I tried this tea three times already gong fu style with different temperatures (some classify it as green, others as oolong). To me this is a green tea with a high mountain oolong look.
Just as the description says, the leaves have an unique aroma (for a green) that resembles plum blossom but a bit sweeter almost like a ripe honeydew melon.
1st Steep – Partially vegetal (like parsley), slight sweetness with floral tones that remind you of a plum blossom oolong but with a melon sweetness of a sweeter green. It leave a vegetal/floral after taste after a ‘clean’ smooth feeling. The leaves were still tightly twisted.
2nd Steep – Vegetal Sweetness and some nuttiness that fades into the melon like sweetness (This was my favorite steep) and a clean feeling that is taken by an apparent melon sweetness with that floral plum blossom aftertaste. There’s a hint of astringency at this point and the leaves are more loose but not fully opened.
3rd Steep – Plummy and floral with vegetal sweetness with nuttiness and the after taste is floral not as refreshing as previous steeps but still clean on the tongue. The leaves are fully open and looks like a green tea.
4th Steep – Smoother more balanced steep with plum blossom floral a hint of sweetness and not as vegetal. Nutty with some astringency reapearing.
You can take more steeps out of this one, I feel its a good tea but not ‘MY’ tea. I’ll continue to drink it and try to understand it better. To me it sounds better than it tastes. I made several tastings with different temperatures this one is at 170-180F, the notes for 195f were fairly similar but the astringency kept accumulating from the first steep on (that’s why I see it as a green rather than Oolong).
