Link to the tea. Unfortunately sold-out as of this writing. I’ve had some sitting in my tea storage for a while.
Steep Method: Gongfu style using the Gongfu2Go, also by Crimson Lotus Tea, 1 mini mushroom (~4g)
Water: Poland Spring, 150 mL @ uncertain temp (a water cooler’s “Hot” setting)
1 rinse at 10 seconds.
Steeps 1 and 2: 10 seconds, relatively similar in flavour profile. I don’t usually take many notes in the first steep or two since the tea is just ‘waking up’. Smooth, pleasant fragrance, no fishiness at all.
Steep 3: 10 seconds, mostly because I accidentally didn’t tighten the Gongfu2Go properly and spilled/sprayed about half of the tea everywhere upon tilting the device with hot water.
Vanilla notes noticeable. Not as obvious as I’d expected given previous reviews I’ve read, but definitely apparent.
There’s a light earthiness and sweetness from the vanilla. Overall very cozy and reminiscent of a crisp autumn morning in a New England forest, where the morning fog is slowly beginning to fade away and you can smell the fresh earth and feel the world around you begin to warm up and awaken.
Steep 4: 30 seconds
Vanilla shifts more to the forefront. It melds with the earthiness and sweetness into a lovely creaminess. A slight dryness lingers on the the tongue after sipping.
Further steeps: Had to work on various things not long after steep 4, but all later steeps brewed up dark, smooth, and earthy as the vanilla gradually faded away.