Thank you Google for eating my notes and all my open tabs!
I got this one out to review as I have wanted to get into it and a couple of friends were interested also.
I pulled it out to chunk off a bit and was surprised that it broke off easily. Most XiaGuan “Iron Cakes” are tough to get into. It broke off easily and I got I got my measure of pretty easy. I guess the pumidor may be working.
I gave a 10 second rinse and let the leaf sit for about 10 minutes to start brewing. It brews a nice deep golden color. It still has some of the smoke and punch of a somewhat younger tea but a deeper color.
It carries a good bit of bitter but in a nice way for me. Some hints of smoke and astringency but not in an overpowering way. It reminds me somewhat of another cake from about 2007 that I enjoyed.
Will it give you that nice Cha Qui?
A bit but not too strong. Huigan a bit. Nice notes of subdued smoke and camphor a little pucker of citrus in there as well.
Nice and aging well I think.
Flavors: Bitter, Citrus, Smoke
Nice, thanks so much! What do you think of the leaves? Does it seem rather chopped or anything whole in there? I’ve never seen the actual cake of this one.
I think this will continue to be a good performer in the future. Second steep nice as well.
There are some chopped but the iron cakes are always hard to break properly.
Interesting comments. Thanks for taking a look at it. Sounds like I’m better holding on to mine for awhile before tackling it. For me all Xiagun are tough to pick apart with their typically tight compression.