A Tea Addict's Journal

Wet stored oolong?

December 17, 2007 · 3 Comments

Today’s tea is a little odd

This is one of the teas I exchanged at the old lady’s store when I went back to fix the problem order. I tasted this at the store and it seemed fine, so I brought some home. It looks ok here right?

Well, when I examined the leaves, I could see some whitish stuff on the tea… I think it’s mould. The same stuff you see on a wet stored cake. Yup…. I guess technically this is spoiled tea.

But white ones don’t faze me. If it’s yellow, black, or red, then I’ll be scared.

The tea brews a deepish coloured liquor in the first infusion, and it tastes a bit sharp. Sharp in the sense that a sharp cheddar is sharp. It’s not 100% pleasant, but it’s definitely distinctive. The sharpness decreased by infusion 3, and the tea turns to a very sweet aged oolong that is actually rather pleasant. I have a feeling that the sharpness might lose its edge a bit if I let the bags air out. Right now they’re pretty tightly packed and probably doesn’t help the flavours. If I let the air circulate a little — much like the “tuicang” process of a wet stored puerh — it might make the tea better.

Leaves are a bit blackish…. but still quite soft and flexible. I think this tea might actually surprise me if I give it a little time.

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3 responses so far ↓

  • behhl // December 18, 2007 at 5:16 am | Reply

    lz, You say it looks okay – but how did it smell dry? I guess typically you don’t smell the white stuff, but did it smell different in anyway? Like wet stored puerh … it has an odour to it …

    Wonder how this one will turn out – what oolong type is it btw?

    Thing I note about tasting different teas is that a odd unusual taste can be interesting if in small doses but can turn out to be off putting. When I really really really (thats 3 really’s!)feel like a tea drinking session I normally would not pick these off the shelf.

    As you cycle through many teas daily the fact that the tongue taste so many different teas is a interesting point by itself – you probably taste more types of teas over a month than most of us would in a year!

  • behhl // December 18, 2007 at 5:18 am | Reply

    ps: I typically think of these kind of teas as ‘education teas’ – like lets see what happens, maybe learn something here attitude

  • MarshalN // December 18, 2007 at 7:34 am | Reply

    You’re correct, the sharpness is a little off putting. The dry leaves smell a little musty, but not too bad, actually. Like I said, I think if I air it out a little and shake it up, it will actually taste better. Right now there’s a lot of “storage” taste to the first few cups.

    One way to make this really enjoyable right now is to just dump the first cup or two and then brew normally. By then the sharpness would’ve disappeared.

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