High mountain formosa from hojo

Finally decided to brew the small sample of Hojo's high mountain formosa oolong that came with my order last year.

The dried leaf is very tightly rolled and fragrant, smelling strongly like honey and green oolong. This is 5 grams in an 85 mL gaiwan. The balls look tiny to me:

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Brewed like this: boiling water
Rinse
40s
30s
40s
50s
1min
1min5s
1min10s
1min20s
1min30s
1min40s
2min
3min
5min
Dropped in pint glass and steeped it out

As those parameters suggest, yes very high stamina!

First infusion was filled with honey sweetness. This sweetness was slightly reduced in the second and third infusions. Then it was reduced a lot but remained present at a similar level - sweet and enjoyable.
The flavor is like a winter harvest gaoshan mixed with honey. The honey is not cloying and reminds me of an artisanal avocado flower honey. Hojo mentions ripe mangoes. Not sure I get that. Overall, It is quite refreshing. Price is high relative to other concubine style teas available. However, a small amount can truly be infused a lot. Not too much complexity - just easy drinking.

Hojo: $0.52/g
TTC gui fei: $0.21-0.25 /g
Eco cha gui fei: $0.32/g
Mei leaf: 0.29/g

Comments

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