Crimson Lotus Tea

I was not going to try this for another week, but the hive mind inspired me so into the gaiwan little mr. mushroom went. I agree with everyone who tasted vanilla and cocoa. I not so long ago had a real hot cocoa from scratch with a ton of vanilla extract dumped into it, and this tastes like it, except with an almost menthol like cooling aftertaste. I had Jade Rabbit earlier in the day, so I don’t know how much of it is from that. But what’s for sure is that this petite darling of the shouniverse would make a wonderful après-ski drink. It is like your peppermint hot chocolate w/ vanilla marshmallows went to a strict boarding school and matured into an elegant princess.

1. Tasted but did not drink rinse. Seems like Jingmai.
2-4. Faint apricots and fresh rice. Perhaps the rice comes from Kunlu and the apricots from Bangdong. Do raws get scented w/nuomixiang as well?

I started this last night and took many breaks, finishing it today. Kept making me rather sleepy.

My primary experience was that it smelled like sweet rice. I also suspect Jade Rabbit will respond very well to boiling. Going past 15 steeps does yield something more, but the amount of time and patience it takes to get there with gongfu is not in my budget, esp since it makes me so sleepy. I think I will do 10 steeps and grandpa the rest next time.

I have ordered another filter just in case that helps, but it has not arrived yet. This had so much fine dust despite long rinses, being a fairly recent sheng, and in a form factor that I assumed would be cleaner than average. I filtered it 3x, and it still has a gross layer of visible floating dust. I can’t pay attention to the flavors or scents because I am thinking about the dust. :T I may have to use disposable teabags from now on.

Did 3 rinses because the first sip post 2 rinses was utterly devoid of flavor. To be fair, I did not time them. I recommend double length steeps for this or maybe just grandpa, because it does not seem to reward the focus lavished upon a tea during a gongfu session. It has no off flavors, but also not much discernable personality for now. We are evidently not yet close enough friends to go off on a road trip together. 7 was a minute long but only yielded a faint added note of caramel. I will have to try this again some other time to be sure, but as of this morning I am not too excited about it.

Tried the steep I left sitting since the morning. It was nearly black and tasted of cocoa. My guess is if you brew this grandpa in a thermos and take it on the road, you will get a crowdpleasing neutral chocolatey thing, but I am a weirdo and like both my politicians and teas to challenge me with strong and detailed opinions. In that regard, this tea fails me, but that’s just me. You may love it.

At first, I was a bit bored by the opening flavor profile because I’ve had quite a few young yiwu huang pian shous. I was like all right, I guess I’ll finish this so as to not waste it. But it softly chuckles along on a subtle, gradual flavor/sensory progression, and the journey is unexpectedly elaborate. After a few hours of thinking about it, I found a fitting metaphor, but it makes me sound downright batty so I will not share it. However, I will leave you with this. Maybe CLT named this the Iron Forge not because it is the perfect drink for bourbon-swilling blacksmiths, but because of the slow burn of peaceful warmth that emanates from a session.

Accidentally did the whole session at the higher leaf ratio of 4g/45-50ml. But it was nice. I hate to break up these balls but 8 grams will often be far too much caffeine for me in one sitting. The scent of apricots is unmistakeable. Whereas the nose in tea is usually of dried fruit, this one smells like we splashed in a bit of preserves or juice. Taste and body are low key. Unassuming. A few steeps in, the juicy apricots give way to baek ahng geum (백앙금) or the sweetened white bean paste filling found in Korean pastries. I pushed a little hard and got some astringency but overall this has been quite a gentle, forgiving tea. Now the sweetness has mostly gone and the scent is of hot savory ground up legumes of some sort, peas, beans, or lentils. I dunno why but steep 6 is my favorite so far in terms of taste and mouthfeel. Do not waste this as a shared beverage during a serious conversation. You will want to focus on the tea. Several of CLT’s offerings have tasted and smelled bean-y to me, and it would be fun to know why. 7 and 8 were also lovely. Comfy scent. Nice mouthfeels. 9 and 10 are also yummy. The scent now has some faint florals in it on top of the beans. Overall, it smells like the kitchen of a very loveable cook. Isn’t that strange? It could give more if boiled, but I am calling this done at 11.

Scent is bacon. Taste is beany. I am using a gaiwan and pouring when it gets to be a color I want to drink. Every sip is filtered. This had some dust in the beginning. This tea is not dynamic in terms of flavor. It is probably too smoky for my taste. It isn’t outright offensive or anything, but given the potentially polarizing persistent char element, it does not offer much else. If there is a hidden song of flavor or sensation in this tea, I have yet to find it.

If this were space and I were a space cowgirl, I’d pass by Planet Jinggu for a planet with a more favorable atmosphere for a derk. An atmosphere that’s not so floral and vegetal. Give me fruity pu (or meaty or resinous or citric or herbal) or give me anoxic space death. Some other things that didn’t sit right with me: flat in the mouth, lots of broken material and charred bits, a little too tightly compressed. It does have great longevity, though. Material is still very green. Is that characteristic of Jinggu leaf and/or related to the level of compression? Gets bitter later on.

Get this if you like floral pu.

This tea is every bit as fragrant as potpourri in the first few steeps. It feels like I am being allowed/forced to drink a strong perfume. It largely dissipates by steep 4 or 5, and there is no way to know if the people lovingly packing [Btw these rectangular sample packets are very thoughtfully wrapped. After months of opening designer ziploc bags (hip and efficient but soulless, and basically impossible to reach the final bits of tea wedged into the hard inner folded corners) from other sources, I was moved by the meditative novelty of unwrapping chunks of tea swaddled like a baby in a single sheet of very intentionally designed paper. It is non-intuitive for modern times, I would not have gone with this palette, and maybe it will get tiresome as time passes, but it is a lovely human touch nonetheless. Koreans hold dear an untranslatable value called 정성 that includes, among other things, an extraordinarily high level of attention paid throughout a given task, and a version of it is palpable in this sort of packaging, which exudes warmth, expertise, focus, and care, all in one go. I think the slang for this sort of thing is “so extra”. Top marks here for memorable user experience design.] the samples are matching up the labels to the correct teas, but I would not describe this scent as vegetal or “sweet corn”. To me, it’s aggressively floral, more like lilies or lilacs or hyacinths or some other very pungent flower. I would believe it if they told me they’d accidentally splashed an eau de parfum on this tiny chunk of dried leaf. I was apprehensive to taste it at all, because I had not enjoyed teas labeled “Lincang” before. Then again, my process for brewing sheng has evolved considerably over this past year, so perhaps I should go back and give the other one another go. I don’t know yet if it’s good or bad, but these teas from CLT are so far not what I expected. The first sheng I tried from them was like warm sticky rice water, and this one was most like concentrated floral perfume. I am very curious now what the others will be like.

Changes since last time. I use teabags as needed. I also seldom use clay pots anymore. It feels less mystical, but porcelain and glazed ceramic facilitate a cleaner tasting experience. So I tossed the 2nd half of this ball into a teabag and then into a lin’s pottery vessel. After a long hiatus from incense I am back on the aloeswood. While I do think kunlu is an acquired taste, clt’s sample packs have caused me to, over time, be won over. I would still describe the primary opening signature flavor as bark, but there is a distinct pre-taste aura of cocoa nibs or something dry and nutty. And as you steep more, it burbles into a low key vegetable sweetness. It is like a reserved, dry-humored person who opens up to you over time, in unannounced spurts. This is not the giddy social butterfly who makes rounds at parties giving everyone airy cheek kisses or frat boy pats on the butt. It also doesn’t slip you drugs. It doesn’t ever compliment you to your face, but somehow leaves you with the sneaking suspicion that it sometimes gushes about you to other teas when you aren’t present. Like, this tea secretly doesn’t mind that you exist, and you are in on the secret, but we don’t talk about that because remember, it is a secret. It is maybe a cat, not a dog. Make sense? No? Okay.

Broke ball in half and brewed in a 80ml yellow clay pot that takes forever to empty. It took a while to get the hang of this tea. It smells quite nice for the price. The first post-rinse steep was tasteless, because the chunk had yet to loosen up. Discard.

The next one I oversteeped. The tea does not react well to oversteeping. It is a cat that swipes right at your eyes for f-ing up. I eventually fixed the problem by beginning to drain immediately after pouring the water in. Then it purrs like it’s gonna fall asleep right in your lap.

Steep 8 was fascinating, because it did not taste like tea, but a comfy, savory leafy veggie broth. Almost rice-y, like the final sips of sungnyung, but with no toasted flavor to it. I think people who taste this will agree with me.

If this could be kept more or less at the steep 8 flavor, I’d want to add some salt to a whole pot of it and try it with some somyun as an experiment.

After it hits the rice-y, mineral-y point, it doesn’t change much. It has a good body throughout, and no qi to speak of.

I like it. I would not have identified it in a blind tasting as a sheng at all. I kept staring at the pot to make sure I was still brewing tea. But I like rice and sungnyung, so I had a good time. I wonder what a shou made of this material would taste like.

I am a fan of this muddy, woodsy flavor profile. It is possible I prefer shou made from the larger, coarser leaves.

This is the first tea from Crimson Lotus I had a chance to try, so I was really looking forward to it. It is flavour and aroma focused tea. There is not much in the way of cha qi. Mouthfeel is interesting, but not the most enjoyable.

The dry leaf smell reminded me of sweet butter pastries, but there was also some vegetal aspect most reminiscent of nettle. After the rinse, the aroma became very complex and intriguing, like one would hope from a tea with such a name. It evoked a winter time in a conifer forest. I could also smell some smoke machine, edamame and thyme. The aroma in the empty cup could be best described as a sweet, dry meadow.

I will not go into all the details of the taste, which is fairly complex. I couldn’t, even if I wanted, because at the time of writing this note, I just don’t remember :) However, the evolution of the taste in each sip, especially in the early infusions, is roughly the following. It starts off herbaceous and bitter, gets sour and fruity in the finish and slowly gets sweeter and vegetal in the aftertaste. Overall, it is quite tart for a sheng. In the late steeps, it gets more vegetal generally. Flavours I noted include medicinal ones, alcohol, apricot and lemon skins.

The liquor has medium to light body initially, but around steeps 5-8, it gets considerably thicker. It has a tingling, coating and soft mouthfeel. There is some dryness in the aftertaste, but generally it’s quite smooth.

The taste of this tea (and also the mouthfeel a bit) reminds me of YS He Bian Zhai (a Mengku tea). That one is generally thicker and seems to pack more energy. Introgue on the other hand is probably more complex. Thanks so much for this sample derk, I enjoyed it a lot!

Decided to do more reviewing of this tea as it is quite likely to be the last cold rainy day I will see for five or six months and I don’t see myself drinking something this rich, thick, and dark very often till this autumn.

I put 3.5 grams in a 60ml gaiwan (though it actually measures closer to 50ml). I measure out 40ml of water with a graduated cylinder and boil each steep seperately using a 1/2liter electric kettle. It takes about 15 to 20 seconds to bring 40ml to a boil. I do my water this way almost always when brewing gong fu. I don’t understand why no one else does this and why they boil a big jug of water and let it cool off and boil it again etc. My water technique is very good for having a smooth and steady flow to a session and for upping or lowering the temp on the fly (I tend to start hong cha at crab eye and work my way up to full boil during the session). It’s also good for making sure the water doesn’t get overboiled and lose it’s structure.

After the first rinse I let the tea sit with gaiwan lid on for five minutes or however long it takes for the brick pieces to loosen up. Next I grab the tea and use a bamboo pick to fully break apart the all the leaves. One benefit of this is that the tea will leave a noticable smell on my fingertips which helps me get to know a tea very well. With this tea being so young it of course left some pile smell on my hands but not too funky. Pretty damn clean actually. Second rinse washes away any dust or cloudiness.

This tea gets going pretty strong right away. It’s a dark inky one for sure. Very rich, thick and creamy with a touch of dry aftertaste. The flavor on this tea is big. Big chocolate cherry sweet syrupy awesomness. If you are looking for camphor and chen xiang then find another tea cause you won’t find it here.

I get 5 to 7 dark steeps depending on how hard I push the tea plus several more woody slightly green steeps after.

Got this today. Was gonna wait to review till it rested a while and I had time to try some different brewing styles. The brick smelled so nice that I had to try it. Threw 4g in a 500ml thermos and let it brew while I did a few errands. Very thick sweet and clean. Very glad I bought a brick without sampling.

To be continued

The freshly opened package gave off a strong floral smell. There was a generous amount of bright green leaves mixed in with obviously aged ones. Course the art on the wrapper is fantastic. But is the tea fantastic?

Steep 1: After a rinse, I poured my first steep (which was under 10 seconds, Steepster won’t let me go lower then 15.). It gave me very strong notes of vegetable sweetness. Something like a beet. The liquid is surprisingly green.

Steep 2-4: A strong grass taste comes out in addition to the sweetness. Reminds me of freshly cut grass.

Steep 5 and beyond: The grass taste keeps getting stronger as the sweetness slowly disappears. I noticed hints of wood and other tastes of the forest came out. I steeped this all day long and it was still going strong.

Definitely recommend it. Probably will be buying a tong to age myself. It starting off with that young sweet green taste and shifting to forest flavors is brilliant. Just like its mix of young and old trees. If you want to buy it and drink right away its perfectly fine to do so. Its just that good

I grabbed a cake of this almost exactly a year ago. I’ve been letting it chill, but finally it felt like the time to break this bad boy out. The compression is tighter than I personally prefer to deal with and you’ll inevitably end up creating some tea dust. For this session I used a 160ml Yixing zini teapot that’s a fairly new acquisition, but one that I’ve been using a fair bit to try to break it in. Initially when I got it it cleaned up the taste to a ridiculous degree absorbing virtually all of the base notes. I ended up bumping up the normal ratio of 12g that I use for shu to 16g just to get the strength to match my Jianshui pot of the same size. I’ve been gradually able to bring the ratio back down to around 12g and I’m still trying to decide if I need to go even slightly below that on average, because many of the teas are still turning up quite potent even for my tastes. The tea the pot is brewing up is really good now and this was the first time I felt confident enough in using it for a review. The difference between Jianshui and Yixing zini is night and day, but I’m not going to get into my impressions on that here as I’m still discovering them myself.

For this session I ended up using 11.5g. I was considering going with 11g just in case this tea was potent, but ended up with a compromise between 11 and 12g. I did a single 10s rinse followed by a rest of five to ten minutes to allow the moisture to seep in and prime the leaves. I forwent my trusty Jianshui clay teacup this time around just because I felt like it and since I’ve found that with the zini pot I don’t find it an absolute necessity unlike when brewing in Jianshui. I did ten infusions, the timing for these being 12s, 10s, 10s, 12s, 15s, 18s, 30s, 45s, 75s and 2 min. respectively.

The first thing I noticed about Storm Breaker was its smoothness. This tea is very smooth. The body was light to medium to start with and the texture quite nice and unique. While there were some earthier notes present of course, the tea was fairly bright overall. I tasted a subtle sweetness that lay somewhere between a berry and a caramel sweetness. In the second infusion those darker notes became more prominent and there was now a touch of bitterness in the finish as well. The tea became increasingly more bittersweet once it cooled, ending up tasting like the darkest of the dark chocolates, just without the chocolate. The quality of this tea was already evident to me at this point.

The third brew presented a mix between the profiles of the first two by combining the berries from the first with the bitter notes from the second which were also now joined by new roasted notes. The result was kind of like a really gentle and refined coffee, one that as a non-coffee drinker I could imagine the fancier coffees possibly tasting like. This was nothing like the generic shus that are often reminiscent of diluted or cheap coffee, but seldom the good stuff. This was the best steep so far. This is a very elegant tea.

In the fourth infusion we were beginning to lose some of that nice texture. At the same time the background bitterness was quite high now. The tea was dominated by bitter, roasted and coffee notes. A touch of the berry sweetness peeked its head in the fifth brew, but this got overpowered by the bitterness. On the other hand I was noticing some mouth cooling now. At this point it was also becoming clear that this tea can take a toll on the body, especially if brewed strong, and I would recommend keeping some snacks on hand.

Steep six was sweeter, brighter, with less bitterness, but also somewhat weaker than the other infusions because I held back on the time afraid the tea might get too strong otherwise. Texture was good still, feeling very expansive in the mouth. At this point I found myself craving some more development from this tea.

I haven’t talked about the color of the liquor yet, but this tea brews up a dark red. Steep seven is when I was able to barely make out the bottom of my white porcelain cup. The flavor was bright, but still quite bitter. The tea was starting to get creamier, both in taste and texture. The soup was at its thickest now, impressively thick. I was actually finding it very hard to swallow as my commands weren’t getting through. The following infusion was thinner, but smooth still. There was quite an alcoholic tinge to the finish, or at least that’s how I’d describe it as a non-drinker. Overall the general presentation of this steep was quite wine-like, something I associate with certain Menghai area ripes I notice.

The second-to-last infusion was very nice. Sweet and sticky – very reminiscent of a plethora of shus out there, just a much better version of them. I’d likely describe the sweetness as approaching date-like. The tea was so sweet it almost hurt. Mouthfeel and texture remained supreme compared to most average shus. The tenth steep was the last one I did. In it we pretty much returned back to the beginning with the berries and generic sweetness, but this time with a slight alcoholic tinge to it all and thinner texture overall. Mouthfeel remained nice – smooth and lubricating – and there was a somewhat refreshing quality to the tea now. I could tell that we were at the tail end now, though, and I decided to call it there just to be safe and avoid ruining good memories with a bad experience.

I’m happy to report that Storm Breaker’s promises of being made from higher quality material than typically used for shu are very evident in the cup. The smooth mouthfeel is definitely one of the standout qualities and the flavors are very refined and clearly defined. While I found the tea to lack some development and be dominated by bitterness in the middle steeps, this eventually corrected itself and my slightly reserved opinion eventually turned into a positive one. This tea actually brews out a lot like a raw pu’er if you think about it, and looking at the leaves at the end of the session they are actually possibly the lightest I’ve seen in ripe, very similar to Yiwu Rooster but possibly even paler. I haven’t had a raw that’s been dry stored for a number of decades, but I could imagine one that still had bitterness left after all that time being somewhat reminiscent of this tea. While drinkable now with maybe a slightly lighter hand or if you like the bitterness, this is definitely a tea made for the long term, with great care from great material. This is genuinely one of those shus I can easily see people wanting to age for ten years and more – two decades is definitely no joke. I’m not saying you have to, I’m saying you can. That should say something about the tea.

Did I like this tea? I had a good session with it. What does that mean? I think the quality is high and I’m interested to see where this tea will go. There were infusions that I enjoyed very much, but for me the time to drink this tea is not now. This was a nice glimpse into the tea, but now I’m going to be tucking it away in my pumidor for a number of years, to be revisited sparingly to conserve this precious tea. Would I have purchased a cake if this were just a sample? I’m pretty sure I would have. Even among the ripes made from “better material,” this is one of the ones that stands out. I’d consider this a sheng drinker’s shu, as the quality and character of the original material is still being allowed to shine through.

If nothing more, Storm Breaker is definitely worth a sample. As alternative recommendations, this one reminded me in a way of Bitterleaf’s Plum Beauty ripe at least in terms of quality. Hai Lang Hao’s Yi Shan Mo ripe is also of course a personal favorite of mine. All occupy virtually the same price point, so they would make for a great comparison. At ten bucks cheaper than Crimson Lotus’s Black Gold, I prefer this tea over that one.

A really complex and tasty shou. More than I would normally pay for a shou, but if I was more into them overall, I could see myself going for a cake.

Aroma is woody, spicy, molasses. The flavor is definitely woody, but not the forest-floor sort of woodiness I get from a lot of shou. This one was cleaner, but definitely a bit “old” tasting if that makes sense. It brought to mind images of a well cared for antique chest and/or spiced wood. Texture is pleasantly thick, and there is zero funky pile taste or anything like that. Not musty or even particularly damp tasting.

A very rich amber brew with a heady earthen aroma and a surprisingly sweet and clean taste filled with a sharp mineral tang and foresty palette (wet earth/leaves, mulch, tree bark). The best way I can think to describe the taste of this tea is like having the ability to drink petrichor.

Highly recommend and need to get more!

This is my favorite of the 3 Crimson Lotus dragon balls I’ve tried so far. It has a good range in its profile. The rinsed leaf produced aromas of powdered sugar, peach, English peas and yeast. Started off savory, sweet and mineral with some bitterness in the back that lasts throughout the session. Smooth and brothy with a honeyed aftertaste. Then came an herbal addition (definite thyme) and at this point, I picked up watermelon/rind and faint basil on the lid. This was followed by buttery, fruity peach and yeasty notes, then florals and some astringency. Last steep of 7 minutes had a nice tartness. The pure sugar smell in the bottom of the cup and the strong returning sweetness that lasted the whole session were incredible. Honestly, this tea reminded me of a chardonnay in its buttery/yeasty character. The spent leaf was very chopped and tippy. Very high in caffeine, whew. The tastes make it something I want to buy more of but the caffeine would make it a rare indulgence for me.

This is my first review on Steepster so I’m not good with descriptions of lingering aftertastes and tea soups :). I really enjoyed this tea. Went through the first cake pretty fast and just ordered a second one. This is just my kind of tea. I don’t like shou’s and generally enjoy young shengs. I think the description on CLT’s website about creative energy is pretty accurate. I can drink this tea at home, at work, in the morning, at night, and it’s a great all-around tea. Overall it’s more fruity than savory, it does have some astringency but no bitterness (I brew with off-boiling water for about 10 seconds, increasing time gradually). Like many others, I was drawn to this tea by the wrapper :) but it has become my go-to everyday tea.

honestly, i just bought this tea, because the wrapper looked very appealing, and of course the description sounded amazing.

after already sessioned the tea today, i decided to do another session to get deeper into it and write a small review.

the description of CLT is pretty spot on. i feel like theres is some fruitiness of darker berries and spice (curcuma?) on the wet leaf present too.

the tea soup has a nice golden liquor and feels pretty thick. there is a tiny bitterness that immediately transforms into a honey-floral-like sweetness. Jasmine is definitely noticeable. nice hui gan.

the blend of multiple years gives the tea a wonderful balance. by looking at the infused leaves, its pretty hard to determine the age an proportions. but even the oldest material wont be over ~5 years i guess.

decent tea. definetly worth a try and surely interesting to let age that thing!

edit: bought a tong now! ;)