  He and I both enjoyed it but it seems to do better with a bit more infusion strength, or maybe the higher proportion and shorter time somehow works better.

For some teas it doesn't really matter, and they work really well made lots of different ways, just coming across differently.  Two of my favorites work out like that:  Oriental Beauty (Taiwanese more-oxidized bug-bitten oolongs) and Dian Hong (Yunnan black teas, which actually vary quite a bit to be generalizing like that).  Sheng pu'er often really needs to be enjoyed brewed in a way that suits a particular version best, often better brewed very light, on the other side of the scale, although those vary a lot in character too.

elderberries (photo credit)

There is plenty of fruit, coupled nicely with a pastry-like complexity.  It reminds me of cranberry because of the tartness but really the fruit range goes beyond that, a bit into dark cherry instead, or maybe closer to elderberry.  Elderberry pie is fantastic, by the way, one of my best childhood memories.  They're tiny, sweet, distinctive flavored fruit that takes lots of work to pick, and we'd collect them up for my mother and get a pie in return for our trouble.


Elderberries taste like a blueberry but heavier on earthiness or mineral, probably as close to how ink smells as anything else, but they definitely don't taste like ink.  If I just loved tartness more in tea this would seem exceptional; as it is it's still interesting and positive.

The other tea is a contradiction for tasting rich and full, sweet and complex, clean-flavored and positive, and also slightly thin in a sense that's hard to pin down.  The style is enigmatic too.  It seems closest to Taiwanese black to me (honey black from a Jin Xuan cultivar, to be more specific).  There's an intriguing rich aspect layered in that is really interesting and positive (maybe like hazelnut?), and again a slight woody mustiness that's less so.  It's a little towards spice range as found in root beer or sasparilla.  For having that slight bit of wood tone the flavor is really clean.  With this being so inexpensive it's a great buy given the novelty and complexity, even if it has limits related to range and overall effect.  I really should have bought 100 grams of it, but I expected to pick up loads of tea in different places later, which really didn't work out.

a lot of color difference beyond the leaf wholeness differing

Third infusion / conclusions:

Both teas seem like decent teas related to overall impression, to flavor, and also thickness of the tea and complexity in terms of aftertaste.   They don't seem like really exceptional tea versions related to those last ranges of aspects, but then a lot of that scope applies more to other types; oolongs, pu'er, or even white teas can express more depth in those directions.

The first tea is thinning a bit faster than the second.  The leaves being more broken might have something to do with that, or maybe not.  I suppose it's conceivable that the results might have been better for a using less broken leaves related to other aspect range too.  While the first is just fading the second is just as complex and interesting as it had been, still subtle but with nice intensity.

I do like these teas.  I wouldn't mind having more of both to drink more of, to mess around with parameters and such, or just to enjoy experiencing.  Based on the tasting yesterday I was a bit on the fence of whether or not to even write about them, which would have been a shame, exploring a new country source and finding teas in Moscow, and then not going into details due to not really being into them.  Both teas have limitations or aspects that aren't personal favorites but both compare reasonably well to two very interesting and desirable ranges of teas I've tried, to black teas from Taiwan and in China where Dan Cong is from (outlying Chaozhou city in the North Eastern Guangdong province).  Related to value these compare well to other online sourced teas and for tea-shop versions (where overhead usually adds a bit to expense) the value is quite good, especially for the relatively inexpensive version.  It's hard to find black tea that good in that price range, of any type.


I've also tried that Moychay Nan Nuo in-house production sheng a couple of times and that will be a different kind of story; I liked these black teas but really loved that tea.  The brightness, freshness, and fruit flavor range was so intense it extended beyond what I normally experience in sheng.  Floral aspects are normal for lots of sheng, but bright plum / white grape fruit is something else. There's always room for more mouth-feel or aftertaste improvement, especially given that some people associate those a lot more with that tea type, or even value them more than flavors, but regardless of all that it was pretty good tea in a deeper sense, and quite novel.

Post-script; a few more images on the Russian travel theme

Kalani showing off a Russian doll souvenir haul

selfie with a cool mural in a St. Petersburg metro station (subway)

that full mural, with Kalani for scale

I would assume that image is Peter the Great

amazing decoration themes in the metros (this one in St. Petersburg)