March Steepster and Chrysanthemum Flower Tea

My Steepster Select package arrived in the mail yesterday!

It was the first one that I've recived since I signed up.  I'm pretty excited about what they sent.

An organic Dragon Well: This is one that my new-ish tea knowledge is familiar with.  We sell a Dragon Well at the shop and the shop's owner treated us to some that she bought when she visited Longjing.  I'm excited to try this one against the one we sell and see how they compare.

An organic Wuyi Oolong:  I've heard of Wuyi teas before.  I believe we have a Wuyi Clound and Mist at the shop but I haven't tried an oolong yet.

Dai Bai Cha Jasmine:  I'm not at all familar with this tea.  This one will require some more research.  

Jade Cloud:  This is another one that I'm unfamiar with.

Wild Chrysanthemum Flower:  This one came as quite the surprise.  I didn't realized they'd be sending herbals.

Since I opened my package when I got home at about 10pm, I decided to try the herbal first.  I was very surprised!  We have quite a few single herbs at the shop but I haven't tried a lot of them unblended.  The ones I have were generally on the mild or simple side and tasted like they smelled.  

This was not the case with the chrysanthemum.  The dried flowers had an interesting blend of savory and floral smells.  

Looks like mush, lol.

The liquor smelled quite different, with a distinctly herbal smell.  Brewed up a super pretty yellow color.

The taste was another sensation altogether.  At first it's a nice and deep kind of earthy.  I hate to use that word since it's also a pu'er trait and it's a very different kind of earthy.  Not vegetal like a green tea, something between earthy and vegetal.  After that inital herb taste it turns into a pleasant mild spicy.

I'm surprised that I didn't taste a lot of floral notes in it.  But overall I actually really enjoyed it.  It was very interesting and complex.

Chrysanthemum Flowers

4 grams in roughly 8-10 oz of water

Time: 4 min

Temp: 212 degrees