I western brewed this a couple of days ago at work and wasn’t too impressed but decided it was probably human error and that I wasnt giving the tea a fair go brewing it this style.
This afternoon I pulled out my new teaware and decided to give this another go in the Gaiwan. Now we’re talking! Steeped for 1 minute at 204F the tea gave out some cocoa notes which became more pronounced as the tea cooled from the steeping temperature. Second steeping for 2 minutes and the cocoa notes became very apparent, a hint of honey started to creep in and there was a little more of a buttery mouthfeel at the end of the sip. Third steeping for 3 minutes and the liquor was much darker than previously and the cocoa notes started to fade into the background and I started to taste stone fruit and honey. Fourth steeping for 4 minutes and the tea tastes more vegetal and a little herbaceous. Would have liked to try a fifth steep but I had some errands to run and had to get moving…
Oooh, I have that one! Haven’t tried it yet, but your tea not makes me think I need to move it up in the queue.
I was pretty impressed with it once I took the time to actually treat it right :) the sky high oolong is next on my list to try this week!