The second rinse is drinkable; however, it is strong! To brew the tea, I followed my typical sheng puerh parameters of water just off boil, with flash steeps for the first 5 to 7 steepings and adjustments to taste. Planet Jingmai started off with a very pleasant honey sweetness. There was no astringency or smoke, this was a very smooth sheng. As the leaves opened up in middle steeps, the sweetness turned into more of a grassy flavor with a touch of wood. At this point, my mind was feeling extremely relaxed. A nice sense of calm came over me and I started to feel very warm. There is a term for this feeling called “tea drunk” or “cha qi”. I had only sensed this with a few teas, but on Planet Jingmai, the cha qi was strong! After about 15 steeps, I was very relaxed, and needed a break from the tea. The leaves were overflowing in my gaiwan, but there was plenty of flavor left in the leaves. I decided to continue the session the next day, something I had never done before.
Day two on Planet Jingmai and the leaves had completely unfurled and were overflowing in my gaiwan, so I transferred them to a 180ml yixing pot. I rinsed the leaves with boiling water for about 15 seconds and then continued my session. The tea was still full of flavor, and it seemed that the honey sweetness came back once the grassy notes subsided. The tea finally gave up around 20 steeps or so, and I took the leaves out to examine and found whole leaves! I couldn’t believe these were all wrapped up in a tiny orb.
Full review at http://www.tching.com/2016/04/blasting-off-to-planet-jingmai/
Flavors: Apricot, Floral, Honey, Sugarcane
