3 Tasting Notes
This tea starts off with a nice, medium-thick mouthfeel and no bitterness. Flavor-wise it is sweet grass, with notes of stone fruits, sugarcane, honey and nuts. The grassy/nuttiness is somewhat similar to a Longjing green tea, which I like.
High-elevation and older tree material come together and make a tasty tea that is also very affordable. Above all, this tea tastes very “pure” to me, and the qi is quite perky and leaves me feeling really good afterwards. I think this would be an excellent candidate for a daily-drinker.
Flavors: Grass, Honey, Nuts, Stonefruit, Sugarcane
Preparation
There is something about this tea that always has me coming back for more. It’s hard to put my finger on it, but something about the smell and taste take me back in time. I remember hearing a Chinese term for this, which roughly translates as, “taste nostalgia”.
It’s hard to say whether this tea was originally intended for export, “people’s tea”, or something else, but regardless it can hold its own. I would wager that it was probably produced by a larger factory, with its average quality base material and iron compression; However, that isn’t to say this is an “average” tea. On the contrary. It goes to show you what a decent tea can taste like with proper care and storage, IMHO.
I won’t go too much into details flavor-wise, except to say that I quite enjoy the range of flavors this tea exhibits – from camphor, wood and pine, to sweeter stone fruit accents.
Again, I have many other teas that might be deemed “better” as far as leaf quality, etc – but there is just something about this tea that makes me crave more, and keeps me rationing what I have.
Flavors: Camphor, Menthol, Pine, Stonefruit, Tobacco, Wet Wood
Preparation
This tea tastes mostly like Yiwu character to me, if I had to pinpoint a region. Base material is excellent. It’s very soft in the mouth, with a medium-thick viscosity, and oily mouthfeel. Flavor-wise it is subtle and buttery, but to be honest, when I sample younger teas of this quality, I’m really looking more for body effects than flavor notes. This tea quickly coats the mouth, then sits in the back of the throat where it lingers. Qi comes on quickly, and is pleasant. I can’t really think of anything to nitpick about this tea. For a young tea it has all the characteristics I could hope for. I do agree that the subtle beauty of this tea could be lost on someone new to Sheng Pu’er, but why not introduce them to the good stuff?
Flavors: Floral, Grass, Hay, Nutty, Vanilla