More than half the day has gone by, I survived a potluck, head’s killing me and I haven’t had any actual tea. I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to try today, but ended up choosing to give this a shot. Cake itself smells mushroomy and is easy enough to break into. I throw 5 grams into the gaiwan, give it a quick rinse and a fairly quick first steep.
The leaves have a spiced, sweetish scent, and the liquor brews up a fairly deep red. I’m taste mushroom and camphor from the very first scent. Super smooth, and I get a sweetish finish as it goes down. I get some hints of cocoa out of the second steep. I got completely sucked into some work and totally forgot about and oversteeped the third go around. But the tea still came out well, not too surprisingly. Still smooth, and a very distinct cacao flavor came through. I did one more steep which confirmed my worry that I probably pulled most of the flavor out during the oversteep, but I enjoyed this one, so I’ll have it again soon.
Flavors: Cacao, Camphor, Mushrooms, Sweet
