Insects in Pu-erh?

Actually, many people see this as a good thing on the mainland. They say that the bugs get in and make the cake better and that it can account for the pu's age. We had a thread about this a long time ago; you should search it.

Mike Petro also has something on his site about it.

See

As with any agricultural product, insect infestation is not uncommon. Puerh is often warehoused for years which dramatically increases the probability that a few critters will set up shop in there.

Quite frankly, in all likelihood the infestation occurred long before your particular vendor acquired the Puerh. While the vendor certainly should give you full credit for the cake if you find all of this distasteful, it is probably not the vendors fault.

As Mydnight alluded to, in Asia the presence of insects is not seen with the same repulsion as it is in the western world. Many Asians see it as a good thing. A "rope" of insect droppings is sometimes found in between the cakes and the leaf wrapping on tongs of really old cakes. This "rope" is highly valued, the longer the rope the more it is prized.

So take all of this into consideration before you beat up your vendor too badly.....

-- Mike Petro

You proably could get a visit from your local agricultural inspector. I haven't noticed anything crawling out of or around any of my bamboo bundles yet. I do notice some flaking from my exposed cakes but no bugs.

Jim

Mike Petro wrote:

Thanks for the answers!

I've checked all my cakes, and found the source of the infection: It was a stack from the six famous montains. The wrapping of all of them is damaged, three of them have lots of insects, and they are little beetles, not moths like the the poopoo puerh, which makes me suspect it is a bad infection. Or are all insects beneficial to the cakes?

If so, do you think it is a good idea to put the infected cakes aside and wait for them to become something like Poo Poo Puer? The vendor is really nice, and I wouldn't like to ask replacement for half of my order :P

I once got a box of Mumtaz black tea that had a huge and very dessicated dead roach packed firmly in it.

They will charge you extra for the bug. It is a very rare bug, sir.

--scott

I would get them as far from the rest of your collection as possible. The moth thing is legit, I have multiple references on that; however beetles sounds like some sort of undesirable infestation. Dont let them destroy your other teas.

In any event, does it really matter what the Asians prize? If you don't care for it then get rid of it. Your perception is the only that really counts.

This reminds of eating shrimp in Spain and Greece. The first time I ordered shrimp over there they brought out these humongous fantastic looking prawns that had been cooked whole, each of them easily several ounces at least. I was in heaven and proceeded to take the heads off and peel them before eating them. Everybody in the restaurant looked at me like I was an alien from Mars or something. It turns out that they consider the shrimp heads to be a delicacy over there and I was sitting there throwing away the BEST part! Guess what, even after finding out all of that, I never did eat a shrimp head......

Mike

wow, food bonus with your pu-erh; I'm jealous, all I ever get is nails or straw :(

Kevin

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote:

Word. Cow brains, Blue Crab "mustard", flattened dried salted candied cuttlefish, live octopus, fish cheek meat/eyes, etc. All delicacies and all unpalateable to me. It all comes down to personal taste and tolerance, and I could kind of see how insects would be OK to some, but I find it unsettling and would be unhappy to find a "prized rope" or a beetle in any of my pu-erh. Just like I know some folks who find it lucky to find a worm in their apple, and continue to eat away... whereas it is tossed within milliseconds in my hands and then I'm an unhappy camper for a bit.

Shrimp heads aren't in my book of prized culinary delights either, I'd be in the same boat.

- Dominic

That does sound disgusting! But, aren't some common foods the result of very small critters (bacteria) eating and excreting in the food? A few examples: Cheese Yogurt Sour Cream Buttermilk Sauerkraut Aged Beef Vinegar Apple Cider Beer Wine Puerh

=Enid

Yeah it is a give and take, and like I said about personal tolerance and taste more than anything. But bacteria at least are invisible to the eye, unlike a beetle or poop-rope :) And while we're at it I'll have a medium-well black angus steak with gorgonzola on top and a nice glass of red wine... now that is my kind of infestation and excrement. mmm... small critter excrement done right!

I can't help get a number of good Pu-Erh advertisement ideas out of my mind from this thread, such as: "Try our new improved thousand year old tree Pu-Erh, now with 30% more poop-rope!" or "One lucky brick contains a 6" poop-rope, it could be YOURS!" or "Our Pu-Erh contains 250 small critters, gotta catch 'em all!" I could go on, but I'll spare you all... and just take my medicine and go back to my padded cell.

- Dominic

ROFLMA......... Oh gawd, I am laughing so hard it hurts......

-- Mike Petro

Dominic snipped-for-privacy@i42g2000cwa.googlegroups.com8/22/06

And don't come out until called. And don't hold your breath waiting. Hehehe. M

Puer favorite drink of the Orkin Man.

Jim

Michael Plant wrote:

If I got any tea sent to me that had a bug crawling out of it customs would promptly impound my tea if they saw it. Makes me shudder to think it - I have enough trouble getting this "organic" stuff through as it is with all the funny chinese script on it nobody in customs can read..

Kat

Fast or slow SAL shipments from China are simply if the slow boat from China is docked not customs.

Jim

KM wrote: