My tea experience tonight has been brought to you by takgoti and sophistre. Takgoti because she said this smelled like turkey and I’m morbidly curious about that and sophistre because her Ryokucha log made me think of my trip to the Daibutsu in Kamakura where I picked up my first yunomi, so that’s what I’m drinking this out of. A Chinese tea out of Japanese tea cup. I don’t get kicked out of the tea lovers club for this, right?
So, trying to find the turkey smell is first. I’m sniffing but I don’t really find it. Part of me is sad, part of me is thankful. Part of me goes – I can smell briney and buttery when I’m smelling from my nose not in the cup and I can see how that could translate to turkey… or roasted chicken. But this whole sniffing for turkey thing has lead to a lot more sniffing than I’d usually do so my mouth is watering a bit. Paying attention to this tea, it smells really nice. I’ve already mentioned a little salt and butter smell going on, but when I get closer there’s a pretty vegetal smell, too. Not like boiled vegetables but not raw either. Just sweet and green.
Okay, this is really enjoyable tea. There’s a little salt-like tingle on the tip of my tongue that I seem to get from most Chinese greens. Actually, I take that back – most Chinese greens give me a big salt taste. The fact that this is slight makes it enjoyable, not unpleasant. The taste is sweet and green and a little salty and maybe nutty. The tea is not delicate tasting but it’s not overpowering either. Hearty but soft maybe? Anyway, I like it.
I have a feeling if I had last night’s Dragonwell after this one instead of before, it wouldn’t have fared as well as it did. This one is yummy.
