This tea was with my samples in an unmarked baggie. Wasn't sure what it was, but figured I'd find out later and tossed it in the pot.
Well. Damn.
Had I known at the time that this was a Vietnamese puerh from the 70's, I would have paid a little more attention to it, perhaps a bit more caution in brewing it. As it were my tastings notes went about like this.
First Infusion: Whoa, that tastes like dirt.
Second Infusion: Still tastes like dirt.
Third Infusion: Yep, dirt. Fuck this tea.
Don't I feel silly.
Perhaps I was too hasty in judging this tea and missed hidden subtleties and nuances it had to offer. Perhaps if I had more experience with puerh, I would have appreciated this one more. Or perhaps by not knowing much at all, I was able to give a more direct, unbiased opinion.
(Shrugs)
For a second opinion: Houd De.
9 comments:
So how did you figure out what it was?
:)
I have some Vietnamese oolong coming. You've made me so very excited.
I had a $40 5 gram serving of Pu-erh once given to me by a tea distributor (I own a Tea and Coffeehouse) and I couldn't deal with it. I had to brew up some sweet, buttery Silk Oolong to wash the taste out of my mouth.
Marshal, I found the list of what samples were sent to me and figured it out by process of elimination. Wasn't compressed into a cake, wasn't shriveled shupu from Rishi, must bet the Vietnamese.
Fukk aged pu smells SO good.
dirt, eh? :)
Hahaha, I burst out laughing reading this entry. I recently bought a pu-erh from Red Blossom Tea--my first one--and my reaction was pretty much the same as yours. "WTF, this tastes like dirt. Maybe I brewed it wrong? . . . nope . . . dirt . . . still dirt . . . screw it."
I went back to the web site to read the description, and found it had said, "Rich and loamy, with a malty character that brings to mind barrel-aged bourbon, fresh earth, cocoa and chocolate."
Heh. Well, they weren't kidding about the 'fresh earth' part! I still can't decide whether to try it again hoping I'm missing something or presume I've had a practical joke played on me. ;)
Inspired by the conversation here, I tried again, and found the problem: I wasn't brewing it hot enough. Brewed at 180 degrees, it tastes like dirt. At 205 like it's supposed to be . . . well, it still tastes like dirt, but now it's sweet and interesting dirt.
lol I just found this now, but it's just as funny as the day it was written.
Pu always tastes like wet campfire/decaying forest, and is most pleasing if you grew up doing some serious outdoors roughing. It's an acquired taste
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