Backlog from a couple days ago (drinking Bluebird’s Christmas Cake now!)
Thanks again for the tea package, Beorhthraefn! This was one I’ve been wanting to try. I couldn’t wait, even though Green Terrace site seems to be down because they are adding the new harvest of teas… but what happens if I need to look up info on a tea? Hopefully my parameters are close to what I was supposed to do. I love the picture of the leaves… they look like a rainbow. My sample looks slightly more like a roasted oolong. I went with a teaspoon and a half of leaves.
Steep #1 // 10 min after boiling // rinse // 1 min steep
This cup the flavor seems to be apricot, very sweet, a little peach, apple, butter. Kind of like a ti guan yin. Not at all like a charcoal oolong, though the leaves seem very much like it. Very unique and delicious. I’ve never tried a Gui Fei before.
Steep #2 // few min after boiling // 2 min steep
Now it seems like a savory oolong (whichever those types are). Salty, brothy. Not terrible, but I kind of wanted more of the first cup. I wonder if I oversteeped, but it doesn’t seem like the leaves are overdone? Maybe when I steep ANY oolong (or many of them anyway) at close to boiling it seems like a savory oolong? I should try steeping the same oolong with different parameters all in the same week. Oolongs are tricky.
Steep #3 // few min after boiling // 2 min
This one seems more like the first cup again.. I’m not sure how! The flavor seems to shift between different types of oolong — (ti guan yin, a savory, wen shan bao zhong, but never really a charcoal type though the leaves looked like it) —very interesting! If I knew the correct way to steep this one though, it might have been even better.
