Thank you Yezi for this sample! Rarely do I ever steep a tea too long for my tastes, but this time I really should have listened to the suggestions. Don’t get me wrong it was delicious, but there were a lot of subtleties here that were masked by the strong toasted maltiness that I let overtake it. This would have been one that I would have really enjoyed using repeated small steep times for.
The first flavors I got reminded me of evergreen and citrus. There is a bright note to this tea that starts right away and stayed throughout the cup. As I mentioned before, there is a toasted malty flavor, as well as a hint of lilac that is the central characteristic of this tea, almost reminiscent of the smell of a furnace when it is turned on for the first time at the beginning of the cold season. I hope that doesn’t sound off-putting, for me it was very positive. It invoked a strong sense of nostalgia, memories of hunkering down for the winter, of my grandparent’s house as a child. I could easily see this becoming a morning routine.
I did go ahead and steep this a second time for six minutes, which is rare for me, but I had a feeling it would be good. It was good. Most of the great flavors were all still there. This is a tea I will remember.
