Sipdown!
This is a (long overdue) sample from Kawaii433. I miss her! I heard she’s locked out of her account, I hope that gets resolved soon! She sent me a single piece of this and the rose version in our last swap. I love the cute star-printed plastic wrappers! :3
I figured I would steep this grandpa-style as the dragon ball would like take a bit to unfurl and I don’t generally do a lot of resteeps with my usual Western style. Using one piece for a 12-ounce glass tumbler so I can look upon the loveliness as this unfurls! Starting with 175-degree water for now.
I was surprised that the chrysanthemum blossoms softened and lifted off almost immediately! They floated to the top and settled there, being lovely and fluffy and pretty. Unfortunately I don’t think I taste them at all due to the enormous amount of tea here and the fact that it’s a rather robust Dian Hong variety.
The tea itself is rather intense (due to the concentration vs. amount of water) with strong, dark earth and leather notes. There’s a powerful maltiness here as well, and some softer wet wood flavors in the background. I get perhaps a hint of a very dark wheat bread. The wood increases a bit in prominence at the end of the sip, and lingers on the palate. I think I taste a very slight menthol note among all the deeper flavors.
Overall, it’s not my favorite. The tea itself isn’t terribly complex, and I tend to prefer the slightly lighter, more sweet potato-y Dian Hong teas. Unfortunately I didn’t taste the chrysanthemum at all, which honestly doesn’t surprise me given there are four small blossoms for such a large amount of black tea.
Still, perfectly pleasant to sip on at my desk while I work. :)
Flavors: Bread, Earth, Hay, Leather, Malt, Menthol, Mineral, Smooth, Wood
Yeah, I hope Kawaii is doing okay.