Thank you Alistair!
I liked this one more than I thought I would. I’ve also westerned and grandpa’d teas more than I thought I would, so I could not give you guys a good impression of this tea gong fu even though I can say it was good.
The dry leaf smell was immensely thick, roasty, and almost glossy like syrup. When I heavily leafed it, the roast dominated the tea amidst a woody backdrop and some moments of nuttiness and cooked red pear. The florals grew out in the later steeps with high leafage as it gradually got a little sweeter. Gong fu, it was buttery. Western with less leafs, it was also very buttery with a little less roast. The fruity pears and florals popped in the second steeps and combined incredibly well with the savory notes pushing me from liking to enjoying it.
I could see myself drinking this one often. I almost prefer it to the Red Buffalo because of its honey sweet fruit notes and its florals, but the roast can be so thick and powerful with the other notes that it makes me think of turpentine…..as weird and crazy as that sounds. Think florals combined with sap and pine wood….nevermind this tea is more on the fruity end when you brew it right. Lesson here: brew less leafs for longer for fruity, more leafs shorter steeps for woody butter. Unless someone objects. I otherwise recommend to try this type of tea at least once, and those who know what they are looking for would be more enamored with this tea.