Tong Xin She (TXS) Teahouse

[Victoria]

Tong Xin She (TXS) Teahouse
https://txs-tea.com/



This vendor specializes in yancha. Please share your impressions.

N.B.: this topic was seeded with posts from other topics, so it may not flow at first.

[tjkdubya]

To be more on topic, am finishing up drinking TXS Niulankeng RG by Wang Guoxing... Been exchanging teas with Huarong and learning about his style and outlook on yancha.

It's quite interesting to compare and contrast this to the processing and roasting Wang Guoxing did for TXS Matouyan RG...

[Victoria]

To be more on topic, am finishing up drinking TXS Niulankeng RG by Wang Guoxing... Been exchanging teas with Huarong and learning about his style and outlook on yancha.

It's quite interesting to compare and contrast this to the processing and roasting Wang Guoxing did for TXS Matouyan RG...

Hi there @tjkdubya. Curious how you found both rougui and how the processing differed between these two. I think these both came as a gift with an order I made a while ago. Haven’t tried either yet.

[tjkdubya]

To be more on topic, am finishing up drinking TXS Niulankeng RG by Wang Guoxing... Been exchanging teas with Huarong and learning about his style and outlook on yancha.

It's quite interesting to compare and contrast this to the processing and roasting Wang Guoxing did for TXS Matouyan RG...

Hi there tjkdubya. Curious how you found both rougui and how the processing differed between these two. I think these both came as a gift with an order I made a while ago. Haven’t tried either yet.

Hi Victoria! Perhaps more useful for me to first talk about what I perceive as TXS's house style, having tasted through several of their teas. For full disclosure, these were gifted by Huarong, as we've been exchanging teas recently.

Huarong has his idea of what traditional yancha is, and he distinguishes it from a more "modern" style processing. In general I find his teas with more robust oxidation, and the handling of the leaves across the board to be rougher. The roasting is typically medium fired, and reflect his family's roots in Wuyi, not Guangdong. Again the overall impression of his teas, resulting from this kind of processing, is richer and more brisk mouthfeel and taste, a more robust fragrance (if muddled), and would appeal to people looking for that kind of yancha who don't mind a bit of roughness and lack of clarity.

He also brings in teas produced by others like Wang Guoxing. I talk about Huarong's "house style" because if you look at Master Wong's style there is a lot of similarities and it makes sense Huarong likes them.

Wang Guoxing's Niulankeng RG I believe is priced around $5/g? That's pretty cheap for Niu Rou, as going price for quality Niu Rou would be in the $9-10/g range, and higher end / more-sought-after ones easily top $15/g. I would say it's not exactly fair to compare Wang's Niu Rou with much more expensive ones; in this case, for me the price reflects overall quality. There is something beguiling and elusively attractive about the essential qualities of Niulankeng terroir, and I just prefer teas that show that clearly, if I'm paying that much money.

Wang Guoxing's Matouyan RG, I'm attaching pics of the spent leaves. What you see is a big range of oxidation levels from leaf to leaf and bits to bits, and a range of roasting degree from very green low roast bits to fully roasted bits. So we can try to link this to what kind of taste you get, without value judgment, because this is not necessarily a bad thing or a good thing, but a matter of style or subjective preference. Rich and roasty but with a pop of fragrance from greener less roasted bits, but you have to remember this is coming from processing, not intrinsic to the source material. It's not uncommon to see people do internal roast blending, where the same material is roasted to different degrees, then combined to achieve some balance between roast-developed flavors and fragrance. I'm not sure that's what was done here, but more than a trace of light roasted bits has me thinking along those lines as to the intention behind the result. Matouyan also has its distinguishing terroir elements that make it very attractive in rougui. Compared to Niulankeng it can seem bolder, spicier, more extroverted. I also prefer teas that show this kind of character with clarity.

You can go across TXS's lineup of yancha, comparing to other producers, and you'll start to see an obvious picture of what they like, and what their (largely Guangdong-based) customers prefer. Whether it's Shiru or the sidamingcongs or the Huiyuankeng RG/SX pair, I think there's a consistency to what they do.

A lot of it is really not to my taste, but that's probably the least helpful thing to say...

[tjkdubya]

From what we've tasted so far of TXS's yancha, one that stood out as something more in line with our preference is the Huiyuankeng RG. In overall style and material quality and pricing, we feel like that is something we wouldn't mind buying, and sharing with other friends.

I think if you compare that HYK RG to the rest of the lineup and what's different about it, maybe you can also see where my own preferences lie...

[m2193]

Anyone tried Tong Xin She before? They seem like a legit vendor, but tracking information pulled up no results for my first order, so I emailed and they contacted China Post, but seemingly to no avail because 2 weeks later today, I received a new tracking number. The new tracking number also shows no result, so I'm a bit concerned, but I'll give it a few days and see if anything changes on the CP website. I've used China Post before without too many issues. My parents, on the flipside, have had expensive gifted teas mailed from relatives and friends stolen using China Post, so I don't know if the package got stolen or what or if that's irrational since I've never had things stolen before from an order with a vendor.

[Victoria]

Anyone tried Tong Xin She before? They seem like a legit vendor, but tracking information pulled up no results for my first order, so I emailed and they contacted China Post, but seemingly to no avail because 2 weeks later today, I received a new tracking number. The new tracking number also shows no result, so I'm a bit concerned, but I'll give it a few days and see if anything changes on the CP website. I've used China Post before without too many issues. My parents, on the flipside, have had expensive gifted teas mailed from relatives and friends stolen using China Post, so I don't know if the package got stolen or what or if that's irrational since I've never had things stolen before from an order with a vendor.

Yes, they are a reputable and reliable company. When I placed my order I just let them choose shipping method and had no issues with DHL. The box came super wrapped looking like a giant cheddar cheese block. Hope you receive your shipment intact

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[Rmt]

I’ve had a few different ones. It’s been a mixed bag, ranging from bland to superb.

I’m currently drinking their Jin guan yin. It’s quite alright but nothing special. Their DHPs I found disappointing and sort of bland (I just finished a tin of their 2019 DHP). Lao cong man tang xiang really splendid. Silver medal rou gui (2019 I think?) truly excellent, one of the best yancha I’ve had. Also had a really good Shui Xian, but I can’t remember which one it was. I’d love to get more of the rou gui, but it was fairly expensive...

Order arrived with no hiccups and included a wide array of samples too.

[belewfripp]

Anyone tried Tong Xin She before? They seem like a legit vendor, but tracking information pulled up no results for my first order, so I emailed and they contacted China Post, but seemingly to no avail because 2 weeks later today, I received a new tracking number. The new tracking number also shows no result, so I'm a bit concerned, but I'll give it a few days and see if anything changes on the CP website. I've used China Post before without too many issues. My parents, on the flipside, have had expensive gifted teas mailed from relatives and friends stolen using China Post, so I don't know if the package got stolen or what or if that's irrational since I've never had things stolen before from an order with a vendor.

I have also ordered from Tong Xin She and echo what Victoria said above, they are a reputable company. My order came via DHL - I'm trying to remember if I selected that myself or if they did, but either way it came without hassle and quite quickly. I will note that the original DHL tracking number I was provided never updated its status from "Label printed, package not dropped off", but about 5 days later I got a notification from DHL about a new shipment with a different tracking number that wound up being the one.

You said you've used CP before w/o issues, but it seems things are even slower now via CP than before - I know i got some tea from white2tea last year that came via CP and took ~ 4 weeks, while an order I paid for at Chawangshop nearly three weeks ago is only now even being sent, and I am expecting it to take at least a month. The cargo container shortage/shipping bottleneck occurring in mainland China right now is pretty huge. TXS ships from the Hong Kong area, I believe, and my understanding from a different vendor in that area is that the post office is only accepting packages twice a week. Lastly, last year with a different order of mine that also came via CP, the package was rejected by Chinese customs and so after languishing for 3 weeks it had to be re-shipped under a new #. Maybe a similar situation occurred with your parcel?

Re: TXS specifically, they were very generous with samples. In addition to the items I ordered "for real" I also ordered the Christmas sampler for $0.01. That + the other samples = 14 different free teas to try, which was so unexpectedly generous I sent a note on their website offering my thanks. Several of the samples have been enjoyable (the Hui Yuan Pit Shui Xian and Rou Gui were both nice). I also really liked the Tongmuguan wild black tea sample included - likely my next order will include that and the Hui Yuan Pit SX/RG. The Da Hong Pao, though, to echo Rmt, was pretty blah.

[m2193]

Thanks all for the reviews and info! Tracking from the CP website is now functioning and the website says the package is in Guangzhou, so it should be here in 2.5 weeks based on the last time I ordered from One River and it also shipped from Guangzhou.

@belewfripp I'm not sure. When I emailed TXS for extra info on tracking, they mentioned that they were contacting CP so I was just waiting on them to get back to me because they mentioned dropping off the package late February. To this day, the original tracking still shows no shipping record in the CP site. For your case with ChaWang Shop, is it that ChaWang shop is delayed in sending the order or is it issues with CP specifically? Shipping times haven't been too bad, all in all lately; the worst was probably eBay orders from China around mid-March. Bunch of stuff went missing, a few turned up in late July/early August, the rest went into the void.

[m2193]

Well I got my package today!! Very excited for the weekend when I'll be able to engage a bit more with them.

[Sunyata]

TSX is a breath of fresh air for online vendors, I'm starting to think that the really good quality teas in general are those tea-vendors who operate and ship their tea from china, hk or malaysia (eg. Yunnansourcing, wuyiorigin, teahong, hojo) rather than "western facing" vendors. Of course there a few exceptions (eg. teahabitat), but TSX does seem to reinforce my above-stated point. You get to taste variety and difference, which I believe is key to understanding your taste profile. Afterall, one can only reach the conclusion about a "generalized" taste of Shui Xian, Rou Gui AFTER one has sampled a few different SX and RG which are very different from one another. So back to the point about TSX teas - they seem to specialize in SX and RG with different types offered for each. When tasting the Hui Yuan Keng, Jiu Long Ke, Ma Tou Yan & Silver award RG side by side, the differences become very apparent. Of course, not everything is attributed to terroir; the processing method I think determines the taste to the largest degree. Some exhibit more clarity than others. Hui Yuan Keng is a good example. Others, like the Niu lan keng, aren't as impressive to me, for the high price I wouldn't be able to differentiate it from many other Zhengyan RG. I do recommend the 2015 Lao Cong SX, very long after-taste which is a winner when it comes to Yan Cha. Hope this helps.

[Ethan Kurland]

.... I'm starting to think that the really good quality teas in general are those tea-vendors who operate and ship their tea from china, hk or malaysia (eg. Yunnansourcing, wuyiorigin, teahong, hojo) rather than "western facing" vendors...

Some exhibit more clarity than others....

Welcome to the forum.

1. All the teas that you mention are from China. So, is it fair to conclude that your rational is that we should buy tea from vendors who are in the country or at least very close to the country which the tea being sold is from?

2. I don't understand what you mean by "clarity". (I often don't understand when others say this also.)

3. Cost was not mentioned nor concerns w/ shipping. I will mention buying from a vendor close to home may reduce how much time & $ it takes to get tea from the vendor to the customer.

4. I see that you are from Singapore. In the mid 90s I went to teashops in Singapore looking for top quality, high-mountain tea from Taiwan. I found none & furthermore was given a bad impression of teashops there. (The same ignorance, greed, or arrogance as teashops in Hong Kong & Manila.) I note that I was ignorant about tea & probably seen as the type of customer who could be sold bad tea at a high price or not worth an impatient vendor's time. Some years later I went into a shop in Western Massachusetts which I believe Teatrekker owned & was treated much better. I was not able to obtain exactly what I sought but was able to buy some pretty good tea.



Cheers

[Bok]

good quality teas in general are those tea-vendors who operate and ship their tea from china, hk or malaysia (eg. Yunnansourcing, wuyiorigin, teahong, hojo) rather than "western facing" vendors.

I think this may be over-simplifying it a bit...

Of course geographical proximity is beneficial to the selection and quality, but in the end it still depends on the individual tea-sourcers palate and human skills(a lot of getting the best teas is to cultivate a good relationship with the farmer/teamaker).

One or two trips a year won't cut it to cultivate enough good guanxi, unless it has been diligently done for decades ( @Tillerman tea comes to mind). Hojo is based in Japan, which seems close, but is actually still far in terms of local cultural barriers, but he is good at sourcing Chinese/Taiwanese teas nonetheless. A lot of newly-popped up tea brands are what I would call hipster-oulets, born out of passion and opportunity(living in a tea producing place for other reasons), but often not out of skill and knowledge.

There are also lot of honestly quite terrible, Asia-based, but Western selling tea companies, in their case they are either crooks or just have a bad palate, or the wrong connections (I won't mention names).

All that to say – it's complicated.

P.S. Singapore is for sure highly overpriced in terms of tea... friends who come to Taiwan keep going to Taipei's most snobby tea shops, buying teas at, for me eye-watering prices without blinking, finding it reasonable.

[LeoFox]

https://www.pageoftea.com/choosing-tea-vendor