Brewed as the directions dictate this tea is the heavy on the malt! It’s right up there with a deep nut brown ale or a dense homemade wheat bread. A honeyed sweetness, maybe the very slightest fruitiness, it’s like drinking a cup of fresh baked honey wheat bread with a little banana snuck into the dough. There’s also a damp leafiness to it, the way a rainy autumn day smells. Later steeps see a softening of the honey and a strengthening of deciduous leaf flavor, though the honey always remains on the nose. The smell of the empty, cooling cup is like sticking your nose in a honey pot.
A gongfu session for me brought out the best flavors, the first steep at only about 12 seconds with a high leaf:water ratio seriously pumping out the honey notes and creamy mouthfeel. Every subsequent steep is delicious but lacks that thick honey flavor, winding down almost immediately into the musty leaf and bready flavors with that tempting honey on the nose. That first steep really left me wanting more. I’d rate this one a solid 100 if that flavor weren’t so fleeting.
Edit: tried a batch cold-brewed as I do with almost every new tea. Pretty unremarkable compared to the hot.
Flavors: Autumn Leaf Pile, Bread, Honey, Malt, Musty
