Corax on Hong Tai Chang Pu'er [Shu, 1980s?], Border Tea

having just posted a proposed template for recording one's experience of a tea, i am now going to promptly disregard some of that, in posting my experience of the hong tai chang puer [ditto with some of the ones that follow]. this because when i took these notes, the template had not yet quite come into the form in which i've posted it.

be all that as it may, here is probably more information than anyone wants or needs about my experience of this tea. but as always, i'm posting it here in order to [a] store the information, and [b] perhaps elicit a conversation. [re 'fishy' etc: see my comments on stephane's post of earlier today.]

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DRY LEAF:
--- color: dark loamy red
--- constituency: smallish discrete pieces
--- aroma: very slightly smoky; virtually no earthy

TEA-TO-WATER PROPORTIONS [grams to fl oz]:
---4 g to 6 oz

VESSEL: gaiwan

FIRST INF:
--- time: 90 sec
--- temp: 195-200F
--- color: medium hong
--- aroma: a fishy note not present in the dry leaf. no smoke, virtually no earth.
--- taste: surprisingly earthy in view of the aromas of dry leaf and liquor. a metallic tinge, but not fishy. a bit of smoke. no astringency. very little aftertaste but some continuation of the metallic. not a pleasant experience.

SECOND INF:
--- time: 45 sec
--- temp: 195-200F
--- color: medium hong [almost the same as INF1]
--- aroma: much weaker than INF1; no fishiness here
--- taste: not fishy. less metallic than INF1, including in its aftertaste. blander and marginally more pleasant than INF1.

THIRD INF:
--- time: 60 sec
--- temp: 195-200F
--- color: dark/medium hong [oddly, INF3 is slightly darker than INF2]
--- aroma: very faint overall
--- taste: attenuated in proportion to the aroma. the most distinctive aspect of this infusion is the aftertaste, in which the metallic [coppery?] comes forward.

FOURTH INF:
--- time: 60 sec
--- temp: 195-200F
--- color: medium hong [once again comparable to INF2]
--- aroma: a bit fishy once again
--- taste: the earthy steps forward once again in this infusion. marginally less metallic than INF3, though the metallic aftertaste continues unabated.

FIFTH INF: none

COMMENTS: one of the interesting things about this experience of multiple infusions was how both the earthy and fishy flavors and aromas came and went. one might expect that the progression would be more linear.