Anyway. Moving right along.
This Dark Roast Tie Guan Yin sample is the BOMB.
I don't always run off and buy what I sample but this is certainly one of those times. Totem Tea nails it with the words, "Warm caramel, burnt sugar and molasses." First and second steeps after initial flash rinse were eye-rollingly good. Used five grams in my new Jian Shui Gaiwan, temperature approximately 206f and maybe a 15 second steep on both, maybe less. Third steep and I started feeling a warm humming in my head, and the smoky 'burny-ness' came out a little more. Finding that pleasant, that almost bitter-deep depth I decide to do the next steep per Totem's instructions, 90 whole seconds! Never, ever have I steeped anything that long.
Frankly I just count in my head generally, and pour when it feels right but this time? This time I asked my Alexa to 'set a timer for ninety seconds' and I waited it out. It felt like ten minutes, I almost didn't make it. The soup is now very dark amber, very burnt sugar tasting with a strong mineral finish. It's f'ing charming.
(My head feels like it is going to implode. I don't know how I am even functioning writing this post. Damn. This is some special stuff! Who gets tea drunk from TGY?!)
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| (Maybe the extra high is from the crystals!) |