Andrew Adrian Send Message

This tea is like looking at a flower garden from behind a pane of glass. It wants to be floral, and you can see the flowers, but the aroma and taste are never right in front of your nose. A little more roast could have done it some good as well. It’s almost like it’s a few years old and has faded a bit. The melon flavor is there though—lingering like a candy. That, combined with the low price of this one makes it very worth it. It could be better, but it’s good enough to collect as is.

You’re hiking along and kicked over a decaying log and you’re hit with the scent of fresh earth. You pick up a chunk of decaying wood and bite into it. You’re either supremely weird or related to a termite—who knows?
This one brews dark and thick. Excellent balance and incorporation of flavor, but the wood is still quite prominent. A subtle touch of warm spice gives a slight amount of intrigue, but otherwise it’s wood and wet moss.

Aroma of rice husk, forest floor, campfire.
The deep age of this tea results in a flavor profile that’s so deeply incorporated that it’s hard to pick out specifics. There’s some wood in there, but it’s mellow and lingers almost imperceptibly. There’s a touch of camphor somewhere in the woods, near the campfire where you hung up your soaking leather boots to dry. You’re drinking tea still—which some shou pu`erhs forget. The bush is still there in this one though, with a slight astringency after the rest of the warm camp fades from mind. Relaxed feelings devoid of urgency. Overall this is maybe my favorite Shu to date. Who knows where it comes from? I don’t care. Give me more.