I really cut down the steep time and increased the leaf a little (just under 5g for 10oz) to see if I could get more flavor and less I’m-having-a-quick-plant-snack feeling from this tea. It seems to have worked somewhat. Now I’m getting more sweet, light almost-but-not-quite Assam taste with only a faint hint of raw texture/taste to it. There’s still a bit of bitterness that brings to mind oversteeped Darjeeling but it’s decreased and seems to blend with the rawness in a way that, while not exactly pleasant, isn’t jarring. Still not exactly my cuppa.
ETA: Uhm, what happened? It started to cool and I got more rawness from it which wasn’t happy making but meh, I kept sipping. And it got cooler and now tastes like I’ve dosed it with at least one, maybe even two, heaping teaspoons of sugar. Which would normally be neat but for this tea? Just seems weird.