Your first pu

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


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Nov 12th, '08, 13:39
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by wyardley » Nov 12th, '08, 13:39

Robertwolf1 wrote: Why do you think it is not a good thing?
What is wrong with young sheng?
I am just curious because I have not tried pu yet and it seems that young is necessary if you are on a budget and want more than just samples.
I think the TCM perspective is that it has too much extreme cold qi. I have seen it claimed that drinking it long term can have some negative effects even if one doesn't notice any ill effects immediately.

I remembered some old posts about this that had good information, but I couldn't find the best of them.

There are some comments here:
http://community.livejournal.com/puerh_tea/221946.html
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?p=65073

On a more anecdotal note, I find that drinking it (even after eating) doesn't usually have good effects on my stomach. It's also often very smoky, bitter and / or astringent, though you can tone down these aspects by brewing it lighter and with cooler water. Most of the "experts" I've seen quoted recommend against drinking the young stuff, though I have seen at least one person say that good tea should always be drinkable and that there's no problem. But anyway, I'm not a doctor or medical practitioner of any sort, so I'm just speaking for my own experience. If you like drinking it and it doesn't give you any problems, by all means go ahead. It's possibl

I guess it's more or less similar to drinking green tea, but as someone pointed out recently, probably better to just drink green tea if that's what you want.

If you're on a budget, it might be better to drink a good quality shu as a daily drinking tea, and then try samples of the better stuff.
Last edited by wyardley on Nov 12th, '08, 14:33, edited 1 time in total.

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Nov 12th, '08, 14:20
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by Jeremy » Nov 12th, '08, 14:20

wyardley wrote:
Robertwolf1 wrote: Why do you think it is not a good thing?
What is wrong with young sheng?
I am just curious because I have not tried pu yet and it seems that young is necessary if you are on a budget and want more than just samples.
I think the TCM perspective is that it has too much extreme cold qi. I have seen it claimed that drinking it long term can have some negative effects even if one doesn't notice any ill effects immediately.

On a more anecdotal note, I find that drinking it (even after eating) doesn't usually have good effects on my stomach. It's also often very smoky, bitter and / or astringent, though you can tone down these aspects by brewing it lighter and with cooler water. Most of the "experts" I've seen quoted recommend against drinking the young stuff, though I have seen at least one person say that good tea should always be drinkable and that there's no problem. But anyway, I'm not a doctor or medical practitioner of any sort, so I'm just speaking for my own experience. If you like drinking it and it doesn't give you any problems, by all means go ahead.

I guess it's more or less similar to drinking green tea, but as someone pointed out recently, probably better to just drink green tea if that's what you want.

If you're on a budget, it might be better to drink a good quality shu as a daily drinking tea, and then try samples of the better stuff.
What qualifies as "young" sheng?

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Nov 12th, '08, 14:55
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by wyardley » Nov 12th, '08, 14:55

Jeremy wrote: What qualifies as "young" sheng?
I guess that's the million dollar question. For me, it roughly means anything less than 10 years old (though that doesn't mean I would consider teas over 10 years old to be "aged"). But drinking a tea that's maybe 5 years old (especially if it's had somewhat humid storage) is probably going to be easier to take than a brand new one.

Personally, I don't drink a lot of pu'er at all for this reason. If I had access to a good supply of reasonably priced, 30-40 year old tea with relatively good storage, I'd drink it all the time. But since I don't, I prefer to drink other teas most of the time.

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Nov 12th, '08, 15:43
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by Jeremy » Nov 12th, '08, 15:43

Interesting. I actually prefer alot of the really young sheng to the aged. Reason being that I am a relative newcomer and I think that the older tea has less punch. Granted some of the new stuff is way too harsh.

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Nov 12th, '08, 15:52
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by wyardley » Nov 12th, '08, 15:52

Jeremy wrote:Interesting. I actually prefer alot of the really young sheng to the aged. Reason being that I am a relative newcomer and I think that the older tea has less punch. Granted some of the new stuff is way too harsh.
What do you like about young sheng pu'er compared to, let's say, green tea or greener oolongs? And by "punch" do you mean punch as in flavor, or punch as in kick from the caffeine? What older teas have you tried?

I would personally tend to think of "less punch" as a positive aspect in most teas, but I guess it depends exactly what you mean by that term and what types of tastes you prefer. And brewing parameters can really change how the tea comes out too. I've had aged teas that still had plenty of kick, aggressiveness, and "punch" - really depends on the tea and the storage condition. For example, at the Pasadena tasting event that Hou De and Art of Tea did, we tried a late 70s / early 80s cake which (to me) still tasted fairly "young" and aggressive.

But for me, the ideal of pu'er tea (whether sheng or shu) is a smooth, thick tea that's mellow and calming to the stomach. That's not to say it can't have any bitter or astringent notes, but they should have had time to be balanced out by other flavors.

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Nov 12th, '08, 16:14
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by shogun89 » Nov 12th, '08, 16:14

omegapd wrote:
shogun89 wrote:mistake of brewing it for like 5 minutes unleashing pretty much hell in a cup.
Dude, you would so hate for me to make you a cup of tea. :lol: I don't have time for gong-fu and steep my favorite shu just like that. :wink: And love it.

EW
Hey, as long as you love it, Go for it! Dont listen to me, they are just my preferences. :D

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Nov 13th, '08, 12:18
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Re: Your first pu

by TIM » Nov 13th, '08, 12:18

cha cha cha wrote:What were your first impressions of puerh? From what I've heard, a lot of newcomers are turned off by manure-like or fishy flavor profiles. Is this something you learn to love/tolerate or do these tastes only occur in low-quality puerh?
http://www.xanga.com/MarshalN/682032582 ... orage.html

This should be a compulsory read for every serious beginner : )

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Nov 14th, '08, 20:37
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My First Reaction

by paisleymonsoon » Nov 14th, '08, 20:37

This is the review I wrote in my blog of the Pu Erh sample I tried from the Golden Moon Tea company:

"Think of the dustiest, moldiest cellar, basement, or attic you've ever been in. Now imagine sweeping up a moldering pile of soggy leaves, sticks, and dust from the floor of that place that hasn't been opened in a hundred years. Add hot water, steep, sip, and spit the stuff out. Pass it around to everyone in the room for a sip and let them have the same reaction. If this is the most widely-taken tea in Asia, it's because everyone has some leaves in a musky cellar they can brew up. I can't believe anyone would pay money for this trash. This gets zero stars out of five. And now my curiosity is satiated. I'm not sure how to pronounce the name of this tea, but I'm calling it "Poo Air." That sounds about right."

I've not tried it again. Kudos to those who love it though.

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Nov 14th, '08, 20:41
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Re: My First Reaction

by Salsero » Nov 14th, '08, 20:41

paisleymonsoon wrote: This is the review I wrote in my blog
I am just guessing, but I think you had a bad experience! :lol:

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Nov 14th, '08, 20:43
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by PolyhymnianMuse » Nov 14th, '08, 20:43

I don't think golden moon would be a place to offer a decent example of puerh either :P

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Nov 15th, '08, 01:04
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by Jeremy » Nov 15th, '08, 01:04

That does sound bad indeed. I looked at the website for "golden moon tea", I dont think puerh is their specialty. :-)

J

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Nov 15th, '08, 01:05
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by Jeremy » Nov 15th, '08, 01:05

omegapd wrote:
shogun89 wrote:mistake of brewing it for like 5 minutes unleashing pretty much hell in a cup.
Dude, you would so hate for me to make you a cup of tea. :lol: I don't have time for gong-fu and steep my favorite shu just like that. :wink: And love it.

EW
Dude I would soo love that. That is how I drink shu at work sometimes, steeped for like 2 mins, no rinse. YEAH!

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by Salsero » Nov 15th, '08, 02:05

Jeremy wrote:
omegapd wrote:
shogun89 wrote:mistake of brewing it for like 5 minutes unleashing pretty much hell in a cup.
Dude, you would so hate for me to make you a cup of tea. :lol: I don't have time for gong-fu and steep my favorite shu just like that. :wink: And love it.

EW
Dude I would soo love that. That is how I drink shu at work sometimes, steeped for like 2 mins, no rinse. YEAH!
+ 1

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Nov 15th, '08, 04:24
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by thanks » Nov 15th, '08, 04:24

Salsero wrote:
Jeremy wrote:
omegapd wrote:
shogun89 wrote:mistake of brewing it for like 5 minutes unleashing pretty much hell in a cup.
Dude, you would so hate for me to make you a cup of tea. :lol: I don't have time for gong-fu and steep my favorite shu just like that. :wink: And love it.

EW
Dude I would soo love that. That is how I drink shu at work sometimes, steeped for like 2 mins, no rinse. YEAH!
+ 1
You guys are absolutely crazy! The shu you guys drink daily must be amazing aged examples of the finest order, and I would appreciate some samples!

There shouldn't be any other explanation. :lol:

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Nov 15th, '08, 06:08
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by brandon » Nov 15th, '08, 06:08

thanks wrote: You guys are absolutely crazy! The shu you guys drink daily must be amazing aged examples of the finest order, and I would appreciate some samples!

There shouldn't be any other explanation. :lol:
Drinking a 2006 production "Mavin Imperial Tea Brick" - grade 1 leaves prepared in the gong ting style.

You can age shu for perhaps 20 years to positive effect, but it seems to me you run the risk of it just going flat. I've had great tea claiming to be from 84, and I've also had teas from 97-2000 that is seriously lacking in thickness and flavor already. I mostly drink 04-06 productions right now.

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