Mystery Compressed Black Tea

This was an interesting tea to come across.
A woman who I befriended at the tea classes (STI) was handing out samples to everyone.
I wasn't going to miss out on an opportunity.


I am not quite positive, but I do believe this tea to be a Sichuan Fu tea brick.
But due to my lack of knowledge, I will still consider it a mystery.
If someone has any thoughts on what it could possibly be, please let me know.

On the right; the tea still in its brick form. On the left; the tea after I broke it up a bit (only half of the chunk).


The brick smells very faintly of seaweed atop a pile of damp leaves. It has quite an earthy quality to it.

1st infusion;
On the nose are the damp leaves, with a side of mushrooms, or some form of earthen fungi.
On the palate is a slightly charcoal taste. It is very savory, almost salty.

2nd infusion;
The profile is consistent with the former, except at the end, an extremely sour taste puckers the entirety of my mouth. Interesting sensation.



3rd infusion;
A wonderful malt is brought about that pairs well with the salty aspect of this tea.
This is to be my favored infusion.

4th infusion;
This one surprised me.
I taste a strong copper quality. It is a penny in liquid form.
This is when I decide to stop this tea.



It is not a bad tea by any means.
Maybe it just does not do well with gong fu brewing sessions, or it could be that this tea is usually (traditionally) brewed to a concentrate and mixed with salt and yak butter.

It has qualities of both a black tea and a pu'erh tea.
So I do not know what category to place it in.
If anyone has any insight to this tea I would love to know!


~billy