Finally finished off my last 50g pouch from What-Cha, and now I only have two small samplers left to clear out from the company, both of which are just the right size for my little mini pumpkin pot for gong fu sessions — a style of brewing I don’t do often and must be reserved for weekends when I have the time. This was an unopened packet from the Spring 2017 harvest.
160ml mini pot | 10g | 205F | Rinse/25s/30s/35s/40s/45s
There is a strong bitter melon and lilac perfume aroma from the steeped leaves after the first steep. The liquor smells mostly very sweet, like lilacs, honeysuckle, vanilla, cream, with a slight sharpness a bit little bitter melon rind or sour plum. The flavor is heavily floral, tasting of orchid/lilac and leaving a coating perfuminess on the tongue, with a slight honey/cream sweetness followed by a bit of a vegetal astringency. Some of the unpleasant coating and astringency began to mellow as early as the second steep, when I noticed quite a difference in leaf expansion. While still predominantly floral, there was a little more of an underlying vegetal note peeking through as well, a bit like sweet peas and grass. The floral started to be much less aggressive by the third steep, becoming more balanced with the vegetal notes, and the tea became a lot more pleasant at that point; a leafy green flavor followed by orchid/lilac sweetness. The tea seemed noticably weaker already by steep four, but on the flip side I was starting to like it a bit better in those later steeps just because the florality wasn’t leaving that unpleasant coating feeling on my tongue anymore…
Last steep ended up all over my lap, the table, my laptop… just everywhere. Cause you know who doesn’t have one of those fancy gongfu tea tables? This person. Session was prompty over at that point.
I love floral notes, but I didn’t really like the mouthfeel of this one. It felt coating/aggressive and had a perfumey quality that was unpleasant for portions of the session. I tend to like Taiwanese oolongs in general, but this particular type isn’t a favorite.
Flavors: Astringent, Bitter Melon, Cream, Floral, Grass, Honeysuckle, Lettuce, Mineral, Orchid, Peas, Perfume, Plum, Vanilla, Vegetal
I don’t have tea tray either :)