Eden is a Manzhuan blend which is an ongoing tea in Bitterleaf Tea’s lineup. A number of my tea friends quote Eden as being one of their favorite Bitterleaf teas, whereas I’m the loon that likes The Bitter End LaomanE cake. I have to admit, 2019 Eden is my favorite wrapper artwork from Bitterleaf Tea’s 2019 lineup.
Leaf and Steeping Method
The dry leaf has a fruity tart cherry scent.
As usual, I used a gongfu ratio of 1 gram per 15ml of vessel size, steeped in boiling water. After a rinse and a steep, the leaves smell of floral, tart fruit, steamed rice, and a slight sour pungency.
Tasting of Bitterleaf Tea’s 2019 Eden Manzhuan Sheng Puer
First Infusion: Eden has a strong thick and creamy mouthfeel, drinking like heavy cream. The flavor is also creamy but overall quite light in taste. There are wisps of floral buttercups. Eden’s creaminess lingers more than the flavor.
Second Infusion: The second infusion Eden opens up more but is still a delicate and subtle profile. As I am drinking this, it heavily reminds me of a milky Jin Xuan oolong but with a young sheng pungency. This tea is milky, gently floral and sweet, but ends with a touch of stone fruitiness that brings me back to sheng land.
Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Infusion: Yet another shift of flavor as Eden warms up to being infused. Bitterleaf Tea’s 2019 Eden has a young sheng bitter pungency, tasting of creamed spinach dosed with heavy on the cream and knobs of butter, with a gentle floral quality towards the end. With each infusion, the tea gets more vegetal, but still dancing with creamy butter in the background. Finally, with the introduction of the astringency, I am getting a touch of a floral peach aftertaste.
Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Infusion: Eden has been stewed and over-brewed at this point, it is quite bitter and dry, but has a gentle floral aroma, with some tart cherries and peaches in the aftertaste. At the ninth and tenth infusion I kept going as the leaves have a scent, but it produced just straight astringent bitter stew of death.
Comments
Bitterleaf Tea’s 2019 Eden Manzhuan is a subtle sheng puer with notes of floral, cherries, peaches, and vegetal surrounded by a thick broth. It is a trickier tea to brew, as lower temperatures will lose the thickness of the tea and make the flavor too light, but it does go dry and bitter quickly after some infusions.
Eden is a young sheng fan kind of tea. You like delicate and sweet shengs that get a bite in later infusions, this is it. This tea will likely increase in flavor strength with some age if I had a cake of this I will ignore it for a couple of years to continue drinking. This is a more expensive tea, at this time, priced at $129 for a 200g cake.
Note that if you are a sheng drinker that I that enjoys getting face punched in flavor, texture, and mania, this isn’t a tea for you. There is something about young Manzhuan shengs that don’t connect with me. My review descriptions sound awesome, but I spent the whole session craving to switch to a high mountain oolong.
(free with my last Bitterleaf Tea order, which is either a free sample or blog review)
