3 Tasting Notes
I received a 7 gram minicake from my teaware.house order, so i’m brewing this with my new teaware!
The very first thing that springs to mind when smelling the wet leaves, and tasting the first steep, is tobacco. This fragrance, and to some extent taste, will be consistent throughout the later steepings aswell. Out of the various other hints and notes, i find this to be the main distinct one.
There is a certain tingling minerality and astringency in this tea, leaving my tongue a bit dry after each cup. This feeling isn’t unpleasant to any extent, as especially on the later and longer steeps, it is accompanied by a slightly mouth-watering sweetness, mostly taking place at the sides of my tongue.
One thing that must also be mentioned is the persistence of this tea! I had to cut it at around 15 steeps, as i simply couldn’t stomach more tea for the day, but i’m confident in claiming that it could’ve gone for at least 5 more steeps.
If i were to pick a favourite steeping, it would be in the later period, where i brewed it much longer, and more on intuition. Here, the sweetness kicks in, along with more minerality, and a more smooth tobacco, smokey note.
The colour of the liquor stays quite consistent, and is a clear amber.
Other notes i get, although much harder to define are:
Dried fruit skin.
Damp sweet hay.
An old tree log.
I used the whole 7 gram mini-cake, and filled my 100ml gaiwan to about 80ml.
Water temperature must’ve been around 95 degrees Celsius. I was using a water kettle with no thermometer, and i simply drew the kettle off, just when i heard a rumble before the boil start.
Flavors: Dried Fruit, Mineral, Smoke, Sweet, Tobacco
