These buds and I have had a rocky relationship. I first got them about a month ago, after reading some rave-y reviews here on Steepster. I plopped a good amount into my gaiwan and started brewing, only to be greeted with…sourness. These things were so unbelievably sour, like someone had squeezed an unripe lemon into my tea. I tossed them after a few steeps.
Over the past couple weeks I’ve brewed them up a few times, and have learned to use less leaf and colder water. I’ve got the brewing parameters right, but still don’t love these things. They’re sort of sweet up-front, but with this lingering, drying sourness that I can’t seem to shake no matter how low the temp/how fast I steep. It’s the kind of sourness that sits at the back of your throat and coats your tongue…ugh.
As for the rest of the taste, they’re a little sweet and have a sort of malty flavor to them. I’m not getting the hay or usual white tea flavors with these—they’re their own thing.
Anyway, while they’re very much not to my taste, other people seem to like them! Just brace yourself for a mouth-puckering experience.
I cant get my taste buds around these things
Yeah me either. The best way I’ve thought of to describe it is like if someone surgically extracted one of the flavor notes of raw puerh and made it into a tea.