The leaves of this tea are beautifully long, thin, and dark green.
After waiting 15 minutes for the water at nearly freezing to unfurl the leaves, the resulting ‘broth’ was very pleasingly sweet and extra smooth. Opening the lid of the kyusu, the wet leaves wafted strongly marine and even peppery aromas, but the tea only had some hints of that flavor; actually I found that quite nice, because the pure green smoothness and sweetness were quite nice enough.
Further steepings (#3 at this point) have all been full of flavor. Not quite as sweet or smooth, the marine or seaweed quality stronger, but still much more of a ‘broth’ still than simply leaf-infused water. There is a bit of returning sweetness in the throat too…
Hopefully I’ll get another 2-3 steeps out of it before it’s gone. What a nice sample!
(part of the Maiko Tea Yamashita Gyokuro sample set, which I found on sale earlier this spring)
