Dry leaf is aromatic, and consists of long, whole, slightly twisted leaves which unfurl quite slowly upon brewing.

There's a real explosion of aroma the minute the leaves touch water. The brewed cup is strongly aromatic, combining floral and honey-like tones that I normally only encounter in green Anxi oolongs like Tie Guan Yin, but there are undertones of roast and wood that I normally associate more with Wuyi oolongs. Upon drinking the whole cup, the woody quality evolves more and there is less of the floral tones.

The second surprise came when I brought the cup to my lips: it's buttery smooth! There's almost no bitterness and astringency.

This tea works well for brewing multiple infusions. I actually found the second cup much more flavorful than the first, although less aromatic--I find this is the norm for high-quality oolongs, and although I've only ever had a few Da Hong Pao's, I've definitely notice the same trend, that the first cup is more aromatic and the second more flavorful.

What distinguished this tea though was that the second cup had a real clarity to it. I normally steep the tea a bit longer with each infusion, and I find with many oolongs, this results in greater astringency. There was still no astringency, total smoothness, with each cup.

This tea was really outstanding. Is it worth over $10 an ounce? This is a tricky question...it's competing with so many other teas in this price range. If this tea is really worth this price, I don't think I quite have the distinguished palate to recognize it. I'd prefer buying something for a lower price.

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