Sample provided by Nature’s Tea Leaf. The sip when hot is a little light on the first cup. It at first seems non-descript, then suddenly bam, bam, bam. It goes from tasting watery to mineral, then immediately changes to floral, followed by mellow roasted. The aftertaste lingers long and floral green oolong with a cooling breath sensation. Pretty awesome for one sip. Yet, it is so light that gulping this, you would miss all but the roasted note and aftertaste. As the cup cools I am noticing more of a woodsy taste early in the sip. The floral aftertaste is somewhere between tiguanyin and high mountain oolong but more subtle than either.
Steeping a second mug resulted in a press full of huge leaf. It is still not completely unfurled but there is a lot of it. The brew is golden. The roasted taste has mostly gone in to hiding. It is replaced by a creaminess. The aftertaste continues to grow stronger. It is now largely tiguanyin but the cooler the cup, the more it takes on a citrus type flavor.
I decided to try something different on the third mug. I cold brewed. I poured cool water over the leaf and set the press aside for an hour and a half. The result was the most flavorful cup yet from this tea. Seriously good. The sip was what I call geranium as that is what it reminds me of as I taste. It had the same great aftertaste as when I used hot water.
I wish I had more time as I am sure this has lots of steeps left in it.
In my to-try pile; I seem to have lost my “free time to sip and enjoy” pile this week.