"the tao of tea" ::TUOCHA :: Pu-er

Hi Ted,

I have not tried this vendors tea so I cant comment on it. The "mini" tuocha can be very good and it can also be the puer equivalent of no-name generic cafeteria teabag. The only way to know is to try it.

If I were just beginning I would seek out a vendor, preferably a brick and mortar store where you can taste the tea, with a large selection and ask the vendor to guide me through learning about puer.

Mike

whatever you do, with pu, buy as little as you can at first.

Mike -

I NEVER had a good mini tuocha. The ones I tried were all black(shu) and very, very low quality.

Sasha.

They do exist my friend. As a genre mini-tuocha is a convenience tea similar to teabags. Just like teabags there are some that are indeed quite good, one who is accustomed to better teas might argue the point, however as a person's palate matures they will tend to seek out the more refined offerings. Granted the bulk of minis are indeed garbage but there has been a recent trend to bring quality minis to market as well.

There are a lot of green mini-tuos out there too, regular sheng, silver buds, green with roses, chrysanthemum, jasmine, etc, grass flavored green, bamboo scented green and more.

Try some of the ones from Rishi tea. Now I know that I and others have questioned Rishi's aged offerings in the past but they do appear to be offering legitimate high quality puers at the present. Any one of the three Organic Mini-Tuocha they offer is quite good for a newcomer to dabble in, which is what the original poster said he was after, a good newbie puer.

Mike

Mike, please tell me where one finds these green minis, I've never seen such a thing! It would be neat to try them. Esp. The regular sheng, and the silver bud and the bamboo scented green. :)

Melinda

Hi Meinda

I apologize about the bamboo scented as the only place I have seen those has been at a Chinese wholesaler in Kunming, I havent seen them offered in the west or online anywhere.

Here are several sources for the assorted green minis.

This is a green mini from a major factory, I did not care for it very much myslef though ass it was a bit harsh. I am told that it gets pertty good after only 2-3 years of aging though.

Has green and jasmine scented green.

They call it an "Organic Green" mini tuocha, it looked and tasted like what most places call a silver bud/tip/needle puer. This one is quite good. Their entire mini line is a cut above most other offerings.

High quality green minis

High quality handmade cooked mini from Meng Hai factory

Bamboo scented cooked mini tablets not really tuo

These guys have had the Bamboo scented minis in the past

Mike htttp://

Mike Petro "In this work, when it shall be found that much is omitted, let it not be forgotten that much likewise is performed." Samuel Johnson, 1775, upon finishing his dictionary.

Thanks very much Mike!

Melinda

Thanks. Mike. But still - I respectfully disagree. I believe (just a thought) that for puerh to mature nicely there has to be a certain mass to it for the process to have a chance to develop a chemical ph and gaseous environment that small tuocha size lacks. Anyway - this is just an awkward explanation of my personal (and may be flawed) observation of overall very low quality of minituo cha.

Sasha.

Sasha, you may indeed be right about mass, I don't have the scientific knowledge in that regard, but I have seen loose matured green pu'er that doesn't have the mass/density to which you refer.

The thing is that we are talking about a newbie here. He probably wont appreciate a "nicely matured" pu'er yet. He surely is not going to pay the premium for "nicely matured" pu'er and he surely wont wait around for it to age before he tries it. I am trying to keep it in perspective with the original poster's palate and experience. A "high quality" mini (keep it in perspective) is not a bad place to start especially if you don't have personal coach. Try one of those green tuochas from Rishi, they are not bad at all.

Mike

Mike Petro

"In this work, when it shall be found that much is omitted, let it not be forgotten that much likewise is performed." Samuel Johnson, 1775, upon finishing his dictionary.

(Humbly) I see. You are right. I just though that in that case buying a Yunnan tuocha (100g) for a buck - two would do the job without chasing doubtful minituo.

Alex ChaihorskyGuPee.13873$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr14.news.prodigy.com5/6/05

15: snipped-for-privacy@nowhere.com

Sasha,

My experience is like yours, but I will say that there convenience and the fact that they shoot for the center in taste and style would make them a good introduction to shu tea for the novice. I have never had one worth mentioning, but I don't think the quality is quite that low. Good enough for government work, in any event.

Michael