I’ll start off by saying that this is a wonderful tea. I’ve loved the Spring 2015, so this review is mostly to contrast against the fresh Spring 2016 batch of this tea.
Sniffing the Spring 2015 side by side with this fresh Spring 2016, there is a thick layer of ripe fruit/sweet tomato fragrance on the fresh 2016 batch, while the 2015 has more of a sharp malt aroma. These differences carry over to the brew, where the 2016 is frutier while the 2015 is maltier. The word that keeps coming to my mind with the 2016 is that is seems “ripe” (though not in the sense of ripe puer). It just seems like it is in its prime right now fresh, despite my expectation that it might need time to rest before drinking.
If you have liked this tea in the past, I can’t imagine this spring 2016 would disappoint anyone.
