I brought this to work, which means brewing Western style, which always makes me feel guilty with really nice teas. So, I decided to at least follow David’s direction on how much leaf to use. But then, the steeping time seemed… long, compared to the tea water ratio, so I stopped it a bit early (when there was already a deep coppery-red color to the tea).
That’s probably more than you all needed to know, but it’ll be good for my reference :P Compared to the gongfu style, this tastes much stronger and sharper. As it cools, it tastes more like a dark oolong than a black tea, with a very bake-y flavor.
Still sweet and chocolatey, very little bitterness (but more than there was gongfu style), very drinkable plain. I’m optimistic about later steeps evening out the strength.
1 tbsp leaf, 8oz water
ETA: Steeped this 4 times – the strength was more in balance on the later steeps, but it continued to taste more like a dark oolong than a light black to me. It was good, but I definitely prefer the gongfu method for bringing out all the flavor details.
