What kinds of Pu are ideal if consumed young?

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


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Jun 19th, '14, 16:49
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What kinds of Pu are ideal if consumed young?

by tinols » Jun 19th, '14, 16:49

I might've read somewhere(can't remember) that certain trees(age, location, or w/e) are preferred for drinking young sheng. For example, the menghai shengs aren't really ideal to be consumed young.

Does anyone have any examples? I have a 2011 EOT gua feng zhai that I'm enjoying quite a bit right now. I have two bings of it right now and I'm saving the other for aging.

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by bonescwa » Jun 19th, '14, 16:55

I've been hearing that drinking puerh young is a very recent idea

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Jun 19th, '14, 17:45
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Re: What kinds of Pu are ideal if consumed young?

by entropyembrace » Jun 19th, '14, 17:45

If you check the excerpts of Puer Tea: Ancient Caravans and Urban Chic posted here http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... 2&start=15 you can see that in Yunnan people traditionally drink unaged raw puerh or green tea made from puerh varietals. Fermented pu-erh (shu and aged puerh) are more for Hong Kong and Taiwan. So drinking young raw puerh outside of Yunnan may be a new concept it's something that people where puerh is produced have been doing for a long time.

As to which pu-erh are good to drink unaged and raw? I think there's not really any broad generalizations that you can make. There's nothing wrong with drinking unaged raw menghai. Aged and unaged raw puerh taste very different and some people have a preference for one or the other. Aged puerh is less bitter and has fermented flavours. Unaged puerh tastes fresh but is often bitter. I suggest trying as many as you can to see what you like and keep in mind that two teas from the same region are not necessarily the same or even really similar. For example, one raw puerh from Yiwu might have unripe plums as the dominant flavour, another dry cured ham, and a third caramel and cacao.

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Jun 19th, '14, 23:41
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Re: What kinds of Pu are ideal if consumed young?

by Teaism » Jun 19th, '14, 23:41

Usually I drink all Pu from the youngest possible and continue to do so throughout the tea entire aging development. By doing that you can experience its changes and tranformation. For younger Pu you can tame it by various brewing method.

Cheers! :D

Jun 20th, '14, 05:59
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Re: What kinds of Pu are ideal if consumed young?

by bankung » Jun 20th, '14, 05:59

Q - What kinds of Pu are ideal if consumed young?
A - Delicious Pu!!

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Jun 20th, '14, 07:59
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What kinds of Pu are ideal if consumed young?

by mcrdotcom » Jun 20th, '14, 07:59

bankung wrote:Q - What kinds of Pu are ideal if consumed young?
A - Delicious Pu!!
+1

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Re: What kinds of Pu are ideal if consumed young?

by chrl42 » Jun 20th, '14, 09:12

entropyembrace wrote:If you check the excerpts of Puer Tea: Ancient Caravans and Urban Chic posted here http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... 2&start=15 you can see that in Yunnan people traditionally drink unaged raw puerh or green tea made from puerh varietals. Fermented pu-erh (shu and aged puerh) are more for Hong Kong and Taiwan. So drinking young raw puerh outside of Yunnan may be a new concept it's something that people where puerh is produced have been doing for a long time.

As to which pu-erh are good to drink unaged and raw? I think there's not really any broad generalizations that you can make. There's nothing wrong with drinking unaged raw menghai. Aged and unaged raw puerh taste very different and some people have a preference for one or the other. Aged puerh is less bitter and has fermented flavours. Unaged puerh tastes fresh but is often bitter. I suggest trying as many as you can to see what you like and keep in mind that two teas from the same region are not necessarily the same or even really similar. For example, one raw puerh from Yiwu might have unripe plums as the dominant flavour, another dry cured ham, and a third caramel and cacao.
I think that's because after the PRC was founded, the main Puerh mecca moved from Yiwu to Menghai, those Yin Ji Puerh was mostly plantation blended ones.

I heard the concept 'older the better' started from HK in 50s and advertised by Taiwan later on..because those plantation ones are quite bitter when young and become dramatically changed with a camphor note decades later. During Qing~the ROC, the custom of aging wasn't prevailing as now, and most of Puerh leaves were the small leaf types, none-bitter one.

It's true the Yunnanese traditionally drink young raw Pu..but that's strictly for Gushu types...it's not like you can buy a Dayi Bing and drink right away. Correction welcomed. :)

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Jun 20th, '14, 15:50
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Re: What kinds of Pu are ideal if consumed young?

by entropyembrace » Jun 20th, '14, 15:50

chrl42 wrote: It's true the Yunnanese traditionally drink young raw Pu..but that's strictly for Gushu types...it's not like you can buy a Dayi Bing and drink right away. Correction welcomed. :)
I have bought Dayi bing and enjoyed drinking right away :lol:

I think it comes down more to personal preference some people have tolerance for bitterness and enjoy drinking things like tonic, espresso, and young raw puerh :)

Jun 23rd, '14, 23:16
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Re: What kinds of Pu are ideal if consumed young?

by AllanK » Jun 23rd, '14, 23:16

entropyembrace wrote:
chrl42 wrote: It's true the Yunnanese traditionally drink young raw Pu..but that's strictly for Gushu types...it's not like you can buy a Dayi Bing and drink right away. Correction welcomed. :)
I have bought Dayi bing and enjoyed drinking right away :lol:

I think it comes down more to personal preference some people have tolerance for bitterness and enjoy drinking things like tonic, espresso, and young raw puerh :)
I agree that buying Dayi bings and drinking them right away is usually good. I believe their Shu is usually stored for a year before it is released so it loses some of its fermentation flavor. Sometimes new shu is like drinking pure fermentation material.

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Jun 23rd, '14, 23:30
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Re: What kinds of Pu are ideal if consumed young?

by entropyembrace » Jun 23rd, '14, 23:30

AllanK wrote: I agree that buying Dayi bings and drinking them right away is usually good. I believe their Shu is usually stored for a year before it is released so it loses some of its fermentation flavor. Sometimes new shu is like drinking pure fermentation material.
I was talking about sheng :)

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Re: What kinds of Pu are ideal if consumed young?

by shah82 » Jun 23rd, '14, 23:49

Honestly? Good small leaf puerh--Jingmai, Yibang, that good stuff.

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Re: What kinds of Pu are ideal if consumed young?

by honza » Jun 24th, '14, 02:19

Jingmai, yes. But only from Da zhai village and ancient trees, these Mangjing and other villages are bitter a bit.

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Re: What kinds of Pu are ideal if consumed young?

by JakubT » Jun 25th, '14, 03:24

Honza: Well, but some people (including me) like them despite the bitterness, as that one tends to transform in a pretty way. It is tea dependent, of course, and the tea needs some attention, but it can be good despite being bitter.

Shah: Agreed, absolutely

Other than that, I think that all kinds of huangpian pu is not really ment for aging, but can be delicious when young. Some purple teas seem to be better when young. And many teas from Yiwu are very nice and ellegant when young as well. And while teas from Bada do have something about them even when aged a bit, I don't really believe in awesome aging of single-area Bada - some of them are possibly around their peak after a couple of years of "sitting down".

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