1972 Puerh

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


Aug 26th, '13, 20:48
Posts: 338
Joined: Jul 13th, '13, 19:11

1972 Puerh

by AllanK » Aug 26th, '13, 20:48

I went into NY City, Chinatown today to look for tea especially Puerh and found a 1972 Puerh at Sun's Organic Tea Store. I am not sure if it is Shu or Sheng, I forgot to ask. I will call tomorrow and find out. It is pretty decent but not spectacular. It has a very strong aftertaste of camphor if I am using the correct term.

She sells this tea for $10 an ounce or $100 a tea cake. I bought 4 ounces as I was unwilling to risk buying a whole tea cake this old. I thought this price excellent, provided it is actually from 1972. It tastes unlike any Puerh I have ever tasted and I have tried about seventy or so.

I also bought two cheaper whole cakes from the woman one from 2009 and the other a brick that I think was 20 years old. I forgot to write down the years of these cakes and managed to forget the age of the one. The woman has over 100 different teas of all sorts in jars in her shop and about some 15 variety of Puerh. She doesn't seem to know exactly what she has. Still it was nice to see my Puerh before I bought it.

As to the strong camphor taste, is this common in very old Puerh and what does it mean? I have no idea how this was stored and I don't think she knows either.

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Aug 26th, '13, 20:54
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Re: 1972 Puerh

by TIM » Aug 26th, '13, 20:54

AllanK wrote:I went into NY City, Chinatown today to look for tea especially Puerh and found a 1972 Puerh at Sun's Organic Tea Store. I am not sure if it is Shu or Sheng, I forgot to ask. I will call tomorrow and find out. It is pretty decent but not spectacular. It has a very strong aftertaste of camphor if I am using the correct term.

She sells this tea for $10 an ounce or $100 a tea cake. I bought 4 ounces as I was unwilling to risk buying a whole tea cake this old. I thought this price excellent, provided it is actually from 1972. It tastes unlike any Puerh I have ever tasted and I have tried about seventy or so.

I also bought two cheaper whole cakes from the woman one from 2009 and the other a brick that I think was 20 years old. I forgot to write down the years of these cakes and managed to forget the age of the one. The woman has over 100 different teas of all sorts in jars in her shop and about some 15 variety of Puerh. She doesn't seem to know exactly what she has. Still it was nice to see my Puerh before I bought it.

As to the strong camphor taste, is this common in very old Puerh and what does it mean? I have no idea how this was stored and I don't think she knows either.
Camphor character should change to aged citrus peel by that age.

Aug 26th, '13, 21:16
Posts: 1274
Joined: May 9th, '09, 15:59

Re: 1972 Puerh

by shah82 » Aug 26th, '13, 21:16

Decent puerh that age is more than $200 an ounce, sheng or shu. I suspect *any* puerh that is at all drinkable is more than $200 an ounce.

Aug 26th, '13, 21:31
Posts: 338
Joined: Jul 13th, '13, 19:11

Re: 1972 Puerh

by AllanK » Aug 26th, '13, 21:31

shah82 wrote:Decent puerh that age is more than $200 an ounce, sheng or shu. I suspect *any* puerh that is at all drinkable is more than $200 an ounce.
This tea is decent and drinkable and only $10 an ounce although one can never verify the true age of a puerh. I am on the third steeping now and it is better than the first two.

Aug 26th, '13, 21:34
Posts: 338
Joined: Jul 13th, '13, 19:11

Re: 1972 Puerh

by AllanK » Aug 26th, '13, 21:34

TIM wrote:
AllanK wrote:I went into NY City, Chinatown today to look for tea especially Puerh and found a 1972 Puerh at Sun's Organic Tea Store. I am not sure if it is Shu or Sheng, I forgot to ask. I will call tomorrow and find out. It is pretty decent but not spectacular. It has a very strong aftertaste of camphor if I am using the correct term.

She sells this tea for $10 an ounce or $100 a tea cake. I bought 4 ounces as I was unwilling to risk buying a whole tea cake this old. I thought this price excellent, provided it is actually from 1972. It tastes unlike any Puerh I have ever tasted and I have tried about seventy or so.

I also bought two cheaper whole cakes from the woman one from 2009 and the other a brick that I think was 20 years old. I forgot to write down the years of these cakes and managed to forget the age of the one. The woman has over 100 different teas of all sorts in jars in her shop and about some 15 variety of Puerh. She doesn't seem to know exactly what she has. Still it was nice to see my Puerh before I bought it.

As to the strong camphor taste, is this common in very old Puerh and what does it mean? I have no idea how this was stored and I don't think she knows either.
Camphor character should change to aged citrus peel by that age.
I think I over steeped the tea on the first two steepings. On the third steeping that flavor, I don't know if camphor is the right word but its close, is less pronounced. There is also a very sweet taste to this tea as well. Almost citrus describes it well steeping it for only 15 seconds. At 15 seconds it is darker than most Puerh at one minute.

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