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Since I am the first person to write about their experience with this tea here, I am going to use that as license to ramble… because that seems like fun to me, and I like the sound my keyboard makes when I type stuff… but out of courtesy for those who have no desire work through my muddled blathering, I will confirm now what you most likely already suspect… this is a REALLY nice tea.

As a side note, I don’t measure my tea, I eyeball it. I’m guessing I put 7 g or so in my 100 mL gaiwan. Started with 5 second (or less) steeps.

Here I sit… Notebook out, pen in hand… anticipating a new experience with a high tier tea.

wet leaf aroma: vegetal, artichoke

1st steep: very light flavor – delicate, but fills the mouth. Rich and thick, subtle notes of tobacco and artichoke. No drying or astringency. My whole body feels good, all of a sudden I’m in a good mood.

2nd steep: a bit more strength behind the flavors but very far from overpowering. I’m catching a slight note of sweet/sour – it is elusive though… cant quite put my finger on it.

3rd + 4th: feels so good in my mouth and body. I’m relaxed and focused. I feel warmth at my temples.

5th: this tea is so smooth. The flavors are subtle and delicious. I seem to have lost the touch of sweetness that I had on the second steep.

6. Hearty… like stew. I’m catching a glimpse of the sweet/tartness again – actually… reminds me of sweetarts candy

~went for a short walk to refill my kettle. I feel good. Healthy, vital, powerful (in a kind/loving way, not a BWAHAHAHA type of way)

7. mild astringency, but the sweetness is shining a bit brighter now. The tobacco and artichoke flavors are little more than a light fragrance at this point.

8. feeling some slight perspiration on my face. Mild astringency is still present – sweetness is still subtle, no longer tart.

9. Steeps are getting annoyingly long… I market myself as a super patient person… and for the most part that’s accurate, but certain things, like having to wait almost a minute for tea, it drives me nuts. Lots of sweetness now, like elote candy, but with out the chili powder.

10. This tea could have been named “happy soup” – thick, rich, pleasing, feels good in the body. The sweetness has mysteriously vanished – totally savory now. If you can’t tell… Im totally tea-lit right now.

11. Sweet again! keeping me guessing… perhaps I should start keeping track of when I reboil…

12. (not a fresh boil) – Savory. I can sort of see where the sweetness is hiding… like getting a bit of carrot in a big meaty bite of stew.

13. This tea is running out of life… (more accurately, I’m running out of patience for steeps… Instagram can only keep me occupied for so long) still delicious though. I reboiled before this steep and it is sweet again… sticky and sweet

14. Yeah, I went one more. it tastes so nice I didn’t want to quit… and figuring out what to drink after this is tough. this has been a bit of an adventure!

15. so… after transfering all of these notes from paper to computer, I figured… what the heck, this tea is really nice – lets give her another run. I put a fresh kettle to boil, and, after a quick rinse to warm everything back up (even the rinse water had a pleasant sweetness to it) I let it sit for a while while I had a small snack. Not much left in terms of flavor, but it has a pleasant aroma, and great mouth-feel. quite nice.

All and all…. a great experience!