5g, 100C, 100ml.
1 rinse, and the wet rinsed leaf already smells potent like applewood smoke, ever so slightly sweet.
Steep 1: bitterness up front, but no astringency. Not quite full in the mouth but not thin either, this is on its way to developing a great texture. Already some huigan just after the first 100mL of liquid…well that was fast >_>
Steep 2: sent chills down my spine upon sipping , this has some crazy energetic qi. Still bitter but you can tell it has calmed down from when it was first pressed in 2014. There’s a little bit of umami here…
Steep 4: Sour but smooth. Super high energy, I feel like I’m vibrating. Loads of huigan, but unfortunately the taste of the tea liquor itself is not good to me at this steep.
By Steep 7, became very hoppy. Like…VERY hoppy and bitter. Great huigan but not worth the bitter hoppiness to me.
Steep 12+: died out tooth achingly sweet for a few steeps before being done.
Overall not something I would have been interested in getting even if it was still in stock, but I can see how some of y’all that like hoppy beers would like this. The shining things for me were the 1) qi and 2) huigan
Flavors: Bitter, Hops, Smoke, Sweet
