I really think I am not experienced enough in the various green tea flavours, being a green tea newbie for the most part, to really fully appreciate this tea. It smells very robustly green and vegetal, although I could not tell you what plant. It smells like a strange combination of edamame and spinach to me but I have no idea what nori smells like so it could be that too. Not so much grass.
I managed with the tools I have to steep this in approximately 175 degree temp as stated by the really unrefined meat thermometer my mom got me for this purpose. Best I could get on short notice from a pretty rural Massachusetts grocery store, really, and I broke her crappy gravity infuser the first day so I was grateful for the teabags that came with this. The tea ball she has is not a very fine mesh.
First steep: definitely a deep and rich cup, nothing simple about this. Picking up some grass now, especially in the aftertaste. I can sort of taste the nuttiness in the cup but nothing specifically hazelnut.
I am super craving something sweet so I am debating whether to go to the next steep now or make a detour. I have about 3 more tea hours this afternoon to play with.
Second steep: the vegetal smell is weaker and the grass is much brighter this steep. I drank this one warmer and I definitely get ‘chewy’ this time around. There is more taste up front and it matches the aftertaste better and soy beans is what I am getting. I like this steep better than the first.
