I’m sure to review this tea multiple times throughout the year. I wanted to begin my first session strong, with an added person to share with. Unfortunately, my wife isn’t much of a tea drinker unless it can be made Southern styled, or if it isn’t pu-erh. So, I invited our friend over to have some Repave; however, she’s new to pu-erh, so the session didn’t last long for her….
I must admit that I went above and beyond on this order from W2T. I have always wanted to try nearly everything on their site due to their creativity via tea and their wrappers. LP also guided me along, directing me to the teas in which I’d thoroughly enjoy. I wanted to try this first, though. Perhaps it was due to the description that “This will get you very, very tea drunk” that made me want to dig in greedily (after allowing it to breathe for a couple of days), and as soon as possible.
Now, to the tea. What can I say? Where shall start? At the beginning, of course!
I started this session with 10.6 g for 150ml. As I previously mentioned, I wanted this session to go on strong—really hit the palate hard—and last for ages. The first few sips were bitter, but thanks to the suggestion from a tea friend (oolongowl? t-ching? matu?) I was brewing it too long (15s intervals) for the leaf. Therefore, I cut back to 5s intervals throughout the night, waiting for the tea to tell me when to increase the steep time. It hadn’t told me to stop. Ever. I kept it at 5s throughout the three hours of drinking. And you know what happened? It never ever changed the color or depth of the tea! Repave kept going on, unchanging (with the exception of flavor) throughout the three hour session. I was baffled by the amount of depth remaining throughout that time.
However, the flavor did change entirely whilst the session went on. The first steep was bitter. The following two steeps remained slightly bitter, but had a honey note to it; which remained on the back of the throat/mouth. It had offered a gift to the tongue, as if breathing out from your mouth, left a sweet nectar on the tip of lips, like a kiss. And then, the tea danced upon the palate, with great satisfaction—musing about on the tip, back, and middle of the tongue—leaving such great flavors wherever it hit. I had vegetal notes, honey, sweet grass, peaches and/or pears, butterscotch (I had written it down, for whatever reason) and deep earth, but from the “lands of Narnia.”
I will note that I’m reading through the series, so my mind is ever on Narnia. Heh.
I want to drink more this morning, but I must move on to samples from friends. By which, I will enjoy those sessions too, because they are gifts of kindness. :) And joining a vast community of tea enthusiasts has really made me feel blessed to know that there are tremendous people out there…..
Anyway, I’ll leave this review here, at a good note.
The weighing of the tea.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BIyEsdoB7mE/
The 5th steep
https://www.instagram.com/p/BIyIx09BT0A/
The 10th steep (I went up to 15!)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BIyegutBz2D/
The order
https://www.instagram.com/p/BIvqFQyBVcV/?taken-by=s.g_sanders1