Crimson Lotus Tea

If you’re out there Crimson Lotus, I think your description of this tea is perfect.

Clear, sparkling gold liquor with some fruity tones (not tastes) like cucumber-melon, apricot and citrus. I can see how others describe lemongrass from previous years. Apricot aftertaste early on leaves by the third steep. Second steep my note says YUM. Here I noticed some cooling on the swallow and a warm and spicy peppery bite in the throat. By the fourth steep, this transformed into a medium returning sweetness. Fifth steep brought out a very rounded savory and bright tone, I want to say like baked lemon and yellow squash. The tea lasted another 10 steeps without much change from there. Cha qi was interesting… kind of meditative — knocked me out for about 20 minutes. I could feel something like waves of long, thick golden-brown hair flowing out of my eyebrows and cheekbones.

A really clean and bright tea with very little bitterness and astringency and not super sweet. Very refreshing with a medium to light body and some smooth oiliness. I can see why Crimson Lotus likes to take this on hikes. So far this is my favorite from the sheng sampler.

Hey it’s #300.

This is a wild tea, so has that purple tea taste. In a whole the taste felt to me like a really fancy Taiwanese Dark-Oolong/Black-Tea, only with a much fuller body. That’s great, because since I’ve started drinking old tree Sheng mouthfeel is something I’m aware of and looking for.
Expensive, but at least delivers.

I have a yellow toad named Balompié. He sits on the edge of my rinse bowl and sometimes chills in the bottom as I fill up the bowl. I can feel his maker’s thumb contour when I perch him on my own thumb.

Iz cute.

Kelp-y. It was good company for a few hours of music appreciation. I’m afraid I paid more attention to the music than to the tea. That’s not always a bad thing. That means it was smooth. Better notes next time.

This is elegant. Nose jammy. I would have believed it if someone had told me this was an artificially scented pu. But it just wasn’t what I needed. After a recent raccoon encounter (I’m okay), an exhausting set of repetitive conversations with medical professionals, and outrageously high bills to match despite having a pretty good insurance, I yearned for a tea that tasted like it understood my trials and tribulations. Really, I just needed a strong alcoholic drink, or if it was going to be tea, I needed something that would make me feel invincible against any more unexpected trouble. I needed a liquid mentor who had been through the bitterness of life before me and could show me the way.

Alas, this tea, if it was a person, would be that insufferably perfect and thus holier-than-thou concertmistress or prima ballerina from the suburbs whose parents were surgeons, grandpas senators, grandmas judges, and cousins European/Southeast Asian royalty. It just tastes like straight up inter-generational, oblivious, imperturbable privilege. It’s that guy set to inherit entire buildings in Manhattan who doesn’t understand the local pizza joint owner is joking when he theatrically demands $60 for a regular pie and fountain sodas, causing the poor man to come sprinting after us for 2 city blocks, tomato-stained apron strings flapping, yelling and waving the $40 of change in the air.

I felt this while working my way through the w2t ripe basics set, and I felt it again while finally trying Storm Breaker from clt’s shou sampler. I don’t respond to newer shou made with higher quality material in a way that corresponds to the greater price and hype. The leaves look nicer as they steep, and it’s easier to clean my brewing vessel after. But that’s it.

I know many others really liked this tea, but I found the notes to be too muted and tame. It’s kinda milquetoast. It seems to say, “all is most certainly right with the world, dearie” with such an eerie wtf calm that I almost feel offended. The idealized world where this tea belongs doesn’t exist for 99.9% of people, so I hope whatever is left of it in clt’s storage makes it into lovely silver teacups in someone’s 407th vacation home.

Meh. It’s not the tea’s fault. I’m just in a grumpy mood. Will try again next year.

Very gentle. A solid, clean, entry level raw, but nothing to write home about.

Well, the leftovers taste great in the morning brewed more or less western style.

Takes forever to loosen up. Brewed in a new tea set. Eventually lost patience after about 10 steeps and prodded the nuggets open with a pick. This changed the flavor and made the liquid cloudier. Next time I will try to stay patient. Sharing tea makes it enjoyable in a different way, but also impossible to take flavor/scent notes.

1. discard
2. Smells like a breakfast cereal that I can’t place.
3-7 Has a temper if you oversteep, but smells dynamic. I do not have the time today to pay attention to each change. This sessions’s already been interrupted by 4 phone calls and a vast stream of texts. All I can say is that the mystery cereal is gone and has been replaced a sprightly vegetal thing. Throat feels a bit dry.
8. The energy is like the melodic line of “Once Upon A Dream” from Sleeping Beauty. The visual is princess Aurora waltzing with the birds and squirrel and the bunnies in the forest. https://youtu.be/LCCxnuLlS18?t=6

The harshness of newer sheng will give me a tummy ache if I go past 7 or 8 steeps, so I will stop here.

The color of the tea liquid is pretty. There are a few seeds mixed in with the leaf. You will taste what you smell in the wet leaf, which is a good thing here. I bet those who like smoother, blended whiskeys would enjoy this old, complex but rounded out shou with a subtle, sweet aftertaste. If Santa visited, you’d offer him milk and cookies. If Zatoichi visited, maybe you’d see if he’d like some of this even if he is usually more of a hojicha drinker. The wet leaf scent will make you feel like you are taking a wonderful hot spring bath in a very safe, secluded forest. I can see how others taste smoky mushroom or moss or nuts or leather or books. It is a nice gentlemanly older shou that will please most people. I prefer teas with more energy, but mugs of this would be an excellent choice to carry you through an interminable formal event.

Btw, the humidity where I am is out of whack because of the onset of cold weather and the heat that is now on at all times. I bought humidity packs for the tea but have yet to figure out an optimal solution, and have also not yet cleaned/turned on the humidifier for humans in the house. I have been smelling rice on so many CLT productions. I wonder if it’s partly because I use a gaiwan more often now, and I smell the leaves directly and more easily. I also wonder if it’s because I have to figure out how to stabilize humidity at home.

Anyway, I really like this tea. I could tell it was going to be good from the very first sip, so I relaxed and did not pay close attention to the scents and such. There is almost no bitterness well into steep 12, and a very clean, consistent energy throughout. There isn’t much qi to speak of, but at this price point, that’s fair. I was afraid after steep 6 it was going to turn smokey like the expensive Dayi I hated, but it stayed pleasant. It is not nearly as astringent as the one I tried yesterday, 2017 Jinggu Bang, and that makes sense, because this is 1 year older. All in all, I felt reassured by this tea. The scent is subtle and would not be out of place at a high end spa.

Still smells like farts for the first half dozen steeps. Was not in the right mood for this one today.

I was not a fan of the intense fartlike opening notes, which may be an acquired taste. However, this tea has really won me over within 7 steeps (the first of which was a discarded rinse). The energy is like that of a clear-eyed friend with a fine strength of character who coaxes some sense and calm into you in the midst of chaos. We do not need such valuable friends to smell great.

Had shaomai earlier that were so good that I kinda wanted to cry. Bought another order to go and immediately made plans to bring my favorite uncle to the restaurant. They had shiitake in them, so maybe I had mushrooms on the brain. At any rate, after a very hot and humid crowded day on NY/NJ public transit, I needed to go to a happy place. This CLT offering is just as I remember: sweet and comforting and chocolate-y and… wise. If this tea was a person she would be that saintly mother who somehow brought up 7 children without ever raising her voice.

song pairing: Amen – for KING & COUNTRY

I was not going to try this for another week, but the hive mind inspired me so into the gaiwan little mr. mushroom went. I agree with everyone who tasted vanilla and cocoa. I not so long ago had a real hot cocoa from scratch with a ton of vanilla extract dumped into it, and this tastes like it, except with an almost menthol like cooling aftertaste. I had Jade Rabbit earlier in the day, so I don’t know how much of it is from that. But what’s for sure is that this petite darling of the shouniverse would make a wonderful après-ski drink. It is like your peppermint hot chocolate w/ vanilla marshmallows went to a strict boarding school and matured into an elegant princess.

1. Tasted but did not drink rinse. Seems like Jingmai.
2-4. Faint apricots and fresh rice. Perhaps the rice comes from Kunlu and the apricots from Bangdong. Do raws get scented w/nuomixiang as well?

I started this last night and took many breaks, finishing it today. Kept making me rather sleepy.

My primary experience was that it smelled like sweet rice. I also suspect Jade Rabbit will respond very well to boiling. Going past 15 steeps does yield something more, but the amount of time and patience it takes to get there with gongfu is not in my budget, esp since it makes me so sleepy. I think I will do 10 steeps and grandpa the rest next time.

I have ordered another filter just in case that helps, but it has not arrived yet. This had so much fine dust despite long rinses, being a fairly recent sheng, and in a form factor that I assumed would be cleaner than average. I filtered it 3x, and it still has a gross layer of visible floating dust. I can’t pay attention to the flavors or scents because I am thinking about the dust. :T I may have to use disposable teabags from now on.

Did 3 rinses because the first sip post 2 rinses was utterly devoid of flavor. To be fair, I did not time them. I recommend double length steeps for this or maybe just grandpa, because it does not seem to reward the focus lavished upon a tea during a gongfu session. It has no off flavors, but also not much discernable personality for now. We are evidently not yet close enough friends to go off on a road trip together. 7 was a minute long but only yielded a faint added note of caramel. I will have to try this again some other time to be sure, but as of this morning I am not too excited about it.

Tried the steep I left sitting since the morning. It was nearly black and tasted of cocoa. My guess is if you brew this grandpa in a thermos and take it on the road, you will get a crowdpleasing neutral chocolatey thing, but I am a weirdo and like both my politicians and teas to challenge me with strong and detailed opinions. In that regard, this tea fails me, but that’s just me. You may love it.

At first, I was a bit bored by the opening flavor profile because I’ve had quite a few young yiwu huang pian shous. I was like all right, I guess I’ll finish this so as to not waste it. But it softly chuckles along on a subtle, gradual flavor/sensory progression, and the journey is unexpectedly elaborate. After a few hours of thinking about it, I found a fitting metaphor, but it makes me sound downright batty so I will not share it. However, I will leave you with this. Maybe CLT named this the Iron Forge not because it is the perfect drink for bourbon-swilling blacksmiths, but because of the slow burn of peaceful warmth that emanates from a session.

Accidentally did the whole session at the higher leaf ratio of 4g/45-50ml. But it was nice. I hate to break up these balls but 8 grams will often be far too much caffeine for me in one sitting. The scent of apricots is unmistakeable. Whereas the nose in tea is usually of dried fruit, this one smells like we splashed in a bit of preserves or juice. Taste and body are low key. Unassuming. A few steeps in, the juicy apricots give way to baek ahng geum (백앙금) or the sweetened white bean paste filling found in Korean pastries. I pushed a little hard and got some astringency but overall this has been quite a gentle, forgiving tea. Now the sweetness has mostly gone and the scent is of hot savory ground up legumes of some sort, peas, beans, or lentils. I dunno why but steep 6 is my favorite so far in terms of taste and mouthfeel. Do not waste this as a shared beverage during a serious conversation. You will want to focus on the tea. Several of CLT’s offerings have tasted and smelled bean-y to me, and it would be fun to know why. 7 and 8 were also lovely. Comfy scent. Nice mouthfeels. 9 and 10 are also yummy. The scent now has some faint florals in it on top of the beans. Overall, it smells like the kitchen of a very loveable cook. Isn’t that strange? It could give more if boiled, but I am calling this done at 11.

Scent is bacon. Taste is beany. I am using a gaiwan and pouring when it gets to be a color I want to drink. Every sip is filtered. This had some dust in the beginning. This tea is not dynamic in terms of flavor. It is probably too smoky for my taste. It isn’t outright offensive or anything, but given the potentially polarizing persistent char element, it does not offer much else. If there is a hidden song of flavor or sensation in this tea, I have yet to find it.

If this were space and I were a space cowgirl, I’d pass by Planet Jinggu for a planet with a more favorable atmosphere for a derk. An atmosphere that’s not so floral and vegetal. Give me fruity pu (or meaty or resinous or citric or herbal) or give me anoxic space death. Some other things that didn’t sit right with me: flat in the mouth, lots of broken material and charred bits, a little too tightly compressed. It does have great longevity, though. Material is still very green. Is that characteristic of Jinggu leaf and/or related to the level of compression? Gets bitter later on.

Get this if you like floral pu.

This tea is every bit as fragrant as potpourri in the first few steeps. It feels like I am being allowed/forced to drink a strong perfume. It largely dissipates by steep 4 or 5, and there is no way to know if the people lovingly packing [Btw these rectangular sample packets are very thoughtfully wrapped. After months of opening designer ziploc bags (hip and efficient but soulless, and basically impossible to reach the final bits of tea wedged into the hard inner folded corners) from other sources, I was moved by the meditative novelty of unwrapping chunks of tea swaddled like a baby in a single sheet of very intentionally designed paper. It is non-intuitive for modern times, I would not have gone with this palette, and maybe it will get tiresome as time passes, but it is a lovely human touch nonetheless. Koreans hold dear an untranslatable value called 정성 that includes, among other things, an extraordinarily high level of attention paid throughout a given task, and a version of it is palpable in this sort of packaging, which exudes warmth, expertise, focus, and care, all in one go. I think the slang for this sort of thing is “so extra”. Top marks here for memorable user experience design.] the samples are matching up the labels to the correct teas, but I would not describe this scent as vegetal or “sweet corn”. To me, it’s aggressively floral, more like lilies or lilacs or hyacinths or some other very pungent flower. I would believe it if they told me they’d accidentally splashed an eau de parfum on this tiny chunk of dried leaf. I was apprehensive to taste it at all, because I had not enjoyed teas labeled “Lincang” before. Then again, my process for brewing sheng has evolved considerably over this past year, so perhaps I should go back and give the other one another go. I don’t know yet if it’s good or bad, but these teas from CLT are so far not what I expected. The first sheng I tried from them was like warm sticky rice water, and this one was most like concentrated floral perfume. I am very curious now what the others will be like.

Changes since last time. I use teabags as needed. I also seldom use clay pots anymore. It feels less mystical, but porcelain and glazed ceramic facilitate a cleaner tasting experience. So I tossed the 2nd half of this ball into a teabag and then into a lin’s pottery vessel. After a long hiatus from incense I am back on the aloeswood. While I do think kunlu is an acquired taste, clt’s sample packs have caused me to, over time, be won over. I would still describe the primary opening signature flavor as bark, but there is a distinct pre-taste aura of cocoa nibs or something dry and nutty. And as you steep more, it burbles into a low key vegetable sweetness. It is like a reserved, dry-humored person who opens up to you over time, in unannounced spurts. This is not the giddy social butterfly who makes rounds at parties giving everyone airy cheek kisses or frat boy pats on the butt. It also doesn’t slip you drugs. It doesn’t ever compliment you to your face, but somehow leaves you with the sneaking suspicion that it sometimes gushes about you to other teas when you aren’t present. Like, this tea secretly doesn’t mind that you exist, and you are in on the secret, but we don’t talk about that because remember, it is a secret. It is maybe a cat, not a dog. Make sense? No? Okay.

Broke ball in half and brewed in a 80ml yellow clay pot that takes forever to empty. It took a while to get the hang of this tea. It smells quite nice for the price. The first post-rinse steep was tasteless, because the chunk had yet to loosen up. Discard.

The next one I oversteeped. The tea does not react well to oversteeping. It is a cat that swipes right at your eyes for f-ing up. I eventually fixed the problem by beginning to drain immediately after pouring the water in. Then it purrs like it’s gonna fall asleep right in your lap.

Steep 8 was fascinating, because it did not taste like tea, but a comfy, savory leafy veggie broth. Almost rice-y, like the final sips of sungnyung, but with no toasted flavor to it. I think people who taste this will agree with me.

If this could be kept more or less at the steep 8 flavor, I’d want to add some salt to a whole pot of it and try it with some somyun as an experiment.

After it hits the rice-y, mineral-y point, it doesn’t change much. It has a good body throughout, and no qi to speak of.

I like it. I would not have identified it in a blind tasting as a sheng at all. I kept staring at the pot to make sure I was still brewing tea. But I like rice and sungnyung, so I had a good time. I wonder what a shou made of this material would taste like.