The first tea of the month reports I’ve done since re-establishing the blog was the Xiaguan Masochists tea of the month report. This essentially meant drinking a lot of Xiaguan teas that are laying around and trying to measure them against one another. Evaluating teas you haven’t tried much against other one another is much more difficult than trying to compare a tea with a tea you know very well. This is a why having solid benchmarks is helpful. In this case, one tea I’ve used as a benchmark is the 2005 Xiaguan T8653 January Thick Paper from MX Tea. Is it the best Xiaguan ever? No. Is it the best 8653 ever? No. But it does represent an above average 20 year old Xiaguan with a roughly typical profile that I’ve consumed fairly regularly for a few years.
Tip for Beginners: Establish a Benchmark Tea
One of the best things a new drinker can do to stabilize themselves in a sea of unfamiliar tea is to establish solid benchmarks for broader sorts of tea. Yes it is wise to sample widely. But it is also useful to get a good amount of repetitions of certain teas. Something like a good Xiaguan or Dayi tea that you can use to calibrate future experiences against. This helps to anchor your own tastes against something more solid and reliable. It probably shouldn’t be the highest quality you can find, but something that is decent that represents the category of tea well. I’d probably aim for something you enjoy that’s potentially a grade or two above average.
Then drink that tea, get your reps, and get familiar with it.. We learn a lot by contrasting different teas and tea experiences with each other. This doesn’t have to be a side by side comparison, but even just mentally comparing a tea you are trying to a benchmark is a more effective way to judge than trying to evaluate it in a vacuum. In the past, when I’ve done tea of the month reports I’ll start and finish the month with my benchmark tea(s) as a way to center my judgements.
Establishing a benchmark is useful for all sorts of reasons. It can be a more structured way to determine a tea’s quality but also how some of its individual characteristics differ (texture, aftertaste, depth). It’s also a good way to test out various other potentially confounding factors, like new teaware or a new water source. If you’re brewing a new tea in a new pot there are already a few variables at play. It is impossible to figure out very precisely the impact the teaware is having. Brewing a tea you know well in new teaware is a much more reliable way to approximate the ware’s actual impact..
In the Xiaguan tea of the month report, having a solid benchmark made me realize how different the FT8653-3+1 can be. Despite carrying the same name and surface-level tasting notes to many other teas in the report it is a different experience with pungent characteristics that is not your typical 8653. FT productions in general are not great benchmarks for Xiaguan as their overall taste is related but not quite the same.
One particularly bad Xiaguan benchmark is the 2013 Xiaguan LFPT. This is a popular tea in the west and I’ve seen people drink this tea and extrapolate whether they like Xiaguan or not. While I do like the tea, it is a special production and very different from average Xiaguan with a profile that is its own. The tea is made by FT and uses aged leaves for its blend. Even if you prefer the LFPT, the 2005 T8653 Thick Paper makes a better benchmark because it is far more typical in its profile. The T8653 is repeated over and over in Xiaguan’s products over many years. The LFPT is a one off.
For Dayi, getting reps with a decent 7542 and 8582 (not commissioned) with a decent amount of age is a good idea. With their ripe, maybe a 7452 or 7572. These are teas that they make routinely.
Benchmarks don’t have to be a permanent marker. You’ll probably establish and re-establish different benchmarks as you become a more experienced drinker.
Another Benchmark: Establishing an Average Tea Owned
I like to also learn what my average tea is in categories. For instance, what is the average tea from the six famous tea mountains/greater Yiwu area I own? This is helpful in buying situations. If you’re trying something beyond a daily drinker and the potential tea falls beneath your average tea in perceived quality, it’s not worth acquiring unless it has something very unique or some hidden potential.. Yes even if the tea is an overall good value buy. When acquiring tea you should be raising the bar, not lowering it. When you consume a tea, there’s an opportunity cost of what you could’ve potentially been drinking instead. Having an average tea established allows you to take a step back, and compare the sample with something and hopefully make an informed decision. Speaking for myself, this helps to ground my decision making and avoid impulse purchases.
There is a film studio in Japan called Toei. They’re not the most well known Japanese studio but they’re reasonably large and have been around for 75 years. In the 60s and 70s they specialized in making B-Movies and were heavily associated with the Jitsuroku era of Yakuza films (most famously Kinji Fukasaku’s Battles Without Honor or Humanity). These are abrasive, subversive films filled with anti-heroes who replaced the classical, heroic yakuza from a few years before. These Jitsuroku films are composed of angry tattooed men berating and beating other angry tattooed men, filmed in a hyper-kinetic hand held style. There’s some legitimately great ones, but also a lot of chaff. It can take sorting through a few of these to find the hidden gems. Fans of these films (myself included) sometimes call themselves Toei Masochists, presumably due to the hard hitting nature of the films and the labored process of looking for gems..
Drinking through my fair share of Xiaguan over the last 10 years, I wonder if masochism isn’t an appropriate term for us tea drinkers that can’t quite quit the crane. Xiaguan fans in the west lovingly call themselves the Crane Gang after the famous crane logo that Xiaguan uses. Even though I’ve drank a lot of the stuff I am still filled with mixed feelings about Xiaguan. Sure I’ve had some good enough teas from them, but I’ve also endured a good deal of crane-induced punishment. Maybe I should be more aptly referred to as a Xiaguan Masochist. After all even in 2024, one of my first ideas for a tea of the month report was yet another Xiaguan report. And as a glutton for punishment here are several thousand words (the longest report yet).
One of my goals after my daughter displaced my tea room has been taking stock of what I do have, get organized, and clean out unwanted samples and cakes. I’ve drank through Xiaguan in three previous tea of the month reports in 2015 to 2017 with mixed results. In the initial report I took a photo of the crane on my toilet and compared it with their logo, summing up the lackluster teas.
In the process of clearing out cakes, Xiaguan also probably represents the most evicted tea brand of 2024/25. It’s an easy brand to accumulate due to their appealing prices and 100 gram tuos.
Here are approximately 40 reviews of Xiaguan or Xiaguan related teas all in one place (a full year of inbetweenisodes).
In the 2016 report, I mentioned a few rules for making calculated gambles that still apply. These were largely implemented after the toilet bowl Xiaguan drinkfest.
Buy sufficiently old. I used to think 10 years was enough, but now I think 15 years and ideally 20. 15 year old Xiaguan really isn’t very expensive and an extra 5 years of storage will significantly hepl the tea.
Select humidly stored tea from: southern China, Taiwan, Malaysia. If you follow (1) and (2) properly, there won’t be an overwhelming amount of smoke in the teas.
Travel well-trodden paths and don’t cheap out. There’s a lot of teas and batches. Your rate of success will be much higher if you use other’s recommendations rather than selecting randomly. Spending up is usually good. $80 vs $60 isn’t that big a difference in the end. My batting average got much better when I started corresponding with Toby, who is a true Xiaguan man and had lots of recommendations. Thanks sir!
I also have a very loose calculation scale, which I use to estimate ~biological age of teas. It’s not hyper accurate on a case by case basis, but I find it useful to estimate how far along a tea has been without the need for subjective judgements.
Formula: AGE SCORE = 2x(years of aging in humid place) + 1x(years of aging in non-humid place)
The formula implies that two years in a more humid place like Taiwan or Guangdong is worth 2 years in Kunming or Seattle. Is this accurate? In some cases maybe, in others maybe not – but I’m using it as a quick approximation to compare biological maturation. I would guess that these teas probably need about 35 in terms of an age score to start to become drinkable for my tastes. I used AGE SCORE to filter out a couple dozen teas that I have around to make life easier on myself.
Goals:
Stash check and updating the review archives! Determine how Xiaguan is doing in my storage. As I’ve gotten back into a tea rhythm, I’ve been surprised how useful old TeaDB content on teas has been for myself. The videos can be useful, but the reports in particular are interesting as time capsules and to see my own history with these teas.
Establish an average Xiaguan to benchmark against. And an average factory tea.
Composting things and giving them away when appropriate.
Finish off whatever else I have laying around.
A couple teas I did not get around to including (a) a few pre-reform teas I ordered from Shunfeng that did not arrive in time. (b) what has been described as the 2011 Xiaguan Budget Bangers.. Xiaguan Jinse Yinxiang, 2011 Xiaguan Jinse Chuanqi, 2011 Xiaguan Huangjin Yun, and 2011 Xiaguan 8113 Spring Bulang.
These Teas Require Good Storage
Xiaguan is a tea that needs good storage and time. I am judging the tea I am having under its current conditions, not the tea production overall. The storage conditions play very heavily into my own enjoyment and ultimately rating of these teas. For instance I ended up preferring the 2005 T8653 January Thick Paper from southern China over the 2003 T8653 presumably stored in Taiwan. It’s very possible that the 2003 has better material, but its still abrasive, leading me to prefer the 2005. The 2005 XG FT8653-5 vs. 2006 XG TFT8653-6 is another case where the 9 years of storage in Seattle for the FT5 haven’t done it any favors. Given a storage reversal, I may end up preferring the opposite tea. So why not judge the base material of the tea? Frankly, it’s too much mental gymnastics and I’d rather judge what is in my cup and use the presumed storage history to add a small amount of context rather than apply some theoretical base material ranking. Adding to the storage confusion, even though Xiaguan is best stored in a hot and humid climate it is still possible to be too wet. There are a few teas this report that have had their potential muted by over-storage.
This is a category of tea where most of the teas I’ve acquired have been from the mainland and not Taiwan or Malaysia. A huge chunk were purchased through MX Tea, a taobao XG specialist, whose storage generally agrees with me. Selecting storage is also a big reason to use stores like TWL that curate their teas heavily. This will prevent potential errors like storage and batches even if the price you pay is a bit higher your batting average with these teas will also be pretty good.
The Teas
A quick note on ratings… I’ve tried to update my system to allow a bit more of a spectrum rather than grouping up everything together. So the rating update will not line up 100% with past ratings.
12/23/24 Schedule…. Tuos: The Day of the Crane
If there’s anything that typifies my feelings as a Xiaguan Masochist, it was a morning designed and dedicated to drinking through a pile of tuos. Why spend a torturous week drinking one a day when you can power through a bunch at once!? I ended up successfully getting through 8 and I feel pretty good about my judgements despite being pretty burnt out by lunchtime.. Here’s the rough schedule I had sketched out.
6:30AM Wake. Drink mediocre XG ripe pu’erh. 8AM Wife goes to work. 9AM Daughter takes nap. 9:02AM Operation Crane begins. 10:20AM Daughter wakes and dropped off at daycare. Temporary pause of Operation Crane. 10:45AM Operation Crane resumes. 11:47AM Runoff Crazy Crane Body Qi (just lots of caffeine) 12:42PM Eat pizza to restore body to equilibrium.
I used my bag of tricks to get through these… Double rinse, and being quick to dump cups once I get an assessment. This is limiting in some ways, but I do feel like I get reasonably good judgements without drinking too much caffeine.. The end result, two ended up in the give away bin. Here are the tuos in quick succession.
2004 Xiaguan Jiaji (6.4)
Pretty much all acquired from MX Tea. I didn’t feel the need to subject myself to all the Jiajis I have. The 2003, 2004, and 2005 are all pretty similar with a slight quality improvement by going back in years. I did that comparison before (see below).
Started with this as a reference tea. This is solid as far as Xiaguan goes. I don’t want to drink it that often, but it is satisfactory for a 20 year old factory tea. I wanted to start with the Jiaji to use it as a reference. It is thick, dense, and woody. Little sweetness. A bit of retired smoke. Sturdy little thing.
2004 Xiaguan FT T004 (4.8)
I bought a few sleeves of this from MX on a 11/11 deal in 2018. Supposedly an acclaimed tuo. I hadn’t had this in years and was hoping it’d be ready to drink. Unfortunately it’s not that great right now.. Sad, slow Seattle storage hasn’t moved it much. It does have a couple nice things going for it: the texture and smoothness. Although it has some density, it is thinner than the Jiaji from the same year. Both teas have an age score of 35, but this tastes relatively greener than the Jiaji. I suspect this has had lighter storage despite both coming from MX. Sometimes 20 years isn’t enough.. Back into storage..
2004 Xiaguan Canger FT (5.4)
This is much fruitier than the other tuos and is probably at about a 1:1 fruit to wood ratio. Depending on how you brew it, it can be somewhat sweet or quite astringent. It has a cohesive but simple profile. It doesn’t really hit my spots, but it’s alright if you like this profile (fruit forward). I’d give this away, but I think it’s OK as a reference since it’s quite different from the Jiaji.
2004 Xiaguan Songhe (3.2)
One of the least impressive teas of this run. Very thin, astringent and just really not much there. EVICTED!
I had assumed this was MX but found out later this was Kunming stored, makes sense..
2006 Xiaguan Purple Box Fangcha FT (5.5)
Muscatel and wood nose. Higher notes and more refined than the burly Jiaji in general. Body is a bit tangy but mixes in sweetness, wood and a bit of fruit (although not as much as the Canger). This is OK, but if it doesn’t meet my standards and I have enough similar stuff that I don’t really want it around. EVICTED!
This tea was one of the better teas in the original Xiaguan report. Sad!
2006 Xiaguan Gold Ribbon FT (6.6)
This was a Toby rec and I’ve always liked these mid 2000s gold box productions. They feel like an attempt at a slightly fancier product that doesn’t require the heavier storage hand others do. Interesting to have this back to back with the Purple Box. They both have a similar muscatel-wood profile. The Jinsi (Gold Ribbon), however, is more enjoyable. Nice silky texture, smoother, and good balance of sweetness. The density is still nice and it feels more substantial than the Purple Box. This is not an amazing tea, but is one of the highest rated tuo of the report. It’s good and solid provided expectations aren’t too high. I think the Nanzhao fits into this same niche, but even one more step in the refined direction.
2008 Xiaguan Xizi FT (5.7)
This is higher noted with more florals and brown sugar. Probably a byproduct of not having undergone as much southern Chinese storage. Similar to other FT products it is a bit sweeter with a bit of retired smoke. It’s OK.
2005 Xiaguan Yincang (6.4)
After all those tuos, I was in the mood to evict this but it ended up winning me over. Wood, resin, nice texture. Maybe the tea most similar to the Jiaji, in the sense that it leans heavily towards a woody and not particularly sweet profile. There’s decent density here too. The main reason to go for the Jiaji over this is the fact that it is such a standard reference.
After enduring all eight of these in a single morning, I felt about as alert and sickened as I would if a tatted up yakuza were shouting at me.
Other Tuos
2010 Xiaguan DX Tuo (5.2)
Recommended to me by Toby. This has an annoyingly bulky box that makes the Jiaji box look reasonable (sleeves are the best).
Definitely somewhat different from a standard Xiaguan tuo. Maybe a second cousin from out of town. The age score is a lot lower (25) than anything else this month and it really does show. It has two standout features that set it apart, (a) a more refined silk texture and (b) decent mouth coating sweetness. It is intriguing, but too green to drink now. Also on the downside it’s body isn’t as dense or as substantial as other Xiaguans that rank higher in this report which is a bit concerning long term. Scott sells a 2010 brick from DX that might be interesting as an easier purchasing channel.
2004 Xiaguan FT Nanzhao (6.7)
A last minute addition picked up from LP’s January releases. I’d always had this one on my radar as it’s a well known tea and while you can technically get it cheaper on Taobao, I was also curious about the Malaysian storage. This production specifically (2004) may or may not have Banzhang material in it. My previous notes with it a decade ago had it as a tea of note, coming across as a highly atypical Xiaguan. This is the first year of this special production which makes it more sought after. First year productions are also sometimes a bit better than the same product a few years later.
Redrinking it 10 years later my notes line up closely. Even more than the XG gold ribbon the Nanzhao really doesn’t taste like normal Xiaguan or for that matter Banzhang. It does however have some nice throatiness, texture, and a good aftertaste. It is lightly oily, not particularly dense, leaning more towards a refined profile. Taste profile is antique wood, herbal with some light raisin sweeetness. This is one of the nicer tuos of the month, but it just doesn’t really feel as dense and packed like more standard Crane Brand. Firmly represents the softer side of Xiaguan.
2011 Xiaguan FT Nanzhao (5.6)
Sent by Emilio at The Jade Leaf as a sample, conveniently making this a nice comparison. Like the 2004, the 2011 has a softer profile and is much more drinkable than you’d think given its relative youth. They both feel like cousins to the Gold Ribbon Tuos. Nice sweetness, texture, smoke in a pleasant way. Mostly woody with a touch of fruit. Lacks the density and strength you’d expect from a more typical Xiaguan, but this is cheap and cheerful if you want something inexpensive and softer than 90% of Xiaguan teas.
2003 Xiaguan FT 7623 (5.5)
This one was from Chawangshop back in the day. It’s ultimately very baseline. Starts out with a bit of fruit to accompany the standard wood Xiaguan taste. It is not bad but if I haven’t drank it in the 10 years of having it and does not show anything intriguing in this session that would change that. It’s just not interesting enough to keep around. Evicted!
2003 Xiaguan Jiaji (5.8) via SF
Tried blind from Phobos after another blind sample. Thanks! Very woody. Has undergone some lightish traditional storage or gotten a bit wet. The tuo is very woody, and creamy, a bit milky. It’s not bad, but I don’t find it to be very satisfying. Having this after the superior 2003 Xiaguan 8653 does the tea no favors.
I was somewhat surprised as the tea does not resemble the 2003 XG Jiaji I have from MX at all. The tea could’ve masqueraded as even older and it would not have shocked me. Storage for Xiaguan can be too light, but also overdone as is the case here. Storage is king!
2002 Xiaguan Teji (6.0)
This one is not from MX, but from a Shenzhen vendor that kept his tea on the dry-side of things. Unfortunately this is a tea that could’ve used more of a push and similar to the T004 is a disappointment despite its age score being relatively high (42). It crosses me as a classical wood, retired smoke, lightly sweet Xiaguan that was stored dry and isn’t as juicy or as substantial as you would hope for a 23 year old tuo. It is a similar level to the Jiaji but I enjoy it less, likely due to the storage. This one will go back into storage.
FT Tuos – sweeter, softer, a bit more texture, a little better?
Having all these teas in a short succession has some definite advantages and disadvantages. One disadvantage is it’s a pretty unenjoyable way to drink and appreciate tea. Teas I enjoy like the Gold Ribbon or even the Jiaji were used as more of a measuring stick rather than something to appreciate and enjoy.
One advantage is that you can more clearly see possible patterns. FT seems to have a reputation for being a bit less brash than vanilla XG. In the tuos I found FT were on average more textured, a bit sweeter, slightly softer, with improved longevity. I’d probably describe them as a little better, but it depends a lot on the individual production and year. I also wouldn’t make any hard rules like always buy FT or never buy regular XG products.
Note: I wouldn’t describe the difference in XG vs. XG FT cakes the same way, although (IMO) the FT Pink #4’s most notable attribute is its texture.
Cakes
2013 Xiaguan FT Love Forever Paper Tong (7.1)
Really a XINO (Xiaguan in name only). For those unfamiliar with the alleged origin story… The tea is made of aged maocha that was supposedly leftover from famous Dayi productions (Jin Dayi) in 2003. Sure! Whatever you say FT..
It is hard to know what to believe but the profile is far more Menghai-ish and aged than a typical 2013 production. The tea used to be quite burly and bitter, but turned the corner shortly after I got gifted a tong for my wedding in 2017. The tea is very tasty now with a fruit-wood profile. Good thickness and while it can certainly get bitter its sharper edges have softened a lot. Others have noted a cherry like note to this, and while I wouldn’t quite describe it that way it has some brightness to it that vaguely resembles a cherry note. This has also always been a cake that people complain about inconsistencies, but since I’m experienced with the material (I’ve finished a cake) I’ve learned to lean in or out of the tea and don’t really get bad sessions with it.
One small tip on this one: don’t be stingy and brew up lots of dust. This is probably good advice in general, but especially true for something that is punchy and sensitive to a heavy hand like LFPT.
2009 Xiaguan DX 7223 (6.5)
Picked one up from MX at the end of last year on a whim. Like Love Forever this uses aged maocha and is a special production, made by Dehexin who supposedly had their hand in the Double Lions along with the Malaysian teahouse. This is a Bulang blend from 2005-2007 and the less expensive production they made this year. The more costly production allegedly has Banzhang.
The tea is overall pretty good, but not as big a hit as I had hoped. Certainly not a home run or even a double.. Maybe a single. It has a nice fruit sweetness that coats the throat. A bit woody. Mostly it is not as big as I hoped, feeling a bit narrow and not too much Bulang bitter. Some retired smoke. Still a bit resinous and has some room to improve. Overall I prefer the stronger Xiaguan LFPT, but I could easily see an alternate universe where this tea garners a similar level of popularity to LFPT. Not a bad one to seek out if a relatively affordable ($50ish) aged Bulang blend sounds appealing.
2006 Xiaguan FT Pink #4 (6.2)
Recommended to me by Toby ages ago. I was surprised by this one as it was better than my memory. Nice aroma and this tea hints at smoke more than other teas in this report. Woody, reasonably thick, and some residual sweetness. I do think the ceiling is limited for such teas. It is mostly just decent and expectations have to be tempered. But it has solid density and the texture does stand out. You can still track this one down easily for a pretty reasonable price. Compared to my previous notes it is considerably improved. I pulled my cake into rotation where we’ll see how it does on the speed test.
2004 Xiaguan FT 8653-3+1 (7.4)
Turned onto this by Toby and Emilio of The Jade Leaf in 2017/2018? I had the TW stored version which I believe Emilio sells. This is an interesting tea.. It is extremely pungent, resinous, oily, menthol-heavy and woody. It also feels substantial with good strength and density. After a challenging Christmas Day, this tea was particularly satisfying. I think this tea is worth checking out even if you’ve had the conventional T8653. I quite enjoy it and it crosses me as significantly different from the 2005 T8653 Thick Paper or the 2003 T8653 which are much more similar to one another. I do think the FT8653-3+1 is very likely to be polarizing due to its very pungent characteristics. This is one that isn’t talked about that much, but perhaps should be.
I did manage to re-try this before the end of the report and indeed still like it, even as it wasn’t as pungent and intense as my Christmas Day session. The notes aren’t that different from normal Xiaguan 8653, but it presents very differently in ways that are obvious if you have them side by side.
I unexpectedly had the opportunity to pickup a few cakes of this for an attractive 2000NTD, so did end up buying 3 more cakes. Thanks Quiche!
2005 Xiaguan FT 8653-5 (6.6)
Bought a cake from MX back in 2015. This is decent and serviceable and basically a more palatable version of the 2004. Unfortunately it does suffer a bit in comparison with the 3+1 and falls on the wrong side of boring at times. The base flavor profile is the same: menthol, wood, some oiliness but it does not feel as substantial. It is unclear to me how much is the original material vs. the storage, the experience it offers is a significant step down from the 3+1. Consumed against the thick paper later and it holds up reasonably well. The thickness and oiliness is impressive but it is also a bit hollow in comparison with the standard Iron Thick January.
2006 Xiaguan FT T8653-6 (6.8)
Perhaps due to being an iron cake, this is a bit different than the 2004 and 2005 FT I have. Some smoke that seems like it is on the way out. I think the extra time in a humid climate (the 2005 FT has been in Seattle for nearly a decade) has benefited it. Profile is a mix of wood, pine, menthol which sounds similar to normal T8653, but does present itself a bit different than standard Xiaguan. Consistent with some of the other FT products it has a pleasing, refined texture. Still powdery and can use more time but definitely heading in the right direction. Not as satisfying as the 2004 FT 8653, but more than the 2005.
2003 Xiaguan Xiaofei 8653 (7.2) SF
Blind from Phobos. Smells like 8653, menthol wood, oily, mouthcooling. Herbal, nice texture, a bit of depth to the back of the mouth. After having this revealed, it’s nice to know that non iron 8653 can follow a similar cake trajectory as iron cake 8653 provided it has the right storage.
This is pretty close to my ideal storage for Xiaguan. Interestingly it comes from Shunfeng who is all over the map on storage, some too wet and others like this pretty good.
2006 Xiaguan XY BGT (6.3)
From a part of a blind sampling a few years ago. Made by XY.
This is technically a decent tea just generic and boring (to me). It is also very un-Xiaguan like. It has decent thickness, plum sweetness, wood. It’s fine and has nice clarity with its profile just pretty dull. I’ve had the 2012 and had similar feelings.
2001 Xiaguan XY 8853 (7)
Stored by a Shenzhen dealer who keeps his teas drier (same as Teji). Also made by XY.
Similar to the 2006 Xiaguan BGT, this has a very clear profile that is a bit different than XG. It is also technically a decent tea, but I find it dull for its pricepoint. Rather than the classic wood-pine-methol, this is far more wood dominant. It is oily but a lot less than a T8653. Also a bit more retired smoke than those teas. Good mouth sweetness and thickness.
I’ve heard there’s a few versions of the 2001 8853, so that could perhaps account for some of the difference here.
2001 Xiaguan XY Green Chawang (7.4)
These two Chawangs were generously supplied by Emmett, thank you! They both have the Yang storage, but neither one really tastes like his warehouse.
The storage has moved this to a much better place than the 8853. Ye Binghuai (the maker) says this is an Yiwu and while I don’t have a firm opinion, I do not find that completely unbelievable. Although the processing is obviously far more in a factory style, the tea reaches deeper and has a stronger throat feel than almost all the other Xiaguans in this report. Soft, woody, silky texture. It is not an overly complex tea but it is a satisfying one with a good lingering sweetness.. I finish the session feeling quite nice.
2001 Xiaguan XY Yellow Chawang (7.4)
Also from the Yang warehouse. Thanks Emmett! This is roughly the same caliber tea as the Green with a few differences (keeping in mind I’m judging from just a couple sessions).
It feels like it is also turning the corner, and is perhaps a few years behind the Green. It has a greener fragrance, more resin and retired smoke. The tea is also a bit more flavor-forward with wood, muscatel sweetness, and a light tang. Texture is a bit more syrup rather than silk. Overall, I’d say this is more complex with an interesting mouthfeel and a bit more active than the Green but with less depth and throat feel. I liked my session with the Green more but this is also a satisfying tea.
2001 Green Sun (7.4)
Not a Xiaguan, but made by Ye Binghuai as well. And also supposedly an Yiwu.. Also from Yang’s storage (thanks again Emmett). Very different than the Xiaguan productions he made of the same year and feels more like a predecessor to the Yiwu cakes that would come. Pleasant, soft, sweet, potpourri, resin, wood. More “Yiwuish” than the Xiaguans. Has a nice throat sweetness.. I am a sucker for these teas, even if this has relatively short longevity.
Iron Cakes (non FT)
2005 Xiaguan T8653 Thick Paper January (7.2)
Bought four of these in 2021 from MX with no regrets. It’s one of my reference cakes and I’ve drank quite a bit of a cake. The profile is a familiar one if you’ve drank any Xiaguan iron cake 8653 from this period. Oily, thick, menthol, heavy wood and pine profile. No smoke. Longevity is just OK but it is very satisfying. In this case, the batch is clearly good and the storage helps to complete the tea (MX is a Xiaguan specialist). Very nice all around and easily passes the speed test.
For those that are curious about the thin version or non Iron I’ve recorded a video on the Thick vs. Thin vs. a non-Iron. I’d heartily recommend a well-stored thick paper version (January/February/March).
2005 Xiaguan Grade A Iron Cake February (6.8)
I bought this back in 2020 for reasons I no longer remember. Someone said it was sort of like 8653 and MX didn’t have any at the time? This is the first batch and while it doesn’t quite live up to the T8653 it is good and enjoyable. Oily, menthol, wood. Resinous.. Just a little thin compared to the iron cake, but overall satisfying. Decent aftertaste.
2004 Xiaguan? 8653?? Iron from Malaysia (6.9)
This was picked up by a local tea buddy on his trip back home to Malaysia. Thanks Meng! Meng, Garrett, and I split four cakes three ways as a fun way to sample some of the local offerings. It was supposedly T8653 like or going for something similar. They were mostly around $50-60 and all were good for the money. This ended up being my favorite of the batch. I was curious to see how this tea would match up with all the other iron cakes being consumed.
It stacks up pretty well! It is thick and very oily, with the familiar heavy pine/wood/resin. It is very believably Xiaguan like. Doesn’t brew out forever but it has a likable 8653-ish profile. Even my wife who normally does not enjoy non-trad sheng, didn’t mind a couple cups I gave her.
2003 Xiaguan T8653 (6.6)
From a sample a couple years ago. Xiaguan is one type of tea where I don’t own many TW-stored stuff. This was an interesting session, partly because it was (surprisingly to me) a bit less satisfying than the MX Xiaguans. In this era, you’d expect earlier productions to be a bit better, so this ran counter to my own expectations.
I think it boils down to storage. In the case of the others, they were stored in Malaysia (2004 XG Iron) or by MX (a XG specialist in Guangdong). This tea while not poorly stored has not yet ironed out the more rough acrid edges that make it an inferior experience, despite what is possibly superior material.
A bit tart, acrid, and bitter. Gets very oily with a nice mouthcoat. Familiar wood, menthol. Hints at more retired smoke than other iron cakes. Above average longevity.
2001 Xiaguan T8653 Da Hongfei (6)
This is a Kunming stored Da Hongfei version from Yunnan Sourcing. Supposedly the Heifei has more potent material. Info on the different 2001 versions (Thanks Phobos).
This is quite slow to get going, and does start out smoother than one might expect. It does eventually get heavier, very resinous with some bitterness. While it isn’t particularly thick this is quite green. Storage is king when it comes to Xiaguan. It hints but doesn’t quite get to the menthol, wood note that the wetter stored teas have. You can get a thicker brew, but are hit with a potent bitterness.
1999 Xiaguan T8653 (7) Shenzhen Vendor
From the Shenzhen vendor who keeps his teas dry. This is both one of the better teas of the month and also a disappointment.
On its own it is an enjoyable enough brew, but I do not find this meaningfully more enjoyable compared with the 2005 T8653. It gets very oily and extremely woody. Curiously missing the menthol note, but otherwise fits into the nice pine wood profile. Overall pretty simple and I think it’d be pretty satisfying if I could set my expectations more appropriately. Similar to the 2001, I’m left wondering what an MX stored version of this would be like.
1999 Xiaguan T8653 (7) Shunfeng
From Shunfeng on Taobao. Same rating as the one from Shenzhen, but very different drinks.
While the Shenzhen vendor keeps his teas drier than my preferences, this one unfortunately swings too far the other way. This seems to have gotten some traditional storage early on and has aged beyond that menthol, wood phase. It still resembles a Xiaguan cake and it certainly isn’t Yee On level of traditional storage, but the storage is not ideal. It is a pleasing easy drinker, oily, woody, and in the end quite a simple tea. Slightly younger 8653 give a hint at what might’ve been. Interestingly, neither 1999 T8653 had that cooling menthol note that I get in the 2000s XG Iron Cakes. Until I try a more ideally stored one I will chalk that up to storage.
Iron Cakes > Tuos
After all the tuos these iron cakes were a refreshing change and on average much better than the tuos. I am noting to myself that iron cakes stored in popular hot and humid hotspots are starting to get into a very nice place at around 20 years.
Brewing these is a bit different than normal caked pu’erh. I used a gaiwan, which I found effective because of the fuller feedback you get. You can easily see the liquor color and leaves unfurling very easily. This allows you to modulate the brews more easily than in a pot. In my case, I believe it outweighed the positive of extra heat retention and allowed me to brew more evenly. I also got into a good rhythm with them as I brewed them relatively regularly for this report.
For Comparison’s Sake
One thing I like to do towards the end of these themed drinkings is brew something that would make a good comparison. In this case, big factory raw from the mid 2000s from other factories, Dayi and Mengku Rongshi.
2006 Dayi 8582 (7.2)
This is probably my favorite Dayi recipe, and I’ve always found it does better on the speed test than 7542. Nice big, broad body, woody, coats the mouth in sweetness. This one is ready to be consumed: thick, reasonably smooth, with a pleasing texture. Similar to the 2005 T8653, very satisfying and refreshing after mediocre Xiaguan. This beats most of the teas from this month. Sorry Crane Gang, but Big Benefits > Shimonseki.
2004 Mengku Rongshi Qizibing (7)
Similar to the 8582, this one fits as a comparison point. An aged factory production from the mid 2000s. It was also probably one of the best value buys I ever did, costing something like $25. In some ways I prefer it to the more esteemed YYX from an earlier year. This has the added benefit of being northern as well.
The tea is nothing crazy, but a solid workhouse. A clear profile that isn’t very dynamic but simple and enjoyable. It’s the sort of tea you drink a bunch when you’re more settled in your taste, provided you like the profile. This easily passes the speed test in my case. Wood, coco, mid-level thickness. Brews out for a while with a generally warming and not cold profile. Compared to Xiaguan teas in this report, it is very different. Basically goes for very different profiles with none of that menthol, pine, wood, resin activity that dominates the 8653 and other XGs. Interesting to try but not especially informative in this context.
2000 Mengtong Jiaji (6.4)
An off-brand tuo sold by YS. It’s decent and drinkable. Relatively on par with Jiaji. It has ideal storage that has moved the tea along but not too wet. Lots of retired smoke that hints heavily at a previous life as a smoke heavy tea. Otherwise, woody, burly, with some sweetness.
Trad. Stored & Old Ripes
These don’t really fit with the other teas but are fun easy drinkers made by Xiaguan.
2001 Xiaguan Pine Crane Jiaji Tuo (8)
Sold and stored by Yee On.
A pretty ideal traditionally stored tea. Oily, rich, wood. Has a heavy earthy, beetroot sweetness. A bit of syrup texture. Makes me wish there were more well done traditional stored XG available. You could add a bunch of notes that are synonyms to earth, but it’s mostly just a richer, nicer traditionally stored pu’erh.
1994 Xiaguan Tuo Ripe (7.5)
Another one sold by Yee On.
This is not a complex tea, but a simple profile that is very satisfying. Rich, creamy, ginseng, beetroot. Fairly thick and lightly sweet. For me this is chuggable tea. If you are someone that thinks they just like raw and have avoided traditionally stored ripe, please consider trying some of this and the cheaper Yee offerings.
1990s Xiaguan Brick (6.6), friend
Picked up by a tea friend in the last couple years. Fairly low grade material (as one would expect), and possibly traditionally stored early on. It is an easy to drink, smooth brew. It has a nice silk texture. Nothing crazy but an interesting time capsule towards the humble tea blue-collar big factories were cranking out in the 1990s.
1990s Xiaguan Brick (6.7), Houde
A sample bought from Houde. This is more or less as expected. Solid, medium-thick, wood, hints of dates (feels like a cousin of 7581). One reason I like traditionally stored ripe is it adds an interesting herbal+ginseng element to it. This is a perfectly functional drinker that while solid is also kind of dull. I do think teas of this caliber will depend a lot on the individual preferences. There is certainly some enjoyable characteristics. It is a tea that knows what it is and offers a clear, defined profile. I rank this a slight bit higher than the other brick as the base material crosses me as a bit better and it offers a thicker, denser brew.
VOATO: What is the Average Factory Tea? What is the Average Xiaguan?
One of the goals here was establishing the ATO (Average Tea Owned) in this category (Xiaguan). The average is probably the 2004/05 Jiaji, a relatively ordinary tea that can still be bought for under $0.20/g. If single tuos or cakes are worse than that, they should probably be removed unless they can bring something else to the table. The 2005 T8653 January Thick Paper is better than the average but is probably the better benchmark particularly for the cakes.
If I were to extrapolate this out to factory tea I own, I think the Jiaji would fall a little below average.
These Teas are Inexpensive
Many of these teas have not appreciated that much in price. The tuos in particular are good budget buys provided you like their profile. On the day of the crane, those 40 grams of ~20 year old tea probably set me back something like $3. Hard to beat.
The cakes and iron cakes are a bit more, and probably also where most people should start as the quality is on average higher. The January Thick Paper can be acquired for very reasonable $/g prices, the challenge is finding good storage. The TWL is pricier than other sources, but they do a good job vetting so it’s one I’d likely recommend if you don’t want to shop around too much.
For Your Consideration: $15 2004 Jiaji vs. $10 2005 Jiaji
Consider this case. The $15 2004 Jiaji and the $10 2005 Jiaji.. These teas sold for approximately these price from MX not long ago. They have a similar profile but the 2004 clearly has better material if you side by side them. The 2004 cost $5 or 50% more. Is the tea 50% better? Definitely not.. Perhaps 15-20%? But the $5 additional cost is spread across several sessions. A 5g session, costs a measly $0.25 extra per session. In my opinion a worthwhile tradeoff if your budget isn’t super tight.. Consider spending up for better quality even if it isn’t value optimization.
Why Own These Teas? What is the Upside of These Teas?
I am dubious of these teas aging into anything great. Things like the 2006 Xiaguan Pink, which improved a bit, are unlikely to be anything beyond a solid daily drink.
I bought a lot of the Xiaguan as a low-risk way to get diversity into my stash inexpensively. The positive case is that some of them, especially the ones I own in some quantity, should be decent workhorse teas. And since workhorse teas are the majority of teas I drink, there is a distinct and clear purpose. That all being said, even this more positive case isn’t that exciting. All those cakes of pink do take up space that could be something else.
What do I Actually Own? & Would I Do it Again?
I own quite a bit of:
2013 FT LFPT (no regrets)
2010 XG DX Tuo (minor regrets)
2006 FT Pink #4 (minor regrets)
2006 Jinsi Gold Ribbon (no regrets)
2005 T8653 January Thick Paper (no regrets)
2004/05 Jiaji (no regrets)
2004 FT T004 (minor regrets)
If I were to do this over I’d buy more 2005 Thick paper and avoid the T004 and Pink. I’d probably also get some 2004 Xiaguan FT8653-3+1. The T004 and Pink aren’t huge mistakes as they’re OK and inexpensive. The main thing they take up is space. Their price also hasn’t gone up much, so I would’ve been better off buying them after they’d gotten a few more years of superior storage. I’m still curious to see where they’ll go even if I would not buy them again. The DX Tuo is kind of annoying due to its huge box size but it’s still too young to decide if it’s a dud, although I probably should’ve waited 5-10 years before buying that too.
Storage matters a lot and makes a big impact on your cup. I cannot give these teas accelerated aging, so buying something that is already in a decent place is important. It makes sense to be very particular and fussy about storage in the same way that we are with boutique tea. If you have a hotbox or are in SE Asia, the calculation might be different. But for those of us with an unheated pumidor I think its a good reminder to be very choosy about the storage on teas we buy for later.
Recommendations
Buy these teas:
2005 Xiaguan Thick Paper Jan/Feb T8653 (Stored Somewhere Hot+Humid)
2004/05 Xiaguan Jiaji Tuo (Stored Somewhere Hot+Humid)
2004/06 Xiaguan Gold Ribbon Tuo or 2004/2005 Xiaguan Nanzhao Tuo (Stored Somewhere Hot+Humid)
Why the T8653? A good version represents the appeal of the Xiaguan very well. I am very happy with the cakes I own. There are of course other Xiaguan recipes but I’ve been relatively unenthusiastic about my experience with the 8613 and 8673 (episodes are out for both). The Jiaji iron is decent enough, but I think the January Iron 8653 is the better bet.
As for the Jiaji tuo. There are other tuos I prefer to this, and I like it significantly less than the iron cake but its decent and representative of a certain Xiaguan profile. The profile is also pretty different from the T8653. MX still has this in stock as of early 2025.
The Gold Ribbon and Nanzhao occupy the softer, more approachable Xiaguan niche, something that hasn’t been well covered in the west but should be. Both are nice blends, smoother, and less abrasive. I recommend everyone check them out as they are ready to drink much sooner than conventional Xiaguan.
If you want to try more:
2004 Xiaguan FT8653-3+1 – Unique character that sounds similar but is different from the standard T8653.
2013 Xiaguan Love Forever Paper Tong – Highly atypical XG with some inconsistencies, but a decent Menghai-ish blend. I would not spend over $100 on this personally, but if you can get it for the right price.
Back to Their Cheap & Cheerful Qualities… Xiaguan Budget Propaganda
There’s a lot of tea besides Xiaguan. Heck there’s a lot of northern tea that hardly ever gets talked about or sold to the west, like Baichatang. But.. If you were stuck in Xiaguan jail with $ per day to spend ~$365 and you drink 10 grams a day, what would you buy?
Here’s one proposal. Disregarding shipping.
$120ish – 357 grams 1x 2004 T8653-3+1
$100ish- 357 grams 1x 2005 T8653 Thick Paper
$39 – 600 grams 6x 2007 Gold Ribbon (48RMB for 1 on SF)
$68 – 1000 grams 10x 2005 Jiaji (248RMB for 5 on MX)
$30 – 1428 grams 4x 2019 T8633 Ripe (55RMB on MX)
$357 – 3,742 grams.
And there you have two pretty good Xiaguans and a lot of daily drinking teas that are 18-20 years of age. The rest is filled in with a decent amount of ripe filler from a reliable Xiaguan recipe. I would not be excited about drinking this for a full year, but that’s not bad for a modest budget and a decent tea appetite of 10 grams a day.
Will I Buy More?
My buying has slowed down and I tend to only buy multiple cakes of things a few times a year. I also do not care about value like I used to, so the inexpensive nature of these cakes has more limited appeal than it did to me in 2016. That being said I am still likely to acquire two teas in the future. More T8653 (likely from 2005 or earlier) and the FT8653-3+1 (which I have since acquired). Despite both carrying the 8653 banner and being just a year apart they offer different experiences. The T8653 2005 January is a solid tea and a good reference point. I own 5 cakes already, but I think this is one I can drink for a long time. There are a number of similarish cakes to this here, but this production does standout for its quality and price.
As for the FT 8653-3+1 when I made an instagram post on it, Emilio of the The Jade Leaf commented that the pungency of this tea was compared to the phermones emitted by mature women in a popular Taiwanese blog. A suitable description to a highlight tea in the Xiaguan Masochist report.
I’ve been fortunate to meet and get connected with a variety of drinkers and pu’erh collectors throughout the years. One of these fine folks is Geraldo of Far Wenwa, who was a collaborator for the old tea blog Chadao. I recommend people check out his store if you want a taste of US stored tea (based a couple hours east of Seattle). He is in the first wave of western pu’erh drinkers, a nice guy, his prices aren’t bad and the storage is interesting. Geraldo bought the bulk of his tea back in the mid 2000s, when the pu’erh scene in the west was in its infancy. It was acquired partly through traveling, places like Taishunhe, some from Jing Tea Shop and some through a very young ebay store called Yunnan Sourcing.
One tea I had from Geraldo is the 2005 Dayi Menghai Peacock. This is one of the fancier products from what has become an increasingly expensive year for Dayi. A friend bought some back in 2016 and I ended up with a cake and some leftovers. At the time I dismissed it as needing more time and put it in my storage. It’s now hung out in my storage for about nearly a decade. The tea currently sells for a very high (dumb) price in China, so I decided to retry it, given it is now 20 years old, and stored almost exclusively in Washington state.. So how is it?? You can tell there’s high quality material here, but it still needs more time. It brews a faint orange and the green edge of younger sheng is still quite prominent. And most depressingly, the tea is 20 years ago. This is true not just for the Menghai Peacock but for a lot of the teas that have been exclusively western dry-stored. I tried a few teas with lesser pedigree (2004 6FM Youle/Yiwu) and the results are not anymore promising. This is not to insult Geraldo as a large chunk of the storage time was spent in my care!
I originally thought 20 years or so would be a good amount of time to age a tea to achieve a satisfactory level of aging. 20 years is a long time! It is also a long enough amount of time that you can trick yourself into waiting. Western dry storage on decent factory teas, even with humidity added, has only slowly moved it. Some people talk about teas eventually turning a corner. It hasn’t happened yet.. Perhaps in another 20 years? In unheated pumidor land we are most definitely not on the express train for aged tea.
You could argue that many of the classics needed more than 20 years of dry storage, but I think we’re talking about an entirely different beast (slow western storage vs. HK Dry).
There is Very Little Exclusively Western Stored Teas Aged to a Satisfying Amount
This is the sad state of (unheated) western storage. I’ve had teas that are moving in the right direction, but there’s very little that has been exclusively western stored that I’d consider to be a good aged tea. This is a bit unfair as there’s not many people that have stored tea for 20 years. I also don’t doubt someone like shah, based in the south, will have some decent enough aged tea given enough time. Still, the lack of track record 20 years after Geraldo and the early western pioneers bought pu’erh is concerning.
Ways Around The Long Term Aging Question (Buying Already Aged, 6FM, Hotbox)
I get around the aging dilemma by buying teas that are a lot more aged from a hotter and more humid climate than my own. Taiwan, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Malaysia, etc.. This has more or less worked especially for certain types of teas that have the greener edge already taken off before purchase.. For instance, Yiwu and other 6 famous mountain productions are a category I’m alright drinking with around 10ish years of Taiwanese or Guangdong storage. After some time in Seattle, it’s not totally clear how much they’ve changed but I still like them and my storage has at least maintained them. Even something like the 2006 Chenguanghetang Yiwu Yecha stored in Houston and Seattle isn’t bad, although I’d probably like the tea more if it had a decade in Malaysia instead.
Less successfully, the factory (Dayi and Xiaguan) teas just need longer. Despite a generally favorable opinion of Dayi teas and following a similar buying strategy of purchasing semi-aged tea, there’s very few I’ve bought that I enjoy drinking. Not because the material is bad, they’re just too green and abrasive for my tastes and need more time. Most are moving in the right direction, but aren’t at an acceptable point to be easy enough to drink. Part of this is my preference for smoother, darker tea that not everyone shares. But a lot of it is simply that the good versions of these teas were not created for immediate drinking and certainly not for storage in western climates. Drinking them you can also tell they are not close to their potential yet. As a final caveat, it is possible 10 years from now many of them will have turned the curve and changed my own feelings on that topic..
Another potentially promising storage method would be Marco-style hotboxing. Heated storage has really caught on out west, especially amongst newer pu’erh enthusiasts. I’ve tasted the Bosch from Marco a few years back and it seemed promising. For myself, this sort of storage is unlikely for reasons mostly related to my personal life. I have too much tea that takes a good deal of space already (unlikely to change) and I doubt setting up another huge project will improve my WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor). Despite this, if I was a part of the new generation of drinkers without a huge quantity of cakes, it’s likely I would’ve been one of the hotboxers.
Final Note: If you’ve been hotboxing for a few years and want to donate a sample, I would be curious to try.
Like many western tea hobbyists I have a strong openness to culinary experience, translating into trying new (to me) foods. At one point in my early 20s I was introduced to a place called Sichuan Cuisine in Seattle. They have a couple locations in the area and I really liked it. It was something new and different from the Cantonese cuisine I had grown up with. It had distinct dishes, like twice cooked pork, boiled fish, and Dandan noodles. I was introduced to the “mala” spice of both spicy and numbing. I brought my parents and then-girlfriend to it, who all liked it as well… After that, I tried Sichuanese food at a variety of other places, most of which were similar to my introduction. Fast-forward several years and a new well known Sichuan place was opening up in Seattle that had roots in the San Gabriel Valley (one of the best locations for non-Cantonese Chinese food in North America) called Chengdu Taste. When I looked at Chengdu Taste’s menu it looked somewhat similar to Sichuan Cuisine. They had a few different things but many of the dishes were the same (Kung Pao Chicken, Boiled Fish, Twiced Cooked Pork, etc.). However, once I visited Chengdu Taste the differences between the two restaurants was obvious. It forced me to realize that Sichuan Cuisine was a tapered down version of what the more pungent Chengdu offered. The spice levels at Chengdu Taste were not only much higher, it was way more numbing and it was less sweet and salty. For some dishes it mattered more than others.. In a dish like boiled fish, rather than a scant eighth teaspoon of Sichuan peppercorns, the fragrance of the peppercorns wafted up and the numbing was many many times more intense than versions I had previously.
I had gotten hints of what the more intense version was simply by reading and making them, but it really took trying Chengdu Taste to understand what the flavor profile could be. You can learn by reading, but experiencing something is better. I like to make some of these sorts of dishes, and tasting Chengdu Taste once, immediately improved my own versions of these dishes.
Learning With Wuyi & Aged Oolongs
Sometimes learning and leveling up with tea more closely resembles a linear pattern… Grinding, drinking lots of different samples, taking notes, and getting repetitions. Doing this, you’ll slowly improve naturally. Other times it doesn’t and it takes getting introduced to something superior and/or different at the right time. In the case of my own appreciation of Sichuan food, this was an immediate realization and a quick level up. Just a few bites in I realized I was in for something very different from the many experiences I’d had with other Sichuanese food before. I’ve had similar realizations in aged oolong as well as Wuyi. In the case of both of those tea types it was through Origin Tea (see: The Box), who had a short but glorious existence.
With Wuyi tea I had mostly drank alright stuff from places like Yunnan Sourcing until I tried Tony’s $/g Shuixian which opened my eyes to what a Yancha could be. The tea was very good, but it’s also not something that can be communicated easily through tasting notes. The base notes were similar to an average Shuixian but the tea was richer, thicker, more textured, and better than anything I’d had before it. This hasn’t necessarily reduced my enjoyment of other Yancha, since the good stuff remains expensive and very hard to get. I’m perfectly happy drinking decent enough teas from WuyiOrigin. And even if you don’t drink the good stuff every day having experience with it helps to contextualize, get a strong reference point and form a fuller picture of the possibilities of tea.
At what point you try the tea is important. In the past, I’ve served what I think is pretty nice pu’erh to newcomers and I can tell that they fail to impress in a way that something cheaper and more flavor forward might have (various oolongs are usually best). It is not just about providing the tea, but about the person drinking tea. What sorts of teas have they had? Have they had pu’erh before? If the $/g Shuixian from Origin was my first Wuyi tea ever, I definitely would’ve liked it. But it also probably wouldn’t have been as meaningful as it ended up being. The grind of lesser Wuyi teas was helpful in allowing me to distinguish what made Origin’s Shuixian a cut above.
Raise your levels with these teas! OK. Maybe not that high.
Tea w/Other People & Pushing Other’s Baseline Up
Drinking and learning from those with more experience is a great way to learn. In the west many of us are very isolated and while we can certainly improve and appreciate tea on our own, learning as a tea hermit is different from learning in a more social environment. Yes reading Marshaln’s blog front to back is a great way to learn and online is better than nothing, but there is quite a bit missing when you are doing tea strictly online. There is not necessarily a surefire way to “level up” in tea easily, but you improve your chances by aiming for good tea & interacting with others, ideally those who know more.
If you want to introduce someone to more serious tea or push a newer drinker, be thoughtful about their experience with tea and try to go a level or two up. If someone is not a tea drinker or has never had mediocre quality loose leaf tea, it usually doesn’t take too much to push their palate and find something different or interesting to them. If someone drinks more ordinary oolong everyday, try introducing a really nice Yancha or aged oolong. If someone is just getting into pu’erh with younger tea, serve something nicer that you don’t think they may have had like an older tea. I suspect most who are reading this blog have access to far better tea than 99% of the western world. This makes you qualified to help a lot of people reach higher tea levels.
The very low baseline tea level for US tea drinkers (probably western?) is likely a reason why so many inferior vendors exist. Even these vendors can impress people with slightly less crap loose leaf tea if a person’s only tea experiences are old tea bags.. These unimpressive vendors are technically raising people’s level, but we can and should aim higher.
Lastly, some people will also taste or get introduced to a certain profile that is considered better and not see the hype or not care for it. Other members of my family still love Sichuan Cuisine, despite a couple introductions to the (IMO) significantly better Chengdu Taste. This is fine.. After all, everyone has their own preferences and even if someone recognizes something as better it doesn’t always equate to enjoying something more.
In 2020 I stopped writing new posts. Even though the Case for Northern Tea was published at the end of 2020, I actually had pre-scheduled it in the summer, so it’s been over 4 years since I’ve written anything. Old School Pu’erh Categorizations was accidentally released at the end of 2024. The categorizations was a 85% complete post that was written in 2018/2019 but I didn’t feel was polished or checked into enough. Coincidentally it mistakenly published a few weeks after my daughter’s birth where I was particularly ill equipped to start writing again. There are a few reasons for my hiatus.. (1) I started to have wrist issues in 2019, which are sort of resolved now. (2) The pandemic got me out of the habit of writing. (3) I fell back into some old hobbies of film watching and RTS gaming which took some time away from tea. (4) There have been some very annoying technical issues with the blog (this is why the template changed).
There are a lot of ways to categorize pu’erh. On a very basic level there are raw and ripe. You can also categorize it by age, storage, area, etc.. One very old school way that I rarely but sometimes see mentioned is categorizing raw pu’erh by two very old eras of tea. The old and the very old, Yinji and Haoji..
Yinji Cha (印级茶)
Yinji Cha translates to Mark Grade Tea and the era is generally acknowledged as the time period between 1950s and up until the early 1970s. Big operations like Menghai Tea Factory, Xiaguan, and Kunming Tea Factory were established around ~1940, ushering in this era. During this time period, production was done by larger big state-run factories, although the actual factory isn’t usually denoted in the tea name. Much of the material used especially by Dayi is thought to be from Menghai County. These teas usually have the familiar zhongcha wrapper. Famed examples include the Hongyin (Red Mark), Lanyin (Blue Mark), and Huangyin (Yellow Mark). Within these there are a number of different productions that are marked with other signifiers (Conscientious Prescription, Iron Cakes, etc.).
This era eventually gave away to another era of factory production, the Qizi Bing era, where factories were signified and teas were given names such as 7542, 8582, etc. The following era also coincided with the invention of ripe pu’erh.
Red Mark, Blue Mark. Yinji Era Teas. Source: Sunsing.
Haoji Cha (号级茶)
Haoji Cha is an era predating the Yinji era, running from the start of the 20th century up until the Yinji era. During this time, pu’erh businesses were centered around the Yiwu area and were dominated by Han-Chinese family businesses. The tea produced is thought to be from the six famous mountains nearby Yiwu (Youle, Mangzhi, Yibang, Gedeng, Manzhuan, Mansa), with Yiwu township acting as central distribution point for tea to be dispersed outwards to Tibet, Beijing, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia. Tea was produced by family run brands, like Songpin Hao, Tongqing Hao, Tongchang Hao, Fuyuanchang, etc. Unlike the Yinji period, tea was produced in smaller quantities by smaller producers. The tea’s qualities could vary depending on the producer and a particular production. Certain producers and productions are held in particularly high esteem.
As 21st century modern pu’erh fans this may seem like a simpler time, but amazingly there were fakes with anti-counterfeit measures dating back to the Haoji era. There’s also been a good deal of speculation on the actual tea processing during this era, with some suspecting that the teas were oxidized before the shaqing (Kill Green) process.
During the Yinji Cha period, production from the six famous mountains area and Yiwu was largely unnoticed in this eras as big factory production dominated. Much of the raw materials still produced made in these areas was sold to the big factories as maocha.
Songpin, Tongqing, Old Jincha. Haoji Teas. Source: Sunsing.
Why Is This Relevant?
It may seem pointless to categorize tea by two eras where the tea cakes are both outrageously expensive and inaccessible. In particular, it’s difficult to find any reliable notes on Haoji era and if the processing was so different what is the point!
The fingerprints of both the Yinji and Haoji eras are all over the modern boom of pu’erh (1990s onwards). At the onset of the modern pu’erh scene in 1994, a group of Taiwanese tea men traveled to Yiwu to find old pu’erh. They ended up disappointed as unbeknownst to them production from the family operations of Yiwu had long ceased.. Some of these men eventually decided to attempt to produce teas from these dormant areas, and recruited the two surviving employees of the old Tongqing Hao factory. This tea is known as the Zhenchunyahao.
If we take a look at productions in both factory and 3rd party productions in the late 1990s and the early 2000s we see a good deal of productions marketing itself as Yiwu or from one or multiple of the famous mountains area. The name recognition of Mengla County and Yiwu, predates both larger areas like Bulang and Lincang and smaller areas like Lao Banzhang, Guafengzhi, etc.
It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of small-scale pu’erh operations pressing tea from all around Yunnan. The old family operations of the Haoji era also set a precedent for the smaller scale productions that would come to form a large and very visible chunk of the modern market. While these more modern boutiques have gone in very different directions, the model of the modern boutique was formed from the Haoji era and rebooted in Yiwu in 1994.
Successors to the Yinji era are a bit more clear, as there was never a huge lapse in tea production comparable to Haoji teas. In the 1970s, the market shifted partially due to the advent of ripe tea as well as numbered recipes. Up until this point the factories were not named in the production. While teas like 1980s and 1990s 7542s and 8582s are not necessarily the same as Hongyin or Huangyin, you can see the lineage of strong factory tea and the factory style processing from the Yinji era.
(Shameless) Recreations
There have been countless direct commercial attempts to take advantage of the past fame of both eras. If you search taobao, you’ll see that the modern market is littered with these old brands attempting to shamelessly cash in on the fame of the Haoji producers (search for Songpin Hao or Tongqing Hao on taobao). These teas have no meaningful connection with the old brands and have flooded the market to the extent that these brands in the modern era are essentially white labels.
It’s also not difficult to find contemporary teas named Hongyin or Lanyin.. You can argue whether or not these are shameless recreations in all cases, but for the vast majority there is no substantive connection to the original. In more rare cases with accomplished producers, there can be exceptions. For instance Zhou Yu of Wistaria who is very familiar with the originals, made Hongyin and Lanyin recreations that presumably bear at least some resemblance to the original.
Taobaoing Tongqing Hao. NOT a good way to shop for tea.
Contemporary Successors
Both Menghai county and six famous mountains remain very popular areas today, so this can give us some insight into how some of our tea will age. The good news is that good versions of both Haoji and Yinji era teas are both thought to have aged well, albeit differently. The flavor of Yinji era teas like Hongyin and Lanyin are considered strong, powerful and long-lasting. It’s more challenging to find reliable accounts of Haoji teas and depending on the original production and condition, it sounds as if there is a fair amount of variance. People do rave highly about the good examples.
The successors can be somewhat simplified to large-scale factory teas (Yinji) and smaller scale operations pressing select leaves (Haoji). Factory teas have a stronger taste that requires aging and more boutique operations sourcing tea from Yiwu and the 6FM (i.e. Chenyuan Hao, Jixiang Jushi) have more elegance but less up front taste.
This comparison probably worked better in 2007 than 2018 and in my opinion doesn’t really fit that neatly into the contemporary scene. 2007 was the year which Zhang Jinghong did much of her research for Pu’er: Ancient Caravans, Urban Chic creating a fascinating snapshot of the scene. At that point, pu’erh had grown significantly and she surveyed a few of the many boutique operations going to Yiwu where the local farmer’s did the fine processing..
Since 2007 the tea has evolved and the more contemporary pu’erh scene is its own complex, amorphous thing. Boutique Yiwu and 6FM tea are still very much a thing it has gotten increasingly crowded and prices have risen far beyond 2007/2008… Operations like Chenyuan Hao (who also has made Songpin and Tongqing recreations) are probably some of the closer examples to contemporary versions of these old Haoji outfits but are definitely not the same thing. The scene is undoubtedly very different from 100 years ago.
Modern teas by Chenyuan Hao (2017 Mahei) and Wistaria (2007/2008 Hongyin & Lanyin. Source: Teapals.
For Yinji era successors, big factories like Menghai and Xiaguan never really stopped pressing tea. Still there is constant clamoring that the big factories have fallen off significantly from their glory days of yesteryear. There are boutique operations pressing strong, up-front, supposedly higher quality blends (i.e. Chensheng Hao), that stake their claim as the contemporary successor to the Yinji era. There is also constant clamoring that the modern versions from both big factories and Chensheng Hao operations are not the same as the originals. These traditionally made Yinji teas were strong, bitter and smoky when young, characteristics that proponents argue will result in a high-quality aged product.
I think it is highly likely that 99% of the teas made in the image of either Haoji or Yinji tea will not age as well as the originals. Production is much higher and quality material are scarce. When Zhou Yu made his own Hongyin and Lanyin in 2007, he noted environmental factors commenting that the earth was not as healthy in 2007 as it was when the original Yinji teas were made. This is sadly probably even more true in 2018 than 2007..
In the pu’erh world there’s three major prefectures in Yunnan that make pu’erh tea, Xishuangbanna, Simao (pu’erh), and Lincang. These do not necessarily get proportionate coverage. It’s hard to argue there’s not a heavy Xishuangbanna bias when it comes to the dialog in the pu’erh scene. I’d admit that TeaDB by extension of my own habits has a significant lean towards the southern prefecture, Xishuangbanna. Banna contains two heavy-hitting regions in Menghai county and Mengla county. Menghai gets a lot of press for being the home of Dayi and lots of factory raw and ripe production. It is also home to sought after areas and smaller villages/areas like Banzhang. Likewise, Mengla county is extremely well known and well-regarded, especially for Yiwu tea. Both of these areas in the west and east of Banna have long, rich histories with making pu’erh. And if we look north, there are some areas you’ll see referenced but it doesn’t really rival the southernmost regions in buzz within the tea scene. You’ll even find some downright northern haters, including some terribad bloggers that compare the most prominent northern factory to their toilet (wtf!?).
To the casuals, pumidors are intimidating.. They’re not something anyone really wants to jump into quickly. For seasoned pu’erh folk, one feature of using a pumidor to store tea is that it tends to scale fairly well if you can get the right size container for your stash. The maintenance and monitoring can be appealing.. But for most normie tea people all the hoops they see people jumping through in pu’erh storage create a significant barrier to entry. But there’s no reason to go pumidor or bust. I’d argue having a low-maintenance pu’erh solution is pretty important for anyone that intends to hold onto a pu’erh cake for even a year or two.
This has easily been the weirdest year I’ve been alive. Living in a global pandemic has not just shifted our regular routines and status quo, it has completely destroyed them. Denny and I worked from home before the pandemic and on any sort of ranking of people impacted by the pandemic, we would both rank quite low.. Even still it is a very different world for us as well as our tea drinking has had a powerful impact. Here’s a few personal reflections on tea during this pandemic.
