If you are a fan of Taiwanese teas and sheng puer, this review will be a treat. Today’s tea is Mountain Stream Tea’s 2018 Taiwanese Sheng. This tea is Shan Cha, which is exclusive to the wild indigenous old trees, from Liugui Region of Taiwan with 1300-1400m elevation. This tea was processed like a typical Yunnan Sheng Puer.
Mr. Lazy Literatus gave me the heads up on this Taiwanese Sheng, wondering if it is actual Shan Cha. I bought it anyway, I don’t mind the $35 price tag to try a new tea vendor. I never dealt with this style of tea so I didn’t know what I was getting into. When it arrived, he asked me how it smelled, which I blindly confirmed as legit due to the distinct unusual scent.
Leaf and Steeping Method
This cake has an intense grape scent like it was a candy or fruit leather. The shape also was also on point as I was expecting the flat stamped cookie like other Taiwan pressed teas.
I used 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size ratio, gongfu steeped in boiling water. A rinse produced a strong grape candy scent with the leaves smelling like more grape candy and floral high mountain oolong.
Tasting of Mountain Stream Tea’s 2018 Taiwanese Sheng Puer
First and Second Infusion: The first sip of Taiwanese Sheng has cinnamon spice rolling off the tongue, with an ample background of fruit notes such as plum and grapes. I think I can taste raisin too, but I am not sure if that’s the pairing with the cinnamon that makes my brain fill in that note. There are some sips of a vegetal nature, but it is slight for now.
Third and Fourth Infusion: Taiwanese Sheng is tasting pretty consistent, but this round has a slight sour note to it. the aftertaste is now showing up, leaving a fleeting grape fruit roll up and powdery flavor. Thinking about it, this just doesn’t taste like sheng to me, more like a medium oxidized oolong as it has the stronger notes of cinnamon and fruit. Blindfold me and I might even think this is a mid-late steeping Taiwanese black or Chinese black.
Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Infusion: The Taiwanese Sheng has a dry bite to it, like grape leaves got stewed. The more I drink, the more the astringency dries the hoot out of my tongue leaving me with a sandpaper cat tongue. Despite the astringency, the Taiwanese Sheng still tastes strongly plummy. After these infusions, the hot leaf in the gaiwan started smelling like ripe tomatoes.
Eighth and Ninth Infusion: Likely one would have stopped drinking on the Seventh infusion, as that was pretty astringent. This tea had a bit more in it, so I got another 2 infusions. These infusions are incredibly astringent in a bad way, but once that clears there are flavors of clean mineral rocks and plum. These steepings remind me of a high mountain oolong.
Comments
Mountain Stream Tea’s 2018 Taiwanese Sheng is completely different compared to other shengs. The distinctly fruity aroma and taste really set it apart. This is the perfect sheng puer for someone who is looking for a fruity sheng, hands down this is the fruitiest I’ve had so far. This is clearly the ultimate oolong drinker sheng puer. It will be interesting to see how this tea ages – I’ve sealed mine in a bag in my pumidor to hopefully retain the aroma.
This tea also leans more tea nerd and educational, as it is interesting how much a region tastes different and this is a rarer tea. If you are experienced with sheng puer, this Taiwanese sheng would be a fun one to drink with friends and exchange notes or get in fights with as they’ll insist it isn’t a sheng.
If you prefer new tea, the 2019 Spring Taiwanese Sheng from Mountain Stream Teas is coming out soon!
