Courtesy sample from, Angel. Thank you so much!
I brewed 4.6g in a 60ml porcelain gaiwan and followed the website’s steeping instructions: rinse, 30 seconds, 40, 50, 70,90, 120.
I divided the sample into two sessions just to be sure the leaf got some air. The aroma of the dry leaf is surprisingly oceanic and seaweed-like, delicately sweet. The leaf starts to smell more like Chinese rolled oolong after I enhance the aroma with the pre-heated gaiwan: intensely floral, with a sweetness of uncooked sugar snap peas. The wet leaf aroma is, again, floral, but also buttery. It also reminds me of the fragrance of full green leaves at the height of summer.
The liquor is a clear, bright, and pale yellow. The leaf doesn’t open completely until the third infusion, though the first and second infusions are quite flavorful of floral and fruity notes. The second infusion noticeably had a medicinal sweetness. After the third infusion, the flavors don’t evolve – they are consistently floral and sweet till the end. The texture is creamy throughout the session. The aftertaste is powerfully juicy, tasting of white grape juice. The website description says that this Tie Guan Yin produces a salivating effect, but to me it dries the mouth rather, and I salivated a little in consequence. The caffeine/qi kicks takes a bit of time to kick off; I began to feel both after the third infusion. I noticed an increase in alertness and my palms sweated a little.
