OK, upping the score again. I’ve been sort of let down by the unpleasant feeling that was left in my throat after drinking this, which felt like I just inhaled a lot of dust or something. Well, I discovered that when I steeped the tea leaves right away, an unusual amount of foam would develop. I found this really strange and it did kind of bother me. So this time I tried rinsing the tea leaves with cold water for about 5 seconds or so and then poured hot water over it. The result? Much less foam!!! And not surprisingly, I didn’t get the unpleasant feeling anymore in my throat and the cup tasted so much cleaner and smoother. This brought me to the conclusion that rinsing IS necessary for certain teas to remove the dust or whatever that might have been causing that negative effect.
Add: Even after rinsing, I could still see small particles settle on the bottom of my cup, so I get that unpleasant feeling again as I’m close to finishing the cup. This is dissapointing since I like the taste of this tea. Rating it down, again!