Farmerleaf Jing Mai Miyun and Cang Yuan sheng pu'er

 

I'm reviewing two more sheng pu'er samples from Farmerleaf, versions William had on hand and shared when I met him in Bangkok recently.  One is their Miyun version, and the other Cang Yuan.  The first rings a bell, and I've added what I remember of it in notes, so for now I'll just list Farmerleaf's site descriptions (partial citations; there are more details on those pages):

Spring 2024 Jingmai Miyun ($60 per 357 gram cake)

The 2024 version of the Miyun is slightly improved. Due to the low demand in fresh leaves this year, we managed to get some of the best 'shengtai' tea in this blend. We've mixed the production of our Liu Dui garden with tea made by our cousin, growing close to Da Ping Zhang plateau. We'll see how this supposedly superior material will develop as the tea ages. 

At the time of release, right out of the pressing factory, the tea tastes lively and vibrant, with a light bitterness, moderate thickness, good sweetness and some Huigan. This is a good tea for beginners and as a daily drinker. 

Spring 2024 Cang Yuan ($86 per 357 gram cake)

Spring 2024

Old tea garden material, Pa Pai village, Cangyuan county, Lincang

Complex fragrance, medium body, good punch without much bitterness

This is a well-balanced tea with plenty to deliver. Somewhat similar in profile to Baka and Hua Zhu Liang Zi, it is a highly fragrant one. 

We haven't visited the area, it is located is a remote county at the border with Myanmar, in the far west of Lincang county.

I might add that samples that have been travelling a bit could lose a little intensity, for going through changes in environment, or being opened and closed.  Both of these could be marginally more intense as carefully stored, full cake versions.  Depending on exposure some aromatic range could even evaporate off, but I'd imagine at most they could have just lost a little intensity.

Review:

Miyun:  it's pleasant.  Flavor complexity stands out already, even brewed lightly, a bit of pine or related vegetal edge, and what comes across as floral range.  Feel has some thickness to it.  Intensity will pick up a little on a second infusion, and it will be easier to add more details.

Cang Yuan:  there's an interesting flavor range in this version.  The other had a nice brightness, and this is warmer toned, towards warm mineral, or maybe cedar / redwood / other spice.  It seems negative, describing a tea as woody, but a supporting note matching cedar isn't so far off incense spice, and it can play a similar role in positive flavor balance.  The rest is nice, the sweetness, other flavor complexity, decent feel, good overall balance.  

It's too early to try to place these in relation to a higher or medium quality level, but that is something that will come up, related to talking to William about such things, and considering it for the last tea version I reviewed.  It's not so much distinct aspects or markers that stand out, but that refinement can be better, intensity, clarity, aspects being distinct and clean, balance, feel playing an extra positive role, and so on.  I don't over-think such things; I'm drinking whatever tea I happen to have, and exploring to the highest possible quality level was never a main part of my own exploration project.

There is an old understanding that people tend to appreciate tea for flavor first, then learn to appreciate body / mouthfeel, then later can identify and value body feel (cha qi).  Of course for the third category I couldn't separate the input of both tasted together, but it seems to me that people often really like a drug-like effect that stands out most when they drink sheng on an empty stomach, a rush of change in internal state that you can't easily notice in the same way if you have eaten.  I'm not really endorsing this breakdown of forms of appreciation here, just mentioning it.  I like how teas come together, and different sets of attributes make different teas appealing.

I think the other, the Miyun version, is supposed to be their more budget-oriented version, so more moderate in quality level.  It would be normal to achieve good results using less exceptional material through blending, to balance what a few inputs can offer, but I don't know if that's part of it.  Of course that could come at the cost of diluting down some of the more positive range of one exceptional version, some really interesting flavor input, or a special kind of feel structure, and so on.

Miyun #2:  the brightness is nice in this; there is a fresh, bright note that combines some floral and near-citrus input.  Sweetness level balances that nicely.  Bitterness is moderate for a young sheng, in the normal range, which is pleasant to me.  Astringency is normal; feel has some structure, and there's some edge to it.  To me it tastes like an above average quality version of a relatively normal style of sheng.  I guess Jing Mai origin range tends to be like this?  Pine sometimes stands out more; you can notice that, but it's probably as much from expecting it and looking for it, and you might not place it without that.

So it's good.  But it feels like I'm leaving out how it could be better, what it would be like.  Across all of that range, which is all positive, it could be dialed up just a little.  Feel is nice, and aftertaste adds to the experience, but it could be richer, with that more pronounced.  It could have more distinct, cleaner flavors.  I think that one bright flavor tone range is a main strength; to me that really works.  A bit of vegetal edge is fine, but then I love teas with much stronger versions of that, that tend to have a different overall balance, with more intensity, sweetness, and different novel flavor inputs.

Cang Yuan:  that one flavor range is nice.  The warm tone matches well with a richer feel, which carries over into a slightly stronger aftertaste experience.  It includes some bitterness but lacks the slight rough edge of the other.  Intensity is moderate, as young sheng goes; I wonder how William would take that?  This is still more intense, complex, and dynamic than any oolong, green tea, or black tea; it's all relative.  It's good.  A hint of dryness matches well with the warm tones, rich feel, and aftertaste expression.  I suppose it plays a similar role in the experience as a vegetal edge and slight roughness in the Miyun version.  

At this stage, judging between the two, I like the way the Miyun aspects fall together.  The brightness and sweetness is offset well by some pine and astringency.  It might be more challenging for someone who doesn't drink sheng, because of those, but then it's hard to say what people not started on acclimating to bitterness would make of any sheng.  I'm not saying much about bitterness in these because it's moderate, to me, but it is present.  To me it balances well in both, not really standing out.

Miyun #3:  there was a sort of synergy to how the citrus-like edge and what I interpret as floral range came together, along with sweetness, and that has developed further.  It almost tastes like a lemon drop candy.  That hits your palate first, as you taste the tea, then feel structure next, then the flavor paired with that, a touch of vegetal edge, then aftertaste after that.  It's a nice complex tasting experience.  To me--and this part is completely subjective--this is the kind of tea you could drink two or three days a week for an extended time, and it wouldn't get old.  It covers basic range in a novel way.  

The Vietnamese tea I've been using for that purpose, one a Son La version from Viet Sun, that I'm on my second cake of, is more intense, but also edgier, even harsher.  I'm fine with that; I don't think it would necessarily be better with a couple more years to mellow out, losing some brightness and intensity in exchange for the sharp edge softening.

Cang Yuan:  it's interesting how different this is.  Flavor profile is quite different, warmer, almost into spice range, but it's hard to place within that.  I could relate to someone interpreting dried Chinese date as a flavor inclusion.  Feel is full instead of being expressed as an edge.  It's not necessarily rich, not quite to that sappy sort of character, but there's some thickness to it.  It's mild, as a sheng this age goes, but there is a good bit going on, across a few dimensions.  This seems like it could be an autumn harvest tea, that limited intensity and slightly reduced range.

Miyun #4:  the aspects integrate better and better, and that lemon sort of edge becomes more pronounced across rounds.  I really like this.  The light vegetal edge and astringency are in a perfect very-moderate range to complement the rest instead of detracting from it.  

I did break form and look at these vendor listings between rounds (always added during editing), and this is what I'd described, their moderate cost version, using blending to optimize results, selling for $60 a cake.  To me it's a great value at this pricing.  William mentions in the description that it's a good year for this particular cake, that the material is better than normal.  I could see how with just a little less of that positive flavor, a little less sweetness, and a touch more astringency and vegetal edge this would be pretty ordinary tea.  As it stands in this it's quite pleasant.

It makes me think about that "daily drinker" theme, what is implied.  It seems to sweep in that you would drink better tea some of the time, and then an inferior, budget oriented version a lot of the time, the kind of thing you'd have with a rushed breakfast.  That mixes two sets of ideas that don't necessarily go together:  quality level (also relating to value), and general character, what kinds of aspects would work best for tea with a breakfast versus what you'd enjoy in an hour long session focused on the tea itself.  Who knows about the second; people would find different experiences most interesting.  

Good black tea is great for a really rushed breakfast, but I can brew 10 cups of sheng pretty fast for a standard experience.  One trick is to use two cups, pouring from one to the other to pull out a bit of extra heat.  Not pouring back and forth; once would do, or if you really like the tea cooler you can drink a little cold water from one first and it will draw out more heat.

Cang Yuan:  it's not really evolving much; it is what it is.  Would this have greater "depth," giving it an extra dimension of experience the other lacks, one relative superior range?  Not really.  That can be meaningful to me, it can work out like that, but in this case it's more just mild, and expresses a novel flavor range, warm in tone, covering a good bit of spice, potentially partly interpreted as whatever else.  

For someone who dislikes the edginess in a lot of sheng this may be perfect.  That would seem odd, seeing young sheng experience as harsh instead of positive, at least in relation to better quality tea range, as these are.  Of course anyone drinking almost any "factory tea" is going to be put off by astringency and high bitterness, maybe appreciating drinking those on the still challenging side 10 years later, or after 25 years of age transitioning.

Conclusions:  

Pretty good, especially for these being on the lower side of their pricing range.  The style of the Miyun suits what I like in young sheng, the brightness, freshness, floral and touch of fruit, and sweetness, which is fine with a bit of vegetal edge.  Feel could be richer, and aftertaste more extended, with hui gan carry-over kind of limited, but to me it all works.  I talked through ordering this or not in my mind, since it's not so much, and this plus some good Dian Hong (black tea) for under $100 is a great value for basic range tea to drink for awhile.  I only drink basic range teas, for the most part, it just varies in character because some is from Thailand and Vietnam, lately.  And I tried a lot of samples last year; that's nice for mixing things up.

The other, the Cang Yuan, seems well-suited for someone initially adjusting to sheng, not quite ok with bitterness and astringency yet.  It's a little odd considering which sheng would be good for people who don't like sheng, but I guess preferences would always map out over a range.

I wouldn't expect aging concerns to be much of an issue for these teas.  They would mellow a little more over a few more years, but they're drinkable now.  Maybe someone else would be looking for a relative optimum that I'm not familiar with, something really approachable.  The slight extra edge to the Miyun might transition better over limited aging, but I can't imagine that there would be any reason to hold onto it for a decade or longer, or even to see what it's like after a half dozen years.  To me it's just not that kind of tea.  

Then again I've bought an extra cake of something similar before, just to see how it turns out; I should go back and figure out what that was, and how it's doing.  It was from Tea Mania, that I bought about a half dozen years ago.  They had this annoying habit of labeling white paper cakes with Chinese letter stamps, so it would be a bit of a project sorting out what it is, even after finding it.  Any sensible person would've just written on the label before stashing it, but I have a few cakes like that, not so easy to identify now.  For the ones in only blank white wrappers I never will know what they were.  At least the experience of drinking them is the same, with or without that background.

I never did guess at why the second version of this lacks intensity to this degree.  I don't think it related to the sample experiencing air exposure; that could change things a little, but not this much, to shift the character to a relative opposite.  Versions from Lincang are known as being more intense and bitter, if I'm remembering that generality right.  But then different factors come into play.  Plant types can vary, and not all local areas within a broad area will be the same.  Micro-climate and terroir issues come up related to local environments.  Harvest season changes things, but these are both spring teas.  

Often more wild-origin teas (which this isn't described as, just natural growth, less managed plantation sourced) are more flavorful and distinctive, and also more mild.  I'm not sure if that relates to plant types varying, or the growing environment changing outcome.  So in the end I really don't know.

Aged Lapsang Souchong (2014) and Dan Cong (1995)

 

Lapsang Souchong left, in all photos

I'm reviewing two more aged teas from an ITea World aged tea set.  Most have been pretty good so far, and a 1995 Shui Xian oolong was really interesting.  I've tried different aged teas in the past but covering different types at those sorts of early ages is still new ground, at least those particular iterations.  This will be something different too, a 1995 Dan Cong.  

The rest of this set is this:

That's definitely novel; it's hard to judge if a $75.90 pricing (for 100 grams) is about right or a really good value.  It depends on the teas, and some have been exceptional, others just interesting and characteristic for the types.  They seem to offer different discounts at different times, and I think for a reduced rate below that value is pretty favorable.  

As I keep mentioning related to lots of teas I don't buy tea at 70 cents a gram or so (they passed this on for review; many thanks to them!), so value really depends on what you like, and what budget you are working with.  It would cost a good bit to buy these from any market outlet sort of vendor, if they were even available.

To me aged teas can be hard to place, because experiencing them is definitely novel, maybe more so than for any other type range.  But then in terms of pleasantness, refinement (one level quality relates to), or intensity of the experience they're often not as positive.  For buying random versions of them online storage issues often all but ruin them; mustiness can be a main aspect.  

In the last week or two I've written about a 2010's version that had probably been stored near incense, picking up a flavor input that seemed foreign.  So far none of that has impacted these tea samples, and it has only been that quality was exceptional for some and more medium range for others, or so it seemed to me.  We'll see how these go, or rather I already have, since I often write intros and conclusions during editing.  One is really good, very novel and pleasant, and the other just good.

Review:

2014 Lapsang Souchong:  interesting!  That picked up a lot of spice tones with the aging, it seemed.  It almost tastes like a spiced tea version.  I was expecting this to not be a smoked version initially, and there is no smoke, but it's hard to say how that flavor input would've held up over 11 years.  

It balances pretty well.  There is mixed spice input, which I'll try to break down more next round, then a warm toffee sweetness beyond that, and some neutral warm-toned base mineral.  There is no sharp black tea edge, but even in newer, higher quality Lapsang Souchong versions there might not be much of that.  Feel is interesting, especially for it being the first light round, a bit rich.  It seems clean and refined.  All in all it's pleasant to experience.  

Going back and comparing it to the other version a touch of sourness stands out, which is more evident in comparison.  First impressions can miss things like that.

1995 Dan Cong:  there's quite different spice standing out in this.  I don't remember spice tones picking up that much in aged tea versions before, but then I've probably never tried an 11 year old Lapsang Souchong or 30 year old Dan Cong.  This is a little sharper and more pronounced, like clove.  

The other came across as a mix of different flavors, that were hard to separate.   There is some fruit or floral base beyond that spice in this, and warm mineral again, but the sharper and more pronounced spice range really stands out most, and kind of blocks experience of the rest.   It will be interesting to see how these evolve, how the flavors transition in relation to each other.

Lapsang Souchong #2:  I brewed that first round about 20 seconds, and I'm going to stay with using decently long infusion times, maybe 20-some this time instead.  Drinking these brewed light would also work, using faster infusions, and they would produce more rounds, but I expect the effect will be most positive with intensity bumped to a medium-high level.  Or at least infusion strength; we will see what extracts.

More spice, no surprise.  It's mostly in a cinnamon related range.  There is a little sourness to this.  From being stored a bit damp?  Maybe.  It's far from ruined; that kind of works with the sweetness, otherwise clean flavored nature, spice tone, and underlying warmth.  But I suspect that people would have different natural tolerances or preferences for or against that inclusion, the sourness.  It was off-putting in a Thai shai hong style black tea I tried with Huyen and Seth, for her, and I still love that tea.  It might be more common in Dian Hong range than for other black teas, related to some processing form input.  I don't remember ever trying Lapsang Souchong that seemed sour to me, but earlier on I probably wouldn't have noticed it.  

To me this tea is good.  For others reaction to that one flavor input might decide it.

Dan Cong:  an interesting spice and aged wood tone has picked up.  This is really interesting.  It tastes like really aged furniture, a bit towards Chinese medicinal spices, what those Chinatown shops tend to smell like.  One note is still related to clove, but there's a lot more going on, all across spice and wood-tone range.  

Some lower quality aged sheng pu'er tends to taste woody, in a completely different sense.  That tends to taste like well-cured lumber, while this is a hint of cedar, or towards incense spice range, just not exactly that either.  It tastes like what I'd imagine exotic Chinese medicinal root spices might taste like.

Would this naturally be appealing or off-putting for many people, the same question I just asked of the other tea version?  I would think the novelty would generally be positive.  The overall balance is nice too; it's not musty, or heavy across an odd flavor range, lacking body / feel, or too dry in some odd way.  A bit of toffee sweetness helps the rest tie together well.  For well-aged sheng two different problems can enter in, that haven't here.  Those can be musty and earthy so that they require a few infusions to clean up, or some versions just tend to fade.  This definitely changed due to aging input, but not in those ways.

Lapsang Souchong #3:  I brewed these a little longer, to see what happens when they are pushed a bit, on towards a minute.

Spice is still pleasant in this, still mostly centered around cinnamon range, but more complex than just that.  Sourness is reducing, even brewed strong.  It's not unusual for some aspects to "burn off" over a few initial rounds, and that seems to have happened.  It comes across as a little sweeter, cleaner, and more balanced, with warm tones playing a larger role.  A toffee sweetness stands out.  Other warm tones seem to include just a touch of leather, not the musty horse saddle range that can turn up in hei cha or some pu'er, but a lighter, sweeter note.  It's tempting to go on and on about types of leather, but ultimately not informative, so I won't.

Dan Cong:  this changes every round, which is an interesting effect.  A lot of the description I already covered still applies, but the overall balance is quite different, and I had been listing out a lot of range before.  Wood still stands out, but a very novel form of it, a touch of cedar, well-aged furniture, and then the overlap with Chinese medicinal herbs.  A sappy feel enters in, connecting with one part of that, the unusual herb or spice range.  There are bark spice tisanes one can seek out, not cinnamon, and not like cinnamon, that this might resemble.  There is a lot going on.

It's not so unusual for some aged teas to fade, but this absolutely did not do that.  It's unique, clean, complex, and balanced, expressing flavor range that isn't familiar at all.  I suppose this is what one might hope aged tea would be like, it just usually isn't.  I'm guessing that the sheng and shou versions in this set might seem kind of ordinary to me, which I'll get around to checking on, but this doesn't.  One more round will tell enough of this story.

Lapsang Souchong #4:  kind of the same.  This may be fading a little already; an input like aging might transition the material to include novel range but could also cost it intensity and the ability to brew a lot of rounds.  The same can come up with oxidation and roasting steps.  

This tea isn't done, but it might've passed the most interesting part of the infusion cycle already.  Or the next couple of steeps could still be regarded as more positive than the first 3, since the sourness transitioned out.  This one I brewed a little faster so the intensity dropped some, but it's still fine.

Dan Cong:  it's interesting brewed lighter; different flavor range comes out.  A lighter spice range emerges, almost including a citrus note.  Aromatic range is interesting.  It tastes like aged furniture, but not in the musty sense, instead related to those fragrant preservative oils that are used in some places (like here in Bangkok, where old traditions and practices sometimes stick around).  This also isn't better brewed so light, but it is interesting trying it in different ways.  It still works.

Conclusions:

Those teas really were on the way out; they kept brewing, but they were already declining by then.  The 10+ infusions theme relates more to younger, powerful teas, not those so transitioned by aging input.

The Dan Cong was a really unique experience.  I've been a little skeptical that it really improves teas much to age most for 10+ years, but it held up, and changed into something very novel.

The storage input to the Lapsang Souchong wasn't quite as positive; a light early sour note threw off results a little.  I'd expect that being stored with more humidity in the tea made that difference.  In the past people often talked about re-roasting teas, to keep them dry and positive in character, but it later seemed like storing them well-sealed at an appropriate humidity level works out much better.  They're not changing related to fungus and bacteria inputs, fermenting, as sheng pu'er and other hei cha are, so they don't need limited air input and a higher degree of humidity to support that microbiome.

I'm not sure that everyone can appreciate what a market value for a well-stored, high quality, novel 30 year old oolong might be.  There isn't much of that around; it could be hard to identify that.  I wrote about types and transition patterns in aging oolongs before, back in 2020, and mentioned reviews of a half dozen versions of different ages.  It had seemed a lot of what had been around was already sold by then, with some pricing getting a bit crazy.  The TeaDB blog wrote about that awhile back (this time in 2016, but I was looking for something else).  Pricing for everything mentioned was all over the map, in both posts, often way over $1 a gram, but one thing would be the same from both:  those aged teas selling in 2016 to 2020 are probably all gone now.

Or are they?  I looked up one I tried earlier on, well before 2020, a 1995 Thai Qing Xin oolong from Tea Side (a Thai vendor), and it's still available.  It sells for $40 for 50 grams, exactly the same rate as this sample set.  I thought it would be sold out, or would sell for more if available.  Two Moychay aged oolongs (one Qilan listed here, and another) from 2004 and 2006 sell for 24 and 30 Euro for 50 grams; a little less, but those are a decade younger.  I guess that it's still out there.  This vendor sells 70s Dan Cong, for around $300 for 50 grams.  If you have an open enough budget this 95 version isn't the far extreme.

For people seeking out this kind of experience this set has been reasonable, a mix of really exceptional and unique versions and others that at least represent the range fairly, and the value seems fine.

Farmerleaf Na Lang Laos sheng pu'er

This is the sheng pu'er version I talked about, I think, that I tried with William and cited in the last post about meeting him, a Spring 2024 Na Lang from Laos.

Since I've already introduced this tea I'm going to strip down these tasting notes to what it seemed like to me, removing a lot of the speculation or tangents.  I'll add a little back in with the conclusions, but this will work well kept shorter, without the usual rambling on.  This is William's site description (part of it):

Spring 2024, medium-big trees from forested gardens (listing for $140 per 357 gram cake)

Na Lang village, Nyot Ou District, Laos

A powerful Yiwu-style tea with great endurance 

This is typically the kind of tea you would find in Gua Feng Zhai for twice the price. The point of this tea is not the fragrance, but the good thickness in the soup and the deep Huigan. 

Considering the renown of Yiwu tea, and the high prices its tea fetch, it is not surprising that many tea traders cross the border to Laos and source tea from Nyot Ou district. As a result, most of the tea made in Nyot Ou is bought by tea producers from Yiwu.

Tea grows in the forests of Nyot Ou district along two valleys. The Southern valley is connected to Gua Feng Zhai village through a small road. The environment in which tea grows is similar in Eastern Yiwu and in the two tea producing valleys of Nyot Ou District. Ancient tea trees grow along more recently established gardens in the forests.

from the Farmerleaf site product page

That's a common, well-known theme, that lots of tea from lots of places goes back to China to become pu'er.  I skipped the "pu'er-like tea" limitation earlier, the admission that the type is a regionally limited designation, only applying to teas from Yunnan.  That's a bit absurd, isn't it, given that context, that any tea from Laos, Vietnam, or Myanmar (and less from Thailand) that crosses the border, and is mis-represented in terms of origin, sort of is and also isn't pu'er?  And a very considerable volume of tea undergoes this transition, far more than is ever sold as Laos tea.

It's the best of both worlds for Chinese producers and vendors; they can dismiss those origin area teas as separate and inferior, and then buy them and resell those same teas as the upgraded local version, simply by blending and then mis-labeling them.  Let's move on to how this tea is.

I never do address whether this is like Yiwu or not, a claim made in this description.  I've experienced relatively consistent character in trying a reasonable amount of Yiwu, but it's my impression that I've not experienced a lot more than I've tried, especially related to distinctive versions and higher quality levels.  So I'll just describe what I am experiencing.

I think it makes sense for vendors to never mention much about flavor range.  It would vary over time, and even more so in relation to varying interpretations.  In this review I mention it seeming to taste different when trying this same tea two different times, and I speculate about why that is, real factors that could've changed what I experienced, not just the interpretation.  

William's description doesn't even include a general flavor reference, like "floral," and again I see that as reasonable.  To some it would seem floral, and to others fruity, and different factors could change the compound inputs that these are based on.  It's fine as long as a description can pass on enough range description to draw interest, or inform in some other way.

Review:

First infusion:  a little light, but that's a good way to start, brewing the first round fast to get an initial sense, and letting the second be more typical of the rest.  Flavor is good; quite catchy.  There's a pine-like aspect that others could interpret related to other vegetal range, but only a little.  A fruity tone is something else, on towards juicyfruit gum, or back in the range of natural flavors not really tied to just one, but not so far off tangerine.  Feel is nice; it has some structure, already, but that doesn't seem to track towards being unapproachable.

I've already tried this tea, so this isn't the blind tasting approach I typically use.  I know where this is going, and this tea version is pretty exceptional.  I'll fill in more of an aspects list next round.  

It's completely whole leaf material, not too compressed, so it would be easy to drink it unbroken, but I used some from the parts that had already split off in this tasting, more broken material.  Maybe that's not ideal, but I suppose it's a normal real-life experience form.  I hadn't thought it through getting it ready; depending on how focused in I am I might use the broken material also in the wrapper or carefully separate off some relatively whole leaves.

Second infusion:  that catchy fruit related tone really pops in a stronger round.  Bitterness and astringency really ramp up too; those would be more moderate if someone was more careful about not breaking the leaves.  

The bit of pine, or however that vegetal edge is interpreted, integrates wonderfully with the sweetness, bitterness, fruit tone, and background floral range.  

Intensity is good; I supposed based on what I said in the post about talking with William I should comment on that.  It's not by way of harsh aspects being dominant either; in better quality cakes strong sweetness, bitterness, feel, and positive flavors really stand out.  This is really clean in overall effect; it's not as if young sheng tends to be murky, or to taste like a cinderblock, as comes up more with Liu Bao, but there can be an emergent sort of impression of clarity and cleanness, or lack of that.  

This doesn't seem completely identical to when I first tried it with William.  It was exceptional then, and it is now, but minor inputs can vary, shifting the outcome.  I'm using water from a hot water dispenser and filtration system, so it's not at full boiling point; that changes things.  It's a different version of water.  This leaf is little more broken, as I've mentioned.  We drank this tea in the middle of trying a half dozen versions; that can affect impression and memory.  It seemed to include more bright floral range in that tasting, leaning towards bright citrus, and it probably did, based on those differences. 

Third infusion:  the tone seems to be warming.  It had warmth and depth before, but it's evolving to include a lot of that.  The leaf color is mixed, including some darker range, making me wonder if somehow oxidation level didn't vary a little in this initially.  How?  I'll add more about one thing William said in the conclusions, that might have entered in.

I personally love that effect, when sweetness, flavor complexity, and slight warmth gives a young sheng a much more approachable character.  I suppose people could be mixed on how they relate to that input and effect.  

I'm not doing justice to what I take to be a fruit tone.  It's not so far off dried mango, which surely isn't all one thing, since there are lots of kinds of mangos.  That one flavor input is positive, but it's how it integrates with the rest that works well.  It's intense and refined enough, which can be hard to place within the entire sheng range, or in relation to higher quality versions, or typical Yiwu styles. 

I didn't mention that the intensity carries over to aftertaste experience.  That almost goes without saying, but not completely.

Fourth infusion:  now that warm, sweet aspect tastes more like dried apricot to me, so much so that I'm questioning my earlier interpretations.  It's a lot like apricot, a pretty direct match.  It's quite delicious.  There is plenty of astringency and bitterness to balance it, but it's a quite approachable tea, at the same time.  Someone being more careful than I was to not break the leaves would moderate those parts just a little.

Intensity is so good, and flavors so fresh and bright, that it seems this will go on forever.  It won't; based on trying an earlier cycle this will make a lot of infusions, using the high proportion that's my default, but eventually flavors will thin and bitterness will play a different role.  It's great while it lasts though, which is for awhile.  The bitterness and sweetness stays in your mouth after you drink it, along with that fruit flavor, adding some extra exposure to appreciate.

Fifth infusion:  it's not transitioning all that much, which is as well, because I'm running out of patience for making these notes anyway.  Feel might become richer; that's an interesting shift, for this stage.  It has had pretty good feel structure for this whole cycle, but it gains just a little richness, towards a pleasant sappy feel.  To me that one interesting and positive fruit note integrating with the rest well is the main story, with other range playing a supporting role.  

Conclusions:

It's good, very intense, refined, pleasant, interesting, well-balanced, and so on.  I can't place it in relation to Yiwu range, but this probably is the best Laos sheng I've ever tried, and it might be about the 15th version I've tried.  The warm fruit range was interesting.  Floral tones are often dominant, across a lot of sheng range.  Versions can transition quite a bit, aging over even 9 months or so, but this was quite warm and fruity, and a year of aging input wouldn't cause that.

Back to that oxidation input issue:  William had said that if a producer backs off the kill-green completeness even a little (if I'm remembering this part right) that the stems can not be as fully fixed (compounds inactivated).  Then these can turn redder, more oxidized, as the tea dries, shifting the final character.  Maybe that happened in this?  It would explain the darker colors in some of the material, and also those heavier tones, the fruit range versus the floral, and warmth.

That's all just speculation.  The tea is really nice, the main thing.

Is it worth $140 a cake?  Sure, if someone is open to paying that for it.  It's novel, so there isn't any one established market supply and demand based pricing level.  It could be $500 or 1000, if people are open to paying that.  

There's a general expectation that quality level and range of related experiences out there are the competing factors; there are ways to buy a lot of Yiwu versions, and some other Laos teas, just none that I've tried like this.  If somewhat equivalent versions really do tend to cost $280 instead then maybe this is a great value.  I'm not buying any teas that cost over $100 per cake, so I'm just not part of the whole community, in one sense.  That's about budget limitation, not idealism.  If my tea budget was much different I'd buy this, for sure, but I certainly don't experience that as a regret.  My life balance is something to be thankful for, not to focus on regrets over.

Beyond those concerns the tea character is really interesting and positive.  I've really appreciated the opportunity to try this, and to have some to drink, since William shared a fair amount, not just a sample.  Many thanks to him!