Here the current midrange proposed Akira Hojo for his dan cong. About 21 € for 15g of tea, either here 7 € tasting. It's not every day that I pay a session like this. But after this experience, I really want to repeat more often. This is not an ordinary tea. It is more like a Cote Rotie that the Cotes-du-Rhone plain. Let us say at once: for me, this price is perfectly justified. Of course, we would like to buy such a cheap tea, but it is simply impossible. Moreover, Akira scored in his article that once the stock up, it would be over and that he should find another tea. Hence the urge for me to "immortalize" here. Here are my feelings taken live during the tasting.
Leaves beautiful, no break, a perfume very promising ...
usual protocol: 5g in a zhong 10cl
Odor Dry leaves: I never found much Odour leaves unhydrated: baker's, you feel honey, fruit red one has a one desire: to eat!
smell of dry leaves in the Zhong Hot: more floral style Zhi Lan Xiang. This amazing turnaround.
short rinse. It smells so good. In 5 seconds, the liquor took a light orange. I will infuse short at first.
Smell of Leaves Washed: we are still in a more floral. It promises ...
leaves after rinsing ...
First infusion: 20 sec: the scents of the bush reserves are extraordinary: I did not know enough to identify odors of flowers that perfume, but it true happiness. The smell is a little "sweet". The pot keeps long these scents, I do not lose a beat and then goes into the zhong leaves that are a bit more peppery.
The tea itself is not strong. It is soft and slips into the mouth. After about fifteen seconds after swallowing, a sweet sensation of astringency comes to bear its share of flavors. It's more subtle than the Mi Lan Xiang fruity, maybe shorter but thinner. What I feel makes me think of flowers, but I'm not sure actually. There is a fruity aspect but I can not put my finger on it. Whatever.
I note that I could push a bit more, but I definitely do not dan cong such infused too. The leaves are still very few open.
After the first infusion ...
I pour water gently on the shores of zhong as not to offend the leaves. I stop the infusion after 40 seconds. The scents are intoxicating pot to the point ... I dare not use too many superlatives and yet ... I wait a bit before drinking the second infusion. I made a mistake: this tea has more length than the Mi Lan Xiang. It's just more discreet. I wait a bit ... and throws me.
lot harder, probably too much for some to attack. But what a blast ... From there, I can safely say: I have here the best dan cong I know. A crazy thing. Perhaps the best tea I've had the chance to drink. I do not know how long it will take me to swallow the second cup of this infusion, and after that go to the third, so long ago. When we believe it's over, you realize that no, there is still something, or is this something that was there but we did not notice. 2nd cup: flower, very vegetal, with white peach and apricot. Superb.
Well then how long for the 3rd? It was strong but extra. The leaves are still far from being open. Go, I'm starting. Feeling.
Winter Interlude ...
50 seconds. I'm drowning in perfume pot. I have to stay stuck his nose two minutes before I decided to dip my lips. The weather was probably too strong, but I do not care. Following behind is amazing. Gosh, I will soon run out of superlatives ... I'll try anyway at the next shortest time to see. I feel like eating a flower, a yellow pistil.
I'm back for the next 20 seconds, to see. The smell of pot are finer. As usual for Wulong, I lengthen more, more I feel that sweetness develops, from the cover of certain dry tannins. I drink some cool water to "reset" my mouth that still contains the influence of preceding infusions. I probably should do it more often for tea with great length. I note ...
Bon ben this infusion of 20 seconds is very honest. This is not the same flavor is lighter, too sappy, more chlorophyll. I'm sure some would prefer this kind of result to my longer infusions. Also good in the mouth. And that leaves are not yet fully open ... I might be the 4g to limit myself to one.
After the fourth ...
50 seconds: median time. Smells nice balance of the pot. What sweetness in the mouth ... This is a good dan cong playground and offers different things depending on the duration of infusion, what fun.
At this level of taste, I fear that my taste buds do not saturate, that I feel more the same things the same length.
I'll try something. I like experimenting. I'll make tea very long to open the leaves and very short then.
2 minutes: I do not open the zhong before paying to keep warm. It's a bit ironic: these teas are so long on the palate to expect that the effect does not go away, and during that time, the material cools down inexorably. I know it is all re-warm up between brews. However, I do not want to do. Probably too lazy. And I'm already completely satisfied like that.
The liquor is strong but is drunk. But I also feel that my perceptions are not the ones I had at first. We arrive at the most green, as if they ate plants, but all are very sweet.
30 seconds is good too, but now I'm sure my taste buds are saturated and my perceptions prevent me from being precise. At least that tea has lost. Or both phenomena are superimposed.
I stop here. I know that the leaves do not like interruptions but I'll try anyway. In addition, the flame of my burner just died for lack of fuel. This is a good time to stop. And that leaves open just ...
Great news: the project Japan 2011 is launched!
I return an hour later and it is not that. Maybe this tea had lost its strength, or maybe the leaves have shrunk during this time without infusion. I do not know. It's no big deal, what I experienced will remain as one of my best taste experiences.
What I would change next time with this tea: 4g instead of 5. Like what, there are always exceptions. I brewed some twenty dan cong different since I started, and this assay has always satisfied. This tea is truly unique. On closer inspection, some leaves are not open at all. I think even mode "Gong fu" must still leave space for them to open a minimum.
Teapot? Yes I would try, if only out of curiosity.
We notice that the leaves were not completely open, some are far from it.
Conclusion: it is quite visible by the use of superlatives ... This tea is a dan cong an exception, for a price I in total agreement with the pleasure it provides. It makes you want to throw all your good but not extra tea and drink only things of the same ilk. But now, it does not result in a Cote Rotie at every meal ... But the important thing is how it feels.
soon!
Next article: Raw Puerh Di Mi Hojo's Tea
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