The only reason this isn’t a straight 100 is that I have the summer pickings, and have not had the opportunity to try the first flush (which Mad Monk Tea also stocks). This tea really exudes quality in every aspect: it retains flavor for many brewings (the highest I’ve gone up to is seven), the leaves are whole and beautiful, and the taste… my god, the taste… The first brewing has the most sublime buttery mouth-feel I’ve ever encountered, and the taste is sweet and divine. I’d say it tastes almost between a milk oolong and a ti-gwan-yin; it’s not as creamy as a milk oolong, but has that some of that sweetness that I haven’t tasted in a TGY. Subsequent brewings lack the strength of the initial thick oily mouth-feeling, and the vegetal side of the tea gets more pronounced. If this tea didn’t cost such a pretty penny, (which honestly, for the number of infusions you can get out of the leaves, isn’t that much at all), I’d probably drink way too much of it.
190 °F / 87 °C
3 min, 15 sec