PLEASE STOP

Well, on a tea related note I got a couple of pu erh cakes recently. I had only tried one green and a couple black before that, but at this point green pu erh has become one of my absolute favorite teas. I got a green cake from In Pursuit of Tea and a green and black one from Imperial Tea. I like the black one well enough, and the green one from Imperial Tea is very good although it can get quite bitter. They are both very enjoyable teas, but I really think I found something special with the green beencha from IPOT. It is less bitter than the other two green pu erh I've tried, which is great because I can brew it up with more leaf and get more flavor without it burning my tastebuds off.

Has anyone brewed green pu erh gong fu style? I tried to do it with the Imperial Tea green pu erh but man, it was the most bitter and astringent thing I've ever tasted.

Why not try it with about as many grams of tea as ounces of water, and

*very* short steeps? You may be using too much leaf or steeping it too long.

/Lew

Usually, unless the tea is naturally like that, that means that you let it brew for too long. Were you using a pot or a gaiwain? I've done sheng pu'er gongfu style. Steeps for pu'er should be done very, very short this way.

Mydnight

-------------------- thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.

Ok, so now I've got a question - the answer to which may make me eat a little crow.

With regards to puerh, if one were steeping a typical loose leaf variety, how long and how hot?

Gongfu style? I don't really drink it other than when using gongfu style, so I only know it that way. But, from what I've seen and experienced, Mike would do well to please reply to this thread and verify what i'm saying or refute it, use boiling water and let it steep for only a few seconds (15-20?) before serving. I've also seen it done where it was steeped only by pouring the water over the leaves and then immediately it was served.

I guess it would depend on your quality of tea, though. Pu'er is pretty heavy in that it can last a bit longer than most teas, usually.

It's confusing, really. I've also seen it done with water just below boiling as well.

I go with my method, and I don't go wrong.

Mydnight

-------------------- thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.

On Mon, 17 Jan 2005 03:18:19 GMT, Mydnight cast caution to the wind and posted:

an endless night.

How hot is easy, for black puer (which I assume is what you have) I always use full boiling water. For green puer it depends on how astringent it is, if it is a bitter tea I will go down to 195 but normally I use water just off the boil.

How long is more a matter of personal taste and depends greatly on what brewing method you are using. For Gongfu style I would do the first steep at 15-20 seconds (actually 3-5 breaths) and increase the time with each successive steep. For more conventional brewing methods I would use 3-5 minutes, depending on the leaf to water ratio, more leaf less time, less leaf more time etc. For example if I were using some sort of a basket method I might use 5-8g of leaf in a 16oz pot and steep it for 3-5 minutes, after a brief rinse. See

for more detailed info. (my server is down right now but should be back up later today)

What brewing method are you using?

Mike Petro snipped-for-privacy@pu-erh.net

remove the "filter" in my email address to reply

an endless night.

Well, that answers that question. I wasn't doing gongfu. I was steeping it just like my other teas. And I was steeping it just like you said you did above for your "basket method."

Looks like I don't get to eat crow after all.

an endless night.

Basically as I've stated above. The first few steeps are very short indeed. I usually use more than the standard amount of tea for gongfu cha, so I can brew for longer and enjoy myself with friends longer. I always use the hottest water for shu and sheng, but I'll try it your way next time; I didn't think of it that way before since it is sorta 'green' like a green tea.

My girlfriend, a local in Guangdong, wants to know how you came to learn so much about pu'er? Did you live in Yunnan for a period of time?

Mydnight

-------------------- thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.

Lewis snipped-for-privacy@panix2.panix.com1/16/05 20: snipped-for-privacy@panix.com

If that was the ITC Green Bamboo Pu'erh discs, they can be disgusting, to coin a phrase, some might say unsalvagable. It ain't you; it's the tea. If it were this particular tea, here are the correct brewing paramaters: Place

10 ounces of boiling water into the teapot, and 5 grams of dry tea on a paper towel beside the teapot. Wait ten minutes. Drink the water. Discard the tea.

Michael

20: snipped-for-privacy@panix.com

disgusting, to

Haha, well it wasn't the bamboo pu erh, but thanks for the tip. Is that stuff really THAT bad? It must be pretty out there, because pu erh itself seems to be a pretty strange taste to most people.

Well, I've tried decreasing the leaf amount and steeping time but the resulting "tea" could easily burn through pavement. It must be the tea because I've tried it with the other pu erhs which turn out great. Perhaps after it ages a few years it won't be so harsh, but it's strange because I enjoy the pleasant bitterness and astringency of the other young green pu erhs. Oh well, nothing wrong with throwing it in the closet for a while.

Well, I liked it a lot when I tried it a couple of times over the last two years or so. It's not exactly refined, to put it mildly, but it has lots of flavor (and lots of different flavors): musty, smoky, fruity in an almost apple cider way. Maybe not balanced and integrated, but for sure not boring.

/Lew

I've been brewing ITC Aged Green Puerh Tuo Cha somewhat Gong Fu style in a small 4oz. Zisha Gaiwan. I use a good bit of leaf, but don't measure. Once wet and expanded it fills a little less than 2/3rds of the gaiwan. I don't fill the gaiwan with water, since the small cup I use only holds 2-3 ounces. I've been experimenting with water temps from 160-190F, and steeps starting around 15-20 seconds. A few extra seconds and it can become pretty strong. Once you get the feel for it you are rewarded with excellent tea with a nice sweet aftertaste. I can go through thermos of water with the same set of leaves. I increase the steep time but stick to 20 seconds for the first 3 -

4 steeps. Then I gradually increase it as the tea weakens. By the end of the thermos I'm at 50 seconds to a little over a minute.

Hope this helps some. I'm off to heat some water!

Blues