I’m going to hold off on a rating until I get to experiment a bit more, but I wanted to get my initial notes down.
Tea is from July 2017.
Brewed western-ish, based on pkg directions (3.5g/175ml, 70 C), 3 infusions in all.
Dry leaf smells straight-up savory, with strong aroma of toasted seaweed.
45 sec – Light green/golden brew also has the toasted seaweed aroma along with green vegetable notes. Taste is smooth, savory, and meaty with some nutty, grassy, and lightly steamed green vegetable notes. Age of tea might be showing – no freshness that I associate with greens, though flavors are otherwise good. Pleasant & soothing, but lacking strength overall.
30 sec – Slightly darker brew, a little less seaweed aroma & flavor. Leaves have much sweeter aroma, but taste is about the same (smooth, savory), just without the strong seaweed note.
1 min – not too bad, but flavor very diminished.
I’d like try with more leaf, as I feel this was lacking a certain punch. Certainly not bad, but not very intense, and infusions petered out quickly – though that might also be the age of the tea, as noted. I also might play around with temperature.
