2022 Tea China Liu Bao compared with a 2004 Legend of Tea version

Tea China version right, in all photos (both are so dark, right?)

I'm reviewing a Tea China Liu Bao tea, from a set that I've already tried a 7542 from (Dayi sheng pu'er).  Of course the 7542 was pretty much what I expected, except for it seeming to pick up a bit of smoke somehow.  I should add that this tea was a sample sent for review; many thanks for that.

This version I'm using for comparison, from Legend of Tea, I've reviewed before, a "Hilltown Tea" producer version, reviewed here.  It's quite good, so this isn't supposed to be an easy challenge, for the other to compare well to it.  There are other Liu Bao versions in the Legend of Tea set I haven't got to yet; I've fallen a bit behind in reviews.

The earlier Tea China information was a little limited, but then for it being Dayi 7542 it didn't need that much introduction.  This is what this tea is:

2022,GuYun01 Aroma Aged Liubao Tea

This sells for around $20 for 100 grams, or $30 for 200 grams.  It seems better to bump volume, given that discount rate.  20 cents a gram is a bit for Liu Bao (with pricing always varying along with quality and availability), and 15 cents a gram naturally sounds better.  Their description:

This aged aroma Liubao Tea GuYun01 is an exclusive product of Teayucafe Teachina, is steeped in heritage. Hailing from the very birthplace of Liubao dark tea, this 2022 vintage has been aged gracefully for 3 years to develop its remarkable character. Has enormous potential for aging

Taste Profile

It boasts a rich, earthy aroma that is characteristic of well-aged Liubao tea. The infusion presents a deep, reddish-brown hue, reflecting its quality. On the palate, it offers a smooth, mellow taste that lingers, embodying the classic “red, thick, aged, mellow” traits.

I'll add a spoiler here and mention that it's a more pre-fermented version of Liu Bao.  That can be a very good thing, depending on results, but I suppose personal preference always factors in.  To me, related to my own preference, young, harsher Liu Bao is generally not so nice, and it takes 10 to 15 years for versions that are more "raw," more matching sheng pu'er in that vaguely related divide, to mellow out and soften.

This is Legend of Tea information:

Chun Xiang 031 Liu Bao 10G | 100G | 250G | 1KG ($65 for 250 grams, available as a 10 gram sample for $4.16)

Lovingly matured for 19 years, this tea has mellowed out with a rich and velvety profile. A true testament of its age, its tea liquor is bold deep red accompanied with an enchanting aged aroma upon steeping.  The taste is a harmonious blend of smoothness and depth, leaving a satisfying aftertaste. Over time, the tea's character intensifies, becoming even more full-bodied and mellowly sweet, making it a prized addition to any tea collection.

That's 26 cents a gram, but again it's a different kind of thing.  It's actually from 2004, now 21 years old.  It's problematic for vendors to cite age like that in their descriptions because they'd need to go back and edit that page every year to keep it accurate.  Not a big deal though.  It may not be that we can call this completely fermented, or fully fermentation transitioned, but 21 years is a good start on that.

Review:

Legend of Tea 1 (a rinse, really; I'll taste it, write notes, and discard most):  definitely in Liu Bao range, heavy on that one set of minerals, a touch of pine, and medicinal herbs.  It's good.  It might "clean up a little" over the next round or two; it's not really musty, but there's a less clean sort of range sort of adjoining the mineral tone.  Mineral is like slate, I guess, or alternatively and less positively you could describe it as like cement block or still-curing cement.  It's fine though, not bad, not negative at all.

Tea China version:  interesting!  Flavors are less intense, but there's a depth to this.  I thought that it would probably not stand up well in comparison, and that may still be the result, but so far so good, even though flavor is less intense.  Tones are warmer.  This is probably more pre-fermented?  Or it could be older; the other I think is a 2011 version, which I'll confirm by checking the Chinese language packaging image later.  It's presented in a small box, which does list Hilltown Tea Company, Liu Bao Tea, and a packing date of December 2024, but that's not the tea production date.  [later edit:  I was remembering the wrong date, from having looked up a version that it turned out not to be during that first review; it's from 2004].

I think this is the shou / shu pu'er equivalent for Liu Bao tea, which is fine.  I could be clearer on how close the processing steps are to sheng for the less pre-fermented Liu Bao versions.  It's definitely not the same, but it's a gap in what I've researched before.  Or actually I have read a bit on it, but not everything sticks in my mind now.  I skimmed through a good reference in an older Global Tea Hut magazine, which I should have already mentioned elsewhere, but that I can link to again here.

That December 2017 Global Tea Hut issue is here; I really need to read through that.

Legend of Tea #2:  I'm brewing these fast because I'm using a really high proportion, brewing the entire 7 or 8 grams both vendors sent as samples.  Using half as much would be fine for Liu Bao, stretching out times a little.  Or maybe better.  

The picture for these I used as the initial image, and it's really dark, even though these brewed for not much longer than 10 seconds.  Later it turned out that this Legend of Tea version really is from 2004, so it aged a good bit to darken brewed liquid appearance, and the Tea China version really is more pre-fermented, more "ripe."  The Legend of Tea vendor is based in Malaysia; that could be a huge factor.  Teas ferment much, much faster here in Bangkok than when stored pretty much anywhere in Yunnan, and Malaysian climate is pretty close to here.

That distinctive set of flavors is pronounced in this, in a well-balanced and pleasant form.  This is Google AI's description of that list, which I'm forgetting part of:

Traditional Liu Bao tea flavors include the distinctive betel nut aroma, along with woody, medicinal, honey, jujube, fungal, ginseng, and pine smoke aromas. The unique "golden flower" (a healthy mold) can also contribute a sweeter taste and is considered a sign of quality.  

I'm not so sure about the golden flower part; that seems to come up more in other hei cha.  Betel nut was what I was forgetting; that's hard to place because I've never tried it.  Maybe I have some limited idea of what that's about from trying teas described in that way, or maybe not.  Jujube is quite familiar; that's Chinese date, usually referenced as the dried version.  It's great.  That's a part of my favorite Chinese originated desert here, a mix of dried fruit and beans with ground ice and longan juice.  Candied lotus is especially pleasant in that, and the beans are better than they sound.

Pine is definitely present, and mineral herb, which I guess could be in the ginseng range (that's familiar, but I've not had the brewed root version for quite awhile).  Wood, I'm not sure.  Mineral one could go on about, trying to narrow down.  It's not completely different than the warm, odd flavor of golden flowers, one part, which includes a yeast sort of flavor, and other range.

Legend of Tea:  this tastes a lot like shou / shu pu'er.  I'd guess that it's Liu Bao, tasting it blind, so not exactly like that, but much closer than the other.  The whole list I've just described for the other one might identify as secondary supporting elements, so it's complex.  But that distinctive warm and rich tone of shou is present, and earthier sort of range, like peat, or dark wood.  This is fairly clean, balanced, and complex, better than I thought it might be.  

Lots of Liu Bao versions are edgy, heavy in mineral, a little too far into cement range.  The complexity can be limited, and a mustiness can enter in.  These warm tones are only present in more fermented versions, which I think can relate to pre-fermentation.  Even though the other is from 2011, probably, that warmth hasn't developed to that level yet, and maybe it never will [later edit:  it's from 2004; being 21 years old it seems even more likely that the tones will only ever become so "warm."] 

Legend of Tea #3:  not transitioning too much, but then I'm using fairly fast infusion times for these, just a 10 second or so brew.  It's probably brewing more within the still damp leaves between rounds than during that 10 seconds, and it's just long enough to get the somewhat dissolved solids to extract out.

What to add?  This is clean, complex, well-balanced, and it has good depth.  Sweetness is fine; it's not really a sweet type of tea, but there's enough for it to balance.  The flavors list is right, in a type-typical range.  Feel is rich, and it expresses some aftertaste.  It's clearly pretty good.  

It's hard for me to put Liu Bao on a scale, as I could with some other types, but I've kept trying it over the last decade.  I've drank about a kilogram of it in that time, probably, even though it's not really a personal favorite.  It's a great tea to have with food, and sometimes you just feel like certain experiences.  And a friend passed on a lot of it, a Malaysian pen-pal friend I've mentioned lots of times here.  I should check in with him again.

Tea China:  this does transition a little; that dried fruit note is coming out, as close as anything to jujube (dried Chinese date).  I'm surprised that this essentially holds its own with the other version.  I didn't lack faith in Tea China's sourcing, it's more that Liu Bao is often not this good.  It's standard to run across harsh-edged, less fermented versions, that are fine after 15 years of settling.  Unless I'm way off, which could happen, this has been pre-fermented, so it wouldn't need nearly that long to shine.  But if Liu Bao is like shou then it would need 2 or 3 years for the funkier range flavors from fermentation to settle back out, a range that can vary a lot (peat, petroleum, etc.).  

I tried a standard brick version of a factory shou once that tasted unusually strong of petroleum, thinking that it was ok, but not the best experience, and then a couple of years later that dropped out, and it was creamy, rich, complex, expressing flavors across a different earthy and warm range.  Then that vendor had went out of business, a Tae Tea / Dayi outlet, selling some other range, so I couldn't buy more.  I don't think that was Dayi or CNNP (Tae Tea or Zhong Cha); another producer instead.

It's hard to judge if this completely different range is better or worse.  It's just different; I think that kind of subjective interpretation would relate to preference.  Quality is pretty good for both.  The first definitely matches what one might expect of Liu Bao better, but a shou pu'er drinker would probably love the second more.  It's not as if there is no pine, related mineral edge, and medicinal herb in this, it's just focused more on warmer range, now into dried fruit.

This has been a lot of tea to drink.  I threw out half the first round, treating it as a rinse, but still 5 cups of relatively intense Liu Bao is a lot.  I broke form and ate a relatively neutral pastry along with these, which I think is a natural fit for Liu Bao, to have it with food.  Anything with strong flavor will throw off a tasting, but it can definitely help your stomach to either eat first or along with the tea.  I'm rushing reviewing now, trying to "catch up" a bit.

Completely another tangent, I just started eating (or drinking) the infused goji berry I have every morning, another part of that Chinese dessert I mentioned.  It would be a natural segue way to say that one of these teas tastes like this, but the second really is closer to Chinese date (jujube).  So why mention these berries?  There's a chance that I'm typing this out not wearing reading glasses, which I don't need or use, because of the dietary input of zeaxanthin and beta carotene from those berries, in part (since I'm pretty far into middle age now).  Lutein is also associate with eye health, but then I already eat a lot of leafy green vegetables, which is normal in Thailand.  

Conclusions:

Most of it is already in the notes.  It's interesting that the comparison version is that much older than I thought, 21 years old now.  This Tea China version is 3; it might settle and improve more over the next 2 or 3 or so, but I wouldn't expect it to change that much in the decade after that.  That's just a guess though, and I've not drank that much "ripe" style Liu Bao for it to be a good guess.

It might seem like as a sheng pu'er drinker I would strongly prefer the first, from Legend of Tea, for being closer to that in theme, if not aspects and style.  I might have liked it a little more, but it was pretty close, for me.  I just don't love Liu Bao enough for that type-typical, somewhat aged range to really stand out to me.  It's good; that seems clear.  I can appreciate it.  But I'm more on a young or moderately aged sheng pu'er page just now for main preference.  That's a complicated subject, and it makes it sound like I'd prefer 10 year old sheng, which of course is not true at all, related to a very different set of transition patterns applying to sheng pu'er.

I tend to emphasize value, in some posts, and then let it mostly drop in others.  These two seem to be priced fairly, for what the teas are.  The other being older, and a "raw" type version seems to probably relate to a natural higher selling point.  It's not so easy to find good "ripe" Liu Bao versions, per what I've experienced (which of course is a bit random), but unaged teas tend to sell for less, given the opportunity and storage costs of keeping a tea around for 21 years. 

This comparison worked out better than I'd hoped.  I was just worried the Tea China version might not compare well, because the other version is pretty far up the scale for Liu Bao experiences I've had, but it turned out to be different in style, and also quite pleasant.

Golden flower Fu-style fermented white tea

This tasting experience was unique because I didn't even know the tea type when trying the tea.  I'd initially guessed that it must be a hei cha variation, but then it wasn't clear if that was right when trying it.  

This is from Oriental Leaf, a vendor source based in China that I've tried teas from before.  It was sent for review; many thanks to them!  Their other teas have been pretty solid, some a very good value, so it will be interesting to see how this works out.

It turns out it's white tea, a Fuding Shou Mei made with a secondary processing step, with a reference to golden flowers (the hei cha-specific type of fungus, that is usually intentionally inoculated).

Oriental Leaf's product description adds some detail:

Golden Flower White Tea Single Serve Packs (ten 3 gram individual squares, for $15.50, so around 50 cents a gram)

This exceptional tea redefines the Fu brick category by using premium Fuding Shoumei white tea from Fujian province as its base, creating a truly unique sensory experience.

Key Features:

Innovative Base: Crafted with high-quality Fuding Shoumei white tea, known for its delicate flavor and numerous health benefits.

Extended Aging Process: Meticulously aged for 1095 days (3 years), using 2018 Fuding Shoumei, packaged in 2024 for optimal flavor development.

Dual Fermentation: Undergoes both golden flower fermentation and traditional Fu tea fermentation, resulting in a complex flavor profile.

There's more description, that's just the main points.  It's interesting that this is both an aged tea, now 7 years old, with an atypical secondary processing used.  One main thing is always how it comes across, here reviewed without knowing any of that background.

this looks like pressed black tea, to me, Dian Hong

Review:

1:  malty!  This is nice.  It's probably some kind of hei cha, I'm just trying it completely blind, so I don't know the details.  Versions that get sold as Fu brick are often similar.  It's been awhile, but I think Fu brick might translate to "brick brick."  

This has so much flavor that there's lots more that I could add.  It's creamy as well, and very clean in effect, with good sweetness.  On the flavor list side warm malt notes are present on a base that's not so far off cocoa (or cacao; cocoa is the hot chocolate drink made from cacao).  Other warm tones are towards woody, but not quite wood, more like the warm base scent from well-dried wicker or palm leaves.  There's just a touch of a sour edge, but it wouldn't be natural to interpret this as sour, in terms of primary aspects.  It's quite pleasant.

I'm pretty sure that I'm brewing two 3 gram small square tablets, so 6 grams.  It's a good match for my typical Gong Fu brewing approach.  I'm in a hotel room, a Hop Inn, so the lighting is a bit directional from the window, not exactly ideal.  On the third round I'll try moving it right under the window, instead of beside it, since I've just taken a picture for round 2.  I brewed this a little longer than it really needed, in order to get the two tablets to open up.

that hotel, with an unusual light streaking effect

#2:  much lighter, because I used a long minute-plus steep for round one to get it started.  It's pleasant like this but a typical 10 to 15 second infusion time seemingly isn't ideal for this, since there are no negative aspects or high intensity to "brew around."  20 or 25 seconds is probably better, and it would be fine to drink brewed 45 seconds, quite strong.  Shou / shu pu'er is like that, that stronger is kind of better, but this flavor range is quite different.

Malt still stands out.  Not the harsh edged, mineral intensive malt in Assam, I mean like a malted milk ball, or chocolate malt milkshake.  There's some mineral base to this, but that warm sort of in between woody and spice range note is secondary to the malt, and limited cacao.  It's not completely different than the flavor of cooked bamboo, to switch it back to food flavor range, just one that lots of people may not encounter so often.  It's a normal food item here, in Thailand.  This is actually pretty close to that.

#3:  malt and cacao drop back a little and the bamboo / wicker / dried palm effect picks up.  This is still nice.  A slight sour edge some might find objectionable, but I don't.  This reminds me a little of how some Dian Hong comes across.  This could even be that; it's closer to it in style than to just about any hei cha / Fu brick I've tried.  It's too sweet, complex, and clean to resemble the other range.  My guess is that it's an atypical hei cha, unusual for being a bit better, and closer to how ordinary oxidation changes tea.  

That Dian Hong range can come across as slightly sour too, but it's easy to miss that interpretation, because it's so minor in intensity, and it integrates with the rest of the flavors, which are what you'd expect more.  If I tried this thinking it was black tea I'd probably be mentioning dried fruit; funny how that works out.  It's not exactly like dried tamarind, but along that line.

#4:  this is probably going to "brew out" relatively quickly since I extracted so much of it in a long first round, as much as two early rounds might have using shorter timing.  To me this tea would work well for brewing a smaller number of good and strong rounds, setting aside an expectation to drink 8 to 10 rounds, which applies to other types, and just get 4 or 5 good and strong versions out of it.

The flavors more connected to astringency (which is limited in this) extract more now, in part from using a 45 second or so round instead of around 15.  It's a little towards rust.  I mean that in a positive way; framed more positively it tastes a bit like some forms of bark spice, just forms that people wouldn't tend to be familiar with, not cinnamon.   Or maybe it overlaps some with cinnamon, but lots of the range is beyond that.  The feel changes, and the part like sourness picks up (or it is just sourness, but a moderate and well-integrated expression of it).

#5:  even for stretching this a bit, using those towards a minute brewing times, this is still pleasant.  It's thinning a little already, the character range.  Feel is still nice, and some sweetness still stands out.  It's pleasant.  For a sheng drinker maybe the limited intensity could be an issue, but there's a lot going on, and complexity is good.  A Dian Hong drinker, someone preferring that black tea type, might relate to this especially well.  It would be funny if it is just that.  Malt is heavier than is typical for that type range, but then that's not exactly a typical Fu brick / hei cha marker, that I'm familiar with.  Flavor falls in that general range, for sure, but I'm not sure if it's often exactly that. 

I'll leave off notes here and probably stretch an extra round or two out of this.  It should keep thinning, and that one edge should stand out more.

Conclusions:

Really nice, interesting and pleasant.  Apparently it's a sort of one-off for tea style, a hybrid form, so there was no way I was going to place it trying it blind.

I'm a bit skeptical of vendor site reviews, since those could be made up, or at the least they could filter everything negative off there (some vendors do), but I suppose those people's takes might fill in how others experience it.  They liked it.  The first one is an example of that, and maybe the most detailed input:

The dual fermentation process creates a complex flavor profile that is truly unique.

Was it though?  I guess; the review description had trouble placing it.  And it was very pleasant.  It's a little pricey in relation to standard Fu brick hei cha, but I suppose evaluating it within the range of Shou Mei might make more sense, or really it's not exactly that, given the extra processing input.  It's something novel.  There is no type-typical pricing point for a tea that doesn't exist elsewhere.  

I guess most people would know if they favor repeating experiences with their favorite type and style range of tea, or if they want to explore further in that same direction, if they're still exploring basic ranges, or if very novel experiences are appealing.  This didn't remind me of only white tea or Fu hei cha experience, and sort of combined in some typical black tea aspect range, so it was very unique.

That covers that part; I'll share some more of that limited travel experience, going out to Chonburi, a smaller community an hour's drive outside of Bangkok.

sticky rice as something like a rice pudding, at a local market

dried squid and mortar and pestles; lots of options

looking for stone goods at a local outlet

you don't normally wai to Ronald McDonald; she was a good sport about the photo op

four people ate all of this, a lot of food

back in Bangkok, on Ban That Tong road

the picture version that she told me to delete

2022 Tea China 7542 compared with a 2014 7542

 

Tea China version right, in all photos

A new vendor--new to me--sent some tea for review recently; many thanks for that!  It's always nice checking in with basics, and a 7542 sheng pu'er was included.  I didn't check the year yet; it's interesting doing these reviews as blind as possible, then going back and seeing if what I experienced and described made sense based on the actual product details.  Later edit:  2022!

Of course all 7542 isn't the same.  They create and sell that in batches, and I don't know the batch number for the 2014 version I'm using for comparison (that I happened to have around).  Now that I think of it I've got a "younger" loose version I could've used; maybe that would have made more sense.  If the two are at vastly different ages that will still be fine; I can use it to compare aging patterns.

Then storage also changes things.  The tea I have has spent lots of time in Bangkok, which is hot and humid, which will speed up storage transition speed (fermentation, the growth of bacteria and fungus).  If this other version is a comparable age but stored in a cooler and dryer area, like Kunming, it would have fermented less.  It's hard to imagine that it might be "not as good" related to that batch issue, but I guess that's possible.  Newer Spring tea versions of lots of teas are more prized, so that batch #1 sells for more (of 7542, and other recipe types sold as a series like that).

There's not so much more to add.  7542 is familiar; it usually works better as an aged tea, and 11 years old really isn't quite enough.  At least these interim tasting checks are getting closer to the right time, just as that cake has been chiseled down a good bit, but probably still years away from being fully aged.  It helps to buy one cake to try and another to just age if you are actually going to try one once in awhile.

Yunnan DaYi Pu’er Tea 7542 Classic Raw Pu’er Tea  $16.43 (2022 version, for a 150 gram small cake)

The listing includes a reference to it being 250 grams in one place, but that small cake version of 7542 is usually 150, and it says that in the label image reference.

The listing is just general background information:

Pu’Er ripe tea from the famous Yunnan Menghai Pu’Er Tea Factory (Dayi). 7542 is a classic formula for Pu’Er tea and a benchmark for Pu’Er Raw tea.

We purchased these Pu’Er teas in 2022.

In the new tea stage: The aroma is rich, featuring intense, long-lasting floral and fruity notes, as well as elegant and light honey-sweet fragrance. The lingering aroma at the bottom of the cup persists for a long time. Additionally, new tea may have a fresh clean scent or downy hair aroma, with an overall fresh and uplifting fragrance.

After aging: As storage time increases, the aroma gradually changes. It transitions from fresh floral notes to aged aroma, camphor-like scent, medicinal fragrance, woody aroma, etc., becoming increasingly mellow and profound.

I was going to return to that "benchmark" idea in the conclusions, so I might as well expand on it here.  For whatever reason it has evolved that this one tea version represents all factory tea range, not necessarily as the best possible example, but as the singular version cited as type-typical.  That's fine; it's a pretty good example of the range.  It makes it especially attractive for trying out the general type range.

Another point I wanted to mention related to cost.  This costs 11 cents a gram.  That seems kind of low, but I don't really follow market rate pricing.  It doesn't necessarily raise a red flag for me that it might be fake, but that's not an unheard of range of concern.  Searching for something else an EBay listing was at about the same pricing, and King Tea Mall sells it for $14, not so different.

One might wonder why the pricing for these is so moderate; two of them would relate to a cost of around $30, from all of these sources, for just under a standard 357 gram amount (300 grams instead).  The price of sheng has dropped a good bit, but it was my understanding that this was a relatively recent trend, that over the past year a dip in demand and market positioning occurred.  These are from 3 years ago; I would've expected it to sell for a little more.  

One of the causes for a relative "crash" in pu'er pricing was that many sources were making too much of it, to support speculative buying, and also ordinary demand, people drinking it.  It's not counter-intuitive that expanded production would relate to very well known versions being inexpensive even  prior to this final outcome, the more significant and broad price drop over the past year, or slightly longer.

How would I know if this was "real?"  I wouldn't.  It including a smoky note is hard to place, something I discuss in this review.  Quality level, style, and appearance seems right for this tea version.  Probably it just picked up some external smoke contact along the way, and that's not any sort of unusual clue.

color difference comes out more in wet leaf

Review:

older comparison version, left, brews darker

2014 comparison version:  color is darker in this version; it should be older.  Flavor is a little subdued this round; it's still opening up.  Tones are warm.  It has fermented to a more agreeable range, per my preference.  There's a different sort of barnyard flavor present, compared to the edgier, more exotic aged Xiaguan range.  This includes aged barn wood, and a touch of leather, but not the funkier saddle leather scent. 

Tea China 7542:  this includes a touch of smoke; I'm not sure what to make of that.  I don't remember noticing smoke in a 7542 version before.  It will probably mostly settle out within about two infusions anyway, given how light it is.  Smoke can come from a naturally occurring flavor, from contact with smoke during the wok pan-frying kill-green step, or from a storage input, from it being stored where smoke is also present.  I don't know what this is from.  Smoke as a natural flavor tends to be slightly different, but I'm not going to claim I could spot that difference now.  It just doesn't come up as often as it had before; a decade back it had seemed that contact with smoke during processing was more normal.

Flavors seem clean and pleasant beyond that.  Mineral is pronounced, and some limited vegetal range flavor remains, which has transitioned to warmer tones in the other, over time.  This still balances well enough.  It should be pleasant to drink.  For people who think young sheng tastes like kerosene, or whatever else, they might still hate these.  Neither is fully age transitioned.

2014 #2:  brewed liquid color is all the more evident; this is darker and redder.  Flavor is a little rough; this needs however many more years to really get there.  I do drink partly aged sheng from time to time to experience that intensity and punch, but it can seem a little harsh.  

Warm tones are emerging, towards dried fruit, well within a good bit of medicinal herb range now.  It just settles more on aged wood with a touch of leather.  I suppose that astringency and towards-vegetal range is like cured wood, at this point.  It doesn't taste completely woody, as cheap sheng can, like plywood smells, but it's not so far off it either.

Tea China version:  smoke is pretty intense this round, even stronger.  And lots of other complexity joins in beyond that.  It's also on the challenging side, very astringent, with some bitterness (lots, to anyone who hasn't been drinking young sheng for awhile).  I'll need to eat something between rounds to clear part of the accumulated experience of bitterness, vegetal range, and astringency.

Is it pleasant though?  I don't know.  I like varying sheng experiences, and this is one of them, but it's also kind of challenging.  I'm not sure it makes sense to me to buy a tea like this to drink at this stage, fermented (age transitioned) to this degree.  Other people do though.  I do drink kind of challenging partly-aged sheng sometimes, just not often.

2014 #3:  brewed a little lighter this kind of makes sense, with early rough edges transitioning away.  The same range of flavors stands out, but it all balances better.  Warm mineral tone plays a larger role.  Even sweetness, it seems.  It's hinting towards dried fruit range to come, but it will need more transition for that to become clearer.  

At least it's nice and clean, not musty.  And it has been stored in the wettest and hottest conditions imaginable, right at the limit of what tea could experience without molding, with the heat enabling it to change in a different way, and probably somehow suppressing mold development.  Mind you if we put bread out on the table (sealed in a bag) it will mold really fast; fungus can thrive at 30+ C, in the upper 80s and low 90s F.

Tea China version:  smoke does start to ease up, but it's only balancing the rest better.  That's still centered on a partly cured wood tone at this point, of course with some mineral and bitterness.  It has a limestone sort of lighter mineral tone.  It's not unpleasant, but it's not necessarily "approachable" either.  Then again the other version isn't that much easier to appreciate, even with some warmer tones included.

I haven't been mentioning that intensity is good.  It's really a bit much.  But in a sense I like that about sheng, and pushed to a far limit it's interesting to experience.  All of this sounds more negative than I intend it.  7542 is a pretty good version of factory tea, and these two examples are fine.

2014 #4:  the best this has been.  Some root spice seems to emerge, or maybe it's that combined with bark spice.  This version really is getting there.  But it would be better not to drink it at all for 3 or 4 more years to let it keep changing though, then after 3 or 4 more it would probably be better yet.

Tea China:  smoke has dropped to an even level input with the rest.  I might've seemed to imply that smoke is a flaw, that people should dislike it.  In the right other flavor context it can be very pleasant, and it works in this.  The somewhat challenging astringency and vegetal range is a bit much, and warm toned smoke helps balance it.  Without that smoke I don't think that this would be as good, at this fermentation transition level or stage.

It's fairly clean in overall effect, just with rough edges.  Intensity is great, and the mineral range is generally positive.  Sure, it can seem a little harsh, so a take on it depends on appreciating that or else hating it.  I lean towards liking it.  But then my overall favorite range of sheng is something else entirely, the fruity, warmer toned, bright character (kind of contrast with the last aspect, but it makes sense to me), good intensity younger versions, commonly produced in "other" South East Asian countries, in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, and wherever else.  I guess that Myanmar is the other "wherever else," but the style is more common in those other three countries, based on what I've tried, with some Myanmar range seeming closer to some Yunnan styles.

I'll try another round and let this go.  It's too much tea to power through quickly, and it's too intense.  The effect is also strong, along with the flavor being intense.  I'll chalk that up to another positive, but if I were to drink a half dozen rounds, 12 cups, it wouldn't be positive.  10 is pushing it.  I've thrown out about a fourth of this tea just to make it this far.  It's disrespectful to the tea, as I see it, but it was a necessary input to getting further through rounds to try these more completely.  I could come back later and try more, but I prefer to write the notes in one go, then edit when I get to it.

2014 #5:  more of the same, not transitioning so much.  I can appreciate this.  I wouldn't want to have this experience too often, but once in awhile it's nice.  

Tea China:  the same applies to this; it's fine to drink this as it is just now.  Not my main preference, but then lots of tea experiences are like that.  It would probably be better in another dozen years, but for many that kind of delay would seem problematic.

Conclusions: 

One might wonder if I can judge a difference between the two, adjusting for the age difference.  Not really; they're too far apart in age and character.  They seem similar, beyond that, but that's a stretch as a conclusion about authenticity or quality or whatever.  

The smoke is the main difference, and that was probably added in later on, through some sort of storage contact.  People using actual wood fire for heating isn't necessarily as odd as some people might see it as; I'm from Pennsylvania, and I grew up using a woodburning stove as an alternative heating system.  Not a fireplace, although we had that too, I mean a stove in the basement that heated water that circulated in a baseboard system.  We used a heat pump for a long time, pulling heat from a cold spring water source, then later my parents switched to using fuel oil, when that system needed to be replaced.

These might have been similar related to starting points.  Both are pretty clean, heavy on mineral, expressing some wood tones, just in different ranges, related to aging (I think).  Intensity is good for both.  They balance ok.  There are lots of flaws that I might have mentioned that aren't included, lack of intensity, a different range of wood flavor, mustiness, lack of balance, limited sweetness (which doesn't come across well with the other range present), or not including the right range of astringency and bitterness.  They're both fine.  

I really like the unblended, distinctive narrow input material type effect better, something lots of sheng drinkers have been conditioned to prefer over the last decade.  With that more gaps show up, and distinct strengths, limited range flavor inclusions.  They've blended a lot of that out in these.  They're using some relatively intense material in them, but that's a part of it.  And they're a little harsh; also a normal inclusion.  

I like the way the first is moving towards spice, maybe a little towards incense spice, in the round after the notes leave off.  To me that's what 7542 is really about, experiencing it as a 20 year old tea, or 25 years old.  20 is fine for Bangkok storage; time passes differently here.  I'm holding up well, but teas change faster here.

To me 7542 is particularly interesting because it serves as the normal standard for factory teas, a benchmark version.  Experiencing it helps someone not only learn that category better, but also lets you discuss that particular experience with others, as a shared main reference.  Buying a version that's 3 or 4 years old and drinking straight through it might not be entirely positive, but even for that it's not awful.  It's not at all ideal, compared to more approachable sheng, but for people new to exploration it wouldn't be so bad to work through some exposure.  You get accustomed to brewing approach that way, and become more familiar with the general style.  

Related to buying from a relatively unknown, small vendor versus a known marketplace vendor I like the idea of supporting smaller businesses, I just don't end up buying much from this kind of source.  Or from any sources, this year, and in the past more from only a few favorites.  It will be interesting trying other teas from them, to see what the rest is like, which may make them a more attractive source.