Gongfu!
This was the third and final tea from the class at Loongese. Unlike the two prior that were served to us, we each received a small tea set with premeasured out leaf and brewed the session for ourselves. This was part of an “intro to gongfu” portion of the class, but because a few people present (myself included) were already well acquainted to what we were doing we just got to enjoy a self led session over the next hour or so.
I really enjoyed the tea, as well. It was deeply roasty with lots of mineral and char notes right off the bat. I used all the leaf that was provided (unfortunately I don’t know how many grams – but it was a lot) but kept my steep times very short and so I got to really maximize the amount of infusions I got. Easily ten before my leaf was tapped out. It took a while from those strong rock oolong characteristics to subside a bit, but as they did the tea got a little more plummy and floral with a bit of fresh herbs in the mix as well; dill and thyme. It was very good and I was definitely feeling the tea drunk glow of an afternoon well spent by the end.