Cost Plus World Market Full Leaf Ancient Pu-erh

[teajoyfully]

I picked up some organic Pu-erh tea from Cost Plus today. It is part of their Fair Trade Certified products. It does not say much about where it comes from except that it is a product of China.

I am going to try it tonight. Has anyone tried it? If so, what do you think of it?

Thanks from a pu-erh noob!

[bsteele]

Never had it. It's probably not the highest of quality but if you like it, who cares!

Let us know how it turns out!

[Corona]

I saw that while I was at World Market the other day. However, I was too afraid to pick it up. Do tell how it turns out!

(First post by the way!)

[LauraW]

(First post by the way!)

Well, congrats on your first post, and welcome!

[arghblech]

How was it?

[bsteele]

How was it?

Yes, yes, please tell

[Corona]

How was it?

Yes, yes, please tell

I agree!

[teajoyfully]

I am still trying to decide. I have not had pu-erh in a long time!
I will do a description with pics later this week as I try it again.

[teajoyfully]

Ok, bear with me. This is my first tea review.

So I brewed the Pu-erh tea and did a rinse and then three infusions. The first 1 minute, second 2 minutes, third 3 minutes.


Here is a picture of the three cups:


The taste is full bodied and rich with a slightly earthy smell. I think it could be a good morning tea for me in the place of coffee. As I have no other examples to compare this too, I can't speak to its quality but I like it.

Here is a picture of the leaves dry:


There is no info on the package about where the tea comes from except product of China..

Thanks, the end!

[bsteele]

The taste is full bodied and rich with a slightly earthy smell. I think it could be a good morning tea for me in the place of coffee. As I have no other examples to compare this too, I can't speak to its quality but I like it....

Thanks, the end!

Wahoo! Sounds like a success to me. Glad you like it.

That's the beauty of not having anything else to compare it to... as long as you like it, awesome. Then once you do get something to compare it with, your palate will grow/learn. It's a great process.

Have fun and thanks for getting back to us with your thoughts.

[teajoyfully]

Thanks bsteele. It was a good experience. I'll see how it goes as I drink the bag.

[Jenelle]

I am new to the Pu-reh tea..but I am enjoying the bag I purchased at Cost Plus..........what did you think of it: )

[Melanie]

I am trying to figure this tea out, too. The package does say in small print at the top of the label that it comes from the Yunnan province.

There is an interesting Wikipedia article on pu-erh.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu-erh_tea

Judging from what I read, I am not sure if this is a high quality pu-erh. The color is dark red with 1 min. infusion, though the wikipedia article says "Steeping times last from 12–30 seconds in the first few infusions, up to 2–10 minutes in the last infusions," so maybe I steeped it for too long? The smell is kind of strange but it doesn't taste bad. It would be interesting to compare this with another pu-erh.

In judging quality, the Wikpedia pu-erh article says, "Aged pu-erh [which I think this is] should never smell moldy, musty, or strongly fungal, though some pu-erh drinkers consider these smells to be unoffensive or even enjoyable. The smell of aged pu-erh may vary, with an "aged" but not "stuffy" odour. The taste of aged raw pu-erh or ripe pu-erh should be smooth, with slight hints of bitterness, and lack a biting astringency or any off-sour tastes. The element of taste is an important indicator of aged pu-erh quality, the texture should be rich and thick and should have very distinct gān (甘) and húigān(回甘) on the tongue and cheeks, which together induces salivation and leaves a "feeling" in the back of the throat."

I am not sure that I am experiencing these effects with this particular bag of tea. I might try again with a shorter infusion time.

[debunix]

Those very short infusion times are meant for gongfu style brewing, with a high proportion of leaf to water--for a loose puerh like that, something like a teaspoon in a 2 ounce gaiwan would be about right. At that concentration, especially with a young raw or sheng puerh you need to keep the infusions short or it gets bitter.

With an older raw/sheng or most ripe/shu puerh, you can be more flexible with the brewing, because the tea is very forgiving.

[entropyembrace]

from your cups you´re obviously brewing western style...which means less leaf to more water and long infusion times so don´t worry about the infusion times on the wiki.

Also it´s shu (cooked) pu-erh not aged puerh