My son being out for the day with a family friend I decided to dive in and finally use one of the dragon balls that I won from *Doulton*’s giveaway. Unfortunately today seems to be shaping up to be a teething day for my daughter so I didn’t get to enjoy the first steep as much as I wanted to.
1st infusion: 7 1/2 minutes, near-boiling water
I set one ball into my 40oz glass pot and poured the nearly boiling water over it, nearly filling the pot. No need to nudge this one. It floated at the top and stayed there, gently dropping leaves which then also floated to the top. It rather resembled a kelp bed actually.
At 3 1/2 minutes I poured a bit out to taste and for some reason forgot to taste what I had poured until after I had poured the rest out into an iced tea jug to keep it from over steeping. Only then did I realize it wasn’t strong enough and poured the liquor back into the pot to finish steeping. Oops.
4 minutes later, after making sure to taste for strength, I poured some of the tea off into my blue tetsubin and the rest into the iced tea jug. The liquor was a lovely deep amber with a malty, woodsy, nutty and slightly floral taste. Not jasmine or honeysuckle type florals, more like Lady Slippers and Queen Anne’s Lace and tiny white Starflower and Bunchberry blossoms, woodland florals.
2nd infusion: 18 minutes, near-boiling water
Again, poured some off into my tetsubin and the rest into the iced tea jug. The liquor was a brighter amber with a sweeter nut flavor – like macadamia nuts – and a slight taste like freeze-dried apples and peaches.
3rd infusion: 35 minutes, near-boiling water
After drinking so much liquid I only poured one cup out for tasting and used the rest to fill the iced tea jug the rest of the way. The liquor was a bright honey-amber color with a light nutty-toasty flavor, very much like a genmaicha but not as sweet.
This is definitely going on my list of “Things to buy once I whittle down my tea cabinet a bit”. Looking at the volume of teas in my cabinet though I’m thinking that might take a while. Very glad that Doulton sent two!
