73 Tasting Notes
Jasmine! Very sweet and floral jasmine smell. You can pick up on the tea itself in the wet leaf, though it’s a little bit masked. The first steep is a bright yellow, with the sweet jasmine note playing in the forefront. The tea is fairly viscous in mouthfeel, with a little bit of vegetal hint from the tea itself in the background. Later steeps mostly develop similarly, but I found I was able to get quite a few steeps from this tea without losing the jasmine flavor. Definitely quite enjoyable as a flavored tea!
Drinking up a sample of this. I really enjoyed the tangerine white tea, so I’m hoping this will be a good twist on ripe puer.
The dry leaf smells sweet and lightly citrusy, as well as lightly spiced. The first rinse is pretty standard for ripe puer—creamy, earthy, smooth, but it also has the hint of an orange note behind it, as well as that same sort of spice that I can’t quite pin down.
The second steep and beyond somewhat loses out on the orange flavor. It might be because I’m flash steeping this ripe puer, meaning the orange doesn’t have time to really diffuse any flavor, or maybe the ripe puer is just a little stronger than the orange. Either way, the further I steep, the further the orange somewhat fades away. With longer steeps, it becomes a little more apparently in a mellow sweetness, but overall it’s a very subtle addition to a pretty standard ripe puer.
What a surprise this sample was—it’s literally a chopped up piece of brick! How did this get cut? Bandsaw? Either way—this is a tightly packed huangpian that breaks off into wonderful little sheaves as you peel away at it. The wet leaf smells quite sheng-y with a little bit of ripe fruit and apricot sweetness. The rinse is a deep yellow color.
The first steep has quite a unique flavor. Definitely a deviation from the “usual” sheng flavor, this has a weird sort of upfront flavor. I’m having a hard time pinning it down, but I would describe it as reminiscently fruity. This first steep is honestly quite good. It’s got that weird fruit, some present body, and a sweet aftertaste that chases but doesn’t linger as long as some better teas that I’ve tried.
In the second steep, a little bit more bitterness comes out in the body and aftertaste, though still far from being distasteful. There was a surprise tart in there too—the kind that shows up in the sides of your mouth under your tongue!
Third steep is light amber and still quite smooth to drink. There’s a sweet aftertaste developing that I’m a fan of, especially when coupled with the fruitiness.
The flavor drops out after the fifth or sixth steep, but never gets overly bitter. I very much enjoyed this and I’m looking forward to drinking more of it!
Finally getting around to reviewing a sample of this tea which was graciously included with my last order from Crimson Lotus! I’m not particularly experienced with shou but interested to see how this one tasted. Unfortunately this cake is now sold out, but I hope this sample will make for a good learning experience.
The wet leaf smells earthy (of course) with a hint of maybe a spice note in there. The first steep is a light brownish red. It has a clear note to it that I like to think of as petrichor, but overall this first steep is quite light and not too distinctive. The second steep is a much darker red, thicker and more viscous, but still quite clear in taste. I generally find shou a little tough to figure out—since the tea is often so mellow, nothing particularly jumps out at me while drinking.
The third steep becomes dark black-red and feels a little bit more viscous. The flavor itself hasn’t felt like it’s grown on me too much. As far as my untrained tongue can detect, this is shou, and unfortunately I can’t really pick too much else up. Maybe if anyone has tips for what to look out for :)
The leaves of this cake are dark and black, but break apart easily revealing long, spindly leaves. After a quick rinse, the leaves smell earthy, like a shou, but also have a heavy, ripe fruit scent to them, like plum or heavy apricot.
The first steep is quite light and comes out in an amber color. The flavor is very reminiscent of a shou, as the earthy note comes out in the foreground. It’s a very “clear” earth note, however, and feels like the scent of the air after a rainfall.
In the second steep, a mid-centered bitterness comes out, around the middle of the tongue, though it’s quite light and not unpleasant. In addition, there’s a tanginess to the flavor here as well, that shows up along the sides of the tongue. It’s a sharp, sour sort of feeling. Overall not too unpleasant, and quite interesting.
In the third steep, earth takes over as the main note once again, though with a backline of similar flavors to the second steep. The fourth steep is similar, but the astringency rises a little and leaves my mouth feeling quite dry. Later steeps have a deep sweetness to them as well as a bit of the earthy and bitterness.
Overall, an enjoyable tea and more interesting than most shou I’ve tried thus far. Maybe not my favorite, but I’ll be giving it some more time.
Preparation
Finally opening this cake up after a few weeks of being too scared and procrastinating. It’s been hanging out in my mini pumidor since it arrived in hopes of preserving its flavor and maybe seeing some change over time.
For starters, the leaf in this cake is beautiful—it falls apart quite readily with long, twisted leaves. The dry leaf has a light fruity scent, while the wet leaf is a stronger, ripe apricot smell with a hint of tartness.
Following a rinse, the first steep is just a quick flash. The liquor is a pale yellow and the flavor is very light here, imperceptible, but it’s creamy in texture—which catches me by surprise a little.
In the next steep, the viscosity is a little thicker. Definitely the first thing I’m noticing about this tea. The flavor is still quite light, but the main things I’m picking up are a very strong upfront sweetness and creaminess that coats your tongue. There’s an ever-so-slight touch of bitterness that passes over the back of your tongue and lingers in the aftertaste, but it’s enjoyably placed. So, so, creamy.
Third steep starts to look a little bit darker in color, but still a vibrant yellow. A fruitiness is beginning to appear on the tip of the tongue alongside the creamy sweetness, as well as the bitterness beginning to work its way forward up the tongue. The bitterness is a little stronger this steep, but still safely within the region of “comfortable and tasty” in my book.
In the fourth steep, the bitterness dies down a little bit more, and most of the flavor exists in a very comfortable creamy sweetness. The hint of bitterness and sharpness on the tongue keeps this feeling interesting, however, whereas something like Little Walk feels comparatively one-dimensional and easy to forget about.
I’m feeling a little bit dreamy at this point, listening to music and drifting off. The fifth steep continues in creaminess and sweetness with no particularly big changes. At the sixth steep, the flavor drops of quite strongly. There’s still a sweetness there, but the steeps could definitely be longer.
Seventh and eight steeps are longer and the flavor comes in a little stronger now. The bitterness kicks up a notch with the longer steep time (to be expected), though still quite reasonable when compared to some other sheng. The creaminess is mostly gone now, as well as the initial viscosity, and the flavor profile is more “clear”. There’s a little bit of a fruitiness at the tip of the tongue, but the main note is a strong body and a forward bitterness. With the final few longer steeps, a lot of sweetness can be pulled out, as well as some bitterness, but I would say the best steeps are long past.
This is a very smooth and sweet and creamy tea to drink. The texture and smoothness are the main selling points to me, as well as its character being a little more complex than any other “easy-drinkers” that I’ve had so far, making this both an interesting drinker and an easy one. Definitely looking forward to getting to know this tea some more!
