puerh newbie questions
ive tried a few puerhs, not a lot. so far found one ive liked.
it’s kinda hard to choose based on reviews because i know it’s an acquired taste so i still might not like what others do.
since the better ones are really expensive and not all expensive ones are good, and factoring in different tastes, what do you do if you do end up purchasing one that you don’t like save for swapping? will aging make it taste better? in how many years approximately (maybe)?
how many cups of puerh is it good to drink in a day? how many days is it ok to keep leaves steeping (assuming you drink it at least once a day)?can you still age puerh (looseleaf)that has been stored in its original packaging (aluminum)
oh and i read that you should not get fishy smelling or earthy tasting puerh??
maybe you should sample more before committing to a full size cake/brick. i find YS sample paradise.
Sometimes I like what i sampled, got a cake , then its not that great. i give it a time. come back in a few weeks, or months. you can swap it too but there is a chance you will like it again. My taste buds changing all the time.
i drink a lot of pu every day. Shou/sheng. gongfu only. dont count the cups, my cup is 70ml. sometimes i brew it for 2-3 days depends on a tea. it rare that shou lasts that long.
If you dont like the smell of it air it out in a ceramic cup with paper towel on a top.
Sample and swap for sure. Lots of vendors offer sample sizes. For good sheng if you find one get it. They usually get better with age. I have cakes that I didn’t enjoy much young that are aging nicely now. Storage is very important especially for sheng.
A properly stored and aged shou should never have the fishy aroma to it. Larger producers usually hold their tea till the wou dei aroma has dissipated before selling. There is still a lot of rushing to market tea that ignores this practice.
Most important thing about puerh is know your seller. How they pick tea, how they produce tea and how they store it. Buy from people you have a history with, whether it be samples or whole cakes and take the time to respond to any questions. If they fit those criteria you will be able to find your ‘niche’ in puerh. It can take a while as I tossed the whole cake of the first one I bought. It is a different thing now for me.
I agree that sampling is the way to go when getting started. There is a ton of variety within pu erh. About as much variety as types of tea in general. I’d get a good 8, 10, 12 samples half shou (ripe) and half sheng (raw) and if you find one you really like, get a cake or large quantity. These days I don’t buy any cake before sampling first. I spent way too much money on bad tea by buying cakes I had never tried before, then you’re stuck with tea you don’t like! Yunnan Sourcing has a huge selection and offers 25g sample sizes (perfect size for a sample IMO) so you can have several sessions with each tea.
I usually drink 10-15g of tea per day gong fu style which works out to be about 1L or 32oz round about per day. Sometimes more, sometimes less. I often will re-steep a tea if left over night, but not more than one day old for me. Pu erh can still age if shipped in aluminum packaging, but you’d probably want to transfer it to another container where it can get some air, even if it’s just a little. It won’t age quite as well if it’s sealed tight and never exposed to air. If you’re just going to drink it feel free to keep it in it’s original packaging.
I was in your position about 18 months ago, so rather than advise you what to do I’ll tell you what I wish I hadn’t done.
1. Don’t buy bargains. As my taste matured, I have a lot of cheap puerh I don’t really want to drink.
2. Don’t buy quantities larger than 100 gram. (See #1)
3. Don’t place too much reliance in reviews. Different people have very different tastes, so you have to figure out what YOU like.
The bottom line is the same advice everyone else gives. Buy lots of samples and see what you enjoy. I would go with highly regarded vendors. Several people have mentioned Yunnan Sourcing, but White 2 Tea and Mandala are also excellent.
white2tea has a sampler package but it doesnt say what the teas are. anybody got feedback on that?
They’re all raw pu’erh. It’s intended for people to get a start.
Not having tried it, but judging from my experiences with W2T and how it’s been described to me it’d be a great intro. If you go for it, I’d include a sample of ripe and more aged raw to explore a more full breadth.
hm..i wonder…any of you selling/sharing 2-3 serving samples? coz i def dont have any that puerists would want to swap for. this would be the most affordable route for me instead of paying for shipping from different companies. i will also accept giveaways of cheap puerh that you dont really want to drink (but not too much lol)
pls pm me, i have added all of you puer sensei-sama who have replied thus far :)
another question: does drinking lots of diff kinds of puerh develop your palate? how long did it take for you to start liking puerh? or are there puerh that you just naturally like without any effort of acquiring taste?
That depends on your tastes. For me I immediately loved shou pu erh. I like the bold, rich, earthy tastes. I also loved aged (20+ years) sheng right away due to the complexity and strong cha qi. Young sheng has been an acquired taste for me, and I’m still getting used to it although probably the majority of pu erh drinkers like sheng the best. It all depends on your tastes.
I haven’t really been able to get into Shou. I kept trying puerh occasionally (via tea boxes) but really started to love it when I had my first quality sheng.
ok, so im blessed to get to avail of samples of the basics..which ripe and aged budget friendly samples would you guys recommend from W2T?
im looking at the ones the site recommended: the alcohol and little walk (tho im not sure what category they are). the repave is a little steep and priced close to mistypeaks sample…and bosch..is too far away hahaha
hmmm! sounds cool. i have images of getting tongs and forgetting my other teas as im imagining myself loving puerh! but for now, i have to worry about who to split an order with if i do end up liking the sample, lol. i suppose there would be a lot of takers..unless everybody’s already got one. lol. but im getting ahead of myself. dont even know if my novice tastebuds will acquire the taste.
i liked the golden puerh competition quality but it wasnt highly rated here
oh and can someone please compare for me misty vs repave vs pound?
Skip the Alcohol, Little Walk, and Repave for now. Those are all decent but are young raw pu’erh. If you get the Basics you’ll be getting stuff in the same genre.
I’d second the recommendation for the Rocket Yiwu. It’s a good enough and cheap example of a raw with some age (the Yibang would also work). For ripe I’d go with a order/sample of:
http://www.white2tea.com/tea-shop/2014-laochatou-ripe-puerh-tea/
http://www.white2tea.com/tea-shop/2002-cnnp-zhong-cha-7572-green-label-tiepai/
http://www.white2tea.com/tea-shop/2013-ft-feitai-7572/
Just buy all the additional samples from W2T if you are buying from them anyways. They have good examples of ripe and aged raw.
Would recommend staying away from misty (assuming you mean misty peaks?). I’m not a huge fan of the tea, and it’s far more expensive than you need to pay (it costs more than 2x the Repave). There’s also been some questionable practices exposed in the past.
they’re sweet! i never thought puerh could be that, lol. and you’re from teadb! i enjoyed reading your coverage of w2t :)
i think i am now in big trouble hahaha
White2tea is awesome, but if you want to just buy samples, how about Wymmtea? http://www.wymmtea.com/shop/?category=SAMPLE they got really cute samplers in nice packagin.
Crimson Lotus is also another option – grab a few sheng and shou samples.
http://crimsonlotustea.com/
i have just finished studying the top rated puerhs at ys and still have lots of questions. but thanks for the extra homework. lol. i am learning a lot.
CLT is very good.
They are pretty active on social media, you can probably shoot them an email/tweet/reddit message and they’ll put in some suggestions and help you out. There was a reddit post not too long ago with a pu’er newbie asking “W2T or CLT for first pu’er order?” and each company rec each other, hahah!
Aging it in a correct way it will continue to develop over time. As it gets older it loses more of the fermentation notes.
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