A Tea Addict's Journal

This is a tea that I’ve talked about a few times before, a “wet stored” tieguanyin from my favourite candy store in Taipei. I believe it is around 25 years, from what I was told, but it’s hard to say for sure, for there’s no real proof of anything.

It is, I think, one of my better finds. I’ve sent a few samples to various people, with varying comments. The usual one, however, is that it tastes like aged puerh.

I don’t really know how the aged puerh taste got in there. I theorize it is the fact that the tea got slightly mouldy (you can smell it a little when it’s in its original big bag — a musty smell). The mould helped change the taste of the tea so that it has acquired a bit of that uerh taste.

It looks the part too, at least to the untrained eye.

Yet the tea is not puerh if you drink it carefully, because there are floral notes you’ll never find in a puerh. If puerh tastes earthy, this tea is more of a punchy floral note. It’s not fruity like the non-reroasted aged oolongs. They’re very different beasts.

The tea will last longer than you have the stomach for it. It might get boring in a way, but personally, I like teas that keep giving me many infusions of sweet water, hours after I first started. My requirements for a good tea isn’t very high.