Bought from the shinjuku branch of lupicia. The dry leaves are choppy but have a wonderfully sweet chocolate smell with notes of berries. I started with shorter steeps as the leaves were quite broken up. Nice acidity with a sweet fruity note up front, the chocolate is still there with a bit more florality in the mix, the first brew was a bit astringent so I backed off a bit on the temperature and slowly ramped it up again. This is also quite roasty smelling for a black tea, it seriously reminds me of hojicha on the nose of the wet leaves. You can definitely taste this is gyokuro, wonderful base of umami with a lively acidity up to seven brews or so. Probably won’t buy this tea again, but I will definitely drink the rest of the bag I bought.
Boiling
2 g
2 OZ / 70 ML