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I'm a Pu-Erh tea collector, just wondering how much do most people
> know about Pu-Erh tea before spending lots of money on it?
>
> How do you differentiate green pu erh from black pu-erh?
>
> Green pu-erh is unoxidised or lightly oxidised tea, compressed into
> cakes, they smell rather floral, smokey and minty when new, and
> terribly bitter when brewed. It takes careful aging, in airy places
> free of scents and smells, before the tea cakes undergoes natural
> oxidation by air, to mature into a finer smoother tea. Aging in dry
> environments give a fragrant, woody, floral trait to the green tea
> cakes, whereas aging in humid environments gives a earthy, ginseng
> taste and scent to the green tea cake.
>
> Green pu erh tea cakes, when aged up to a century, like Tong
> Qing(double lionhead) pu erh, Tong Qing(double flag) pu er tea cakes,
> Huang Wen Xing tea cakes, etc, should never Be mouldy at all. NOT even
> a slight bit of yellow or white dots if properly aged and kept. The
> tea cake should appear to be reddish, with some bits of yellow bud
> discoloration, with oily leaves scattered, but never never black. If
> the tea cake appears dusty, or mouldy, etc, it means its not well kept
> in a proper environment, and the taste/value of the tea cake will be a > lot lower.
> If an acclaimed green tea cake appears to be black, it might be a
> little over oxidised, possibly kept in rather humid conditions.
>
> Green pu erh tea cakes, are rather hard and compact when newly
> produced, but as they age over the years, the tea cake will loosen up,
> becoming less compact. Weight will be lost too.
>
>
> Black pu-erh tea cakes are different. They are not oxidised by air
> naturally over the years. Instead, producers purposely ferment and
> oxidise the tea leaves over a few days, resulting in blacker dark
> brown leaves, and a COFFEE like brew. The natural bitterness of the
> tea leaves is lost in this oxidation process, resulting in an earthy
> woody brew, a lot smoother, and thus more easily appreciated by most
> people, but black pu erh tea cakes are generally considered to be more
> inferior tea products, compared to green tea cakes.
> Aging of BLACK pu-erh tea cakes will not bring about much changes in
> the tea, possibly only less "mouldy" tasting etc over the years.
> The tea cakes are rather light, and leaves appear to be rather black. >
> When did they start the manufacture of black pu-erh?
> The process of purposely oxidising tea leaves to produce black pu-erh
> originated around 1970s, according to the tea factory, they started
> the trials in 1973. so if anyone shows you a piece of black pu-erh,
> and claims it to be half a century to a century old, he's most
> probably trying to con your money.
>
> What is the difference in the brews of Green and black Pu erh?
> Green pu-erh, less than 5 years old, will generally give a yellowish > brew.
> Well aged green pu-erh over fifty years to a century will give a clear
> clean brew that is reddish in color, just like the color of dates, BUT
> NEVER NEVER NEVER produce a black coffee-like brew.
>
> Black pu-erh tea easily produces a dark coffee like brew.
>
> Why is Aged pu-erh so expensive?
> Thats because its green pu-erh, and it takes decades for green pu-erh
> to oxidise to a matured level fit for drinking. Good proper aging
> results in a heavenly unique fragrance and after taste, which is
> highly sought after. Examples of rare aged green pu-erh tea cakes are
> the RED label pu-erh tea cakes, and the Yellow label pu-erh tea cakes
> etc. Red label pu-erh tea cakes is the first generation of tea cakes
> to be imprinted and wrapped with paper, from around the 1940s.
> Remember, having an old piece of pu-erh tea cake does not mean its
> valuable. Its only valuable when properly aged, no mould, no funny
> smells, etc thats not easy. A century old mouldy tea cake that tastes
> terrible is worth nothing.
>
> Whats the difference between loose leaf and tea cakes?
> Most old pu-erh tea exists as pu-erh tea cakes, not as loose leaves.
> Pu-erh was seldom or never made to be loose leaved till the recent
> decades. This is because loose leaf tea has a very large surface area,
> and oxidises rather quickly, making it rather easy to lose its body > and fragrance.
> Unless your loose leaf pu-erh tea is derived from flaking off tea
> cakes, loose leaf pu-erh might result in inferior tea quality after a > while of aging.
>
>
> Whats so special about Green Pu Erh tea cakes?
> Green pu-erh tea cakes are not really meant to be drank new. Straight
> from production, the tastes is highly smoky, harsh, bitter, even i
> cant stomach much of it too. They are meant to be kept and aged by
> collectors etc, till the bitterness is lost with age etc, before it
> becomes a terrific tea. The same goes for silver needle pu-erh tea
> cakes too. However silver needle tea cakes are harder to keep, because
> purely buds dont stick to each other well, upon airing and aging after
> a while, the buds will start flaking off the tea cake. unlike
> compressed larger leafed products etc.
> Good green tea cakes is what people call the star of tomorrow. as the
> chinese say, "ming ri zhi xing", the star of tomorrow, good green puer
> tea cakes are worth keeping.
>
> Whats the price of loose leafed black pu erh in yunnan?
> VERY CHEAP!! probably five US dollars can easily get you more than a
> kilogram of black pu-erh tea leaves, depending on grades. Even the
> highest grades, first grade etc, they dont cost much too. Unless these
> leaves belong to a special production, e.g. specially selected buds
> etc, controlled oxidation etc.
>
> __________________________________
> I will share more about pu-erh and post some pics of brews and tea
> cakes later on when i've got more time.
Very precise report on the subject. I have never had the chance to taste a Tongqing cake, but I just saw some pictures and read the story of that firm on Mr Deng Shihai's book on Pu'er tea. How did you get those precious "antiques"?