I saw this on the ChaWang Shop website and thought it looked very interesting.
Leaf Quality:
The dry tea leaves were large and felt rather dusty. The appearance looked similar to tree bark or brush on the base of a forest in autumn. The leaves smelled sweetly musty, and with good reason. There were tiny, yellow fungi growing on the leaves called “Jin Hua” or “Golden Flowers”. A bit of earthiness was also present in the aroma. The brewed leaves turned a darker brown from the original grey hue they were. They smelled like earthy, musty honey, and had the texture of dry paper. Only some of the “Golden Flowers” remained visible, as most seemed to have disappeared into the brew.
Brewed Tea:
I “rinsed” the tea once, and then brewed it several times. The resulting brew was a pale golden color. The brew smelled mossy, earthy, and musty. The taste was somewhat similar. The first flavor I noticed was the mustiness that had been present in the dry leaves; the second flavor was rather sweet and earthy. Each sip was completed with a mushroom-like finish. The first brew was very interesting, and rather enjoyable. There was a very sweet aftertaste from this cup.
Second Steeping
This steeping tasted musty and earthy, but also had a bit of “zing” that the first brew didn’t. Each sip rested like lemon peel on the tip of my tongue before I could notice the other flavors. This was a very sweet tea. The mushroom-like flavor and earthiness increased .
Third Steeping
This brew tasted much like the second. It was sweet, musty, earthy, mossy, and zingy.
This was quite an interesting tea. I didn’t expect it to be as musty as it was, but that quality did not detract from the experience. I actually liked its presence among the other flavors.
