Tea “Poisoning”

[Baisao]

I was assessing a tea last night from a vendor with lots of social media hype. Initially it was tasty. It was tasty enough that I wondered why an industry friend of mine didn’t like it after cupping it. It’s a supposedly organic, traditional dong ding that this vendor sells a lot of.

I won’t identify the vendor but they sell a lot of product to members here. I will say that it did not come from Napa.

As I said, it was tasty at first. However, at about the 4th steeping it changed dramatically. In the span of one steep it went from Athena to Gorgon. It was hideously undrinkable. Hours later I still had this nasty, metallic taste out of my mouth and an awful feeling throughout my body. It’s a poisoned sensation. It lasted into today.

My hunch is that the tea was blended with old foul tea to make it go further, like drug dealers cutting their product. The leaves were all qing shin but I found 3 distinctly different sets in the tea, with different coloration and rates of unfurling.

This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had this poisoned feeling from bad tea but it is the first time that I’ve had a tea turn on me after a few pleasant steeps.

So, no doubt vendors here have tasted a lot of very bad teas in an effort to find a few that are great.

My questions are these:

1) how do you handle this yucky feeling that you can get from bad teas? This lasted well into the next day.

2) do you think you could have discovered this nasty flavor with cupping rather than conventional Taiwanese-style preparation?

[Bok]

Sounds like an awful experience!
Although I have tasted a lot of Taiwanese teas, I never had such a bad encounter as to feel poisoned, nauseating teas yes, mostly from artificial additives, yet nothing like you describe.

Cupping would have probably shown these properties in my opinion.

Still strange that it turns so suddenly!

[Baisao]

Sounds like an awful experience!
Although I have tasted a lot of Taiwanese teas, I never had such a bad encounter as to feel poisoned, nauseating teas yes, mostly from artificial additives, yet nothing like you describe.

Cupping would have probably shown these properties in my opinion.

Still strange that it turns so suddenly!

I think my body is on the sensitive side, which is why I put poisoned in quotes. It has a toxic feeling like a cigarette. I felt gross.

I think it turned so quickly when older leaves started to open. When I looked at the leaves there were some that were somewhat green and fully opened and others that were dark and still folded (some with stems, some without).

[mudandleaves]

I was assessing a tea last night from a vendor with lots of social media hype. Initially it was tasty. It was tasty enough that I wondered why an industry friend of mine didn’t like it after cupping it. It’s a supposedly organic, traditional dong ding that this vendor sells a lot of.

I won’t identify the vendor but they sell a lot of product to members here. I will say that it did not come from Napa.

As I said, it was tasty at first. However, at about the 4th steeping it changed dramatically. In the span of one steep it went from Athena to Gorgon. It was hideously undrinkable. Hours later I still had this nasty, metallic taste out of my mouth and an awful feeling throughout my body. It’s a poisoned sensation. It lasted into today.

My hunch is that the tea was blended with old foul tea to make it go further, like drug dealers cutting their product. The leaves were all qing shin but I found 3 distinctly different sets in the tea, with different coloration and rates of unfurling.

This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had this poisoned feeling from bad tea but it is the first time that I’ve had a tea turn on me after a few pleasant steeps.

So, no doubt vendors here have tasted a lot of very bad teas in an effort to find a few that are great.

My questions are these:

1) how do you handle this yucky feeling that you can get from bad teas? This lasted well into the next day.

2) do you think you could have discovered this nasty flavor with cupping rather than conventional Taiwanese-style preparation?

Sounds awful. Have you contacted the vendor to complain? I would contact them to see what they have to say, and if nothing is done, then I would consider posting a review to warn other tea drinkers. If it's that bad you would be doing a lot of people a favour.

[Baisao]

Sounds awful. Have you contacted the vendor to complain? I would contact them to see what they have to say, and if nothing is done, then I would consider posting a review to warn other tea drinkers. If it's that bad you would be doing a lot of people a favour.

I don’t want to call out the vendor and feel that, despite the currently favorable reputation they enjoy, this will all suss out as Western expectations increase. Secondly, I wouldn’t be surprised if this tea was consumed regularly by some members here who think it is a fine beverage. I don’t want to insult anyone. Perhaps they are oblivious to this tea making them feel yucky, or hey, maybe it’s just me!

Foremost, I don’t want to make this about the vendor of this tea but to ask all vendors this:

1) How do you fix the terrible feeling you get from drinking bad tea? (I’ve spent several days drinking green teas and oolongs that feel good to my body and that has helped, but there could be better/faster ways to recover)

2) Would I have caught the problem in the tea if I had cupped it instead of using multiple steeps?

[wave_code]

hopefully it isn't an intentional cutting of the product like you said. maybe some bad leaves crept in? or could something have gotten into the tea somehow that you had an allergic reaction to, like some sort of mold? if its a popular tea sold in volume it becomes easier and easier for quality control issues to creep in.

it sounds similar effect wise to drinking cheap alcohol - it takes a lot less to make you feel bad, and once it does there isn't much you can do about it. with alcohol you can always try taking some magnesium/electrolytes, drinking lots of mineral water, and maybe eating something filling but healthy, but that is more compensating for dehydration- it doesn't do much to settle the stomach/system and all you can do is wait for it to work its way out. a lot of bars are still smoking here in Vienna (all the interesting/good ones at least...), and people here are heavy smokers so you are around it constantly even on the sidewalk. it always leaves me feeling awful the next day just being around it, also a sort of poisoned feeling all through the body. only thing I have found that helps with that is exercising - getting the blood moving and a good sweat helps to work things through and out of the system much better than sitting around feeling crappy does. it feels bad and is much harder to get started, but then usually afterwards I feel much better.

even if you don't want to make this about the vendor, I should hope that if you contacted them about it privately they would at least appreciate that and look into it.

[teasecret]

Did you drink it in the sun? Sometimes when too much sunlight gets onto the wet leaves they turn yucky really quickly.

[mudandleaves]

Sounds awful. Have you contacted the vendor to complain? I would contact them to see what they have to say, and if nothing is done, then I would consider posting a review to warn other tea drinkers. If it's that bad you would be doing a lot of people a favour.

I don’t want to call out the vendor and feel that, despite the currently favorable reputation they enjoy, this will all suss out as Western expectations increase. Secondly, I wouldn’t be surprised if this tea was consumed regularly by some members here who think it is a fine beverage. I don’t want to insult anyone. Perhaps they are oblivious to this tea making them feel yucky, or hey, maybe it’s just me!

Foremost, I don’t want to make this about the vendor of this tea but to ask all vendors this:

1) How do you fix the terrible feeling you get from drinking bad tea? (I’ve spent several days drinking green teas and oolongs that feel good to my body and that has helped, but there could be better/faster ways to recover)

2) Would I have caught the problem in the tea if I had cupped it instead of using multiple steeps?

I understand not wanting to be the one to call them out; I was suggesting following up with them first. It would be interesting to hear what they have to say. You might be helping them if they don't know their tea has a problem.

I think you probably would have noticed it if you had cupped it rather than using multiple steeps. At least this is my experience when tasting tea. I've tried my share of awful stuff; cupping makes it apparent immediately when something is wrong.

The worst I have had is some discomfort in the back of my throat from tea I tried while sampling a few years back, probably from chemicals. I took a break from tea when I had that experience, I drink plenty of water, juice, soup, etc. I treated it like a mild cold/sore throat. This seemed to work.

[Stephen]

That sounds like an unpleasant experience! I've only had weird sensations (scratchy throat, agitation, malaise, chemical like taste) from raw pu er. I've never had the sensations last beyond the day however. I've assumed it was agrochemicals. I usually stop drinking the tea and drink plenty of water. If I feel overly agitated from tea my go to remedy is a nice IPA or double IPA beer! Of course that might strain the liver if one was truly poisoned! A classic (and researched) food remedy for poisoning (including agrochemicals) is to boil mung beans (lu duo) and drink the liquid. You can also add licorice (gan cao) to that. Also I think Mattcha's Blog has some articles about feeling bad from drinking tea.

[Victoria]

That is messed up. Can you share a picture of the organic leaves you described? I’m wondering if you got an off batch of some sort. I would definitely let the vendor know since you say they are reputable, I’m sure they would be very concerned.

[Baisao]

That is messed up. Can you share a picture of the organic leaves you described? I’m wondering if you got an off batch of some sort. I would definitely let the vendor know since you say they are reputable, I’m sure they would be very concerned.

Again, I do not want to make this about the vendor. We all get bad teas from time to time that make us feel yucky. How do we fix that?

[Bok]

I would just eat something hearty with loads of rice and/or bread, followed by some roasted tea. Although after yucky tea I mostly take a break from tea until I feel like having some again.

Steam bath with camomile flowers might help as well to clean out the nostrils.

[Baisao]

@wave_code, I think you nailed it. I described it to someone in a DM as feeling like bad alcohol (fusel oils or “high ends”) or that toxic feeling from smoking. It’s just a yucky feeling that decreases in intensity over a few days. I suspect many people wouldn’t even notice, or if they did they would attribute it to something else since “tea is healthy”.

It’s nice that we have 2 mentions in favor of cupping to find this kind of problem. Thank you @Bok and @mudandleaves! That’s valuable feedback. I never cup. I should start.

@Stephen, I’ll look for this on Mattcha’s Blog. Never been there. I’m surprised there’s not more on the subject so I welcome his insight.

We have a lot of good ideas so far:
* Exercise to sweat it out (well, I’ve been sweating it out alright!)
* Water, juices, soups, etc. for any sore throat feeling.
* Taking a break from tea
* India Pale Ale ( )
* Drink the fluid from boiling green mung beans, possibly adding licorice root
* Drink teas that generally make you feel better (this is what I did)

Ultimately, it might be helpful to have a sticky for what to do when a tea makes you feel gross.

[Teachronicles]

I've only experienced this with raw puer, usually aged. The sensation is pretty consistently a racing heart (separate from the caffeinated sensation) and often a tightness or extreme warmth in the chest. Usually I quit the tea right there and just ride it out hah. Sorry, that's all I've found to really get rid of it, time. My gut says having food and/or drinking something with electrolytes/minerals might help. Exercise, as someone mentioned, always helped me feel better after a heavy night of drinking, when I used to drink.

Edit:. I've actually also experienced it with an "aged" oolong that gave a definite feeling of being poisoned. I figured it was heavy pesticide use.

[Stephen]

Here's a post about it. There might be other posts as well.
http://mattchasblog.blogspot.com/2017/0 ... i-and.html