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Crimson Lotus Tea Spring 2015 Kunlu Shan Slumbering Dragon Sheng
Origin: Pu’er
Harvest: Spring
2015
Elevation:
2000m
Tree Age:
“As old as the earth itself”
Today I
decided to try Crimson Lotus Tea’s Kunlu Shan Slumbering Dragon, another of
Crimson Lotus Teas that I am hoping not to fall in love with. This is a rather
interesting tea according to the description the trees that were used to make
this cake, supposedly the trees are as old as the earth itself so anywhere
between 6,000 years and 4.5 billion years and frankly those trees are too young
for me to be seen in public with. Crimson Lotus Tea describes this as:
This is a rare puerh. Of all the tea we
sell this is the hardest to source and the hardest to pick. There is a
village in Kunlu Shan that isn't even on Google maps. Once you're there you
need to hike another 3 kilometers into the mountains to get to these trees. The
hike is often steep. You gain 500 meters and it takes more than 3 hours to
get there. No one there knows how long the trees have been there or anything
about their history. When you ask locals the age they simply reply
that they are as old as the earth itself.
On the north slope of a steep
mountain ridge, surrounded by dense forest, these trees reach to the sky. The
trees at 20-40 feet tall literally scrape the ceiling of the forest. Impressive
does not begin to describe these ancient beings. The Chinese call these trees '高杆'/gāogān which
means "Tall Pole".
These skinny trees often grow in a
trio and remain branchless until near the top. Barefoot, only the young and the
brave, carefully climb to the top to pick the Spring harvest. There are no
ropes, harnesses, or soft landings. It is dangerous work. In an attempt to
conserve their strength for the ages these trees each produce precious few buds
and new spring growth. A day's harvest for a young eager picker often maxes out
around just 2kg. After roasting and sun drying perhaps half a kilo is all they
have to show for the days work. It took them 2 weeks to harvest what we bought.
In 2014 we had a chance to buy a small
amount of leaf from these special trees. We pressed just ten 100g
cakes. Five we sold and five we kept for ourself. Out of all we sourced
last year this puerh was the most unique. The flavor is strong, pure, natural,
and quite bitter, but with a transcendent chaqi. We made certain to
visit Kunlu Shan to get more this year.
We named this puerh "Slumbering
Dragon" because of the visual image of these ancient trees growing so
peacefully in the mountains. They seem to us like dragons of a previous
era in a deep slumber for eons. The strong energy in this tea mirrors the
strength of dragons in our active imaginations.
We present this tea as is. This is
unblended, single origin, high altitude, wild tree puerh. It will not
taste like a lot of the puerh out there. It is strong and intense with a
very pronounced bitterness that can linger. The intensity of bitterness will
fade with age. Our 2014 has mellowed quite nicely. The energy in this tea is
quite strong, it will sneak up on you. We hope you get a chance to try this
amazing and unique tea.
I’ll be
honest, this is one of the few teas I actually read the vendor’s description
before sampling the tea itself. Normally I try not to let the vendor’s tasting
notes or description bias me, but I knew this was an expensive tea and I didn’t
want to make a mistake when brewing.
Dry Leaves: I’m always impressed at how much better other people are at
breaking up cakes, once again my sample at first looks like maocha, but it is
obviously from a cake and someone more skilled with a pick (certainly not from
someone who routinely stabs himself while trying to break up a cake). The dry
leaves has a slight sweet and fruity aroma.
First
Steeping
Temperature:
Boiling
Brewing
Time: Five Seconds
Aroma: Fruity
and Camphor
Flavor: Super
Bitter, Bitter and Citrus Peel
Tasting
Notes: Like always I did three quick five seconds rinses, and used a little more
than 5g of loose leaf. I initially thought I was poisoned, I have never had
something so bitter and sharp and I liked it; perhaps not enough to drink this
often, but this has an amazing sharpness. I had a lot of trouble identifying
any flavor because of the lingering bitterness, but I think there was some citrus
peel taste, but I am not exactly sure. According to CLT’s description their
2014 has mellowed out quite nicely so I suspect if this is anything like the
2014 it will be nicer in a year.
This was
the sharpest bitter tea I have ever had even though the bitterness lingered for
an absurdly long period of time, I waited around five minutes or so between
steepings for it to go away even though I started chewing on a sprig of mint.
As for the aroma it is a little weak I did get something fruity that I could
not pin down as well as camphor. Despite the bitterness I enjoyed this tea;
this is definitely a puerh person tea.
Second
Steeping
Temperature:
Boiling
Brewing
Time: 10 Seconds
Aroma: Fruity and Camphor
Flavor: Bitter
and Citrus Peel
Tasting
Notes: Again I had quite a lot of trouble trying to identify what I was tasting
beyond the very sharp bitterness. I almost described this as kuwei and while I
can certainly see someone who likes a pleasant bitterness in their shengs to
enjoy this tea I don’t feel comfortable in describing it as such because of the
lingering aftertaste.
The
liquor is getting slightly darker and the used leaves smell wonderfully fruity,
but this is definitely ones of those teas meant to be hidden away and
forgotten.
Third
Steeping
Temperature:
Boiling
Brewing
Time: 15 Seconds
Aroma: Fruity
and Camphor
Flavor: Bitter
and Citrus Peel
Tasting
Notes: Again bitter and I had trouble identifying anything beyond that
bitterness.
I almost
decided against posting this since I had so much trouble with how it tasted,
but it has an amazing Cha Qi, I’ll admit I got very tea drunk off the first
infusion something that does not happen to me much (perhaps because I tend to
drink a lot of cheap young puerhs meant to be drank immediately). I have never
had a tea like this before, it does not feel like one of those puerhs that is
not drinkable in its current state, but I feel like this is going to get so
much better as it ages. I decided to publish my thoughts on this tea because I
think it is a good tea, as many of you may know I only write about teas that I
enjoy or find interesting on this blog and this Slumbering Dragon fall between
both those categories. This tea made me feel like a tea novice again, I loved
how Slumbering Dragon made me feel overwhelmed and inexperienced. At the time
of writing this Crimson Lotus Tea is selling a 200g cake of this for $120 and
it is worth checking out if you have a little extra in your tea budget although
this is a very unique puerh so if you do plan on purchasing it come with an
open mind.
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