14 Tasting Notes
I adore the little bird nests, and GREEN is so true in this case. Happy little green bird nests. I did two steeps. First one better than the second, which is pretty normal, right? EASY to oversteep, so watch yo self. Not my favorite puerh, probably wouldn’t drink it again if given the choice of a puerh lineup. But it wasn’t disgusting by any means.
My expectations were this: Lotsa matcha, notsomuch genmaicha. I was completely and totally wrong. It’s got a strong genmai flavor and only a hint of the matcha. I steeped this guy for so damn long, too—because I subconsciously ignored the timer—and it didn’t ruin it. Gotta like that.
From my Steepster Select box March 2014. You’re gonna hate me for saying this, but all oolongs taste alike to me. WELL…all GOOD oolongs taste alike to me. I don’t notice a difference between this guy and the Iron Goddess we sell at Tea Hugger. Mayhaps the Fuijan Provence is steady in its water/soil quality so teas out of that region are similar. Mayhaps tea is complicated. Mayhaps I should have tasted our Iron Goddess side by side with this little Orchid. (Though “should” is the dirtiest of dirty words there is, y’know.)
Anyway, my tips are:
Don’t oversteep
Add a sprinkle of sugar to bring out the sweetness of the leaves
Preparation
Got this in my Steepster Select box this month. Oh joy!!! I’m typically a black tea drinker, by my day has been made by this special little white pile o’ fuzz. The buds look like pussywillows! Steepster recommends you use the whole amount they give you for one cup and I think they’re right. I only used about 2/3 of the envelope and wish I would have used the whole thing. My internal tea clock tells me I brewed it for about 4-5 minutes. As soon as the tea starts steeping, you can SMELLLLL the sweet floweriness of this cup. The flavor is the same—sweet flowery happiness.
If I had it to do all over again, I’d do 3tsp in my mug and keep the brew time around 4-5 min.
Flavors: Fruit Tree Flowers
