Zhi Zheng.Song 'Kong Shan Xin Yu' Early Spring 2012, Raw Puer Cake

Quick Notes Thank you Mark for another sample from Zhi Zheng Tea.

Dry Leaf – Honey sweetness, slight fruitiness.
Wet Leaf – Strong honey sweetness, floral, fruity.

Gong fu in glass thermos 6-7oz/6g

1st 15secs – Very apparent honey sweetness that is somewhat floral and thick in the mouth. As it washes down it retains its sweetness and the taste is slightly fruity. The aftertaste is sweet with hints of vegetal notes, slightly refreshing.

2nd 15secs – Sweet honey thick taste up front. As it washes down it keeps its sweetness but the vegetal note is more apparent/present as well as some floral notes and slight bitterness. The aftertaste is sweeter, reminiscent of cantaloupe melon and lingers with freshness. The freshness is very faint in the mouth, present in the throat and very present (to me) in my chest as I breathe.

3rd 20secs – Honey sweet and smooth with slight vegetal notes up front. As it washes down it becomes floral and vegetal while keeping its sweetness, at this point smoky/tobacco like notes seem to appear in the back. The aftertaste is sweet, fruity/floral and refreshing.

4th 35secs – Floral, fruity and sweet up front. As it washes down it is briefly ‘cleaner’ before turning sweet, fruity, slightly vegetal and floral with slight astringency. The aftertaste is sweet and refreshing that wears a slight smoky/tobacco hint.

5th 1min – Cleaner steep that quickly becomes sweet like honey again. As it washes down there’s apparent fruity and vegetal notes with some astringency. The aftertaste is sweet, but not so much like honey but rather fruity, like ripe melon. Still very refreshing.

Final Notes
I did six steeps of this tea and it help up pretty well. Mind that I’m at work using a double walled glass tumbler, The steeps are longer that I usually make them and the amount of water is also higher than usual. But based on these steeps I can tell that using a Gaiwan you would easily get 8-14(maybe more) steeps depending on water/tea ratio and using short steeps.

Overall, I like this tea, both samples are sweet and fragrant this one is on the sweeter side, the Bulang is more ‘balanced’ between sweet and bitter with floral. This one is a really easy Sheng to drink, specially for a younger Sheng. I’m honestly surprised and pleased at how accurate the tea description on the web page is. Mostly honey sweet, it has floral and fruit notes and smokiness if you push the steeps. There was some astringency at the end but it wasn’t unpleasant at all. Thanks again Mark.