Completely flavourless Puerh!

[Nefarious]

Ok so I have a REALLY heavy cold but I still want to drink my tea - for the whole of yesterday and this morning, I have been trying a sample of 2004 ‘CNNP 7542′ Hong Kong Dry Stored Raw Puer and it LITERALLY has no flavour at all! I kept drinking it because I assumed it was my tastebuds that were at fault, but when I brewed it longer this morning and still nothing I thought I would just check my tastebuds on a cup of Oolong. And what do you know, it tastes fine. So my only conclusion is that this tea has no taste. It was a recently acquired sample from a UK supplier, taken straight from the cake and vacuum-packed. The description on the web site said it would slap you round the chops but clearly it doesn't!

Can anyone explain why a supposedly robust aged puerh can lose its flavour so completely??

[glenbo]

I would try it again after your cold is over. I know the oolong tasted fine. When I'm sick all puerh tastes like hot leaf juice to me. Perhaps oolong has something that breaks through the cold. That tea should definitely have some flavor.

[BW85]

I would guess it cold indeed be because of your cold. Oolongs are much stronger and vibrant in the aroma department, where as the aroma of a simi aged puerh is likely to be much softer. A great deal of a teas taste comes from the aromatic compounds. The more aromatic oolong can maybe penetrant your stuffed up nose better

[Nefarious]

As a follow-up, I received an order of a truly fabulous puerh today and it tasted wonderful, even with my cold. If I could be bothered, I would send what I have left of that tasteless one back to the supplier...

The good one was http://www.cantonteaco.com/zhong-xin-puerh.html

[BitterLeaf]

I had this same problem the other week when I had a bad cold. Puer that I knew were good just fell flat, but not all of my tea did. It seemed like the aspects I enjoyed about some of my sheng puers just couldn't come out, but when I switched to some yue guang bai I didn't feel that way at all. I say just wait it out.

[Saayuq]

That's how it happens with me. I can't taste the tea I want to drink, so I switch to Lapsang until I get my taste and smell back.

[Cwyn]

Stick it in a stoneware crock and see if it gets some aroma back in a few weeks. If not, then it is probably past saving.