I was so pleased that I was able to google-sleuth this and the name of this tea and a picture! I was really intimidated by the smell of the dry leaves. They smelled very nutty, almost chocolatey, and very umami, almost like seaweed praline- a very strange combination. Thankfully, when this tea is brewed, those notes mellow out and come together in a really nice way. The sweet nuttiness becomes more of a roasted grain flavor, and the umami is toned way down. It has a nice sweetness to the aftertaste, but this tea is still pretty foreign to my palate. I’d bet this would be a wonderful tea to have with a meal.
ETA: The tin has a really odd design on it…It’s an open-mouthed frog, chasing a rabbit (who’s wielding a branch over its head), chasing a monkey?
The picture on the tin is this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga Known as the first Manga.
