2016 Loose Leaf Gu Hua Sheng (Qianjiazhai Dongsa Cooperative)

Also received as part of Verdant’s 5 for 5 promo. My packet was from Autumn 2020. This was the first time I’ve tried a Sheng Pu’er, and I really enjoyed it! It’s a cold, snowy-turned rainy day here, and I got out of bed feeling a little under the weather, so I decided to make some of this. I did gaiwan steeps of varying times (though I kept water temp. at or below 177F) poured into a big mug, so no exact tasting notes. But overall, brews like a nice clean green tea with a nice aftertaste and mouthfeel, and was comforting to have. Thanks to everyone who noted before on the lower temps! I would’ve liked this tea a lot less if it was bitter.

Probably not a tea I’d purchase again given nothing particularly stood out to me, but that could also be due to me not feeling too great today. But as part of the 5 for 5, I enjoyed it much more than the Shu Pu’er.

3.25/5 stars

What I tasted wasn’t astringent or offensively vegetal at all. Light in flavor, sweet, with tastes of yam, moss, and the slightest touch of cinnamon. Smooth, slippery vegetal body. Cooling after swallowing. I’m novice with my taste in tea, but I found this delightful.

Vegetal, menthol, bitter. Basically, tastes exactly like water in the bottom of a bowl of defrosted frozen broccoli after a few steeps of forward menthol and bitterness.

Iced after third steeping

I received this as part of Verdant Tea’s 5 for $5 promotion. I did an initial wash, then 8 sec steep, +4 secs for each additional infusions. I initially used 200 degree water, but dropped that down to 175. This loose leaf sheng is very much a green-leaning tea.

This is not at all what I was expecting. VT describes the tea’s dominant note as very fruity-plantain. Perhaps they were thinking of green plantains, because I love fried ripe plantains, and you should definitely not expect to find those notes in this tea, at least with the sample I was provided.

As others have said, I did get the hay aroma coming through initially, but that faded after the first couple of infusions. There was also a dark chocolate note in the aroma, but it was short lived and disappeared by the third infusion. What I get mostly is vegetal—leafy greens like turnip green pot liquor, a bit sweet, but finishes bitter and leaves the tongue dry.

Got this from a sample, so decided to try it.

5g, 100ml, at around 185F, with 5s wash

Very vegetable and hay-ish taste. Really reminds me of hay combined with… dried tree branches? Have to be rather gentle with temperature and steep time, otherwise it gets that very bitter, burned vegetable taste that is honestly awful.

I personally dislike this taste of ‘branches’, however it leaves a very satisfying and calming sensation after drinking. Kinda like a digestif in a way. It does leave your mouth very dry and parch though

I’m unable to obtain any sort of sweet or berry flavour out of this. It is constantly a mixture between grass, hay, and branches. Making it too hot and/or too long of a steep makes it incredibly bitter, and everything else is a variance of hay and branches and astringent taste.

Not my kind of tea. Only thing that I enjoy is the very calming effect of it, that is all.

Dried leaves aroma: Wow, so fruity, dried apricot.
Rinsed leaves aroma: Vegetal, hay.
Steeped leaves aroma: vegetal and fruity.

Initially I got some floral notes, then lingering apricot aftertaste with some astringency, gripping. Seems to be a nice young sheng. I am not expert enough to identify more complexity like the other descriptors Verdant uses, such as plantain. I only had a 5-gram sample and so far don’t see myself stocking up on this or any young sheng that I have tasted so far. I think with experience that may change.