Sounds obvious, but steeping vessels really make all the difference. Especially for oolongs, I’ve found.
The first four steeps of this were in a glass teapot and while it was clearly a good quality tea, it didn’t have the complexity I expect from an oolong as old as this. To be fair, my only point of reference for aged teas is the 9 Years Aged Da Hong Pao from YS so perhaps I don’t know what I’m talking about.
Fifth to tenth steeps I transferred the leaves into a new, previously unused and unseasoned yixing and the teapot brought out so much additional sweetness and warmth. Perhaps it was the minerals in the clay. Perhaps it was just being able to keep the temperature closer to 100C which worked best for the tea.
As the first five steepings of this were not in an optimal vessel, perhaps I missed out on a lot of interesting tastes because this ended up a little disappointing. The best TGY I’ve ever had is actually from a yum cha place near me, which is so crazy but I think I prefer that one to this.
This tea tasted like an above average roasted TGY with all the notes described by Verdant, but the one flavour I enjoyed specifically was that of Thai sticky rice.
Will report back again when I brew this in a yixing all the way and adjust my rating later.
