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I quite like this tea, but can also understand some of the negative reviews here. The amber liquor smells of strong sweet hay, while the wet leaves smell of sweet hay, a hint of tobacco, and another strange sweetness that I can’t really place. I brewed with about 225ml of water, and poured the water slowly from some height to help the tightly compressed leaves open up. That worked really well. The liquor is smooth in the mouth, with just a bit of astringency and the hay flavour is strong. I found the qi to be substantial and enjoyable.

It’s been a couple of months since I drank this, and I almost forgot how much I like it. It’s the perfect amount of sweetness with a pronounced grassiness that I really like. Smooth creamy texture early on, with a bit of astringency in later steeps. Nice amount of qi too that I feel from the neck up. I accidentally brewed this grandpa style in a travel mug once and it became bitter to the point of undrinkable. Lesson learned. Today I brewed about 5-6 g of this in 250ml several times throughout the day in my Grosche gravity steeper.

I have to admit, this tea smelled and tasted a bit off-putting to me when I first brewed it. Maybe it was the unfamiliar roasted nuttiness in an oolong that seemed strange to me? But the more sips I took, it really, really started to grow on me. It is truly unique and sweet and smokey and nutty, and I ended up really enjoying it.

Ah, this is such a great daily drinker, and exactly why I love oolong tea so much. It’s green and vegetal, with a perfect level of floral notes without being sickeningly perfume-y. It’s a crisp and uplifing tea.

I brewed this in my gravity steeper (which is so great for work sessions). I started with a 30 second rinse, then added 200ml of boiling water slowly directly onto the ball. It opened up beautifully after a longer initial steep of about 45 seconds. The lovely heady sweetness is what struck me first when I smelled the wet leaves and tasted the smooth liquor. Like ripe peaches and dried figs and cherries. Delicious. The taste became more bitter and astringent in later steepings, but still enjoyable.

I really appreciate the longevity of this tea! Just 5g took me from morning to afternoon (around 8 steeps at 200ml each). It’s so smooth, tasty and buttery, without any bitterness at all in any of the steeps. This is the first Sheng I ever tried with some age behind it, and would likely reach for this over a ripe puerh (though I tend to favor young shengs and oolongs overall).
Very nice sessionable tea.