Gorgeous leaf and liquor, a deep gold mixed with sunshine and a lovely visible thickness to it. Not much scent off the dried leaves, but I spent some time just admiring the pretty colors, especially as the compression was quite loose, so it was easy to pick the leaves apart in my sample without turning it into dust.
Extremely fresh and floral smelling, this baby sheng was prepared at 205F as it has a strong bitter bite to it (some moderate astringency, mainly in the roof of the mouth and top of the tongue) if you brew it for even just a second too long. Strong throat coating quality, even as it opens up.
A very clean and green tasting tea to me (particularly with the notable green tea umami quality at the beginning), it starts off mainly vegetal—light, with a bitter floral at the back that opens up into a sweet nectar-bordering-fruit background taste by the middle steeps that lingers in the mouth and throat, particularly as it cools in the cup.
Still quite raw feeling and tasting, I think it needs more time to settle, but it was quite enjoyable still, with a throat coating dryness that made me want to keep drinking more (although I got a pretty strong body heavy/disorient tea drunk from this one that led me to dropping my gaiwan lid a couple times so I probably should have slowed it down a bit). This tea was also quite generous and held up to overnighting in my gaiwan with a refresher rinse quite well, surprisingly, as I steeped it out fully over the course of three days.
Flavors: Floral, Fruity, Mineral, Nectar, Sweet, Vegetal
