Last up for this month from Yunnan sourcing tea of the month club for raw. We have Monkey Mini tuo. I started by pre heating my yixing. After doing a single wash which was sufficient since there was very little particulate. I did my first brew which produced a surprisingly golden liquor, it almost looks like it has a couple years of age on it. Tasting it gave me a honey, vegetal and astringent taste and aroma. A little more tasting and I got some actual bitter notes as well as asparagus.
THe second steeping was even stronger as the leaves opened up a bit more, producing a bit darker liquor, the bitterness also came out a bit more in this steeping as well as the honey and vegetal notes. Its surprisingly strong for a raw with no age on it, and the bitterness is fairly controlled.
The third steeping came out very close to the second showing this tea is going to have some staying power brewing it over the evening, I expect to get about 10 steeping from this. Its really surprisingly sweet, and a few years is going to do wonders for this tea, as well as possibly some wet storing.
I do recommend trying this tea if you like strong but sweet raws, with a controlled amount of bitterness. Very nice job this month Yunnan sourcing
Flavors: Asparagus, Astringent, Bitter, Honey, Vegetal
Sounds similar to other YS blends like Impression ’14 and ’15. Quality stuff for a great price.