Sipdown, 183. I never know what to do with all the tea dust at a bottom of a sample. It can be hard to separate from the good leaf. I often try to shake the dry leaf in my infuser, so that it sifts out a bit, and this time I actually rinsed the leaf with cold water, but it clearly wasn’t that effective. Or maybe it was and my cup of tea would be like matcha if I hadn’t done it.
I started off planning to steep this for 2 minutes and after 30 seconds I knew the infuser had to come out. The leaf is so small and broken that the liquor is already a yellowy-amber color. It smells green but also pretty earthy, perhaps a bit like fall leaves. The flavor is nutty and a bit brothy, even. I don’t get the chestnut notes that I identified in my first tasting of this; it actually seems more… walnutty? Maybe? It’s pretty tasty, and a nice post-lunch tea to clear the palate and reset for the afternoon.