sheng

Dry leaf smells good through fresh smoke. Tastes basically the same as it smells – complex rugged fragrance wafting out past a thick haze of campfire smoke/smog. I just dragged 2012 impression because it tastes like ashtray water to me. But this mystery sheng delivers a heady sort of smokiness that is temporarily forgivable because the rough flavors of the base material are interesting enough. I think it would have been better to process the material to be smoke-free. But in colder weather with certain kinds of cheap greasy meals, this could be the sort of thing people (boys who want really badly to prove that they’re men) develop a taste for. I don’t care for it. I do feel transported to some foreign hut where there might be yaks tied up outside, though. I would never buy this, but it’s an interesting tea to try, for sure. It is like the sheng version of mezcal.