Sheng pu'er aging check on two past favorites, Yiwu and Nan Nuo

It's about time to go back and revisit some favorites from the past few years and see if my expectations about them aging in certain ways was right.  One is a Nan Nuo, another a Yiwu, almost 3 and 4 years old.  Of course the comparison isn't a complete parallel.  I won't be reporting those sorts of results here too regularly, but it seems a good time for an exception.

That was as long a break from blogging as I've taken in awhile, about three weeks.  My family didn't get far for taking a break from Bangkok; my wife had started to plan a trip to Dubai, relatively last minute, then that fell through, so we went to Korat (Nakorn Rachasima).  It's a good sized local town at this side of Isaan, the North-East region of Thailand.  We did kids' activities, a water park, zoo, mall play area; all the things that they already have in Bangkok, more or less.

Back to the tea, these are two of my overall favorites in sheng range so far.  I've tried lots of really exceptional "gushu" version samples that vendors have passed on, many that were just as good as these two, but somehow these really clicked with me.  It's a little different having a cake of a tea; you can only get so attached to a sample.

The idea here is to get some idea of how they are changing.  I'll cite a short version of an initial review, ignoring if I've written about them since first trying them, if I did, and then check on results in comparison with that.


Nannuo Sheng Cha (Moychay.ru), 2017, reviewed first here in January 2018


This tea I bought in a Moychay shop in St. Petersburg, kind of on a whim, since I don't typically buy full cakes I've not tried a sample from.  I was pleasantly surprised.  Citing from the earlier review notes:


The initial infusion the tea is nice, as I remember it, very bright and fresh.  Astringency and bitterness are a little more pronounced than I remember because I'm preparing it brewed a bit strong for this first infusion, using a relatively standard high proportion of tea for Gongfu brewing...out toward 30 seconds, as a result of talking to my daughter about something.

The tea was described as tasting like fruit and it really does, plum and white grape.  That bright, sweet flavor and overall freshness are so pronounced that it's hard to notice much beyond those aspects.  There is more going on; some warmer aspect range fills in more flavor experience grounding the rest, maybe towards a hint of nutmeg... 

I love the fruit in it, and that overall "bright" effect. Often when I'm drinking sheng made within the past year I'm saying this might be better in a year or two, a little less edgy, but in this case I'm not so sure.  If that brightness were to decline, as it would to some extent, the balance might be just as positive, or more so, or the tea could've been best drank when very young like this.  I'll have to try to not drink or give away too much of this tea so I can keep trying it over the next few years...


That's pretty much it; it seems really drinkable and pleasant, not bitter or astringent at all for sheng under one year old.  That "remember it" reference related to drinking some on that vacation.

maybe the day I bought it, maybe the next day

a park right beside that shop, on January 1st, 2018

I was concerned it might be better then than ever again, because it was so nice that way when young, so I "drank through it" more than I tend to, even for teas that I like.  I generally have a lot of tea around to choose from, so it's not as if leaving off a cake changes things much for selection.


Yiwu Lucky Bee 2016, from Tea Mania, first reviewed in July 2018


Both these teas are sold out; that's how that would go.  Both had next year's versions available, and soon enough both of those will be gone too, or maybe already.  It's not how that usually goes but the Tea Mania vendor sent me a cake of this tea (Peter Pocajt; many thanks again), who is on the relatively short list of tea vendors I've actually met in person from visiting here in Bangkok once.  He's nice.

This tea didn't seem to have the kind of character that was going to diminish rather than improve when I first tried it, not as bright, fresh, fruity, and sweet, but the character was positive, and the potential was clearly evident.  Earlier review notes again (cited from above linked post):


The style is unusual; it's very pleasant, but not similar to a lot of what I tend to try.  It has floral aspect to it, so it's not completely off what I've tried for other Yiwu, but even that comes across just a little differently.  I'm already getting the impression that this is better than what I usually drink.  The balance is really nice, the way it's even across that floral range, with sweetness that's pronounced but also moderate, not intense.  The mineral range is also prominent but in normal proportion.  The tea is a bit light on bitterness and astringency but both are present, to a degree that works.  I may not do justice to what I mean, about which part or which balance of typical aspects works out better.

On the atypical side there's a catchy aspect that goes beyond normal Yiwu floral tone, but related to that, that's hard to place.  It might just be a lighter, sweeter, more subtle, and brighter version of a floral tone, or it could even extend slightly towards fruit.  It's a short step towards lemon citrus or pandan leaf, the herb that tastes like Fruity Pebbles cereal to me, but it doesn't quite get to those...

...On the next round it occurs to me that part of what I like might be a lingering sweetness, that gives the experience an overall extra intensity.  It's not the form that seems to be what is usually referred to as hui gan; not so much tied to bitterness, extending into a taste that occurs on the back of your mouth and throat, a sensation that pairs directly with a taste.  It occurs throughout your whole mouth instead, a bit lighter, more bright-taste associated versus heavier and sweet...
  
It would seem normal for someone to interpret this sweetness as some type of bright, sweet, but mild fruit instead of a floral tone.  It's not completely dis-similar to dried mango but not quite that...


That could be it, that both included a fruit aspect, which I'm partial to, even in sheng, where it's not completely atypical but perhaps unusual.

I don't think those citations really caught my full impression of why aging the Nan Nuo seemed a potential trade-off of freshness and intensity that might not be positive, but that the Yiwu seemed to exhibit good potential for aging transition.  As far as long term aging prospects, where both would be in a decade, I just wasn't there yet, and I'm still really not.  I have a dozen year old Yiwu version (brick) that has interesting depth and fullness, but the character has thinned across other range, with flavor intensity not really standing out much at all at this stage.  Maybe both would be like that, or maybe both would just fade.

We're not there yet; I'm now tasting these as a nearly four year old Yiwu and nearly three year old Nan Nuo.  Both should be relatively fully aged related to that first stage of smoothening out initial bitterness and astringency a bit, and losing initial intensity, prior to the longer middle period where it changes a lot more over the first dozen years or so.  On with checking on that.

Moychay Nan Nuo; a good-sized chunk left

Tea Mania Lucky Bee Yiwu

Moychay label graphic copied on inner tag (small hands show scale)

About the cake / bing chunks left over, there seems to be a convention related to how to break apart sheng that results in those looking more like a big life saver at the end, whittled down to a thin, round section.  I tend to break off a piece when I share some, even though it's probably slightly more functional to separate off large flakes, to reduce ripping some leaves in two. 

You do you for breaking up a cake, I guess.  It's interesting how such things might mark out group identification as much as actually be functional, but I won't waste more time on that type of observation here.

Review:

Nan Nuo left, in all photos 

2017 Nan Nuo:  I let these go longer than I usually would for sheng, to get the process started, and not add "I'll know better next round once they start infusing more."  Of course the initial brightness and freshness from two years ago is gone (when I first tried it; this tea is 2 3/4 years old).  It went in an interesting direction; mineral picked up a lot, some of that range light, like limestone, and the rest more like drinking from an artesian well, heavy.  Brighter fruit transitioned to dried fruit instead, along the line of dried pear.  It's still quite nice, and it would be a matter of preference if it's better, worse, or equivalent but different.  I think I loved it more as it was; there was something really catchy in that flavor and character set, and the bright intensity.


2016 Yiwu:  this is nodding towards old sheng range already; odd that would come up this fast.  It has a deeper root spice and dark wood theme starting in.  The early forms of astringency have already mostly rounded off (as for the Nan Nuo; I didn't say that explicitly).  This could pass for where dryer storage sheng is after a dozen years, it's just different in character.  There is no mustiness, no edge of off storage related input, beyond that fermentation level range potentially being seen as undesirable.  It's clean in effect, but it is warm and has the depth of older tea, a "darker" flavor range.  It's not woody in the sense of tasting a lot like aged hardwood, as some teas really do, but the root spice flavor leans toward old tree bark.  Tasting back and forth a little the Nan Nuo does include a bit of cedar range too, that bright, aromatic, sharper wood range.

This second tea is thicker related to feel; it's heavy, and really coats your tongue. 

Second infusion:

Yiwu (right) leaves are darker and it's brewing slightly darker

Nan Nuo:  this is really starting to shine; brewing it for around 10 seconds after it had already started is much closer to optimum.  It's not really the set of aspects that makes this work, it's the balance of them.  Fullness isn't bad, and aftertaste adds complexity, it's just that neither stands out.  In flavor range a strong mineral element, some aromatic wood, and complex dried fruit range really hang together well.  It still includes dried pear but warmer dried fruit ramps up, maybe jujube, Chinese date.  It doesn't seem to include much for bitterness, but what's left of prior bitterness hasn't settled out completely, as I interpret it lending an edge to that cedar-like flavor. 

Really pairing up individual aspects as related in a tea version like that (a residual trace of bitterness and cedar wood) could just be my imagination, seeing flavor and feel aspects as combined, but joining two aspects that aren't necessarily related.


Yiwu:  I didn't expect this tea to be like this at all.  I've been drinking a few dry-stored sheng versions from Chawang Shop, from various origins, and they're nothing like this at the same general stage, not just different but completely different.  I think the versions from 6 to 8 years ago aren't this fully fermented. 

It brings up the idea, if this really is that far along the curve for transition, what about those "awkward middle years" that people often reference?  It should be just prior to that, give or take for normal variation.  Again bitterness and initial astringency may have only almost entirely subsided, now coming across as an edge to the flavor and tied to a bit of feel dryness.  At the end I'll conclude that maybe it's not necessarily that teas lose flavor and get it back, although to some extent I suppose that can happen, but instead that aspect range just isn't as desirable over some fermentation level span, for some versions, and also in general.

To be clear I tend to discuss that feel aspect and flavor aspect together (bitterness and astringency) because both tend to pair in teas, and come across as related.  The relation could as easily just be in my head, as a trace of bitterness and cedar flavor might've been in the last sample notes just prior.

As far as liking either more at this stage I really like both, so it's kind of a draw.  Again I think this Yiwu may be destined for a very positive future, just one that will play out faster than I expected.  Based on this glance ahead I think the Nan Nuo will be quite positive too, I just won't have any of it left for that experience, because I've drank most of it already.  No regrets; I really liked it as it had been.

Third infusion:

Nan Nuo:  what I'll interpret as root spice and a light aromatic wood picks up, with dried fruit and mineral pulling back.  It's nice.  Sweetness level isn't what it was when it was younger, but it works in support of this aspect range.  Thickness isn't as pronounced as in the other tea but it also works.


Yiwu:  wood tones picked up a little in this too.  Just to be clear on brewing process, both of these are where the normal fourth infusion would be, for rushing things on that first round.  The early transition cycle has played out. 

It's interesting how the earlier astringency in this tea has shifted to a dryness instead, paired with smooth fullness.  It has more of what was initially astringency left than the Nan Nuo, even though it's a year older.  For as fast as this is changing I'd expect that in two more years that feel will be relatively different, as will the flavor range.  It was tempting to try a third tea along with these; I'd spotted a Dayi 7542 baseline version when looking for them, from 2014.  It will be interesting to see how that's doing, but it's a different subject, a completely different tea type within sheng range.  These two are already different enough, just comparable in some ways, and keeping track of differences for two versions makes more sense.

Fourth infusion:

I'll probably leave off making notes here, since this story isn't about the full infusion transition range of either tea, it's just about where they generally are.


Nan Nuo:  still catchy and positive; the sweetness and fruit seems a little stronger this round.   That would shift a little based on minor differences in timing, just not paying attention.  This tea probably works better brewed a little lighter than I'm making it, closer to 5 seconds at a very high proportion instead of around 10.  Not to work around astringency, or moderate any other negative aspect or balance, as can occur for younger sheng, just to make the flavor and character pop best.


Yiwu:  warm floral range seems to be a little stronger than I've been noticing; interesting.  It seems possible that both teas will be just as good, or maybe even slightly better, and just different over the next 4 infusions or so [not really better, looking back later, but they still had positive character].  It's still too much work to keep writing notes, and probably too much to read. 

It has been really positive spending a few weeks just drinking tea, not writing about it, and it'll be nice to go through some of that with these after I put this laptop away.  I've been cycling through lots of sheng at various ages and from various areas, day to day, drinking whatever I feel like; it's been nice.

Still on general background, I think I'll probably review less tea this year.  I'd meant to do a post thanking vendors for contributing samples last year, and explaining where I am on exploration, and writing about what I try.  The short version is that it was nice to spend a few years doing 100 posts a year (4 years, actually), and reviewing more teas than that count given the comparisons, but it was a bit much.  What I was saying started to repeat a lot.  Work gets busier too; two projects will take up a lot of time over the first half of this year.  Those are ISO system implementations at my own company and one we will also support, IT services and information security related sets of control processes (policies, procedures, standardized records, risk assessment process--all the usual).  That's also why I never talk about work here; it's not engaging.


Not much for conclusions; results weren't exactly as I expected.  The Yiwu is aging faster than I remembered from trying it last (sometime last year, not that long ago), and the Nan Nuo has changed a lot over the same time frame, over the last 6 to 8 months.  I can see why; it's ungodly hot and humid here.  It's January--the end of the cool season--and somewhere around 30 C / 90 F right now.

91 F, and 56% RH.  The two air filters beside me say 65 and 67% RH (and 31 C); I'm inclined to believe them instead for how muggy it is.  It's not cool.

One last thing to mention comes to mind:  how do I like these teas versus when I first tried them, and in relation to tasting them last year?  I think they were both slightly better last year.  The Nan Nuo I think I did like best when I first tried it, as my intuition then concluded; that relatively new, bright, intense, sweet character really worked for me.  I've seen this Yiwu go from on the newish side to pretty far into fermentation and I think it hit an early peak for being positive around a year to year and a half ago, when initial rough edges rounded off but more early intensity and character remained.  As I thought of it then I still think it has loads of potential for being great tea after another half dozen years or so.

I'm surprised that the Nan Nuo is going in a positive direction, that although the trade-off isn't positive per my preference I can sort of "look ahead" and see it being quite nice after an equivalent half dozen years.  I think the Yiwu will retain more intensity and feel depth in the long run, probably tied to being more astringent and bitter initially, for being less positive in some ways then, in ways that seemed to indicate potential. 

I can set these aside for a couple more years and check on progress related to that.  It won't be surprising if this Yiwu tastes like some fairly mature aged tea then, a bit ahead of schedule, after being around for only a half dozen years.  There will probably still be some rough edges to smooth out, and maybe it will go a little quiet at some stage, but it should seem like kind of old tea within the first decade.

Of course all that aging expectations context relates to drinking plenty of dry-aged versions last year, teas that retained some fresh character after a decade or longer.  Some of those were more compressed; different factors come into play.  It will probably take longer than the half dozen years these teas need to transition for me to put all those factors together better in understanding sheng fermentation.

Laos old-tree green, compared with Thai and Japanese green teas

Laos tea lower left, Thai version upper center, Japanese sencha right

Another tea comparison tasting that may or may not end up make sense.  I thought this was the last sample to try from Phongsaly Laos Tea but it turned out that a second black tea version was coupled with this sample, which I hadn't noticed.  This is getting to the end of what I planned to try this year, and there aren't any other sets of samples I've tried none of, so down the scale of what's left to try.  It made for a brutal year keeping up pace but around 100 review posts later I've done it.

On this tasting theme, the Tea Side Thai green tea version (reviewed not so long ago) was one of the best green tea versions I have ever tried, or at least it matched my taste preferences well.  Since green tea is a least favorite category it's hard to be clear on what that means; maybe it's just not so grassy or heavy on seaweed.  Which is odd, because it's a steamed tea version, so you'd expect that.  It's also from old, natural growth plant sources, per my understanding, just one country over, from the North of Thailand instead of the North of Laos.

The Japanese green is a completely different thing; that comparison does make no sense.  I had a couple of green tea samples from one of my favorite vendor sources, Peter Pocjit of Tea Mania, out of Switzerland, that I'd never got around to trying.  It makes even less sense letting green teas sit for half a year or longer after harvest, especially when you live in the tropics, and it's hot.  We'll see how that held up, and how the other two teas compare to that type.  I won't be trying to place that sencha version on a scale of how others go, in relation to quality, regional character, and such; that's not the point here.

As to methodology I plan to split the difference between a Gongfu approach and Western brewing, to drop proportion a bit (4 grams or so, not measured; nothing ever is here), and let the time run a bit long, out towards 30 seconds, adjusting per round as I go.  Lots could not work related to that (unbalanced brewing results, less optimum outcome from parameters, complete contrast in styles throwing off combined evaluation, etc.), but some story should emerge.  I'll do a short intro of these teas from vendor descriptions, but I don't have one from Phongsaly Laos Tea, so I'll skip that.

Tea Side steamed green tea:

For this tea, we used Japanese traditional technology for steamed green tea but adapted it to the specifics of the material from old trees. It took several experiments to figure out the optimum steaming depth in order to remove the astringency of a powerful pu-erh leaf but to preserve the freshness and aroma of light and delicate green tea...

The aroma is sweet, appleish and floral. On the palate is a beautiful, whole and full-bodied mix of fruity-floral tropical notes. In the foreground are apples, plumeria and a bouquet of garden flowers. The finish is sweet and oily. The infusion is light, transparent, with a light green tint.

We recommend brewing this tea by short steepings for 3-5 seconds, using soft water. The temperature is about 80 degrees. 


That last part is interesting, recommending Gongfu brewing that fast.  I did back off that 30 second intended brewing time, not because of that, because I'm adding this citation during editing, just because it worked better.


Shoju (Tea Mania Sencha)

Tea from Tanegashima is the earliest tea that is harvested in Japan. This is possible due to the mild, marine climate on Tanegashima Island which allows the cultivation of particularly early-budding tea cultivars. The cultivar "Shoju" used for this tea even thrives exclusively on Tanegashima. The exceptional aroma and the fact that this is the first Shincha of the year makes "Shoju" one of the most popular teas in Japan.

Harvest: 23. March 2019 
Taste: Sweet and fruity aroma.
Origin: Tanegashima, Kagoshima prefecture, Japan.
Varietal: Shoju
Steaming: Fukamushi
Preparation: Appx. 5g per serving, temperature 70 - 80°C,  time 1 min.
Tip: Use rather a higher leaf to water ratio and infuse repetetly for short time. First infusion max. 60s and all futher infusions only 30s as the leaves are already soaked. Use a Kyusu tea pot.


Interesting variation in brewing conditions, with more on that harvest season background here.  This tea turned out a bit unique; I speculate about how storage may have played a role in that in the review.

Review:

Laos left, Thai middle, Japanese right, in all photos

These probably only brewed about 20 seconds; I tend to like to try a light infusion first, to get a first impression based on a lower intensity infusion.

Laos green (big tree 400 year; or however old the plants are, as covered last time):  interesting.  It's definitely green tea.  Sweetness is good, and flavors are clean, overall balance seems ok, but the flavor is typical of green tea.  Pleasant complex floral tones are a primary note and vegetables fill in after that, grassiness, probably green bean and bell pepper, although those will probably be a little clearer once this infuses a little more.  Feel is ok; there's a little edge to it but it's fine, and the thickness present works.  Mineral undertone seems pleasant.  The make or break for this version--only so far; it's too early to call--relates to how one relates to that grass and vegetable.  I'm fine with it but don't love it.


Thai ancient tree steamed green tea:  this always was going to be stiff competition, if one looked at the comparison that way; I've already said that it's as good a match to my preference as any green tea I've ever tried.  The experience hits you on a few levels at the same time, sort of leading to a double-take.  Sweetness stands out, and a warm, sweet flavor range (maybe spice-oriented as much as anything), along with mineral base.

Floral tone is notable, but there's a rich flavor aspect that's almost like brandy, subtle, but playing a significant role in the overall experience.  There's not really much grass or other vegetable to speak of; floral covers all of that related flavor range.  Even brewed light the tea has a depth to it.  Feel works well, and aftertaste, neither so notable as in teas where those are stronger that it plays the same kind of role, but both support overall effect in positive ways.  It'll be interesting to see how these two compare in the next two rounds once they "get going."


Souju Sencha (all of these are spring teas, I think, which goes without saying):  absolutely no point in comparing this tea to the other two; not a complete surprise.  It's thicker, brothier, not with an umami pop like seaweed but instead like roasted seaweed (those sheets my kids eat).  I've never had a sencha in this range before.

This actually reminds me of a dried river weed sheet I bought in Laos an awful long time ago, more than a decade now for sure, which I was really uncertain of at first but came to absolutely love.  I still think about that river weed from time to time; it really made an impression on me.  This tastes a good bit like pumpkin, a mix of roasted pumpkin, along with roasted pumpkin skin and the seeds.  I tend to cook either a Thai version of pumpkin or less often Japanese pumpkin here, which are slightly less sweet, closer to a squash of some sort (which they may be?), and this is closer to the Thai version.  Roasting those skins is nice; I eat them with a warm yellow curry mix, roasted along with butter, sometimes cooked so much that they darken, if I don't watch them.  They taste great "roasted out" like that too.

I'm glad that I tried this just to see how it is; never mind the comparison.  It's odd that a tea could be so far off what I've experienced before like that.  I wonder if the hot climate storage and aging didn't shift its character?  It had to be really intense originally, with very pronounced umami, but it seems conceivable that the brighter tones might have shifted quite a bit.  If so I probably like it better like this, but the taste-perspective of someone who doesn't love green teas is a strange reference to work from.

I should ask Peter to describe this and include a quote; difference in interpretation would shift things a lot but some of that might come across.  Vendor sales-page descriptions are usually a few terms long, once you look past origin info and the rest.  Probably with good reason; including interpretation that everyone would differ on might not be helpful anyway. [The sales page description is cited here now; it is a little non-specific].

Second infusion:

Sencha (right) brewing faster, apparent from the color

I'll keep this around 20 seconds and see how that works; too much more intense wouldn't be positive.

Laos:  much better, and much different.  A faint hint of smoke joined in; that's different.  Richness and flavor intensity really ramped up.  Brewing this any longer would've been problematic.  Floral tones picked up more than anything.  This probably tastes like three different flowers combined, all of which I don't recognize with certainty. That rich, heavy, sweet range lavendar covers is represented, along with brighter tone in orchid or lotus flower, probably with some mild, earthier version filling in tone making it seem so complex.  Part of the astringency edge, and floral taste, could relate to dandelion.  It still covers some vegetal range but it's really muted related due to that stepping back while the floral tone increased.  It comes across more as green wood now, a familiar range in different types of teas.


Thai:  not to be outdone this tea shifted a lot too.  Something along the lines of spice is predominant, a complex taste that's hard to unpack.  Citrus joined in too, and underlying mineral and plenty of floral is layering in as well.  Floral tone is strongest, but in this version it's balanced with the rest.  It comes across more as one narrow high-note range, bright like a daisy (versus bright like lotus flower, which is lot richer, even though it's still light in tone and sweet).  The spice part, or what I'm interpreting as such, I can't sort out.  It may be two distinct and subtle flavors that I'm interpreting as one; that could be the problem.  It definitely seems somehow related to the citrus (like sweet tangerine peel).  That range I'm not pinning down could just be well-roasted sweet potato, which is warm in effect, so in between a fruit range and spice.


Sencha:  here we go.  The roasted pumpkin and river weed is still present but this also shifted and picked up a good bit of complexity.  If green teas were as good as these three I would stop saying that I like that range least, and would seek more out.  It's quite normal for those (green teas in general) to be vegetal, just grassy or like a mix of cooked vegetables, with an astringency edge that isn't positive, and floral tone that works but is also just sweet and non-distinct.  Nothing like these.  Even Longjing, which I love, can often just emphasize a much narrower range, a toasted rice / nuttiness with a bit of other pleasant range joining in to support that, with unusually thick feel for green tea adding to the appeal.

Floral tone ramped up, but I won't be able to split out what it's like with all the rest going on.  Vegetal scope still includes that river weed and complex pumpkin range but one particular cooked vegetable flavor joins that.  I can think of a Thai vegetable equivalent but I don't know the name of it, not that it would help everyone else.  Just to put a rough range on it it's more or less in between cooked kale and roasted zucchini, closer to the rich flavor of the roasted zucchini.  I never did explain how this really pronounced umami sort of comes across as salty, like actual salt.  To some limited extent that's just how umami always is but not like this.

This is the most unique of all three of these teas, at this point.  I like the Thai version best, but the Laos tea holds its own well, for how exceptional that Thai green tea is.  It's odd how much I like this sencha, given how far out there it is for unique character.  If it were any more novel it wouldn't seem like actual "real" tea to me.  Then again tisanes are almost always at the other end of the scale related to complexity and intensity, and no blend could be this distinctive.

Third infusion:

Laos:  really hitting it's stride now, the aspects set balances much better.  Complex floral is still dominant but richness in feel really picked up.  The one Laos black tea from them went through an odd transition like that, "burning off" some aspect range that wasn't really negative but not as positive through the first two infusions, only shining after that.  Background vegetal--sort of like biting a tree bud--is fine; it works in this.  A bit of astringency comes along with that but richness in feel is more pronounced.  It's still definitely a green tea but a much more positive version than the first round, with more limited improvement in relation to the second.  Given how this is going I don't doubt that both the other teas will have their own answer to that transition.


Thai:  not changed so much, but aspect balance did shift slightly.  Citrus is really pronounced in this, bumped a little after being quite notable in the last round.  The effect I can't pin down, which seemed vaguely like spice to me, might just be an odd interpretation of how underlying mineral, pronounced floral and citrus, and some degree of background fruit comes across together.  This is fruitier than it had been, beyond the citrus, more in the range of dried mango in this round.  I could see that being interpreted as peach instead; the two aren't so far off each other.  This is slightly less rich in feel than the Laos tea at this point but the flavor complexity and type-range is better, and lacking a bit of astringency edge that goes along with it.  It has some structure but no bite.  A dry underlying mineral range is playing more of a role in this, versus one tone that comes across closer to slight bitterness in the first tea.


Sencha:  this shifted to fruit range; interesting.  A little towards cantaloupe, seemingly just not exactly that, which is good, since I don't like cantaloupe.  Tasting it a couple more times it is that.  The sweet mellowness also reminds me of very ripe peach.  It's amazing it could change so much, although that pumpkin and roasted rive weed in the first round had shifted a lot in the second.  You wouldn't think this is the same tea it was in the first round.  Some of that could relate to parameter shift, timing or even temperature difference; I'm not careful about such things.  It had to transition a lot beyond that though, to get this far.

It's odd how it's losing intensity while the other two pick that up.  It's a much finer ground leaf preparation, and had been brewing stronger, even though I've probably used the least leaf for this type.  To some extent that was to be expected, perhaps also related to brewing this slightly over temperature optimum for this type (around 80 C), just maybe not around one minute into total infusion time.  I hadn't thought this through before but it should not just fade faster, it should also transition faster as a result; different compounds should extract earlier on than in a mid-point, for the leaf being chopped, not just broken.


Fourth infusion:

I think I'll let the notes go after this round.  I don't doubt these will produce three more interesting and positive infusions after, and keep transitioning, but having someone read two full pages of text / 2000 words in a review is too much.  I stuck with around a 20 second infusion time; these may be just a little lighter for losing some intensity but that timing was working out.


Laos:  savory range bumped up.  It's not exactly the hint of smoke I thought I'd noticed early on but not dis-similar.  It tastes a little like bacon, or at least as close to that, or as a more conventional read like dried seaweed.  Floral is still the main flavor aspect, with the other vegetal range transitioned to be very light.  Maybe I will try a round of these brewed for 35-40 seconds and see what that's like.


Thai:  floral, but different.  Shifting parameters along with these transitioning seems to be causing these to change character a lot.  This is quite light, with a lot of complexity but very subtle, with one bright, high note standing out.  It seems to be that daisy-like floral tone combined with the dried mango range.  This isn't as complex and balanced as it had been, much lighter now.  Feel retains a dryness edge that gives it some depth even though it feels really light.


Sencha:  fruit again, now more a mix of watermelon and cantaloupe, with some floral tone filling that in.  Not much for that savory range; odd.  I'll try these brewed a little hotter and slightly longer and see if they have one more surprise left in them.  Then go do something active, loaded up with 15 small cups of tea worth of caffeine in me.  Luckily I ate a pretty solid breakfast before these; all of this on an empty stomach would go really badly.

Fifth infusion: (brewed slightly warmer and longer)

Laos:  the intensity is back, but pushing the teas came at a cost, with a vegetal note and astringency increased.  Floral is dominant again; that was stripped out too.  It's not quite as positive as it was 2 or 3 rounds ago but still pleasant.  The vegetal taste is like plant stem, if that's familiar, not the harsh bitterness of biting a dandelion stem but related to a softer, only slightly bitter effect from other types.


Thai:  the same story for this version, but interesting experiencing that same effect across such a different range.  Fruit stepped up in this, along with mineral and light vegetal undertone, closer to well cured (aged) hardwood in this version. 


Sencha:  lighter than the other two, this also transitioned the least.  It's still in that cantaloupe and watermelon range, more centered on watermelon now.  You can almost taste the watermelon rind, pushed like this, but it's still soft and subtle.  This tea is essentially finished.  I ended up using slightly less of the leaf related to judging how the coiled Laos version would unfurl, originally erring on that side since I knew the sencha was going to be more intense.  It also would've worked to use much different brewing parameters, to go with half the brewing time for a more equivalent amount of material.  I don't overthink these things, working off instinct instead, which usually works out but often isn't ideal.

Conclusions:

To quote Thanos, these teas have my respect.  I really didn't expect both of the other teas to hang in there with how my preference matches that Thai version.  It was pleasant really liking all three versions.  In that first round it looked like the Laos version was going to be just another floral intensive, cooked-vegetable green tea, but it added complexity and shifted way off that nicely, with positive transitions keeping it interesting.  The sencha version was definitely something different.  I should ask Somnuc to keep an eye out for that river weed for me, that it reminded me of in the first two rounds.

One of the more interesting parts was the role really bad storage conditions (Bangkok heat) probably played in changing that sencha character, in a way that I probably liked (just a guess since I never tried it earlier, when more fresh).  The other two teas spent time in Northern Laos and Thailand but at any elevation up there conditions would be much cooler than here.

This might well be the last post before Christmas, or maybe even New Year, so I'll sign off by wishing everyone a happy holiday season and exceptional New Year.  Thanks for reading, and feel free to comment on the posts, or in a related FB page mention or group discussion there.

Wuyi Origin Shui Jin Gui (golden water turtle oolong)

Cindy of Wuyi Origin sent some teas to try awhile back and I'm just getting to the last, a Shui Jin Gui (Golden Water Turtle).  It's not really familiar, so I'm not sure what to expect, but I will cite her description before posting this (here):

Location: Zhong gu yan (钟鼓岩)
Harvest time: 2019.05.3th
Roasting level: 3 Times Roasted, Medium baking
Feature: Growing naturally and never been clipped for several years, the age of the tea bushes are about 40 years. Roasting three times gives this tea quite a fruity taste.


Fruity, that reduces to.  I didn't notice all that much fruit in this, more almond, toffee, and butter cookie, with a touch of ginseng range spice transitioning to include cinnamon too later on (with all that in more detail to follow).  The type isn't all that familiar, so I looked up the general background, starting with Wikipedia's take:


Shui Jin Gui is a Wuyi oolong tea from Mount Wuyi, Fujian, China. Its name literally means 'golden water turtle'.[1] The tea produces a bright green color when steeped and is much greener than most other Wuyi oolong teas. It is one of the Si Da Ming Cong, the four famous teas of Wuyi.[2]


Since that doesn't add much about a typical flavor profile ("green" seems to relate to oxidation level, even though brewed oolongs are between yellow, pale gold, gold, and darker or towards copper and gold).  Looking through other vendor descriptions of their versions it's odd how they all say completely different things.  Read a couple and it does sound like this version is supposed to be fruity, but then others oppose that, with some clearly oxidized more to shift the profile.  Here's an example, a Yunnan Sourcing sold version (right, wrong province, sort of):


The taste of Shui Jin Gui is complex, sweet potato, caramel, grass and spice all mixed into one delicious feeling! 


That actually isn't too far off my take on this other version I'm reviewing.  Since I was paging around I noticed that Steepster interpretations of what looks to be the same Yunnan Sourcing version included a lot of range:


Apricot, Black Pepper, Caramel, Char, Coffee, Dark Wood, Earth, Floral, Hops, Licorice, Maple, Medicinal, Metallic, Mineral, Peat, petrichor, Sage, Sap, Smoke, Spicy, Stonefruits, Sweet, Toffee, Wet Rocks, Fruity, Peach, Roasted, Almond, Butter, Butterscotch, Camphor, Cinnamon, Clove, Dark Chocolate, Eucalyptus, Ginger, Grass, Hay, Leather, Nutmeg, Plums, Popcorn, Sugar, Tobacco, Vanilla, Wood, Peanut


So it's complex.

I glanced back through old posts here and found a review of a version from the main local Chinatown cafe, Double Dogs, from 4 1/2 years ago.  I did cite general descriptions of the tea type in that post but my own take on it probably wasn't all that informative even in relation to what I had experienced.  This blog was a year and a half old then and it took about two more years for review descriptions to become more reliable, and they'll probably be even more so a couple more years after now.

Review:

First infusion:  very nice.  This seems closer to almond range than the floral or fruit that tends to come up.  It could be interpreted in different ways but straight roasted almond makes sense to me.  Roast level is really well balanced, normal for their teas.  This level might be slightly higher than for some others but it works well to balance that particular flavor range.  It's quite far from the char effect that comes up in others, nothing like that.  That almond trails over into a medicinal / old furniture range that's quite pleasant, a bit towards root spice like ginseng.

Second infusion:  more of the same, just picking up even more depth.  It's reaching back a bit for a clear recollection but as I remember this reminds me of a Ban Tian Yao from the one local shop I always visit and talk about, Jip Eu (also from 4 years ago; I seemed to be struggling to place the effect of the level of roast in that, not that I name that as a factor). 

I'm off to meet someone visiting from Belgium there at that local shop in two hours; I'll have to keep this moving.  Almond is still present but the rest of the range ramps up more.  Ginseng-like root spice might be the strongest flavor aspect, with the almond shifting towards roasted chestnut. 

A mineral base input increases, in a form that's not as familiar as some other similar range.  It's like that dry vegetal-mineral range in old driftwood, but with plenty of rock too.  Sweetness is moderate, enough to give this balance, but it's not an especially sweet version in comparison with the fruit and cinnamon in their Rou Gui versions.  It's intense; I'm brewing this fast just to get it in a normal range, just a few seconds.

Their fruitier tea versions are my personal favorite, or floral intensive Dan Congs, but this works.  It's nice experiencing something different, and the good balance and quality level are apparent.


Third infusion:  the roast effect seemed to change the most.  That one rich, sweet, complex roast related range again reminds me of roasted almonds.  Some of that root spice aspect, which is still primary, is giving way to that almond, and it leans a little towards cinnamon.  It's interesting how so much mineral integrates with the rest, landing on a consistent, balanced, complementary broad flavor range.

Thickness of feel is notable, although it could be a little richer or more intense.  Aftertaste effect is nice, the way that roasted almond and trace of other roast effect trails over.  Sweetness may have picked up a bit.  It's in the range of light toffee, which works well with the rest.


Fourth infusion:  if anything this is still improving, and it was very pleasant before.  Richness of feel is developing, still ramping up.  It picked up a butteriness that covers flavor as well as feel.  Interpreted one way that nut and toffee flavor moved into more of an almond butter cookie range.  This probably tastes about as much like an almond butter cookie as any tea ever would.  It's interesting how it's like that without sweetness level being quite as high as fruit or floral range oolongs.  That could be interpreted as a slight savory quality but it just seems like that underlying mineral, richness of roasted almond and butter, with a now lighter root spice combined and well-integrated, with none of that range actually "savory."

This tea has good intensity, but with the feel this clean and flavors this moderate and balanced it should be prepared using hot water and short infusion times.  That kind of goes without saying for oolongs of this type and quality level; making the point here relates to talking to a mixed audience.  Those recommendations to brew oolongs at 85 C in brewing tables may be fine for lower quality oolongs brewed Western style, but even for those I'd use a Gongfu approach and higher temperature, moderating infusion strength and character aspects by adjusting timing.


Fifth infusion:  not transitioned so much; a touch of wood vegetal range might be joining the rest.  I'm noticing cinnamon slightly more than I had last round too.  Shifting infusion time by a few seconds or water temperature by a few degrees (C) might change this tea character, more than for most; it lands on a fine balance of a lot going on.


Sixth infusion:  this tea won't be finished but I'll probably leave off notes here; my wife added a couple of chores to help out with before getting ready and going to that shop.  I went slightly longer on this round, out towards 10 seconds, and depending on preference someone might elect to use 15 instead.

Going that little bit longer, not so many seconds, drew out more of the roast effect.  It still comes across more how roasted almonds do than as a "char" effect that can be present in roasted oolongs.  This tea definitely doesn't need any aging but it would be interesting to see how it changes with a year of rest.  Probably not for the better, per my preference, but it might be just as good but slightly different.  I say that because char effect diminishes over a year or so of time (again not that this is over-roasted).

Even for being six infusions in the thickness and richness of feel is more notable than for the first 2 or 3 infusions.  All the prior flavor descriptions still apply, it's just not worth the trouble describing how that balance of those keeps shifting slightly round to round.  The flavor profile is balanced and complex; none of it really stands out a lot more than the rest, it comes across as a uniform, well-integrated range.  It even seems simple, as a general impression goes, but there's a lot going on once you try to notice what is involved.

Seventh infusion:  why not see this through that little bit more.  What I said in the last round still applies though; roast comes across as incrementally more intense, but it's still well-balanced with the rest.  That effect seems to draw the nutty flavor from roasted almond a little towards roasted chestnut.  For this style of oolong this is as good as this could seem to be; I end up saying that a lot related to their teas.  It's very complex, in a sense, and refined, but it still ends up coming across as quite simple.  It's good tea.

This seems to have been made using a slightly lighter oxidation level, with a bit higher roast, not unlike how one style of Tie Guan Yin comes across.  I've never had any Tie Guan Yin that expressed this complexity or refinement though. 

To be clear it's not heavily roasted compared to what turns up here in Chinatown; those are completely scorched in comparison.  It's on the higher end Wuyi Origin teas tend to go, which means it stops way short of tasting like char.  Per my understanding they will roast some oolong versions just a little longer, if that processing suits the tea character, but in such cases those teas are "designed" to be sold after a year or two of rest, which causes the main flavor from that input to settle.

Versions made this way retain a lot of the greener vegetal nature (as oolongs of these sorts go), warming, deeping, and adding complexity through a roast process.  It's completely different than when oxidation or a balanced mix of oxidation and roast achieves a related result; that adds sweetness and a good bit more warmth, pulling flavor towards cinnamon, cocoa or something such, more commonly as toffee or leather / rich wood tone in oolongs from this area, while these slightly-more-roasted and less-oxidized oolong stay more vegetal but pick up an effect like roasted chestnut instead. 

It's possible for similar Tie Guan Yin versions to be closer to this balanced but more common for those to be a bit too green and then a bit too roasted.   Kittichai, the owner of that shop I keep mentioning, Jip Eu, passed on a TGY version that he said either won or placed well in an Anxi (Fujian) competition this year that works as an example.  That tea was nice but there's a level of refinement to these Wuyi Origin teas that's hard to find.  They know what they're doing, and they seem to start with really good leaf material to work with.