Having just had a very excellent (Texas sourced) orange blossom honey mead over Christmas, I can actually get my head to Verdant’s note on this tea having orange blossom honey characteristics. It isn’t the sugar sweetness, obviously, but more that almost musky, floral tang that lighter, sweeter honey’s have.
Tulsi is “holy basil” and I think if you’re going to call this tea “vegetal” you probably can’t go any greener than that. It isn’t at all “vegetal” in the sense that a dragon well or Japanese green tea is. There’s no big bass notes of chard or kombu here. No, this tea is like a giggling child on a Summer’s picnic. Sandals forgotten, sun dress smudged and too often askew, but having far too much fun to care about such details. Light and bouncing.
I still get the “someday I’ll grow up and be an old sheng” thing, which really is a ton of fun. Tasting what tea will become someday feels like a super power or something.
Verdant says cedar, I’d have gone with sandalwood, myself.
Having had Laoshan black (the chocolate tea) yesterday I’m not getting their chocolate note here, but perhaps next time.
Flavors: Floral, Tulsi, Wood
