Throughout my pu erh adventures of late, I’ve been hoping to find a sheng that was transporting, one I could write rapturously about. But none of the ones I’ve tasted have reached that level. They’ve all been good, just not rapturously good.
Enter this tea.
I knew something unique was about to happen when I sniffed the dry leaves and smelled Snickerdoodle.
I rinsed just over 2.5g in the gaiwan and let it sit for a while, then steeped at boiling for 5/5/7/7/10/10/20/30/40/60
The first couple of steeps were interesting, but not rapturously so. The first was a pale yellow (the color got more intense though didn’t change hue with subsequent steeps) and had a sort of medicinal smell, which I gather is what people refer to as camphor. Fortunately, it did not taste medicinal. It tasted slightly sweet, slightly nutty, and slightly vegetal, but mostly what I noticed was the smooth, soft mouthfeel.
The second steep had a savory-brothy smell and tasted smooth and vegetal.
The third steep is where it went rapturous. All of a sudden, a suggestion of coffee. And then toffee.
And then a sideways step on the fourth steep to melon. Honeydew.
Then back to coffee, toffee and — cocoa! Where it remained through all the remaining steeps.
Very delicious, very bizarre — it’s hard for me to wrap my mind around how a tea that is this light in color can have these confectionery flavors. But it did.
And that’s why it’s rapturous. Of course, it was a limited edition and once it is gone, it is gone.
Figures.
Flavors: Broth, Camphor, Coffee, Cookie, Honeydew, Melon, Nutty, Sweet, Toffee, Vegetal
I haven’t dipped into puerh adventures at all yet, but I enjoy reading everyone’s notes, and have wanted to hear more about shengs, so this was satisfying and fascinating, even second hand! :D