2018 Beneath an Emerald Sea is a sheng puer by Crimson Lotus tea. My experience with the 2016 version was it was very shengry, causing a party of people to eat an entire tray of rice krispies at my BBQ party.
I sampled the 2018 version of Beneath an Emerald Sea with Crimson Lotus Tea right before I left for my Europe cruise. I enjoyed it so much and felt it had potential, so I bought a cake then I went cruising with this tea. Looking back, I enjoyed 2018 more than the 2016 tea.
Leaf and Steeping Method
Here is the cake before I went on my trip.
My cake ate a couple of weeks of dodgy storage in suitcases, then back home in my pumidor for a season.
The leaf smells fruity stone fruits with a slight pungency.
For this review, I used 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size, gongfu steeped at a boil. However, Beneath an Emerald Sea performed fine at the unknown ratios and water temperature situations that I used on vacation. After a rinse, the hot leaf smells fruity, nutty, and grassy.
Tasting of Crimson Lotus Tea’s 2018 Beneath an Emerald Sea Sheng Puer
First and Second Infusion: 2018 Beneath an Emerald Sea sips in custard thick. The flavor profile is on the soft side, with the flavor swirling around like sharks. From what I can taste, this tea is gently floral, sweet, nutty, and bready like a walnut cookie, with a juicy stem vegetal note. The aftertaste is a long and smooth continuation of the soft floral.
Third, Fourth, and Fifth Infusion: I believe this tea’s first sip lays down a thick coating of floral for the rest of sips to build on. 2018 Beneath an Emerald Sea has a mineral, somewhat saline note, but overtop is a thick sweet floral, with a slight pithy grapefruit pungency. These steeps are well balanced and interesting, despite the tea is smooth and mellow in taste. The aftertaste is a blur of floral and stone fruits.
Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Infusion: Now I can taste this teas youth. The pithy bitterness showed here and overtook the other notes, however, the long floral flavor and aftertaste are sticking. 2018 Beneath an Emerald Sea is slightly dry on the teeth but still drinkable.
The final steep was super bitter but had a strong floral aftertaste. If you can take the bitter you will be rewarded.
Comments
Crimson Lotus Tea’s 2018 Beneath an Emerald Sea is a well-balanced tea with pleasing notes of floral, sweet fruits, and bitterness. The early and middle infusions are tasty, sporting a thick texture and long aftertaste. It does go bad bitter and dry in the later infusions, but it is a sheng with only a year of age on it.
I found Beneath an Emerald Sea did great in travel with questionable water and unknown leaf ratios. You can leaf is lighter or harder, have cool or boiling water, and the results are still pleasingly balanced and floral.
