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
