This tea, which I’m finally finishing today, is from the 2016 harvest. It might not be the most refined dragonwell out there, but I really enjoyed it, especially when slurped from a mug while working. I brewed it Western style: about 4 g of leaf in a 355 ml mug for 1:20, 2:00, 3:00, 5:00, and 8:00 minutes.
The first steep has notes of chestnuts, beans, peas, Brussels sprouts, umami, and a hint of cherry. The chestnut sweetness is balanced nicely with the vegetal bite. I could have gone with a one-minute infusion, as the liquor was slightly astringent.
In the second steep, the cherry is more prominent, and, as another reviewer mentioned, has kind of a cough-syrup-like quality. This flavour profile persists over the next couple steeps. As one would expect, the final steep was a lot less nuanced and more vegetal.
This was a nice, easy-drinking dragonwell that had an extra something special due to the hint of cherry. I’d gladly purchase it again.
Flavors: Beany, Cherry, Chestnut, Garden Peas, Nutty, Umami, Vegetal
