Pu-erh newbie - recommendations sought

One of the intentionally aged teas, Pu-Erh has a loyal following.


Dec 29th, '06, 01:46
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Re: Cooked or uncooked

by lenny7 » Dec 29th, '06, 01:46

hop_goblin wrote: I would recommend www.houdeasianart.com You can buy a variety of pu-erhs from them and shipping is free. <snip>
P.S. at Houde Asian art, they have an excellent 272 pg. book on pu-erh and pu-erh appreciation typed in ENGLISH! "First Steps to Chinese pu-erh", Better get them while they are there!
Can you make any recommendations for something that's ready to drink now and won't break the bank? Not having tried it, I don't even know if I like puerh tea, but I find the who thing rather intriguing and certainly something I'd like to try.

That book looks pretty interesting. If I do get into drinking pu-erh I might have to consider buying one.

From Yunnan Sourcing I bought some 2004 Six Famous Tea Mountain Ripe Pu-erh Tea Brick and some 2006 Jiu Wan Tong Qing Hao Raw Pu-erh Tea Brick based on a recommendation from someone else on these forums. It shipped a few days ago from China so I'm hoping to get it by the end of January.
Last edited by lenny7 on Feb 8th, '07, 09:14, edited 1 time in total.

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Dec 29th, '06, 10:43
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Re: Cooked or uncooked

by hop_goblin » Dec 29th, '06, 10:43

jogrebe wrote:
hop_goblin wrote:Also, www.pu-erhtea.com is based out of Indiana and they are very good and fast. I know, its pretty bad up north. There is just not enough interest. Lots of frufru tea shops selling "sunrise morning mist Tea" what ever that is! LOL
You mean http://www.puerhshop.com right? Anyway just be warned that it is a one person company and the owner is on vacation for the month of January so any order that you place now will not ship until February. Still I agree with hop_goblin that it is a very good place to buy puerh with very good tea and service, not to mention very generous free gifts of extra tea tossed in with both of my previous orders I placed with them.
Thank you for the correction! I cut and pasted the wrong link! ;)

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Dec 29th, '06, 11:03
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Re: Cooked or uncooked

by hop_goblin » Dec 29th, '06, 11:03

lenny7 wrote: Can you make any recommendations for something that's ready to drink now and won't break the bank? Not having tried it, I don't even know if I like puerh tea, but I find the who thing rather intriguing and certainly something I'd like to try.
As for pu-erh ready to drink now, I would certainly go with 2005 MengHai Golden-Award "Golden Needle White Lotus". This of course is cooked but it is the one of the best cooked cakes out there! You can drink this stuff now. As for green pu-erh that may introduce you to the taste of green and slighly aged pu-erh, I would go with the 2004 Xia Guan Te Ji (Superior Grade) Toucha. This is a very economical toucha which I personally own and drink. Also, I have been reading that it is really starting to show promise for aging potential. You may find these pu-erhs from a mulitude of pu-erh shops and are both reasonably priced examples of quality pu-erh, but you may have to hunt for them. I believe that Houdeasianart.com has them both.

Dec 29th, '06, 13:54
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by Al » Dec 29th, '06, 13:54

Just out of curiosity, having looked at the Rishi link, are the green tuo-cha's something you can drink right away? I'm somewhat confused.

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Dec 29th, '06, 16:44
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Tea bowl

by hop_goblin » Dec 29th, '06, 16:44

Al wrote:Just out of curiosity, having looked at the Rishi link, are the green tuo-cha's something you can drink right away? I'm somewhat confused.
Tuo cha pu-erh as with any pu-erhs are made to be drunk at anytime. It is up to the consumer if they wish to age or drink it now. Tuo chas generally tend to be made of lower grade tea leaves, and as such, are typically not suitable for long-term aging as is the case with brick tea. Most brick pu-erh are made to be exported to Tibet where they mix the brew with ginger and ther flavors, and a result, the pu-erh does not to be the highest of quality. However, both the tuo cha and brick pu-erh will benefit from a few years of storing. Albeit, there are exceptions as is always the case. The Rishi tuo chas are made to be drunk now in my opinion. Unfortunatley, there are no description tickets that accompany these tuo chas that would further give a better description. The Rishi example would be an interesting experience as the Rishi company claims that they do not blend their recipie with different leaves in order to create a drinkable tea. Most single estate pu-erhs are quite spendy (think single malt scotch) and if this is the fact, it is definitely a good deal.

Dec 30th, '06, 16:02
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by lenny7 » Dec 30th, '06, 16:02

Hop_goblin, one more question if I may. Have you tried any of the pu-erh at Indigo Tea in Burnsville? If so, is any of it even close? They list three kinds here. I'm heading there today or tomorrow any will probably try some.

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Dec 30th, '06, 21:20
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Burnsville

by hop_goblin » Dec 30th, '06, 21:20

lenny7 wrote:Hop_goblin, one more question if I may. Have you tried any of the pu-erh at Indigo Tea in Burnsville? If so, is any of it even close? They list three kinds here. I'm heading there today or tomorrow any will probably try some.
I have not tasted any of these pu-erhs. From your word "close", from your previous post, I am assuming that you mean "good stuff". I can't tell you that without examining and tasting it myself. It looks like average pu-erh from what I can gather from seeing on my screen. I would go a head and try it!

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Dec 31st, '06, 00:25
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by jogrebe » Dec 31st, '06, 00:25

lenny7 wrote:Hop_goblin, one more question if I may. Have you tried any of the pu-erh at Indigo Tea in Burnsville? If so, is any of it even close? They list three kinds here. I'm heading there today or tomorrow any will probably try some.
Yes I had them around a year ago. The Tuo Cha was the best than the other two and the organic one was the worse.
John Grebe

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me."
~C. S. Lewis

Dec 31st, '06, 00:57
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by lenny7 » Dec 31st, '06, 00:57

jogrebe wrote:Yes I had them around a year ago. The Tuo Cha was the best than the other two and the organic one was the worse.
I may have them brew me up a cup of the Tuo Cha while I'm there. I really like this place but the smallest amount they sell is 4 ounces. I'm in my discovery phase of tea and I don't like to buy 4 ounces of something unless I know I'll like it. That's why I love the Adagio sampler tins.

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Dec 31st, '06, 01:05
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by jogrebe » Dec 31st, '06, 01:05

lenny7 wrote:
jogrebe wrote:Yes I had them around a year ago. The Tuo Cha was the best than the other two and the organic one was the worse.
I may have them brew me up a cup of the Tuo Cha while I'm there. I really like this place but the smallest amount they sell is 4 ounces. I'm in my discovery phase of tea and I don't like to buy 4 ounces of something unless I know I'll like it. That's why I love the Adagio sampler tins.
Your lucky if you can try them out before you buy like that. I had to find out by ordering a 4oz bag of each of the three over the Internet.
John Grebe

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me."
~C. S. Lewis

Dec 31st, '06, 01:14
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by lenny7 » Dec 31st, '06, 01:14

jogrebe wrote:Your lucky if you can try them out before you buy like that. I had to find out by ordering a 4oz bag of each of the three over the Internet.
It's pretty reasonable too. I think it's only $1.35 for a cup of any tea they have or $2.50 for a small teapot. Plus it's always good to support your local tea purveyor. The folks there are great and very helpful too.

Jan 2nd, '07, 22:27
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by deadfingers » Jan 2nd, '07, 22:27

Hmm interesting http://www.houdeasianart.com seems pretty good. I really like the way they set up their place. I'm going to safely assume they ship to APOs since they ship worldwide. I like the idea that they have a "speedier" version of shipping to us (worldwide). That's a big plus in my book, that book does look pretty good. I may buy a couple samples of Pu-Erh from them and probably get the book to learn more about Pu-Erh. I'd really like to have Pu-erh in my collection of teas that I drink. It's really "mysterious" and interesting, it's very appealing to me.

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Jan 2nd, '07, 22:48
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by jogrebe » Jan 2nd, '07, 22:48

deadfingers wrote:Hmm interesting http://www.houdeasianart.com seems pretty good. I really like the way they set up their place. I'm going to safely assume they ship to APOs since they ship worldwide. I like the idea that they have a "speedier" version of shipping to us (worldwide). That's a big plus in my book, that book does look pretty good. I may buy a couple samples of Pu-Erh from them and probably get the book to learn more about Pu-Erh. I'd really like to have Pu-erh in my collection of teas that I drink. It's really "mysterious" and interesting, it's very appealing to me.
LOL small world I just bought a copy of the Puerh book they are selling today.
John Grebe

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me."
~C. S. Lewis

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Jan 3rd, '07, 00:21
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by hop_goblin » Jan 3rd, '07, 00:21

jogrebe wrote:
deadfingers wrote:Hmm interesting http://www.houdeasianart.com seems pretty good. I really like the way they set up their place. I'm going to safely assume they ship to APOs since they ship worldwide. I like the idea that they have a "speedier" version of shipping to us (worldwide). That's a big plus in my book, that book does look pretty good. I may buy a couple samples of Pu-Erh from them and probably get the book to learn more about Pu-Erh. I'd really like to have Pu-erh in my collection of teas that I drink. It's really "mysterious" and interesting, it's very appealing to me.
LOL small world I just bought a copy of the Puerh book they are selling today.[/quote/]

I have already purchased the book and have read it cover to cover. The english is pretty bad at times and half the book is just pictures of Pu-erh teas with no descriptions. That was the most disappointing part. However, does have some interesting pictures and tid bits!

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Jan 3rd, '07, 00:39
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by jogrebe » Jan 3rd, '07, 00:39

hop_goblin wrote: I have already purchased the book and have read it cover to cover. The english is pretty bad at times and half the book is just pictures of Pu-erh teas with no descriptions. That was the most disappointing part. However, does have some interesting pictures and tid bits!
True but in terms of books about puerh I'm sure it is a huge step in the right direction. I have several other books about tea and only one of them even makes a mention of puerh and it doesn't even get an entire page in a book that is over 100 pages.
John Grebe

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me."
~C. S. Lewis

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