This sheng still has a lot of bitterness and a strong, long-lasting huigan. I like the way it makes me feel, it is a very waming tea that brings me to the present and elevates my mood. The effect is mildly hypnotic but not sedating.
In dry form, I can smell tobacco, peat, fruits, and breckland thyme. After the rinse, the aroma is complex with notes of compost, butter tarts, fern, tree sap, and coconut husk. In the empty cup I primarily detect a honey-like fragrance.
The tea is medium to full bodies with a liquor texture that is colloidal, silky, and sticky. Taste is bitter from the very first steep. It is also quite mineral and nutty initially. Woody sweetness emerges soon. Some associtaions that come to my mind are molasses, caramel, Brussels sprouts, and stonefruit pits.
The aftertaste is sweet and fragrant. It reminds me of malt, hazelnuts, and nectarine.
Flavors: Astringent, Bitter, Butter, Cake, Caramel, Coconut, Compost, Flowers, Hazelnut, Honey, Malt, Mineral, Molasses, Nectarine, Nuts, Nutty, Peat, Plants, Sap, Stonefruit, Sweet, Thyme, Tobacco, Wood