is it just me or all pu-erh taste the same?

[LaybackPandas]

i have 4 diff raw pu-erh cake s and they all taste pretty much the same, kinda hard to differentiate them.

[Zanaspus]

Way back when I started with sheng, I had much the same outlook. To me, it's an acquired taste not so much in the way of like/dislike, but moreso in the area of understanding different mountains, blends, old tree, etc. All I can say to you, is that if you like it now, even a little bit, keep experimenting. In time, you'll look back on these days with a fond smile.

[betta]

I guess you'll get more feedbacks if you include also info about which pu you tasted. Maybe with pics, just in case they are rather 'exotic' pu, which are not available widely.
There're many experienced members here who can tell you more if you provide those infos .

[TomVerlain]

by varying brew parameters and amount of leaf, you can make a single cake have different tastes.

It is certainly possible to get tea that is "nondescript" and thus a lot like other teas - but there are certainly a wide variety of tastes in even recent sheng.

as Betta pointed out, posting which teas you have might help illuminate the reason you find them all alike.

[wyardley]

I think that there are some tendencies that tend to be shared by a lot of young pu'er, and there are certain types of flavors that are shared by many (though not all) teas. Developing your palate is difficult, and it takes time. Try keeping notes, even if they're just for yourself, and even if you don't use the same words everyone else uses to describe tastes.

More generally, a lot of times, these teas have astringence and / or bitterness (or smoke) that make them hard to drink young, or might mask other flavors. I'm fairly sensitive to astringent and bitter flavors, and sometimes, once I've been exposed to one, it takes a while for me to be able to taste much of anything else.

I do find that young sheng doesn't tend to change a whole lot from infusion to infusion (other than the first few brews), and often will last *forever*. So sometimes, brewing young sheng gets a little boring if the tea just does the same thing for 20+ infusions.

Anyway, if it all tastes the same to you, save yourself some money and stick with the cheap stuff. But I think you'd be well advised to try at least some small samples of some stuff that's well-regarded by others and see what you think about it. Experiment with brewing stronger and weaker, and with hotter or cooler water and see if that makes any difference.

[shogun89]

As mentioned above, it takes time to get used to all the differences in flavors, aromas and everything else. Also it was mentioned that young sheeng has a very strong and bitter flavor that will often mask the subtleties that lie in the tea. Keep drinkin!

[hop_goblin]

There are indeed differences in textures, aromas, senstations, sweetness etc. I would recommend comparing teas that may have a noticible difference such as a JingMai to a YiWu etc. Also, it is important (well atleast to the East) to evaluate Puerh according to it's qi. See what different affects you recieve when drinking differnt teas.

[tony shlongini]

It's you.

Seriously, I'd suggest that you keep tasting, as a bewildering array of flavors will be revealed.

What have you tried so far? Perhaps it's a matter of not having tried good sheng. At the lower end of the quality spectrum, there will be little difference in flavor. A cheap Yiwu, Bulang, Nannuo, or even a Lao Ban Zhang will display little in the way of nuance or terroir.

[chrl42]

I don't differentiate much differences among varieties

But I do differentiate sweet/bitter/astringent/rough/mellow

and I think that's the first step,

second step should be how you sense smoke flavor, wet storage/dry storage, foul taste left-over

third step should be CHA QI , you can sense pin pei (mixing) or its portion, you start differentiate the varieties

fourth step is you see halluciation (theme), condition of soil, weather, mistake of a maker, a poem comes out of left hand while right hand is holding a cup...

[zhi zheng]

What are you drinking?

If it's all big manufacturers' blended tea, there's a chance it does more or less taste the same.

If it's not, then region/mountain/village/tea field/year/season/picking/frying/rolling/pressing and storage methods are all going to make a difference.