Need some advice on puer

"Puerh - The Velveeta of Teas"

--crymad

Lew,

On the one hand, I wasn't completely serious either. On the other hand, you were obviously too clever for me, since I didn't pick up your reference. Ah, well - more brain cells dying every day; maybe I need to drink more tea.

Doug

I also agree you need to be careful with the time and amount until you know the tea. Some black Puers you can steep seemingly indefinitely, others not, and I suspect (though I don't know for sure) that green Puers are MUCH more susceptible to over-steeping. You could probably steep the black Large Leaf Puer from Shan Shui I mentioned for 12 or 15 minutes (maybe even more), and it would still be fine. Other Puers I've had would I think be undrinkable after that long, and might even start eating through the pot.

If you find that Assam, please let us know. I found one that came close at SpecialTeas, then of course they ran out, and haven't gotten in this year's crop yet (which of course may not be as good as last year's - sigh). I haven't found one as good yet.

I kinda sorta like honeybush for evenings too. But it's a long long way from tea, unfortunately.

Doug

Heh, I have one (two, even) for which the best tools for removing chunks are a wood chisel and a rubber mallet. (Have to be careful not to scar the counter....)

N.

Mike,

I have a feeling that if a puerh is not a whole leaf variety but rather a broken leaf (Like Dai bamboo) it is better not to further break the break-off piece. It actually prolongs the extraction during the coarse of several steeps and makes them less contrast. To my surprise it stayed intact (more or less) through 4 steeps and fell apart only later. That made my first steeps less intense and my late steeps stronger and more consistent with the earlier. To break it off I carefilly insert a sharp knife couple of times along the line that I want to break it off and carefully detach the piece. It comes off the cake pretty solid. I also noticed that this way it is also less sensitive to hotter steeps probably because the inner part is not getting skolded right away. I guess the whole leaf cakes do not require this for obvious reasons. Also the whole leaf cake won't hold on in one piece for a long time anyway.

Just an observation.

Sasha.

That seems complicated. I use a cork screw, the simple model in shape of T. It is always possible to find a little hole to attack the block and then you just turn the tool to get deeper. When you pull it out, small blocks of tea come with it. No strength is needed. I had tried the ice-pick and mallet before, and that didn't work for me.

Kuri

Natarajan snipped-for-privacy@iefbr14.dyndns.org9/23/04

For serious divisioning of this tea, a band saw is recommended. Talk to me about how you find its taste and style. M

Alex Chaihorsky_Fv4d.18468$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com9/23/04

And a good one, I'd say. I did a similar thing yesterday, noting that the HKbtC pieces waited until later steeps to come apart completely. Speaking of which I'm not entirely sure that I'm not harming my teas' potential by using the particular pot I dedicated to Pu-erh. While the tea tastes good and smells fine in cup, there is a "funky" smell from the pot itself sometimes that disturbs me. This pot is about 8 ounces, and is made of what appears to be rather porous clay, probably at a lower firing, judging from the "clunk" as opposed to "clink" of the tapped surface. It's a factory production. I had bought it new and used it for Pu-erhs most of its life. This is a bit discouraging.

Michael

ccciu2ki$1i9$ snipped-for-privacy@bgsv5647.tk.mesh.ad.jp9/23/04 04: snipped-for-privacy@spam.com

Kuri,

I'm going to examine the brick again, but it looks impervious to such treatment.

Michael

There are so few things in life that one can afford to just get rid of if one's expectations are not met, that if you have even slightiest dislike of your chahu - throw the damn thing away and treat yourself to a better one. Or boil it for couple of hours and see if it helps, if you are frugal, as a true New Yorker should be (or a tinkerer). My guess you may have mold in large-pore chahus. NYT is a humid place and mold has a better chance there. BTW - its not precisely the topic, buy you may be interested to know what I was told by serious yixing people in China. The true test of yixing zisha pot short of chemical tests is the fact that yixing pot before it was ever used has a sort of metallic clank. After it is brought to contact with water the clank "muffles" a bit. If no such difference can be noted, suspicion should arise. It is also interesting to know that zisha means not "purple clay" but "purple sandstone" and raw zisha is a piece of clayey sandstone that needs to be broken and crushed first. These quartz sand particles that are very uniform in size are responsible for zisha's special porous qualities and mecahnical sturdiness. Because of that, a large-pore pot most probably cannot be made of yixing zisha. Your pot is probably made of other variaties of red clays of China (there are several).

Sasha.

Alex ChaihorskyGLG4d.18791$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com9/23/04

Buhu. I only mentioned it because I *do* indeed like my chahu. It's round as a baseball and suggestive of a lotus flower bud. The fat little feet and the largish upturned spout are elephantine. The only thing I don't know is whether the lotus flower is the mother or the father.

Aha. So, it's *not* the metalic clink, but the **change** to a clunk after water meets the pot. I take it both the pre- and post-water test is done on a completely dry pot, right? Very interesting indeed.

It was made in Taiwan in a factory. It is not handworked, I'm sure. It is humble, just like you and me, Sasha.

Michael

Another term I've seen is zishayao 'purple sand kiln'. Yixing is also known for insulative property. I've seen Yixing pots of 30oz for about $100. Yixing pottery also includes vases and urns but not affordable.

Jim

I never heard of puerh teas until now. I am going to find some to try out. I came in to talk about gunpowder tea. I work in a gun range an know what will open your tea. the new ruger 204 that goes 4225 feet per second should make a explosion of leaves.

I may be acting silly. but I will be back to this ng. I don't have a yak horn(yet) but I am going for that tea

I bough the puerh tea and it is very drinkable. some times serch new grops pays off.

thank you for enlightening me.

My comments were that it was categorically the least disagreeable Puerh I had ever tasted. As for love, I'm not always looking for life-long commitment with teas. But wouldn't even go on a second date with Puerh.

Yes, Puerh camp. With damp, moldy lodgings, unwashed clothes, and rank outhouses.

--crymad