3.5g, 70 mL gaiwan
Good texture and active taste first few steeps, stopped at steep 5 or 6 after the leaf taste started to show. This tea remains quite green (unfocused, dispersed, and chaotic) in its feeling and is uncomfortable to drink even at a reduced gram amount, and this is my conclusion after several sessions of varying ratios. Had to take a couple snack breaks at work to avoid getting dizzy, was sweating/burning up throughout the day despite usually running cold, and then had to take tums before dinner to stop the burning/almost reflux feeling. Safe to say I will not be tempted by this again for a good while.
I heard good things from others who also purchased cakes from TJL, so I’m not sure what’s wrong with mine. This cake is one of the reasons why I will no longer try to save a few bucks instead of purchasing from tried and true vetted storage, and why I’m now wary of storage/source changes even when purchasing a tea from the same vendor. I assume from what I read online that this will probably course correct will some time, since puerh is pretty hardy. Will have to wait a few years and check back.
