Never tried Pu

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


Nov 3rd, '08, 11:09
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Never tried Pu

by Robertwolf1 » Nov 3rd, '08, 11:09

What is a good one to start with?
Not looking for really cheap, just a decent quality to get me aquainted.

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Nov 3rd, '08, 11:11
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Re: Never tried Pu

by TIM » Nov 3rd, '08, 11:11

Robertwolf1 wrote:What is a good one to start with?
Not looking for really cheap, just a decent quality to get me aquainted.
I would start on a light pu first and work the way up stronger stuff:
http://www.theteagallery.com/2004_Silve ... 2004st.htm
Enjoy. T

Nov 3rd, '08, 12:38
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Re: Never tried Pu

by beecrofter » Nov 3rd, '08, 12:38

Robertwolf1 wrote:What is a good one to start with?
Not looking for really cheap, just a decent quality to get me aquainted.
Try samples from Houde or from YSL that way you can buy quality and not be committed to an entire beeng.

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Nov 3rd, '08, 12:51
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Re: Never tried Pu

by Salsero » Nov 3rd, '08, 12:51

beecrofter wrote: Try samples from Houde or from YSL
+1

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Nov 3rd, '08, 13:18
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Re: Never tried Pu

by puerhking » Nov 3rd, '08, 13:18

Robertwolf1 wrote:What is a good one to start with?
Not looking for really cheap, just a decent quality to get me aquainted.
If you are currently into blacks and or dark oolongs I would check out shu. And if you are into green and or greener oolongs would check out sheng.

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Nov 3rd, '08, 14:43
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Re: Never tried Pu

by heavydoom » Nov 3rd, '08, 14:43

Robertwolf1 wrote:What is a good one to start with?
Not looking for really cheap, just a decent quality to get me aquainted.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/2008-Lao-Ban-Zhang-W ... m153.l1262

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Nov 3rd, '08, 15:05
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Re: Never tried Pu

by Salsero » Nov 3rd, '08, 15:05

puerhking wrote: If you are currently into blacks and or dark oolongs I would check out shu. And if you are into green and or greener oolongs would check out sheng.
Puerhking has a good point here. Some people are almost entirely into just shu or just sheng.

Nov 4th, '08, 16:55
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by Robertwolf1 » Nov 4th, '08, 16:55

When looking at buying some are they labeled either shu or sheng? If not what do those words mean.

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Nov 4th, '08, 17:08
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by wyardley » Nov 4th, '08, 17:08

Robertwolf1 wrote:When looking at buying some are they labeled either shu or sheng? If not what do those words mean.
Vendors will usually tell you, or put the cakes in separate categories.. in English, these will usually be something like "raw", "green", or "uncooked" for sheng, and "ripe" or "cooked" for shu (ripe is really a better approximation of the meaning of shu in this context). If the type is written on the cakes, they will most likely just have the Chinese characters for 生 (shēng) or 熟 (shú) on them. You can also usually tell by the color and taste of the tea broth, and by the look of the wet leaves. Modern ripe cakes are usually ripened pretty aggressively, so it's typically not that hard to tell by looking at (or smelling) the dry leaf either.

This thread:
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?t=6518
has some good close-ups of cakes, and on many of them, you can see the 生 character very clearly (fortunately, this is a pretty easy character to recognize).

By the way, just in case anyone was wondering how to say these words, "shēng" is pronounced sort of like "shung" (maybe a tiny bit towards "sheung"), with the tongue curled back further in the mouth than with a western sh sound, with a high flat tone, and "shú" is pronounced like "shu" with the same sh sound a rising tone. That's standard mandarin, but a lot of Mandarin speakers (especially Southern Chinese and Taiwanese) say the 'sh' sound as closer to just a straight 's' sound ('sung' / 'sue'). They also may pronounce it closer to "show" or "so" (phonetically) than "shoe".
Last edited by wyardley on Nov 4th, '08, 18:03, edited 1 time in total.

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Nov 4th, '08, 17:47
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Re: Never tried Pu

by hop_goblin » Nov 4th, '08, 17:47

beecrofter wrote:
Robertwolf1 wrote:What is a good one to start with?
Not looking for really cheap, just a decent quality to get me aquainted.
Try samples from Houde or from YSL that way you can buy quality and not be committed to an entire beeng.
I ALWAYS recommend HouDe first as Guang stock has been thouroughly vetted.

Nov 4th, '08, 22:53
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by edkrueger » Nov 4th, '08, 22:53

And Guang is in Houston. Maybe order something and see if he will meet you at Sandy's Market.

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Nov 5th, '08, 20:44
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Re: Never tried Pu

by Jeremy » Nov 5th, '08, 20:44

TIM wrote:
Robertwolf1 wrote:What is a good one to start with?
Not looking for really cheap, just a decent quality to get me aquainted.
I would start on a light pu first and work the way up stronger stuff:
http://www.theteagallery.com/2004_Silve ... 2004st.htm
Enjoy. T
That silver tip is awesome, I still have some left. You can really push it with brewing time and no bitterness.

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