So today I brewed up the third mystery sample from Hster.
It looks very good, stone compressed, nice size leaf. A beautiful chunk of tea. Looks to have some age.
I was saving this one because it looks so good.
The dry sent is a bit smoky but still enticing.
Now when I do the first rinse I think, heavy on the smoke, but could have some good flavors.
I take my first drink and I try to find any remnant of good, but the smokiness is too strong. I just cannot find anything but the smoky flavor filling my taste buds with a sour feeling.
I have had other teas with this same problem. The 2000 Fu Hai brick from Jing tea shop comes to mind, I had to toss it after a couple brews.
I know there are drinkers who enjoy these smoky teas very much, but I do not. They just give me a bad feeling. I tried to drink a few infusions but I just cant. I have to toss the infused leaf after only three brews. So I wont even try to guess what it is since I wasn't able to drink it.
I turn strait back to a strong young sheng to wash my taste buds out. My father actually enjoys these, so I will pass the rest of the sample on to him as I have with a few other teas.
I usually can enjoy any type of decent tea, finding the good aspects in them and even highly enjoy a bit of smoke in my cup, but not when its overbearing. I cant bring myself to like the heavy smoke.
Maybe a wet storage will smooth it out some.
Finally a tea I dont like!
Aha- a tea you don't like. I sent it to you just to force you to publicly admit you don't like a tea!
ReplyDeleteActually my husband really likes this 2004 Youle because the smokiness reminds him of all the Lapsang Souchong he drank back around 2000. It's the tea mentioned by MarshalN:
http://www.marshaln.com/2012/07/poof-its-gone/
Hster
You got me!!!
ReplyDeleteI was thinking of MarshalN's post after tasting it. And I knew you had tossed it in the bunch because of its smokiness.
I see C for cigarette.
That aftertaste stayed with me for a whole day, even after drinking some strong Mangfei.
I had the Youle Thursday and again tonight and it was surprisingly floral and delicious. (The leaves were hanging out in the yixing pot for 2 days and it seemed to mellow it out.) We actually do 2 to three day brewings quite frequently at our house...
ReplyDeleteI will try it again with very less leaf in my larger pot. Maybe I can coax some good flavor out of it. When i tried some lapsang before I did like it, I think maybe I just didnt expect such a good looking puerh to have that heavy of a smoke to it. It actually gave me a headache it was so strong.
ReplyDelete