Another tea from Liquid Proust’s aged oolong buy that I couldn’t find in the data base.
They should call this thing the “everlasting gobstopper”. I’ve been drinking it for over two hours and it is still a brick. It comes as an 8 gram chunk and I tried to use my puerh pick to break it in half but literally couldn’t scratch the surface. I finally just tossed the thing in a pot, figuring it would dissolve after a couple of steeps. but I’m on my sixth steep now and while it is a bit fuzzy around the edges, it still has its shape and is very solid when I poke it with a sharp stick (OK, puerh pick).
The first couple of steeps had a very nice, smooth body but I notice it less in later steeps. The taste varies, depending on the length of the steep. When the steep is on the light side it is very pleasant and moderately complex, with wood and tobacco notes, and a lovely, spicy nose. However, I find it easy to oversteep into a heavy roast that isn’t awful, but is a lot less enjoyable. Given the fact that it is gradually shedding leaves, it is hard to judge how long to steep. I started out with 60 s steeps, but started to judge the time by the color. Generally 40 to 90 s.
Not a bad tea overall. I was thinking it would work well grandfather style, but you would have to be able to handle the heavy roast flavor. When I got the steep time correct, about half the time, it was very nice. It could probably go for days, but it isn’t interesting enough for me to want to tie up my favorite tea pot for that long.
Update: After 2 days and about a dozen steeps, I was finally able to scrape the top layer off the top of the brick. I’m afraid to go further for fear of damaging my pot, but if I put it on a cutting board or some other surface I was willing to damage I could probably break it up with a sharp knife. The tea (60 s steep) is still quite good. Also tying up my larger pot.
These things become super astringent if oversteeped. Super value though because aliexpress is cheap :P