Pu Erh Tea, how much do you people know about it?

Lewis Perin <perin@panix.com> wrote in message news:<pc77k5311uc.fsf@panix1.panix.com>...
> neutralz@m (ws) writes:
>
> > [...green vs. black puerh...]
> >
> > Green pu erh tea cakes, when aged up to a century, like Tong
> > Qing(double lionhead) pu erh, Tong Qing(double flag) pu er tea cakes,
> > Huang Wen Xing tea cakes, etc, should never Be mouldy at all. NOT even
> > a slight bit of yellow or white dots if properly aged and kept. The
> > tea cake should appear to be reddish, with some bits of yellow bud
> > discoloration, with oily leaves scattered, but never never black. If
> > the tea cake appears dusty, or mouldy, etc, it means its not well kept
> > in a proper environment, and the taste/value of the tea cake will be a
> > lot lower.
>
> Are you saying that, at least for good Puerh, microbes are never
> intentionally mixed with the leaves?
>
> > [...]
> >
> > Black pu-erh tea cakes are different. They are not oxidised by air
> > naturally over the years. Instead, producers purposely ferment and
> > oxidise the tea leaves over a few days, resulting in blacker dark
> > brown leaves, and a COFFEE like brew.
>
> You're referring to the appearance of the brew rather than the taste,
> right? A relatively opaque brew with suspended particles?
>
> The only green Puerh I've encountered so far that brews like this is a
> brick not a cake. I've heard that bricks are almost always inferior
> to cakes; do you agree?
>

The microbes in Pu-erh Teas are generally always naturally present,
just like how bread or things can go mouldy without the need of
introducing such microbes to them by man.

As for the second question, the description provided is of the
appearance of the brew, as taste can differ. Black pu-erh tea's highly
oxidised, approximately over 80% to 100%. This results in that very
dark, black, opaque brew with suspended particles (unless you filter
it with a fine net).
Green Pu-erh tea cakes, generally are very lightly oxidised or not
oxidised at all, maximally at a 30%-40% oxidation in rare cases. This
percentage of oxidation will increase over the years, but will never
reach the level of 80% to 100% of the black pu-erh teas.

> I remeber that, when talking of ripened (artificially fermeted) cakes, some
> Pu'er dealers used to state the grade of fermentation, such as "liu fen
> shou" or "ba fen shou", rispectivally ripened to 60% and 80% etc. Do you
> have any hints fot telling the difference between a naturally age cake and a
> "half fake" one like these? Don't you think that a green Pu'er will tastes
> different if kept for ten year in the storehouse of a tea factory in Yunnan
> with sub-tropical climate or in an air-conditioned tea house in Hong Kong?

a naturally aged cake should look, smell and taste uniformly. and
there is a distinct floral woody scent, unlike artificially
fermented/ripened pu-erh tea, where such delicate aromas are
destroyed, and replaced by a heavier earthy body/scent.

however, with technology advancement, better printing/forgery
facilities, nowadaes many artificial tea cakes can be replicated with
the appearances highly similar to the real aged products. it takes
only experience with real aged tea, that one can easily distinguish
these products, especially by sniffing the tea cake.

a green pu-erh will definitely taste different, and it depends on
where its stored! airconditioning in hongkong is always associated
with dry air, and dry air oxidation of tea cakes generally results in
a rather high quality aged tea, with many delicate flavours still
existing, without mouldy tastes and scents overwhelming them. and if
the tea cake's stored with scented things, such as jasmine teas,
flowers, etc, the tea cake can pick up scents as well. if its kept in
yunnan, the air's different, if located near mountaineous regions,
will always experience a very humid air, resulting in a differnt
flavour and tea body. thats what that makes pu-erh special. its a
living tea that changes with storage.

real aged green pu-erh's expensive and valuable because the original
taste of it is widely enjoyed, accepted by many people. i dont mean to
discriminate "artificial" or artificially oxidised/fermented pu-erh.
believe it or not, some of them taste rather unique. i bought one
piece of reconstituted Guang Yun tea cake, made from loose bits of
guangyun leaves(that dropped from old tea cakes), some greener pu-erh,
and some 80% riped pu-erh compressed into a cake. the tea shop owner
had only 3 pieces, which his brother posted to him from hongkong. got
it for rather cheap, only $50 per cake.
Sure enough, it tastes rather different, the tea is very very smooth,
not earthy at all, but florally woody, with the contribution of an
aged scent from the guangyun tea bits. the brew color resembles a 30yr
old pu-erh tea cake, because of the 80% ripened pu-erh present, and
some green-pu-erh to reduce the blackness. wonderful i say, for the
person made this reconstitution.

i've known some people who like to mix tea, especially lowgrade white
tea(which's rather dark and smooth tasting with almost no scent) with
some green pu-erh. the white tea reduces the harsh taste of new green
pu-erh, contributes to the smoothness. then again, such things are
always up to personnal preference.

pu-erh tea is intriguing. countless varieties, ages, leaf types, all
tasting different. it boils down to the same point, if you really
enjoy drinking a particular type of tea or pu-erh, then that tea is
really worth your $$. else other times, maybe you can purchase little
bits of rare or uncommon pu-erh just to sample the exoticity, but not
for regular consumption.
i've once spent $300 on a tea cake(small yellow label) which i didnt
really like the taste of. exotic, but just dont enjoy it.

really glad that a lot of people are into Pu-erh tea nowadaes.
drinking pu-erh is the key to better health.
Learn to enjoy it and drink it. Pu-erh tea varieties are countless,
there's always bound to be a type that individuals will like.

Thank-you very much for your post! I've been trying to find
information on green pu-erh for a long time, but haven't had much
luck. If I may ask, do you know of any good sources for pu-erh that
will ship internationally? Most of the on-line sources for beengcha
have a limited selection or very high prices (such as ITC) relative to
what I remember when visiting HK and KL. I'm down to only one cake
which is mature enough to drink and am looking to lay in stock for
long term storage.

Cameron

McLemore <TeaLady@sun-link.com> wrote in message news:<hicpmvoks635ahuh6pe2h76phcipg78eji@>. ..
> Once upon a time, neutralz@m (ws) wrote:
>
> >I'm a Pu-Erh tea collector, just wondering how much do most people
> >know about Pu-Erh tea before spending lots of money on it?
>
> Thank you for these postings and for the link to the web site. I
> was able to connect; found the pictures very useful.
>
> I placed an order for some pu-erh yesterday, my first experience
> with this tea. The tea is called Pu-Erh Tuo Cha. Any advice on
> preparing it?
>
> Martha

Pu-Erh Tuo Cha? any links to check out? There's a huge variety of
pu-erh tuo cha around. Most foreign sources do carry the small button
like versions, and some of those 50gram, to 100 gram tuo-chas.
Is it a green or black pu-erh tea?
If its a green pu-erh tea, you might want to let the tea air it self
for a few days, by leaving it exposed to the air at a dry odourless
place for the tea to "come back to life" after having been kept in a
plastic packaging for a long time. If you are brewing a green pu-erh
tea that hasnt be really aged for long, you might want to keep a very
very very short brewing time for about 30 seconds for the first steep
as the brew can be rather astringent.

If its a black pu-erh tea, it would be rather smooth tasting. Those
little pu-erh tuo cha buttons are rather easy to brew.
Whenever you brew pu-erh tea, its always advisable to fill the pot
with water from a height slowly, i.e. raise your kettle high when you
are filling the tea pot. This causes water to aerate better and this
aeration process helps bring out the pu-erh tea taste better. Do not
steep for too long, as you might get a very very very thick coffee
like brew for black pu-erhs. Limit yourself to about 45 seconds for an
initial brew, and maintain this 45second for the subsequenct few brews
cuz blackpu-erh tea 's a very strong tea. You dont have to increase
the steeping times for the first few brews, i.e. the first 5 brews.
Remember to crush or fragmentise your pu-erh tuo cha buttons before
brewing! else it takes very very very long for water to soak through
the tea button if its a very well compressed tea. If its a huge
tuo-cha, like a 100gram or a 250 gram piece, break small pieces off,
or use a very blunt knife to flake pieces off.

> Remember to crush or fragmentise your pu-erh tuo cha buttons before
> brewing! else it takes very very very long for water to soak through
> the tea button if its a very well compressed tea. If its a huge
> tuo-cha, like a 100gram or a 250 gram piece, break small pieces off,
> or use a very blunt knife to flake pieces off.

I have some cheap pu-erh I bought at Ten Ren. I'm drinking it right now- I
like it when I'm sick (I have a cold). I'm afraid I broke all your rules,
cos' I like my pu-erh kinda thick. I poured hot water over the buttons,
enough to cover them, and then poured it off. Then I added my hot water
proper. I let it sit for les than a minute and then had my first cup. I did
let the tea sit in the pot though, which I don't do with other teas.
Oddly, cheap pu-erh tuo cha tastes great with a wee nip orf rum and some
Demarara sugar, both of which are sacrilege. Supposedly, the tea is a good
cold remedy- butd what with the rum and all, it doesn't matter to me if that
is truth or folklore.

"Her Serene Highness" <abcd@efgh.com> wrote in message news:<i_Ibb.9718$lZ6.2870109@twister.nyc.>.. .
> I have some cheap pu-erh I bought at Ten Ren. I'm drinking it right now- I
> like it when I'm sick (I have a cold). I'm afraid I broke all your rules,
> cos' I like my pu-erh kinda thick. I poured hot water over the buttons,
> enough to cover them, and then poured it off. Then I added my hot water
> proper. I let it sit for les than a minute and then had my first cup. I did
> let the tea sit in the pot though, which I don't do with other teas.
> Oddly, cheap pu-erh tuo cha tastes great with a wee nip orf rum and some
> Demarara sugar, both of which are sacrilege. Supposedly, the tea is a good
> cold remedy- butd what with the rum and all, it doesn't matter to me if that
> is truth or folklore.

dont worry about breaking the rules cuz there isnt really much of any
rules to follow in the first place. most importantly is that you enjoy
what you brew =) different people have different tastes and its
important for everyone to find out how they like their tea :)

"ws" <neutralz@m> wrote in message
news:5ffe2ea.0309270713.4aea298b@co m...
> "Her Serene Highness" <abcd@efgh.com> wrote in message
news:<i_Ibb.9718$lZ6.2870109@twister.nyc.>.. .
> > I have some cheap pu-erh I bought at Ten Ren. I'm drinking it right now-
I
> > like it when I'm sick (I have a cold). I'm afraid I broke all your
rules,
> > cos' I like my pu-erh kinda thick. I poured hot water over the buttons,
> > enough to cover them, and then poured it off. Then I added my hot water
> > proper. I let it sit for les than a minute and then had my first cup. I
did
> > let the tea sit in the pot though, which I don't do with other teas.
> > Oddly, cheap pu-erh tuo cha tastes great with a wee nip orf rum and some
> > Demarara sugar, both of which are sacrilege. Supposedly, the tea is a
good
> > cold remedy- butd what with the rum and all, it doesn't matter to me if
that
> > is truth or folklore.
>
> dont worry about breaking the rules cuz there isnt really much of any
> rules to follow in the first place. most importantly is that you enjoy
> what you brew =) different people have different tastes and its
> important for everyone to find out how they like their tea :)

Thanks. I assure you that I was being somewhat tongue in cheek about
'breaking the rules'. The good news is that my cold seems to be gone. The
other good news is that I'm now working off all those marzipan cookies I ate
while sick- I'm going to the gym. Even better news- I was picking up some
meal supplements yesterday and found out that many body-builders use
caffeine as a way of burning off fat- another excuse for my tea-drinking (as
if I needed any). Here's the best news of all- it's the rainy season again
which means it is now cool enough for me to drink hot tea like mad.
I may have to have more medicinal pu-erh tuo cha anyway, to make sure I
don't get sick again. and of course, we have to put in the special
flavoring that makes the tea easier to drink, now don't we?

cel@mailandnews.com (Cameron Lewis) wrote in message news:<cbc3cb0.0309160957.20eafe1f@c om>...
> Thank-you very much for your post! I've been trying to find
> information on green pu-erh for a long time, but haven't had much
> luck. If I may ask, do you know of any good sources for pu-erh that
> will ship internationally? Most of the on-line sources for beengcha
> have a limited selection or very high prices (such as ITC) relative to
> what I remember when visiting HK and KL. I'm down to only one cake
> which is mature enough to drink and am looking to lay in stock for
> long term storage.
>
> Cameron

Well, I just found a source for some green pu-erh and I've ordered a
Menghai Wild Tree beencha from 2003 as well as some high-grade tuocha.
The source is an ebay seller by the name of pdalien. The shipping is
ruinously expensive, but I haven't been able to find a cheaper source.
I'm trying to convince Kam Leung of FunAlliance.com to carry young
green pu-erh. Here's hoping I can drum up enough interest.

Cameron