I was told this tea was a nightmare of bitterness and the person who gave it to me said they wouldn’t feel right even giving it to an enemy. Haha. This was an invitation to adventure for me.
I brewed the kuding cha in my gaiwan for about 2 minutes at 185 degrees. I was surprsied that the tightly wound leaf didn’t really open up much in that amount of time. You could resteep this several times.
The brewed tea is a pretty pale green. The aroma after brewing reminds me of two things… freshly opened plastic hard-cases like you find electronics often packaged in… and the smell of old buildings. Neither are bad to me, I should mention, just uncommon for a tea. There is also a heavy aroma of wet hay and clay-rich mud.
Wowwwww, oh goodness wow. That is some bitter tea. What’s strange is that the bitterness isn’t just straight-up gag-reflex inducing bitterness. It’s the kind of bitterness I can see those who like bitterness enjoying. I am not a big fan of bitter flavors in general. I can’t even eat grapefruit, so this is definitely not a tea for me, but let me see if I can describe this taste a bit better. The taste starts out like the taste of paper and is even mildly sugary sweet. If you hold your breath while moving it around in your mouth, you can’t even taste the bitterness. It’s only after swallowing the tea and breathing that the bitterness really sneaks in. Or maybe the effect sort of diminishes after a sip or two.
On the second infusion the tea is a lot less bitter, or maybe I’ve gotten used to it!
I’ll be honest. It’s not nearly as terrible as what I expected. I think if you have a guilty pleasure for bitterness or “antique” aromas, or are just really into traditional Chinese medicine, this could be a good tea for you.
Flavors: Bitter, Paper, Sweet
