My first Pu Er

So I tried my first Pu Er (or what is sold as Pu Er) today. Very different. :-) The term earthy really does it justice. I think I am going to come to enjoy this particular tea, a lot.

Reply to
Aaron Hsu
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heh, I think everyone (myself included) hears the "earthy" term thrown around and thinks they know what it means... and then they have a cup :) All I can say is to try a number of both cooked and uncooked because the variance between Puerh is insane. I really like the "wild, old tree" cooked stuff personally but I've had a few good cooked and uncooked of different types and factories too... I've also waded through quite a lot of terrible stuff both cheap and expensive. Tea involves a lot of variables as it is and Puerh easily doubles them so every little detail matters like storage, processing, quality, etc. to an even greater degree. I don't love it enough to devote a significant portion of my life to it which it would indeed require as it is a world of it's own, Mike Petro's page is still a major resource for me.

I'm not sure if you've ever delved into Kombucha or not but if you like earthy and unique it is a great side addition to normal teas, although I buy mine bottled and don't get into the cultivation stuff.

- Dominic

Reply to
Dominic T.

Nobody serves the good stuff to a beginner! So rejoice! Because it only gets better from here!

Reply to
beecrofter

Quite right! Hah. Actually, what surprised me was that when I heard that it was an ``earthy'' tea, I thought that it would have a bit of grit to it. Amazingly, it really was smooth and earthy at the same time. I thought that was kind of an oxymoron before I tried some. :-P

Actually, while I like it in my first testings, I don't have the time, either, to go fishing around to find the absolute best. I think I'll have plenty of fun to start with using the stuff I got from Little Mountain. I have two cans, so I'm interested to see how the tastes vary from the same company. After I finish this off, which may take a while, I'll see where else this tea leads me.

Reply to
Aaron Hsu

Yes, puerh earthy is a good thing for me, I've been enjoying a Yunnan sourcing cooked (the premium melon cooked tuo from Jiu Wan if anyone wants to know) the last few days (I shouldn't have used a whole tuo though, it was like 15 grams and kept going...and going...and going. I think I still hadn't gotten all I could've out of it before I had to dispose of it.). The humus-y thing puts me in mind of, I think it was Lord of the Rings maybe? The Ents (tree beings) were much into the taste of various types of earth and it's textures etc. It was in the book, not the movie, if it was LotR.

I'm not a puerh aficianado as such (I don't pay attention to specific vintages, recipies, etc.) but I do like a cup and when I find one I like I return to it. The shu doesn't seem to bug my stomach as much as say a green oolong, and I really can drink it all day long.

Melinda

Reply to
Melinda

ex-girlfriend of mine likes pu-er with honey in it! Never tried that myself.

Reply to
Bonky

I love Pu Er and have tried any that I have found. The price isn't always indicative of quality. The most common comment I get when introducing others to this tea is: "it tastes like dirt". Right on! I love it for my first cup of tea in the AM, before my hatha/pranayama practice. Wakes you up and calms the digestive system.

Reply to
fluxustulip

I'm reading all of these "dirty, earthy" notes and must butt in: some shus and many shengs are smooth, mellow, and more OR less robust. I would suggest reading the list at Livejournal (community.livejournal.com/puerh_tea) or checking out some critiques on Pu-erh.net. My favourite pus are older, mellower, and very, very complex. Considering pu characteristics as simplistic as a loamy adjective is not giving might Pu its due - like saying "greens are fishy". Buy samples of good pu from good vendors: Yunnan Sourcing, Dragon House and, of course, HouDeAsian all sell very worthwhile samples at a small price. After tasting several you'll begin to discern the lengthy variety of flavours that arise in a cup of pu-erh. Use a Yixing and make a small bit; try multiple infusions and distinguish the changes from pour to pour. But, PLEASE, NEVER insult pu-erh with an uninspired categorical description. Shen (sipping 2004 Chan-Tai Jin Zhu Shan Yeh Sheng Wild Beeng) - uncooked pu-erh, yet round, smooth, barely astringent. More delicate and hauntingly aromatic. Even in the 5th, 6th and 7th infusion, the liquor remains amber and sweet. A pu that will age extremely well.

Reply to
Shen

I tried tea before doing asanas and I found that I don't like the effect at all, but I've only tried blacks, greens and white teas. Now that you mentioned pu-erh, I realize that it may be more suitable for asanas, but the trouble is that I always waste too much time when making pu-erh with a gaiwan and many infusions, and I feel like I'm wasting a good pu-erh if I brew it in a standard fashion, with large volume and 1-2 infusions. How do you deal with that? Do you use cheaper pu-erh so that you don't feel guilty for making it in a pot? Or maybe it doesn't make much difference to you? -ak

Reply to
andrei.avk

I practice yoga, as well and you may want to learn gung fu style tea service - the ritual and discipline work rather well, before and after. Shen

Reply to
Shen

I'm reading all of these "dirty, earthy" notes and must butt in: some shus and many shengs are smooth, mellow, and more OR less robust. I would suggest reading the list at Livejournal (community.livejournal.com/puerh_tea) or checking out some critiques on Pu-erh.net. My favourite pus are older, mellower, and very, very complex. Considering pu characteristics as simplistic as a loamy adjective is not giving might Pu its due - like saying "greens are fishy". Buy samples of good pu from good vendors: Yunnan Sourcing, Dragon House and, of course, HouDeAsian all sell very worthwhile samples at a small price. After tasting several you'll begin to discern the lengthy variety of flavours that arise in a cup of pu-erh. Use a Yixing and make a small bit; try multiple infusions and distinguish the changes from pour to pour. But, PLEASE, NEVER insult pu-erh with an uninspired categorical description. Shen (sipping 2004 Chan-Tai Jin Zhu Shan Yeh Sheng Wild Beeng) - uncooked pu-erh, yet round, smooth, barely astringent. More delicate and hauntingly aromatic. Even in the 5th, 6th and 7th infusion, the liquor remains amber and sweet. A pu that will age extremely well.

Oh dear Shen, I'm afraid I don't measure up to your standards for tasting ability...in fact this is something I've noticed about myself and while I do concentrate hard sometimes I can't seem to get the huge wide breadth of adjectives about taste to occur to me. I thought using the word "loamy" was an indication of growth in my tea tasting vocabularly, you have wounded me deeply. ;)

Seriously though, I'm seeing huge differences in people's ability to discern various taste nuances in tea (if I go by what they say on their tasting logs). I really do think it's something physical, not just a person not concentrating or being careless or whatever. After all, not everyone is a great perfumer for example.

Melinda, who also thinks the term "camphor" is used perhaps too much in describing sheng puerh.

Reply to
Melinda

I don't think "earthy" is an insult at all, as it is the root of what Puerh is all about. Sure from there it is an amazing voyage into any number of directions, flavors, and experiences I don't think anyone would argue that.

As for tasting or vocabulary, I find most of it useless and to some degree pretentious... just as I find most tasting notes on wines. I don't think a never ending flow of words helps to convey much. I can get hints and feelings of hundreds of things upon both the dry leaf and brew but simply listing them as in a wine review doesn't really mean anything. Sure, I may get charcoal, raisin, wood, chocolate, flowers, and on and on upon hitting it off with a Shui Xian but while some may like that list I'd rather focus on the whole package and not small (almost atomic) hints and notes and waftings. I'm not saying I even come close to conveying everything I wished I could about each tea I drink, but I also would rather just go with what is off the top of my head and a basic overview and let the experience be up to the individual from there since to me that is all that matters anyhow.

- Dominic

Reply to
Dominic T.

Actually, the combination of smooth yet earthy and robust tastes gave me the biggest surprise in my tastings of Pu Er. The Pu Er that I am drinking now is very nice (to my limited buds) because it tastes both earthy and smooth.

Reply to
Aaron Hsu

I'm sure we vary in native sensory abilities. But I think what we're born with is dwarfed by the abilities some of us, at least, develop through experience. The experience, I think, consists of concentrating on the taste and, especially, aroma of different teas and also verbalizing the sensory experience so it's easier to remember in the future. There was a study published in a respectable scientific journal showing that, with enough training, humans could track scents about as well as dogs.

I completely agree.

/Lew

Reply to
Lewis Perin

I agree. When we lived up in Sonoma County, we could not help but drown ourselves in all the wonders of Sonoma County wine. While I heard the "wineheads" use words describing a red I had just quaffed as "tobacco", "chocolate" or whatever, my mind would snap to attention, delve into the glass, examine more carefully what I had just enjoyed (or loathed) and attempt to get it - "oh, yeah. I taste some of that, too." What the verbal experience did was encourage me to go deeper into my personal enjoyment experience and be more discerning - more aware. The complexities of these tastings taught me to acknowledge the grape, the season, the condition and age of the vine, the soil, the farmer, the vintner, the barrel, the bottle and even the label. I don't find the breadth of descriptions at all pretentious. It's just more fun and enlightens the experience for me to look into this cup of tea with more curiosity and much, much more gratitude. The nuances I've discovered have enhanced my life; just as nuances in any delightful observance enhance my life. Having a cup of tea with this perspective urges me to be grateful and in the hub-bub of our daily lives, the war, an election year, the economy, I crave the simplicity AND the intricacy of a peaceful cup of tea. Shen

Reply to
Shen

I agree. When we lived up in Sonoma County, we could not help but drown ourselves in all the wonders of Sonoma County wine. While I heard the "wineheads" use words describing a red I had just quaffed as "tobacco", "chocolate" or whatever, my mind would snap to attention, delve into the glass, examine more carefully what I had just enjoyed (or loathed) and attempt to get it - "oh, yeah. I taste some of that, too." What the verbal experience did was encourage me to go deeper into my personal enjoyment experience and be more discerning - more aware. The complexities of these tastings taught me to acknowledge the grape, the season, the condition and age of the vine, the soil, the farmer, the vintner, the barrel, the bottle and even the label. I don't find the breadth of descriptions at all pretentious. It's just more fun and enlightens the experience for me to look into this cup of tea with more curiosity and much, much more gratitude. The nuances I've discovered have enhanced my life; just as nuances in any delightful observance enhance my life. Having a cup of tea with this perspective urges me to be grateful and in the hub-bub of our daily lives, the war, an election year, the economy, I crave the simplicity AND the intricacy of a peaceful cup of tea. Shen

This is a little off topic but: I can't help but remember an article about a wine critic that I read years ago, it's a famous critic but I don't remember his name nor where I read the article (I'm sure I could find it on Google someplace) anyhow this particular critic apparently used the term "fruit bomb" quite frequently which I found amusing...it became, according to the article, very overused, and its meaning became diluted because of that. Personally I'd love to find more reds that were more fruit bomb and less burning "oaky" tannins, but that's another topic...

I definitely agree with you Lew but I didn't explain to all that I used to smoke years ago and while my sinuses have recovered somewhat, I also have bad allergies so...at least right now my nose isn't really helping much and smell is so important to taste. That's probably why I feel so clueless when some teas are described as so complex and I don't get that when I taste them. It doesn't mean I don't enjoy tea though, it's more like seeing 4 different shades of red instead of 50. I don't think my equipment is up to very fine nuances at this time. So...I get what I can, lol. Which is what we all do. I CAN tell the difference between a less smooth shu and a more smooth shu though...I remember my first camel mini-tuos that weren't bad but they weren't as smooth as others I've had since then.

Melinda

Reply to
Melinda

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