I have no idea what the hell this is, and I will probably never be able to drink it again. Came as one of a handful of surprises as part of an “LP Hookup” I blindly and happily trusted. Cheers to the weirds, y’all.
Warming leaves are wintergreen and honey, with some forest notes. I accidentally poured 135 degree water on this, then poured it off, so it had a bit of a non-steep/barely a rinse.
Pour at proper temp is light amber; smells of minerals, faint manure; tastes of stonefruits and some bright citrus notes — more classic red/black tea notes than the wintergreen intro led me to expect (though the manure is keeping things interesting).
I steeped by color, and the second one ventured into 15 seconds — probably a touch too long. Some tannins, more crisp and bright citrus, just a touch of that minty note. The nose is fruitier and juicier than the body ends up, but in tandem they manage to work.
Pot smells of a meander through a damp camphor forest… it’s lovely. Slightly shorter steep this time, and the color remains a strong amber; nose has moved to barnyard and fungus; body is light and juicy with minerality, tannin, crisp fruit (peach pit, pear/apple, maybe grape skin?).
Next steep vacillates between refreshing spring water minerality, fruit, barnyard. The wet leaves have moved into wet wood territory. Further steeps don’t uncover much new, but it steeped satisfyingly into 10 or 12 pots. Fun little romp.
Flavors: Barnyard, Camphor, Citrus, Forest Floor, Grape Skin, Honey, Juicy, Mineral, Mint, Mushrooms, Pear, Spring Water, Stonefruit, Tannin, Wintergreen
Wonder if it’s a Taiwanese spin on sheng pu’er
I really loved the wintergreen element — might need to add it to my hunt list.