2004 HTC shou pu'er and 2011 Xishuangbanna

 

A friend and I just did a tea swap, and I sent some of whatever was around in exchange for aged shou and hei cha.  So nice!  He is Bruce, living in Chiang Mai; maybe you know him.

One is a 2004 Hong Tai Chang shou, which is probably tea from a Chinese producer made in Thailand, since I've tried a good bit of that.  I own a 2006 sheng cake, or what is left of one.  Tea Side sells those here, an online vendor (where I bought that).  Looking back I tried that as a sample in 2015, and a 2006 shou version also from 2006, and bought that sheng then.  Nine years ago I was not a very good judge of pu'er, and my reviewing and blog writing was a bit rough.  Maybe it still is, but at least in a different sense. 

The other is a 2011 Xishuangbanna version, from Yunnan (so "true pu'er").  Bruce wrote on the label that the 2011 represents a version and style he doesn't like as much, sent for comparison, so we'll see.

Review:

2004 HTC:  it's smooth, rich, and mellow, with decent complexity and depth.  My problem with shou has always been that it all covers too narrow a range; this and the best and worst shou versions I've ever tried are all not so different.  Ok, maybe bad shou really is something else, but it's still a lot closer than for other types, nothing like bad sheng or bad Wuyi Yancha oolong.

There's a hint of fruitiness in this, like a dried berry or cherry.  I'd bet that and going on more about mineral will be the story of this shou.  If you use your imagination it could seem a little like spice, I guess, and that familiar dark earthiness does vary slightly.  This is clean in flavor effect; there's that.  Feel is rich and velvety.  It's good.

2011 Xishuangbanna:  there is something a little off about this.  It has that barnyard sort of flavor, like a scent literally from a horse's stable.  At a minimum it takes me back to experiences with country life from my youth; we had a horse at one point, and lots of other animals were around.  I would go help an uncle bale hay in the fall; there is nothing like that experience, for work seeming like a workout.  A tractor and machine does the baling; the workers' part is throwing it into a wagon, then taking it out and stacking it in a barn.  Those must weigh something like 50 pounds?

This will clean up a little over the next two rounds, I think, and it's not as bad as I'm implying.  It's not good either, not like that really dicey Honolulu Chinatown shou I bought a couple years ago, to fill a gap for not bringing enough tea.  In bad shou you end up talking about fishy range, or petroleum-like character, not just a bit of barn smell.

HTC, #2:  it picks up complexity; that's nice.  This expresses a cool marshmallow flavor aspect that I've ran across before, really a nice flavor in shou, for how it integrates with other earthy range.  Sweetness is good in this, and rich feel, and also complexity, depth, and refinement.  This is roughly as good as shou gets, per my experience.  Then again it's not that far off above average shou either, so if a vendor was charging 60 to 80 cents a gram for this, as they would, there's absolutely no way I would buy it.  But then preferences and judgment does vary.

The rest of the description still applies, pleasant earthy range, of course mineral, and probably some spice, maybe some strange dried Chinese medicinal herb I'm not familiar with.  It's good.

2011 X:  rough!  On the one hand this is pretty good, related to the positive range, and on the other it tastes like the smell of dried horseshit.  I get it why Bruce sent it as an example of what might not be ideal, or even further toward the opposite side than that.  It's interesting.  After the initial taste the shock of that one aspect being so oddly placed in that range settles out, and it's really not so bad.  The rest seems to pick up intensity as you keep drinking it, conventional warm mineral and earthy tones.

I haven't mentioned a brewed liquid color difference; the first is inky, and this is lighter, more reddish brown.  These are both pretty far along for aging; 13 to 20 years shouldn't make that much difference for shou, unless one was not very completely fermented to begin with, then I guess maybe.  I actually like this, once I drink a little more.  I don't think I'd be reaching for it often if I owned a cake of it though.

I drink shou when I fast; I've mentioned that here before.  I've fasted for about 60 days in the past two years, I think it is.  It's a long story as to why; to gain supposed health benefits, to offset disease risk, to increase mental clarity, to adjust for insulin resistance, to clear whatever is stored in my tissues that shouldn't be there, maybe even to offset aging effect.  I think it helps.  Shou is the easiest on your stomach, as teas go, and I pretty much only drink that and some aged white mixed in.

HTC, #3:   these will keep brewing, up to at least 10 rounds, even though I'm pushing them (brewing them strong).  But I'll stop taking notes here.  They won't transition that much more, and I have things to do.  

Actually this is pretty much the same as last round.  Which is good; it was really nice.  I love that marshmallow flavor inclusion, and the rest balances well, the depth, intensity, feel, etc.

X:  that more objectionable barn flavor did mostly fade already.  This isn't bad at all.  Maybe not great either, but it's pretty good shou.  If I used my imagination I could come up with a list of ten different flavors in this, but it's also just kind of earthy.

Later:  trying both again later a dark bread like flavor range stands out in the HTC version, like very dark rye.  It's nice; it complements the other earthiness and fullness well.  

The Xishuangbanna version has lost essentially all of that barnyard note, and a mineral aspect like slate stands out.  It reminds me a little of Liu Bao character, how that can be similar in those.  It's so heavy on mineral in a dark range that it's almost like smoke, but it's not that.

Conclusions:

These will keep shifting, a little; another few rounds would turn up another aspect or two.  I just won't write about that.

I ended up liking the second more than I expected; it cleaned up nicely.  The HTC version was better.  I didn't go on much about age issues in this writing.  Shou mellows and deepens in character some over a longish time, but I'm not sure the Xishuangbanna version will be all that different in 7 more years, matching the current age of the other.

I looked to see if Tea Side lists this, and they don't.  A loose 2006 HTC shou version sells for $18.50 for 50 grams there; not as bad as I thought.  Teas like these can vary quite a bit though, since beyond variations in original character storage conditions can change a lot.  That may or may not be a lot like this tea.

Taiwanese oolongs from a visiting friend

 

I recently had a couple of friends visit our house to have some teas, a theme that doesn't come up very often.  One of them has been exploring teas living in Taiwan, a local Thai guy I met in a shop outing here in Bangkok, Gawin.  Gawin was even hosting ceremonial tea drinking sessions there, into different dimensions of the experience.  

first meeting Gawin in Ju Jen, a Bangkok shop in the Paradise Park mall

He passed on some "wild Tie Guan Yin" and what looks to be more oxidized rolled oolong, also called red oolong.  This is a well-known style among more experienced tea enthusiasts, but to me it doesn't get enough attention and credit among people newer to exploration.  It's a much more natural starting point, and type of tea that anyone can appreciate, than many other types of teas that tend to get talked about more.

This red oolong is identified as produced by the Buo-Ya Pavilion Natural Tea Company (on the packaging), sold by the Buo Ya tea shop in Taitung County.  Taitung Luya might be the branding name.

The wild TGY is identified (written on the sample pack) as from the Guide Tearoom, which is probably the business name for the ceremonial session business.  That also lists two Instagram contacts, TEATIANTIAN and JACK_DAILYTEA.  Those profiles are very aesthetic; I recommend checking them out.

Review:  

wild Tie Guan Yin:  this is not a rolled oolong style tea.  For sure Gavin mentioned that, and processing background, but things don't stick with me a lot of the time.  This could be white tea, since that's often how more simply dried versions are intended for type, but I'd guess they made oolong without doing that shaping step (the leaves show oxidation; they're darkened).  

We tried a tea that Gavin actually made, during his visit, but I'm guessing that this is a commercially produced tea, along the line of a small-batch artisan production theme.  I can ask and edit this to include that.

Of course the color of the brewed liquid is much lighter; red oolong is typically oxidized into a more conventional black tea range.  The flavor of this is nice.  It tastes a bit like Tie Guan Yin, as TGY would.  The tones are a bit warm; this has been oxidized a little more than the light style versions, which is suitable, an improvement.  It'll be interesting hearing about other processing, about a potential roast step.  This may not have been roasted; I'm out of practice for identifying how those two inputs map across to each other.  Or then again it probably was; there's a lot of caramel warmth and sweetness to this.  [later edit:  it was roasted, but not a lot, and not over charcoal].

A base flavor is floral, a common main aspect.  Then the warmth and caramel stand out next after that.  Mineral undertone isn't missing but it's not as pronounced as that can get.  We talked when Gavin visited about how some Taiwanese oolong high intensity of flavor might come from heavy fertilization, pushing into something like a new car smell, and this isn't unusually intense like that, but it has decent intensity, good complexity, and nice depth.  It's good.

red oolong:  tartness stands out most, right away.  I'm ok with black teas being tart, or in this case oolong oxidized to the point of essentially being a black tea, but it's not a favorite aspect range for me.  To me it's not really a flaw but it also isn't favorable.  It would be nice if that would fade quite a bit but it's usually not how that goes.  It's like black tea tasting like cacao, not like sheng exhibiting astringency edge that can fade; it's just part of that tea.

Savory range is interesting, like sun-dried tomato.  Sweetness level is pretty significant, or else those other two aspects wouldn't tie together well at all.  It's complex; there is more to it than these main notes.  Cacao and berry-like fruit might stand out beyond that, or rose-like floral range.  I gave this extra brewing time to get started, to open up, and it will be easier to identify flavors brewed lighter, since it's so intense.  It's also good, it just doesn't match to my personal preference as well as the other, mostly related to the tartness.  I don't see why someone else couldn't love that; it seems to just be an individual preference thing.

TGY 2:  the same as last round; not transitioning yet.  This is a little light; I brewed both quite fast, to see what that changed.  The other proportion is higher, even though it looked like very little tea at the bottom of the gaiwan.

Creaminess is nice in this.  Jin Xuan has a reputation for being creamy but of course other plant types can express that too, especially related style oolongs.  The rest of the flavor matches the last description still, rich, sweet, floral, with nice warm caramel tones, and some mineral undertone, just not a lot.

A hummingbird dropped by; that's nice.  Myra was here earlier, my favorite of the cats, since I'm tasting outside, where we met with Gawin and his friend.  Now also a squirrel and crow, with a songbird in the background; kind of busy out here.

red oolong:  it evolves to balance slightly better, or maybe works out well at such a light infusion strength.  At this high a proportion even a 10 second infusion isn't really light.  Fruit is nice in this.  It's complex; one part reminds me of cranberry, then also dried tamarind.  The flavor seems to cover floral range too, but that's well-integrated with the fruit.  

I'm often saying "wow, these teas are strong!" right around this point drinking sheng pu'er, and I can feel these two already, finishing a third and fourth small cup.  I just ate a heavy late breakfast too, oatmeal with goji berry and extra banana, and two fried eggs.  I'll push these a little further, and will probably keep this review short, not describing the transitions deep into a count, or even to a mid-point.  I'm late to call the kids, who finally arrive back for a Christmas break visit in one week, and that's a priority over everything else.

TGY #3:  this longer infusion was still probably 20 seconds or just under, not so long.  

A bird is talking to the squirrels, and that crow is going on, adding extra sounds beyond the caw, unless that's a conversation he's having.  It would be nice to know what they go on about.  Two other birds seem to have a nest in a different area; you can tell when they are warning someone off.

Warmth and depth really pick up in this.  It's still going to describe as warm caramel in summary, but it's stronger, and not the same.  

red oolong:  even a slight bump in infusion strength made that tartness shift from somewhat more balanced back to dominant.  I'll keep trying it light.  This is pleasant, the way those different parts come together, it's just a shame that I don't love tartness in oxidized tea range as much as most other possible flavors.

Fourth round, transitions:  the TGY is staying consistent.  That's nice, given how pleasant and complex it had been, with such nice depth.  

The red oolong might be evolving a little, trading out some of that tartness for the beginnings of a cinnamon note.  That's an improvement.  

I might also mention that it's normal for red oolong to be produced in a black tea range, as I said, but this is pretty far up the oxidation level scale.  It is really just a black tea at this point, perhaps borrowing from some oolong processing or other input range (the tea plant type, the rolled shape, and so on).  To me that's essentially a good thing, since somewhat hybrid forms can create something novel and pleasant in a new way, but I guess that part is a judgement call.

I really don't have additional conclusions this time; the teas were good, it was nice of Gawin to share those.  Of course I drank more rounds of them, and they stayed just as pleasant.

Pig butchering scams

 

There are already plenty of Youtube video posts about this topic, which is an easier way to digest summary information, but I wanted to cover a few interesting points here anyway.

The general theme is an online scam, relating to someone using social media contact to get someone to trust them enough to make crypto-currency trading transactions as an investment, which turn out to be fake.  Sounds pretty improbable, doesn't it?  It is, but the build-up is the crux of it, how they approach it.  I received this Line message not so long ago; this works as a good example:

A common intro is a wrong-number sort of message, like this.  You wouldn't necessarily talk to someone sending a message to the wrong Line account, but you might message them to tell them they've got the wrong number.  Often the picture will be that of an attractive woman, which may increase the chances that someone might want to be helpful, to explain the "mistake," or to talk further beyond that.  That one was a bit moderate (in emphasizing attractiveness); this might be a better example:

Then whatever the starting point is doesn't matter, because the scam would relate to making small-talk next.  This particular intro opens up asking questions about travel themes, and sharing travel preferences, a good lead-in for social discussion, even with a "wrong number."  They would probably tentatively offer to pay for guide services; there would different ways to bait the hook.

Later it would switch to advice about crypto trading, which becomes kind of a stretch.  They use a script to help people running the scam bridge the gap in between topics, cutting and pasting a number of discussion messages that lead to that.  It's not supposed to make complete sense.  This is an interesting Youtube channel summary of how it all works; I'll draw more details here from this, about who is doing this, and from where.

I've talked to one person online before attempting this scam, curious about why an online stranger was talking to me (maybe from a social media contact; I don't remember that starting point).  The transition was pretty clumsy in that example; I would imagine that approach and the message steps get a bit better dialed in over time.  Another source covers a reason why you shouldn't talk to these people, to intentionally waste their time out of curiosity or malice, more or less what I was doing.  

Per that Youtube reference, and at least one other I've watched on this theme, these scams are typically conducted by Chinese criminals, set up and ran by enlisting workers in isolated residence spaces, some of whom are pretty much captives there, victims of human trafficking.  In that sense two crimes are really occurring, the scam, and a forced-labor theme supporting it, hosted out of places like Myanmar, or Poi Pet, Cambodia.  The scam employees / captives might be expected to generate a certain amount of return, and might be punished for low conversion rates, for example beaten, so it might be a mistake to try to tie up their time in order to cause others to not get scammed.

Jumping the track a bit for a tangent, I've been to one of those places, to Poi Pet, two years ago.

Poi Pet looks a bit like Thailand, but rougher

development isn't consistent, but they had built out casinos and housing

Poi Pet felt a little off; there were literally shut-down casinos there, part of boom and bust phase of them attempting to become the next Macau, and that not working out.  Surely the reasons for that were complex.  Development seemed inconsistent; there were plenty of large-scale apartment and office buildings here and there, but then also those closed casinos, and roads in between developed areas that weren't finished, at some stage in between dirt and pavement.  Apparently that business failure and connection to Chinese interests, and limitations of local law enforcement / openness to corruption, all combined to make this a viable new criminal industry there.

One video reference on this theme, not that one I've cited, here instead about a Dubai-based operation, showed how they can work around using an attractive woman's photo, when it's really more often some Chinese guy being held captive.  Instead of pulling down online photos, which would make it possible to reverse-search the images, a more sophisticated operation can employ someone to play that role, to be the photo model, and even to be able to video chat with scam victims.

That's not a job that anyone would seek out, but they could enlist such help the same way they could turn up the other workers:  make false promises about a much more valid work position, and then set it all up as a difficult situation to get back out of once someone gets started.

It's still unbelievable that this could work at this time, isn't it, decades into people running all sorts of online scams?  Even if you somehow thought that you were talking to an attractive woman, who had become something of an online friend, would you really get started on investing in crypto-currency, which typically is a scam no matter the starting point?  Hopefully not.  

But they build up to that sort of thing, using complicated deception.  The videos describe how they have people start by investing very little money, $100, and then witness how easy it is to do the trading to apparently earn returns.  It just turns out that those are fake, based on using an app created for this deception, that mirrors the look and feel of real trading apps.  If you would see the person you are talking to on a video call, supposedly, and then see how you could rapidly generate profits on a small investment (seemingly), then it might make more sense to go further.  Not for someone sensible, but one part of this is the victim believing what they already want to believe, partly tied to the attractive image part.

Back to the message starting points, the messages that I never responded to, those were identified ordinary, attractive women, just planning a trip, per the shared context.  Supposedly organic discussion would lead to the topic of crypto trading, following a script, with plenty of allowance for variation for responses, all making it seem more believable.  The context built in some cover for rough English use and slight inconsistency; from the looks of it those women would be supposedly visiting from China.

This kind of thing might work out well using a dating site or online penpals themed site to initiate it, right?  I explored an example of the latter at one point, "Interpals," but lost interest relatively quickly, in part because of drawing more contact from scammers than genuine users.  I did make one online friend there, an older Chinese guy in Malaysia, and we talked about local culture issues and changes in modern society over a number of years.  Some other contacts were at least real people, but it all went nowhere.

Someone commented on a discussion once that they could tell if a woman was a scammer online, because any female talking to them would have to be that.  Unfortunately that's kind of how you could tell who was who on that penpals sort of site.  If a random woman starts a conversation, that looks like a model in her profile photo, with very little personal background in it, that's a scam.

I'm an admin for a large Facebook tea group and Facebook is being populated by these sorts of profiles now; they're joining groups to look more legitimate.  They're easy to spot for a similar reason; the photos are almost all attractive women, and the limited details don't add up, even within the two or three background items shown for group approval.  Most go to a university like Harvard, often work for Facebook, and come from places like California City, which is a real place, but drawing on minimal knowledge of the US that would be LA instead.  Somehow more sophisticated fake profiles draw on use of obsolete or inactive and older real profiles.  That way a lot of it can actually be real, and consistent, it just wouldn't show years of recent activity, which is also the case for many real Facebook users.

There's not much conclusion here.  It goes without saying that you shouldn't send money or get started on investments based on advice from a random online contact.  These scams will keep changing form too; they'll figure out a next way to extract money from a stranger based on limited conversation under a set of false premises.  Later on chat-bots will be doing this, not human-trafficking captives.  Eventually they'll even be able to video chat.