Luckily, I have loose leaf tea to the rescue today! After two, mediocre-worse teas at work today, which are nearly finished, but never took that much attention to them, I took one loose leaf which I still had on the desk as I still haven’t put it into correct box.
As I was measuring (recommended) 5 grams, I noticed long, wiry, multicolored leaves. Certainly handmade, because they had different hues of brown/black. Also there were some light ones. Sadly, no trichomes… but I am not even sure if it’s possible :) — this was for Skysamurai.
Anyway, after first steep — 3 minutes long, I got very dark copper color, reminding me a forest honey. The vendor says it has got coffee flavour and I have to agree combined with mild spicy notes. In aftertaste I notice also some roasty notes and I would love to see nutty flavours, but they aren’t here. In the nose it is raher lighter, woody and little floral.
Second steep — 5 minutes long have even darker colour, with stronger coffee and roasted flavour notes. The spices are weaeker and instead roasted flavour is stronger. Aroma stays very similar.
Brewed leaves show it is produced from medium sized leaves, usually torn in half and there is quite a lots of stems there. After those two sessions, aroma of it is strong tannic and bitter, but the brewed tea show no bitterness or astringency.
