It’s been nearly a year since I took notes on this one. It has sat in its wrapper, in a cloth bag, in a file drawer in my air-conditioned office for the past year. I’ve dipped into this a few times since last year, and this time I’m using a piece that, when hydrated, fills the gaiwan between 1/3 and 1/2 full. I started with a flash rinse, let the tea hydrate/wet a bit, then have been enjoying a series of quick, hot infusions—the Pino is set to 205, and I’ve been infusing 10-20 seconds, and mostly drinking them down very quickly. Lots of herbaceous flavor, sweetness, anise, but little outright bitterness. It’s just delicious, and again, the biggest problem I foresee with this aging experiment may be trying to drink it sparingly enough to keep some around for a long time.
205 °F / 96 °C
0 min, 15 sec
