I bought this Bai Hao in my big Black Friday 2022 haul and have been drinking it for the past few months. I believe it’s from the 2022 harvest, though I’m posting my review here because this entry already has some notes. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml porcelain pot using 195F water for 30, 20, 25, 30, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds, plus some uncounted steeps.
The dry aroma is of autumn leaves, dried flowers, honey, muscatel, and lemon. The first steep has notes of buckwheat honey, muscatel, orange, and lemon over a background of wood, tannins, and autumn leaves. The tea is soft, but the aftertaste is tannic. I get candied citrus, florals, and lots of honey in the second steep. The next couple rounds continue the honey/muscatel/citrus theme, though the dryness is more evident. The fruit gets fainter in subsequent steeps, and wood, autumn leaves, minerals, and tannins become more pronounced.
This tea peaked early in the session and though it had all the citrus, honey, and muscatel notes typical of a good Bai Hao, the autumn leaves and tannins detracted from the flavour. I’d say this was due to it having been open a while, but I felt the same way when I first drank it. Their Crimson Lishan has many of the same flavours and is a much more dynamic tea in my opinion.
Flavors: Autumn Leaf Pile, Buckwheat, Drying, Floral, Honey, Lemon, Mineral, Muscatel, Orange, Tannin, Wood
