I am not familiar with green teas that India produces, I remember trying some of them in the past but don’t have any memories regarding taste or smell or even something beyond the fact that they were green. Since I love Darjeelings a lot I decided to branch out and ordered a bunch of samples from Upton.
This Korakundah fellow is the first I’m testing and it is kinda scary because the dry leaf smells awfully strong of fish. It isn’t a fresh fish smell, more of smoked fish but it doesn’t exactly improve on the aroma. I know some people think that green teas have fishy qualities and now I can understand why they would say that but it’s the first time I encountered it myself.
Fortunately the brew doesn’t stink as badly as the leaf does. That’s where the smoked fish comes in. I’m getting a lot woody smoke, about the same amount as average Gunpowder has. The fish is finally subdued and the tea actually tastes very vegetal and slightly bitter, with the astringency that lingers in the mouth after each swallow.
Overall I’m not impressed (if only by the fish) and not even slightly pleased so I decided against resteeping it.
Photo-report: http://tiny.cc/DKQdd
