The weather was pretty nice today in Belgium so I decided to make the most of it. I wanted something refreshing and sweet at the same time. Lemonade is always an option, but why drink lemonade when you have some amazing teas? It’s a lot healthier, tastes better in my opinion and you also have the pleasure to brew it yourself. The tea I had today was another sample from Nannuoshan: the 2013 Bingdao Gushu sheng puerh.
If you want to read about another tea from Nannuoshan, click the following link:
Have you considered subscribing to Tea Adventures? You can enter your email address in the sidebar and get updates whenever I publish a new article. You never have to miss an article again by joining our mailing list.
2013 Bingdao Gushu
This is a gushu tea from 2013, which means that it’s supposedly made from trees of over 100 years old. The trees are located in the Bingdao area, which is in Lincang prefecture in Yunnan province.
The colour of the dry leaves is mainly brown, but I also see some beige from the buds. There are also some stalks. The aroma is lightly fruity with some woodsy notes.
The aroma of the wet leaves is definitely fruity with a fresher hint of lemon. The colour is dark olive green and I see massive stalks and pieces of fairly small leaves.
Tea Tasting
- Water 99°C
- 6g for a 150ml Jianshui teapot
- 1 rinse
- 6 infusions
Infusion 1 (10 sec): for such a short infusion, the colour is dark and the liquor really thick. Really subtle, but fruity infusion. At first, you get the impression that nothing much is going on. When you have the liquor in your mouth and you breathe out through your nose, you get a light fruitiness and some spices at the back of the tongue. Based on the colour of the infusion, I expected it to be a bit more intense.
Infusion 2 (10 sec): I’m still getting some of the spicy notes and the fruitiness is a bit stronger. Now I’m able to really experience the fruity flavours. It’s not a particular kind of fruit, but more of a fruit basket of different fruits together. Pleasant, but it could be more intense.
Infusion 3 (15 sec): now it’s getting more how I like my sheng! It’s still rather subtle compared to some other sheng puerh teas, but the flavours are good. The fruitiness has increased again and is also noticeable in the aftertaste. It’s a warming and fruity sensation. Definitely the best infusion so far.
Infusion 4 (20 sec): soft and pleasant fruity flavours, but not as intense as the previous infusion. I’m also getting some very light smokey notes. This is also something I’m getting when I smell the leaves between infusions. It’s subtle, but good. No harsh or sharp notes, only warm and welcoming flavours, how weird that may sound. I’m also starting to feel very warm and a bit light-headed.
Infusion 5 (20 sec): even though the flavours are quite subtle, they are rather deep. They are definitely not at the surface. If you look further, you are rewarded with a pleasant experience. It’s nothing extraordinary, but it’s good. The gushu qualities are really showing themselves now. I’m almost sweating by just drinking this tea.
Infusion 6 (long): doing a longer infusion did these leaves justice. There is a light smokiness, but the main thing here are the fruity notes that are a bit more noticeable again. I feel that the flavours have moved to the surface so they’re picked up more easily.
Don’t know where to buy tea online? I made a page on the website with over 200 online shops and I keep updating it regularly. You can check it over here.
Conclusion
This was a subtle, but good session. I feel I didn’t get everything out of the leaves during this one. However, the flavours I got were good. I picked up a fruitiness and some smokey notes during the later infusions. Usually, I like the flavours a bit more intense. There are, of course, some situations where you just want to quietly sip some tea while reading a book, for example. This tea will do that just fine! If you want to try it, I advise buying a sample to see if it’s something for you. The flavours are good, but a bit too subtle to become one of my favourites. The warming sensation of this tea was on another level! I was almost sweating after the fifth infusion.
If you want to buy this tea, you can do so over here and you have 20% off when you use the code ‘NNS4TEAADVENTURES79’. Keep in mind that this code is only valid until April 15th.
