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Warmed leaf notes of linalool oxide, baby powder, mango. A little wet dog/fur.

I just barely got 5g in my 5oz pot before reading the 3g recommendation. But I feel okay about it; 7g is my default, and there is a LOT of room between these leaves. Some of them are absolutely monstrous. And beautiful! So many colors in the dry leaves — greens, browns, yellows, blacks, and reds.

I let the first steep go to 30 seconds, as the whites I’ve been enjoying lately seem to do really well with a heavy-handed opener. It’s also where Nathan started the white we drank in-house.

Smell coming off the first steep, best I can describe, is like a very light Moo Goo Gai Pan sauce. Light soy, white mushrooms, stock, sesame. Herbs, linalool oxide, a whiff of jasmine. Rice.

Cooling in the mouth. More linalool (this flavor is slowly growing on me). Smooth and slick mouthfeel. Second steep brought some hay and barnyard on the nose, umami. A bit of astringency in the back of the throat, with further notes of pine, mint, light potato.

The leaves in the pot now smell quite herbaceous, with olive oil and white florals (reminds me of women’s perfumes)… like mom is making chimichurri down in there.

Scents off the pour are dissipating with the third steep, with fleeting tobacco; the cooling linalool is still there, astringency is moving forward in the mouth, a little potato and maybe some olive. It kept pouring with strong color and good mouthfeel, but no more flavor revelations. I didn’t really get citrus or tropical, which is what I was expecting. No bother.

I will likely stick to 5g brews, so I have 2 more. I’m probably not a repeat buyer at this price point — but this tea is lovely and from an unexpected place (I believe the Callisto folks told me Eva has a black coming soon, as well). I’m grateful I got to have some.