This tea is my problem child.
I was in the mood for pu-erh this morning. Unflavoured preferably. I don’t really have a lot of that. and this particular tin was just standing around among the others. Mocking me.
I’ve posted about it twice. One time it was very weak indeed and the other time very strong and bitter with some unpleasant coffee notes. I gave it 20 points, and put the tin away. I just can’t really make myself throw it away though, so I’ll just have to struggle on through.
I used plenty of leaf this time. As a matter of fact, a third of what I had left. Pre-rinsed it for about 15 seconds and then took the first steep at 45 seconds. It was supposed to be 30 seconds, but I turned my back for a short short moment and… Yeah. Nevermind.
While pouring the first rinse out, it had that very strong and unmistakable smell of wet dog. Wet long-haired dog. After the first real steep, however, the aroma of the cup isn’t quite so bad. I’m trying to remember if I did the rinsing step the other two times I had this. I think I must have, but I can’t know for certain. Right now, the aroma of the first steep isn’t really all that special. It’s just standard pu-erh. A bit spicy and a lot earthy.
The flavour definitely still have that coffee note that I’ve observed before. It’s a bit more well-behaved here though. Not over-powering, but still somewhat unpleasant. No bitterness, thank Freyr. (I have decided that being the god of agriculture and such like, Freyr must be the correct one to invoke when it comes to things to eat and drink)
That coffee note is really all there is to it, though. I’ve managed to make an infinitely better cup than those which resulted in previous posts, but I’m not going to adjust the rating. I have most definitely had better. Much much better. The only thing that has changed with this cup is that there is now some hope of me actually finishing this brick off!
