Thanks kieblera5 for sending me a sample of this!

Gongfu session with a ceramic gaiwan. Fifteen second rinse.

Wow, so newb, very logic. I couldn’t tell how many grams I was sent (at least ten?), so I simply dumped everything into my 3-ounce gaiwan. There was a lot. The leaf nearly filled the bowl when it fully expanded. To not oversteep and make yucky cupd, I did a bunch of flash infusions in the beginning and then climbed up to 120 seconds in the end, with total of 15 infusion.

This session lasted for a day and half because I had a dentist appointment the first day and I am strict about my caffeine cut-off time.

The dry leaf, after staying in the heated bowl for a bit, smelled sweetly of stick rice. The wet leaf aroma is the same but much sweeter with an undertone of damp sand.

As one can imagine with so much leaf, the liquor was incredibly dark red at the very start. Also cloudy, but it cleared after a few more infusions. This is a simple shou. The texture and flavor notes did not change throughout the session. Basically creamy and tastes of sticky rice and mushrooms.

For $6 small cake, this is decent. OK tasting, very every day.

Preparation
Boiling 3 OZ / 88 ML

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Bio

I began drinking tea because its complexity fascinated me. I love learning about its history, its manufacturing processes, and its place in various cultures.

Japanese greens were my first love and gateway into the world.

My favorite teas are leafhopper oolongs, pu’erh (shou and sheng), and masala chai. My favorite herbal tisanes are spear/peppermint, lavender and chrysanthemum.

I’m currently exploring pu’erh, and any Chinese and Taiwanese teas in general. I’m not much into flavored teas, unlike when I first started. The only teas I truly dislike are fruity tisanes and the ones that have too much fruit. I do like hisbiscus, especially iced.

I like to write nature essays. I’m a birdwatcher as well as a tea enthusiast. The kiwi is one of my favorite birds. I also like Tolkien, Ancient Egypt, and exercising.

IMPORTANT NOTE, PLEASE READ: After two and a half years of having an account here, I will no longer will provide numerical ratings as an addition to the review because the American school system has skewed my thoughts on numbers out of a hundred and the colors throw me off. Curses! My words are more than sufficient. If I really like what I have, I will “recommend”, and if I don’t, “not recommended”.

Key for past ratings:

96-100 I adore absolutely everything about it. A permanent addition to my stash.

90-95 Superb quality and extremely enjoyable, but not something I’d necessarily like to have in my stash (might have to do with personal tastes, depending on what I say in the tasting note).

80-89 Delicious! Pleased with the overall quality.

70-79 Simply, I like it. There are qualities that I find good, but there also are things that aren’t, hence a lower rating that I would have otherwise like to put.

60-69 Overall “meh”. Not necessarily bad, but not necessarily good.

0-59 No.

If there is no rating: I don’t feel experienced enough to rate the tea, or said tea just goes beyond rating (in a positive way).

Location

Westchester, NY

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