Been drinking Chinese tea, particularly Pu-erh and Fijian Oolong for just
over 12 months now (and loving it!). I am now beginning to notice that I
need to put more leaf into my pot or gaiwan than I did when I started to
obtain the flavour I desire.

Is this the natural development of one's palate or is my tea degrading due
to storage ? My tea is stored in double-lidded stainless steel canisters
in what is a relatively stable (temp and humidity wise) environment. Our
consumption rate for our loose leaf Pu-erh, for example, is approx 750grams
over the last 12 months. I buy my loose leaf Pu-erh in 500gram lots. My
brewing times have stayed relatively consistent.

Right now I am drinking a Royal Grade B loose leaf Pu-erh I got from James
Banna and I am finding that I need to almost double the amount of leaf in my
200ml pot than I originally used to satisfy myself.

If ones palate does acclimatise to frequent tea drinking then this would
explain my experiences in Hong Kong recently. On our excursion around many
tea shops we found almost always that the amount of leaf the hosts used seem
overly excessive to us to the point where the teas (particularly Oolongs)
had a nasty bitter taste to my wife and I. Once at home we brewed the same
tea with what we felt was 'normal' amounts of leaf and found the teas to be
very good indeed.

Now I am beginning to wonder.

Any thoughts ?

Cheers
Mal
Oz