So I drank another selection from my mystery grab-bag courtesy of Liquid Proust today. This time I behaved and didn’t look at what it was before I brewed it. Just by look and smell, I could tell this was a sheng puerh. The aroma was fruity with a light bit of smokiness. As I got it brewing, I saw that the leaves appeared to be decently chopped up.
When I sipped the first steep, I was surprised with how smoky it was. Yikes. The first 3-4 steeps had pretty hefty smokiness, but not quite enough to be undrinkable for me. The finish was a sweet fruitiness, reminding me more of dried fruit. From the fifth steep, I started increasing the steep times, as the smoke had dissipated enough that i felt confident doing so. The next few steeps were mostly smooth with some sweet apricot and occasional floral notes, though wisps of smoke did still appear from time to time. The smoke in later steeps wasn’t super distinct, instead adding more of a savory note to the whole experience. The last few steeps started to get less smooth, with mouth dryness and lingering smoke making them a little rougher on the palate.
As I was drinking this, the choppy leaf and early smokiness made me think this might be a Xiaguan tuo or something. According to LP’s list though, this is a 2014 Ai Lao Wild Grown sheng. Possibly from YS? I don’t know, it didn’t say. Not my favorite for sure, due to all that smoke in there. It was decent once I got past all that.
Flavors: Apricot, Dried Fruit, Floral, Smoke
