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Pu'erh Information for Novice

I am experimenting with different types of teas (making a break from the herbal beverages). So far I have tried and enjoyed most of the green teas, Oolongs and only 1 white (white peony). Loose and tea bags. Not interested in the black teas....which leads me to my main question:

Is Pu'erh tea considered a 'black' tea?

The reason I'm asking...got sample tea bag that stated that it contained a Pu-erh Oolong tea. Tasted OK, I guess ... smelled fishy-like.

And I thought that I saw someplace while researching that Pu'erh also came in a green tea.

However, when I check online shoppes, Pu'erh seems to be categorized as a black tea ONLY.

What type of tea is Pu-erh, really?

If it comes in a green or Oolong loose, where can I find it?

Reply to
parislexi
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"parislexi" wrote in news:1168200138.206618.315660@

38g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

...

Black (also called Cooked, Ripe, Red, Shu) Pu-erh is the same variety of tea used in Green Pu-erh which has gone through an extra oxidation step.

Green (also called Uncooked, Raw, Sheng) Pu-erh is green tea put through a special process. It is made from varieties of the tea plant. "...However many connoisseurs only consider puerh to be authentic if it is made from one of the Yunnan Big Leaf varieties of the tea plant."

The above was adapted from Mike Petro's site, , which is an exhaustive on-line reference on the subject. The site also contains a list of on-line pu-erh sources.

Upton Tea , based in America, has a variety of Pu-erhs (it's pricey, but you get quick delivery). (Mostly I get mini tuochas there, which I run throgh pretty quickly.)

Yunan Souring LLC , has a great variety of Pu-erhs; its proprietor is very helpful. Only drawback is it ships from Yunan province which takes approx. 3-5 weeks. (Expidited shipping available.) There are other tea stores on Ebay, too.

HTH

Ozzy

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Ozzy

Reply to
parislexi

"parislexi" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@i15g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

You're welcome.

Ozzy

Reply to
Ozzy

The stuff you are ordering from Upton will be "cooked" puerh, which generally means it has been post-fermented to create the earthy taste that you will find. It will brew very dark brown/black, and might be a bit offputting if you are not into that kind of thing.

The other variety is technically a form of green tea (until it starts fermenting and turns into puerh -- over time). Generally we refer those as raw puerh.

I'd suggest buying small samples to try before jumping in wholesale. Yunnan Sourcing is thus a bad place to start. Rather, I think you can try a place like Hou De Asian Art

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where they sell small samples of stuff, aged or not aged, so you can see the spectrum for yourself. Reading about it can only tell you so much.

MarshalN

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Reply to
MarshalN

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