Smelling the dry leaf made me think I accidently grabbed the Black Merlot I had last night (I checked and it was not). Theres floral notes, as well as something else, but I don’t wanna pour the contents out again to see what it is and the outside of the bag is heavily scented by another tea so….
I thought I oversteeped this since I forgot to set the timer. Liquor is a very deep red/brown, also making me think I oversteeped. Wet leaf still floral. The flavor is much more mellow than the aroma lead me to believe which made me think I didn’t oversteep afterall. It’s not dull or drab, just mellow with the tiniest bit of astringency. I first thought malty but then backed that off to a wood flavor with a touch of smoke. Though floral it’s not too sweet, but a little. I liked this tea well enough and would visit it again, though not enough to put on my right away purchase list; which I guess I should start since all of the samples that several fine Steepster folk have so graciously shared will eventually run out. There’s so much work to do to make oneself a fanatical obsessed tea drinking addict.
I tried a second steep and it was a hair lighter but also sweeter. Astringency went up a notch too so after this cup I’m done.
tunes-Dave Mathews Band=Christmas Song/Long Black Veil/Gret Street/Big Eyed Fish…all live versions
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If the astringency goes up I either bring the temp or the time down (sometimes both). For example I was drinking an Oriental Beauty from TeaGschwender yesterday, second time with the tea, the first was a month ago and I had done flash steeps, but wanted to try it western. The first two steeps were fine as I only did them for around a min, third I decided to bring it up closer to the recommended time (4 mins boiling) because I am always curious as to how the company thinks it should taste, but cut it short at 3mins which might have been fine if I had followed my instinct and used 195F water. After a few sips of bitterness I poured down the drain and was ready to grab a new tea when I looked in my brewing mug and saw how beautiful the leaves were I thought it would be a shame to not give it one last go. I steeped it for under 30sec (I love short steeps mind you so even 30 secs is long for my gongfu brewing) and it was lovely.
If the astringency goes up I either bring the temp or the time down (sometimes both). For example I was drinking an Oriental Beauty from TeaGschwender yesterday, second time with the tea, the first was a month ago and I had done flash steeps, but wanted to try it western. The first two steeps were fine as I only did them for around a min, third I decided to bring it up closer to the recommended time (4 mins boiling) because I am always curious as to how the company thinks it should taste, but cut it short at 3mins which might have been fine if I had followed my instinct and used 195F water. After a few sips of bitterness I poured down the drain and was ready to grab a new tea when I looked in my brewing mug and saw how beautiful the leaves were I thought it would be a shame to not give it one last go. I steeped it for under 30sec (I love short steeps mind you so even 30 secs is long for my gongfu brewing) and it was lovely.