The smell of the leaves is floral with some mowed grass (on a hot afternoon) aroma.
I tasted two steeps in a 8 oz steeping mug.
1st: Almost boiling water, 3 min. The liquor is a clear, bright green. There is a light floral aroma. My first impression is that I haven’t tasted a tea this complex before. I sip over and over again trying to break down what I am tasting. The first taste is a floral one, but not a strong perfume floral taste. This is followed by a flavor that I only know from oolong tea. It is savory, not at all smokey. It reminds me of the savory flavor of wonton soup broth, but without the saltiness. I haven’t had oolong in so long that I had forgotten this taste. Overall, the taste is sweet and floral. Breathing out my nose gives a great floral flavor. Swishing it around violently in my mouth (with lots of air) brings out a great nutty flavor. How many ways can I taste this? Everything is soft; there are no sharp edges here.
2nd: 205 degrees, 5 min. This cup is less floral. There is more sweet flavor and some nuttiness coming out. I feel the first sense of astringency. There is the start of a bitter edge, which I like, but not enough to call this bitter. The aftertaste stayed sweet and seemed to get nuttier as I sipped this over ten minutes. Overall, this cup is sharper. There are fewer flavors and they are more well defined.
I kept writing floral because I didn’t know what flower to call it. I thoroughly enjoyed taking the time to taste this tea. I am excited to see what is in the remaining teas in the sampler pack this tea came in.
