Space Girls is an ongoing series of raw puer by Crimson Lotus Tea. For the 2023 Space Girls version, you get a tong of four 50 gram cakes. This gives you the tong experience for a low price and you won’t be stuck with a lot of tea.
The tong fits in my hands.
I love opening tongs. It is almost like I’m doing something I shouldn’t, like it should stay incased.
The cute artwork on the wrappers is done by Stasia Burrington. Each cake has a different space girl on it.
The compression is on the tight side, not iron cake tight but you need a good puerh knife tight (and here are the best puerh knives). As I was prying off pieces, a super fragrant juicy peachy fruity scent rose up.
As usual, I used a gongfu ratio of 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size, steeped in boiling water. After a rinse, the leaves are a zesty peach and little baby’s breath flowers.
Tasting of Crimson Lotus Tea’s 2023 Space Girls Raw Puer
First, Second, and Third Infusion: 2023 Space Girls has a sticky texture that makes me smack my lips. I checked and Crimson Lotus Tea states this is a single mountain Nannoushan. I swear that is the only mountain I can identify in a tea.
This tea is a very floral bouquet that glues to the mouth and stays after drinking. There is also a vegetal note of snap pea leaves. With each infusion, the vegetal note grows stronger, while the floral aroma stays.
Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Infusion: The girls are biting back as it fully shifts into the bitter vegetal flavor. The progress of this tea is like these Space Girls are new to Earth and find flowers, and chew up a juicy bouquet. Then they get to the bitter stem but have fully committed to finishing it. Each burp has an explosion of floral flavor.
Seventh Infusion: This tea can keep going, it has the potent floral aroma still kicking around, but the tea itself is stewy bitter herbs. The bitterness arrives slowly and fades after sipping. I could probably get another infusion if I wanted to continue the bitter drinking.
Comments
Crimson Lotus Tea’s 2023 Space Girls is a floral sheng lover’s dream – the early infusions are very aromatic along with an excellent mouthfeel. It does get bitter, but likely you can avoid the worst of it by steeping in cooler water or letting it age some.
The tong experience is fun for those who have never opened a tong. Each tong has a total of 200 grams, a typical sized puer cake, so you can buy two – one to drink now and the other to age.
Surprisingly, I have only reviewed the 2016 Space Girls, despite I know I have a few others in my collection. This 2023 one is distinctly different with the Nannoushan sticky material and stronger floral flavor.
(tea provided for review)
