This may have been one of my least favorite sheng pu-erhs. The iron compression was dense, but easily extractable. Numerous small, dark leaves. My favorite part of this tea was the initial aroma from the first steeping. It had the intensity of warm beeswax, oozing honey and just glowing. A dingy orange soup made for a less inviting experience. Flavors were all over the place, damp moss, rough tobacco (not the elegant, floral pipe or aged wrapper, but maybe wet cigarette or old burnt cigar), and tree bark. The most noticeable sensation was a parching “cooked” bitterness, as if it were blended with some hongcha. The finish was thin, with little viscosity or sweetness. Unbalanced.
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Xiaguan sheng puerhs are famous (or imfamous?) for their heavy tobacco (yeah, not even smokey, but as you said, tobacco!) taste when being young. Many people say when Xiaguan sheng gets older, it will out-perform many other sheng puerh. I haven’t yet stored a sheng for that long time to see, but plan to open my 2004 xiaguan tuo in probably 2012 :D
Interesting. I’m not in an hurry to get back to this sample, so we’ll see how it is down the road a ways.
Xiaguan sheng puerhs are famous (or imfamous?) for their heavy tobacco (yeah, not even smokey, but as you said, tobacco!) taste when being young. Many people say when Xiaguan sheng gets older, it will out-perform many other sheng puerh. I haven’t yet stored a sheng for that long time to see, but plan to open my 2004 xiaguan tuo in probably 2012 :D
Interesting. I’m not in an hurry to get back to this sample, so we’ll see how it is down the road a ways.