In revisiting this, I must first point out that I misread the package, which clearly states that you should use one TABLESPOON of tea to 8 oz of water. I used a teaspoon, but one of those ones from David’s that is really bigger than a regular teaspoon but still not as big as a tablespoon.
So I’m starting from the right amount of tea, or perhaps a bit more, this time.
Second, I’m steeping hotter. I bumped the temp to the recommended 180, only a 5 degree difference, but Rishi’s instructions are very adamant that while one is free to vary the time, one should never vary the temperature. Apparently I was a bad girl on two counts the first time.
Third, I’m steeping a minute longer. Four minutes didn’t turn the tea into a wretched mess of bitterness, and so I’m going to be brave and try the minimum recommended steeping time, 5 minutes.
I spend so much of my time telling my kids to follow directions, you’d think I would have it down myself by now.
Directions are meant to be followed in this case. I get what the other notes mean when they say corn. There’s a hint of corn in the aroma and in the flavor. I get a lot less sweet and a lot less butter steeped at this temperature and time but it’s not bitter. I get the pine nut flavor, too.
It’s still a fairly light, subtle flavor even when steeped according to directions, but it’s got much more character this way.
It’s definitely different among green teas, many of which have lately been very tasty but very much the same to me—either cooked buttery vegetable or cut hay-grass variations.
This one isn’t either of those. It’s in a category by itself, which makes it somewhat hard to rate. I think I still need to do some work to get the best flavor out of it, but I could definitely see drinking this regularly. I give it a solid excellent mark in its own little category. It’s not to the crack level for me, but it has attributes that I admire in teas and particularly green teas, namely that I don’t think it’s something I would get sick of easily.
