2014 Chawangpu Ban Komaen maocha

Chawangpu aren't making many teas this year, I've been told. Looking at the prices of raw materials in famous areas, one is not surprised. In the line of Meng Zhr of the previous post, we're still staying in Laos in this post. I've been kindly given maocha from Ban Komaen, which is the fancier of two villages in Laos where Chawangshop have sourced their tea...

I think this is possibly the first tea from 2014 I'm having and hopefully not the last one.

The leaves give the aroma of young puerh you would likely expect. They smell sugary, floral and a bit fruity.

Rinsed leaves smell very nicely too. It's not a really new aroma, one smells a lot of teas with roughly similar aroma many times a year, so the angel is in the detail really (in some teas, unfortunately, it is a devil). This particular aroma gives away its near-Yiwu character, being sugary sweet, floral (magnolia), with an element of exotic fruit and citruses. The latter elements are more pronounced than is common in most of Yiwu. The floralness is so intensive that it can resemble glue/solvents containing toluene and similar aromatics.

The liquor has standard good color and clarity. The taste follows the aroma closely, being mostly sugary and floral, with some fruitiness and light cinnamon tones. The cinnamon works interestingly with the flowers - especially the aroma of the liquor can resemble a part of aroma of a green Tie Guan Yin - I'm not saying this Ban Komaen tea is much like green oolong - I'm just noting that there is an interesting intersection of aromas and, to smaller degree, taste.

While the thickness of liquor is rather high, it is not really super-high, allowing for more taste to get to our tastebuds (this is probably the biggest difference from Yiwu teas that I could find).

The astringency is very low and while the tea can be pushed to be bitter quite easily, I would not say it's too bitter by default. Furthermore, the bitterness is of a rather pleasant sort, transforming into a good, pomelo-like long aftertaste.

The tea feels very clean and pure in its qi, being calming and soothing. It gently numbs mouth cavity and vibrates. Of course, the sensation is completely unlike the feelings imparted by pesticides. 

Overall, I thought this tea to be very nice. Not a super-exciting one, but well produced and all-around of high quality. Its cost of $38 or $48 per 200g cake is quite sound (sigh...). Is it expensive? Perhaps - but compare it to young Yiwu teas that cost two or more times as much... I honestly can't say that I could discern this Ban Komaen from Yiwu. Of course, it has got some properties that make it not really like "standard Yiwu", but so does Guafengzhai and surrounding areaas... 

Wow, Laos seems to be the next area to be discovered, I guess - both teas (this Ban Komaen and previously mentioned Meng Zhr) were genuinely good puerh. It was also interesting to taste these two teas side by side - it was fun to observe the difference between old and not so old trees (which were very good and clean as well, just different).

2012 Jalam teas Meng Zhr

Recently, I have been offered a tea for review by representatives of Jalam teas. Who am I to oppose?

I was surprised to learn that Jeff Fuchs, a photographer I appreciate for some years, is behind the company and tea. I must admit that Jeff's surname carries a slight unwanted connotation with it, - I'm sure that those middle-europeans among you have at least heard of the (in)famous Horst Fuchs - yes, the crazy teleshopping chap who tries to sell all sorts of things on TV (e.g., kitchen knife, which is so good you can cut nails with it... or a frozen can of something - so useful)... just imagine him selling puerh.

Now, going back to serious stuff - Jeff has made some seriously serious journeys and he is by no means an arbitrary westerner who went on making tea. Anybody who manages to walk for 6000 km in less than 8 months has my respect. Of course, long-distance walking is probably not directly correlated to tea making abilities, but I think that people who pursue their non-profitable dreams, are seldom sly, trying-to-rob-you and all that. Furthermore, if you've read Jeff's book on travelling along Ancient tea horse road, you have no doubt realized that he loves tea.

This particular cake comes from "Meng Zhr" - I've never heard of this place, I shamefully admit. According to the site of Jalam teas, Meng Zhr is a town near the Laos border - it seems that teas from there are getting larger share of market.

Cakes don't get much more "white label" than this...

The large leaves, purportedly coming from trees of 20 to 50 years of age are pressed into this small cake. The cake seems to contain a good mixture of leaf types.

After rinsing, I got a flowery, dark green scent, with some spice and animality. It is more interesting than average.

Even though the taste is distinctly young, it is actually quite rich and multi-layered. It is mostly flowery (lilies, magnolia), toasty/bready (I never thought I'd encounter this taste in tea, but here it is), quite strong and thick. It is indeed a "classical" young puerh, but with more complexity in taste than is ordinary. There is some positive bitterness that keeps the taste going. Even though the spectrum of tastes is somewhat narrow (flowery), there are many facets and little differences that make drinking this tea fun.

Thickness, cleanliness and lack of unpleasantry show, that even though some teas are no super-fancy gushu from trees that remember female ents, they can be still very good. I'm starting to believe that health of trees and attitute of harvesters to them is as important as the age of trees. If old trees keep being overharvested (and supplemented with artificial diet), they may lose their charm in a couple of years and well cared of younger trees may be the next way to go.

The leaves are quite strong and they look "happy".

As did I, actually, after I kept having this tea for several days in a row - because this is indeed a good tea! Many new tea makers have to get through phase of half-good teas or teas that suck - it is nice to see that Jeff makes good tea straight away.

Now, the tea is good, that is not the issue. What is the issue, a bit, is the price. This 100g cake costs $24 for club members and $39 for non-members. Ugh. I don't know about this. The tea is nice and all that, but maocha from near Laos, from trees of 20-50 years of age should be fairly inexpensive, right?

I find it difficult to criticize price (unless I have a cheaper reference), there may be a good reason why the tea costs this much, but at least for me, it is too much to pay

1999 Tie Guan Yin

And here comes another oolong from Chawangshop:

Aged Tie Guan Yin can be a completely delightful tea. It is sometimes even not that awfully expensive, which is definitely a plus (unless you get a cheap overroasted ripoff). This particular TGY is not super cheap, but $2.70 per 10g sounds quite fair to me, if the tea is a real deal. Which this... is. Unfortunately, dramatic pauses are not really that punchy when written.

The leaves are of a pleasant dark brown color and an even more pleasant aroma of aged plums and nuts.

It certainly does not disappoint when drank too. The taste is very rich and deep. It may not be as explosive as the 2006 Benshan from the last post, but it is fuller and without a sign of a disturbance.

The taste consists mostly of dried plums, treacle, rich dark nuttiness and dark forest honey (which is quite in contrast to the 2006's meadow honey). The roasting seems to have been medium indeed - there are not features of a green oolong on one hand, but on the other hand, no harder roast is to be discerned.

It is also "well sat down" (~not that dynamic is another point of view), going along at its own pace as the steepings go.

Overall, this is a very rich and pleasant tea, much enjoyed.

2006 Benshan

After a long time without tasting any new oolongs, two inteeresting teas of the genre arrived in a package from Chawangshop. Let us start with the younger one today:

You have surely seen many packages like this. They are a sort of lottery - sometimes, they contain great tea, sometimes not-so-great tea. I was curious to taste this particular tea as Benshan is not an area I'd associate with a great deal of character and/or ability to excite me.

The doubts are forgetten when the little package is opened though. The aroma is so sweet, honey-like, with dried plums. A part of it must have been in the original material, but certain balance and sort of sweetness is, in my opinion, to be found mostly in a slightly aged tea. The leaves are quite green (possibly more than the photograph suggests), but no trivial floralness is to be found there - it is a balanced, summer-like meadowy good aroma.

With a rinse, the beautiful spectrum is made only more beautiful and sweet.

The taste can not really hold the extraordinary fullness and sweetness of aroma, but it is still very good nevertheless. It is smooth and thick, but feels perhaps a little empty (this is a criticism of a very good tea overall, it is not like this tea is hollow as a trunk of a tree from King's quest). The taste character is similar as the aroma suggests - mostly honey with dried plums. It is quite pleasantly light in character - a very friendly tea indeed.

The taste lasts... oo ... long! It is also rather active for this genre too - no dull flowery soup at all.

It rather reminds me of aged Dong Ding tea - I had one or two of these which, on top of the lovely taste spectrum, had the full fullness a tea can offer, which is why I considered them better. But for a rather casual oolong drinker such as me, the price difference is simply not worth it. This 2006 Benshan sells for $6 per 50g, which is basically a joke. For $8-10 per 50g, I'm used to decent oolongs, without major faults, but often lacking in aroma, being too bitter, etc. This tea is simply better than that - it is not an awesome oolong perhaps, but very good nevertheless. Yum!

The next post will have a look at a 1999 Tie Guan Yin, which offers quite a different experience.

2013 Chawangpu Lao Yu (Bada)

It is interesting that just when I just about gave up on finding real bargains in the world of tea, one appeared after all. The Lao Yu cake is a small one (200g) and costs merely $14, however, it would be a pity to leave it unnoticed.

According to Honza the producer, this is basically a tea that Bulang people on Bada mountain make for themselves. As such, it does not have certain qualities that are desirable for immediate drinking, but on the other hand, it does not suffer from the flaws that some "drink now" puerhs unfortunately have.

The dry leaves are rather small actually and smell fruity and floral.

I still fail to understand why I like this tea so much, yet I obviously do. It is not like it's way different from any other young tea, but it does its job better than most; I guess I appreciate its honesty and cleanliness. I did not drink the "old style" puerh when it was young, but I would think it might be similar to this tea.

The taste is rich and good indeed - and it is a mixture of both Bada families I've encountered previously: On one hand, there is a good sweetness and fruitiness (peaches), young clay, along with "future honey" (dark sugary sweetness now, likely to become honey-like, in my opinion). On the other hand, there is also an element of the "other Bada" (piney needless and more citrusy fruit, especially pomelo). It is an interesting and, fortunately, not in the least conflicting. Along the "Bada part", I think there is a good "universal sheng" base which fills the "good mouthfeel" windows in taste, often left open by Bada teas...

Along the taste itself, the liquor is smooth, thick and pleasantly bitter and astringent - all is good (the bitterness is completely normal in a young tea and a) transforms well now, producing a pleasant aftertaste, b) should transform via aging).

The tea does not have aa "stoning" qi, but it always brought be the feeling of joy and positivity to me, which is an effect in itself.

The tea is delight to drink now and due to its rich and strong character, I suspect it should be a much better ager than most "1D" Badas which are quite good now, but tend to lack something in the longer run (they are still very good and tasty after 5-10 years, no doubt, but they are not a first league tea unfortunately).

2002 Bulang

This tea is another from my current Chawangshop spree. I do really like Bulang tea with some age (similarly as I tend to dislike young Bulang tea) and so I was looking forward to this.

It comes from a small factory (I appreciate that even though the wrapping and all that is CNNP lookalike, it is not marketed as such), which can mean many things. Theoretically, "small factory" or "private production" brings artisanal qualities to mind, a lot of effort and attention to detail, etc. In practise & my experience, it often means poor storage, lack of expertise in processing, etc. Of course, there are reputable small-scale makers, I'm rather talking about no-name small factories. The good thing about these is that indeed, there are gems between their teas, that are a lot cheaper than they would be, were they from a well known maker - but these gems are rare and most teas from such factories are just bad. But if you have somebody to sort through these teas for you, well, that's nice (and I think that it is a good way how to add value to selling tea).

The leaves seem quite small to me, while not being terribly broken. They are still rather green (not that obvious from the photo) as well - the tea does not seem to have aged that much from their looks.

Rinsed leaves smell herbal and medicinal, with some honey, leather and general sweetness (not that much, though).

The color of liqor is light, but not too much so.

In mouth, the tea feels a bit dry (dry wood and leather, with medium bitterness and astringency) and not so thick, which is not great, but the other (dominant) tastes are pretty nice: a mixture of herbs and that good blend of honey and medicinality that sometimes occurs in Bulang tea. A small amount of aged earthiness is present as well and complements the rest nicely. While the amount of sweetness is decent, I'd like a bit more in a tea of this taste spectrum. Nevertheless, the taste is very well balanced, powerful, rich and I like it. It's a proper, "older school" sort of puerh, no superthick namby-pamby flowery puffiness.

The taste hangs around mouth for a good amount of time, though it does not bring a significant amount of buzz, nor qi.

This tea seems very interesting to me as it combines the "dry wood" Bulang (which I do not like too much) with the "medicinal and honey" Bulang (which, on the other hand, is one of my most favourite genres of puerh). I'm still not certain of the relation between these two families of Bulang teas - is it that the former transforms in the latter via aging (that would be nice!), or the difference can be spotted even when the teas are young? We'll see in a couple of years.

For drinking now, the tea is, in my opinion, too drily stored (which causes still notable bitterness, lack of qi and thickness, etc.) - on the other hand, the storage was not nearly too dry to kill the tea - it does age and develop, which is good. Especially fans of more dry stored tea might enjoy this tea a lot as it is pretty tasty and rich, for a tea stored that way.

When I started drinking this tea, it was available for $85, which was quite ok, in my opinion - teas with this taste spectrum are seldom cheap and this tea seems rather good. Currently, it costs $150, which is rather too much for me to consider purchase. I think that the price is still quite good compared to for what are some (much worse) dry stored teas of this age sold, but there are enough two-eyed kings for me to pursue elsewhere...

1997 CNNP Red Mark

I consider it fortunate that Chawangshop stocks more aged tea now than it used to - and this 97 Red mark is one of these (I think it's the most expensive puerh in the shop as well). 

Red mark seems to be a popular recipe and it is for a good reason - the reason being, that it is good (both raeson and tea). Also, while I've tasted quite a few 7542s (especially the pesty "private order" ones) which were way off their original recipe, the Red marks I've had belong to the same cluster - maybe not being so popular since some time, therefore less worth faking?

The leaves seem to be quite good to me - they are not really broken and are quite strong as well.

Rinsed leaves smell really well - very sweet and full, slightly earthy, spicy and honey-like. It is distinctly aged in a way (no young aromas at all), but at the same time, it is not one of those teas that get muddy via too wet storage - this is still a clean and vibrant tea.

The color of the liquor (one of lighter ones) gives away what is suggestted by the aroma already - the tea has seen some humidity, but just right.

I enjoy how this Red Mark tastes very much - the sweetness is still there and so is the smoothness. Both these features are usual in an aged tea, but they are quite distinctly above-average here (given the age). The taste is a mixture of comforting warm peat, deep, warming sweetness and slightly spicy "heights". It slowly travels through the mouth, spreading peace and love around, gradually changing into vibrations, fresh-plum long-term aftertaste and then leaving for good (well, until next cup is taken). 

It is still quite active in mouth (with slight astringency left). As a good aged tea this is, it is comforting overall, making one feel "simply good and healthy". I'm not too keen on talking about "medidative states", but this tea does change my perception and when I let it, it brings me "elsewhere".

The stamina is good (and definitely above-average in this price range of cheap-ish aged tea) - 20-30 steepings over 2-3 days are easily doable.

At least for me, this is an excellent tea - for a good price ($168/cake), it rewards the drinker with a good, aged feeling and remarkably nice taste; a real pleasure. When it comes to buying this tea, the question is not "whether", but "how many cakes"...