Master Han's 2013 Sheng Pu'er (Amoda)

I re-steeped this three times, and it was really good! It still surprises me that 10 seconds is the right amount of time to steep, but apparently it is. APPARENTLY.

It started off as sweet and lightly creamy, but progressed to a woodsier brew. I probably could have kept going with it but I dumped my leaves into the sink and then figured it was time to move onto a different tea. But I am learning to enjoy puerhs more and maybe there’s something to Sheng.

This tea really made me happy I grabbed the Amoda box because I likely would not have had it any time soon and getting pushed out of my comfort zone is just what I need!

This tea is by this company from this company by this farmer.. holy middle man smoley… But it is a good thing for the farmer. More eyes on his tea.

Marine attributes will assault your nose first. Fish market. Seaweed. Salted dried fish. And raw woods. Green woods. That is all in the liquor aroma. The marine notes fade for the woody notes in the flavor. Deep mossy woods. Red wood forest. There is an astringency but it doesn’t fully develop until you steep it longer. It’s slightly metallic when steeped too long. It is also very smooth on the palate.

Interesting, but no.

Anyone interested in this one? People who I have on my shipping list preferred. :)

I’ve been drinking a lot of oolong the last couple of days, and I wanted to do something different. I found this in my pantry. I’d forgotten I had it!

I should have looked at the clock because I have plans this evening that come with a good length car trip to start. Well, hopefully I can find a place to stop when I have to, because I can’t stop drinking this tea.

I dumped the first two quick rinses, as I’ve seen that suggested recently. Then I really started into this tea.

oh emm gee

Deliciousness.

sweet but almost floral. Barely earthy, but it’s there. Creamy. Incredibly creamy.

Each infusion is a little different than the previous one.

I can’t believe how beautiful this tea is. And that I didn’t try it until now.

What was I thinking?!?

Even on the 6th infusion, I’m still getting such sweet notes to this, but it’s getting a little woody-ish. Sort of.

It’s hard to describe the beautiful party happening in my mouth with each sip.

I want more. I need more. I have to stop drinking because we have to leave very soon.

I’m going to hold the leaves and hope they’re still good when we get back.

Okay, tea friends, since I love this tea, what other sheng pu-erhs do you recommend???

This sheng impressed me from the start. The dry leaves had a grapey aroma, reminiscent of a first flush Darjeeling. The grapey aroma lightly carries into the flavor along with a smoky aftertaste. This is a mellow sheng, even with only one year of aging. The musty, woodsy flavors are not prominent at all. This is a great sheng to start with if you’d like to try pu’er tea.

Backlog:

A very special Pu-erh. A young one, so definitely one that I’ll hold on to for a while before I drink the rest of it. Let it age a bit.

Very little earthiness here, as I would expect from such a young Pu-erh. It is more vegetal than it is earthy. The vegetative taste falls somewhere between steamed spinach and kelp.

A light, refreshing Pu-erh, sweet and slightly floral, and there is a creaminess to this that took me by surprise. A distinct nutty tone and a bright citrus note too.

A really interesting pu-erh, I’m glad I got to try it. Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/03/16/master-hans-2013-sheng-pu-er-tea-verdant-tea/

Smooth smoky, woodsy, musty flavour.

Subsequent infusions at 2 and 3 minutes were more flavourful. I would definitely try this one again with a longer first time infusion.

Rating: 83

Thanks to Kittenna for sharing with me!

Broke this out this morning. It’s the first, and probably only February Amoda tea I’ll have, because the others are too floral for me, and I have sensitivities to florals.

This is pretty tasty, but honestly, it is no better than the Sheng Pu Erh I can get locally from David’s. They’re extremely similar.

I haven’t seen anybody’s else’s reviews on this one (because I’ve been lazy, I see that they are there), but I was pleasantly surprised by this tea. I put maybe 2 or so tsp of tea in the filter basket, and gave it a 45s infusion to start – quite delicious. No fishiness (that’s usually shu anyhow), no strange flavours, just creaminess and that wild sheng flavour that I’m familiar with. I’m drinking the second infusion now (I let it go for a minute), and I’m still pretty blown away at how good this is. This may in fact get me back into drinking my shengs from Verdant that have been sitting a while – I’ve given quite a few to my mom, who likes them more than I, but I think now’s the time to try them again myself.

Although the tea description indicates a “bright astringency”, I can’t say I’m catching any astringency at all; this is just smooth, sweet, nutty, and VERY enjoyable. Great selection, Amoda/Verdant – a perfect intro pu’erh, but with plenty of nuances for experienced drinkers to enjoy as well.

This one surprised me. I don’t know why but I was expecting not to be super into it, some vaguely recollected notion I haven’t been wowed by the few Verdant pu erhs I’ve tried so far and also didn’t love Master Han’s Wild Picked Yunnan Black. While this didn’t blow my mind completely I really enjoyed it, particularly the first steep. I was amazed at how overwhelmingly creamy and sweet it smelled, that whole “how can this be just tea leaves?!” reaction (it reminded me a little of my awe at Verdant’s Shui Jin Gui Wuyi Oolong, one of my all-time favorites). It was so full of aroma and surprising color and body for something only steeped 10 seconds (there’s Verdant for you!). And it continued to be flavorful for many resteeps, though the creamy sweetness recedes and something more savory steps in, with some dry woodiness I kind of like. There’s a good chance I didn’t wash my cup out well enough between this and the Della Terra Dirty Chai earlier in the night because the last few steeps had a weird (this sounds so gross but it’s true) band-aid-like aroma (a clean new band-aid!), that sort of plasticky sticky smell.