2015 Crimson Lotus Baiying 'Whispering Sunshine'

trying yet again. i am surprised this round. the tea is actually picking up a little base notes. i never thought it would happen. strong after taste. but still a light tea.

It was hot as hades today, with nearly 100% humidity, and it rained on and off. I spent most of the day making trips back and forth between my storage unit and my house, prepping for a coming yard sale. I moved the contents of a 10 × 15 storage space filled to the rafters; furniture, dozens of boxes, and was so determined to throw the Stuff Monkey off my back that I attacked the accumulated craptastica of my life with a ruthless disregard for sentiment. Still, this was emotionally taxing work, and when I was finished for the day, all I wanted was a shower and some tea. I had neglected to make some cold tea in advance of my endeavors, so I needed a hot tea that was going to be light and not make me sweat. Also, something easy. I was in no mood for jacking around with steep times and persnickety brewing parameters – sometimes I get in a mood like this and I just want to fill my pot with some leaves and put some hot water in it, count to ten or whatever and not be disappointed with the result. So this tea was the perfect choice. Fruity, light, sweet, floral (but not in a nasty gut-punch kind of way), and cooling. Refreshing, and calming. If there’s a 2016 version of this tea coming, I will consider purchasing a cake for the summer.

From the Sheng Olympics. Tip of the cap to Liquid Proust for putting it together.

This is just the type of tea I love: fairly complex but not too heavy or bitter. I liked this immediately. Strong for a 1st steep, with spicy straw flavors and a long finish. Strong cha qi. 3rd steep (20 s): Really good texture right into the finish, which is long and powerful. Taste is still primarily spice and straw, but the exact nature of the spice varies. Got smoother in later steeps but was really nice. The cha qi started to let up after a few steeps, but if I hadn’t spaced out the session over an hour or so it would have hit me hard. I had about 8 steeps before I noticed it was fading. Might have been able to do a few more but was anxious to move on the the other CLT tea in the group.

2016 Sheng Olympics

I love this tea! It’s floral and fruity (grape) with a nice mild honey sweetness. Hardly any bitterness. Very smooth. It’s such a light sheng. I could drink this all day (which I have been today). I’m just annoyed I didn’t buy a cake of this when it was available. Oh, well, I’ve got plenty in my cupboard to sip down.

2016 Sheng Olympics

This is really light and gentle. Zero bitterness – zero astringency. It’s pretty sweet, quite a bit fruity (grape earlier shifting more to apricot/peach later).
This is a really nice tea to drink. While I really like this, I don’t think it’s sheng ish ( and that’s probably why I like it). To my tastes this is more like an aged white or a moonlight but not quite as deep of flavors as those are. If I were reaching for this style of tea I would be more apt to reach for a really good moonlight.
Happy to have experienced this – had a couple of really nice afternoons with it – but I don’t think there is a place for this in my cupboard.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCyUXiduE_W/?taken-by=dex3657

2016 Sheng Olympics

Steeped leaves have a slightly vegetal smell about them, first few infusions are really light, a bit sweet, a bit cucumber, fresh taste. I really like the aroma in the aftertaste, something about it was just really pleasant and right – in fact its here right now, Its sweet & fruit & floral all in one, Its really nice! It keeps changing as well, sometimes I think I can place what it is and then it goes away. I just tasted pineapples i think, maybe thats the lemongrass note mentioned.

I pushed it a bit and didnt get sourness or bitterness, always a fresh taste, reminded me of decent mountain water. Always light, a little sweetness, a little leafy, a little citrus or lemongrass and that same lovely after-aroma.

Ive just looked and these are all sold out. Really happy I got to try it, nice on LP for organising this.

My first sample from the Sheng Olympics! Thanks again to Liquid Proust for organizing that, it’s so great to be able to try all these different shengs. I had this yesterday, so this is from memory. The sample was about 4.5g, and my gaiwan is in the 100-120ml range, so I had to get used to only partially filling the gaiwan in order to get the right tea to water ratio. So originally I thought I was getting such a mild flavour because I was adding too much water, but I think this is actually just a really mild sheng! It’s very easy to drink, quite sweet initially, followed by a light, crisp, vegetal note like cucumbers. The finish has a clean and slightly mineral quality, like fresh mountain spring water. Even after increasing the temperature to boiling, I couldn’t manage to get any bitterness out of these leaves, which I found pretty remarkable for a young sheng. The huigan is there, but very subtle. I liked this tea but find myself wishing for bolder flavour and a bit more bitterness. It would be great for people who like their shengs light and sweet though. :)

2016 Sheng Olympics
After checking on the shipments and seeing they have been scanned, with many already in different states, I decided that I could finally begin. First up was something I knew was going to be light because it had to be able to pair with dinner and continue throughout the night. I had one tight beenghole for this session.
At first I didn’t know if it was going to work out because it wasn’t breaking up, but then I decided that I needed to give it a little help so I did.
The first few steeps had a nice roasted vegetable tone to it like a bang dong. After brewing it out I realized that it wasn’t as light as a bang dong because the beeghold decided to let me in a bit and taste what it was hiding. A little bit of astringency came out but then faded as I continued on. The lightness of this tea was consistent and that is how I like my sheng. There might not have been much texture to the liquid itself, but it has a proper vegetable taste throughout the session.
This is a great raw tea to drink, but the Midas Touch puts it to shame. That being said, damn you Midas Touch for selling out; but also thank you to those who have offered to sell me one, I’m still thinking about it. I’m curious how this one will compare with the other Baiying cake that was in the 2016 Sheng Olympics.
All of this is to say that I don’t have any negative remarks for this tea besides the beenghole being deceptive on its notes from not opening to fully opening. That issue is something that others won’t experience because I am rather confident that I broke all the material up well and for those who got some dust… it had to happen, but I am pretty sure it’ll be good dust :)

I had three gongfu sessions with their sample. This review is based off of all three, mostly the last one. Brewed with a ceramic gaiwan. 10 second rinse. Steeping times are from the second and third sessions: 6 seconds, 10, 10, 12, 12, 15, 15, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 45, 60, 90; 2 minutes, 4, 8.

I paid more than usual attention to the aromas for this sheng. I didn’t think it would change so much over the course of two months. After I broke the seal and opened the packet, I left the remainder of what I took out inside. It’s been warm and dry in the house. The aroma of the dry leaf as soon as I opened the packet was buttery and vegetal. After the rinse, the leaf smelled of apricot, and then the wet leaf aroma had green grass and white sugar. One month later, there was vanilla and lemongrass in the dry leaf, blackberry preserves in the rinse aroma, and lastly apricot – followed by vegetal and smoky notes later – in the wet leaf aroma. By the third session, two months later, the dry leaf aroma offered vanilla cake batter and apricots. Smelling the wet leaf directly – apricot preserves. The underside of the gaiwan lid – citrus and vanilla. Of course, I had to move on to the real show as soon as the water came to a boil.

Crimson Lotus gives the name imagining that the “tea trees were close enough to hear the gentle voice of the sun.” The sheng produced from these trees seems to be the one that whispers. The liquor (very pale yellow) has a very light feel in the mouth, akin to Silver Needles. Gentle, pleasant, soft, laid-back – name the synonyms. There was some bitterness in the beginning of the first session, but by the third, there was none. Notes of sweet grass and apricots are consistent. As each session goes on, the sweeter the liquor becomes, and little fruitier, with slight tang. I’m still surprised at how light this sheng is. The texture is smooth. Silky ‘round the middle. As for qi, I didn’t feel much. Caffeinated for sure. Also a little relaxed.

I got 4 grams of this from the Pu’er TTB! Gah, so tiny and I wish I had another gram or two to get the ratio better for my gaiwan.

Great taste too – it’s quite peachy fruity, bit of lemongrass, hint of smoke and a bit of dryness to add some fun. The mouth feel is very oily, more slick than my recent drinking of w2t 2 late, and I love it.

I liked this until I fell asleep and oversteeped it to death. Bitter hoot of dooooom! Great cha qi too. I’m considering buying some, though I have so much 2015 cakes right now. tea problems.