February tea of the month club has sent me this tea, and for my second tasting of the day we have the big red robe tienguanyin. I started by doing a quick rinse to open up the tea leaves. I decided to sip the wash to see what I was in for, and even at this stage it was interesting, smokey, caramel, and a slight bit of astringency.
I brewed this in my yixing pot and steeped it for a bit over 30 seconds, to let it get a good proper infusion. I got a clear medium brown liquor, very similiar to what you would see with a big red robe tea. A smokey sweet aroma was the first thing I noticed when lifting and taking in a bit of aroma on the lid. The taste was just absolutely stunning, sweet, smokey, astringent and just this powerful sensation of caramel. I was incredibly impressed by this tea.
The second infusion was just slightly stronger but not overly so, and also produced a clear medium brown liquor and in none of these steepings, even the wash was there much dust coming out of it. There was also no bitterness just that light mouth watering astringency on the back of the tongue along with a slight sensation of coolness which Ive only ever gotten on really good big red robe tea.
In conclusion this reminds me more of big red robe than tieguanyin though I havent had a lot of experience with either, but I do know that I like it, now you will have to excuse me while I go steep another helping.
Ps Im getting more of the fruity flavors mentioned in the description in later steepings, but my inexperience with both TGY and BRR is showing, and I cant quite place it.
Highly recommended for fans of big red robe!
Flavors: Astringent, Caramel, Smoke, Sweet
Peach or apricot?
Not sure, but I have 2 more samples of it, Ill try to place it next time. I finished up that brewing session.