1.5 tsp (roughly — big leaves) for 300mL water @85C, steeped 3 minutes 30 seconds, Western style, first infusion.
Dry leaf: dark and giving a scent of earth and — uh — incense. Something spicy. Mineral notes.
Wet leaf is green and smells of toast and sun-warmed rocks.
Liquor is pale golden-green, much like a tieguanyin would be.
First aroma notes are earth and sunshine and rocks. The earthiness seemed more pronounced in the cup I made last night with warmer water, 90C. Today I’ve got something close to an autumn tieguanyin, those sorts of florals, with toasted grain and minerals. Yeah, I keep mentioning rocks: lots of rocky notes here, and that’s great. I think I prefer tieguanyin, on the whole, but this is lovely and complex, invites meditation — perhaps it’s the faint, faint reminders of incense doing that.
Flavours continue to open up as the tea cools.
