This tea is incredible.
The dry leave is small, black twists, and smells very faintly sweet and fruity.
Steeped, an intense bouquet of flavours and fragrances comes out. The start of the sip is just a touch bitter, with notes of smoke, tobacco and lots of dried fruit- apples, apricots, plums and sour cherry. There’s a tartness that’s mellowed beautifully by the bitterness and tobacco, and then toward the end of the sip a wonderful sweetness blossoms.
By the third steep the tartness has mellowed even further, leaving mostly pleasant bitterness and sweet. There’s also a pine note that’s emerging on the nose – not quite smoked pine, but not quite fresh cut either. Evocative of an old, pine panelled cabin in the winter, warmed by a wood stove.
This tea is really intense and thick, without even a hint of astringency. I’m making it in my little gaiwan, and sipping it from a tiny cup, but I kind of wish I just had a big mug of this that I could drink in big gulps.
I will definitely be stocking up on this when I make my next Tao Tea Leaf purchase, because my 10g sample is going to go fast.
15s, 20s, 25s, 30s, 45s, 60s, 90s After seven steeps I think these leaves are about done.
Flavors: Apple, Apricot, Bitter, Cherry, Dried Fruit, Pine, Plum, Smoke, Sweet, Tart, Tobacco
