I have liberated some of my tea from the Royal Mail! Huzzah! Thanks to Nada for providing me with a tea from one of the best years of my life. 1993 was a rock and roll year for me in Hong Kong!
The leaf looks much older than the '99 7542 I drank last week with almost rusty browns and a very light white dusting. A quick rinse and then straight into the action.
I'm keeping the infusions short to not darken the soup too quickly but still it eagerly shrouds over. The '99 was rather quite woody, like something fresh cut from a carpenters shop where as the extra six years of storage has mellowed this characteristic out somewhat. It's more like an ebony or mahogany that quietly numbs my tongue and leaves me with an initial aftertaste that reminds me of brazil nuts. It's smooth but the sweet huigan is much more elusive than the '99.
With all the hubbub of the last week it's just so pleasant to sit down with a new tea and 'kick back' in modern parlance. I've bitten off perhaps more than I can chew in my studies, simultaneously studying a diploma in Chinese herbs at the London College of Chinese Medicine, nose diving into herbal formulation and classical pathology with Arnauld Versluys and preparing to restart my second year studies at the College of Traditional Acupuncture in Warwick. Oh well, in two years time I'll be through the worst of it.
drip drip drip
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