The continuing adventures of the pu-erh n00b, in which the orchid theme from today’s oolong also continues.
The dry leaf of this one also smells like sour tree as did the Bana sheng of yesterday, but with a dusky, low note as well.
The package says to use lower heat for this one, so I went with 195F in the gaiwan for 5/5/7/7/10/10/20/30/40/60
I think when I started trying sheng in earnest, I expected something different. Mostly, I expected that the tea would undergo significant, transformative changes from steep to steep. What I’m finding is that hasn’t been the case. There are subtle changes in some instances, but I’ve been surprised at the consistency in flavor between steeps.
This one started out with a very light liquor — I’d call it white with a yellow tinge. Not white in the sense of white tea white, where it is pretty much the color of water, but something that gives off a definite sense of the color white. The color gets more yellow and a little darker with subsequent steeps. Around the third steep, I noticed a pinkish tinge.
The flavor is similar to that of the other Bana shengs I’ve had recently in that it makes me think of flax, but with a subtle difference in that it has a more floral quality and is a little sweeter. The tea has a soft, energizing mouthfeel.
The second steep brought out a nutty note, cashew perhaps. With more steeps, the flax aspect dissipated and the floral aspect became more prominent as the tea became generally milder, though on the fifth steep a weird step back toward sour came in, and in the seventh, a sugary, brown sugar note came out.
I wonder whether this would be more or less interesting with hotter water?
In any case, I enjoyed it, maybe just a tad more than the other shengs I’ve had from Bana. rating accordingly.
Flavors: Brown Sugar, Floral, Nutty, Smooth, Sour, Sweet
