The last of the two touchas I got a while back for myself as a sample. They were tightly compacted, so breaking them each into two pieces gave me some trouble. This final session I’m using ~4 g of it. The touchas are small rectangles, the leaves very dark and small. It doesn’t smell like much dry, either, though I get a faint hint of must? book-ish smell? dry wood?
Gave it a rinse of ~10 sec to open it up a bit.
First steep at ~40 sec. The brew is dark, one of the darkest I’ve ever had (which isn’t saying much) but it reminds me of a strong pot of coffee in color. The smell is comforting, a hint of vanilla to it. The leaves have broken up a bit now, thanks in part to the rinse. There’s some dust settled to the bottom of this cup as well. To me, the flavors are hard to distinguish in this first steep. It’s more about the mouthfeel, smooth and silky.
Second steep at 60 sec. The smell of the wet leaves reminds me of a forest after it’s rained. There’s something sweet and earthy about it. The taste is just the same, sweet, mossy, a surprisingly strong note of vanilla this time. I’m beginning to regret not getting more of this when I had the chance. All the teas I’ve had from Xingyang workshop have been great so far; I need to get more to try from them…
Third steep at ~90 sec. Vanilla note is now just a hint, but the flavors are still warm and comforting. Not sure if I’ll get many more steeps out of these leaves, unfortunately.
Flavors: Moss, Vanilla, Wood
