Personally, I'm not willing to pay a premium for most organic foods, as I have found that most foods grown with care taste the same organic or non-organic, and the conflicting results of studies on long term results of eating organic have left me unconvinced of any health benefit. Mark Bittman's piece on eating better more or less sums up my feeling that eating organically for most people means no health benefit, because they don't change their eating habits away from meat-heavy, fat-heavy, sweets-heavy diets, and that the environment would be a lot better off if we ate less meat and more vegetables. I don't want to go as far as Will of teadrunk.org and give up all meat products, but I think my non-organic eating habits qualify as healthy.
But my thinking there I apply to consumable items grown in the West. Start talking China, where pesticide and agriculture chemical regulation is spotty at best, and I would probably be happier if all tea carried a USDA organic label. Not knowing much about the OFDC process, how often they check up on farmers, and how often the IFOAM checks up on the OFDC, the little cabbage organic label means little to me, but the analysis sheet included with this tea is, at least, a mote of psychological comfort when consuming something that is essentially composted camellia leaves.
So, all that expository explanation behind us, does this OFDC-certified shu pu'er taste better?
No, on the whole it's average. It's woody, not soily, not pondy, and monotone. It has an unpleasant sharpness when brewed strong and not enough depth when brewed weak. No aftertaste, but a camphory effect appears over time. It doesn't last more than 5 infusions.
A tea that is not good and not bad. It would work well with a meal, having enough of the earthy, woody shu flavors to complement a dish without being too interesting as to be a distraction. It would probably do very well in a dark stew in place of broth.
I will likely finish up this sample at work, where such ignorable teas are desirable.
