I never thought about it when I used to regularly leave teabags in the mug while drinking my tea, but some teas seem to benefit substantially from lengthy steeps. This is one of those teas. At 3-5 minutes, it’s very meh. Flavor is weak and unimpressive. Luckily, I got distracted at work and didn’t come back to the cup until 15-20 minutes later. Oh. my. goodness. The flavors really come out to play. It’s a lovely balance of honey and sage and I find it extremely enjoyable. I wasn’t paying attention to aroma or color, but I’ll definitely be having it again and will try to notice those things.
I think many of the Wissotzky green teas fall into the category of teas that benefit from lengthy steepings. Not sure why.