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Giving this a 100 to balance out the poor review by the person that doesn’t like shou. This is a nice shou with a really great price point. Nice and dark and smooth. I would rate this in the lower to mid 80s I think. I enjoyed it and I’m happy it was sent to me as a mistake instead of a raw mini cake I ordered. A happy accident I will call it!

Gonna hold off on scoring this tea until I know it better. So far so good though. Really hit the spot with a big hit of energy coming from it. Has a nice tannic/bitter bite coming from it. This is balanced by a light sweetness and a little smoke. Really good. Gonna analyze this later. Today I just enjoyed it.

Really enjoying this sheng this morning. It develops into a sweet honeyed tea with just a slight edge of bitterness. Really well balanced and smooth. The color is a nice amber and the tea gives for a quite a while. This is one of the more mellow shengs that I’ve had in a while. It is another enjoyable tea from White 2 Tea!

These larger leafed shous are really starting to make an impression on me. This tea has hints of honey sweetness that is quite enjoyable. This is a mellow tea but that is not to say it lacks flavor in any way. I thought I picked up hints of vanilla and even floral notes along with some of your usual woodsy flavor that tend to be in shous. It is a really pleasant tea and I thank the folks at Crimson Lotus for including this with my recent order.

This is one of those deep, dark puerhs. It definitely has a little chocolatey-ness going on. Reminds me of some deep, dark pine wood forest. It went for a long time in my little gaiwan. It is smooth, delicious, and a little mysterious. The first steeps were pretty strong, which was exactly what I was looking for, but I think you could make them a little less intense by using a larger brewing vessel. These tuochas are, as the description implies, on the larger size so keep that in mind when you are brewing them. The first five or so steeps resulted in an almost espresso like drink, which lifted my fog this morning admirably.

This is a great shou from Crimson Lotus. Early steeps are dark and thick with complexity and a good ratio of bitterness and sweetness. Eventually the tea starts to lighten up considerably and the sweetness takes over resulting in a tea you can drink for a long time while still providing plenty of flavor. This tea matched the early morning for me today, starting off nice and dark but becoming lighter and sweeter as the morning progressed and the sun became brighter. Highly enjoyable!

I have long heard the comparisons between shou and coffee, which often times imply a certain amount of personality rather than flavor similarity. This is the first shou I’ve had that upon smelling it immediately struck with reminiscences of my coffee drinking days. I’m not going to say it smells and tastes like coffee but there is certainly a common touchstone somewhere.

Yes, there is a slight bit of fermentation flavor in this, which dissipates so quickly you might forget it is there. Notes of cocoa and a myriad of other flavors and feelings hit while drinking this tea. It’s a great mini tuocha and something I am really happy was included in my order from Mandala as a sample. I might have to pick up a cake of this at some point to see how it progresses as I feel the 85 I am giving it might even rise further upon some aging and I am wondering what the difference will be between the two forms.

I’ll tell anyone who listens about the pleasures of Rwandan teas. The ones I have tried have a distinct flavor that I find irresistible. Pleasant notes of tobacco meld into a very balanced black. I bought my first Rukeri tea on a whim from Upton last year and it is something that I have kept in stock ever since.

Upton states you can brew it strong or light and I have to admit to brewing it for a whole 5 minutes pretty much every time so that is what my thoughts are based on. This tea also makes a very nice iced tea. Highly recommend this Rwandan tea.

This is a nice Shou with a little bit of age on it. It has a good, strong earthy flavor and definitely hits some of those nice dried fruit notes that can come through in some of these Shous. It is super duper smooth and a very pleasant tea.

Have you ever roasted a sweet potato and left it in the oven just a little bit too long? The outside becomes dark brown and brittle, but the inside is still delicious and creamy. It smells slightly smoky and tastes that way too. Well this tea is basically that experience in a cup. Incredibly similar to sweet potato with some smokiness and a tannic bite that is not unpleasant. I really enjoyed this tea. So far I have enjoyed a single, longer western style steep more than lighter multiple steeps.