On the face of it this is a fairly ordinary shou, a good-but-not-great daily drinker.
It will take to being gong-fu’ed quite nicely, and will give you 8 good rounds for your trouble, but a one-shot, 4 minute duration Western style steeping actually suits it best.
There’s a nice soup here, packing a good body and colour, with a predominantly “old paper” taste profile.
With all the amazing shous out there, you would otherwise expect this one to fade into the background when stacked up against its more illustrious cousins, except…
Except, for me, this tea will forever have a special place in both my stash and my heart for one very important reason – I got it as a gift from Mrs. Teaist on the fourteenth of February, hence its new name.
Valentine’s Shou.
Northern Teaist 
did I understand correctly , have you steeped the tea 4 minutes?
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Yes, that’s right. I steeped the tea with these parameters – water at 100 degs. C, 4 teaspoons in a 400 ml glass teapot for 4 minutes.
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That would be very strong “coffee” for me. 110ml gaiwan 4g , 5-10s depends on depth fermentation. Time extended to later infusions to 1min max. Ruby-red liquor sweet not earthy. 4min in almost half liter bottle sounds like Russian ,Siberian style:-)
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I only use those Western style steeping parameters if I’m using a low-end loose leaf shou.
Anything better quality goes in a gaiwan, at more or less the same ratios and times that you use… 🙂
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