One last session for the evening before I call it a night, embrace the sweet comfort of bed and mentally prepare myself for the nightmare that will be working retail on Boxing Day. I pulled this one a few days ago to drink, but just getting around to it now – it’s been in my cupboard for a while now and though I have tried it, it’s been a long time and I think it was only Western style that I first had it?
Started off with a rinse; the aroma is lovely! Stewed fruits, earth, molasses, petrichor…
Steep One: 12 Seconds
- I’ve been experimenting a little with my steep times for Gong Fu lately
- But haven’t settled into a generic “pattern” I’m sure happy with yet…
- This is ok; but oddly salty…
- I find myself thinking of red earth, clay, and jerky; or at least what jerky smells like
- Or cured meat!? Tough(ish) for me to place
- Longtime vegetarian, after all…
Steep Two: 12 Seconds
- Smells sweeter/less of umami and meats??
- More woody, with the same mix of red earth and clay
- Still a LITTLE BIT salty but not the same way it was
- Lingering finish is a bit more cooked fruit/stewed fruit and sweet earth
Steep Three: 18 Seconds
- Much, much better now in the overwhelming salt/meat flavour department
- Talking to Slack people about it; and I think it just didn’t air out as well as it could have
- Now it feels more well rounded, with a lot of sweet wood and earth notes
- Kind of a sweet, vanilla/nut undertone creeping in now
- Also still cooked/stewed fruits in the finish: prune/raisin
Steep Four: 25 Seconds
- Steeped leaf smells lovely; sandalwood and damp earth! Very peaceful…
- Yeah; totally a much better/cleaner flavour now!
- A mix of wood, red earth, raisin, petrichor, stewed fruit, resin, and walnut skins
- Kind of a creamy mouthfeel
Steep Five: 30 Seconds
- Best steep yet; mostly wood, petrichor, cream, vanilla, and walnut
- With sweet cooked fruit/raisin undertones
- Really nice finish! A slight, haunting linger of vanilla and wood then short fade out
Steep Six: 30 Seconds
- Much of the same as last infusion but with a stronger vanilla/cream thing going on
- REALLY digging this pairing of vanilla and strong wet wood notes though
- It’s good shit
Steep Seven: 40 Seconds (Give or take a bit; lost count near the end)
- Definitely seeing a decline in the robustness/dark hue of the liquor colour
- But I’m really enjoying the flavours as this one begins to die off
- Silkier, with soft notes of wood, earth, vanilla, walnut, and dates now
- Kind of brown sugar-y as well?
- REALLY clean finish
Steep Eight: 1 Minute
- Same as prior infusion, just a touch milder/more watery
Steep Nine: 1 Minute
- Still a light coppery colour to the liquor but like 90% of the flavour has faded now
- Mostly a very vanilla/wood sort of thing with light earth undertones
- And a bit of a caramel sweetness to the end
- It’s sort of a sad overall flavour though; very weak/watery
Steep Ten: Two Minutes
- Just a shadow of what this was
- I think this is as good as any a time to cut the session off
- There’s still SOME flavour left, but it’s quite late now
- And I should definitely be policing my caffeine/liquid intake
Overall thoughts? This wound up being a nice session with some really good overall flavours in the middle of the infusions. Plus, as the flavour notes did die out near the end they did so in a really lovely way which highlighted some of my favourite flavours I got to experience drinking this tea. I don’t know what was up with the first few infusions which reminded me so sharply of salted meats – probably just some weird funk from my not allowing this to air out long enough/well enough. It did sit for A LONG TIME air tight, and only in the last few weeks have I let it air out more openly.
Still good overall; nice end to the evening. Fingers crossed the caffeine doesn’t wind up biting me in the ass though…
