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With my cup size tea strainer broken, I have reverted to my larger teapot. Problem is, the position of the strainer requires me to make more than one cup at a time, using more tea.
But maybe thats a good thing, because this particular brew tasted as lot better than I remember. It was very smooth with no bitterness. A delicious malty favor and delicate slightly woody aroma.

First steep was as expected, but the second steep was very flavorful. Then thinking back I realized something. The noise during preparation wasn’t quite right. My kettle, an Adagio utiliTEA kettle with an analog temperature knob, didn’t stop at the selected temperature and the water actually boiled. So, a new, and better, and more reliable kettle goes onto my gift list.

The result was a less delicate, more earthy, more roasted taste. Quite pleasant. I may need to experiment more with hotter water with these darker Oolongs.

Also, unrelated, I need to figure out how to link my notes to my Facebook page. The ‘link’ icon is missing.

Used up the last of this tea. And it was as good as I remembered, especially as it cooled. A floral aroma and a sweet taste that lingered.

This time, I let the tea cool to a little more than room temperature before tasting. The body was smooth and sweet. Floral aromas and taste dominate, but are not too strong.
The tea takes a least a couple of steeps for the leaves to unroll. The are small (around 1cm) pieces rather than entire leaves.

Used a little more tea than I should have, so the steep, while the minimum suggested on the label, may have been a bit too long. Color is a distinctly red tone of brown. Aroma is woody, with a sweet overtone. Maybe toffee? Taste is a sweet, yet woody, and slightly astringent. As the tea cooled, astringency dissapeared.

This time, the steep was short, but the water maybe too hot. However, the tea is delicious. A light tan, slowly darkening. A smooth smokey, woodsy flavor.

Steeped at a hotter temperature than last time. Same steep time. More flavor is apparent. Sweeter and darker. Can’t name the tastes however.

I was surprised by this tea. There was an initial astringency, but it faded quickly as the tea cooled. It was then smooth and sweet. I only had a sample, but i’d like to get more.

After the second steep completed, I (accidently) let the tea sit for a bit, cooling. I have found that on many teas, I can taste more of the flavor after it cools. Not as cold as ice tea, but closer to room temperature.

This tea also improves. Much more flavorful when cool. A smoother texture as well.

Tasted the tea at different steep times. Approx, 30s, 1m, 2m, 3m, and 4m. I would stop the timer, remove the infuser, taste, and then reinsert the infuser and resume the timer, until the next sample time.
At 30s the taste and aroma were very good, but at 1 minute, they were great, with a strong milky flavor. Subsequent times, the milkyness decreased, but there was no increase in any other flavors, nor bitterness.
The color become darker as the time increased.