Lao Tong Zhi Old Growth 2012 Sheng

The only alarm clock needed this morning was the bright sun! Those of us fortunate enough to live in higher altitude’s know about sun glare and the need to wear sun glasses year around. It’s really bright out today!
My condo looked like an alien spaceship was outside shining lights under the doors and windows trying to get a beam on me in my pajama’s. No deal! No alien was going to separate me from my tea cupboard!

A nice warm sunny day usually comes right before snow, someone pointed out yesterday. (Heck, we’ve had nothing but nice sunny days
for the past year!)
It’s December! The forecast looks promising for this weekend…we hope! I that December magic with a couple of inches of snow!
I have my camera ready!

The Tea:
This morning, I wanted to practice my Gaiwan skills with the new Verdant Sheng I purchased during the Black Friday sale.

I’ve been watching the new Verdant video and practicing how to pour and strain tea, shaking off all the water from the leaves so that there is none left. (Which causes bitterness in the next steeping)

I have a small 4oz. FAT (easy to handle) white Gaiwan, and I used a small amount of hard sheng (about 1.5 tsp). Boiling water.
(It is important that the water is filtered or you may have bitter tea.) A strainer is very useful. Always rinse the leaves once first.

My infusions were as quick as I could manage (5 seconds).
The liquor was a light yellow green, and the leaves smelled like sweet salty tobacco then changed and had a sweet herb scent.

The small amount of hard Sheng I used almost filled my Gaiwan half way with big green leaves when it expanded fully.

My first tasting was smoky, salty but not harsh. The scent was light tobacco, but the leaves were still tight and hard, waiting to expand. Not much to comment on as yet.

The second tasting was softer than I imagined it would be…sweet and savory on the finish with a smoky tinge and vegital something that reminded me of the feeling when drinking a Gyokuro.

For the third and forth infusions, the light smoke and saltiness settled down and an herb flavor, Greek Oregano came to mind… with a peppery bite. The tea never became dry or harsh but stayed smooth and very easy to drink.

As I went through each steeping (now on the fifth) I realized just how smooth this Sheng was. Something that I don’t always experience with a young Sheng.
The flavors were rolling around in my head for a long time because there was a definite umami quality about it!
There, I’ve said it!
Usually this is only a term used for Green Tea, but I experienced umami as this tea hit all the sweet, salty, savory, slightly bitter taste points.

This reminded me of roasting root vegetables like potato, red onions, sweet potato, parsnips with olive oil and butter, Greek oregano and sea salt. The vegetables retain the savory quality but roasting brings out the sweetness and smokiness too.

One thing that I don’t understand much about is aging Pu’er. That’s something I have to study up on. Right now though, this is a tasty
Sheng. You just have to be careful not to oversteep or you’ll have a bitter cup.

Backlogging

Dry aroma is sweet, vanilla, cold crisp winter earth, sweet tobacco, and jerky. The wet leaf aroma is earthy, smokey, sweet tobacco. It reminds me of when my dad and I used to sit on the porch in the spring watching the sunset while listening to classical music and he would smoke. Good memories.

No brewing instructions for this yet. So, I brewed this gaiwan style, boiling water, starting with 5 second infusions. First infusion was lightly earthy, like wheat fields that have already been sowed. There is a touch of vanilla, and a bit of peppercorn on the tip of the tongue that lasts into the aftertaste.

Second steep I get something that tastes like dirty potato skins, this is not a bad thing, sometimes you just don’t get all the dirt off! The vanilla was still there, as was the peppercorn. The bite of the peppercorn was a little subdued this time instead in your face.

Third steep was bitterness, ashy, and somehow juicy.

Four steep I lowered the temp down to 175* and didn’t preheat anything. I find this a good tactic when tea starts to become bitter. This steep was smokey, sweet tobacco, vanilla, juicy, creamy, dirty potatoes, and still some bitterness but not as bad. This was probably my favorite steep, getting all of these flavors, even with the bitterness!

Fifth steep, following same steeping parameters as #4, was juicy, bitter, and dirty. As it cooled I got a woody note, but the bitterness was too much, time to take a break.

I’m still trying to find that one sheng without bitterness or ashy notes when brewed gaiwan style. Unfortunately this isn’t it, not yet yet at least, maybe when it’s a bit more aged though.

Brought nearly all my pu’erhs along for my mom to try, and we brewed this one up today! There were no brewing instructions, so I went with a couple chunks and a 20-second rinse in near-boiling water, and then a 2-minute infusion. The result was pretty good in my opinion, a little smoky, spicy, and tasty. My mom labelled it “grassy” and didn’t like it as much as the 2003 Banzhang Farmer’s Cooperative Sheng I left here with her in July. I’ll be fine with taking it home though, as it was tasty enough for me! Still not a big pu’erh fan though…

It’s Tony’s 61st birthday!! I’m taking him out for dinner at our favorite Japanese restaurant at 7:30. Meanwhile, I’m finally getting around to sampling this Sheng. The dry leaf has a spicy smell to me, with a hint of vanilla!

This tea is very clean & bright tasting, almost lemony in the way it makes my mouth feel! My mouth is watering like crazy, & I have that sparkling sensation. It’s crisp & sweet & fresh & mouthwatering!
I’m on the 3rd or 4th steeping, & it’s so juicy! There’s also a spicy edge & not only that, I’ve been kind of drowsy all day, with low energy, no matter how many cups of tea I drank. Now I suddenly feel exceptionally alert! I feel very focused!

Which is good, because I have an orchestral part to learn tonight! For the next 2 evenings I’ll play a cantata with a church choir & small orchestra. These gigs are fun, but they always send the music at the last minute. So for the next hour I’ll be sipping this tea & practicing!