Crimson Lotus Tea’s 2018 Stone Lion Sheng Puer is a Spring, old tree huangpian style leaf from a less aggressive varietal of LaomanE. In case you didn’t know LaomanE is notorious for being bitter no matter what you do.
I got my brick of 2018 Stone Lion sheng puer for free. Crimson Lotus Tea was giving away teas for free at the last PDX Tea Festival if you found them and shouted, “I LOVE CRIMSON LOTUS TEA!”. I had my husband do the shouting as he’s got the loud man voice.
Since July, I had my brick settle down some, then got stored in my pumidor (heated storage, 60-65%) through the winter.
Leaf and Steeping Method
Another huangpian, another death trap of a brick. Thankfully Stone Lion isn’t too terrible, it’s not the disaster that is White2Tea’s Turtle Dove white or Bitterleaf Tea’s Bitter End Lite, but it is still bad as it is densely pressed tea. I managed to pry off some nice chunks. The dry leaf has a sour peach scent.
I used 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size, gongfu steeped. After the rinse, I left the hot leaf to sit for a few minutes to open up the compression. The hot leaf smells like peaches, but something bitter acrid terrible in the bowels.
Tasting of Crimson Lotus Tea’s 2018 Stone Lion Sheng Puer
First, Second, and Third Infusion: There is a bit of debris and pan char in this tea, as well as some cloudiness and dark floaters. All the little debris could be my bad hack job or some small pieces in this brick.
First sip, BAM. Stone Lion sheng puer is strong and LaomanE. Stone Lion sips in bitter with nippings of char, but getting past that, it has a sour apple crispness and peachy aftertaste. The texture is surprisingly thick like cake batter. The bitterness is fine, it is a bite of bitterness up front that fades into fruity.
Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Infusion: It is still bitter, it’s got a bitter grapefruit harshness to it, with an intense level of flavour, but even more so with these steepings it fades into fruity. It has a long fruity stone fruit aftertaste. The tea leaves a thick slick coating in the mouth. I left my tea to cool some and the grapefruit flavour comes out more.
The sixth infusion I put into a silver cup. It is strangely thicker and smoother to drink. Stone Lion is still bitter but reduced and the grapefruit and stone fruit notes are amplified.
Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Infusion: A turning point here as the bitter intense harshness has slipped a bunch. It’s still bitter, but on a different level of some stewed vegetable notes, but the fruit is staying on. The texture has thinned finally. The energy in Stone Lion has some kick too. I’m feeling really awake, eye-popping, and strangely want to go run laps in the yard.
Tenth and Eleventh Infusion: These final steepings is a huge jump down in flavour level. This strangely sips in not strong bitter intense at all – it’s softly fruity to start, then it shifts to a stewed to death spinach and asparagus bitter like other young shengs can get. This is a good example of good bitter (early infusion) vs bad bitter (oversteeped late infusions).
Gut Rot – Deathly. My stomach just hated this tea. Again, I write this not dealing with young sheng well as I’m on a weight cut for powerlifting. My stomach just doesn’t have the deep fried deliciousness to line it anymore. Around the 8th infusion, I wanted to go drink a vat of queso to help my stomach. It’s a young bitter tea, so not for the faint of heart stomach. I lasted longer than I thought, likely due to the thickness of this tea, but wasn’t saved in later infusions when the thickness stopped.
Comments
Crimson Lotus Tea’s 2018 Stone Lion is the sheng puer for you if you love bitter and strong teas without breaking the bank. It has some good thickness and aftertaste too especially for the price. At this time of writing, a 200 gram brick of Stone Lion is $29.
You have to like bitter teas though, it is a LaomanE. It is a nice change of pace as many western faced puer vendors sell more sweet friendly stuff and heard our old dodgy butts wanting puer that takes your face and slams it on the table. Stone Lion will also age well for the long haul.
To those who commented on my other LaomanE reviews on whether I’ve done to try and minimize the bitter with things like less leaf and lower temperature – there is no point. This tea is supposed to be bitter and strong, comes out bitter and strong, and is best aged.
(tea acquired for free)
