Oak, vanilla, charcoal are the predominant notes for me in the first 1-3 steeps. After that, it becomes more earth and honey. I lose count of how many steeps I get from this. Probably around 10.
I don’t even know how to describe my style of brewing this. It’s not quite Western, gongfu, or grandpa. I do a heaped tablespoon in 400mL yixing for my rock oolongs, filled halfway with water. I don’t count how long each steep takes, just whenever I feel like pouring it out into the pitcher. 90C for a few steeps, then 95C for a few steeps, then 100C after maybe steep 5 plus pouring boiling water over the pot to extract what I can from the later steeps.
That’s the beauty of a proper day off when I don’t have to really consider linear clock time. The concept of seconds and minutes just become abstract and irrelevant. I just pour when I feel like it and while the day away.
