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Finally I decided to open those Bhutanese tea samples.
And I thought this may be very interesting and I was in a mood trying something unusual, maybe because I just came home “on time” and not late like other days; and moreover not so tired.

The dry leaf looks very unusual. It looks like burned leaves, there wasn’t any rolling or shaping; just dark, huge leaves. I may use this into the sipdown prompt! Well, afterall, you can check picture yourself. There are also stems and branches; fairly uncommon for loose leaf.

The aroma itself is also different than I am used to. No, this doesn’t smell like a black tea at all. Rather a shu. With extra salinity and something that reminds me manure. Very woody too.

Decided to brew it western, 4 minutes. It brews sooo dark. This is not a black tea. It’s a shu puerh, but not from Pu Erh region and not pressed.

Anyway, the taste is smooth, maybe almost flat (like not an explosion of flavours in the mouth); woody, wet forest floor and a bit mushroomy. Yes, again a flavors of shu, not a black tea. Aftertaste is a bit earthy and woody, which makes sense, considering the visual of the tea.

I have thought that the tea has more to offer; so I prepared also the second steep; this time 3 minutes brewing.
Definitely it has got potential to show me another impressions. It was dark as the first steep, but the flavour was more woody and earthy, with salt and mineral aftertaste. A bit like licking rock salt (yes, I did that). Not bad!

I’m definitely going to try this gongfu… with a little less leaf than I will be used to. But on the other hand, I don’t think I will try Bhutanese style. That’s prepared this way: into boiling water you throw the leaves, you let them steep in the boiling water, strain the leaves, add hot milk, butter and SALT. Yes, like the tea isn’t salty itself!