Prepared this morning as bowl tea in my largest teacup. 1g, 140mL, ~185F. From a sealed sample packet, best before date of a little over two years ago.
The dry leaf smelled floral-sweet with nutty-sweet chocolate overlaying a very light vegetal-earth tone. The brewed aroma was chestnut-floral with hints of citrus and earth.
I realized with the first few sips that this tea is not to be had as a flavor experience. This tea is gestalt. By the second pour, my usual approach was dissolved by the delicate, silky-oily broth. Gentle in every way. It was cleansing with astringency and mineral salts. Beany-vegetal sweetness mingled with a very mild, underlying bitterness. The tender leaf and bud sets left a strong, sweet smell of tarragon in the bottom of the cup. I realized then that I had been misattributing as anise this aroma in other green teas. A gentle calm emerged with the arrival of returning sweetness. With the third pour, a sun-warmed sweet apricot aftertaste emerged.
Prepared in this way, the tea was perfectly balanced. Highly recommended.
Thank you for sharing Leafhopper :) What a pleasant experience. I am looking forward to drinking the remaining amount in this manner.
Flavors: Apricot, Astringent, Beany, Broth, Butter, Chestnut, Chocolate, Citrus, Coconut, Floral, Grass, Green Beans, Hay, Herbs, Mineral, Mint, Nutty, Rice, Salt, Sugarcane, Sweet, Vegetal
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Do tell, what exactly is “bowl tea”? Inquiring minds want to know.
Idk about other people but what I do is basically like grandpa-style brewing where you use a small amount of leaf and add more hot water as you sip down. Or just sip down a bowl completely then refill. I don’t do it often because I mostly drink a lot of teas that for me brew best with with other methods.
Ahh I see. Maybe I’ll try the bowl approach the next time I do grandpa-style steeping. I generally use a double-walled glass tumbler.
I like the aesthetic of sipping from the bowl. It’s like a view into a shallow tidal pool or something, seems to bring the leaves to life. Different than just tossing leaves into a glass or tumbler which is what I usually do.
That does sound lovely, and I like that it’s more mindful than normal grandpa-style. I wonder if it would work well for aged white teas?
Wow! I’m glad you like this tea! I have three more packets and have been avoiding them because I didn’t have gongfu steeping instructions. I might have to try bowl brewing.
I’m thinking ashmanra shared some of this with me a while back, and if it was, oh…baby…yes, it was very good!
Cameron B.: I haven’t yet tried it with an aged white. I’ll have to try that and I hope you do, too! :)
Do tell, what exactly is “bowl tea”? Inquiring minds want to know.
Idk about other people but what I do is basically like grandpa-style brewing where you use a small amount of leaf and add more hot water as you sip down. Or just sip down a bowl completely then refill. I don’t do it often because I mostly drink a lot of teas that for me brew best with with other methods.
Ahh I see. Maybe I’ll try the bowl approach the next time I do grandpa-style steeping. I generally use a double-walled glass tumbler.
I like the aesthetic of sipping from the bowl. It’s like a view into a shallow tidal pool or something, seems to bring the leaves to life. Different than just tossing leaves into a glass or tumbler which is what I usually do.
That does sound lovely, and I like that it’s more mindful than normal grandpa-style. I wonder if it would work well for aged white teas?
Wow! I’m glad you like this tea! I have three more packets and have been avoiding them because I didn’t have gongfu steeping instructions. I might have to try bowl brewing.
I’m thinking ashmanra shared some of this with me a while back, and if it was, oh…baby…yes, it was very good!
Cameron B.: I haven’t yet tried it with an aged white. I’ll have to try that and I hope you do, too! :)