So at this writing I have no idea why I am having the associations I am having. I will simply write what I am thinking after four steepings, and then I will go learn about what the heck I am drinking.
So this is a sample from Teavivre called Yunnan Gongfu Fragrant Black Tea. It is the first tea I have tried with the word 'Gongfu' in the name. I chose it after skipping breakfast, feeling very hungry yet with no desire to eat, I wanted an empty palette for trying this one anyway so I opened up the tiny silver packet. My first thought smelling the warming leaves in my heated empty gaiwan was it reminded me of Oriental Beauty and that bodes well, as OB is my favorite tea so far.The sample was about 7 grams and I used 4.5 in my 118ml gaiwan with the water at 190f.
I did a quick rinse,and was surprised by the rich rinse color, so nice that I gave it all to Evil Tea Frog instead of pouring it right down into the slats of my tray, and he gurgled with happiness. ( The ebay seller did not tell me he was made with a tiny mouth slit to gurgle with happiness when hot liquid was poured on him, so it was a pleasant surprise!) The photo below is my first steep and the color just got more and more warm, deep amber honey-hued, just amazing to me. My first tastes told me I was remembering the Puerh I had just tried the last couple of nights, and I thought, 'That can't be right! That is a weird association to be having right now' so I look forward to finding out if it's just my newbie taste-buds or if this tea is somehow similar in some way to Puerh.
I took a break from it to write this and just went back for four more steeps and it is still good! As Liz Lemon would say, "What the what?"
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| Look at that color at first steep of only a few seconds, wow! |