318 Tasting Notes
From the Pu TTB
This is my first tea from Crimson Lotus. The tightly rolled tea takes a few steeps to fully open up. Nice floral and honey notes on the first steep. Moderately bitter and lightly mineral and fruity. HONEY! The honeyed taste only seems to become more prominent with further steeps. A very nice sheng that I would consider buying, though a bit pricey for me at $6/planet.
I made my first order with Crimson Lotus a couple of days ago; a little black jian shui pot! Did anyone pick one up from them last year? I look forward to trying it out and comparing to yixing
Flavors: Floral, Honey, Mineral
Preparation
A free sample from Teavivre!
I’ve never had a buckwheat tea before, but I certainly find this one enjoyable! Very clean and soothing with toasted grain, nut, and buttery notes and a light sweetness. The brewed kernals also make a nice snack. Since I have another sample packet left I think I’ll have to try mixing this with some green tea, maybe the Lu Shan Yun Wu
Flavors: Butter, Roasted Barley, Sweet
Preparation
Tried this in the Pu TTB and ended up buying a three pack of shrooms! Starting out my birthday with a session of this nice shou. I think I have strep throat, but that’s not stopping me from enjoying some tea on my birthday.
The first steep has camphor, dark cocoa, and earthy notes with a slight fruityness. It’s really nice and clean, malty, and mineral.
Later steeps give a nice creamy texture and a prominent vanilla/spice note with hints of raisin and dense bread. There’s very little fermentation flavor.
Flavors: Creamy, Earth, Mineral, Vanilla
Preparation
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday!
Saw this review and decided to buy it since Yunnan Sourcing is currently having a sale on ripe tea. Happy Birthday.
Happy birthday young man!
Thanks for the birthday wishes! I think you’ll like it Allan
Happy birthday^^
Hope you had a great birthday!
A super interesting tea!
The dry leaves are huge! 50 grams came in the larger sized bag that normally fits 100. They’re purple and green and black and red with a musty aroma of pine and ripe fruit.
Brewing it up you get a warm yellow liquid with a floral aroma. There’s a fruity taste like peaches and white grapes, and slightly medicinal like pine and mint. It’s a soft and mellow brew that reminds me of fresh clothes out of the dryer. The taste is similar to YS’s Sundried Purple Buds but overall more enjoyable for me. The wet leaves are olive green to light brown with lots of bud sets.
Flavors: Floral, Mint, Peach, Pine, White Grapes
Preparation
This has received some good reviews. Have you tried the Dehong purple raw pu’er? How would you compare the two?
I do have a purple Dehong brick! The raw puerh is much more bitter and powerful and medicinal tasting. This is more mellow and fruity, sort of like a purple Dehong sheng crossed with Bai Mudan
Nice! I do wish I had purchased that while it was on sale. But, I now have too much tea and am only purchasing things I’m only purchasing items I’m crazy about. This does seem like a curious tea!
How long did it take for this tea to sell out last year, because Scott told me that this will be in stock soon, and I will be traveling in a little bit, so I was wondering if I will have time to buy it when I get back (after 3 months).
I’m not sure, I think it might have sold out pretty quick though
The dry leaves are small and wiry with lots of golden fur floating about, I think the furriest tea I’ve ever seen. It has a slight woodsmoke aroma. Malt, sweet potato, peat, lightly fruity and moderately smoky. Very mild with an excellent silky texture
Flavors: Cocoa, Peat, Smoke, Sweet Potatoes
Preparation
Brews a medium yellow-orange. Very earthy and woody definitely aged “beyond it’s years”. Thick and buttery with notes of pretzel, citrus, sandalwood, camphor, and vanilla. Slightly medicinal. Moderate honey sweetness and a fairly strong bitterness.
Part of me wants to like this tea a lot, but I get a sort of off putting note that reminds me of over-ripe oranges on a hot day. I suppose that’s a strange thing to taste, but I grew in Florida with an abandoned orange grove in the back yard. It had it’s perks; free oranges and the lovely scent of orange blossoms wafting though the air. It also had it’s downsides though; rotten fruit and rats and rattlesnakes thicker than your arm! Any way you put it the taste of this tea brings me back.
Flavors: Bitter, Camphor, Citrus, Honey, Vanilla, Wood
Preparation
Drinking this tea I couldn’t help but exclaim “Tastes like chicken!” Not as in it actually tastes like chicken, but as in it’s an excellent example of what a “very ok” sheng tastes like. It’s fairly bitter with a flavor thats slightly vegetal and green like parsley. Theres some honeyed sweetness, and the alcohol/gasoline scent that you get from a lot of fresh factory sheng. Theres a touch of apricot and tobacco, and just a hint of smoke. Brewing reveals chopped and shredded leaves. It’s a very ok tea.
Flavors: Grass, Honey, Parsley
Preparation
A free sample from Oolong Inc!
A good medium-dark roast oolong with a faint osmanthus scent. Roasty notes of wood and burnt sugar balanced with tangy and floral flavors. Osmanthus has an odd flavor to me, it reminds me a lot fresh jalapeno, without the spice
A pretty nice oolong, and at a price point that’s more than reasonable
Flavors: Burnt Sugar, Osmanthus, Resin, Roasted, Tangy, Wood
Preparation
From the Pu TTB
A nice slightly aged sheng thats lost most of its greenness. Sweet and herbaceous with notes of sugarcane, basil, and moss. Slightly vegetal and mineral with a floral rose quality. I liked this one quite a bit and decided to pick up a cake, it’s a good price for a tea with a little age behind its back.
Flavors: Earth, Herbaceous, Mineral, Moss, Raisins
Preparation
never found most of those notes in a sheng
hey, try a cake that’s 10+ years old! you will not be disappointed :D
It’s a pretty unique tasting one!
I’ve tried a few over 10 years but not many. The only one I have a cake of is the 2002 Yiwu Ancient Spirit from YS, it’s nice! I’ve been thinking about adding some more aged sheng to my collection, but its hard to find a good one that isn’t too expensive :(
Try a Xiaguan 8673 or 8653 from ’05 or ’06. The one I have took a while to air a bit but has a lovely strong aged flavour. Ive seen them in the $40 range
Thanks for the recommendation Rasseru, who sells those?
I bought from an ebay seller that is no longer in business.. I have the 8673. afaik the 8653 is only smaller grade leaves, such as this http://www.ebay.com/itm/2005-Yunnan-Xiaguan-8653-Raw-Pu-er-Tea-Free-Shipping-/221867756805?var=&hash=item793fd1f534 (a bit more expensive than I thought $64)
@tperez, sounds yummy, can you link me?
@rasseru, sounds awesome! does YS sell it? if so, can you link me?
Thanks Rasseru! I may have to try it
Kirk, its here http://yunnansourcing.com/en/otherfactories/1994-2002-yi-wu-ancient-spirit-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake-330-grams.html its nice and kind of camphor/spicy, the price has gone up a lot since I bought it though
I havent seen these cakes on YS, but berryleb has a good reputation here for selling decent puerh. The ones I have bought have all been good.
Thanks guys
I bought one of the black Shi Pao pots last year, 100ml. I adore it. I use it for young sheng and it makes the soup so smooth. Congrats on your pot! I’m sure you’ll really like. I’m eyeing one of the red Bian Xishi pots…
Glad you like it! Mine is a 90ml bian xishi, the smallest pot I’ve ever had, but hopefully not too small
It shouldn’t be. CLT also sells 60ml pots.
I saw that! Personally I’m more comfortable with the 100-150ml range, but I did have a gaiwan about 90ml that I liked
I like different sizes for different teas. Larger gaiwan for rolled oolongs, for instance. I seem to be preferring smaller and smaller pots these past couple years. I don’t want to drink from too much leaf, keeping the same water:leaf ratio, especially when I’m sampling (samples are what my stash consists of 75% of the time).
Every time I hold my pots, I’m still surprised at how small they are!