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Really looking forward to getting this tea, but after my first session…hmm…I’m honestly hesitant to venture back for a second session.

First whiff of the aroma was like WHOA! This is powerful aroma. I want this in my teacup!! Smells like the sweetest Jingmai you ever had.

Brewing: 2x rinse, bone china gaiwan. Aroma of wet leaves changed to a rich fryer oil-like aroma sort of like funnel cake (in a good way), not the fruity sweet of the dry leaves.

Steeps 1-3: steeped 5s each. Deep, thick, mouth coating, back of the throat, lingering, heavy waxy bitter, that never turns sweet. Ever try bear gallbladder (TCM folks?)…its that kind of bitter. There’s a rich sweetness present that is trying to peek out and say hi, but that bitter just shoves it back down. I really diluted my chahai halfway with water and the tea became somewhat more palatable, but not really enjoyable. I’m struggling at this point. But venturing on.

Steeps 4-5: Steeped barely a second, trying to reduce bitter to something I could drink. It kinda worked. This tea needs VERY quick steeps. There is a thickness and rich sweetness you want to enjoy, its definitely there, but the intense bitterness on the back of the tongue really dominates.

There’s some chaqi. Ever eat something so sour you get goosebumps, sweat, and takes your breath away? Kinda like that, except its from bitterness. I got goosebumps from this tea. Strong cooling huigan after taking just a sip, very nice. If you can get past this unique bitterness and look at the other aspects of this tea…I don’t know.

Not sure I’ll be drinking much of this. I think its going into storage for quite a while. Its just too bitter for me. I’ll probably sample a bit here and there to see if it grows on me. At the moment I would say its undrinkable. So I hope it ages well.

All that said, this is definitely high quality leaf material. That much is evident. But unfortunately its just personally not my cup of tea. For the price, I really wish I could have tried a sample first.