Official Pu of the day

by **shah82** » Oct 12th, '12, 00:18

Re: Official Pu of the day

by shah82 » Oct 12th, '12, 00:18

I don't know about miracles, but good puerh *does* get better and age over the short term, in many cases.

I think the better lesson is that low quality tea does not age, except in forever, if it ages at all. I think the biggest impact will be standard big factory cakes roughly 2005 and later. There are going to be a ton of disappointed puerh owners in 2015, I think.

by **the_economist** » Oct 12th, '12, 00:51

Re: Official Pu of the day

by the_economist » Oct 12th, '12, 00:51

Certainly helpful, I'm always grateful for good pictures!

Website · by **debunix** » Oct 12th, '12, 00:52

Re: Official Pu of the day

by debunix » Oct 12th, '12, 00:52

I am enjoying a session today with one of my first beengs, a 2007 'white bud' sheng from Norbu. It's an odd little tea, which has lost some of the smokiness that was a good part of it's appeal early on, but it still has enough of the floral/fruity quality to be worth finishing the cake. It doesn't seem likely to age into something special, especially not in the air conditioned office setting, but I bought it for present drinkability, and really, that's enough.

by **tst** » Oct 12th, '12, 02:18

Re: Official Pu of the day

by tst » Oct 12th, '12, 02:18

TIM wrote:This is a great example F2, since you have a good experience of this 7 years dry storage. Perhaps a wake up call for all new collectors whom been doing "Dry" storage for 1 or 2 years and hoping for a miracle.

This is something on my mind a lot recently.

I'm slowly but surely building my puerh collection, however I want to be sure my environment is adequately wet. What numbers (in your opinion) do you think I should be aiming for?
Cloud wrote 20-30C and 70-80% ... is this the general consensus?

by **135F2** » Oct 12th, '12, 03:42

Re: Official Pu of the day

by 135F2 » Oct 12th, '12, 03:42

tst wrote:
TIM wrote:This is a great example F2, since you have a good experience of this 7 years dry storage. Perhaps a wake up call for all new collectors whom been doing "Dry" storage for 1 or 2 years and hoping for a miracle.

This is something on my mind a lot recently.

I'm slowly but surely building my puerh collection, however I want to be sure my environment is adequately wet. What numbers (in your opinion) do you think I should be aiming for?
Cloud wrote 20-30C and 70-80% ... is this the general consensus?

That's within Hong Kong / Guangzhou average climate ranges, where Cloud is, so it should be a good, proven range. I don't know if it's the consensus, however. Kunming, for one, is a bit colder and dryer, as far as I can tell from Googling it up.

by **gasninja** » Oct 12th, '12, 10:18

Re: Official Pu of the day

by gasninja » Oct 12th, '12, 10:18

Yeah I wouldn't use kunming levels as a guide if you want your cakes to mature within fifty years. Any time I have tried a ten plus year old kunming stored tea it has been still very green.

by **135F2** » Oct 12th, '12, 10:20

Re: Official Pu of the day

by 135F2 » Oct 12th, '12, 10:20

gasninja wrote:Yeah I wouldn't use kunming levels as a guide if you want your cakes to mature within fifty years. Any time I have tried a ten plus year old kunming stored tea it has been still very green.

That's interesting to know. Thanks.

by **MarshalN** » Oct 12th, '12, 20:53

Re: Official Pu of the day

by MarshalN » Oct 12th, '12, 20:53

gasninja wrote:Yeah I wouldn't use kunming levels as a guide if you want your cakes to mature within fifty years. Any time I have tried a ten plus year old kunming stored tea it has been still very green.

And they taste awful

by **TIM** » Oct 13th, '12, 00:00

Re: Official Pu of the day

by TIM » Oct 13th, '12, 00:00

Aweful is a harsh word. I would say they taste stale.

by **shah82** » Oct 13th, '12, 00:22

Re: Official Pu of the day

by shah82 » Oct 13th, '12, 00:22

I think the plus of Kunming storage is the mellowing without the rapid change, if you like that sort of thing. I suspect the bigger issue is that storage was often poor until recently. So they do brown out instead of mellowing out. My singular experience with ten years old Kunming stored puerh was that it did get milder, but gets less brittle-ly young after a year + in Atlanta. Does depend on where it's from. Difference between lincangs stored in Taiwan and Kunming is much less than the difference between Bulangs stored in Taiwan and Kunming, in my limited experience.

by **TIM** » Oct 13th, '12, 00:30

Re: Official Pu of the day

by TIM » Oct 13th, '12, 00:30

shah82 wrote:I think the plus of Kunming storage is the mellowing without the rapid change, if you like that sort of thing. I suspect the bigger issue is that storage was often poor until recently. So they do brown out instead of mellowing out. My singular experience with ten years old Kunming stored puerh was that it did get milder, but gets less brittle-ly young after a year + in Atlanta. Does depend on where it's from. Difference between lincangs stored in Taiwan and Kunming is much less than the difference between Bulangs stored in Taiwan and Kunming, in my limited experience.

Im kind of lost Shah82. Mellowing means maturing? Or mellowing means stale? For example, a stale or dry aged rosemarry could be mellow. A hong kong storage bulang could be matured. There is a way to mature a bulang in Kunming without being stale or lost of aroma and body.

Website · by **debunix** » Oct 13th, '12, 00:32

Re: Official Pu of the day

by debunix » Oct 13th, '12, 00:32

2006 Haiwan 'Peacock Quest' Shu, a nice mellow earthy tea shared with a visiting student today, along with the url for teachat. She enjoyed it, although she liked yesterday's TGY better.

by **shah82** » Oct 13th, '12, 00:42

Re: Official Pu of the day

by shah82 » Oct 13th, '12, 00:42

I'm not really sure, either.

Right now, I will say that mellowing is an increase in mid-range flavors, like honey or leather. Softening. The body does increase, I think. It could mean getting stale, but I think all puerh gets stale on one level or another. It's a matter of ensuring a dynamic aging process that keeps the ball rolling.

What I consider true stale-ness is a flat taste. Especially with a harsh feel in the throat.

by **brandon** » Oct 13th, '12, 09:55

Re: Official Pu of the day

by brandon » Oct 13th, '12, 09:55

2007 Yiwu Chen Guang He Tang

Brewing a little lighter than usual today. Still lots of sweetness but enough hay and bitterness to balance. Aftertaste goes on forever, decent throatiness. Yum!

A note for nerds, I warmed up the last photo by a few degrees from what I feel is the most correct white balance in order to make the color of the tea brew more accurate. It was a little 'washed out' in the original photo. Please forgive me!

by **135F2** » Oct 13th, '12, 20:15

Re: Official Pu of the day

by 135F2 » Oct 13th, '12, 20:15

^ Love the way the leaves look, Brandon! Looks yummy.