Unique sheng
"The uniqueness of Qing Mei Shan is definitely noticeable in its aromas. Dry leaves smell of candies and marshmallow. It is a very sweet smell, but mellow and subtle at the same time, not overpoweringly sweet or artificial. In the wet leaves, I can detect aromas of bubblegum, leather, swamp vegetation, clover/thyme flowers, cinnamon, medicinal notes, and baked bread. I am not sure if it’s just the power of suggestion, but I can smell some rapeseed flowers in the empty cup here too, like I did with the 2017 version. The taste is crisp and fairly well balanced, although very pungent when brewed aggressively like I did this time. It is mostly vegetal overall with notable woody flavour, good bitterness and an emergent grain-like sweetness. There are notes of spices like cinnamon, a sour finish reminiscent of plant stems and a sort of briny character that reminds me of fish. Furthermore, fleeting notes of butter, thistles, and peach skin cropped up throughout the session. The aftertaste is very fragrant and quite dry, biting, and tannic. It has notes of swamp, ginger and lavender. The sweetness takes a while to arrive and thus allows for more complexity to arise. Nevertheless, there is also a persistent bitterness in the aftertaste. Mouthfeel is buttery, coating, and astringent, not the most interesting aspect to be honest. I got a decent cooling sensation in the body from this tea, but otherwise the cha qi is not particularly strong either."
— Tomáš G. (5/5)
Just keeps going
"I love this tea. It just has all the things I like about it: sweet, bitter, lasting aftertaste, many many steeps. You can mess with the steep times to get the bitterness right where you like it with knowing how the sweetness ramps up and slowly declines. I am no expert, but I love how this tastes and the alert yet calming energy I get during a session. I also love the 2017 version as well. This probably has a bit less complexity than the 2017 but the characteristics of these YS Qing Mei Shan offerings are more instense in the 2015."
— Master S. (5/5)
Nice mild sweetness
"The taste is moderately sweet and the mouthfeel is moderately thick, slight bitterness. Flavors of sugarcane, green wood, white grapes, pine, heart of palm, and a mild peachyness. Overall pretty nice."
— Thomas P. (5/5)
