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A tea I have received from derk, thank you!

Decided for gongfu, as again, I haven’t done it for long; and I had mood for that today. And what to brew? Why not something absolutely new in my stash?

When I took the sniff from the pouch, I thought it is some kind of lapsang, as it is smoked tea. And then some mushroomy aroma appeared. It is pu-erh? As it is quite cold today here; I decided to go through and preapare it. I saw lots of small branches and and it freaked me a little. I thought it will be boring; or not so great at all.

Boy, I was wrong!

I preheated the gaiwan and added dry tea in. That release of the aromas brought me again to the birch covered sauna 5 years back in Finland. It was so cozy aroma. So mellow and a bit of agressive too. A little of meaty note, but that was okay!

I did 10 second steep. Too short? Maybe! But hey… it is already full of flavour. And it is so mellow-creamy, but on the other hand it is woody and lightly smoky. Sweet aftertaste and mouth coating qualities. I wish my tea stays longer warm; I use too big bowl for it. Nevertheless, it is tasty even lukewarm.

Second steep, 15 seconds long, reminds me even more that sauna experience. But instead using my noste, I am using my mouth for feeling it. It is woody, but creamy in same time, again mouthcoating and some light and refreshing note there. The smokiness is low, but decent in the flavour profile. Derk said it is comforting and I have to agree. Of course, I have opened map of Japan to see where my shipment is heading and how far it is from the Japanese plant, but I am rather checking the tea plantations nearby. It is in the Shiga prefecture and not even Yunomi is helping much with teas from this place.

It’s a bit drying, but so highly drinkable. You never feel complete dryness in the mouth, because, as I have wrote, it is mouth coating and creamy.

It doesn’t hold for long. I felt in fourth steep it loses its power, and goes more into fruity notes. It is not a flaw though. Maybe my steeps were just too short. I feel it is redfruits. Not present too much, but they are there? Not stonefruit in my opinon.

Unique.

Flavors: Creamy, Red Fruits, Smoked, Wood

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 30 sec 5 g 4 OZ / 125 ML

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Bio

I am drinking almost everything. Tea bag collector who moved to wonderful world of loose leaf.

Trying to rate differently tea bags and loose leaf as tea bags have usually worse quality.

Photographer now and then. Postcrossing and geocaching member. Very curious person. Logistics student (should finish in June 2021).

Buried in tea right now. Is in my cupboard (trying to be updated) which sparkled your interest? Write me, I would gladly share with you. But I don’t want anything in return now :)

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Czech Republic

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