After the Tie Kwan Yin this was a breath of delicious fresh air! Second of the gong fu list with Dinosara today.
The dry leaf smells absolutely lovely. Sweet and almost grassy, like clover flowers. Dinosara mentioned alfalfa hay and that is totally the scent! Like orchard grass hay!
First Steep, 5 seconds: Oh my, this is delicious! It smells like fresh hay with a spicy flower nectar behind it, an it’s sweet like corn is sweet, but without the corn flavor. The liquor has a really nice body and is a light, pale straw yellow. I keep expecting a jasmine flavor because of the floral notes and the familiar body, but it is definitely not a jasmine tea! The sweetness has a spicy, almost marshmallow flavor; I know that mallow flowers are mostly for decoration, but THIS is what I expect to taste when I see mallow flowers in a blend!
Second steep, 5 seconds: Scent has honey notes after the hay this time. Someone put clear, floral clover honey in this tea!!
Third steep, 5 seconds: Smells like far away sleepytime tea with sugar in it. It tastes not quite as sweet and contains a slight nuttiness to it, like an almond pastry, with a sweetness like biting into a good fresh almond.
Fourth steep, 8 seconds: Floral honey aroma with a good honeyed, almost mead-like quality.
Fifth steep, 8 seconds: This steep feels more mature, still honeyed, like an icewine. has a thicker feel, but a spring mineral water back note.
Sixth steep, 8 seconds: Clover blossom smells, clover honey flavor with a dryness on the back of the throat. I feel like it’s fading.
Seventh steep: 13 seconds: This steep is almost amber. The floral scent is back, but the flavor has lost its bright notes.
We poured what didn’t fit in our teacups into a mug for a combined steep. IT iw much flatter in flavor, with none of the glorious notes of the gong fu steeps. In general it’s much more plain. Definitely a gong fu tea.
Flavors: Floral, Hay, Honey, Marshmallow
