200x traditional qingbing from #white2teaclub
Finally, a tea I took some decent notes on! Would have really been a shame if I hadn’t!
Sniffing the dry leaves of this sample, they smelled a bit like sawdust, and after being hit with water, they smelled a bit like sawdust and basement. rhinkle thought they smelled like hot cucumber, and then hot salad. We agreed to disagree.
Anyhow, this steeped out to a red amber liquor and the wash actually did taste a bit like hot salad or warm cucumber water. Guess rhinkle was onto something.
The color became much deeper in the first proper steep, with a smooth texture and persisting flavors of warm, but fresh, vegetables with a sweetness hitting the back of the throat and the slightest hint of coffee trying to creep in.
The next steep became much darker, like as dark as I would expect shou to get, and it brought with it a hint of bitterness and deep, woody flavors. More sweetness and coffee notes emerged over multiple steeps, and the flavor must have evened out a bit more after that, because that’s all I got noted!
A very interesting session!
more sweetness and coffee notes emerge over multiple steeps
Flavors: Coffee, Cucumber, Lettuce, Sawdust, Sweet, Wet Rocks, Wood
