5 Tasting Notes

73

It delivers what White2Tea promotes with this shou. After a wash (20 sec., 100° C) this tea was made in a mug (grandpa style). The sweetest shou I ever had with creamy tones like cookie batter, vanilla pudding, wood and little fermented notes. 5-6g and this had still a light body, so I would guess it’s not made for Gong Fu. Later on minerality shines through. The last sips (as it is more concentrated at the bottom of the mug) show more classical earthy notes with a bit cocoa and mushroom.
All in all a sweet and light shou, but a bit one-dimensional. A crowdpleaser or when you don’t want to ponder about your tea while drinking.

Flavors: Cocoa, Cookie, Mushrooms, Vanilla, Woody

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more 5 g 200 OZ / 5914 ML

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80

Having this bing since the start of my pu-erh journey in 2016, this sheng took me at my hand and showed me how a maturation in a rather arid surrounding can be. I had highs and lows with this one as the time in between the green notes left and mature aroma taking over, it wasn’t a really appealing tea. Half a year ago I thought this tea not just mellowed out but got flat and stale. Even though nothing really pungent is left my visit today was pleasing.

With a rather loose pressing this bing comes apart easily and offers beautiful dry leaves. After 15 sec. of washing with boiling water I started the session with ~8g and 90° C.

There is a fine balance in the bittersweet taste with the dark and warming aroma of a semiaged Sheng. Tobacco with a little smoke is the main component now I would say. The bitterness is vegetal (aubergine). Some ripe stonefruit (plums) and even pudding round this tea out. Later on the astringency dries my mouth a bit, but not as strongly anymore. A little cooling menthol I could pick up in the aftertaste.

I am grateful for this journey, even though the end is nigh with and our ways will part soon. Pu-Erh is a nice hobby sometimes pushes me into running my miles faster and sometimes calm me down in the midst of a stressful work day. This YS Impression 2012 is rather calming and focusing for me. I would love to read some revisits from other owners of this tea!

Flavors: Menthol, Plum, Smoke, Stonefruit, Tobacco

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 8 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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76

As this is huang pian material, it is a wallet friendly gushu pressed in a brick. The washed leaf smells sweet, green and a bit fruity. With 7,5g to 100ml, I pushed the temperature to almost 90° C.

The first steepings offered a sweet and pleasing experience with a bit of astringency and the bold body of a huang pian. The slightly fruity and floral aroma reminded my gf of a really green tie guan yin. Then some minerality shines through. Later on I was suprised to find sticky rice and more savory green tea aroma, while the astringency increased.

After 9 steepings I was done, as the adstringency got really strong while the aroma was fading out. But there still was a warm and sweet aftertaste of rice. In a few years there might come through some more complexity as the body was still strong.

Even though it’s young, it’s already good to drink with a balance of sweet and bitter tones. I will test it grandpa style soon as it’s not changing too much and the fruity green tea resemblance could show a nice daily drinker.

Flavors: Fruity, Mineral, Sticky Rice, Sugarcane, Sweet Corn

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 0 min, 15 sec 8 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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82

A tea friend of mine gave me a sample of this sheng some years ago and I am grateful for the experience. With >10g it’s quite a big sample so I went for flash steepings with 80° C. The wet leaf smells clean and floral with a little bit of earthy notes. 8 years (of dry storage) should have mellowed this Sheng out but oh boy, was I wrong.

The first steepings present the tea really bitter but not astringent with lovely floral notes of orchid with a hint of the earthy flavors to come with camphor. The steepings 3-5 show how fullbodied this tea is while licorice root makes it quite tasty. It’s also animalistic with a decent horse fur aroma. The aftertaste of dark chocolate / cocoa was surprising and are the reason why these were my favorite steepings. 6-9 were harsher and sweeter, the minerality shines through. The earthy flavors shift into bitter melon and now the increasing astringency left my mouth dry. Some rock candy and licorice root are sweet aftertastes, but these aren’t pleasant steepings if you don’t like young Shengs from Bulang or similar harsh teas. While the tea was becoming lighter colored in steeping 10 the flavors became more balanced. This indicates that I used too much leaf even for flash steeping. Some zesty citrus gave the astringency a nice twist. But after that the tea looses aroma and even the bitterness mellows out in steeping 13 with increasing zestyness. I increased the temp to 90° C for minute of steeping. After 16 steepings I stopped as I was quite tea drunk and it’s becoming late, but I think there would have been 4-5 steepings left which I will try to drink tomorrow.

Clearly this tea is not at it’s prime now but already shows some of it’s great potential. It’s a quite unique blend of delicate aromas and bold / harsh bitterness. I don’t think the bitterness will disappear completely for at least a decade as this tea was bitter from start to finish. By any means this is enduring fellow is nothing for a quick and easy sip, but it’s nice to see how many faces a tea can have. This review and rating reflects my experience now and not a potential future. It’s a pity that this tea isn’t available anymore as I like this style of Sheng. If you got a bing, store it for some years. And if you don’t have the patience or just don’t like it: PM me :D

Flavors: Bitter Melon, Camphor, Citrus, Cocoa, Fur, Licorice Root, Orchid

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 0 min, 15 sec 10 g 3 OZ / 90 ML

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73
drank 2022 2222022 by white2tea
5 tasting notes

Made this one in Gong Fu and Grandpa Style. It’s mildy sweet with some vegetable and pomelo aroma. Clean and easy to drink. Not that enduring in Gong Fu and in later steeping with stronger astringency. In grandpa style this isnt a problem as it presents itself with a solid body with the added astringency. There it is nice and balanced. So I can recommend this budget friedly tea for Grandpa style drinking for a clean and pleasant cup of relatively (2016 Maocha pressed in 2022) young sheng. The given data on brewing are for grandpa style and after a short rinse.

Flavors: Bittersweet, Floral, Grapefruit, Vegetables, Woody

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 4 min, 0 sec 3 g 10 OZ / 300 ML

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