White dots on shu

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Mar 24th, '17, 06:09
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White dots on shu

by Xeractha » Mar 24th, '17, 06:09

Hi!

I've been keeping a 2008 Haiwan 968 tuo in 70% humidity and around 20-22 C° for 3 or 4 months now. Sometimes the humidity goes up when I forget about it (but only for a few hours). When I first got this tuo it had a lot of fermentation flavour despite its age but it's gone now or I'm just used to it. What I noticed last week is that this tuo tasted too sweet like sugar. I didn't measure it but I think I put around 10g in a 100ml gaiwan. Yesterday I noticed the tuo had white dots in a place, not many though.
Looks like this (click for higher resolution):
Image
Closer:
Image

Can't really make better photos with phone.

Are these a start of something bad or nothing extra? I know yellow mold is usually bad but it's totally white and just dots, not the usual mold that's on a 2 weeks old bread.

Today I received this:
Image

It had similar dots but only in a small area.
Image

Of course with closer view they aren't really dots. False colour might be because of the lamps and bad phone camera but these things are actually white.

I will drink the teas anyway. Well, not the 968 because I don't like that, I just use that for testing storage conditions and it doesn't seem to be bad so far. If it's normal then I suppose there's nothing to change regarding storage. I just wanted to ask, better safe than sorry.

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Mar 24th, '17, 22:49
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Re: White dots on shu

by bagua7 » Mar 24th, '17, 22:49

No, it's all good. To some puerh lovers that's an after sought sign. I read this in a puerh tea site a while ago but can't find it now, sorry.

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Mar 25th, '17, 15:55
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Re: White dots on shu

by Xeractha » Mar 25th, '17, 15:55

bagua7 wrote: No, it's all good. To some puerh lovers that's an after sought sign. I read this in a puerh tea site a while ago but can't find it now, sorry.
Hmm, good to know. The cake didn't have much of this white stuff so there should be no problem. Also the inside is pretty clean so far.

Thanks anyway!

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Mar 26th, '17, 03:23
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Re: White dots on shu

by jayinhk » Mar 26th, '17, 03:23

How are you measuring your humidity? If that is mold then it's likely your humidity is higher than you think...

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Mar 26th, '17, 04:05
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Re: White dots on shu

by Xeractha » Mar 26th, '17, 04:05

jayinhk wrote: How are you measuring your humidity? If that is mold then it's likely your humidity is higher than you think...
I've got a small thermometer (capable of measuring RH) in the box where I keep Pu. The box is in a small cabinet so there shouldn't be heat shock. Also not airtight.
Something like this: https://thoroughlyreviewed.com/wp-conte ... 00x300.jpg

The only other thing that I have and good for humidity measurement is a DHT11 sensor for arduino but that's not practical so I don't use it.

Mar 26th, '17, 23:04
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Re: White dots on shu

by Gatollefson » Mar 26th, '17, 23:04

I've seen these dots in shu that has bugs in it. Maybe they're eggs or excrement. I've read they like damp conditions, but are ok to drink. I hope mines not mold!
Xeractha wrote: Hi!

I've been keeping a 2008 Haiwan 968 tuo in 70% humidity and around 20-22 C° for 3 or 4 months now. Sometimes the humidity goes up when I forget about it (but only for a few hours). When I first got this tuo it had a lot of fermentation flavour despite its age but it's gone now or I'm just used to it. What I noticed last week is that this tuo tasted too sweet like sugar. I didn't measure it but I think I put around 10g in a 100ml gaiwan. Yesterday I noticed the tuo had white dots in a place, not many though.
Looks like this (click for higher resolution):
Image
Closer:
Image

Can't really make better photos with phone.

Are these a start of something bad or nothing extra? I know yellow mold is usually bad but it's totally white and just dots, not the usual mold that's on a 2 weeks old bread.

Today I received this:
Image

It had similar dots but only in a small area.
Image

Of course with closer view they aren't really dots. False colour might be because of the lamps and bad phone camera but these things are actually white.

I will drink the teas anyway. Well, not the 968 because I don't like that, I just use that for testing storage conditions and it doesn't seem to be bad so far. If it's normal then I suppose there's nothing to change regarding storage. I just wanted to ask, better safe than sorry.

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Mar 27th, '17, 02:03
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Re: White dots on shu

by Teasenz » Mar 27th, '17, 02:03

Most likely it's 'jinhua'. It's a kind of mold that's believed to be healthy in China, but I'm not sure if there's any scientific proof for that. I'm not 100% sure if it's jinhua though, it's pretty hard to see on the pic.

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Mar 27th, '17, 02:55
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Re: White dots on shu

by Xeractha » Mar 27th, '17, 02:55

Teasenz wrote: Most likely it's 'jinhua'. It's a kind of mold that's believed to be healthy in China, but I'm not sure if there's any scientific proof for that. I'm not 100% sure if it's jinhua though, it's pretty hard to see on the pic.
You can view the full size picture on imgur. I couldn't make better photos with phone and I already had to use a macro lens.
Well, bug poop, egg or whatever, so far I'm here, liver didn't melt down. :D

Apr 2nd, '17, 11:44
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Re: White dots on shu

by mael » Apr 2nd, '17, 11:44

Hello,
I was reading articles on gingko's blog and found an article about "golden flowers" on a fu zhuan brick and those "golden flowers" made me think about the dots on your tea.
Here is the link of the article "CNNP An Hua Factory Hand-Constructed Fu Zhuan brick 手筑茯磚" with pictures of the dots :
http://gingkobay.blogspot.fr/2011/02/cn ... ed-fu.html
Have a nice day

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