Shipment of 10 sheng varieties just came in from royalpuer.
Lovely fresh fragrance of the dried leaves convinced me to start with this one. They did a great job at breaking up the cake. I received nice chunks with only a few grams of broken leaf.
dropped 7g in yixing pot.
smell of weal leaves after rinse: predominantly smokey flavor.
1st infusion tastes rather clear and somewhat mild. good thickness of tea liquid.
3rd or 4th infusion. I let it brew for 20-30 seconds. this was by far the best infusion, with thick, sweet, remarkably silky golden tea liquid that was a joy to gulp down. a few seconds after finishing the cup, a pleasant sweet flavor returned to the palate.
5th infusion- brewed for approx 1 min. some salty notes detected. sweetness and thickness declining yet still prominent. subtle orange fruit quality overall.
bottom line: a great value at approx $5 for 100g, tasting as good or better than other shengs that go for 2-4 times the price.
Well rounded with no astringency, dryness, or rough edges whatsoever.
Its not as strongly flavored or aromatic than the better sheng’s I have tried, but certainly complex and yummy enough to happily regarded as a good move to have gotten a nice stock of this one.
Its certainly much, much more flavorful and interesting that a benchmark 2009 vintage mengahi 7542. I have yet to sample the 2007 7542 for a fair comparison.
brewing recommendations: using plenty of leaf and long brewing times seems to bring out the best of this tea. it can handle long infusions easily.
will try even longer times in future to bring out more flavor.
