Presence is everything.
I got to brew and drink this with all the time in the world today. And it becomes a completely different tea when I do so.
Having this for the first time while I was rushing to get to work, I could not notice a single thing about it other than ‘Chinese black tea.’ But today, I took a sick day and just sat with the tea and my experience of it.
100C, Western style with 1 tablespoon in 200mL for 3 steeps. Afterwards, I contemplated what tea to have next, and then promptly chose to brew another tablespoon of the Imperial Golden Needle.
Beyond words and descriptions, I simply enjoyed it without bothering the cognitive mind with specifics. I like when vendors are detailed with their tasting notes, because it gives me the option to search out those notes in the tea without bothering to go down memory lane to retrieve those impressions myself.
Power of suggestion. Which is what most of reality is, anyway. But sincerely, I agree with Brendan’s descriptions. The chocolate-covered strawberry note comes out more as the tea cools, by the way. It’s one of those teas where I notice that the temperature it is drank makes a change to the notes in each sip.
