2011 Jukro Jungjak Hwagae Valley Green Tea

This tea was purchased directly from Korea but is also available for purchase at CoreaColor.  CoreaColor offers this tea in its extensive original, and fittingly festive, packaging for the Korean shelf price- a good deal outside of Korea.  This jungjak grade tea comes from famous tea producer Jukro and, as usual, is a completely hand produced affair.

The dry leaves give off a deep, musty-evergreen, forest note with sweeter grain layers presenting first.

The first infusion is prepared and a sweet and clear roasty-forest note presents first.  This note fades into a sugary sweetness- a sweet, deep foresty taste is left in the mouth.  A slippery mouthfeel with a soft, numbing, cool fullness continues on the lips.

The second infusion displays a roasty nut taste in the mix with deeper soupy-thick forest notes that are somewhat sweet.  Slight floral and raspberry notes spring up in the aftertaste along with grain cerial notes.

The third infusion has more of a rich forest start with dry wood and wheat grains filling out the profile.  These tastes slowly traverse to sweet deep green forest.  Hidden in here are fruity, barely sweet, notes appearing later on the breath.  The mouthfeel is heavier in the mouth now.

The fourth infusion flashes dry wood and deep forest.  The dry wood taste quickly vanishes leaving sweet forest notes that develop into that sweet, light floral berry aftertaste.  The qi is vibrant and clear.  It opens the chest and calms the mind.

In the fifth a sweet clear taste emerges initially with woody-forest and wheaty-grain tastes now becoming a bit dry in the mouth.  A fresher, almost menthol, forest aftertaste is apparent.  The sweetness of this infusion is weaker but still makes an appearance with a very faint fruit taste.  The sixth infusion is much the same with woody-bark notes also sharing the aftertaste.

The seventh infusion flashes dry wood then a light, clear, sweet, forest taste stretches across the profile with the aftertaste remaining relatively sweet, soft, and long.  The eighth infusion is more dry and woody.

Peace