I bought this in early ‘21, and the cake was loosely compressed with a stained and torn paper wrapping. Had a couple nice long gong fu sessions with this, after a 15 sec rinse under hot tap water, covering 13 steepings (100 ml ea) from 4g tea each time. The flavor and aroma were mild and of generic black tea, with moderate astringency and no hints of swamp or fish. By the 5th steep I’d begun sweating, reflecting the caffeine. Overall a good, if unremarkable, tea. By the last steep, the aroma had faded and the tea flavor muted. I wouldn’t buy this cake again, especially after seeing the price rise 30% over the past few weeks. I don’t see much depth of flavor to support further aging, so I’ll just be doubling the dry measure and sipping it down to make room for better things.
Flavors: Tea
