Wonderful aged sheng! I got this tea from my recent YS order, and this tea definitely is worth it for the price. The brick was easily breakable, albeit having a mix of stems and leaves with, it still has a relatively decent proportion of buds. One thing though is that the brick has quite a fair bit of hair compressed into it, at least with the sample that I got. Rich aroma in the wet leaf with a nuanced smokey aroma in the dry leaf, liquor was a vibrant amber orange with a slight viscosity to it.
Flavour was really impressive especially in the first few steeps with a complex mix of smokey, bitter, stonefruits, and an aged fermented taste. Rich, deep, vibrant. Texture was smooth yet astringent, evolving into juiciness as one swallows the liquor, character was decent-ish to good, with a nice evolution of flavour from deep and vibrant to a more simple honey sweetness that was still nice (albeit I preferred the liquor as presented in the first few steeps). Finish & aftertaste was decent, great juicy finish with a mild lingering smokey/sweet aftertaste. Cha-qi was pretty decent, good buzz especially at the first few steeps, but on top of that an active stomach sensation that was present later on. Steep longevity was decent to good. I stopped at steep 10 but I think this tea could go on to steep 11-12.
Overall, a wonderful tea that could easily be 85-90+ if the flavour present in the first few steeps persisted for longer along with ticking a few more boxes in the finish and aftertaste department. Potentially worth getting a full brick.
Flavors: Astringent, Bitter, Charcoal, Citrus, Forest Floor, Herbaceous, Honey, Juicy, Molasses, Mushrooms, Smoked, Spices, Stonefruit, Sugarcane, Sweet, Tangy, Tobacco
