pu_erh-how to begin? or should I?
I have read so much about this tea
where do I begin?
I am not sure if I would enjoy it since I drink mostly lightly fermented Taiwan oolongteas and First Flush Darjeelings.
Pu-erh is indeed very different from what you’re used to. But that should not be a reason to avoid this delicacy.
As you may know, there are two types of Pu-erh: cooked and raw. The raw Pu-erh has aged normally and the cooked Pu-erh’s ageing process has been accelerated dramatically through human intervention. The taste of a cooked Pu-erh is similar to that of a well aged raw Pu-erh. The main difference is in the price.
Therefore I suggest to go to your favourite tea shop and ask for a low priced cooked Pu-erh and see what you think of it. If you like it, you can slowly get into the older raw teas.
Well I’d be careful about a low priced shou (ripe) myself. Because too many of them suck and will turn you off puerh forever.
I would go to Mandala Tea and order samples of Year of the Dragon (ripe) http://shopmandalatea.com/ripe-pu-er/cakes-bricks/250-gram-mandala-year-of-the-dragon-ripe-pu-er-2012.html and Wild Mountain Green (raw or sheng) http://shopmandalatea.com/raw-pu-er-tea/250-gram-mandala-wild-mountain-green-raw-2011.html – and hang out on the puer thread for a while and ask some questions. I would get a 2-3 samples of each so you have a bit of time with them. You may or may not like them, but you won’t be out a lot of money. If you don’t like them now, you may later. Those are two that I found the most accessible when I started and I still drink them today because they are GOOD. “Your tastes will change over time” is the Steepster mantra. Good luck and if you have any questions, ask mrmopar – he’s the puru and he’s nice and so are the other pu heads on the pu thread.
If you would like a suggestion for one to sample, the 2008 Song of Chi Tse from Berylleb King Tea is one of my favorites.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2008-Yunnan-Menghai-Dayi-Song-Chi-Tse-Ripe-Pu-er-Tea-Free-Shipping-/221701285420?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item793325917a
Wymm tea offers sampler sets with free shipping. This would be a way to try several types for a modest price.
http://www.wymmtea.com/shop/?category=SAMPLE
This is what I did and I really enjoyed it- came with sheng and shou which helped me identify my taste as well as provided enough to try different styles of brewing, temperature, and drinking styles.
While the Wymm tea is alright, I’d probably recommend more towards a vendor where you can try a bit more variety especially on the aged front.
Yunnan Sourcing (US) or Crimson Lotus IMO offer more variety and are stateside (Bana Tea too). White2Tea or ChaWang would also be good options if the OP is more concerned with value and OK with shipping from China.
I have no problems with shipping from China
I do not mind spending money on things I enjoy
I guess the main issues are that you’d have to pay $15-20 of shipping and have to wait a few weeks for the tea!
If you only want to spend $50 to get started (understandably) I’d probably go domestic. If you’re OK with going all-in and spending a bit more than some of the Chinese-based vendors are certainly worth checking out.
Not a Pu-erh drinker (yet) but Teavivre has a sample with 10 sachets for $17 that include:
Menghai Golden Buds Tribute Ripened Pu-erh Cake 2009 (10g * 2)
Fengqing Ancient Tree Spring Chun Jian Raw Pu-erh Cake Tea 2012 (10g * 2)
2006 Fengqing Raw Pu-erh Tea Tuocha (10g * 2)
Fengqing Raw Pu-erh Cake Tea 2006 Paddy Flavor (10g * 2)
Ripened Aged Pu-erh Mini Tuocha (2 pieces)*2
Again, I have no experience but the on site reviewers indicate its a nice sample of raw and ripened.
Good luck.
I wouldn’t recommend that I don’t think, I had Teavivre’s puerh sample set a couple years ago and the samples were all really foul and fishy, some aired out a bit after a couple weeks, some didn’t, and 2 had outright mildew. That was a while ago, though 2 or 3 of those are still the same teas that were in my pack.
Yes and now so you can “age” some for the future as they tend to rise a lot in price over the years.
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