TeaChat

Having read so much about pu-erh teas, I recently tried some. I popped in at a local Whole Foods and noticed they had a "Pu-erh Classic" loose-leaf bulk pu-erh from Rishi teas available and I figured I'd try that as I could buy just a little to see if I liked it.

While I'm sure this is not the greatest way to get introduced to pu-erhs (as, based on price alone, this is obviously not "high grade" pu-erh), I must say that I found the taste to be amazing! Having read all of the strange descriptions I found myself agreeing...it DOES taste like a wet basment or water off the forest floor...it really DOES taste like earth and decay...but truly in a GOOD way!

One question: How many times can you re-steep the pu-erh leaves? I am brewing mine 7 oz at a time.

Anyway, not to ramble...just wanted to share my first experience with you folks.

What is it, sheng or shu? Sounds to me like you got a shu, you should be able to get about 6-8 brews.

Welcome

i love the appearance of cookd pu erh, the first few infusions, it looks like medicine or a herbal drink for some illness.

TomVerlain wrote:unless it has aged quite a bit, and become expensive.

It depeneds on the quality of the tea. Generally steep it until the color becomes thin. In the case of shu a good quality shu would be able to be steeped for 7 times or more. But this is a ball park.

The shus I have last somewhere between 6 and 12 steeps. This is when I brew them with really short infusions. If you're infusing for minutes at a time, I imagine you'll only get 2-4.

I find that often shu will poop out on me much earlier than sheng. The other night I had a Puerhshop offering, 2000 CNNP Grand Red Label, that did a lot of infusions and was quite nice.

michaelskar wrote:Having read so much about pu-erh teas, I recently tried some. I popped in at a local Whole Foods and noticed they had a "Pu-erh Classic" loose-leaf bulk pu-erh from Rishi teas available and I figured I'd try that as I could buy just a little to see if I liked it.

I couldn't help but notice how well shaved you are.