I’m a sucker for the sticky rice flavor of nuo mi xiang thrown into just about anything. These are cozy and creamy and sensuous; some herbal greenery pokes in here and there. Short steeps of 15-20 seconds keep the shou light and balanced with the herb (longer steeps get a little bitter and disjointed). I must be at 10-12 steeps as I write this, and the herb is persisting right along with the shou — perfection.
The ~6g disc looked very compressed coming out of the foil wrapper, but it bubbled and let water in during a 15sec rinse. After a patient 20 minutes, I opened my gaiwan and found a poofy pile of leaves waiting to make magic happen. :D
The handy little discs make me want to consider this for travel, but the need for babysitting short steeps ruins that dream. I am still turning over a plan for overseas steeping… I sure don’t want to have a vacation full of tea ‘meh’, but I also want to be reasonable with gear. I generally pack ultralight (<25L for 2-3 weeks), and absolutely don’t want to change that. A new field of study and research awaits…
Flavors: Creamy, Earthy, Herbaceous, Honeydew, Smooth, Spring Water, Sticky Rice, Sweet