60 year old Baozhong Stems

First off I would like to thank my friend Brett for this amazing tea, you truly are a great friend.

I would just like to say I love this tea, though I can see how some people would not. The stems smell fantastic like the forest after a clean rain. What a wonderful smell. As I smelt the amazing scent of moss brewing in the pot, I became excited and could not wait to try this tea.

The soup after 5 minutes was a dark yellow color, almost golden. I the first sip was like drinking top soil from the rain forest, I felt as if this embodied nature in a cup. You slowly will taste a sweetness in the soup, almost like a nectar of a flower, light.

After finishing that cup 5-7 minutes later, I went back for more. I had left the stems in there so they could steep longer. A new flavor came about. It was not like soil anymore, it had become a taste of wet bark. What an interesting flavor. The dark orange color looked to be that of rust. The sweetness this time was a lot stronger and more like, I want to say pine but that is kind of misleading so some form of tree sap I just can't place which tree.

Though I love this tea, I could see how some people could be put off by the extremely earthy taste that came from this tea. I would still suggest to give it a try if you ever have the chance, I know I will try to find more teas like this one.

To think that this is what the stems taste like, I wonder what the leaves from the stems are like now.

Today I also finished making a four mint tea, though these are just the leaves I am thinking of making one with just the stems or a mix of both the stems and leaves. I know this is an herbal tea but it taste great during these gloomy winter months. So if you would like some let me know. I think its worth a try, but that might just be because I grew the mints myself.

What a great day.