Day 12 of the Tea Thoughts box. Nazanin sourced this specifically for this box, and as far as I can tell is not selling it. Thanks to Roswell Strange for adding it to the database! Confession: I actually opened this one in advance and enjoyed it over the weekend so I could gong fu and savor it. I got two sessions out of the 14g in the packet. Probably could have split it up better and gotten 3 sessions, but I was eyeballing it.
The dry leaf smells very roasted and mineral. For some reason it specifically made me think of the smell of iron. Which, duh, tracks. The first steep definitely has that roastiness to it, but not as strong as the aroma of the dry leaf. This reminds me a lot of tieguanyin, and that’s because it is the same thing. I guess I had never seen this specific name for it before? I was literally sitting here wondering what the difference is between Iron Buddha and tieguanyin. A quick internet search revealed that there’s none, it’s the same thing, I just didn’t know that. I got what felt like endless steeps out of the leaf, with a pretty consistent flavor profile throughout. Eventually I stopped because I was trying not to over-caffeinate but it still kept me awake until almost 3am. The second time, I cut myself off earlier in the day in the interest of sleep!
