Aged Puerh with Cha Qi Reccomendations
I’m teaching a course at my college (NCF) on traditional Chinese tea and along with all the other teas I’m going to have my students try, I’d like to have an example of an aged puerh (sheng or shou) that exhibits strong cha qi. Seeing as aged puerh are on the pricier side, and I’m still trying to acquire funding for the materials of the course, I’d like to make sure that if I have to purchase some (hopefully I can find a sample size), I’m not going to be disappointed. I’m looking for recommendations.
Not the point of this post, but: if you have a beeng that fits the description and you wouldn’t mind parting with 30g or so for my students to play with, I would be happy to pay for it.
I’d like the cha qi to be strong enough that someone with only a few weeks knowledge of tea will be able to notice it. I have young puerhs with cha qi but nothing more than 6 years old. I’m looking for something 2005 or earlier that really shows what aging looks, smells, tastes like, why its desirable, and why people are willing to pay a much higher price.
If you could point me in the right direction, I would be so grateful.
The 2000 7532 from White2tea has very nice chaqi and so did the blue mark though that is pretty pricey. To me the older tea qi is not something as immediately noticeable compared to the tea drunk almost high feeling from a young sheng, more of a mood elevating feeling. Not sure someone with little to no experience drinking puerh would notice. It’s something I didn’t notice till recently and while I haven’t been at it long I’ve been a pretty hardcore puerh drinker for the last 6 months. I’m sure even older teas produce a different feeling but I haven’t had an opportunity try something like that yet as they are rare and silly expensive.
This seems very personal, teas said to have tremendous energy had no effect on me whatsoever, and vice versa.
that sounds like an interesting class. it is kinda hard to imagine a disappointment proof-tea tho as individual tastes vary and puerh is said to be an acquired taste. to be safe, go for more than one kind of aged puerh?
you can check out people’s reviews on aged puerh in here too :)
Thank you for the responses, I think you all are right. I will just try to seek out a good representation of age and maybe not worry so much about cha qi.
I think the collector value, high prices etc. have to do with a number of factors like the label, leaf origin and storage, along with how smooth the brew is. I would say all these factors rank above perceived qi.
Absolutely. It’s pretty pretty amazing anything that’s easily as perishable and consumable as tea survives 10 plus years as well. Also the way one person percieves a tea through feeling, taste or otherwise is unique to them only. How I felt after drinking the ones I mentioned is far from a guaranteed thing for someone else and I should have mentioned that in my post. http://deathbytea.blogspot.com/2015/04/a-bit-about-qi.html?m=1 I feel like this should be a mandatory read for anyone interested in the topic of Qi and yes I know you wrote it :p.
I do a have some aged pu’er for sale, but it comes in small quantity.
http://www.zhentea.ca/product/aged-puer/
I feel cha qi is quite personal and it depends on the state of the body too. once we had Bai Nian Song Pin which was the tea with the strongest cha qi I’ve ever had. But my friend said he didn’t feel anything…
I think the problem with trying to buy a tea for its qi has been already expressed above, it is personal. One person may drink a tea and feel it’s qi and another nothing. A perfect example is the 2005 Naka by White2Tea. It has been described as a stoner tea for its qi. When I drank a sample I, however, felt nothing at all.
And you’re not the only one to feel zip with the Naka. For me the tea has a nice heady feeling to it but nothing overpowering
I can list a bunch that wrecked me (but again very personal, others would say it had little effect on them) but nothing compares to drinking a whole bunch of good pu’er at once and fast. I drank two Crimson Lotus 2015 Shengs at once and the room spun after around 3 resteeps.
I sound like a drug addict but I swear I’m not.
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