Dry leaves smell of sweetness, candy and apples with a bit of smoke.
Wet leaves smell of apricots, apples and a touch of tobacco. Delicious smell!
Steep/Time: Notes
1/10s: Light with notes of honey and grass. Nice crisp finish.
2/15s: More body. Grassy note tastes more like hay, but the honey flavor still bright and upfront. Tiny bit of astringency, but it’s almost minty. Very interesting. In a good way :)
3/20s: Definitely feeling some cha qi at this point. Honey has faded a little and the grass/hay note has mellowed a great deal.
4/25s: Now there’s a bitter note that immediately turns a bit sweet after swallowing and then a few seconds later it blossoms into amazing huigan! Still a taste of grass, hay & honey. Cha qi is building nicely. Pretty thick brew this time.
5/30s: This tea has some punch! Perhaps I’m pushing the steeps too fast, but the taste has devolved into hay and bitters, but still has that nice huigan on the backend so I’m still drinking. :) Seriously though, the cha qi is strong with this one.
6/35s: Getting more honey back in the cup, but a pleasant bitterness remains. Same as previous in terms of taste.
7/40s: Ok, lots of honey in that one. Sorry I’m brewing with such a small pot. Also picking up a bit of fruit with this one. Bit of bitter and hay in the background. Very good!
8/45s: Same taste profile as previous. This is a remarkable sheng. I’m trying to lay off more tea purchases for at least a few months given how much tea I currently have, but I wouldn’t mind having a cake.
9/50s: Bitterness is gone. Astringency is just the nice dry finish. Honey and grass.
10-15/?: I started a steep and forgot about it so long that it had time to get cold. _ No problem! Did it somavar style! Just poured to my pitcher and added hot water until I hit a sweet spot with the bitter notes and astringency. Awesome!
So over the last 4 months I’ve spent more than $2000 on tea and I’m not a seller, LOL. I love this tea, but seeing that number will be the one thing keeping me from buying a cake of this tea. Of course when I am ready to buy more tea it’ll be my luck that BLT are all out of this lovely cake.
Flavors: Apricot, Grass, Hay, Honey, Sweet
Preparation
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Perhaps we can put a brick away and forget about it in case this one fits your 2017 budget ;)
Glad you liked it though!
I’m afraid of looking at my annual tea expenditure, but I am convincing myself that I have just enough left to treat myself during the holidays. :)
@Bitterleaf Thanks! _
@tanluwils I still have a YS shopping cart that I missed the black friday sale on. I can’t seem to talk myself into going ahead and pulling the trigger, but I’ve yet to empty that cart, LOL!
Perhaps we can put a brick away and forget about it in case this one fits your 2017 budget ;)
Glad you liked it though!
I’m afraid of looking at my annual tea expenditure, but I am convincing myself that I have just enough left to treat myself during the holidays. :)
@Bitterleaf Thanks! _
@tanluwils I still have a YS shopping cart that I missed the black friday sale on. I can’t seem to talk myself into going ahead and pulling the trigger, but I’ve yet to empty that cart, LOL!