additional notes: I’m very sad I gave this an OKAY rating in the past. I must be sorely missing quality black teas because steeping this one I didn’t really like before was quite delicious today. I think the trick was majorly overleafing this ancient tea. I mean, I just dumped the leaves into the infuser. But with such a light colored, golden leaf, I always forget this brews quite dark, with a lot of depth. Last time I learned two teaspoons is necessary for a good session and this time it was even more leaf. I agree with my past note: mildly smoky, peppery hot chocolate. This time I would say it was bittersweet chocolate. I went with three steeps to make up for how much of this pricey leaf I dumped in the infuser… I REALLY miss plain black teas I love (especially fresh ones). I guess I’m realizing I don’t have too many plain black teas around anymore. I’m behind on my sipdown goal for the past few days! Oh no! Steeping this one up was worth it though. Raising the rating from 76. This shop is still around if anyone was wondering! https://us.nannuoshan.org
edited to add: Note to self: remember to try more leaf with middling golden leaf teas.
Flavors: Black Pepper, Chocolate, Smoke
I was wondering about Nannuoshan the other day, actually! I came across an aged white tea from them in my stash that I hadn’t seen for ages. Glad to see they’re still going!