61 Tasting Notes

96

4g in 80ml, its all I had from sheng TTB #3.
I just have to say—wow, thank you for including this, Jim, really knocked it out of the park for me. Very floral and jasmine-y, and delicious, sweet, with some balanced bitterness but overall very mild—yet not what I’d call weak at all. Apparently the 2018 is thicker so I’ll be getting a beeng of that, next BLT sale there is.

Flavors: Floral, Jasmine

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83

5.6g in 90mL, Sheng TTB #3
The lid is of musty honey
Certainly very well priced for what it is—2012 material. indeed a very solid bargain, given that it delivers on being mid-aged despite only being 6 years old. (At least what i’d call mature, given my newness to this). Musty honey, active in the mouth, and a bitter finish that is well balanced—I like! Others might like the storage taste on this one, but I’m not super into it and unfortunately because of it I don’t think I’ll be picking this up in the near future. However, still pretty great, especially if you’re looking for a solid mid-aged tea. Would highly recommend.

Flavors: Bitter, Honey

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88

From Sheng TTB #3, steeped at ~5.5g per 90 ml
Up front aroma is indeed very citrus sourness, I had braced myself for bitterness I’ve found in other purple shengs…
Steep 1: Leads up to the bitterness but it stops just short of actually being bitter. How very odd. There’s a lasting mandarin taste, not quite orange—there’s that sloppy juiciness from mandarins that I don’t quite get out of oranges, and it is much sweeter than an orange.
2. The texture is just short of being thick but it isn’t watery. Its like slightly unset jello (with that jello sweetness…again how very odd for a purple tea)
4. The tea woke up—there’s some mild bitterness to keep things interesting, now its like orange juice a little more than mandarins.
6. What I noted here was that I had some head fuzziness, and nice and relaxing
8. Doesn’t die out suddenly, this is a gradual steep out and has some more honeyed notes on the way out.

All in all…actually pretty great! A nice easy drinker, and is (was?) priced well—its sold out now. Not at all what I was expecting and those of you looking for “tea with balls” should look elsewhere. There seems to be a 2014 pressing that I’ll be looking into…
I do wish I had leafed this harder. As matu notes, even at his high leaf:water ratio it wasn’t overwhelming. I think the taste would be so much better if I had more leaf to play with…I’d punch this tea pretty hard (1:12 even? idk I’d certainly play around with it)

Flavors: Citrus Fruits, Orange, Sweet

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Thank you phi for the sample!
7g in 110ml clay pot, boiling water

The dry leaf on this is #1 very different and gorgeous compared to other young sheng and #2, smells like macerated raspberries in rum…delicious.

The tea after rinse is like sour berries…
1. When you swallow, the first thing you notice is high floral berry perfume notes. I can feel tingling immediately crossing my cheeks sideways, then down my neck and out across my arms. Nice…
The taste is like those bitter raspberry seeds here in the early steeps, with a very interesting gan. It took me a long time to figure out what it was so I took my time here. I eventually figured it out—sake/rice wine!

2. And the sake aftertaste is gone :( . Instead its jasmine! Either way delicious! Undeniable that this is a SOUR and BITTER tea though. Absolutely no astringency which is a plus in my book but certainly be prepared for bitter.

Unfortunately by steep 4 the sour bitterness really starts to become overwhelming to me and never quite breaks…its like orange pith. I certainly hope that breaks out over time because this thing was really damn unique—nice job CLT!

Flavors: Floral, Jasmine, Orange, Raspberry, Sake, Sour

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82

Reviewed what I had from the TTB#3, about 1:15 ratio in boiling water
I had no idea how to describe the rinsed leaves’ smell except for “sweet and sour pork”…certainly an odd note that I’m writing but its what I picked up. Not unpleasant! Just stuck out as odd for sure.
Steep 1-2. The taste is like a green vegetably savoriness+bitter melon, and very strong with an immediate chest feeling that I’m probably convincing myself is there given the name of the tea but again, its what I’m picking up. The energy from this is primarily in my chest and sinuses, again, oddly enough.
Steep 3: my neck feels very loose. There’s some lingering floral sweetness in the throat, nice for only 3 steeps in.
Steep 6: breaks into bitter sweetness in taste instead of bitter taste, with a continuing relaxing mild qi.
All in all I didnt’ get the really potent bodyfeels that others have described, mine was very mild and the flavor didn’t stand out to me as being excellent though it is indeed good tea.

Flavors: Bitter Melon, Floral, Sour, Vegetal

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Reviewing in 2018, courtesy of phi!
Dry leaf is like sugar, spice, and fresh fruits. On rinse there’s…a vegetal note but its like a low note?
Steep 1: the lid is like powdered sugar donuts. The tea itself is bitter which gives way to an awesome sweet fruit taste and is THICK :)
By steep 2: the lightness and bitterness stepped aside for some musty type flavors but not aged flavors…just more low notes.
Steep 3-5 were…uneventful. The tea died…
And On steep 6 it actually did come back to life as phi’s review reads (had not read it before I tasted the tea). It is now sweet, strong, thick, complex with a great huigan. Unfortunately it is also very astringent. Not a tea I’d personally order but those of you who can actually handle astringency should probably get on this.

Flavors: Bitter, Fruity, Musty, Powdered Sugar, Spices

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78

6g in ~95mL, 100C, 2 rinses.
The dry leaf smells…odd for a shou. Its certainly an earthy shou smell but with a tart note like dried sour peach or sour tamarind? I couldn’t quite place it to be honest.
This is definitely a soil oriented shou rather than a woodsy shou which I think plays better with that fruity note than wood would. Very rich like coffee steeped like I did too. A good huigan in the early steeps too, nice for a shou. However, didn’t have that….who knows what. I’m not sure this is something I’d get with as much shou as I have to go through right now but it would certainly very well priced for what it is!

Flavors: Earth, Pleasantly Sour, Tart

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90

Reviewing for the Sheng TTB#3, in 2018 so this 2012 material has a few years on it now from when some of these other reviews were…
100C, 4g in ~80ml. Immediately opens up with juicy thick peach flavors and is very throaty and low notes in that sense. I noted that it was so delicious I don’t even want to swallow. By mid-steeps, this only had some mild bitterness, so it can still use a few more years of aging if you’re into aged whites. It is very floral though! and I’d hate to lose that as much as I like aged whites. I think this is in a good place right now…I just wish I had more of it! I wonder if the floral character of this white is because of the Jingmai region…
All in all: very floral, rich, and full. Highly recommend if you can get ahold of more.

Flavors: Floral, Peach

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Obtained through Sheng TTB#3 The dry smell of the dry leaf is extremely strong and sweet and thick. Its what I imagine snorting icing is like.

Steeped for about 11 steeps, opening with a thick texture and an almost painful chemical sweetness which was odd, hadn’t had that in a sheng before. It ALMOST has a huigan but not quite there yet, I think this needs more time. By middle steeps develops some up front bitterness to counterbalance the sweetness, And steeps out very sweet. Not unpleasant, and overall very enjoyable, but I think needs to rest a little longer before I can truly evaluate if this is worth the price.

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74

7g at 130ml, 90C. This is not a “blow you away” TGY, but certainly a good green one. No kidding on the floral notes, the first few steeps are definitely better, I think later I was using something with too much heat retention that it steamed the leaves.

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MD-PhD Student, new to gongfu brewing and serious tea tasting but excited to learn. My favorite kinds of tea are oolongs and both Chinese & Japanese greens.
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