Bluegreen Send Message

This is the tea that confused the heck out of me. The 2018 harvest. It is showy: long twisted black leaves that smell of malt, dark chocolate, smoke and dark berries. Very few golden tips.

I just threw about 3 grams in a teapot and did it Western style, steeping for 30 seconds. Since I have been having a lot of tippy Yunnans lately I somehow expected some variation of a typical Dianhonh and it was nothing like that. First it hits you with a maltiness that is quite Keemun-like, which is quickly and completely replaced by a lingering beguiling sweet floral / berry aftertaste that reminded me of Wild Lapsang Souchong. Quite complex, actually. I was confused but liked it.

Then I made the second cup. It smelled very strongly of ash (?) and chocolate and had a completely different, unified taste of complex and pleasant honeyed sweetness. Totally different from the first cup. Oh, and it also had a noticeable minty undertone- so convincing that I had to physically change my cup to make sure that I had not accidentally poured it in a cup from which one of my kids had just drunk mint tea or something. Now I felt that this tea was just messing with me!

Finally, with some apprehension I added the water for my third cup . This time I let it sit for 3 minutes to get all it out. Now the tea smelled of cocoalte and baked bread and, despite the dark color, still tasted rather subdued. You could still discern some notes of malt and mint but now chocolate, cherry and wood predominated – with a lingering aftertaste of mint.

What kind of wizardry is that?! I am certainly going to gong fu this ever-changing tea to death tomorrow. I don’t know how to rate it: the taste and aroma are not strong (which I usually strongly prefer) but it are pleasant, always unexpected and sometimes baffling. The whole experience was almost like some tea-induced tripping.