This sheng has a strong forest character. I could imagine really liking it with about 20 years of dry storage. As it stands, not exactly worth drinking right now mostly due to its price in my opinion.
The aroma is sweet and foresty with notes of apples, alpine herbs, ghee and mussels. Rinse is light and cooling with flavours of sweet grass, tree sap and apricots.
However, from the first infusion onwards, the tea is very pungent, biting and tart – almost acerb. Early on I can taste wood, forest floor, hot hay, straw, peanuts, saffron. Overall it is quite a rural and sweet profile though. The body is medium and the mouthfeel somewhat colloidal and buttery. Later steeps are more bitter with mild astringency and intesified nutty and foresty notes. There is a hint of camphor as well as dry grass. The mouthfeel is numbing in the middle and more smooth towards the end of the session. The late steep are somewhat boring though.
In the aftertaste, more umami emerges with its accompanying lasting sweetness. There are notes of nuts, mushrooms and decaying wood. Cha qi is super warming and it brings me to the present moment.
Flavors: Apple, Apricot, Astringent, Biting, Bitter, Butter, Camphor, Candy, Dry Grass, Forest Floor, Herbs, Hot Hay, Mushrooms, Nutty, Peanut, Saffron, Sap, Straw, Sweet, Tart, Umami, Wood
