The dry leaf here smells a lot like a fine darjeeling or an oolong that isn’t darkly roasted. But the scent is very soft. The cut and color of the dry leaf makes it look for all the world like pipe shag.
The 4-5 minute recommended steep time is your first clue, however, that this is no fragile and retiring leaf of the South Continent mountains. No, this is the hearty leaf of the Eastern Chinese heartland.
The wet leaf scent prepares you for something like an Assam, strong and sharp. Like molasses and ginger. But the liqueur is neither, being more like honeyed cashews.
I want to be poetic about this tea, but it is 8am.
