I am on my second steep of Melody and have already had scents and flavors fly by me that I couldn’t identify in time, before they flew away. Charcoal-roasted and aged for 15 (17 by now?) years will do that, I suppose.
Lots of perfume on the nose, concentrated florals. Gardenia, maybe? I am not great identifying specific florals yet, but this nose is deeper, heavier scents… florals that kind of want to punch you in the face and also that would be fine, thank you.
This is a Li Shan. I would like to start comparing different Li Shan (Li [Pear] Mountain) and Ali Shan (Ali [a Taiwanese folk hero?] Mountain), and further educate myself about Gao Shan (high mountain/elevation) teas in general. I stumbled on this post (https://tillermantea.net/2019/07/gaoshan/) and need to revisit it when I have more free time on my hands. I am very slowly starting to tuck away and recognize words as I taste more teas and try to wrap my head around all the naming conventions and jargon. I recognize more understanding here will help me navigate to teas that I will love. That said, I am certainly finding I don’t really share the enthusiasm so many have for Tung Ting/Dong Ding, the old “high elevation” tea… but my spirit is really captivated by these higher-high elevation (and, I just learned, newer) varieties. What a time to be alive and have tastebuds.
My fourth steep is going in the pot and I just really am being astounded by this tea. I’ll write up a proper-something from a later session, but for now… gods.
Flavors: Cedar, Gardenias, Perfume, Toast, Umami
