5.4/90/boiling
wet leaf: smoke, floral, honey, berries, carrot
quick rinse.
1. good texture, sour, fruity (grape?), malt
2. deeper honeyed taste, some strawberry-like tartness, faint aftertaste that builds in the throat
3. similar. refreshing cooling quality to finish. had this w a friend before that compared it to something green tea adjacent. maybe goji berry and some bubble gum too.
4. light. something continues to linger in aftertaste, but it’s delicate and maybe citrus like.
I stopped steeping and taking notes bc I was tired but this was interesting. I don’t know if this is normal for dianhong, but the shifting qualities remind me of the XZH Diangu, except not bitter. Someone said Diangu is cursed puer, and if that’s the case, dianhong can be described as cursed hongcha. In any case, trying to grasp at it feels like the over-the-top Ratatouille imagery when Remy eats something.
Anyway, the first time I had this was w a friend right after trying the Lincang bainian ‘22, and I think that made it hard to pick out notes for this after (sensory overload/deadening). The bainian is enjoyable, but not subtle. This tea was harder to pin down, and really benefits from attention and focus. Since I mostly lack that energy lately, when ordering Explorer 3 from the recent DXJD release, I wasn’t inclined to pick up more of this.
