After a lengthy hiatus, I am back to reviewing teas on Steepster, now that I am finally in a new house :) Hopefully I won’t have to move too soon again!
I wrote in some other note that I am not that fond of Man Zhuan teas, and this one definitely doesn’t change that. The profile of these teas just doesn’t suit me.
The aroma is sweet and perfumy with notes of custard, peach, and grapefruit early on and complemented by roasted walnuts and wet earth in later stages. I’d say that, for me, the aroma is the most agreeable aspect of the tea, maybe with the exception of the qi.
The taste is very floral (reminiscent of Lishan oolongs), vegetal, and sour. It has notes of bitter melon, yeast, and a decent umami. Consequently, the aftertaste presents new flavours such as nectar, cocoa beans, olive oil, and paper. It is quite drying and cooling in the throat, while the liquor itself is fairly mouth-watering, silky, and thick.
I do like the body sensations from this sheng, but it is too expensive to buy based on that alone. It has a creeping chest energy and induces shivering sensation down my spine coupled with numbness at the back of my neck. Overall, it is quite a calming tea.
Flavors: Astringent, Bitter Melon, Cocoa, Custard, Drying, Floral, Grapefruit, Nectar, Olive Oil, Paper, Peach, Perfume, Roasted Nuts, Sour, Umami, Vegetal, Walnut, Wet Earth, Yeast
Welcome back!
New house! Awesome. I have a hard time with YiWu teas too. I just can’t seem to wrap my head around them for some reason.
mrmopar, thank you. I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who just doesn’t get the appeal of Yi Wu teas. Personally, I find them boring, predictable, and kind of flat in the way they come across. The Yi Wu profile does not excite me at all. Every time I have mentioned my distaste for Yi Wu tea to others, I either get told that I just don’t understand and don’t appreciate what they have to offer or that I’m crazy. I don’t even feel any lingering effects when I drink Yi Wu stuff. Teas from every other Yunnan terroir give me some kind of body effect, but with Yi Wu teas, I get nothing. They leave no impression on me whatsoever. It’s almost like I’m immune to them.
eastkyteaguy, I don’t know why but I just don’t get the region. I have a hard time with some JingMai stuff too. Maybe they don’t have the kick of other regions. I guess I am in favor of stuff that kicks back. Can’t say I haven’t tried to figure it out though. Oh well, maybe one day.
I have a suspicion that I much prefer the Assamica varietals over small leaf and mixed leaf varieties occurring in large parts of Mengla county. As such, I find that Yi Wu hosts both some of my favourite shengs (mostly coming from the eastern part and natural forests) and also some that I can’t get into (mostly from the central part around Yi Bang and Man Zhuan). I have lots more to explore there and I haven’t really sampled much from the western Yi Wu and Jinghong areas.
Congrats on the new house!