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Please someone explain differences in four pu-erhs.

Not knowing much about teas I am really confused with pu-erh classifications or variations;

there are cooked and uncooked, raw and ripe pu-erh teas. Do they all still have a typical, distinctive, earthy pu-erh aroma, or they greatly differ ? I don't mean differences in quality, I mean differences in their smell and taste.

Why they cook the tea before pressing it into a cake ?

If I purchase a cake of raw pu-erh, do I leave it first to age couple of years in order to get that specific earthy smell and taste?

Thank you.

Reply to
Lynxy
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See Mike Petro's Pu'er site for a good grounding in these issues:

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/Lew

Reply to
Lewis Perin

"cooked" is just another term for "ripe" or shu (shou); "uncooked" (as you'd imagine) is just another term for "raw" or "green" (sheng). "Ripe" is really probably a better translation of shu than "cooked", because the tea isn't literally cooked; it's more like composting.

Ripe tea is attempting to simulate the taste of well aged tea. However, the taste of ripe tea is generally a little less complex and subtle than a well stored aged sheng.

A couple of years probably won't do much. You are talking about more like 15-30 years at a minimum... maybe longer if you live somewhere fairly dry.

Reply to
Will Yardley

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