The first review I want to post that I had a few years ago is a rougui that fascinated me, just a bit special. Tiger style rogui 2019, 3,5g/50ml gaiwan.
Dry leaves had a fragant and addictive smell, no roast, just what you think when imagining any yancha, that sweet spicyness that you can often get when you are smelling a medium roast. Could keep at it forever without starting the session, something no other kind of tea can beat yancha on for me.
Dry rinse is something I like to do, preheat my gaiwan, put the leaves, shake shake and wait some seconds, amplified aroma, thinking already how good and intense it is going to be.
The first steep brought everything, no wet rinse, just a long ~30/40sec steep right after and believe me it made the session already worth it regardless of how the other steeps would turn or last. The aroma in the glencairn was like a needle to my nose, high pitched and dry, love it, something I got in other yanchas and really appreciate it, not your usual moist, humid and sweet aroma like shu for example. Then it just made a switcheroo and became deep and overwhelming, never got it before, was already experimenting how far this could go. Moved the glencairn just like whisky, from one nostril to the other, getting different sides of the aroma, was spicy, cinnamon, nutmeg, demerara sugar all blent in to create a more addictive smell than the ones in the dry leaves.
Just when sipping for the first time it started to dance in my mouth, no astringency just the high pitched aroma that moved into the cup and a sweet aftertaste that captivated me, couldn't focus properly, got a dark honey flavour, almost tingling that really stuck me.
The second to third steeps vere similar, getting even sweeter while dissipating the high pitched notes only to leave the fragance naked, to properly focus on the aftertaste and think about what changed from there.
The fourth one was clean, almost like juice, a nectar, from grapefruit or blood oranges slightly astringent but can't describe how pleasant it was.
Going to the fifth steep it keept the body, was already going weak and tasted it cold, to get the most of it.
At the end drank a cup of the first steep, got a blast again while describing the flavours and left a sixth steep brewing meanwhile for later.
---
I still need to do a side by side with regular rougui to see if I can get better the yun, but definitely the best session I ever had from a yancha.
