"Loose-leaf" Pu-erh??

When you say "does not compute", I assume you're referring to the authorities who tell you all Puerh is made compressed (cake, brick, etc.) But they're apparently wrong. I've had loose Puerhs from a few reputable vendors. I have to say, though, that none of the loose Puerhs I've tried has been as good as what seem to me comparable compressed ones. Is this a trend? I can't say. In any case, it's safe to say that Puerh is confusing.

/Lew

I think you clued me. Caked pu-erh is stacked in caves for years or decades, where it can ferment and undergo other transformations. I bet if you just leave it in piles it composts inside. So the loose-leaf pu-erh might be the "fresh" product, without any of the effects of aging.

--Blair "Good thing we no step in it." -Cheech y Chong

Blair P. Houghton rose and spake the following:

Doubtful. I have "loose" pu-erh in my cabinet. It's aged.

It might just have to do with how it's aged, and how it's arranged during that process; but I suspect there's a bit more to making pu-erh cakes than just letting it compost together. Some of that stuff is shaped like little mushrooms. Hmm. But I guess they could take bricks of the stuff and shape them, and the whittlings would be...

Loose, aged pu-erh! Could it be? Is this the secret?....

Don't you just love it when people who have no idea make wild-eyed guesses? ;O)

Clever idea, if not very practical. But the orientation of both surface and bulk leaves in the tuochas I've examined makes clear that they were pressed into final form. Ditto round bingchas. Interestingly, some of the (few) fangchas I've seen seem pressed, some cut from a longer strip.

-DM

Honestly, I've not observed enough pu-erh to have formed much of an opinion, but if pressed I would have guessed that they are pressed.

So (now) I'm guessing the touchas are the little mushrooms, with bingchas being round cakes? Fangchas I can't envision, although since you say "cut from a longer strip" they must be strips. Or...

Wait, why am I hounding you? Google is my friend!

Hmmm...

I must admit to an affliction: I am almost uttery monolingual. I sense danger. That is, I have a feeling that there are linguistic subtleties here beyond "foo == round" or "baz == square" that I don't grasp. But it does look like "tuochas" can be little bowls.

This page looks interesting:

"Tuancha, varies in size from approximately golf ball size to much larger. At one time when balls of tea were used as tribute tea, they would be in the size of a human head. Appropriately called 'Head Tea'."

Yow!

So is "pu-erh": a variety of bush; a district; a method of crushing and baking; the method of making cakes; a brand name; or something else?

I was surfing the net and found a webpage discussing the serious portion of the early history of tea (not that silliness about boiling water for blah when the wind blew leaves into a pot), which indicated that in China tea was pressed into cakes and "used as currency". Makes sense. Tea of average quality would be fungible. Naturally, not all tea is of average quality, but Gresham's law keeps your economy on an average-quality basis.

--Blair "Not to go off-topic or nothing."

That, sir, is an understatement.

Awesome link. Great find.

Pu-Erh is a town. Excellent info. So anything might come from there, from compressed tea to special implements to interesting methods.

I like this one.

"This tea was originally used as "bricks" for trade with bordering countries. Tea was used as money. The compressed tea was easy to transport, lasted forever, and was convenient to make tea from by shaving off a portion to add to the water."

Which means only one thing:

Money does grow on trees.

--Blair "It's justice that you can't find in the Bushes."

May I also recommend:

-DM

You can also found Tea Bricks of Pu-Erh specially made for ONE cup !

"Pu Erh Tea Brick Compressed into a tea brick for a single cup, this Pu-Er keeps its flavour full and genuine. " at