I may be an old fuddy duddy, but I like my Tie Luohan to be smoky and deeply roasted. It grounds me as there can be no doubt that what I perceive to be Tie Luohan is that tobacco thick liquor that dries the tongue and pushes rock minerality into the crannies of my parotid glands till you cry uncle.
This tea I drank this morning is a sheep in wolves clothing. The heavy roast canine fur has been replaced with a softer wool and yet as much as my mouth wanted to reject the softer wool it, well, was a softer wool and who doesn’t like a softer wool! There are also some floral notes upfront and the dryness is there. So I guess I can live by this lighter style, yet sometimes I want a nasty smelling tongue numbing stogie instead of a kretek.
195 °F / 90 °C
0 min, 15 sec
8 g
5 OZ / 140 ML