Additional notes: I steeped this exactly like the 2017 harvest to see if there were any differences. Last year I bought teas from YS and had to buy this exact harvest because the same tea that I tried before was so PLUMMY. I loved it. It was delicious. This should be exactly the same harvest. I made sure that all of them were the Spring harvests, so I’m not getting confused with that. But somehow this tastes completely different from what I remember. No plum at all. Now it seems like a very light Taiwanese tea like Laoshan black, with honey notes. It’s disappointing that this supposedly same harvest is so different now (and of course I know teas will age but still….)
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug// 15 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 minute steep
Another day: So then to complete this experiment, I wanted to try my sample that Nicole sent me of this very same tea steeped exactly the same that was turning out so plum-like. (Also, sipdown! I had exactly a teaspoon and a half of leaves left.) And I do notice that the leaves are smaller. I’m not sure if it’s because they are crushed more from shipping/storing OR it was because it was the bottom of the pouch crumbs all of the times I’ve steeped this tea OR both these reasons (still in the official YS bag, by the way.) But I think the smaller leaves DID make it all the more plummy. Maybe I should measure out a serving of the 2017 leaves into a teabag, then crush the hell out of them, steep it up and see if I get that plummy flavor. An interesting experiment…. so maybe this experiment isn’t over YET. However, I’d also say this final steeping wasn’t AS plummy as my first tasting note. So not as plummy as before, but definitely a ton more flavorful than either new pouch of 2014 or 2017. But I did only wait until the water had cooled for 10 minutes instead of 15. The brew is darker too. It’s just a bit odd the supposedly the same harvest of the same tea can be so different. The rating for the new (yet supposedly same tea) would be 72 instead of 85 that it was originally.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug// 15 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 minute steep
