I followed the instructions on the verdant site, to brew this tea gongfu style. The wet leaf is of an old ancient pine forest, deep and earthy, black as night. It’s a smell I love.
The flavor is both bright and dark, if that makes sense. Very earthy, a little drying, slightly sweet, and there is the ‘fresh’ sensation of mint, but not the flavor.
I’d like to say, at this point, that I’m hypersensitive to a lot of weird things. A few days ago I drank a puerh that made my head feel numb. This one is doing the same thing, only in a much crazier way. I don’t feel that I’m in any danger, but I am going to put the tea away for now. I am going to describe what’s going on, because I want to know if anyone else has ever experienced anything like this from drinking puerh.
As a preface, a little personal history. In my youth I did a lot of hallucinogens, especially of the fungal nature. (I’ve been drug free for 29 years) Having said that, right now I feel like I’m on a mild shroom trip. My entire brain is tingling, especially in the 3rd eye area (front and back), & I feel a little numb mentally, but also strangely alert. If I didn’t have students coming soon, this would be a good time to go sit in meditation. With my eyes closed, this actually feels really good. With my eyes open, I’m having some photo-sensitivity (which I have sometimes anyway). I’m not having any other visual distortions, but the tingling/cooling sensation is also spreading, first down my spine, and also throughout my body.
Again, I don’t think I’m in any danger, I just feel weird. Maybe this is what they call ‘Chaqui’?
