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Not bad for a bagged iced tea. It’s light, fruity, and refreshing. The peach flavor is subtle and not fake tasting.

The base isn’t at all astringent and bitter, so this may be good for people who don’t prefer black teas.

I didn’t get much fragrance from the dry leaf, but the wet leaf smells a little beany. The brew comes to a dark golden oolong color, and the leaves become surprisingly green upon steeping. Strange though, that the brew almost is scentless.

The flavor is almost like a green tea: mushrooms and buttery beans, a little earthy/funky/ fungal. There’s a bit of saltiness to the brew that makes me think it would be a good base for soups.

There’s some mild astringency and a little malt and mineral.

This tea was a bit of a surprise, as I was expecting something peachy. Opening the bag, however, my senses were assaulted with a thick, maple syrup scent. I’m not getting any peach scent anywhere, but I’m still encouraged, as the scent really is almost sickeningly sweet. This smell is toned down somewhat in the brew, but it’s still pretty strong, and a little on the fake side.

As far as taste goes, I’m still not getting any peach flavor. The brew is mapley and honey sweet. It’s actually like drinking the tea version of Aunt Jemima. While it has a nice flavor, it’s a little on the fake side for me.

So, this is another shot in my journey to find a sheng that I like. The dry leaves of this brew have that sour sheng smell that I can’t stand, so already I am not holding out much hope for this being a positive experience. But I’m pushing forward with as open a mind as possible because I really do want to find a sheng that I enjoy.

It gets worse when the leaves get wet. The aroma is sour formaldehyde and hot spinach. I actually have to move the gaiwan away from my desk area so the smell doesn’t waft in my face as I’m working. Yikes!

Luckily, when the leaves are removed, the brew smells a bit sweeter, with no trace of formaldehyde, but there’s still a bit of a sourness that turns my nose up. This seems pretty standard for a sheng to me, so don’t let my description turn you off if you actually enjoy young sheng.

The taste of the brew itself is actually pretty surprising. It has a creamy, thick mouthfeel with a sweet taste lingering below the sour vegetal taste. There’s also a hint of spice…is that cinnamon? Perhaps with some aging, it would be perfect. In the later steeps, I got more of a sweet butter mineral flavor.

What made this tea undrinkable to me was the astringency. I brewed this tea from 30 seconds all the way down to flash steeping, and the temp varied from 195 to 165. No matter what, there was a cotton mouth feeling throughout the session. I might have actually liked this tea without it.

This is another sheng that I just wasn’t into, which makes me feel guilty, as it was a sample from a tea friend.

The first steep after the rinse started out okay. I got some hints of pine sap, peaches, and a green vegetal flavor. There was a bit of astringency.

As it opens up, it gets too bitter, even after reducing the leaf and the brewing temp.

Oh my god this tea is amazing. It’s soooo nutty and sweet, like a nutty vanilla pudding.

I’m not sure how much of the base tea I am getting, but I’ll forgive them that based on the rest of the flavor.

There’s the tiniest bit of astringency, but it’s so very minor that it’s another thing I am willing to forgive.

Gets nuttier as it cools—more like hazelnut.

This review might be a little unfair because this tea is old by the first time I am drinking it. While that may be good for the puerh, it certainly can’t be good for the flavoring.

The aroma of the dry leaf is cinnamon and earth. The smell of the wet leaf adds vanilla, nuts, and light clove. The tea actually does smell like a creamy pumpkin pie.

The brew is creamy and sweet. I don’t really taste the Irish part of the cream. I enjoy the way the spices mix with the nutty earthiness of the puerh. There is something that comes across as borderline fake in the flavor, but it doesn’t linger, so it’s tolerable.

The brew gets a lot nuttier and a little sour in subsequent steeps. Oversteeping causes it to become chalky, astringent, and undrinkable..

As the tea dies, it becomes a light kind of cream soda root beer flavor.

The brew to this smells more appealing after the Classic version—more like a chocolate biscuit. The wet leaves almost smell like a hot cereal with cocoa. There’s something almost liquor smelling about the brewing leaves that leaves me a little dizzy with anticipation. I’ve never had the Godiva chocolate liquor, but it’s how I would imagine it to smell.

The cocoa flavor is much more pronounced than in the YS Classic.; it comes out of my nose as I breathe out. The dark chocolate flavor becomes sugary as it cools, and the flavor turns a little bready. I’m getting chocolate croissant feelings from this tea. There’s a bit of astringency that brews out in subsequent steeps, and any bitterness is like that of a dark chocolate rather than a bitter black tea; it’s very faint.

I did a comparison on the YS Laoshans against Verdant. Full post and photos here: http://www.catlaittea.com/2016/09/05/laoshan-showdown-yunnan-sourcing-vs-verdant/

Once brewed, the wet leaves lose their Halloweeny smell, for which I am grateful. Trashy American chocolate isn’t really my thing in either tea or food form. The aroma is more like a burnt chocolate pudding, a scent I can definitely get behind. I’m one of those people that actually enjoys eating the skin off of a cooling chocolate pudding.

The brew is a bit thin, lacking in body and depth, for a black tea. There is a light cocoa flavor, a sugary sweetness, and a hint of yeasty sourness. That hint of Halloween candy is back on the finish. As the brew cools, it gets sweeter. There is also some slight astringency on the back of the palate.

Subsequent steepings reveal a bright, yeasty honey flavor with a wash of cocoa on the finish. Though it’s still on the astringent side, the brew definitely thickens and sweetens as it cools. I’m still getting that Halloween candy flavor out the nose.

Though this tea is perfectly pleasant, I know I’ve had better Laoshans than this.

I did a comparison on the YS Laoshans against Verdant. Full post and photos here: http://www.catlaittea.com/2016/09/05/laoshan-showdown-yunnan-sourcing-vs-verdant/