Puerh, Aging and the real name!

While intrepidly exploring rec.food.drink.tea, Michael Ryan rolled initiative and posted the following:

I realize that this is only a typo, but it does give a number of rather goofy ideas, such as:

I knew that coke was used in the production of steel. I didn't realize it was used in processing tea.

Michael snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com1/14/04

mandsj,

Not that I'm doubting your authority, but could you perhaps tell us just a little bit more about yourself, your tea business, and your yixing pots.

Question: What is the best way to season (cure) my new yixing zisha gungfu teapots? (They ring beautifully, lids fit well, pour beautifully, and are of a pleasing color and simple, functional form.)

Michael

I can attest to the quality of his offerings. I just received a 10kg package from him today filled with a bamboo wash tray, Yixing teapot, reserve pot, and matching cups in a most intricate and beautiful design. The teapot is crafted to look like natural wood and is so realistic that it is absolutely stunning. The package also included about 8 different types of puerh.

I was most pleased with his service and offerings. His prices are pretty good by US standards but shipping from China is high so make sure you factor that in. I will definitely order from him again! I found out about him from another post in this newsgroup who also appeared to be satisfied.

Just my 2 cents worth,

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

Michael, first you know from our correspondence that I respect you, heck I just bought a couple hundred dollars worth of tea and Yixing from you.

I am really a little confused about your use of the terms un-cooked and cooked. I have looked a t a lot of Puerh sites and your site is the ONLY place I have ever heard these terms used. Now admittedly I do not understand chinese so I have only really looked at english sites. However every single other english site that I have seen uses the terms Green and Black. I have even seen some chinese sites refer to it as green/black.

I correspond with a gentlemen from Singapore who is also somewhat of an expert and a serious collector. I mean this guy can look at an old cake and tell you the vintage, factory, grade, and current value. He has impressed me repeatedly with his knowledge and I have come to trust him. I asked him about the terms green/black cooked/uncooked and his response was "Generally Puerh tea is offered in 2 varieties, Green or Black, but different factories/makers will actually process the teas differently, resulting in some combinations like 40% oxidized,

I am not challenging you, heck I trust you as you are more straight forward about puerh qualities and vintages than just about any other vendor I have seen. It's just that what you are saying is contradictory to everything I learned so far. How can every other English site be wrong? Can you, or any of the other readers, offer some corroborating sites that use these same terms?

Humbly

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

Michael, first you know from our correspondence that I respect you, heck I just bought a couple hundred dollars worth of tea and Yixing from you.

I am really a little confused about your use of the terms un-cooked and cooked. I have looked a t a lot of Puerh sites and your site is the ONLY place I have ever heard these terms used. Now admittedly I do not understand chinese so I have only really looked at english sites. However every single other english site that I have seen uses the terms Green and Black. I have even seen some chinese sites refer to it as green/black.

I correspond with a gentlemen from Singapore who is also somewhat of an expert and a serious collector. I mean this guy can look at an old cake and tell you the vintage, factory, grade, and current value. He has impressed me repeatedly with his knowledge and I have come to trust him. I asked him about the terms green/black cooked/uncooked and his response was "Generally Puerh tea is offered in 2 varieties, Green or Black, but different factories/makers will actually process the teas differently, resulting in some combinations like 40% oxidized,

I am not challenging you, heck I trust you as you are more straight forward about puerh qualities and vintages than just about any other vendor I have seen. It's just that what you are saying is contradictory to everything I learned so far. How can every other English site be wrong? Can you, or any of the other readers, offer some corroborating sites that use these same terms?

Humbly

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

Sorry I goofed, didnt mean to send it twice...... Mike Petro snipped-for-privacy@pu-erh.net

Awesome post. Thank you.

--Tom

PS I also thought that Derek would appreciate another non-Mike in this thread.

--Tom

-oo- ""\o~

------------------------------------ "H*mo sum, humani nil a me alienum puto." Terrance

are the mushroom shaped pu-erh cakes favored by tibetans classically cooked or uncooked? until recently i've only seen cooked.

-ben

Hello, All

Instead of boring everyone I will just paste a link to my about-us page on our website. This should answer you questions about my Business and me.

As for curing your teapot I will tell you what Xu Han Tang' s brother Xu Xui Tang says in his book about Yixing teapots. For your reference, in case you do no not know who Xu Han Tang is he is the best Yixing teapot artists alive today. They say he is as good as Gu Jing Zhou was when he was alive.

Here is his method of curing a teapot.

Take the intended tea to be used in the new pot and put some in a large cooking pot (clay pot preferred to avoid any metal taste) place your teapot inside and bring it to a boil. Once the pot boils shut the fire off and let it sit until the water it cold and repeat this for about 3 times. Only one exception a true high grade Green clay will have an extra strong earthy smell or taste it may take more the three times for true high-grade green clay to treat. That is it after this the best way to treat this teapot is use it. I personally do not get too fancy with the treating I have found that moving the tea tray next to me PC allows me to drink a lot more tea and I always pour the excess tea over the pots sitting on the tray this works great.

About Us:------>>>

They all start from the exact same type of tealeaves and then….

#1. Un-cooked Puerh is picked, crumpled, dried, steamed and then compressed into different shapes.

#1 Result: Green Puerh or Un-cooked Puerh or Sheng Puerh or whatever you want to call it.

#2. Cooked Puerh is picked, crumpled, dried, WATERED DOWN AND PLACED IN A PILE AND LET SIT FOR A FEW DAYS UNTIL THE LEAVES TURN DARK BROWN and then steamed and compressed.

#2 Result: Black Puerh, Cooked Puerh, Shu Puerh or whatever you call it.

I only put CAPS to emphasize the difference in the process I am not yelling LOL. As you can see, it is all most the same except for the CAPS part.

No matter who you are or where you come from you cannot deny the way the tea is processed or the end-result. Therefore, it makes sense to call it cooked or un-cooked just like the Chinese Puerh tea manufactures do. I think they would know best because they have been calling it cooked or uncooked for years.

mandjs

Hello, Ben

The mushroom teas you are referring to are made by just about the most famous Puerh tea company in China Xia Guan. They come both in cooked and un-coked however, I have read that the Tibetan prefer the un-cooked version because it is an essential part of their Butter Milk tea they make also Tibetan people have a large diet of meant and this tea can help aid in the digestion of the meat. As I am sitting here writing this I am drinking some of the Mushroom Puerh and I must say it is a great Puerh. I assume the reason why the un-cooked is more popular then the cooked is because the cooked makes their Milk tea taste horrid LOL.

Sincerely, Michael Ryan

Michael snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com1/15/04

major snippage here

From the SQD "(Stupid Question Department), we have...

Do you mean put new tea in new water and start the process again (3x) or just turn the existing tea-in-a-cooking-pot water on again, let it cool, and turn it on once again? I gather the latter from your grammatical construction.

That, and, if you do the pouring correctly (I'm given to believe), you "overflow" the pot each time you pour, causing tea to cascade down the outer wall of the teapot. (Directions above sound sane. [Not that everyone else's curing instructions to our little tea family here on rfdt were nuts.])

And the Big Question from the SQD this morning (It's 0700 hours in New York City): If we ignore all curing and seasoning instructions and just use our teapot, say, four times a day for year will we and our teapot arrive at the same place as we would had we "cured" and "seasoned"?

BTW, Mike Pietro, your attestation is noted. Thanks. You are so right: Those shipping costs are a killer.

Michael

Michael snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com1/15/04

The only little semantic problem we have here IMHO is that the English word "cooked" is generic and can mean boiled, steamed, fried, roasted, toasted, fired, baked, whatever. Therein might lie the source of our confusion. Just don't call us late for dinner, and we'll all get along fine.

Michael

then..

then

whatever

PLACED

DARK BROWN

you call

Haven't you left out the aging part here?

Someone in this forum (I think it was Mr Livio Zanini) described two types of Pu'erh called "raw" and "artificially ripened". I take it that "raw" corresponds to "uncooked" and "artificially ripened" to "cooked". As I remember it, "raw" Pu'erh (the traditional type) is aged for up to 40 years or more, while "artificially ripened" Pu'erh (the modern type) is aged for just a year or two, but "artificially ripened" by being placed in a pile and watered down the way you described it above. Or have you just described two different "modern" production processes without the traditional long term aging?

I hope I haven't completely misunderstood this, having never tasted anything but loose leaf "black" Pu'erh myself.

Jon

Funny, I do almost the same thing - except I pour the tea over the PC, while invoking Oriental demons on the name of Bill Gates.

Yes, I see your point ever since I made this move I have guessed my keyboard life to be reduced by at least 70% due to the frequent drying sessions it now requires. .hey how about a seasoned keyboard anyone it is getting a real nice shine and an aged Puerh look. .I will let it go for cheap!

"In reply to other comments about the names of Puerh and to answer Jon question"

Bottom line is you can call it what you want by referring to the words cooked or uncooked I am only telling you what it is most commonly called in China. This of course does not mean that if you walked up to a vendor here in China and asked for a compressed black or raw Puerh tea that they would not know what you are talking about.

Now that most of you now know how the tea is processed and what the common name for it is here in China, you can call it anything you want.

As for answering Jon Nossen's question, yes I did leave out the ageing process in the forum because it is not part of the process of making the tea. It is only something you do to the tea after it is processed.

In addition, aging the tea does not involve getting the tea wet this is bad once the tea is steamed and then compressed the only time water should be introduced to the tea is when you are going to drink it. As for the aging times you can drink the tea any time from 1 hour old to

Have I described the all time method of processing the tea of course technology has changed the speed with the introduction of machines to compress the tea etc. but the basic method is the same.

mandjs

Thanks, I guess that clears it up for me.

Jon

answer Jon

the words

commonly

walked up

raw

what the

you

the ageing

making

wet this

time water

it. As

old to

Cooked Puerh

showed up

Ming Tea

Puerh

course

machines to

Every source that I've encountered does the initial boiling (in clean water) phase, but things diverge from there. One teashop I frequented in Kuala Lumpur said that because of their volume of customers (customers are invited to try before buying) their demo teapots age extremely rapidly. One pot that I saw used for Da Hong Bao, though originally brown, had turned a purpleish black at the spout from tea stains seeping through the clay. Upon asking, I found out that the pot was less than a year old. Most seasoning regimens are just an attempt to speed up the natural process (the natural way probably being better).

The shop I was speaking of would allow good customers to put their pots into the shop's rotation. Teashops are much different and much better in Asia. Lucky bastards.

Regards,

Cameron