Because of the tiny, thin leaves and their clumpy nature, when I take some from the jar, it feels like I’m pinching some tobacco from a pouch to roll a cigarette. I like that aspect of this tea. The qualities of the leaf go beyond sight and smell and into a familiar past, a ritual of touch.
The dry leaf smells rich and fruity, like a mix between scotch, cocoa, leather and tobacco. A haylike quality is also present. The fruitiness comes as lighter, shifting notes of raisin, raspberry, apricot and plum. Some florality is presented as osmanthus. When had gongfu, the warm leaf smells strongly of sourdough starter and a bright red wine with a red currant note.
I’ve prepared this tea 3 different ways so far: western, bowl and gongfu. I’ll start off by saying gongfu preparation makes a tea difficult to please. I never could get the right touch to take this tea into the enjoyable territory of its western or bowl preparation. It was always overpowering, savory-sour, bitter-vegetal and drying. Early aroma was cocoa-fruity-leathery; later, somehow undeniably like ramps.
I was going to try to describe all three ways in one note but I can’t seem to gather my thoughts into anything cohesive. I’ll add another note or two for western prep and bowl tea.
Flavors: Apricot, Bitter, Cocoa, Cream, Drying, Grain, Hay, Leather, Malt, Orange, Osmanthus, Peach, Plum, Raisins, Raspberry, Red Wine, Scotch, Sour, Strawberry, Tobacco, Vegetal, Wheat
