I drank this one during a teafriends google hangout today :) I decided to give it a try after some recent discussions about Lincang Gut Bombs – apparently this region doesn’t agree with some people! I haven’t had any stomach problems from sheng so far, so I saw this as a challenge almost. Happy to report I had no digestional distress as a result of this session.
Having never brewed a sheng teaball before, I referred to the nice instructions that Crimson Lotus Tea has for their Planet Jingmai ball. After getting it to open up, I got about a dozen steeps from this ball.
First 3-4 steeps were sweet and creamy, with an interesting finish that I found hard to place – maybe piney, but not smokey. After that, the astringency started to pick up a little bit, but it was not overwhelming in any way. There was still a good underlying sweetness as well. Not as much of the “maybe pine” flavor anymore. The last 5-6 steeps were smooth and drinkable, still slightly astringent, with slight honey sweetness and some whispers of apricot.
The leaves of this tea were beautiful, as I have rather come to expect from White 2 Tea’s productions. It was cool seeing these big and nice leaves coming from the previously tightly compressed little ball. I’m glad to see that my gut doesn’t disagree with Lincang material as well! Sorry to those who do have that problem!
Flavors: Apricot, Astringent, Creamy, Honey, Pine, Sweet
