368 Tasting Notes
I think I must have scrimped on leaf by mistake this morning. This isn’t blowing my doors off like it did the first time.
Still an absolutely stellar tea, don’t get me wrong. But apparently it requires a truly generous pinch for short steeps to go well.
Preparation
I’ve been hesitant to come back to the Yabao.
I admit that it intimidates me, and I have this sense that I’m somehow unworthy, not yet ready, for this tea.
But already things are going better than they did the first time I went through a series of steeps with it.
I used more buds, and while the results are still incredibly subtle, I don’t feel like I’m bursting blood vessels trying to taste something, here.
In the end, though, as interesting and unique as the flavor profile here is, I think I’d rather spend my money and effort on a good silver needles or bai mudan.
Preparation
Today this tea is completely kicking my head in.
After a good 18 steeps on the wang shu over the past day and a half, and today’s on again off again rainy day pattern, I wanted to take things to another level. I have wuji qigongquan tonight and I want to take that to the next level as well.
So one turns to sheng.
Wild Arbor is right. This tea is a haggis fueled Scotsman like my college roommate of 20 years past. Huge, rough, uncouth, but tenacious, warm and giving.
I cannot claim that I am enjoying the flavor profile right now. I feel like I am drinking cups of mothball soup with an insulation garnish.
But the energy is stretching straight to my toes, and fingers, and my yi has grown full and heavy. And right now, that is a delicious feeling.
Preparation
Ha! Good description. Try it next time with less leaf and maybe even less steep time (though I see you’ve got 15sec there.. as low as Steepster lets you go). Yes- less leaf, and this will be more gentle with you. You certainly don’t have to worry about this being light. ;)
Yeah, my actual steep times are much shorter than that.
Your reviews are always on the mark. This is Sheng.
After about 8 steepings, this calmed down quite a bit, and the last 8 to 10 steepings were enjoyable as a beverage in addition to being enjoyable as a medication and meditation.
Gongfu Madness returns!
Four steepings into a common pot. All 5 seconds.
The result borders on overwhelming in complexity.
This is why I love shu.
Preparation
I’ve always wondered if loose leaf puerh is as good or better than the cakes. I do want to order this one…….well possibly. I really do want to experience puerh cakes this year.
I’ve stopped trying to chase the “best” pu-erh. That way leads to madness.
Just bought my third loose puerh tonight. It tastes pretty good, but I think my tuo chas have had more flavor.
Which one?
I bought Rishi Classic Puerh tonight. I have Osmanthhus Puerh from purepuer.com and Ancient Puerh Classic from Southern Season. A long time ago I also had their Organic Five Year Aged puerh, and it was pretty good.
You are correct Jim. It leads to madness….
I can’t say with certainty, ashmanra, but I suspect you would find this one from Upton to be on a slightly different level than either a tea from Rishi or a flavored pu-erh.
I may be biased, though, because I find getting mini tuocha to break open to be a huge pain in the rear aiming for very short steeps.
You have made this one sound so tempting, and I am trying trying to be good and not order more tea but I have caved twice this week already! LOL! I have one tuo cha type that doesn’t break down until the second steep and even then it is slow, and I have another that falls apart instantly. The ones from A Southern Season are somewhere in between. Their loose puerh is pretty good, too. One of them has the fishy aroma, but it tastes okay. The other is really horsey, which I like! :)
I have a confession to make.
My heretical tea behaviors may have gone too far this time, and… and I like it.
The other afternoon I was making a “help you get through your afternoon” latte for Liz (with coffee, which, for some reason, she still drinks ;) and I steamed way too much soy milk. I didn’t want a coffee drink myself, but I didn’t want to waste the soy milk. I thought about an earl gray or a chai latte, but Liz has been going through a lot of those leaves lately and I didn’t want to use them up on her.
What to do?
Evil thought: You have yunnan rare grade and it is fruity and sweet and strong.
So I did it. I made a soy latte using this tea. I know! What a horrible thing to do.
It was FAN. TAS. TIC.
And I’m not even that big of a fan of lattes.
Sounds like a good dessert tea, but wasn’t the tea flavor overpowered or masked making it this way?
Unsweetened soy milk is a pretty mild flavor and isn’t thick and heavy like dairy with dairy fat in it, so it didn’t really get in the way of the tea at all.
If your idea of a dessert tea is a natural hint of sweetness through the notes of the tea, then yes, this would qualify (as would the yunnan rare grade all on its own). But if your idea of a dessert tea is more like a dessert wine, then you’d probably want to skip the high end tea and go with an earl gray or a chai and add honey or something similar.
Thanks.
Works for me, but I add unsweetened almond milk to most black teas, including this one.
It’s not a dessert tea to me either — for me that would be something like Marco Polo or Florence. The perceived “sweetness” of this one is a lot more subtle.
Received a sample of this with my recent order. I’m glad I saved it until this week.
The past three weeks have been completely overwhelming. The dog going missing, work getting wrapped around the axle, complications for Liz with school and my first disc golf tournament this past weekend on a course I’m really not strong enough to throw at par.
So this week is a bit of a calm after several storms. And this is the right tea for that calm.
One thing I love about drinking really fine tea, is that it helps you realize all the things you couldn’t put your finger on about other teas you’ve had. We sampled a lot of green teas from TeaVivre recently, and also the ones Liz brought back from Japan, and I was always looking for some magic balance of strong, green flavors, pan roast flavors and soft sweetness that none of them was really up to providing. It can be a very frustrating chase, especially when you aren’t 100% sure what it would taste like if it were what you wanted.
This tea has it all. Barely. I’m into my fourth or fifth steep and the liqueur is still very light and very delicate. But it isn’t weak. There is that soft sweetness, but it is backed up with genuine greenness and the touch of the pan.
As much fun as it is to keep trying lots of teas, I do find myself often thinking “now that I found this, that fills this role, and I don’t need anything else, I’ll just keep this stocked.”
But we all know I won’t do that. :-)
Preparation
(whoops, formatting error- reposted to fix)
Aw.. that’s such a nice note. I’m glad to hear things have calmed down for you.The eternal quest for tea- I hope you keep finding favorites, but never really stop!
Aw.. that’s such a nice note. I’m glad to hear things have calmed down for you.The eternal quest for tea- I hope you keep finding favorites, but never really stop!You might enjoy spring and summer pickings of Lao Shan greens. The summer is especially hearty, while still having the sweetness.
well, bluh- sorry for the redundancies.. I’m not sure why it’s doing that. :(
Whacky !
OK, to be fair, the first steep was very floral, but I’m up to 5 or 6 now and the flowers faded very quickly.
I am laughing because the leaves expended so much I can barely get the lid onto the gaiwan.
This really is amazing bunch of tea leaves. It will never be my favorite way of processing them, but that’s a matter of personal aesthetic.
Preparation
I’m going to have to stop ordering green oolongs entirely. They are almost all invariably very floral, and it is becoming clear that it isn’t because they are explicitly scented, but rather something about the processing itself.
This is clearly a very high quality leaf and it has been handled expertly. I. just. Don’t. Like. Flowers.
