Sipdown! This was included in my Feb 2020 Premium Tea Club box, and has been sitting in dark storage for 2 yr since my last note on it. (Cakes and samples are still for sale affordably on the YS website.). Today I steeped my last bit of it — a 5.3 g chunk — in 8 oz. boiling alpine spring water, after a 10s rinse under hot tap water, in my stainless steel infusion basket. I was unable to pry apart the leaves very well, so some compressed chunks remained.
The first 15s. steep yielded a clear dark yellow tea with a tidepool aroma of seaweed, salt, fresh mussels and… tea. The flavor was smooth, mild, umami, and not at all fishy or decayed. A distinct chestnut flavor was apparent, but no woodiness. The leaves had not fully expanded. A second steep, 25 s. gave a clear light brown tea, only slightly marine, but nicely aromatic of fresh tea with some assamica notes of malt. The leaf had mostly loosened up and separated here. There was some astringency, but mostly a smooth clean flavor of assamica-like malty tea. Traces of mint lingered in the finish. I really liked this and already believe it is among my favorite sheng pu’erhs!
After a 30 min. pause, the third steep of 45 s. and #4 of 2.5 min. produced more clear bright brown tea with aroma and taste much like the second. Another pause, of 90 min. Steep #5 (1 min.) and #6 (5 min.) were much the same, but a bit more dilute. Raising my rating by 20 points now.
Flavors: Astringent, Chestnut, Malt, Salt, Seaweed, Shellfish, Umami
