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Steeps: rinse, f, f, f, 15s, 30s, 1min, 2, 3, 3, grandpa style.

Sadly, I don’t have much to say about this tea. It looked promising at first – not too tightly compressed, long sivery leaves, honey and floral aromas after rinsing … But the tea itself was consistently bitter with a barely noticable astringency over multiple steeps. Maybe there was some sweet aftertaste in the initial steeps. The body was on the thin side.
It wasn’t a bad tea and the bitterness wouldn’t be an issue if it had anything else to offer.

Maybe it just needs some time to calm down?

I had two sessions with this one. First one: rinse, 10s, 10, 20, 20, 30, 1min etc. Second session: rinse, f, f, f, f, 10s, 15, 30, 1min, 2, 4, finished grandpa style.

Early steeps were in both cases aromatic: moss, rosemary, citrus, pears and smoke come to mind. Very bitter and astringent at first, which (I was told) makes for a good aging potential. Slightly numbing sensation in the mouth. Undecided about body: it wasn’t very thick nor watery.
In the later steeps the bitternes calms down a bit in favour of subtle sweetnes and a hint of plum aroma.

Even though this tea is probably not objectively bad, it doesn’t agree with me – the initial bitter kick makes it hard to appreciate the thickness, which is gone in the later steeps when the bitternes wears out.

This is an abstract of my notes.

Gongfu with a 100ml gaiwan. Steeps: rinse, f, f, 30, 40, 1min, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5

Dry leaves have that slightly “fishy” fermentation smell. Maybe it would go away had I left it to air out a bit. After rinsing, aromas of sugar, chestnut and caramel emerge. First infusions are pleasantly spicy and bittersweet. Aromas of nuts and leather. Tea forms a sort of “film” in the mouth.
Later infusions are thicker, more viscous. Aromas of caramel and hay.

Gongfu, with a gaiwan. Sample from a “puer starting pack”, courtesy of Liquid Proust. used full sample, which is quite large . I don’t have a scale, but dry leaves fill half of gaiwan. Lots of twigs, but this is to be expected.

Steeps: rinse, f, f, f, f, 10s, 10, 30, 1min, 1.30, 2, 4, 6, and finished grandpa style.

1&2 : faint forest floor aroma, slightly smoky. No funky smells. Lovely dark red liquor, somehow harsh in the back of the mouth. Drying feeling.
3: More viscous. Taste and mouthfeel, which were a bit flat before, are getting more complex. Slightly sweet and malty. Found a hair. At least it’s not curly (That joke has been done to death by now).
5&6: As dark as a stout. Surprisingly clean taste. Bittersweet aftertaste.
9: Bitternes is coming forward (due to longer steeps), leaving a chalky aftertaste. But maybe the insanely hard water over here has something to do with it. I would prefer a bit sweeter brew, but I don’t mind trading sweetnes for a thicker liquor.
12: It is getting thin, sweetnes is back again.

After 12 steeps I am finishing this grandpa style. Overall, I liked this tea. Hard to say anything substantial, since I haven’t had a lot of shou yet (and this is why I am not rating it). I would have liked some more depth and sweetnes, though.

First note after quite some time. Gongfu session, with a gaiwan. Tap water, very hard. Steeps; rinse, flash, 10, 10, 15, 15, 15, 10, 10, 15, 10, 1min, 1, 1.30, 2, 2,

First steeps: aromas of chocolate, cocoa, caramel, wood (oak, perhaps?), very sweet taste, spicy almost. Raspy in the throat, warming aftertaste.
Steeps 6 -9 : The brick is breaking apart and tea is starting to get some more body. It is not only mellow and numbingly sweet – some clear maltyness is braking through, accompanied by some bitterness. Warming. Feeling of very relaxed, alert, plus a slight caffeine headache. I should probably take a break at this point and eat something.
Steep 10: pushing it to a minute: I was overdoing short steeps. This one is thick, complex, warming, pleasantly raspy black tea. Slightly drying aftertaste. More of this please!

I picked up a sample of this higher quality sencha the last time I was at Le Palais des Thés. The employee sholdn’t have asked me if I wanted any free samples, because preparing them all kept him busy for quite some time.
So today I was in the mood to try something new. As soon as I emptied the sample bag into my clay kyusu (love that high pitched “cling” sound as the dry leaves hit the pot) I started to notice very fresh aromas of cucumber and freshly mowed grass. Sweeter and hay – like aromas appeared when I poured hot water over the leaves. After a minute I poured the tea into my tall glazed ceramic cup (that I made myself). At this point, the prevailing smell was that of cotton candy or bubble gum – strange as it may sound.
As for the taste itself – it was silky smooth, light and only slightly bitter towards the end.
The final verdict – I am not sure. While I like this tea quite a bit, I am stil a newbie and I am not really good at telling apart different taste and aroma nuances. But what bothers me at this tea is the price. I do not thnk it is really worth 15 EUR per 100 g, especially if you are a beginner (as I am). I have drank much cheaper teas that were equally good for me. But I am aware that many sencha enthusiasts would be able to appreciate this tea much more.