I thought I’d make a short post on a tea I’d read about, but never had the chance to sample before… well, I say ‘tea’ but its days of being tea are long over – it was once tea – aged puerh to be precise, about 20 years ago, before some little insects munched down on it and left their pellet like excrement behind to be gathered and stored.
A friend gave me a sample of this a while back and it lay forgotten in a small bag amongst my belongings until yesterday when I remembered that I had it and rummaged to find it.
He had said it was about enough for 2 sessions and, having no idea of the potency of bug shit, I divided the contents of the bag in two and into a tea strainer. It looked uninteresting, didn’t smell of anything, but as I poured boiling water over it it yielded a thick black liquid.
I examined it carefully for a few moments before taking my first sip… Hmnn, strange – definitely not like tea, but not bad. A very medicinal taste, some qi, mellowing with a few more infusions, before I started to feel a little queasy. I’m not sure if this was entirely the effect of the tea or the fact that some of the black pellets had started to turn more brown – more like the colour of regular shit. Anyway I drank a little more before deciding to abandon ship, take a rest and brew up some regular puerh.
In all, an interesting experience. I wouldn’t seek out more of this tea, but at least now I know.