Haixintang 2006 Stone-Pressed Sheng

I’m just getting started on a yixing session with this tea. There is an orange peel like quality to it that today brings to mind the old Constant Comment, which in my gramma’s house was considered the ‘fancy tea’, lol. That is not to say that this tastes ANYTHING like CC, but it just made me think of it.

Meanwhile, Some of Us were whining yesterday about the last of our zhu rong & running out of Vanilla Citrus Spice, & I just looked at Verdant’s site & they are BACK!!! YEAH!! Guess who is getting ready to order some tea?
little terri says it’s our reward for getting our taxes done, & Ms Theresa just agreed (which is amazing, cuz she can be so disagreeable, especially when it comes to spending money!)

I’m not super fond of Sheng Puerh.
I know that’s not something one should admit, but there it is…I’ve said it!
Why? Some are too timid and some too ashy for my taste.
I mentioned this to Lily Duckler and got an “Aha, I know just the sheng’s for you!”, which I hope she’ll enlighten me on at some point. I have an open mind!

Peeking at the flavor profile for the Haixingtang Sheng I was intrigued. It sounded like a Sheng Puerh I might like (skeptical comment but truthful).

Method: Fat Gaiwan, 4 oz water to 5 grams leaf. 1 Rapid rinse.

Chose to follow a 5 second steep, increasing 5 seconds each pour.

Visually: Sparkling clear champaigne gold liquor.

The first taste was so light that I could barely detect anything other than a bit of savory, spinachy something.

Unsatisfied, I gulped a big swig of tea which washed my mouth with the round flavor of vanilla bark. Something very distictly puerh’ish, a bit earthy with heat on the tip of my tongue.

The aroma of steeping tea smelled like spanikopita and vanilla pudding wafting through my kitchen. Sweet and savory!

I filled my cup again, the spinach gone, the texture smooth and refined.

Steep 3 changed to creamy spinach and spicy heat (odd how the spinach flavor came and went). I let the cup cool down, and tasted raisins.

The 4th steep was creamy, smooth and green vegital but not savory.
At the far back sides of my palate, I tasted CLOVE! The flavor was completely isolated from the creamy vegital taste.
Then, the tip of my tongue tingled the way ginger heats the mouth.

Again, I steeped the leaves and poured a glistening cup of Puerh.
I was puzzled about the aroma and flavor of the tea. The vanilla I tasted wasn’t Cookie or Pastry vanilla, but something different.

This was familiar in my taste memory, an experience with the scent and flavor if I could just remember!

Passing the Gaiwan in front of my nose, then sipping the tea…I remembered where I had smelled the scent, then the taste of the vanilla.

Months ago, I went with my granddaughter Schey to the local Hooka Bar! The scent and flavor was something like the vanilla tobacco…grassy, vanilla yet smooth.

Sounds odd, but there it was.

I quite liked this Sheng actually.

My apologies for the static structure of this review which when I began, was interrupted by several phone calls…ugh.

A new Steepster sent me a note that got me thinking. I’ve assumed that most people know who I am because I’ve been on Steepster for a long time, and so I chatter on with my stories, which makes no sense to newer arrivals.
My apologies.
In an effort to catch up anyone who may need to time-travel to the present…
I’m the OLD LADY of Steepster! Yes,65 and proud of it!
With health issues (migraines and fibromyalgia)…I live a happy, frugal life in Colorado (close to my daughter and her big family of 3 biological, 5 adopted and various foster children!).
My social outlets are a friendly local tea house (Happy Lucky’s), Church, writing on Steepster and a blog. I write about tea and tell stories most of the time in run-on sentences. Often, I’m opinionated but I never mean to offend anyone. I’m a lover of life and and a beginner learning about tea!

So I was a bad person and brewed this Western style and also added a bit more sugar than usual in hopes that this would be palatable to me because I have yet to like a pu’erh, sheng or shu. But I keep trying, especially what Verdant sends me. The whole purpose of the membership is to expand my horizons after all. All of my notes on this tea should be viewed through that filter.

This tea still has that weird pu’erh aftertaste that I always get in the back of my throat, but upfront it’s actually not bad. I taste fig and raisins mostly. Maybe a little bit of vanilla in the tail end of the steep but I can’t tell if I actually taste it or if it’s the power of suggestions since I read the description. In any case, I don’t hate this, so I’ll probably continue drinking this and actually steep it more than once.

5g / 90ml celadon gaiwan.

wash/10s/15s/25s/40s/1m added 20s per steeping after.

Decent sheng. First infusions slightly earthy. Then very mild and fuity without a hint of astringency.
It lacks that certain oomph that i experience sofar atleast from wild arbor with the large leaves of older trees.

Reminds me of CTG’s sticky rice pu’er tuo cha. I think I liked the wild arbor tea from this factory more than this one.

I’ve been rekindling my tea love and unearthing some of the long owned teas I have in the back of my cabinet. I started with some solid favorite genres of mine like roasted oolong and shu puerhs, but I want to see if maybe I can appreciate sheng in a way I couldn’t before. Finishing off this reserve club sample seems like as good a way to do it as any.

5 sec wash

1st steep, 5 sec: The wet leaf smells like what I tend to not like in sheng flavors — bitter vegetables, but there’s a smoky smell hiding behind it. The liquor smells much more promising. A bit doughy, sweet, and a hint of the hay in the back. The flavor is a surprisingly pleasant combination of baking spices and hay. The mouthfeel is delightfully thick and mouthwatering without being too astringent.

2nd, 7 sec: The smell is smokey and the flavor is quite bitter and vegetal. Very astringent. Maybe I overcooked this round? This is what I think of sheng tasting like and why I’ve never been able to get into it. I dumped this cup.

3rd, 7 sec: Still vegetal but a bit more mellow and with a little bit of sweet dough flavor hiding in there.

4th, 7 sec: Mildly vegetal, but not getting much depth beyond that. Perhaps my tastebuds are just not calibrated to appreciate sheng.

5th, 9sec: I’m getting something a little fruity here like wine grapes, but it gets quickly overwhelmed by the vegetal flavors again.

Well, I think I’m going to admit defeat with this tea. I had hoped that many years after my last sheng experience I’d have gotten to a point where I could appreciate them, but at least with this particular tea there was still not a lot there for me to enjoy.

Another from dinosara and my choice for a mid afternoon puerh. I pulled this one out since i had the 2006 shu this morning just to see how they might be different given that they ARE two wildly different puerhs..but similar hahaha at least in year and region.

I have to say, not a fan of this one. There’s something about the taste, even after multiple tastings that just isn’t sitting with me. It’s more vegetal than the shu and has a side taste that is like the oolong taste that i don’t like, but isn’t that taste. At least i tried..but not a fan.

Another tea from Terri HarpLady :D

This sheng brings to mind fresh cut wood, as well as slight hints of golden raisins. Strong aftertaste on my tongue. Decent enough sheng but as I’ve been drinking a lot of different ones lately I can tell you this is NOT one of my favorites… but it is hard to pinpoint why exactly. Perhaps the woodier ones are not for me? Still totally drinkable though and I will steep the heck out of these leaves :)