when to drink your sheng

You never know when is the right time to drink your sheng puerh tea. At least we can not say that there is a general rule for this. What we can say that I like this tea this and this way and that and that time.

I like autum or spring humid days. These come after rain. Also I know that sheng puerh teas need some time, a year at least to have the freshness gone. This is not said that this freshness is not good, many people like it. I like it too but probably the most in summer hot days. Such very ‘raw’ tea have a cooling effect and why I should want to get cool in autumn or winter days. Also this freshness can be so overhelming so it is hard to get the ‘true’ tasting profile of such tea. 

This morning I brewed Veian’s 2021 raw/sheng puerh tea. I just remembered that exactly at such time passed with his 2020 cake I said ‘ohh I like this tea much’.  I got the cake in 2020 when it was made. I tasted and that was it. The cake waited somewhere to be ‘restasted’ again for one year. 

Now I tell a bit from my tasting notes. They might sound dumb but at least they say I liked the tea much. 

-1 pretty sweet, the colour of the tea soup showing aging

-2 fruitty bitterness, roundness, these fruity notes come with nice fruit like acidity,  a very disticnt sugary feeling at the back of the mouth, a natural clean feeling

-3 it’s like ripe plum scent with hazelnut floavour, this tea really shows it is potent although I brew it hard, a long steeps of a minute and more and about 8-9 grams for 110 ml of water

-4 intense taste, an unique taste profile that accompany the whole tea seassion, dominating over ripe dry plums or pure house made plum jam

The overall tasting experience is indeed intense, clean and pleasurable. I want to live to see to age this cake. Comparing this tea to the Yuna’s Hero from 2014, this one seems more refine and not that beasty although years will show its progress.