I could smell this tea the minute I opened the mailing envelope. It has a smoky aroma, even the dry leaf does. The dry leaf is a very pretty silver green. Here’s a pic, but it doesn’t really show the silver effect well:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/97273956@N03/16296255385/
When I brewed it up, there was an old man tobacco smell. No other way to describe that. ;)
The tea had a warming effect on me from the first sip…interesting. I gong fu-brewed it as usual. About the third steep or so, it tasted like grilled veggies, which turned into a grilled meat flavor. According to JalamTeas, they make a soup out of this tea with garlic…I can see why that would go well together. The grilled veggie/meat flavor was kind of good, and I’m a vegetarian!
This is a tea that I probably would have hated when I first started drinking loose leaf, but I really like it! It does sweeten up like most shengs, but in much later steeps. The smoky grill flavor is nice for a cold day like today.
Whoa! I totally love this one! Well, I guess to each their own! ;)
Let me send you the rest of what Cheri sent me then. bleh
Sure, I’ll take it! Haha! You might not like February’s tea either then cuz it reminds me of that one.
What was the February one called? I’ll make a note to save this one for you!
The February one is what I just got in the mail yesterday, called Nan Nuo Mountain Zhu Ling Village.