I'm starting to think I really like this type of green tea. The first sample of it, from Upton, I liked very much, and this one I like even better.

The dry leaf has a strong and very pleasant aroma, one I'd describe as earthy and herbaceous, and suggestive of sweetness.

This has a richer and bolder flavor than most other green teas, although I also found it to be somewhat muted. It's not crisp, more just like it has very bold undertones. Flavor seems a balance of sour, bitter, umami, and sweet, and almost suggests saltiness too. There's a bit of a bitter aftertaste, but I found it pleasing.

I also found the aroma very complex and very pleasing, and hard to describe. It's almost reminiscent of matcha, but less vegetal, and more deep and dark, for lack of better descriptors. Somewhat floral, but suggestive of rose rather than the light, orchid-like fragrance of some teas. The aromas of this tea remind me of summer more than most fresh green teas, which remind me of spring. The other Lu An melon seed I tried was much grassier than this one.

With the usual teaspoon of leaf, very easily makes two infusions, but the third is bland. Three infusions may work with briefer steepings and/or more leaf but I preferred this tea with a heaping teaspoon of leaf and a 2 minute infusion, followed by 3-4 minutes. It's easy to oversteep...I find there was a narrow window of steeping time and leaf quantity in which this tea was strong enough without being too strong, but when I liked it I really liked it. I found the tea was much less picky about temperature than steeping time.

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