A regular in my rotation. I break up the large pieces at the beginning of the week. My ratio is 1g/15ml and I rinse with just off boiling for 20sec. The smell of the wet leaves in the pot is very good. Sometimes I drink half the rinse. The drink is a clear, amber color and starts soft in contrast to the pungent aroma. The taste deepens towards the aroma in first five infusions but never tips over to roundness. Instead I get 苦乾 if I oversteep. “Objectively”, there isn’t anything after 10 infusions, but I go for 15 out of this tea. The first six are dynamic and then things calm down and become sweet. The leaf smell goes between sweet camphor/old wood, raisins/nuts, lots of other things too. Whatever. It’s amazing.
I react well to this tea and feel alert, grounded, and calm. On an empty stomach that alertness quickly becomes energy hard for me to control and things turn into a blur. Better to avoid that and always eat so we can work together. The last four infusions are soothing – they reinforce the earlier experience and I rehydrate. I always feel like it was a pretty good day’s work and am worn out just right.
