Encouraged by Kittenna’s success last night I decided to re-read other’s tasting notes for successful brewing techniques and watched the brewing video on Verdant’s website. I went with an amalgamation, glass infuser mug with a mesh brew basket (mainly because the glass slits are slow to drain and I wanted to be quick), all the leaf I had left (I need to get a scale and but it looked about right, maybe a tad less than what is used in the video), water at 200 for the rinse and 195 for the first infusion and steeped for 3 secs.
The result? Success! I have mastered this tea and it is really quite lovely! Not sure why my cold brew was so unsuccessful but I’m getting no astringency in these first two infusions. Just lovely woodsy, heady incense, with nice mineral notes. Second infusion has a bit of honey and melon. It may be a bit lighter than how other’s enjoy, but it’s perfect for my palate. I shall take my time with this today as it is all I have left, but yay for getting it right! Rating moving up right between Fujian Rain and Mi Lan Black, which I find very appropriate as it actually reminds me a bit of the Fujian and other tea’s I sampled that day.