2016 Hidden Song

Notes from 9/2/19.

DISCLAIMER: I’m STILL trying to develop my puerh chops. “Hidden Song” (2016) seems to be a good innocuous introduction to young sheng puerh tea. I’m looking forward to trying the others. Maybe one day puerhs will finally resonate with me (outside of a few outliers), but in the meantime, I use samplers to get a feel for what I do and don’t like in puerh.

This is a very mild, easy-to-drink tea, insofar as I find young sheng puerhs.
The flavors work together, but it’s innocuous as flavors go. It’s kinda of a middle-of-the road for me.

FLAVOR-WISE: There’s a bit of smoke, cooked vegetal flavors bordering on corn/nori. I think this needs at least 2 rinses, as the first infusions were very mild in flavor. Later infusions were much better. There’s a good viscocity and smokey aftertaste. Very mild astringency.

Brew info:
- tea 5.22 grams
- water 150 ml
- temp:200 deg
- brewing : 15s, 30, 45, 60

This tea is very light coloured despite being 3 years old, but it tastes more aged than it looks. Overall, I found it to have very little astringency and bitterness. I agree with derk’s evaluation, this is an easy to drink sheng that has no obvious drawbacks, apart from maybe being somewhat boring for more experienced drinkers.

There isn’t much of note in terms of aromas. As for the taste, it starts out light and balanced with a grassy character, but quickly turns into a fairly smoky tea with notes of leather and green beans. It has a medium body and a cooling, silky mouthfeel.

The aftertaste is maybe the most interesting aspect of the tea, and indicative of good quality material. It has a fruity sweetness and a sour note. It soon gets quite vegetal with notes like lime leaves and then turns savoury towards the end of the session. This is definitely not a tea to drink when you are looking for cha qi or huigan though.

Good morning! It is 8 am here, seems like another lazy day with cuppa of good tea. It is cloudy, it seems rain will come. Typical autumn weather I guess. Tea from derk.

No rinse, 3.5 grams, 85 ml gaiwan.
Wet leaf reminds me smoky lapschang, maybe bit of bacon. But in taste it is vegetal, bit salty, but still good. Okay, that was description of rinse.

1st steep, typical setup – 15 seconds.
Mellow sheng, vegetal a bit. Some refreshing note is there too.

2nd, 30 seconds
Much better, more flavourful, more full-in-taste. Good one.

3rd, 40 seconds
Derk is completly right. For newbies of pu-erh this is great tea. Why? It is easy to steep, it is tasty. But as well good to find if I like shengs or not. It shows little of astringency too, bit of vegetal taste, bit of sweet notes. Just easydrinking tea. But I am still a baby in world of Pu-erh. Yep, trying “more adult ones” but I am not really sure if pu-erh world is for me. I prefer oolongs :P

4th, 45 seconds.
Another easydrinking steep. It is tasty, maybe bit of peaches. Headache disappears slowly (I took a pill)

5th, 60 seconds.
Peach notes dominate this steep. Few of other stonefruits in background. Maybe plums?

6th, let it go seconds. More than 60. I do it with last steeps and usually it turns out tasty.
And it is tasty again.

Derk – thank you for this tea. I have half left, so maybe another day… But I know,I can expect good sheng with typical tastes for sheng. Little astringency, little sweetness, little vegetal. Stonefruits too. In conclusion, good tea, but clearly not top notch. Maybe my session was too long too.

Food pairing: oat cookies
Song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwtdhWltSIg

If I had to introduce somebody to the world of puerh, and this person had sheng-y trepidations, Hidden Song would be first pick. It’s friendly, mild and sweet with some throaty astringency and light bitterness. The warmed/rinsed leaf has an aroma of cooked sweet blackberries, an umami that lies along a meaty-beany spectrum, dusty florals and old books, moderate flat smoke. The fruity aroma drops away in the brew, leaving a viscous soup that tastes like sweet yellow bean paste with hints of those dusty florals and old books, both of which later become dominant. Some mild, well integrated lemony sourness on the sides of the tongue also makes a presence. A tea difficult to screw up.

If you’re brand new to puerh, I’d highly suggest this tea. The lower score is only my personal preference.

Scent is bacon. Taste is beany. I am using a gaiwan and pouring when it gets to be a color I want to drink. Every sip is filtered. This had some dust in the beginning. This tea is not dynamic in terms of flavor. It is probably too smoky for my taste. It isn’t outright offensive or anything, but given the potentially polarizing persistent char element, it does not offer much else. If there is a hidden song of flavor or sensation in this tea, I have yet to find it.

Hooked on Sheng! I’ve been mostly a chinese green tea drinker for years. Tried shou puerh on and off many times but couldn’t past the earthy taste. Crimson Lotus’s website recommended puerh’s for new people according to the kind of teas they prefer. Under green tea Hidden Song was recommended with a couple of others. I was blown away by Hidden Song. It’s everything I love about tea in concentrated, explosive tastes and sensations. I’m now hooked on Sheng.

I guess I’m really developing a palate for shengs!

First sip, and I was amazed at how good Hidden Song was. It’s my first real taste of a sheng with vegetal and spice notes. It was a tasty and pleasant surprise!

Other reviewers mentioned that it was smokey a bit. I think it’s there, but very subtle and I wouldn’t have been able to distinguish it if I weren’t looking.

Good tea, I might cake it.

Drinking up a sample of this today. The wet leaf has a wonderful sour plum or apricot smell.

The first steep comes out quite light, though the body is already coming forward quite strongly. This is quite a “mid-centered” tea, with a forward body and a hint of maybe spiciness to it. Overall it’s quite low in bitterness and has a long lasting aftertaste of mellow sweetness. Definitely an enjoyable tea for me, though I find it lacks any particular high notes and mostly hangs around in mid to low notes.

I received this sample from Crimson Lotus Tea, thank you.

Flash steeped in a gaiwan I found the tea clean, sweet and vegetal. Quite mellow and easy on the stomach. I noticed a slight tingling feeling on the front of my tongue.
When pushed a bitterness came to the front but sometimes I enjoy that kind of bitter.

I may order a cake so I can revisit this tea down the road to see how it changes.

After the gaiwan I got out my dragon egg Jian Shui from Crimson Lotus which I hadn’t dedicated. In went the Hidden Song, the tea found its pot.

My first tasting of today is hidden song by crimson lotus. I started by doing a single wash, there was almost no sediment and the leaves opened up enough that I decided a second wash wasnt needed.

The first infusion produced a very clear pale yellow liquor with a mild sweet and vegetal taste. I was very impressed with it was this flavorful on the first infusion after a single wash. The second infusion however was much better, a slightly darker liquor and a more intense sensations of the flavors and aroma as well as a slight wood and smoke aroma. Not too intense.. just pleasantly mild.

Third and fourth infusions were very slightly more intense, with the vegetal flavor coming out more strongly. I know Im missing some of the subtler flavors here, I can smell and taste them but cant quite identify what they are.

Overall the tea is nice , easy to drink, and refreshing. I highly recommend this for anyone looking for young sheng to drink now. I buy teas with the intention of drinking them now, not how they will age in a few years. And this one is sweet, mellow and vegetal and is very pleasant to drink.