661 Tasting Notes
This was delicious. I brewed gong fu at 80C on the first infusion and 85C all the other infusions. Sweet & juicy with a bit of fruity flavour. It was a light sheng with no bitterness at all. There was also a slightly creamy mouth feel to it.
Flavors: Creamy, Fruity, Sweet
I’ve gotten spoiled with some of the amazing young shengs out there that do not have much (or none at all) bitterness.
I decided to try this one this morning before work instead of my usual green tea. It was just too much bitterness to me. Yes a bit of fruity apricot but I couldn’t get past the bitterness. I imagine it probably would have gotten better after quite a few steeps but I didn’t have time this morning. I usually don’t have an untried tea as my first cup and on this day I was disappointed I did. The first cup of the day has to be one I love.
lower temp and super fast steeps, like few secs
+1 Plus it is very young let it air for a bit and if you have a full cake age it for a year or two.
I only had a sample of this but I suppose I could have lowered the temperature a little more. I was using around 85-90 C . I did do some really short steeps (under 10 sec) but it was consistently bitter.
I admit I wasn’t a fan of the 2014 version of this tea when I first opened the sample, but it’s had over a week to air out, as in flakes of leaves are separated in a ziplock bag, and now it tastes like a totally different tea. It actually reminds me of a Lao Man’E I had in Beijing last summer. I’m plan to write a tasting note on it tonight.
Oh Lordy this tea is good. Sweet , sweet corn taste. I didn’t get much hay notes like other white teas. It was very juicy , sweet & fresh. I would consider getting more of this tea.
Flavors: Kettle Corn, Sweet
Preparation
Had this tea on the week-end. I had already tried Qilan Trees and found I enjoyed it but not keen on the roasted flavour. I knew this one would have an even stronger roasted flavour so wasn’t sure if I would like it.
It turns out I was surprised. Yes, more roasted but it seems the fruity and mineral notes came through more. I don’t know, I rather liked this one but it made me awfully hungry. Maybe it’s the roasted flavour that makes me hungry. Got a few infusions from it.
Flavors: Fruity, Mineral, Roasted
I saw most of the 2015 cakes have sold out at Crimson Lotus so I had to get a cake of this while it was still in stock. I was sure from the reviews that I would love it so didn’t bother with any samples—Just went ahead and bought it.
I was right. This is an excellent sheng. I used 5g in my gaiwan with 90C water. I got plenty of steeps from it (Maybe up to 6 or 7- that’s a lot for me). It had a fresh taste to it. Maybe that’s the “green” others are picking up. It’s not like a green tea but just has that fresh tea taste. I did not encounter much bitterness at all in any of the steeps. It had a slight creaminess with a bit of fruitiness. Not as sweet as some shengs but there was still a bit of sweetness. A really great tea for drinking daily.
Also want to add that this tea did not have too much energy kick to it. That’s another reason that makes it great for drinking plenty of steeps and having often.
Flavors: Creamy, Fruity
Preparation
I had this one this afternoon. W2T says to split the 9g orb if you want a lighter tea so that’s what I did. I brewed it at 90C.
It has a light sweetness & fruity taste. Some bitterness came out in steeps 2-4 but only light bitterness. I found it pretty smooth and apricot tasting. Quite pleasant with a gentle cha qi. I got plenty of infusions from the leaves . Although nothing seemed to stand out about this tea it was a very pleasant sheng.
Flavors: Apricot, Fruity, Sweet
I’ve never brewed Sheng so cool. Now I’m curious to try that. I tend to go at 90c for the young ones and 95c for aged. (scampers off to experiment)
I have a few sheng that respond well to cooler temperatures. It’s worth trying a few steeps at different temperatures during a session to see what notes come out and which ones get muted.