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Toted this along when I got sent out from my usual assignment at work and didn’t have the luxury of my little cabinet to choose from all day. Brewed grandpa style several times throughout the day… and night, much to my chagrin. Sadly, I can’t recommend repeating my technique. Every first steep was astringent and nothing else, and subsequent fills were somewhere between boring and tasteless. I’ll limit this one to proper western steeps from now on, I think.

I like this tea, but I’ve had it twice now and for some reason I’m not clicking into a full note-taking session. Letting that be what it is. There are definite notes of brandy and plum pudding. I don’t get a lot of the florals and wood perfumes that I have come to expect and love in high mountain teas, but I recognize the cultivar is somewhat more vegetal and grounded. Not a terribly long-lasted tea; I think I got 5 or 6 satisfying steeps. This is probably not a reorder for me personally, but it’s good and I’d have no issue serving it to a friend.

I think I need to relearn how to make matcha. Yikes.

Woke up from a long nap after a long night at work, and thought this would be a perfect preface to a smoothie and a gongfu session. I think I maybe went too heavy on my ratio at 6g:9oz. I also was sad to find I’d chucked my matcha whisk at some point, after not having used it for several years. I used an electric frother, which maybe contributed to bitterness?

Anyway, I didn’t get the lovely spinach and edamame and hay that I was expecting. It was kinda sour, kinda bitter. I finished it because I felt like I should, but I didn’t enjoy it. I’ll come back and try to use less powder and less aggressive frothing.

No rating, I’m sure this was user error.

I take back every mean thing I’ve said about linalool oxide. It’s delicious here, because it has fantastic supporting players. Notes coming out of the warmed pot were toasty with some lemon zest. Potatoes and umami in the first steep. The linalool/ecualyptus flavor is present but is not the star.

I didn’t take notes, so this feels like a paltry offering to these leaves. They are the fluffiest of fluffies, and only 5g filled my 5oz ceramic pot. That first steep was an unexpected delight; I got typing to Daylon and oversteeped the second, cursing myself as I poured… annnnd it was amazing. No bitterness, big flavors. Hay, mushroom, sweetness like a Maillard reaction… caramelized starch? It makes me want to brew this western and see what bouquet materializes, though these fat flavors may take a LOT of leaf to accomplish… and losing a gong fu session also seems a little sad.

It tasted cool, but I just had to lose my sweatshirt and feel a little shvitzy.

The first white (aside from a long-ago dither with a coconut-something from Art of Tea) that I will almost definitely repurchase. I really like this.

Sipdown. I found some fruit and minerality along with the nuts and bran sweetness (still wouldn’t call it honey) I’d noted before. This is lovely, but not necessarily my favorite style. It’s tempting to consider embarking on a journey to understand the fervor for dancongs… I first need to learn what exactly they are, though… so not today, wallet, not today.