5.8g, 100 mL gaiwan
dry leaves smell like dried cranberries (Ocean Spray!) and a hint of dark chocolate
leaves in prewarmed gaiwan bring out strong toast/roast notes. still raisin and chocolate
wet leaves smell very smoky
5s rinse
5s: slight sweet & smoke that becomes a slight fruity aftertaste. empty cup smells like brown sugar from baked chocolate chip cookies. slight hint of bitterness.
7s: not super interesting
12s: more roasted
30s: soapy mint aftertaste. leaves also smell soapy.
10 min: still not much change so stopped pin cha here. slight osmanthus note on the lid. pretty disappointed by this one, especially since it started off well. soup never thickened for me, but that could be due to the local tap. Taste was pretty flat, which could be partly due to water, but also I’ve brewed plenty of teas fine with this water.
thermos overnight 212f w/ just remaining leaves from packet: dark hazelnut and roast. Quite good, though not sure if I’d repurchase.
