5 Tasting Notes
I decided to pick this tea up on a whim while I was in the store last week. They had this prepared as a sample, and I was really delighted by the sample. Honestly as much as I enjoyed the sample I had no idea how fun this tea would be to prepare at home. I put about 4g of tea in my gaiwan and for this particular tasting I used a lower temp water around 175 degrees. For the first steep I went with 20 seconds and added about 10 seconds per subsequent infusion. The first few infusions the smoky flavor was the most obvious note, but later infusions were more mild and surprisingly sweet. There was even an almost floral purfumey taste coming out that almost reminds me of an oolong. I’m currently on the eighth infusion and I could definitely get a few more. I’m really glad I decided to pick this up!
Thank you for writing up your thoughts on this tea, my friend! I just secured this years crop of the same mao cha from the same farm. I’m excited about that. Also… you may be interested sometime in trying out the pu’er that I had pressed from this very same leaf, the Wild Monk cake. While the mao cha is great for 4 or 5 years, the pu’er will keep getting more flavor over the years.
I’m so glad that you stopped into the shop last week. Thank you!