TeaChat

I am curious for those that drink cooked pu erh how many infusions do you average in a sitting. I am using a 180cc yixing and 9 grams of pu. I do two rinses, the first a flash rinse, the second one for 20 seconds. First steep to be drunk is 20 seconds, subsequent infusions I add 10 seconds. I have been sampling alot of different Pu's and it seems like they all significantly drop flavor around the 5th or 6th cup and I tend to stop there. Just curious what everybody else is averaging.

I usually go for around 4-8.

yeah I agree with you that most of them will drop off by 4-5th brew.
Seems like a longer lasting shu is inherently harder to find because (most higher quality leaf is reserved for sheng, and the processing of shu degrades the integrity (causing quicker releases in initial infusions, followed by a more noticeable peeter off then sheng)

I do believe there are good shu out there that can last longer, still in the search. Have you tried tea urchin's shus?

I've done 10 0r 12 when I was really enjoying the tea.

for a 180 ml pot i would use a few more grams, but that is just personal preference or dictated but your desired session length.

I usually do 8-10g for 120ml gaiwan, with one rinse and fast steeps. 8 steeps would be average, with above average teas going over 10.

With tea that sucks, 1-2.

With normal tea, about 7-8.

With very good tea, up to 10.

With aged tea, it can go up to 20-30 or maybe even higher...

I suppose I have the time to do ten + infusions. Unless the tea is bad, I will almost always do eight infusions. I don't have much actual bad tea, and even tea that is notoriously nondurable, like the YQH '06 GushuChawang manages about seven to eight infusions, and plenty of sweetwater afterwards.

I brew lighter than some of you guys, roughly 7g/150ml. I'm fine with heavier brews most of the time since I have very few teas that are still very bitter or astringent (nadacha bulang '10, maybe '11 as well), and I'm tolerant of bitterness and astringency anyways. I just never got out of the groove of doing 7g.

hey people we are talking infusions of shu here

I would be interested in people naming some shu's they found that endure well without having to go over 5-8g in 100ml.

teaisme wrote:hey people we are talking infusions of shu here

I would be interested in people naming some shu's they found that endure well without having to go over 5-8g in 100ml.

Yes I was refering to shu only. oh and to answer your question earlier no I have not tried anything from tea urchin, I am trying about the whole catalog of shu's offered from yunnan sourcing

if shu drops after 5 or 6 infusions, it is either that i didn't use enough leaves, else it is a bit of disappointment. However, my steeping times are probably shorter than yours (i'm not giving any numbers, i don't weight the tea, nor keep track of the number and length of infusions).

Menghai (Dayi) Lao Cha Tou performs pretty good for me.

teaisme wrote:hey people we are talking infusions of shu here

I would be interested in people naming some shu's they found that endure well without having to go over 5-8g in 100ml.

I was talking about shu too. Enduring shu, that 90's Menghai Factory 8592 is quite enduring (12-15 steeps should not be a problem with 8g in a 100ml). Some of the lower price range / good quality ripe puer tea I drink can easily go 8 steeps with 8g in a 100ml.

There are plenty of recent Dayi shus that can also hit that mark

I often 'grandpa' tea in the later infusions and sometimes leave my pot sitting loaded overnight for that last bit of goodness--something Marshal does that I've been doing since I read about it.

Thanks for inputs all. lao cha tou has been on my radar for a while now, will try some from YS next order.

TwoDog2 wrote: Some of the lower price range / good quality ripe puer tea I drink can easily go 8 steeps with 8g in a 100ml.

Could you name me a few to try? thanks.

Most decent shu will do that.

Shu isn't all that interesting, and it's easy to keep it going pretty long, particularly with the larger leaf stuff.

When I promote the An Xiang shu, one particular reason is because there is a late stage in roughly half of the sessions where it turns into sweet ginseng candy.

The vast majority of nice shu will make it 8-10 brews. Some, like the '07 Star of Menghai or the '09 gift set shu from Sanhetang expire a bit quicker after giving nicer brews earlier. My recent session of the '09 Dragon Pole from '09 lasted beyond twelve brews or something like that giving solid bamboo-paper-wood flavors in very thick soups.

shah82 wrote:Most decent shu will do that.

Shu isn't all that interesting

See the majority of what I have tasted has fit into the not that interesting category. From brew one to the end.
But there have been a couple that have really stuck in my mind as different. A pleasure to drink. Can't put my finger on what it is exactly (I'm slowly ruling out the idea that it's mainly because of the degree of fermentation).

I would be interested to hear your favorite buyable shu. Think I will make new topic.

teaisme wrote:
Could you name me a few to try? thanks.

It is actually difficult to narrow down. Like Shah mentioned, most decent shu can hit that mark. Do you have a second criteria? A flavor? An Age? A price range?

The Dayi Anxiang Shu that Shah recommended is excellent. I don't know anyone who happens to sell it though.