This is my first Pouchong and what a wonderful introduction this one is! I notice the second I open the pouch and smell the dried leaf that I am going to be in for a treat! The smell is so light and floral and airy, white and green tea come to mind before oolong and while I smell orchid it feels truer to its flower form than the notes in oolong. And they are beautiful leaves, long dark green and slightly twisted, like an unrolled green oolong but different. Wet these leaves come alive with a pure rich green dark and cool aroma, I just want to let the steam bathe my face. And the taste, so unique yet still familar.
This tea feels like a cool spring morning, dew still on the flowers in the meadow, just starting to warm up. I feel like a monarch butteryfly sipping milkweed (I’ve never tasted milkweed mind you and perhaps to a human it might seem bitter and this tea is anything but bitter, but that is what this tea evokes to me). More practically, it reminds me a bit of Li Shan, as well as Milk Oolong and Ancient Lily, more floral but still creamy, light, cool and sweet.
I can see why Coconut Pouchong is so highly rated here on Steepster, though I have never tried it myself, it’s not hard to imagine that this kind of tea would lend itself well to rich creamy sweet coconut. I keep on getting lunar images as well, inspired by the coconut tea packaging I’m sure and again I’m back in a meadow, this time a rabbit eating clover, definitely something to the clover.
This may seem silly and fanciful to some, but this tea takes you places, steep after steep. I’m on my third and feeling cool tingles on the center of my tongue which truly feels like it’s been coated in velvet. I shall continue this journey, but knew I had to write in the moment, as if in trance, lest I forget all the imagery. Thank you Nuvola Teas for this wonderful offering!