My initial impression of this tea is green, and fresh, and sharp. In fact, when I opened the package, the whole thing smelled fresh and sharp. There is one shou in here, though, but I’ll probably get to that later this week.
I’m steeping half the sample in my teeeensy gaiwan. After two quick rinses and a flash steep, it’s filled about 3/4 with slowly expanding leaves.
It’s exactly how it smells. Nice and sharp, some bitterness, very fresh and green feeling. I’m 6 or so steeps in and I’m still doing flash steeps. I’m really enjoying this. I really don’t have enough of this type of puerh, and I really like it.
I wouldn’t say this is like spinach or asparagus, but rather warm dried grass in the sun, with a hint of that sharpness that ponderosa pine sap lends to the air and that green bitterness that I think is the caffeine. I would not say this is astringent at all.
Not everyone will enjoy this one as it is, and I don’t have enough experience to say how well it would age. This is a tea I’d consider getting some of (if I had any tea budget left!) to continue drinking over the next few years, and following how it changes.
Thank you so much for the sample, WymmTea! I’ll probably run a litre of water through this, so that’s about another 12 steeps. I have a feeling the tea would last even longer if I cared to drink more!
Flavors: Biting, Dry Grass, Green, Herbaceous, Smooth
