71

This was a very interesting tea which demanded attention to steeping details to avoid bitterness while retaining the more pleasant and ephemeral fruit flavors and aromas. The dry tea which to me brought memories of sweet hard candies which seemed to be the sum of pomegranate and raspberry scents. After steeping the tea the ephemeral fruit scents had vanished entirely from the mixture of torn/cut tea leaves, stems and pomegranate pieces.

Now, for the important part – the liquor. I steeped the tea at the recommended temperature of 175degF (thermometer) and sampled the liqid in 30sec intervals over the recommended steeping time of 1-3mins. At times greater than 1.5 minutes the tea became too bitter for my taste without any increase in fruit flavor – I also tested the effects of a higher temperature steep at a mere 7deg increase – ie 182degF – where as expected the unacceptable bitterness appear earlier but, also, the delicate and apparently volatile fruit flavors could no longer be appreciated well in either liquid or aroma.

Moral of the story – as others have also noted – this is a very nice delicately flavored green tea where all the flavor and scent components can be appreciated at their best if attention to preparation details are carefully followed. I enoyed both the taste (uniqueness of pomegranate with hint of raspberry) and aromas – and the challenge – of selecting the brewing conditions which were optimal for my preferences.

Worth the effort!

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 1 min, 30 sec

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