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A swap from Kawaii433. I think I still have few teas of yours mixed into my stash!

My brick was 9 grams so I split it in half and brewed it in my porcelain pot. Like other zhangping shuixian oolong, I opted for longer steeping times.

The dry leaves smell like I’ve buried my face in a narcissus bouquet studded with orchids. Lots of juicy green pear and a bit of malt. The warmed leaf was bright with honey, orange blossom and peas? The first steep brought out light toastiness in the wet leaf.

The first steep of 30 seconds at 190F left me thinking “Is this bad tea?” It had a nice orange blossom and sweetgrass aroma but there was an almost… you know that fresh mold smell? I could taste it. So I figured why not up the temperature and just roll with it — I see no mold in the other half of the brick. And maybe a higher temperature would thicken up the texture.

I went up to 205F with even longer steeping times and yeah, it was good. Orange blossom, dry grass, honey, lots of mineral tingling and salivation, slight baked bread. Honey aftertaste and a slight opening of the sinuses with something akin to spruce forest that had me breathing easily after a few more steeps. The body did become quite a bit thicker and a citrusy quality like mandarin zest presented. Bottom of the cup smell of honey and sweet almond. The aroma changed a bit into something soft like powdered sugar dusted flowers as the taste became even deeper with honey and ripe peach. A light gripping astringency in the throat was there early but otherwise the tea had no more else to show. Honey-sweet, floral, mineral, fruity and grassy with a medium-thick body.

Not going to rate it for now. I’ll try the remainder of the brick grandpa style with 205-212F water. I get the feeling this oolong might be well suited for that preparation.

[4.5g, 205F, 100mL porcelain pot, no rinse, longer gongfu steep times starting at 30s]

Book pairing: Intimacy: Trusting Oneself and the Other by Osho