Thank you for the trade a while back, TeaTiff! Only a couple left to try from that swap months ago. (Only?! Sheesh.) The leaves here looked exactly like the flavor I was looking for today. Something like a chocolate malty Pearl. They look like the leaves used to make pearls – wiry black with hints of gold. I used two teaspoons of leaves. The flavor is honey, malt, dried grass, tiny hint of chocolate. The flavor here wasn’t quite as pure chocolate as I was looking for, but it’s still a very nice cup. The aroma is amazing. And the resteep was just as good. The leaves looked kind of spent after the first cup (like they might taste oversteeped and oaky… not so!) I kind of expected a brisker tea, but I’m just glad two teaspoons wasn’t too much. This tea is lovely but I’ve had a couple better types like this in the past.
Steep #1 // 2 tsps. // 10 min after boiling // 2 min
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3-4 min
