The Verdant email newsletter suggested trying this tea iced. Out of habit or maybe some deep-seated familial insistence I don’t ice Chinese teas, but I had to be more adventurous. So, cold brewed 8 hours, and it’s fantastic. Much more earthy, with predominant mushroom notes in the aroma and taste, very little noticeable sweetness, and a lingering background of cocoa and muted spices. It’s very complex and dimensional—as if short hot steeps would separate out all these elements, while cold brewing presents them all together but favors the ones that would have been less obvious. And as an iced tea it’s highly refreshing, and has a strong recognizable black tea base quality.