Dry – Sweet, nutty(corn), some mellow floral notes, thick-cream, peach/apricot/apples.
Wet – Sweet, fruity, sweet-corn, thick/buttery, berries/apricot, musky melon(sweet woody notes/raisins).
Liquor – Pale Gold color with mostly sweet scent.
Initial Steeps are very mellow with sweet and nutty notes. It has a very apparent smoothness up front that becomes very thick as it goes down. To me it has a savory base when is going down and returns to the sweeter side one it washes away bringing the fruit notes to the front.
Middle Steeps (4-7) Are very similar in taste still with no real ‘collapse’ in taste which usually happens around the 5-6 steep in most young Sheng. The liquor is still very smooth and maintained most of its characters with only a slightly less thick body and some astringency forming (started as full but feels medium bodied now).
Final Steeps The liquor is still fairly smooth with some cumulative astringency and some ‘ghostly’ notes from what was very apparent in the initial steeps.
Final Notes
I liked this tea, I feel like it holds up pretty damn well, but to be fair that has to do with the fact that the tea is not that complex to begin with, it has very good notes but in terns of complexity I would say this one is very easy going and straight foward, although the wet leaves hints of a bit more complexity.
I found it to be a calming Sheng with no aggressive Cha Qi and good thick body, I loved how it was satisfying to drink a Sheng during Winter. Also, even though I felt like it was getting thinner past the 6-7 steep, allowing it to rest for a few hours allowed me to get 3 more thick steeps, granted they were mostly flat sweet with ghostly notes of fruit.
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Flavors: Apricot, Butter, Sweet, Thick
Preparation
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Comments
interesting! sounds tasty
It is! You should try the 2014 version, I would echo this very same description, but with more thickness and the fruit notes are stronger as well.
dropped it on to my wishlist heh
2 years later, I find this one lacking body, but getting more interesting. Not necessarily complex, but dynamic and very warming in the chest.
I haven’t kept up with this one. I should try it later this week to see how it is coming up!
I had the 2013 sample but a 2014 cake. The cake still has body to it, but it is astringent and lots activity in the mouth. I think this one I would age for a while before going back to it.
I tried it again after resting it. It was like day and night. I can definitely see this aging really well. It had more thickness, astringency almost gone, candied fruit notes and hints of grapefruit.
I have a bias towards spring teas. I was surprised that the 2013 autumn version was actually interesting and changing.
interesting! sounds tasty
It is! You should try the 2014 version, I would echo this very same description, but with more thickness and the fruit notes are stronger as well.
dropped it on to my wishlist heh
2 years later, I find this one lacking body, but getting more interesting. Not necessarily complex, but dynamic and very warming in the chest.
I haven’t kept up with this one. I should try it later this week to see how it is coming up!
I had the 2013 sample but a 2014 cake. The cake still has body to it, but it is astringent and lots activity in the mouth. I think this one I would age for a while before going back to it.
I tried it again after resting it. It was like day and night. I can definitely see this aging really well. It had more thickness, astringency almost gone, candied fruit notes and hints of grapefruit.
I have a bias towards spring teas. I was surprised that the 2013 autumn version was actually interesting and changing.