Many shop bosses say that if you store sheng poorly, eg. open to much moisture, light, etc is can become shu. I know it's literally impossible for a raw tea to become a cooked tea, but the aging process of the tea can take on a negative aspect as well as a positive. Last weekend a boss let me try some of his sheng that had begun to take on qualities of shu and it was quite revolting.
Moral of the story, I guess, would be watch how you store your Sheng!
Other than teas like cooked TGY, which were originally highly oxidized then highly fired, the typical shu teas like the original Dong Ding Oolong came from the farmers not being able to sell their teas due to transportation difficulties. These teas take on the chen(old) character through the long storing periods, and obtains the shu(cooked) character through the charcoal roasting(now electric heating elements)
Anyway, try put some of that sheng tea in a oven for a good 30 minutes or in the microwave for a couple of minutes would restore most of its original character.
snipped-for-privacy@localhost.talkaboutdrinks.com4/27/0
5 18: snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com
Wow. I'm off to the office microwave. Hmmmm. Seriously. Any port in a storm. Never thought of that. Thanks. Michael
Great! Now it won't smell of rancid pizza anymore.
/Lew
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Ask the community — no account required