/ck/ - Food & Cooking

As I promised in the last thread, I'll try getting back to reviewing

2011 Xi Bang Raw Puerh
6 grams, 160ml, 93 Celsius, 20s + 5. 5 total brews

This is a tea I got for free and drank before but kinda forgot about, the package was left exposed to air but not light, didn't smell bad or show signs of mold, so I threw it in the gaiwan.
The smell before brewing was a vaguely spicy smell, kinda like how old bay smells, with hints of coca-cola like smells. Somewhat pleasant.
The wash smelled kinda like sour grapes, maybe like a raisen cookie.
First brew became very mushoom-y, prompting me to check for mold, which I didn't find. Sadly, throughout all 5 infusions, it remained very much like mushroom broth, maybe with too much bay leaf thrown in. To be expected from a tea I left out, I suppose, but pretty disappointed. This may be the reason I forgot about it in the first place. I wish I had more to say but it's so incrdibly flat and one note I can't go into subtle nuances, and it didn't seem to really evolve.
I do think mushroom flavor is okay, but it's not the best, especially for a 10, almost 11, year old raw. I overall got to rate it as bad just for the age alone, but if this was a newer tea, it's probably middl of the pack, not bad but not great either.