Yunnan Sourcing lists this as a medium-high grade. The quality of the leaves was excellent, beautifully flat-pressed and long with most leaves arriving unbroken from China. I should add a test tube to my tea ware. Tall and small is how I would have preferred to prepare this. I brewed this in uncovered glass. The leaves quickly become flaccid as they absorb the water. I kept infusion times short initially, but did try a lower temperature infusion for a minute as an experiment. I prefer the shorter infusions.
The dry leaves have a wonderful smell. It is a fresh, green smell, but it is not a bright green smell like fresh cut grass. There is a dried fruit richness to the dry leaves aroma like sticky and sweet oxidized dehydrated apple slices. Upon wetting the leaves, the aroma was still green, but now leaned more toward seaweed. After a few seconds, a breathed deeply from the glass and was taken aback by a sulfurous aroma like that of a salt flat marsh at low tide. Thankfully, that dissipated quickly, and was not at all present in the taste.
The liquor was very pale. Flavor was delicate and light, sweet, a bit floral, lightly vegetal, but not to the point of being brothy. Using the short infusion times, I experienced no bitterness or astringency. I could not find the dried apple in the tasting that was present in the raw leaf smell, and that would make for a wonderful green tea.I will try this again with double the strength. Perhaps I just need more leaf to water to bring out the dried apple in the liquor.
Flavors: Apple, Dried Fruit, Floral, Garden Peas, Seaweed, Vegetal
