Ahhh this was amazing. I grabbed this because it was closest, and I wanted to try Japanese oolong. I had the perfect amount for a gong fu session. The dry leaf consists of small black, green, and slightly yellow curls. This resembles a baozhong but slightly darker. I placed these twirls inside my new warmed kyusu and gave em a shake. I’m going to be honest, the aroma wasn’t the most appeasing. It smelled like roasted wet tobacco. I washed the leaves once hoping to get a better scent, and it moved into wet charcoal. This is a delicate roasted oolong. I brewed it hot first and the brew was rough and bitter. I cooled my water just a bit (200F), and the real flavor rose up. This was an amazing and complex brew. It carried the taste of roast and char, yet it also had sweet and creamy tones of jade rolled oolongs. It was incredibly interesting to be bombarded with dark mineral roasty tones and then softened with a silky vegetal mouthfeel. I was able to pull about seven steeping out my kyusu. The brew grew more and more sweeter after each brew. The final steeping was thin and soft with nectar tones. This gave a strange almost novocain tongue feeling during the first three steepings which was a fascinating experience. I really enjoyed this tea, and I am so grateful to be able to try it!
https://instagram.com/p/26_gZpTGXH/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel
Flavors: Char, Creamy, Mineral, Roasted, Smoke, Smooth, Vegetal