This is the last 5 g of my 10 g sample. I brewed the first 5 g using short steeps, as I would a green Tie Guan Yin, but decided to go with my usual longer infusions in this session. I used a 120 ml clay teapot and 195F water, and steeped the tea for 30, 30, 40, 40, 30, 30, 40, 40, 50, 50, 120, and 240 seconds.
The flavours are similar to those in the last session, only much more intense. In the first steep, I get caramel, wood, pecans, walnut and walnut shells, but not much smoke at all. The second steep adds the pleasant tangy sourness I associate with roasted TGY.
Going to 40 seconds in the third steep is a mistake, yielding the taste of bad convenience-store coffee. There’s smoke, dark wood, aggressive roast, bitter caramel, and underlying grassiness. Anxi Dark, I’m sorry for mistreating you so badly. Unfortunately, I did my steeps two at a time, so I had to drink one more awful infusion before lowering the time to 30 seconds again.
Back at 30 seconds, this is drinkable again, retaining its previous flavour for the next six steeps or so. Some nice mineral notes emerge near the end of the session.
Other than my premature 40-second steeps near the beginning of the session, this was very enjoyable.
Flavors: Caramel, Coffee, Grain, Mineral, Pecan, Pleasantly Sour, Roast Nuts, Roasted, Tangy, Walnut, Wood
