I took far more detailed notes on my phone, which I will add here later. Sometimes, the website will not let me sign in on either the phone or the computer for a few hours, or freeze/refresh as I am in the middle of a tasting note, tell me I am not signed in, and lose the draft. A good practice for everyone for the future may be to either save a copy of everything elsewhere, like in a Google Docs spreadsheet.
Anyway, the first 10-12 steeps of this were quite interesting. There were notes that were unlike most of the teas I’ve tasted so far, though of course most of the time I am not sipping 16yo teas. It did taste like the raw version of the shou labeled “ban zhang” from Puerh Jerky, so maybe even if these two were fake, the sellers used leaves from the same area. But maybe both are real? I wouldn’t know. But they had a noticeably similar energy, and in the raw version from Verdant more of the nuttyness. There was also a low key camphor throughout.
However, after steep 12 or so, a very cigarette-like (more like the bitter ash, and less like the sweet tobacco) taste entered the picture and the tea was done.
Flavors: Nutty
