This tea had an adventurous trip from Essence of Tea to me, having been returned to the UK before being resent and delivered. I can't recall quite what happened, but the box was pretty damaged when it got to me:
but the tea was intact
I got it in 2011, and while the cake has a nibbled edge on once side that shows I definitely sampled it
I can't find my notes about it on TeaChat or Steepster (samples were part of a tasting that was likely removed by TeaChat). I basically put it and the other EoT cakes I purchased in 2 separate orders aside because they were fairly aggressve young things at the time. This is, therefore, likely my first time with it since 2011.
The cake is lovely, but loose enough to work some leaves loose by hand.
2 grams in a 60 mL Petr Novak treebark pot
discarded flash rinse
Flash infusion/pour in, pour out water just off the boil.
Sweet, spice, anise, herbs, and yes, bitter in the background. It is 9 years old but not really aged; it demands respect.
Another flash infusion, sweeter. Really sweetness, anise, herbs.
Flash again: subtle golden color is starting to be apparent, but still, sweet and delicious with that hint of bitter in the aftertaste. 4th, still flash, still delicious. 5th, ditto.
Somewhere between 6 and 7 infusions, it got a little thin, and is clearly done with flash infusions.
And who knows how many infusions in now, it's delightful at 2 minutes infusion. Quite a lot of pleasure from 2 grams of tea.
Then I get it, send it back again and now its a cake worth a lot of money. Don't tell anyone about this...
