Ginseng Achtung (special herbal edition)

Type: Herbal (not tea, just grass)
Class: N/A
Flavor: Ginseng, chyeah-duh!
Intensity: BOOM!
Mood: Relaxed
Perks: Looseleaf, bulk, cheap
Source (in Montreal): La Compagnie Foung Tak Canada ltee (not sure of the name of the store, but it's a bit south of the St. Laurent and Rene-Levesque intersection, on the west side of St. Laurent)

About a month ago I tried the Ginseng Oolong at Cha Guan and liked it quite a bit. Since then I kept on planning to return there an buy some for home, but just never got around doing it. Today while searching for sushi supplies around Chinatown I came across the the dry ginseng flowers in bulk, for about 6$/100g. I must admit, there's somewhat of a fetish of making things as much from scratch as possible, so of course it was impossible to just walk by.
All my previous flower tea experience screamed that it the taste of flowers infused solo is rather delicate. Was I ever wrong! The smell of ginseng itself, and especially the look for some reason reminded me of broccoli; no sweat, I actually happen to like it. So hoping to get a better taste I packed the strainer half way up with these dried mini-broccoli wannabes, and let them soak in hot water for a half a dozen of minutes. This resulted in a mild green liquid, reminiscent of the water left after steaming the said broccoli (again, maudit broccoli!). A good swig demolished the illusion: the only thing that I ever tried that was more bitter was an occasional bad almond (those who experienced it will know what I'm talking about). After massive watering down it became drinkable, but the taste in itself still kept some vegetable hints in it.
The original plan was to mix it with oolong (also bought in the same store) but the lady there suggested to try them individually. Verdict: mixed is way better. With a bunch of water and oolong the drink is actually very relaxing, with the tastes blending nicely (so far the proportions still need working out, but there is a lot of potential).
So it goes, gotta know your herbs before trying to be all zen...