To start, I found the Rou Gui from YS to be much nicer.
Nose; mineral, roasted vegetables and grains. The roasted notes pretty much obscured what else was there, though later steepings revealed the spice flavors.
Palate; light and delicate, roasted barley, sweet spice showed up later…
Not bad, just not great.
Drinking tea is fairly new, but have had good wines for many years, so that is my perspective…
I generally brew in small ( under 200 cc and often under 100 cc ) pots either Japanese Tokoname or Chinese Yixing. I vary my steeping times a lot before I decide on tasting notes — I take a sort of experimental approach, gong fu one time, western short steeping another, vary the water temp, etc. to see what the tea will offer. Also, I will take notes on different days since what one brings to a cup one day will not be the same the next. I rate teas somewhat the same way as I rate wines, with over 90 being excellent, and over 95 being truly remarkable — even once in a lifetime. Over 85 very good, over 80 good.
USA
