/ck/ - Food & Cooking

Wrapping up a session with the FL Autumn 2023 Cang Yuan. This one was challenging to figure out, so I rambled on a bit, but I enjoyed trying to dig through it. Quite liked the aroma especially; no wonder William was into it.
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4.3g/195F/5s

Dry leaf has an aroma similar to blackberry or apricot jam and incense. Wet leaf ramps this up further with a roasted quality.

Light texture, low bitterness and astringency. Immediately, I am surprised just how well the jam note translates to the palate. First with this sweet jam note, a hint of something herbaceous, then back to jam. Aftertaste ultimately resolves to something greener and subtly astringent, yet still sweet. If I let the liquor cool a little bit, I can taste this oddly pleasant acidic herbaceous bitterness, especially if I chew on a leaf, but it is modest.

Pushing the leaf a bit more after a few infusions in brings me closer to the incense/herby notes, both in the wet leaf and liquor. It's something sour and vegetal even; gives me goosebumps for some reason. Jammy quality submerges under other notes in the liquor after several infusions, but remains in the wet leaf. Noticing a somewhat rice-like note in the wet leaf in later infusions too, but just barely.

This tea seems fairly nuanced with good longevity, and 'develops' over the session in an intriguing way. I like it, although it's a bit hard to define some of the vegetal/herb notes, and that is why I haven't been too descriptive about those. I think the closest answer would be "grape leaf", given some of the (pleasant) sourness.