/ck/ - Food & Cooking

Don't mind me sharing impressions on my first real Gong Fu experiences as a western style drinker.

Farmer Leaf - 2023 Fa Zhan He 8g. 95°C ~160ml mug. Started 10s +5s each steep as suggested in the rentry.
Dry leaves smells like plum, very nice and unlike anything I've seen before. Unfortunately not much of that transfers to the brew.
I would describe the taste as very "clean", it does not have the body of a black or green tea. Yet it's still strong with mid astringency and some pleasant bitterness here and there. I like it. Closest to that taste is a low oxidization Darjeeling first flush flight tea I have.
First steeps had a soapy note, which went away later.
I'd say it peaked around steep 4 or 5 and then lost body and faded.
It was interesting to see that Gong Fu seems to be more efficient than single steep western, measured by the total amount of brew I got out of the 8g. It was about 1.2l in 8 steeps.
Excited to compare it to the 2023 Bang Wai Small Trees and the samples that I got.