Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves — slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.
~Thich Nat Hahn
Remember the tea I wrote about last week? It was 2005 Fengqing Zhuan Cha. It lasted me for 3 days and many, many wonderful steeps. I'll be ordering a brick of that probably today or tomorrow.
Today I'm drinking another sheng, this time a younger one. It's 2012 Wild Monk Sheng Pu'erh from Mandala Tea. I purchased couple of cakes last year with a hope to age at least one of them. So far I'm almost done with one of the cakes and hopefully I can master enough restraint to leave the other cake to age in peace. Sheng pu'erh tea is like a good wine. The older it gets the better the taste.
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The dry leaf has a delicate aroma, a little vegetal and smoky. To steep a cup, I carefully broke off couple of pieces from the cake, trying to keep the leaves as much in tact as possible.
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Before I steeped this tea for drinking, I rinsed the leaves with 90-95°C water and let them sit for one minute which causes the tea to wake up and release more flavour. Following that I steeped the tea for 10 seconds for my first 8 oz cup, one of many to come. This tea has a lot of staying power and I get multiple steeps over couple of days or so, slightly increasing the steeping time with every cup.
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| 4th steep of 2012 Wild Monk Sheng Pu'erh |
The taste is delicious. It's earthy, smoky and sweet with a touch of fruitiness. I can't say enough about smokiness of this tea, I just love it so much. Currently I'm on the fourth steep which I allowed to sit for about a minute. There is absolutely no bitterness to be found which can be an issue with younger shengs but I also think that Wild Monk seems to have less attitude than other young shengs that I've tried.
A cup of delicious goodness well worth the purchase.
Cheers!
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