Trying the orb version from the group buy, so steamed the sucker open with an extra long rinse to start, 205 F in a preheated porcelain gaiwan. This opened up to quite the bitter tea with an intense throat coating and interesting herbaceous depth, but it was getting complaints from my drinking companions, so dialed it down to 200 F later which kicked the bitter down, but also kind of dialed down some of that thick body.
The energy on this one is quite strong, very warming to the point that I had to remove the heavy sweater I was wearing by steep 5, and was struck suddenly by a heavy foggy
dizziness on steep 6. Some mild throat sweet sugar cane return was present at this point, highlighted by the bitterness of the tea, which never really goes away completely, even at this light temperature, although it surprisingly doesn’t ever have much astringency to accompany it either. Don’t remember much else at this point since I was drinking with company and didn’t write down notes, but it was quite the strong tea, glad I got to try it, although I don’t know if the flavor was something I’d seek out. Be curious to see how this tastes in a few years.
Flavors: Bitter, Herbaceous, Sugarcane, Sweet
