Crimson Lotus Tea

Sample. Absent aroma and minimal up front flavor. Yiwu sweet thickness present in the first two steeps, but then empties into Bulang bitterness and astringency (I get more Bulang character out of this one than I do with the ’14 CL Bulang Shan Tribute Tea). Really moderate throughout. Fast, bubbling energy to it.

Sample. Light aged aroma, bits of earth, basement, and older leaf. Cloudy first few pours. This is highly astringent, paired with some throat scratchiness. Medicinal is a good way to characterize this tea. However, I feel like it takes forever to wash down to the characteristic Bulang qualities I look for, the camphor, menthol and clean balancing bitterness. This is a bit rough on the edges. The theanine content is highly and pleasantly brain dampening. Overall, though, it seems to have gone through some advanced aging, only being 3-4 years old…perhaps the maocha sat around a bit before being pressed? Time may really help this tea, but it’s a little awkward right now.

Very clean shou, I even took a sip of the rinse and it was perfectly drinkable. Tastes of petrichor, mineral, decaying wood, and leather with a little bit of cocoa. Not super complex, but tasty and super clean. Also it got me feeling tea drunk which is unusual for a shou.

Gongfu, 5g, 100C.
I’m finally getting around to writing notes on some samples I’ve got rather than just focusing on writing a grant. I just took a nap right before bed and decided to start some shou so….good decisions all around.
2 rinses, and time to taste:
Steeps 1-3, flash steeps <10s: sip is like warm soil in a nourishing way. There’s a rich bitterness to it, the texture and taste of which remind me of sipping a suspension of powdered cacao. The second steep reveals some cinnamon or nutmeg notes. The sense of dryness is definitely also reminding me of powdered spices and unsweetened chocolate. Third steep, I was wondering when (IF) this would ever become sweet. Its starting to taste and have a stickier thicker texture like chocolate syrup, but only very lightly sweetened.
Steep 4- 6, 20-30s. The liquor is already starting to get lighter, I can actually see through to the bottom of my cup. If I didn’t mention it before, early steeps of this were d a r k.
Steep 7- 9 , 1+min, The chocolate tastes have transitioned into a syrup or oily textured freshly rotting wood. There is a small bit of lasting chocolate fragrance, but not as much as I would have liked. The tea is definitely fading out by Steep 9, I think this might be the end of it.
In summary, soil→cacao→chocolate→woodiness. I would have expected that the wood would be towards the beginning. Overall, this is a fine tea but i didn’t think it was anything special. I’ll come back to this when I have a chance to leaf it harder. (I didn’t want to stay up TOO late tonight…). I also didnt find much body sensation or qi as I would like. A safe shou as there is no fish at all, but too simple for me.

def a strong tea. great for the office because it gets me going. Mainly floral, with a hint of base notes (smelling the empty cup shows the base). go easy on the leaf or its a bitter bomb. lasts for many infusions. nothing special, but its in my work rotation.

From the very first steep, Iron Forge joined the ranks of my favorite ripe pu’ers. The early infusions have a delightful smooth texture and a pleasant hot chocolate thing going, which I haven’t quite encountered in other teas. Unfortunately, this is a shou that peters out quicker than most; after four or five steeps, Iron Forge loses that special character and fades to a thin, unremarkable drink. However, when it’s good, it’s remarkably good, and it’s well worth getting at least a sample to get that experience.

Notes:

I can’t help but to think that this is what a flower dipped in honey would taste like. I don’t know why, but that’s what I think every time I take a sip. Thick, creamy, floral, slightly vegetal, and super honeyed nectar; like the folks over at Crimson Lotus robbed a honeybee hive that was hording tea leaves. It’s extremely sweet, but with the perfect amount of astringency to make it so I don’t feel like I’m drinking from a hummingbird feeder. I think I’m in love with Jingmai… and puerh.

Gongfu, 100C 5g 100ml
The wet leaves look darker than a young sheng, clearly this has been aged. Smell faintly like dry fruit. Only one rinse.
Steep 1-4, 20-30s: immediately i am hit with a thick, silkt texture, with dried fruit taste, like dried pear—it is light and not too acidic. The chunk of leaves are still opening up, and seem to be mostly leaves with only a few stems. The liquor is a rich color between honey and molasses. By steep two this is becoming a little bit more acidic like a darker dried fruit(dates). The retronasal taste (finish) i notice an almost eucalyptus-like freshness.
5- 7, strong musty sort of spicy taste— is this what camphor is and what shou pu aspires to? I’m starting to get some astringency.
8- , astringency lightening, everything giving way to some sweetness/hui gan, and this induces lots of salivation. Liquor lightening, i wish i had leafed harder. Fading back to a silkier mouthfeel on the way down again.
One of my first aged shengs, and i liked it.

30s rinse, then tried to press the gaiwan lid into it (uselessly), smells a bit sweet. Then I followed the actual instructions and waited for a few minutes before trying to press the lid into the ball again, at which point I was able to basically break it in half with the lid.

30s: Weirdly long, but the instructions recommend that for the first steep to finish breaking it up before brewing normally afterwards. Looks cloudy. For the first time, I’m totally getting what folks describe as “beany”. No other word fits better. (I want the Rancho Gordo folks to try this tea!) Smooth, and there’s a nice huigan that shows up eventually.

9s: Even beanier, with a bit of vegetal bitterness adding some interest. This is so weird and savory, a light but flavorful bean broth. I think this is the best go I’ve had at a dragon ball, gotta remember that this really is the right technique! Makes me more open to them, though I still dislike how big they are (I often prefer 4g to 8g when drinking alone!).

15s: Notably more bitter. It’s not overwhelming, more like instead of plain beans I’m having collards and beans for breakfast. It’s actually pretty yummy, in an unusual way. Maybe I should make actual beans with collards and pork for dinner, that’s sounding really good right about now. After the sip, there’s way more sweetness in the back of my throat than before, and very light stonefruit in the gently cool huigan. I keep liking it more and more.

20: A bit less beany, maybe some… citrus? And the start of mild astringency, very light mouth fuzziness and then brief stickiness.

25s: The citrus is early in the sip, then it’s beans again, and the astringency is getting a bit stronger. The end of the cup as it cooled a bit had some more bitterness, briefly. Then, again, sweetness in the back of the throat and maybe an earthier cool breath after.

30s: The savoriness has become just sort of a muted base. Some citrus remains. The fuzzy stickiness remains mild but present. The ending bitterness goes further down my throat, takes a bit to fade into moderate dryness. My forehead is starting to feel a bit heavy.

Later steeps became sort of citrusy (but without being sour!), with everything else about it becoming less intense. I didn’t get much energy or body feels aside from that bit of head heaviness, but I really liked the flavor and the aftertaste for a while there and could imagine maybe grabbing a few more at some point just for the yums.

I received two samples with an order.

The dragon ball was easy to unfurl and made for an enjoyable session.

It isn’t complex but the qi is pleasant, it would be a nice tea to take along when traveling.

First steep tasted like honeydew and sweetness, which is a rare treat! Usually shou don’t start tasting sweet until steep 3. Oddly the funkiness often associated with shou was stronger in steep 2 and 3 than 1. Oh well, I’m not complaining.

This might be the easiest shou I’ve had.

Have 25g worth of a sample that I just got around to breaking into. WHY DID I WAIT??

5g in 70ml gaiwan. Water right off boil. Flash steepings x6-7 each friggn delish both in mouth feel and interesting in taste change. Picking up notes of light woods faintly smoked, indistinct fruits. Not Bitter but somewhat astringent making me want more after each cup.

Im no ace at tacking down notes so take mine with a grain but I was very pleased with the first session of this sample.

Qi… yep there in spades too. loopy stoopid lookin at my toes like a stoner askin “What r those?” And Im not usually one to mention the feels. Pretty stoked to have received this little stash and would be very happy to have a cake or two in my stash.

How do I get bings past the spouse without getting more storage vessels?

I managed to get one of the last bricks before CLT sold out.

A year later I finally opened the wrapper and loosened enough for a session.

I love Bulang and this is no exception, it is rich, creamy and bitter sweet.

Wish I had ordered two bricks, ah well I will savor this one.

Hooked on Sheng! I’ve been mostly a chinese green tea drinker for years. Tried shou puerh on and off many times but couldn’t past the earthy taste. Crimson Lotus’s website recommended puerh’s for new people according to the kind of teas they prefer. Under green tea Hidden Song was recommended with a couple of others. I was blown away by Hidden Song. It’s everything I love about tea in concentrated, explosive tastes and sensations. I’m now hooked on Sheng.

Gong Fu Sipdown (575)!

Around nine or ten steeps, not counting my rinse at the start of the session. This was so good; wickedly smooth with strong notes of earth, wood, and vanilla. Really packs a lot of flavour into such a small tuocha – with a lot of overarching sweetness and body. I seriously cannot get over how intoxicating those vanilla notes are.

I didn’t order this on BF/CM because I was trying to being more prudent about what I was purchasing and I know that I have a lot of other Shou to get through. However, I’m kind of kicking myself for that decision.

Made a large mug of this one; which only leaves me the one mushroom left to try out Gong Fu – I’ve gotta, gotta, gotta remember to steep at least one of them that way!

This was pretty tasty though; very smooth and creamy both in terms of flavour and mouthfeel. Obviously a little bit earthy, but a sweet kind of earthy with undertones of mixed, almost ‘honey glazed’ nuts? Kind of like the tins you can get from Planters that have assorted honey roasted nuts – just without all the salt.

It’s something tasty and easy to drink, but not something that stands out enough to me to warrant a repurchase. We’ll see if Gong Fu changes my mind though.

Steeped up yesterday.

I’ve heard really good things about this one from some tea friends who’s opinions I trust very much. Most interestingly, I’ve heard this has a nice vanilla like quality to it. So even though this isn’t one that was immediately high on my list of things to try I figured I’d have to give it a go sooner rather than later.

It actually is really nice, and quite smooth overall. I didn’t really experience ‘vanilla’ from it at all, but there’s a creaminess to the body and finish that I guess I could see some people tying into a vanilla comparison. Since the top and body notes were also very nutty to me, I found that more than vanilla I found myself making a comparison to almond or cashew milk; really nut milks in general. Overall it’s really smooth and sweet. Finish is reminding me a little of figs. Sidebar, but it’s been so long since since I last bought figs to snack on at home – I should really do that…

Overall thoughts/first impression? Definitely a nice shou; however I don’t find it mind blowing/magical. Would probably make a good daily drinker kind of tea? I can see why people love it, for sure – it’s just missing some of the notes that are my ideal; strong woodyness and petrichor being the main ones. It’ll be easy for me to finish though, and no doubt that I’ll enjoy finishing it.

Sample out of my last CLT order. Pleasant shou. I’d describe it as a little bit “airier” than most shou – maybe that’s in part because of the name, who knows. Texture and flavor were both smooth, moderately thick body. Sweet flavors – pastry and a little bit of woodiness. Definitely easy drinking and tasty – I think I prefer a bit more body, to my shou, but would not be at all upset to have more of this around.

If I blindly tasted this shou I would have thought it was a 30yr sheng. It seems to be accepted that shou is a shortcut for producing something that tastes sorta like a well aged sheng but rather misses the mark yet if it’s good shou is its own thing. When I first tasted a sample of this I was instantly reminded of a 1985 tuo of gushu sheng made of Nanuo and Banzhang material I was lucky enough to procure . The elegantly woody, tobaccoish autumn forest notes were all there. The only thing it lacked was the sink into your chair and grin at the floor for the next 4 hours qi of the tuo. The qi I got from this was the calm but energetic qi I expect from a Jingmai. Bottom line…to my palate this stuff tastes not like a shou but a well aged sheng. If these folks could figure how replicate the qi of a 30yr sheng they could retire quite comfortably… as for now, they got the taste nailed.

Slightly bitter, nutty-earthy and slightly bitter after old books, no “where dui wei” any more present, quite persistent though somewhat mixed leaf quality.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2000-old-warrior-clt

Yet another Puerh TTB sample! Been busting through these I guess – trying to sip down the sample stash (at least the overflow that isn’t in the pumidor). I didn’t really take notes on this one. I recall it being vegetal and creamy – sweet and pleasant to drink for sure. There was a bit of an astringency issue for just a couple steeps when the heavily compressed chunk finally broke apart for me, but that’s more my fault than the tea’s. A bit of honey sweetness and pretty good body to this one as well.

Nice as it was, and as cute as the wrappers are, I don’t think this session has inspired me to add one to my next CLT order.

Just finished an amazing session of my sample of Special Sauce by Crimson Lotus Tea courtesy of Liquid Proust. Before the rest of my post, go buy a bing of this – only about 5 are in stock and it is totally worth it! The leaf of this is very nice looking, loosely compressed which suits my horrible skills with breaking apart tea. The aroma of the dry leaf is sweet and floral with the signature Liquid Proust storage aroma which is a nice musky mustiness. Wet, the aroma is very similar but sweeter. Taste is similar to the aroma – sweet, musky, and floral. Sweetness really, really lingers in the mouth and there is heavy presence in the throats right off the bat. Qi is very hard hitting, warmth and tingling around temples and sinuses started on my 3rd cup. Highly, highly recommended. Glen says that Slumbering Dragon has a similar musky floral character so I’ve got to check that out next. For some reason I thought it was a ye sheng purple so I’ve been avoiding buying a sample.

Storm Breaker is quite unique and accurately named as I got plenty of notes of dirt, petrichor, rainfall, and finishing of marine. It’s like a rainfall cleaning away the dirt and the final steeps being cleansed.

However, I would certainly sit on this shou for a year or two to get more tighter texture and resteeps. This tea has a lot of room to age as it isn’t fully fermented. As is, drinking in 2017, you need to rinse it multiple times to get the wet piled funk out.

Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/2017-storm-breaker-shou-puer-crimson-lotus-tea/