Matu Send Message

Got this in a recent YS order and tried it for the first time today. I was dismayed when I opened the bag, because it smelled like wet, almost rotten leaf pile. The only other tea I’ve tried that smelled a bit like this was almost unpalatable to me. For this I used 6g in a 100mL gaiwan with boiled water. I did two rinses because I was nervous of wetness. The liquid of this tea was remarkably clear and an orangish brown color. It got more red as the session went on. I did steeps of 7s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s. I almost certainly could have gotten more but I sort of had to rush through the session.

The flavor was dominantly wet wood, but wasn’t particularly unpleasant. The smell which had put me off in the beginning became a bit more alluring as I drank the tea, maybe just because I knew the taste wasn’t nasty. Around the third steep a sort of softer/creamy flavor started to creep in on the aftertaste, and the next steep reminded me a good bit of shou. The next one (the last I got to) had a bit of a metallic taste along with wet wood, feeling like it may have been dying, I don’t know. Glad I have 50g of this to mess around with.