219/365
Went with another coin today, after yesterday’s success. This one is a sheng, and since they’re not usually my thing it’ll be interesting to see how I get along.
My first thought is that this is light, bright, and unobjectionable. It’s a friendly sort of sheng, and would likely make a good introduction; I certainly wish my introduction to sheng had been this approachable! The early steeps don’t offer a lot in the way of flavour, just a light sweetness that reminds me of icing sugar with a hint of underlying bite. I’m going to take that as an indication that I should keep my steep times very low, at least to begin with. A set of"greener", slightly more savoury flavours develop around the third steep, along with more of a floral undertone. I’m reminded just a little of chlorophyll. With a steep time of around 30 seconds, it’s possible to get some light stone fruit/apricot notes, although there’s a slight increase in astringency along with that. For the most part, I went with steeps of no more than 15 seconds (some a lot shorter), and stuck with the icing-sugar-verging-on-flower-nectar flavour I got at that point and liked best.
It surprises me to say it, but I really like this one. It’s sweet, but unassuming enough that it’s not a distraction from my daily routine. It could easily be a daily drinker for me, and I don’t think I’ve ever said that about a sheng before. I stuck with this one most of the day, so it’s excellent value for money, and the coin format is amazingly brilliant from a convenience perspective. Maybe I’ve finally found my sheng happy place!
