I like this tea quite a bit. Good complexity with the blend bringing an interesting session. This is really what I’d expect in just an everyday shou for me.
The cake has a mellow aroma – hardwood and molasses, no funk now while there was maybe a touch at arrival.
Taste is very multi-dimensional with ginseng and dark chocolate with more bitterness early on. Personally, I love some bitterness in shou and I’d say this is a fairly midline bitterness, nowhere near the Hai Lang Hao LaoMan’E ripe. Middle steeps are more or less chocolate while later ones are more like that antique shop taste of aged shou.
This has a nice warming energy to it and steeps for a good time as well.
All in all, I’m happy with this. If you liked the 2017 Crimson Rooster, grab this.
Flavors: Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, Herbaceous, Oak
