This was a free sample with my order
Dry – Bitter to bittersweet woody(Tobaccoey?) and floral notes, medicinal, faint tart fruits and some sweetness.
Wet – Very apparent Bitter wood/tobacco notes, some smoke, floral-wood-medicinal and hints of sweetness.
Liquor – Amber
Initial steeps are bitter and harsh up front with apparent tobacco and green wood notes that hints of Chinese medicine and hints of floral notes, all under a noticeable but not unpleasant hint of smoke. There’s some thickness as it goes down and the harshness mellows as it washes away.
By the third maybe fourth steep the Harshness is not as aggressive on the mouth and the thickness seems cumulative and almost tongue numbing, which to me balances in the ‘not sure if I like it’ sensation. The smoke has dissipated for the most part and the medicinal/tobacco notes are very apparent, the Huigan is pleasant and sweet with a herbaceous finish that lingers.
The compression is a bit tight on this one, which is usually bad for a tea this age, luckily the tea is very infusable and the outer layer doesn’t over steep before the piece opens.
Final Notes
At first the tea seemed a bit too harsh with bitter-wood notes (not the pleasant ones). It sort of reminded me of a lower grade version of W2T’s Repave, but missing some of the licorice-medicinal notes and ‘youth’ harshness. The thickness starts weak to medium and pleasant and develops into a numbing sensation that I didn’t really get to appreciate. If you like these notes and like them to last several steeps this cakes holds up well. To it was more pleasant towards the later steeps.
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http://thetinmycup.blogspot.com/
Flavors: Green Wood, Herbaceous, Medicinal, Tobacco
