Dry leaf: FRAGRANT, VEGETAL: fragrant wood, honeysuckle, milky tea, sweet mustiness. In preheated vessel: popcorn, cooked sweet corn, sweet note like salted caramel
Smell: VEGETAL, SWEET: sweetened milky tea, honeysuckle, sweet green beans
Taste: NUTTY, VEGETAL: sweet corn, cream, popcorn roastedness/nuttiness, cooked green beans, milky tea, honeysuckle, hint of maraschino cherry and cherry wood.
A few thoughts on this one. First, it provides an interesting experience that is a mix of white and green tea. It has the fragrant creaminess of a white tea while also providing the vegetal nuttiness of a Chinese green.
Second, I had quite a bit of difficulty brewing it. I tried everything – leaf amount, water temperature, steep times. For me, the best solution was an infuser basket full of leaf left in 12-16oz of 190-200 water for a few minutes. I rarely think this is the best way to brew stuff up, but this is what worked best for me for this tea. It did not perform well in a gaiwan – body was consistently too thin and it simply did not resteep well.
So, here’s what I would say – if you’re looking for a to-go green tea, an easy-going green that you can take to work, plop in a mug, maybe forget about for a while… and still have some decent tea, then this is your guy.
I liked that one a lot too!