i ordered this one at the same time i ordered my strainer from ys (i seemed to have lost my old strainer in moving, but this one is far finer and wider.) shipping came fast so thank you ys. this tea is supposed to be a mutated da hong pao, which i find amusing, and it interested me enough to try it.
ive only ever tried one other dhp, from whispering pines (the wild crafted,) so i cant pick apart the differences too easily but i’ll try.
my wildcrafted stuff is nearly finished and all thats left is small leaves with some tea scraps. the que she though, is laden with full leaves which when smelled delivers a strong dark chocolate aroma.. its really nice.
at this point im on my second steep of about 8 sec and honestly i cant really tell what im tasting, maybe cacao.. some sort of sweetness in. lemon! thats part of it. the mouthfeel is weak and i think its because of this acidic quality of the tea.. like it fills your mouth and then circles around the sip and clears out the body from the surface of your mouth.
third steep in and im picking up some nuttiness, like roasted almonds. the acidity has died down. This is no doubt a mutation of dhp.. less oxidized, soup is lighter color if i recall. The leaf in pot smells more like dhp, but tastewise- no, not totally. i like it and i’ll see how many more steeps i can get from it. i also am loving this strainer- nothing gets through it !!!
k one more steep (4th.) when i smell the cup of tea something makes me pick up frosting, like from frosted flakes, also clean spring water and leaves. the tea has gotten bolder and the sip leaves me with sandpaper tongue slightly.
thanks if you read this.. i know my reviews are pretty scattered around and impromptu.
-nycoma
Nothing wrong with being impromptu.