099/365
Getting towards the end of my Dark Matter teas now, but still a few treats (including this one!) to go. The initial steep initially tastes like wet raw wood, but that gives way very quickly to a fairly intense sweetness. There’s a fruitiness (stone fruit?) that lingers in the aftertaste. It reminds me, at this stage, of a roasted oolong – although a really good one!
Second steep is woodier and earthier, more approaching shou pu’erh levels of flavour. I’d say it’s also slightly less sweet, although there’s still an element of sweetness that keeps the other flavours from becoming too overpowering or savoury. The initial fruitiness has disappeared.
Third steep is similar, although less intense overall. The raw wood flavour is still most prominent, along with a subdued earthiness. The sweetness is diminishing rapidly.
I’ll probably give this one another few steeps, at least until I go home for the day. I don’t mind it, but it’s not making my soul sing in the way some of the other Dark Matter teas have done. It’s fairly middle of the road, in my estimation.
