Lin Xia Sheng Tai – last tea for the day. I found it to be an interesting mix of the unusual and the expected. It has a great texture and a layered taste, both of which I enjoyed quite a bit. The tea didn’t strike me as being overly complex at any point, yet there are a lot of associations that came up over the course of a session. However, at this price and with its specific character, it may only appeal to a fairly small set of people. I may be wrong about that though. In any case, anyone who values texture and likes their sheng bitter and herbaceous – this is a tea for you.
Dry leaves exude a sweet aroma with the characteristic gasoline note and some cranberry in the background. After the rinse, I detect more of a woody scent with a distinct root vegetable note.
The rinse starts out super thick and oily, with a metallic and honey-like taste. Soon afterwards, the bitterness appears. Even though it is strong, I never found it overpowering. The astringency is also in check. The tea taste very “clean” and has notes of camphor, ammonia, asparagus, almond skins, green wood, pear, and alcohol – quite a diverse range of flavours with some unusual suspects. There is not too much sweetness present, but I do get a light honey fragrance throughout the session.
The aftertaste is then sweeter of course, but not too much. It is throat-cooling and displays notes of artichoke, butter, ash, passion fruit, and some sort of spicy wood.
As I mentioned already, one of the main highlights here is the mouthfeel. It is thick and mouth-watering with a bubbly, slick texture to the liquor. This Jinggu tea doesn’t fall behind much in the cha qi department either. I found the energy to be all encompassing and rushy, complemented by a chest-warming sensation.
Flavors: Alcohol, Almond, Artichoke, Ash, Asparagus, Astringent, Bitter, Butter, Camphor, Celery, Cranberry, Dry Grass, Green Wood, Honey, Passion Fruit, Pear, Potato, Spicy, Sweet, Thick, Wood
