Crimson Lotus Tea’s 2018 Forgotten Nebula is a Sheng Puer blend of 2018 Spring material. What stands out immediately is that this puer cake has a killer wrapper so this tea is mighty tempting to get and frame. This wrapper is done by Jones Pitsker.
Crimson Lotus Tea described Forgotten Nebula as a “mouth-watering sweetness that keeps on giving. It will surprise you how many steeps you can get from this tea.”
Alas, I just have a sample of this tea. Another reminder of how awesome the Crimson Lotus Tea’s sample packaging is. These packets are perfect for the pumidor.
Dry Leaf and Steeping Method
I gave this sample a week of rest. Drank it, then tried it again over a month later. Yet another pretty young leaf.
I used 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size. I did gongfu style steeping with boiling water. The hot leaf smells like golden raisins and peaches.
Tasting of Crimson Lotus Tea’s 2018 Forgotten Nebula Sheng Raw Puer
First and Second Infusion: Forgotten Nebula starts off light and sweet with nothing much to it other than a slightly sticky texture. The more I sip, the more a brighter sweetness pops up, reminding me of sticky rock sugar that is melting from being eaten in a hot humid day with gooey fingers.
Third, Fourth, and Fifth Infusion: For these infusions Forgotten Nebula is picking up light speed. The flavor is still light, so I hone in on the texture more, which is like a thin sticky hard candy being swallowed. The notes are dancing on gentle but stepping into risky territory. I am getting a bit of amber, slightly incense whisps, and some astringency to cause some salivation.
The aftertaste pops with stone fruity goodness. Admittedly, this aftertaste of super stone fruit was not in my original tasting note and showed up as the tea settled down with rest. Bloody young sheng, always changing flavors.
Sixth and Seventh Infusion: It seems I got into the center of the universe with a potent kick of puer. Forgotten Nebula is strong, brothy, and tastes of bitter minerals. I don’t find this tea that vegetal, but it certainly getting that stewy effect from being steeped a bunch. My brain connection is the flavors aren’t earthy or organic, more minerals, metals, texture, and sensation. There is a sharp dryness in my cheeks and tip of my tongue.
In silver, Forgotten Nebula is smooth and sweet, heavy on the more mineral notes, leaning that the tea is bringing out the silver rather than the silver cup enhancing the tea. I find silver removes bitterness, so Forgotten Nebula’s mineral and metal tastes are accurate.
Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Infusion: Now the puer has broken through the rough space and loses some of the bitterness. Forgotten Nebula is back to sweet minerals, wet stones, metallic, and rock sugar. It is still quite dry but surprisingly strong in flavor, stronger than the early infusions. The dryness gets a lot of salivation going too. The aftertaste takes a few moments to kick in, slipping in a sweet mineral note. Sadly, the body overall is thin after this trip.
Twelfth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Infusion: I am still lost in space at the Forgotten Nebula. The tea is still going and I’m not steeping it that long, around 5-10 minutes each. It is rock sugar and mineral sweet making the young puer easy to drink. I’m mostly sitting around waiting for the tea to steep and water to boil, as the tea goes down fast. There is no bitterness, but there is dryness. I did a palette reset so it wasn’t me being used to the bitterness from earlier. Forgotten Nebula has a lovely rock sugar sweetness here, I likely can feed this to children.
I’m actually annoyed at this tea as it is going on for a long time. I had planned another puer after this one but now I don’t have enough time. I expected Forgotten Nebula to be like other young shengs in this price bracket to die around steep 10.
Sixteenth and Seventeenth Infusion: 20-30 minute steepings here. Bloody tea is an unlimited galaxy of flavor payoff. This tea still tastes like it has another infusion or two, but I’m throwing in the towel as I got tired of it and I need to have dinner at some point. 3 kettle refills and I’m feeling a sloshy mess.
The tea continues to be a sweet mineral yet dry flavor. It is quite good and rewarding to get a nice flavor after this long.
Gut Rot level – High. I ate food prior and definitely had to chow down during or immediately after the tea session. My stomach felt a mix of tightening sucking of space and giving me cramps. Be sure to eat a full meal before this tea and have snacks ready. Forgotten Nebula also just keeps going, and the longer you sit there drinking young sheng for hours, the more it tries to finish you off.
Comments
Crimson Lotus Tea’s 2018 Forgotten Nebula is a sweet and mineral/metallic young puer with a strong rocking fruity aftertaste. It does resteep incredibly well for its youth, so you do get your money’s worth there. Note I did drink this early on, then again in a month and it did change a lot in the early infusions to add a stone fruit element. It did finish the same with a rock sugar and metallic vibe with sticky texture in the end. This tea is likely still settling into its FINAL FORM (but what is the final form of sheng?).
I do like how it is unique in flavor and wonderful sticky texture. I think going lighter on temperature will be too subtle in flavor, but would help resteep even longer and control the powerful middle infusions. If you have a silver cup, this tea shines brighter and sweeter. At first, I much preferred Crimson Lotus Tea’s 2018 Jade Rabbit more, but after some time and more sessions, Forgotten Nebula gets more and more appealing. Both are good teas.
My application for Forgotten Nebula is to share. It resteeps very well, though takes some time to get there. With people and some food, it’s a good tea. Solo, if you have a gongfu station at your desk, you can likely work on Forgotten Nebula all day, and it’s a tea that doesn’t break the bank.
(tea provided for review)
