K S

You sound like someone I could drink pu with! I put splenda in salty pu’s to bring out the caramel flavor sometimes. I make latte’s with later steepings and let it go for 3 minutes then add my extra’s.

Nothing would please me more than to sit down with you at Happy Lucky’s and share a pot or three :)

Ya beat me! I’m still mulling over my thoughts on this one. Have all the notes, but haven’t had time to pull them all together into a succinct review yet. That “metallic” taste seemed really more sour to me, a bit too unpalatable on some steeps.

Sometimes that metallic thing isn’t a taste but is kind of a metallic teeth squeegie feeling that you used to get with old fillings (does anyone know what I mean by this?) when the Dentist was putting the metal into your mouth. Blech!

I often read that raw is supposed to be astringent. I have never found that in sheng. My brain interprets it as metallic bordering on bitter.

I get the dentist comparison. I think it is almost like putting your tongue on a battery. Can’t quite describe it better. Note really acid like tomato but something…

Cody don’t be afraid to add something to sweeten it. If it were food you wouldn’t think twice about adding things to improve your experience.

Ahhh I see. It still did taste sour to me though, but I understand that metallic-like experience you’re hinting at, and looking back I can remember that experience, but just not being able to put my finger on what it was at that moment. Pu’er is still really weird for me to describe, but I’m getting better as I taste more types.

As for sweetening things, I actually don’t really like adding lots of seasonings or sugar and such to the things I eat/drink. I tend to keep things very minimal or not at all. When I was younger I used to add flavorings to everything, but as I’ve gotten older, I think I’ve gotten quite sensitive to really salty, fatty, or sweet things. I may look into adding a touch of sugar the next time I get a really sour or bitter brew, though. I’ve added sugar and milk recently with potent black teas, but I guess I never considered it with others.

It’s the saltier shu’s that I add a little sugar to (in later steepings) because you get a caramel flavor most of the time when you do that. It’s quite nice.

I have a few shu samples that I have yet to try. Maybe I’ll keep some sugar on hand when I taste them and look out for this caramel flavor. I do like caramel! :)