2022 harvest/roast
What-Cha… WHAT KIND OF SORCERY IS THIS? I can’t even. Just. Love.
Dry leaves have a smell of spinach. Lovely. Unlike any green tea I’ve smelled before, though my experience is mostly Japanese greens — sencha, genmaicha, matcha. I feel like I’m about to go on a ride.
Beautiful yellow-green pour from the first (~5sec) steep. Nose is a big bowl of asparagus soup — cooked asparagus, cream, even some umami/salt, if that’s possible…? Yep, that’s possible — taste is absolutely everything I smelled. Some toast, too. This is making me smile. I didn’t know tea could do this.
Second steep is our second course, apparently — pea risotto now, with everything that implies — cooked rice, garlic scapes, butter, cream, spring peas. Little touch of potato. Umami for days. I got a leaf in my last sip and it was soft and delightful, not tannic when chewed. You could put these in soup.
Very very mild astringency in the third; back to asparagus soup. Starting to get watery in the fourth, but I get squash blossoms as it cools.
My fifth was a much longer steep (managed to forget about it)… light greenish-yellow liquor, some very light olive oil on the nose. Spinach is back and there’s still quite a bit of flavor here, actually. Gave it one more fuggedaboudit steep and it was quite watery.
What an absolute freaking joy.
Flavors: Asparagus, Butter, Cream, Garlic, Olive Oil, Peas, Potato, Rice, Salt, Spinach, Squash Blossom, Toast, Umami
