TeaChat

As i am venturing into the world of pu-erh teas I am wondering if there are some must reads books or dvd's about pu-erh.

Amusing for the pictures of stuff you will never see

"First Step to Chinese Puerh Tea"

"First Step to Chinese Puer Tea", is a great way to start. Granted it does have a lot of photos of teas that are impossible to find, but the information is good and it gives a good foundation for learning about Puer.

auhckw wrote:

auhckw wrote:普洱茶（二）茶与古道 1/3 Pu'er Tea - Ancient Trade Routes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FX05tNQcRqU

普洱茶（二）茶与古道 2/3 Pu'er Tea - Ancient Trade Routes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpedtQddlPg

普洱茶（二）茶与古道 3/3 Pu'er Tea - Ancient Trade Routes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1OyVxrM4A8

Subtitles It looks so interesting, but the only word I understand is "puerh" occasionally sprinkled in.

IPT wrote:"First Step to Chinese Puer Tea", is a great way to start. Granted it does have a lot of photos of teas that are impossible to find, but the information is good and it gives a good foundation for learning about Puer.

I just finished reading this book. There was a lot of good information, particularly for a puerh novice such as myself. More than half the book is a wonderful pictorial identification guide with teas from the four "puerh eras" cataloged. The author makes reference to forthcoming intermediate and advanced books that will hopefully be published soon.

"First Step" is breezy and conversational. This makes a book that does have solid information feel a bit squishier. But it also makes the Western reader feel welcome in the oft-forbidding world of pu-erh.

Is Chen Zhi Tong's "Profound World of Chi-Tse" available in English, or is this just a translated title of a Chinese-only work?

Evan Draper wrote:"First Step" is breezy and conversational. This makes a book that does have solid information feel a bit squishier. But it also makes the Western reader feel welcome in the oft-forbidding world of pu-erh.

Is Chen Zhi Tong's "Profound World of Chi-Tse" available in English, or is this just a translated title of a Chinese-only work?

As the book's name states, "First Step" is really fundamental.
I made it so simple that novices might get the preliminary ideas of the the wide spectrum of Puerh (from 1910's to 2006 selectively). At least beginners will know,

1. Antique Puerh Vintage
2. Masterpiece Puerh Vintage
3. Seven-son Tea Cake Vintage
4. New Era of Puerh Tea

These are the 4-major areas a Puerh tea beginner should manage to know.

If the "First Step" is too simple, try this one - "A Glossary of Chinese Puerh Tea". I put more information about the aged tea for further reading.

CloudsTea

Cloud, good to hear from you! I hope you don't feel like I am slighting your book. We salute you for making the world of puerh more accessible to western drinkers! (I wrote a blog post to this effect a while ago )

I picked up a book at a local shop today called《普洱茶譜》(pǔěrchá pǔ； ISBN 9570499028), I believe from 2000.

Seems to have a lot of the same cakes that most of the other books on the subject have, as well as some photos of some less commonly written about teas.

The book is divided into two sections, each starting on one side of the book. One section is photos of teas with a description of each one, as well as some information about the teas' compositions. There definitely seems to be some information in here that contradicts things I've read elsewhere, for example, certain teas from as early as the 1940s are said to be 20% ripe tea (I've heard this claim about teas from the late 60s before), and there are some brick recipes starting around the 70s which I'd assume were purely raw or purely ripe, which the book claims are half raw / half ripe. I will try to post some more about that topic somewhere else, though.

There is also a lot of stuff about the compounds found in brewed tea, and research that's been done on active bacteria found on pu'er; I can't read Chinese, so I can't tell much beyond the general gist of it. Anyway, an interesting book for the photos and info, but curious to know if anyone knows more about the background / reliability of the authors / editors.

Art of Tea #3 is a good source of information about puerh, but it's out of stock. My bad.
http://tearomashop.com/products-page/ma ... f-tea-no-3

http://www.essenceoftea.co.uk/publicati ... sue-3.html

That was easy.