David Bess Send Message

This tea brewed up persistent dried fig flavors and a light acidity that grew into a tangy, relaxing soup with light buttery sweetness. The flavors were delicate all the way through the session, almost as delicate as the tiny unfurled leaves. I took the leaves to 14 steeps before they quickly dropped off but each brew before then had great quality.

This huangpian began with a buttery steamed artichoke flavor and a both drying and cooling mouthfeel. Peppery notes started to develop and soon I had a mouth watering soup with the flavor dichotomy of a raw almond -peppery like the skin, bread flavors as in the meat of the nut. The big leaves kept giving cooling and complex flavors until I had to stop at 14 steeps. I’m very eager to get a hold of more!

What caught my attention first was this shengs beautiful dry leaf! My tightly compressed sample was a few pleasing shades of green and brown with beautiful white buds, looking slightly blue under the down. The dry leaves had the aroma of clover honey or very ripe apricots, transforming into steamed dark greens with sweetness after a few rinses.

The soup started off sweet, with a woody tobacco flavor mixing with grape seed and stem bitterness and a vegetal ‘collard greens’ aftertaste. The body started off heavy in the mouth with a dryness that gained momentum with each steep. The sweetness disappeared after four steeps leaving tart apple and stonefruit flavors that lasted for many steeps.

In the middle of the session the mix of sour, sweet and woody tobacco flavors reminded me of a local upland meadow coming to life after fall rains; the sweetness and tobacco from the woody twigs rehydrating, and the sour from the microbial rich soil coming back to life.

Receiving this tea with the Wynn Tea Sampler -D, it was one of the first shous I’ve had in a long while. Though shous are not my bread and butter I really enjoyed my experience with this offering, and it was great to change things up.

The rinsed leaf held the aromas of wet leather, and sour grain – not unlike a buckwheat pancake; sour, rich and malty. This pancake aroma carried into the brew many times during my sessions.

The body of the tea was round, slightly tannic, and silky smooth. The soup kept its smoothness until about the seventh steep, when my mouth began feeling slightly tacky.

The wood/forest flavors reminded me of the wet inner bark of a fallen Cottonwood tree – pleasingly sour and microbial. I also tasted sautéed mushrooms in butter, and wet oak heartwood in the later steeps.

This sample’s energy was very calming, a perfect tea before bed. I’m use to the heating aspect of a sheng, and was surprised by how cool I felt after my session.

For someone not used to shou, this tea was a real treat. I was impressed with its calming energy and how its aromas brought back memories of times in the forest and all its joys.

This tea came to me in one of the 30 gram boxes which I think are intended for retail use. There was no date on the packaging telling me its age, but as the same product marked 2014 is available on Misty Peak’s website I assume it’s of the same vintage.

The leaf both dry and wet carries the scent of raisins or figs, and the big intact leaves and stems are aestheticly pleasing.

The soup is thick and syrupy, leaving a strong honey aroma in whatever holds it, even long after the liquid is gone.

The taste is well balanced between sweet and sour, not unlike one of my favorite green teas, a Mao Jain from Oregon Coffee and Tea in Corvallis, Oregon. The flavor throughout my sessions is fruity, reminding me of dried apple slices. I especially noticed this when bowl brewing only a few leaves. This is one tea that will go a long time before giving up, it was a challenge almost to see the leaves to the end.

The tea is drying to the palate and gives me a very blissful energy that I savor every time I come to it.

I feel like this would be a fantastic sheng to introduce my friends to, as it really does rise to the occasion, giving and giving until you just can’t drink any more.

Receiving samples like this make me excited to buy from Teavivire in the future!

This is by far the most dynamic sheng I’ve tasted in my short time, and one to remember.

The sample also had a strong influence on my physical body. The first session was very rough on my stomach, and made me feel very “full” with no appetite. My mouth was watering for hours afterward. BUT after the discomfort, and with the second session I felt energized and balanced.

Many thanks to Glenn and Lamu for the chance to sample this amazing sheng!

After twice rinsing the 7 grams of leaf I was struck with an aroma like balsamic vinegar and sweet steamed spinach. In the full bodied and mouth-drying soup I tasted the peppery start mentioned by others, as well as sweet edamame, with a little bitterness that faded with each steep. The energy was very pleasing and noticeable. If only I had more!

This sheng’s fruit favors are always surprising me, some days I’m reminded of apricots or a tangy green plum and other days it hits me with under-ripe or watery blueberry notes. This I think has more to do with my own palate than the tea itself.

I can always count on its vegetal aspects which make me think of fresh cut fescue grass, and my former career farming grass seed in the Willamette Valley, Oregon. There is a buttery aspect to the tea as well, which arrives with its full body and pleasing weight in the mouth.

I will hate to see this sheng disappear from my self, but I can’t stop drinking it!

This raw puer was slightly smokey, lucerne and honey sweet with a bright mineral finish in the last steeps. The bitterness came and and went quickly, lending itself to many sweet nectar-like servings. I drank this tea daily until the cake was gone, and look forward to picking up another soon!