200cc Zisha ShuiNi (Zhuni) pot. The smell of the dry leaves is sweet grass and wet the smell is more intense with a fruity note I can’t quite describe.
Rinse 10s, Rest 10 minutes.
Steeps
1st – 10s – A bit light and sweet. Nice crisp finish, but not much body. Bit of a honey and grass.
2nd – 15s – A bit more depth with a sweet slightly astringent finish that I love in sheng puerhs. I thought I was imagining in the first steeping, but the cha qi comes one really fast! I have breakfast this morning and I refused to eat before this session so as not to affect my taste buds so that might have something to do with it. LOL!
3rd – 20s – intended 15s, but started my pour late. Love the sweet aftertaste (hiugan?) It’s like a sweet astringency that just last and lasts.
4th – 20s – Ok, maybe just on an empty stomach, but man does this tea pack quite a punch. Love it! And the sweet aftertaste really does last forever. I really can’t pin down other flavors or notes. Just this slight honey sweetness and green tea that ends with this long lasting, crisp sweetness. I only had 50cc – 100cc of this one as my wife walked up, had a sip and promptly stole the rest of the pot.
5th – 25s – Just good tea. Starting to pick up notes of stone fruit.
6th – 30s – Stone fruit notes more pronounced. The cha qi just awesome. Stopped and had some food before this steeping and the sort of tingling, energetic sensation was starting to fade. 50cc into this steep and bam! Back on full bore.
7th – 30s – I was surprised and slightly offended when I looked down and found my cup unexpectedly empty. Then I remembered I was the culprit… time for another steep. :)
8th – 45s – A little light. Next steep should be 60s to 75s. Even with a slightly lighter brew the crisp sweet ending remains.
9th – 75s – That did the trick! Full flavor, thick and stone fruit. I’m going to try extending my steep times earlier next time I have this tea as it doesn’t seem overly astringent or sharp. Holy crap the cha qi is strong. Kind of sweating and tingling here. Of course I’ve had 1.8L (just shy of .5 Gallons US) of this tea at this point so…. LOL!
10th – 90s – Might have been a touch to strong at 90s, but damned good and a welcome bit of bite for me. Wrapping my work day up now so I’ll resume after dinner. I’m sure there a few more steeps in the leaves. I’ll pick up with the 11th in my next note/review.
If I were going to introduce a newbie to sheng pu’erh this one would be a great choice! I’ve only had one other sheng that I felt I could do that with. I really wish that I could afford to have this sheng as an everyday tea.
Flavors: Honey, Tea
