I received this as a 10-gram freebie with my order, thank you. I don’t know much about this tea beyond what was stated in an email. Made of autumn 2012 leaves, ‘pressed and sent source direct in the early days of the company’ and stored in Taiwan since. As of this review, it’s not listed on the website.
5g, 100mL, 205-212F, 10s rinse, 5/10/15/20/25/30/45/1m/1m15/1m30/2m
Dry leaf has a fragrant pu’er smell and looks and smells like it’s getting some age. Mostly dark brown leaves with some still light gold and beige needles, velvety and catches the light. A 10s rinse produced aromas or plum, smoke, tobacco, dark wood, resin, very warm scent.
The first steep zapped my tongue with something like sour plum. The sensation was similar to placing a 9V on the tongue. The taste was already thick with stonefruit, prune, butter?, cream, mineral with some sourness in the back, a tingling tongue and persistent aftertaste.
Second steep was similar but thicker with mushroom broth, some faint notes of thyme and fennel. I noticed my gums felt tingly, too, and my teeth felt like they were buzzing. The aroma of the leaves here transformed into bold apricot, tobacco and some smoke.
Third steep was quite herbal, with stonefruit, tobacco, leather, blackberry and faint non-cooling spearmint. Creaminess faded. Strong astringency noted. I noticed the aroma of the liquor here. The cha qi began kicking in mostly in my head, with a pressure felt in my eyebrows, sinuses and ears. It was very warming. These sensations subsided soon enough and I was left with a relaxed concentration that was suitable for nighttime studying.
Fourth and fifth steeps became lighter in flavor and texture with some bitterness showing up. Still very astringent, though. It felt like my whole mouth was being sucked inward to a concentrated point of astringency on my tongue. The astringency loosened in the sixth steep and I noticed some salivation. The flavor became more medicinal with a bittersweet aftertaste of a dark floral like violet.
Seventh steep became a little more bitter and sourness began developing on the sides of my tongue. Eighth and ninth steeps became almost unbearably sour, causing some indigestion. Despite this, I kept brewing and was rewarded with a lightly sour meatiness much like salami in the tenth steep, and a faint smoke. I had to stop at the eleventh steep because of of the indigestion but that one produced the lightly bitter dark violet from earlier with the sourness persisting and the return of astringency and minerals. I would’ve liked to keep pushing but I just couldn’t handle the sourness any longer. The spent leaves definitely look like they’re getting some age; they’re light brown with a tinge of green. Some needles present and it’s kind of stemmy.
Overall, I really like the flavors and strong aroma. I can move past the astringency but the indigestion-inducing sourness in the later steeps killed it for me. I’d be excited to see how a whole cake transforms after another year or two in storage. I think I’ll tuck the other 5 grams away and try again in a year. I’m thinking the cakes need a change in their Taiwan storage to get rid of that gut-rotting sourness.
Refraining from a rating since as of this review it’s not listed on BTTC’s website.
