Tasting Notes: 2025 Pine Darts W2T

This is one of the numerous minis I've received. I have been very excited to try this as it seemed pretty spot on for my palate, and slightly higher end than the super cheap stuff I tend to stick with. A 200g cake is listed as $47.

Brewing Parameters:

7g mini in my 125ml gaiwan. 205°F/96°C.

Tasting Notes:

Dry smell: Natural fertilizer. In a good way lol.

Wet smell (post rinse): Wood barn, hay, campfire.

Steeps:

0. Rinse
1. (Flash) Menthol & barn with pine trees around. Creamy mouth feel.
2. (Flash) Woody, hay, fertilizer, pine in the background. Dark cholocate richness.
3. (10s) Super woody and musky. Very rich.
4. (15s) Bright leather, barn, and smoke. Very rich.
5. (20s) Roasted leather belt. The aroma has a lot of staying power. Many breahts after my sip still smell of this tea.
6. (30s) Leather belt continues. Richness is gone.
7. (45s) Leather belt continues.

Ending lid smell: Perfectly balanced leather.

Tea High: Decently balanced. Solid energy, but also very little jitteryness. Good smoothness.

Overall: I really enjoyed the musk and pungentness of this tea. Awesome tea in my book. Though I imagine the barn yard tones might put some folks off of it.

Price comments: At $47/200g or $0.235/g I could definitely see myself caking this. I have a lot of samples still to try though. My usual gongfu is 6-9g so this would come to $1.41-$2.12 a session. Not bad, but we are just on the top edge of what I'd call a "negligible daily cost" for tea.