I was feeling incredibly lazy today. I somehow managed to hurt my hip, my sister (whom I’m babysitting) is being difficult, I couldn’t find one of my socks… It was just one of those days, and I didn’t feel like clearing the table so I’d have room to gong fu my tea. So, I brewed this western style in my Breville. One tablespoon to 500ml for 6 minutes at 195F to start with. I thought I’d go with what the packet said for the first few tries, but I’ll definitely try brewing it up differently, in future. Not convinced I got everything out of this tea that I could have.
On opening the packet, I was struck by how much everything smelt of cream. I even handed it to The Boy. He’s not very good at picking up scents and flavours in tea, generally, but he immediately picked up on the cream as well. There’s maybe the slightest whisper of floral at the tail end of the scent, it’s reminding me of the Verdant TGY.
It brews up fairly light – translucent, faded caramel. The smell of cream is unmistakable now. It reminds me of making cream of pumpkin for Thanksgiving. I’ve been known to steal a sip or two of the pure heavy cream when nobody’s looking! The floral note is more muted, though it’s still hiding in there. (Second steep is less floral than the first. But it’s still there, under the cream!)
It tastes exactly how I thought it would – milky, silky, sweet. A bit overwhelmingly so on all accounts, which is why I need to try different steeping parameters next time. And a different menu. I’m fairly sure the garlicky dinner (mofongo, tostones, arroz con gandules, beans. ALL slathered with garlic to nearly shameful levels!) I had is clashing with the tea! Drinking water didn’t particularly cleanse my palate well enough. Actually, I’m certain that’s what the issue is, so I can’t in good conscience rate this tea right now.
It IS rather nice. I do quite like it. But I’ll steep it differently and have it after a more appropriate dinner next time. Mmmm, I can’t stop smelling this packet of tea, though. It smells soooo good!
