I tend to compare every wild arbor black tea from Yunnan to W2T’s Arbor Red nowadays, it has become the staple tea of this category for me. As for Ancient Spirit, this one seems to have a really good reputation on here so I was excited to try it. All in all, it doesn’t reach the heights of Arbor Red in my opinion. It is less well balanced and is not as complex. On the other hand, the longetivity and texture is just as good if not better.
The dry leaf aroma is slightly metallic with notes of sawdust, tomato vine, leather, and cranberry. From the wet leaves I get scents of forest floor, smoke and later in the session also roast lamb. The taste is very smooth and elegant. There are flavours of straw, citrus zest, leather, wood, and brown sugar. They turn into a mineral, woody, and fragrant aftertaste. I quite like the mouthfeel, which is buttery, smooth, soft, and somewhat fleeting.
It’s quite hard to describe this tea overall, but it is very mineral, a bit smoky, somewhat savoury, and lightly sweet. Late steeps then turn out to be distinctively woody.
Flavors: Brown Sugar, Citrus Zest, Cranberry, Forest Floor, Leather, Meat, Mineral, Plant Stems, Sawdust, Smoke, Smooth, Straw, Wood
