Dry Goosh

Visually, this stuff looks frozen in time out here lookin like some 2017 sheng. But the smell of the dry leaf in the heated gaiwan is a bit more of that woody aged smell. I'm noticing a super sweet varnish type of deal with a caramel toffee thing too, then a bit of drier/'cleaner' aged notes like wood and my classic museum description. There are a ton of buds in this with black gunmetal-colored leaves.

Infusions

1. Woah the smell of the wet leaf is insane. It's different from anything I've experienced so far. Stupid bright and mentholy on the lid with a bit of an illegal substance smell to it - maybe a bit pharmaceutical? but in a cool way. There's some stone like a marble enshrouded hallway or something. As it cools down it gets more of a Pinesol kind of vibe with some wild berries. Let the leaves really cool off and I'm noticing more of a bright and sexy floral berry note. The aged look kind of visually came out now after they've been rinsed.
   
   Alright onto the damn thing: this tastes so weirdly aged. It's confusing. It's got some papery, older types of notes but also similar attributes to something a year or two old. This kinda stuff is awesome and for that, it earns the funky monkey tag in my book. Sweet caramel and mineral vegetation. An interesting mix.
2. A bit bittersweet with a chocolate milk note. A very smooth and milk-like mouthfeel with a medium thickness. Also a touch of a sweet vegetal sourness towards the finish and citric acid(?). That all sounds weird but it really does go together nicely. There's also celery late into the finish - the finish is long and drawn out with a sweetness. It's like each opposing flavor kind of works its way into the timeline of flavors that come out of taking a sip - not like they're competing at all. I really like this tea.
3. Brewing a bit longer brings out a bit of smokiness and astringency as well as the bitter side of that bittersweet chocolate. This almost tastes like a blend of different aged material but it visually all looks a consistent color, so this is just a bit funky I think. There's an effervescence throughout the mouth accompanied by sweet varnish and woody greens, falling into a rather white papery dryness.
4. Nice floral aroma coming off the leaves when the water was poured in. Brewed this a little shorter to see what that would be like. There's a general soupiness that isn't particularly savory, perhaps more in the nutty/spicy and floral directions. The dryness is less apparent. Kind of has a sweet peppercorn thing goin on.
5. Cashew milk, tomato vine, a bittersweet brothiness, gently astringent.
6. A bit smokey on the medicinal end, still brothy with a touch of fruit. Some surprising huigan with an intense returning sweetness.
7. Cha qi is hittin and it's feelin a bit minty. Very wired with a solid bit of headspace. Kinda got an awkward mixture of flavors going on here but I'd still say it's enjoyable. There's some solid just compounded, ambiguous flavor with a long finish that's increasingly minty and huigany.
8. Main thing I'm noticing is just how long the finish is. The aftertaste has stuck around for about 30 minutes.
9. Letting up a bit on the brothiness and giving way to a tiny, tiny hint of sourness. Getting a bit creamier again.
10. Had a few more infusions here and it's got a mineral dryness and that ambiguous kind of end-of-session creamy tea flavor. Qi-wise, this tea birthed some hardcore development progress to the site - it's a motivator that has me on the verge of anxiety soup.