Daniel just kinda gave me a pretty decently sized sample of this off the shelf when I was buying a few things in the store, so thanks Daniel :)
The dry leaf is really dark and ugly which seems just about right for a 10 year old shou mei. They smell slightly fishy and not really much else.
In the warm gaiwan, there’s a very potent aroma, like dirty vegetables, like rhubarb and radish and grass and some weird florals, hay.. it is also reminiscent of a fresh shou mei. smells sweet on top of all the weird earthy smells, and maybe a bit of a shitake mushroom.. Also cinnamon/brown sugar. I had this already once and I remember it tasted like someone dumped a bunch of sugar into a fresh shou mei, which is lovely.
I get a bit of chlorine in the aroma after rinsing, but also a sort of pie crust, maybe rhubarb pie,
the first steep smells meaty like chicken, and maybe some citrus fruit,
it definitely tastes of brown sugar, cinnamon, citrus that I can’t place, root vegetables, mushrooms, radishes, creaminess with a bit of a syrup texture, a lemon meringue sort of thing. It gives me images of mud. Also orange juice. I’m only on the third steep and I’m significantly tea drunk, heady with a sort of.. restless feeling in my stomach, dates? I don’t think I’m of good mind to be able to review anymore of this.. I got 3 steeps of writing.
I like