2014 Crimson Lotus Bulang Shan Tribute Tea

I’ve had this for some time, and I’ve never even tried it. I pulled it from storage and decided to give it a go. The dry leaf is incredibly compressed, and it gives off a sweet and fruity aroma. I placed a chunk in my warmed yixing and gave it a shake. The warmed leaf gave off a nice sweet aroma. I was picking up peat moss, wet wood, and some nectar. I washed the leaves twice and prepared for brewing. The steeped leaves gave off a much different tone that its previous aromas. I was able to get a distinct smoke scent along with some spinach and pepper. The taste begins slightly sour with smoke. The smokiness grows and becomes stronger with each steeping. The Bulang bite is present in the first couple steeping sessions. The qi can quickly be felt by the second steeping.The feeling begins in the head and neck and quickly flows through the body. I experienced no huigan with this brew. I’m glad I stuck with it (I’m not partial to bitter brews), for it became sweet by the fourth steeping. The Bulang bite still accompanies this sugarcane sweetness. However, this brew goes flat pretty quickly. I was able to pull about eight or so steepings from this tea. The sweetness was good, but it wasn’t lasting and it was too subtle for my taste. This is an okay tea, and I guess it would make a fair daily drinker. Personally, I don’t see myself reaching for it in the future.

https://www.instagram.com/p/-eNMLBTGf8/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

Thank You Mr Mopar for this sample. I hope I’m reviewing this in the right place as there seem to be two 2014 Crimson Lotus Bulang teas. This was a strong and punchy sheng. It was bittersweet in the early infusions. While there was a punchy bitterness to it there was an underlying sweetness to this tea. That sweetness really came out in later steeps. I only steeped this eight times as it is getting late for me to have caffeine but I figured I was using a 60ml gaiwan so I should still be able to sleep tonight. I definitely have to put this on my list of teas to buy. It’s quite good although you have to appreciate a bitter sweet sheng.

I brewed this eight times in a 60ml gaiwan with 4.6g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse and a 10 minute rest. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, and 30 sec. This seems like a high quality sheng and if I wasn’t watching my caffeine I think I would have given this one another six or eight steeps.

6g of tea, gongfu, water just about boiling, two short rinses, then 5-10 second steeps. This came as part of an “intro to pu’er” set from Crimson Lotus. The first thing that really hits me is the aroma of the dry leaves. They smell delicious, like candy or fruit (mangos). Wet leaves have the same aroma, plus a note of tobacco. Light soup, looks like a roasted oolong. The aroma of this tea is amazing. This is unlike any other sheng I’ve tried: the aroma and the flavor don’t match up. You expect sweetness, but it’s not really there. The flavor is more smoke, pepper, tobacco, with a fair amount of bitterness.

EDIT: Drank this again a month later. Yes, there is sweetness. Plenty. I just couldn’t taste it before. Go figure.