It’s really cold today, and I needed something strong and dark. Luckily, this tea fits the bill perfectly. Brewed with near-boiling water and steeped for longer than usual, the resulting tea is a very dark brown, which was surprisingly easy to distinguish from a black tea. The aroma smells like light to medium roasted coffee beans, with hints of something sweeter and a bit nutty. The taste is also exquisite, featuring strong roasted flavors with nuts and fruit notes supporting. More important than just the flavors present, it is a very smooth tea, with no harsh flavors present. In this respect, it’s a bit better than some of my other Oolongs, because all of the flavors are completely dominated by the roasted flavor during the first steeping.
The second infusion is very similar to the first, but it is more muted. The aroma isn’t as “roasty”, and instead features more of a nutty and fruity character. The color of the tea is only a few shade lighter than the first infusion, leaving it a nice earthy color. The taste of the tea is less roasted than previously, and the fruit flavors have become very prominent, which leads me to believe that this was made from a spring picking.
The third infusion was the best so far, with a color that was a few shades darker than honey and an aroma that was a nice balance of sweetness and nuts. The flavor of the tea was sweet and fruity with hints of nuts.
The forth infusion was similar to the third, but it was weaker in all aspects. The color was several shades lighter, the aroma was greatly weakened, and the taste was beginning to become bland. Sure, there was still a sweet, indistinct fruity taste, but the nut flavors were very hard to taste. It’s still very good, but it’s lost a lot of the things that made it an excellent tea.
More to come later.
