I find this tea a little puzzling because pretty much all the tuo cha teas I’ve had seem to have a similar flavor profile. This one doesn’t. It says it is “green” which I am guessing means it is not shu? Which could be why.
The little nests smell very much like rice. Like browned, fried rice.
I tried to cut one in half because the nests weigh over 4 g, but I gave up. I could not get the pieces to combine in a way that got me to the number I was looking for and I got bored with trying, so I just tossed the whole thing in the gaiwan.
I rinsed, and did an initial 10 second steep. That’s when I decided to steep this as a sheng even though I’m not entirely sure that’s what it is. The liquor is paler than any shu I’ve ever seen, though admittedly I haven’t seen many and it has that yellow sheng look rather than the brown I typically see in shus.
So — I let the leaves sit for 15+ minutes and then went 5/5/7/7/10/10/20/30/40/60
I am not sure whether it is because there was too much tea or not, but the first few steeps were quite bitter. If this is in fact sheng, which I am more and more certain it is, then I have finally experienced the bitterness!
After about the fourth steep, the bitterness went away and what was left was basically the single toasted rice note through the remaining steeps.
That note is nice enough, but once the novelty wears off, it just is what it is.
Flavors: Bitter, Rice, Toasted Rice
