This has to be one of the most unique teas that’s graced my tongue, and not necessarily in a challenging or quirky way. It’s beautiful. Previous note was for gongfu, (https://steepster.com/derk/posts/431599) and while that experience was a little lacking, this tea has been shining when prepared western. The dry leaf aroma alone is intoxicating and so clear and crisp. I used to work at a grocery store with a flower shop 20 years ago and this leaf smells just like walking into the rose cooler. Similar in taste-vibe to a good Taiwanese Ruby 18 with its cooling green notes but very much a high elevation Nilgiri with its florality and clean taste. So very gently malty with a big and rounded peachy midtone. It reminds of autumn, too. The scent of that air… A peach tree in October, surrounded by the most luscious garden of roses and cooling herbs, saffron sprinkled on the ground, the fruits of the tree woodened by age and still clinging to branches, the scent of impending frost during the night’s full moon. Small red currants glistening in the moonlight. Big impression there.
So western steeping has been a little difficult to nail down since I’ve been using hot water of unknown temp from the dispenser at work and it’s been an overwhelming few weeks that has left me distracted and inattentive to brewing time. But this tea is freaking gorgeous!! I’d put it somewhere in the 90s on my personal scale and would highly recommend it to tea snoots who don’t shun a western preparation. Brewing in glass does something special to this tea, too, compared to porcelain.
Flavors: Astringent, Butter, Caramel, Cardamom, Creamy, Crisp, Floral, Forest Floor, Fruity, Malt, Peach, Plant Stems, Rainforest, Red Currant, Rose, Saffron, Sweet, Wintergreen, Wood, Woody
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Something that good that can be steeped with work water? Sounds perfect!
Sounds like a lovely tea, and your description of it is poetic! Even better that it’s not fussy to steep.
It is a little fussy with steep time but does well with whatever water temp the dispenser is set at.
Something that good that can be steeped with work water? Sounds perfect!
Sounds like a lovely tea, and your description of it is poetic! Even better that it’s not fussy to steep.
It is a little fussy with steep time but does well with whatever water temp the dispenser is set at.