Barbecue meets Dark Forest meets Darjeeling meets Dark Chocolate!
Bouquet: Everything starts with steaming mist of smoked cranberry ham followed by flavorful waves of Worcestershire and hints of Barbecue sauce. Within the following deep breaths you’re also going to discover baked potatoes, subtle aspects of sweet paprika spice and oregano. Very thick and deep notes plus massively juicy mouthwatering! The roasted smokey atmosphere gets even stronger within the later infusions.
Taste: This amber colored cup delivers such a nice silky creamy liquor with woodsy elements of aged wood like a fine mix of sandalwood and agarwood, birch juice plus a leathery tobacco mix but not overpowering with a dark sweetness of dark chocolate at the end of it. Later those dark aspects of chocolate with a hint of raisins to it plus another subtle note of dried figs builds the second layer above the earthy aged wood base of this highly intense and delicious act. I never experienced something like this before but this is the first time that the whole composition of an aged Sheng reminds me a lot of a strong first flush Darjeeling red tea (if you keep the tea longer in your mouth). There is a lot of this typical red tea (black tea in the west) character to be found. You can literally taste all those twigs, fallen leaves and tree barks along the way with its dark sweet elements of chocolate, raisins and dried figs. There is also a certain subtle sour-ish comeback within the aftertaste which builds up a lot of juice inside your mouth. Within the later infusions (4+) the black tea (red tea) flavor completely vanishes also a lot of the dark chocolate aspects while the woodsy leathery and tobacco front stepped more onto the front stage of this play.
This is a fantastic example of a well aged Sheng with deep and strong flavors. But if you’re just into those more stronger aspects they might vanish soon. But you can enjoy its stronger side for at least 6 times.
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