Wow, this one was…different. First of all, I love puerh and strong shu is good shu in my book. I am trying to get better at judging sheng, but I am happy to say I have become much better at telling one shu from another. For a long time they all tasted the same to me, then I could distinguish different ones, then this happened.
And what happened was that I opened the pouch and it was like Captain Jack Sparrow was singing “I’ve got a jar of diiiii-iirt!” Because that is ALL I COULD SMELL. DIRT. Not just dirt. Dusty dirt like the dirt under your house that smells so dry your nose shrinks up from the first sniff and you can’t decide if you like it or hate it.
After all the alarm that brought on, this was a decent enough tea to drink. Yes, the first steep tasted like…well….dirt. But it was good dirt. And later steeps were good.
But I think I have found what this tea will be used for. I am trying to be a good girl and not give in to the warm weather cravings for soda that sometimes beset me. The only thing that consistently makes me happy to turn away from soda is cold puerh from a glass pitcher in the fridge. It is so refreshing.
So a couple of days ago I put one tablespoon of leaf in a pot and steeped it over and over until I had 3 quarts of tea. I put it in the fridge. We have finished one of the pitchers. It really is refreshing and good. I think cold puerh tastes like spring water must have tasted on the first day it ever existed – clean, pure, and unpolluted.
There were a bunch of kids and young adults over last night to play D&D and I offered them some, and would you believe they loved it? My daughter bought me bunches of this tea when she was in Toronto, so I think I have a pretty good start on my hot weather beverage stash!
