This is one of my first daily drinkers. Bought a cake after tasting a YS sample.
Cake is compressed loosely enough that it breaks apart into long, twisted leaves rather than chunks. I brew 6s, 12s, 15s, 20s, etc., going for about 8-9 steeps. From the second steep on, the liquor is bronzed and ruddy.
The dry leaves smell so cedar cabinet-y that I’d love to store the cake with my sweaters. For the first few steeps right now, though, the tea comes off scratchy and bitter. At the third steep, though, the dried fruit comes together with the leather and wood, and for the next three-four steeps I am enjoying the tea far more than the morning news I’m often reading on my computer while I sip. The tea’s qi is light but pleasant, settling in my head and upper chest. No morning sweats.
There’s not much by way of body or aftertaste. A soft sweetness around the sides of the mouth comes out around steep 6, along with the echo of flowers without being floral, which keeps me going back for longer and longer steeps while I get ready for work until I walk out the door.
Flavors: Cedar, Leather, Raisins, Spices, Tobacco
