Sipdown, 127. I have a huge pile of shengs to sipdown from the reserve club, but I decided to start out with this tea, which I discovered was also sipdownable.
Mmmm, fujian black tea. Lovely. I realized that I have only had this tea western style for some reason, but today it’s gongfu time. I drank my rinse because it was quite dark and I couldn’t just throw it away. It was sweet and malty, with notes of sweet potato and a hint of pepper. The second steep was much more robust, with quite a kick underneath that honeyed breadiness. I might have let it go a few seconds too long for my taste, but it’s still really good. The other day I was eating at a brewery and they were brewing a beer at the time, and there was an intense smell of the malty boiling mash. This kind of reminds me of that. Third steep was smoother and sweeter, back to a nice malty black tea. So glad to have gotten the opportunity to savor this tea.