AmyOh, I was determined to save this one for a day when I really had time to enjoy it, and that is what I did! Hubby and I have a tetsubin full of hot water on a warmer, my tea tray, the easy gaiwan, and some Yixing cups.
This is only the third sheng puer I have ever tried. I find this somewhat similar to the one from purepuer.com and completely dissimilar to the shu puers I have tried. (I love shu puer, by the way!)
I really didn’t realize that sheng were so different from shu until not long ago.
Like Amy, I find myself resteeping and drinking, resteeping and drinking. This puer has a cool feeling without being minty, perhaps being more like camphor, as I have read in descriptions. When I drink shu puer, I think of words like “deep, dark, low notes, earthy.” This sheng makes me think of high notes, light, brilliance, and minerals. We have done many, many steeps and it is still going strong. There is a sour aspect that isn’t overly drying, and a nice sweetness rises in the throat after the sip on these later steeps. If you swish the warm tea around your mouth, you will notice a creaminess to it as well…creamy, but not heavy.
My husband used to drink only Tetley or Ceylons with tons of milk and sugar. Now he enjoys Silky Green by Bird Pick, and doesn’t mind drinking shu puers with me. I was really curious as to how he would feel about this, half expecting him to make a face and say, “All through!”. But no, he drank cup after cup right beside me. I told him that at this price, it would be wise to buy a bunch of these and lay them in storage for up to a decade or more, just making conversation, and I was surprised when he said, “You probably should do that.”. And now, like Garrett, I find myself thinking, "Oh, how I hope I live long enough to see how they taste in (x) years!
Thank you, AmyOh! This has been a real treat!
