Ok as promised a more full description after having a chance to try this hot…
Dry Aroma: Peach, nectarine, spicy, smoked wood…it recalls Wu Yi Oolongs I’ve had…
Wet Aroma: Dried cherry, strawberry, nectarine…fruity
Liqour: Pale, olive oil yellow-green, with a blush of orange ochre hue
Cup:
1st Extraction – hints of osmanthus, sour wood, fruit (peach/apricot) gloss the mouth, slipping with little to no astrigency and a flavorful, full mouth-feel and lingering fruity sweetness. Extraction was 3 minutes in 190 degree water.
2nd Extraction – hue deepens to intense olive yellow green, but orange color vibrates and darkens. Osmanthus-like flavor mingles with soft woody flavors, mild apricot layer of flavor slides over it, sweetening the finish and the body becomes more full and lush, a hint of astrigency cleans the palete from sip to sip. 4 min extraction with 185 degree water.
3rd Extraction – green/reddish distinction becomes profound between the differing oxidation of the leaves. The brick red and forrest green colors are striking and the leaves remain somewhat long and needle-like. Flavors of umbeshi plum take over and a sweet, clean fruity finish with a light floral aspect rounds the cups finish. 5 minutes in 200 degree water.
4th Extraction – leaves seem to finally settle and don’t seem to be expanding any further. A mild, thin cup, with notes of puffed rice and a slight metalic tin bloom from a very colorful coppery cup. I felt I could maybe get one or 2 more extractions, but felt the true flavors of fruit that the tea was dancing with was gone.
Method: Used 3 grams of tea in a traditional Tawianeses gawain, tea poured at hight to aerate into a porcelian tea ocean and then decanted into 2 oz tea cups…yelded around 24oz over all in this method. I gained a lot more volume from my cold steep experiment.
I should also mention that I cold marinated pacific halibut and sea scallops in this tea for 3 hrs and then lightly seasoned and broiled. The tea colored the seafood a pale golden orange and brought out the grain of the seafood. It added only a slight hint of fruitiness to the seafood, but that was I think due to the fact that the leaves had already been extracting in cold water for 8 hrs. I would imagine I could draw out more of that flavor if I made a marinade with the 1st extraction. Still…yummy.
