Remind me never to steep this three times ever again.
Surprisingly enough, this third steep had a darker liquid than the past two, but the veggie-like smell was in full effect. And it wasn’t in a good way. This was like spinach crossed with wet leaves. The smell emanating from the cup was much of the same. I was also getting a lot of sediment at the bottom of my cup after the pour, which was pretty bizarre.
Anyway, the flavor was completely divorced from anything before it. The sweetness was still there, but very mild… and the flavor was like wet leaf water. I’m pretty sure I could get a similar flavor by going outside and collecting the rain-sodden leaves from the dirt. Earthy in a very unpleasant way (and I love earthy things!).
This white was pretty much done after the first steep, flavor-wise. All of the beauty of its delicacy and fragility was lost the more times I dumped hot water on the leaves. Not a pleasant experience. But since my first cup was absolutely gorgeous, my rating’s going to stay as is!
Every once in a while I get a tea who’s liquor and/or taste is darker than the 1st infusion. I think it’s because of the tea/water/1st steep time/steep time increase ratio.