Sheng Pu'erh

Definitely getting honey and caramel notes with this one today, over a light grassy note.

This tea has an earthy tobacco flavor with a very forward astringency. Aroma and flavor remind me of the aroma of my father’s Holiday brand pipe tobacco in the 1970’s. A strong-flavored tea, I did not detect notes of caramel in the batch I received. As I am not overwhelmed by the flavor, I will continue to look for a Puerh I like better. This was the last of this 2 oz envelope and I will not be re-ordering. I don’t hate it, I just don’t like it very much.

Day 1 of my DIY 24 Days of DAVIDsTea!

I totally forgot that I had meant to review each tea I open up leading up to Christmas, so this is coming after day two, but I digress…

This one was slightly unexpected, but I was also happy to open up a traditional straight tea before delving into an array of festive blends. Since purchasing this nearly two years ago, I’ve grown to appreciate the complex notes of this puerh. It still has a nutty earthiness, along with a scent and flavour laced with notes of tobacco.

This tea tastes terrible to me! I really do not know why I ordered it to be honest as I know I don’t care for pu’erh teas too much. I am afraid that it’s going for a trip down the drain.

Hmmm…

I guess this is OK to use as the entry for the new Sheng Pu’erh that DT just launched last week for Lunar New Year!? I’m not at all sure if the Sheng carried five years ago that this entry was made for and the one that we just started carrying are produced in the same area of Yunnan or not but… Oh well? We did call them literally the same thing…

Anyway; this Sheng has about a year of age on it and is maocha instead of pressed. I brewed it up my first tasting Grandpa style and was actually pretty impressed with how smooth it was given that, at least in my opinion, DT doesn’t have the best track record for carrying awesome pu’erhs. It’s a little sweeter, a little fruitier – notes of red fruit and honey with more of that cooling camphor and ‘green’ taste in the finish. I’d say that this is DEFINITELY something that more serious and seasoned sheng drinkers won’t love but as a really simple introductory tea to Sheng and for most of DT’s tea consumers who will have never even heard of Sheng pu’erh before I think this is a really approachable way to be introduced to it.

I think it’s very cool that DT is exploring Sheng again – we haven’t for five years! Hopefully it goes well enough that in the future we can look at carrying some Sheng that would be more appealing to more seasoned Sheng drinkers…

Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

This was one of the oodles of samples OMGsrsly gave me (thank you!)

I was really curious about this one! I don’t know what I was expecting, but this is a SUPER friendly sheng, which makes sense when you think about who was carrying it. The leaves smell kind of peachy-fruity when wet and the first few steeps are honey sweet with no bitterness and a hint of grassiness.

Unfortunately, if unsurprisingly, this tea has virtually no endurance. I didn’t bother with a rinse (1st steep was just 15s right off the bat) and I still only got about 4 steeps out of it, and the 4th was pretty ehhh.

Still I’m happy to have tried it, and tbh I think this was a good pick on davidstea’s part as an approachable intro sheng. It’s so mild that I wouldn’t be surprised if you could get away with steeping this western style. I gave a bit to my mom and she said it was, “Not bad,” which is high praise from someone who won’t touch most of my other stuff haha.

I like deep floral leafy teas, I swear. I’ve loved it with green teas and oolongs but when I came to Sheng Pu’erh, the first time I tried it, it was just ew. I couldn’t pick up on any notes besides bitterness and extreme earthy tastes. I did 3 steepings getting just a weaker version than the one before. It’s sitting in a baggy in my cupboard now, and I’m awaiting when it’ll be “aged” enough to be drinkable.

This was the first sheng I’ve ever brewed western, or the first pu-erh for that matter. I can tell that there is a reason why I don’t brew this western. The taste of this was very subtle. It carried a slightly sweet astringent flavor. The aroma was a strong sheng scent with wet wood undertone. I could taste a fresh pine flavor. This didn’t really do “it” for me. I appreciate being able to experience it, but I don’t think I’ll ever drink this again. This was a very generic sheng, and it carried no distinguishing flavors or depth. The fact that the name is very general should have been my first sign of its basic taste profile.

Slight sweetness and creaminess. This one definitely benefited from a longer infusion time at a higher temperature

Ehhhh. I got a half oz of this last time I was at Davids. It sounded good on their website and I figured why not? Lol. I don’t have any exprience with puerh tea ough, so I really wasn’t sure what to expect aside from what I’ve read.
It said to use 1 1/2 tsp, but the leaves were so fluffy I had to estimate. Since I was making 12 oz, I used about 2 heaping tsp (as best as I could figure), steeped at 185* for 3 min.
I have to say that while the dry leaves didn’t really have much of a scent, the brew smells like the water in my aquarium. Fishy. Ugh! Makes me want to pour the whole mug out but since it’s brewed, I might as well try it.
Taste wise I only get a bit of ‘fishy’ taste but that might be from smelling it as I drink, and it’s kinda grassy tasting. Maybe seaweed? I think someone else had mentioned seaweed, so I guess it makes sense. I still find it unpleasant though.
Maybe puerh just isn’t for me. Or I just haven’t found the right version. Who knows.
The package does say that in a year or so this tea will get better, but I’m not sure I want to even give that a shot. Not to mention I’m not sure if this should be stored sealed up like other teas or open like I know puerh is supposed to be stored.
Likely this’ll go into the swap bin, or possibly into the Traveling Tea box I’m considering throwing together.