Daylon kindly sent me this Dong Fang Mei Ren as an introduction to Wang Family Tea. I had a session with it early in June, and just finished the sample a couple days ago. Following the vendor’s instructions, I steeped 5 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot using boiling water for 20, 20, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds, plus several long brews at the end of the session.
In my first session, the dry aroma was of honey, autumn leaves, apricot, citrus, and flowers. The first steep had notes of honey, candied orange, autumn leaves, wood, and flowers, with an aftertaste of honey that lasted for several minutes. There was a touch of not unpleasant astringency. The second steep added a sappy note, which the vendor describes as hinoki cypress (yes, I had to look that up), but it was mostly about the honey and florals. This was one of the sweetest bug-bitten teas I’ve ever had. The third and fourth steeps had more citrus, sap, osmanthus, orange blossom, butter, and lots and lots of honey. I stopped taking notes here for some reason.
I used more leaf in the next session to finish the sample, which might have been a mistake. As well as the honey, apricot, citrus, and florals I experienced in the previous session, I got wood, Graham cracker, lemon, and tannins. Unfortunately, a thunderstorm came along and I had to turn off my computer for a while, so the notes for this session are spotty as well. I got lots of honey, flowers, sap, and apricot, but the tannins, wood, and autumn leaves never went away and got stronger as the session progressed.
I wish I’d taken more care with this tea and kept better notes. This is a quality Dong Fang Mei Ren with lots of apricots and honey, though it’s a little too sweet for me. It also requires careful steeping.
Flavors: Apricot, Astringent, Autumn Leaf Pile, Butter, Citrus, Floral, Graham Cracker, Honey, Lemon, Orange, Orange Blossom, Osmanthus, Sap, Sweet, Tannic, Wood
