No, because the processes are not the same. Here they are trying to dry out the otherwise still rather wet leaves. In the case of oolongs, they are already dry (more or less) and are roasting them. The heat, I'd imagine, are also not quite the same.
I didn't mean employees smoking, more like the stove where they use to produce the steam to soften the tea (so they can be pressed) is leaking smoke, or some such.
M Aha. So, only *some* young sheng Pu'erhs provide the essenses your Mother identified. Who knows what taste and smell adventures await. Will you find the holy grail of Pu'erh? Will you share it with your Mom?
DM A truly old fine aged Pu'erh is a gentle delight, not an assault. It's young Poo of which you speak.
DM Could it be the additives?
Sorry for unmitigated ridicule.
Michael
snipped-for-privacy@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com10/27/06
14: snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com
Here in NYC, we've had some very interesting discussions on the nega- and posit-tivity of that quality. Negative, you say? It's downright disgustin'
Michael
Lewis snipped-for-privacy@panix1.panix.com10/27/06 15: snipped-for-privacy@panix.com
I should have read this post before I hit the send button. Are you implying that there can be *too much* sarcasm? Come on, Lew; you **like** that cigar thing, don't you? Eh??
Seriouisly, I've come to appreciate a touch of it, when the smoke is in balance with other qualities. Sometimes, however, it ain't (in balance, that is).
Michael
MarshalN
I do not doubt you, but are you sure that this is true for all the different "smoke" tastes and aromas you can get from young sheng Pu'erh? The one we think of as similar to cigar ash seems quite different from the charcoal-like smoke smell we get occasionally from other cakes. If you are right, it puts a new spin on smoke.
So, do you see no possibility of some kinds of smokey tastes being more intrinsic to the leaf?
Michael
As far as I am aware, big leaf varietal tea from Yunnan does not taste smokey... and any kind of smoke in any kind of tea is not natural.
Now, I don't know what cigar ash taste/smell you're describing is, so I can't tell you what you're thinking of might or might not be intrinsic to the tea. If it's an aged tea, then yes, maybe it's part of a taste profile of some sort of aging trajectory that develops something like that. If it's young, it's probably from the processing.
This is especially true if the smoke taste is most present in the first few infusions that gradually fades away.
I've read that sometimes a smoky flavour does NOT show up right away in a new tea, but rather takes a little time to show, and then a few more years to fade away. I will still chalk this up to processing though.
MarshalN
Ah, thanks! Just the right amount of sarcasm.
/Lew
So you don't LIKE lapsang souchong?
--scott
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