Came with my first tea-of-the-month package on Christmas. Steeping temperature was slightly cooler than boiling (wait 5 seconds and pour from a bit higher than normal). Just enough water to cover leaves-start steeping at ~10 seconds and by the end step as long as 30-40s.
I’ve only had a couple white teas, and I’m beginning to think that I’m not a big fan of white tea in general. This one, though, has more flavor than the white teas I’ve had before. There’s a pretty substantial astringency, and early steepings had a lot of that damp woodsy mulch flavor. Later on with longer steeps, the smell becomes amazing and almost sweet (I think I’ve tasted a hint of something similar in an oolong I’ve had)- it takes a while for that particular flavor to come through the astringent texture and dominant damp-wood flavor, but it gets there. I definitely prefered the later steepings.
Overall it’s a very interesting tea—a little more astringent than I prefer but the flavor is a sort of changing mix of the simpler tea flavors I’m used to.
205 °F / 96 °C
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