What is it about Pu'er?

Well, for me it's the strength that Pu'er has.

Why do we drink straight shots of hard liquor that basically burn our insides and destroy our stomach lining and liver? Why do we inhale smoke that would otherwise want to be avoided, as it burns and blocks our lungs and gives us cancer? Would you, outside the presence of a fine scotch or Cuban cigar, WANT to do any of those things? Hell no!

But we humans are quick to forget our nature of desiring to prove our own existence. We do so by finding the limits of it through experimentation and exploration! We remind ourselves of our humanity by trying to destroy it!

What better way to do so than by drinking down a cup of the most flavorful and complex liquid we know; something to excite all of our senses to the peak of their capabilities? :-D

Tossing in my "tooscents",

-Drew

Dom> Over the past two or three weeks I have been trying to come to some

Didn't want to be the first to let you know, but they put crack cocaine in pu-er.

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner. Why didn't I think of it? :) I do know that I did kind of have a "swimmy" feeling in my head the first time I drank it, and I have heard others experience a similar feeling... so maybe...

wait, you got that swimmy/almost high feeling too? thought I was just wierd.

Swimmy feeling? You mean nausea?

(Rassin-frassin pu'er lovers have taken over the newsgroup! ;)

Umm.... It tastes good...! i don't care much for "pondy" stuff: i like my shu and aged sheng a bit cleaner than that. But there's also the sweet...

it just tastes good...yep...delicious "forest floor" and "wet bark" and "dusty earth"

~j

Dom> Over the past two or three weeks I have been trying to come to some

See, it is actually pretty hard to convey. If I came out with three new Ice Cream flavors "Forest Floor" "Wet Bark" and "Dusty Earth" I'm pretty sure I'd be out of business by the second day.

It is actually pretty strange when you think about it, but there has to be some draw.. and it has to be somewhat universal since many of us enjoy it but have very different tastes and backgrounds. I thought it was kind of interesting and I really have not come up with any sort of answer. I do think that some sort of support structure is important, because even if I had come across a highly expensive aged pu'er on my own with no outside knowledge I'm pretty sure I would have tried it and instantly given up on it... but in an environment where others discuss it and speak highly of it, it is acceptable.

I actually had done almost exactly that a couple years back. Before I was ever aware of this NG and Pu'er I had stumbled upon a box of "Puerh" teabags and a canister of loose aged Pu'er. I thought they were just some type of tea that I had never heard of like green, oolong, etc. The teabags tasted terrible... which I attributed to them being cheap teabags. Then when I tried the tea in the canister it was dirty tasting and tasted like tea I had left out too long that was musty and stale. I had come across the canister the other day which I had kept because of the beautiful artwork on it and realized it had been a pretty high-quality aged Pu'er. I had totally given up on it until this newsgroup, and my first mini-tuo's were terrible but when I kept trying and moved onto some quality cooked and uncooked I was hooked. Moreso on the uncooked, but coming from Japanese green tea land it was a pretty big leap.

Just some random thoughts.

- Dominic

For me, it happened similarly. I went to Chinatown on a tea-buying binge and bought an XG French Export Shu Tuo. When I got around to tasting it, I thought it was alright but nothing I'd want to drink regularly.

Then I read you're supposed to let it age. So I put it in my desk at work and forgot about it for a year and a half. When I tried it again, I had more experience with teas, and though I was iffy about the tuo even this second time, I found myself returning to it day after day until it was sadly gone.

When I went online to see if there was a higher quality replacement...well, my madness begins from there :)

I think the "support" framework helped draw me to try new pu'ers, and the "culture" around pu'er supported my explorations, but it wasn't my initial draw. The tea spoke for itself, and I followed its pied-piper tune all the way to the bankruptcy hearings (almost!) :D

~j

Dom> See, it is actually pretty hard to convey. If I came out with three new

I bought some loose pu-erh green leaves from YS along with some other exotic greens I was buying at the time. Then I brewed the pu-erh leaves...and it was like - Wow! What is that tate? They are actually very good leaves, no bitterness and make a nice drink even now. However, unlike the cakes, I've come to the conclusion that they need air tight storage to keep the best of their taste and aren't really good for long term storage. A real drink-now pu-erh.

From that point I had another look at the listings on-line and realised I should try a few more things....and the decent into pu-reh craziness began....I love the variety in this tea alone. The cooked and raw versions are just so different and the aged is different yet again. Some are refreshing and light that leave a nice tingle on the tounge while others are earthy and strong and thats only among the greens. You could spend a lifetime learning about this stuff and never know it all.

Kat

Drew, I hope you don't mind if I steal this quote, it's a real gem:

"We remind ourselves of our humanity by trying to destroy it!"

I want that written high above my throne when I become Emperor. Heh.

Toodlepip,

Hobbes

I don't need cannisters. The mini beengs make a nice toaster if I don't spill anything. My tuos are big hits with street hustlers who want to update their shell game. Sad to say it made me reconsider my horror of shopping carts but Ebay is an auction site. I got me pride.

Jim

Dom> Over the past two or three weeks I have been trying to come to some

...puer mites...

Personally, and I am a bit embarrassed to admit this, It has occurred to me on more than one occasion that there are many parallels between this and another green leafy substance. Certain aspects of it harkens back to younger less inhibited days. Compressed bricks of a green leafy substance, from a far off land, highly sought after, and often very valuable. Hmmmm.....

-- Mike Petro

I wouldn't be embarrassed to say it, the thought crossed my mind right off the bat when I first was trying to figure it out. Especially since the one Pu-erh from Upton's gives me a major head swimming effect each and every time I drink it. I'm sure there is a parallel there, but I doubt it is the whole answer. I can readily expand on any other tea variety, even one's I don't like and make someone understand it.. but Pu-erh remains a trouble spot there. What do you tell uninformed people? I'd be interested to know, besides the compressed and fermentation, I mean as to the taste and scent etc.

- Dominic