Puehr Fave flavor notes...seeking your personal ultimate tea

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


Mar 22nd, '13, 23:12
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Re: Puehr Fave flavor notes...seeking your personal ultimate tea

by theredbaron » Mar 22nd, '13, 23:12

futurebird wrote:
theredbaron wrote:

Can you describe more of what you mean by "musty" --or is it more musky?

As an example of the two opposites, here two inexpensive semi-aged teas that you can try quite cheaply by ordering samples from Yunnansourcing:

the first tea i found to be very well stored, and on its way to become a very pleasant tea in not too many years:

http://www.yunnansourcing.com/store/pro ... oduct=1920

the second tea displays what i find somewhat off flavors of being a bit too wet stored:

http://www.yunnansourcing.com/store/pro ... oduct=1949
Last edited by theredbaron on Mar 22nd, '13, 23:15, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Puehr Fave flavor notes...seeking your personal ultimate tea

by futurebird » Mar 22nd, '13, 23:14

One of those is "no long available" so one can't find out what it was.

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Re: Puehr Fave flavor notes...seeking your personal ultimate tea

by theredbaron » Mar 22nd, '13, 23:16

futurebird wrote:One of those is "no long available" so one can't find out what it was.
I noticed that myself, made a mistake in cutting and pasting. :oops:

Edited, just click again. :)

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Re: Puehr Fave flavor notes...seeking your personal ultimate tea

by futurebird » Mar 23rd, '13, 00:14

Thanks, I will order from them someday since things I want from them keep accumulating (adding these to my list) but the $20 shipping charge is a big ding to overcome. I feel like I need to build up to an $80 order first...

Back to the camphor issue. If it's "like menthol" could it be like the 2001 Jinchang Haw from essence of tea? I know a lot of people have tried that, and to me it has "menthol" (that lingering freshness in the throat)

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Re: Puehr Fave flavor notes...seeking your personal ultimate tea

by debunix » Mar 23rd, '13, 00:25

Sometimes I very much enjoy a smoky flavor in a young puerh--this can edge towards gym socks. I am very curious how this transient flavor (it has long faded from a 2007 tea pressed in 2009 that had it very strongly in 2010) relates to woe dui.

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Re: Puehr Fave flavor notes...seeking your personal ultimate tea

by Drax » Mar 23rd, '13, 09:03

futurebird wrote:Thanks, I will order from them someday since things I want from them keep accumulating (adding these to my list) but the $20 shipping charge is a big ding to overcome. I feel like I need to build up to an $80 order first...
If you keep the order to a couple samples, you can choose a shipping option that is around $10 instead.

Also, I'm sure I don't really have to say this one, but be sure to make up your own mind on which ones you like despite what other people say about them. You may enjoy certain flavor profiles that others may not enjoy, and that's just fine!

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Re: Puehr Fave flavor notes...seeking your personal ultimate tea

by edkrueger » Mar 23rd, '13, 10:06

futurebird wrote:One last comment I still have no idea what people mean by "camphor" -- is there another way to describe it? Or is it just a pleasant young green taste/smell like the smell of a new leaf?
Camphor is immediately obvious in decent yiwu cakes. I don't think its a description problem, it might be a tea problem.

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Re: Puehr Fave flavor notes...seeking your personal ultimate tea

by futurebird » Mar 23rd, '13, 10:07

I just wanted to understand what other people mean when they use various words to describe tea-- this will let me better decipher which teas I enjoy.

It might even be the case that I learn that any tea that so-and-so hates I'll enjoy!

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Re: Puehr Fave flavor notes...seeking your personal ultimate tea

by futurebird » Mar 23rd, '13, 10:09

edkrueger wrote:
futurebird wrote:One last comment I still have no idea what people mean by "camphor" -- is there another way to describe it? Or is it just a pleasant young green taste/smell like the smell of a new leaf?
Camphor is immediately obvious in decent yiwu cakes. I don't think its a description problem, it might be a tea problem.
2001 Jinchang Haw is yiwu-- so maybe what I noticed with it was camphor.

Part of the issue is I have never seen a camphor tree. That's why this is so mystifying.

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Re: Puehr Fave flavor notes...seeking your personal ultimate tea

by edkrueger » Mar 23rd, '13, 10:12

What I mean is that it is hard to understand the sensation if you have never experienced it. A decent yuwi would do much more to "explain" the sensation than a description.

For a few year I had pu-erh and tried to imagine the flavor. Turns out my tea, despite the number of times people reviewed them as having camphor sensation, didn't have any.

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Re: Puehr Fave flavor notes...seeking your personal ultimate tea

by edkrueger » Mar 23rd, '13, 10:20

Well, not all Yiwu have it.

The best I can describe Camphor is like Vicks. Vicks is a blend of mostly Camphor extract, with Eucalyptus oil and menthol. Also, most Eucalyptus oil is actually Camphor oil.

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Re: Puehr Fave flavor notes...seeking your personal ultimate tea

by futurebird » Mar 23rd, '13, 10:26

Eucalyptus oil I know!
Ok. I get it now. This tea definitely has that, it's a kind of burn. (though a cool burn, not a hot one)

I can see why people like it, but it not something I've ever found in a very old tea yet... only in teas 8-12 years old.

I can see how that would be fascinating in a 20+ year old tea!

All teas over 20 I have had have been to mellow for that kind of vibrancy.

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Re: Puehr Fave flavor notes...seeking your personal ultimate tea

by gingkoseto » Mar 23rd, '13, 11:13

futurebird wrote:I just wanted to understand what other people mean when they use various words to describe tea-- this will let me better decipher which teas I enjoy.

It might even be the case that I learn that any tea that so-and-so hates I'll enjoy!
This is somewhat related to your other post about what kind of tea description you would like to see. To me, for books, movies, and traveling destinations, I always would like to see comparisons - such as, if you like A and B, then probably you would like this. If you hate C and D, then probably you won't like this...
For descriptive words, people use them differently anyway. I never figured out what people really mean with camphor. And in Chinese, for "zhang xiang" (supposedly Chinese meaning of "camphor"), I've heard several versions of its explanation, and since I don't have much personal experience with camphor itself, there is no way for me to tell which flavor is really the "camphor flavor" said by people.
Some other Chinese tea jargon, such as "chestnut flavor", "green bean flavor", I could understand better, because I eat them. :D But for people who don't eat them often, such descriptions may not make much sense.

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Re: Puehr Fave flavor notes...seeking your personal ultimate tea

by lordsbm » Mar 23rd, '13, 11:28

Here's a good article on different pu erh smell/aroma
http://www.puerzg.cn/puerwh/html/724527.html

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Mar 23rd, '13, 11:46
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Re: Puehr Fave flavor notes...seeking your personal ultimate tea

by futurebird » Mar 23rd, '13, 11:46

lordsbm wrote:Here's a good article on different pu erh smell/aroma
http://www.puerzg.cn/puerwh/html/724527.html
bad translation:
Camphor aroma ---- traditional term. A majority of people can not come into contact with the scent, and more are profiteers plants moldy taste described as camphor incense, the victims Chayou smell camphor incense on U-turn. This camphor incense is clearly not what we often say camphor leaves a refreshing taste, but the vintage camphor smell. To antique furniture shop can smell the taste, Pu'er tea can not be issued a camphor scent. Indeed, but will not be able to issue, Pu'er tea the excellent store will produce a natural wood flavor, this is one kind of Benny Chan but do not wet the taste of camphor aroma is also true wood flavor, Chen and elegant wood flavor, I go through some subjective comparison think that and The Pu'er tea issued this reminiscent of camphor aroma, the taste is entirely possible.
I'm having a hard time making the connection between antique furniture shop and menthol/Eucalyptus oil.

I fascinated by your earlier comment that it can come from the proximity of trees.

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