Today I’ll be tasting a sample of a Dayi special production, the 2018 Year of the Dog sheng. The tea is supposedly made from Jingmai area material. When I saw the wrapper though I knew that I at least had to have a sample.

What can I say? While the tea itself is obviously more important, I’m still a sucker for a good wrapper design. I negotiated a sample from a generous tea friend who I believe purchased the cake via King Tea Mall. (kingteamall.com) a seller who built their reputation on Aliexpress but then moved to their own site in the wake of Ali banning the sale of tea.

The sample is fairly large/whole leaf for a factory cake, and loose-ishly compressed as well. The leaves are dark and have a light honeyed aroma.

The tea brews a medium gold color with a sweet yet pungent aroma. The taste is honeyed but also pungent with notes of green wood and fresh peach with a slight floral aroma. Bitterness is moderate-high. Like most factory cakes I think this one is geared more towards aging than for drinking now, but for those who enjoy a burlier sheng (like myself) this one is perfectly drinkable now, and better suited to that than the average factory cake.

While still strong, later steepings are mellower and the body becomes thicker and gives a bit of a oily/lubricating mouthfeel. In further steeping the thickness starts to fade, and is replaced by a thin minerality as the tea begins to give up. Surprisingly, I get some “qi” feels on my face from this tea and feel very energized. I did have a cup of coffee earlier this morning, but I think these effects are primarily from the tea.

All in all a good tea! It’s a little expensive for a factory cake, but the tea is good (and the wrapper is wonderful.)