pu-erh shop wet storage CNNP cakes

[TIM]

I hate wet storage tea's.

So you hate ALL pu from before 1995 with a very few exception?

Thats where you are wrong.I can get many old Pu from Malaysia dry storage.
Years 1970 till now.

Dass- Nice to have you back to TC. Your info is very new and exciting to me, regarding old puerh from the 70s Malay dry storage. Could you give us more teaching on it, please? What is Malaysia Dry Storage actually? Humidity, temperature wise and storage condition? Let's say comparing a CNNP 88 green cake (7542) from Hong Kong Storage to Malay? Fever level and taste difference. Or any 70s or 80s cake you are knowledgeable of?

Many Many thanks, this will be a great learning experience from all of us pu heads here

Btw, it's the Malay storage equals to the OTTI 90s puerh tasting sample which Brandon kindly provided?

Thank You in advance!

[MarshalN]

A lot of it just comes down to individual taste....even well stored wet just tastes like wet basement to some people.

With sufficient post-storage aging, you will not be able to discern the wet basement taste.

[entropyembrace]

A lot of it just comes down to individual taste....even well stored wet just tastes like wet basement to some people.

With sufficient post-storage aging, you will not be able to discern the wet basement taste.

That´s not quite what I´d call wet storage....it´s wet storage followed by years of dry storage. A combination of both

[MarshalN]

Stuff that just came out of the basement is not meant to be consumed immediately. People who sell it to you and then tell you it's "well aged" is not telling the whole truth.

[TomVerlain]

a few thoughts after watching this a while:

1) Has anyone tried the puerh shop teas ? At $20.00 for a 2 oz sample, I am not particulary inclined to splurge. If they are real 90's CNNP teas they could be great for the price, but I am not willing to put my money where my mouth is.

2) There is both brilliant as well as crap tea each stored in many different ways. I don't think anyone really knows how things like 50's red mark spent their life, so any generalization of wet is bad or only dry is good are meaningless.

3) In 2037, in my dotage, my iPhone 57 will be able to read the RFID chip in my beeng and tell me the temperature and Rh of every second of it's life, and even then, there will be crap tea as well as brilliant.

To paraphrase Shakespeare, the tea's the thing.....

[gingkoseto]

Why do people keep thinking that "wet" means "water tanks spewing water all over the tea"?

No, it's water tanks in the warehouse, not water sprinkled on the tea. I call that wet storage because it's the wettest storage I know that will not cause the cakes to rot away. Should not it be called wet storage? It's what I naturally think of when wet storage is mentioned. And indeed I don't know how much tea was stored in this way in Hong Kong before 1995.

[gingkoseto]

There must be different degrees of control on how wet the storage is in Guangdong and how long it is. But an extreme version of it (strictly controlled, very wet storage) has almost become an industry. That's why there are so many 90s CNNP cakes on taobao

You meant "very wet" here as literally sprayed with water?

I don't think it's that simple or easy. I personally don't like the style. But if the tea is not put on fake wrapper, I think it's still respectable technique to manage something like that.

[betta]

Why do people keep thinking that "wet" means "water tanks spewing water all over the tea"?

Because:
1. There're numerous practices in which people spray new tea with water to create "old look" effect and of course wrap the tea using wrapper of any other older tea.
It's no longer secret for those who have been around in this puerh tea sea for some time. So a lie being told/repeated 10000 times will affect the public perception of what's wet storage.
I recalled that such a practice was also shown in one of the CCTV documentary video regarding puerh tea. In this documentary this practice isn't commented as wet storage or fraud, rather they just stated the fact (conservatively) that such a practice exists.

2. It requires years of experience, knowledge, trial and error, to control wet storage condition and to combine it with dry storage under the same/different geographical/climate condition. Thus such a skill is (as far as I know) considered as proprietary.

Or else, could you elaborate more on your dry storage condition?

What about the "imperfect" wet storage products which had been produced during the trial and error periode? It should be sold, no?
Who's the easiest target? We all know.

[MarshalN]

What about the "imperfect" wet storage products which had been produced during the trial and error periode? It should be sold, no?
Who's the easiest target? We all know.

Yes, and usually the price of the tea reflects this, at least if you buy from the source. When I go to one of these old Hong Kong places and they have 30 cakes lined up, basically undistinguishable from each other, you look at the different prices and wonder why one's more than another, until you open the wrapper (yes, they let you do that) and see that it's very wet.

You can also pick and choose and look for one that looks better. It's only a problem when 2nd or 3rd hand sellers give you crap without all that security.

[chrl42]

I've got one of my friends who sell Puerh, who would keep callin me up to sample new arrivals, at first he's excited because he has found some 9x Sheng at low price, but oh why, why do his teas all come from Guangdong?

As Marshaln pointed out, money speaks for storage condition too, Beeng looks alright because senders already removed the white mold. I guess the minimum starting point for selling Pu is to know how to rule out the wet storages..but in fact many don't.

I also agree with betta that there are storage masters. It requires experience to balance out wet/dry ratio..where is my favorite storing place for Puerh? Korea

[pgho]

I also agree with betta that there are storage masters. It requires experience to balance out wet/dry ratio..where is my favorite storing place for Puerh? Korea

++1 (those guys in Hong Kong & Guangdong were/are masters)

Speaking to old timer Malaysian tea traders, one would hear that prior to 2003 (some say 2005) most puerh in Malaysia were imported from Hong Kong and Guangdong. There were 3 or 4 main importers, Hai-O being one of the biggest, another would be BS Khoo. These importers distribute puerh to most of the merchants in Malaysia, of course there are some exceptions but very small. These puerh would have spent 1 to 3 years in a Hong Kong or Guangdong warehouses (under care of those masters mentioned above) plus some aging periods there. In those 1 to 3 years, the flavours and aroma developed under the secret/special environments. Note: No mentioned of wet or dry, just plain old "chang" (warehouse). These puerh were "aged" in Malaysian warehouses, tea retailers or homes after that.

Truly speaking there is no "Malaysia Chang" puerh that are older than 6 or maybe 8 years. So it only recently that the Malaysian tea merchants are
promoting the "Malaysian Chang". The new Malaysian warehoused puerh
will be quite diverse because the 1 to 3 years of activation storage ranged from storage on the wet highlands, fringes of around the equatorial forest, near rivers, in temples, city and country warehouses and homes. The experimenting goes on and the winners (new masters) yet to be idenified.

For the aging process, I would agree that Malaysia offers a pretty stable environment for long term aging with humidity ranging from 60 to 80%.

As a note: many people complaining of wet storage or even water sprayed puerh when they themselves are drinking shu puerh which is the number one for the most sprays.

Also those water sprayed puerh in Guangdong are meant for a class of consumers mainly in Guangdong and Hong Kong. I wish not to taste those.

[pgho]

What about the "imperfect" wet storage products which had been produced during the trial and error periode? It should be sold, no?
Who's the easiest target? We all know.

That is why they invented "Kook Bo" -- Crysthanamum Puerh at dim sum restaurants

[wyardley]

For the aging process, I would agree that Malaysia offers a pretty stable environment for long term aging with humidity ranging from 60 to 80%.

It's quite hot there year round though, no? And no four seasons, and not as much seasonal variation of humidity?

There's a lot of storage chauvinism, and it seems like everyone (well maybe except those of us in the US) prefers their own storage best. I think what you started out drinking probably affects your taste preferences somewhat, too.

One other thing to consider is home storage vs. warehouse storage. Tea stored inside the living quarters of people's homes will usually be in an environment that's at least a little bit more comfortable than a warehouse or factory will be, no matter where.

I am really not a fan of super super wet, but too-dry is only good if you've got 40-50 years to spare before you drink your tea, and I agree that some period of some level of wetter storage can be good for a tea if you rest it the right amount of time in drier storage and / or clean it up and air it out the right way. Given that I live in a fairly dry climate, I do find myself increasingly seeking out wetter stuff for medium term storage, simply because I want things that I can drink in 10-15 years instead of 40.

I think part of Marshaln's point is that there wasn't a concept of dry storage before 1995. Some teas may have been stored relatively dry-ly by fate or circumstance, but I don't think people were spending much time thinking about storing their puer a particular way back then.

[betta]

As a note: many people complaining of wet storage or even water sprayed puerh when they themselves are drinking shu puerh which is the number one for the most sprays.

As far as I know, in ripe puerh, the entire leaves are sprayed with water and "processed" prior to pressing. However in case of the water sprayed raw puerh, water is sprayed on the surface of a pressed cake/brick, creating old look at the outer layer while leaving much younger leaves at the inner layer.
Even the wet stored tea has more consistent leaves.

[BioHorn]

I also agree with betta that there are storage masters. It requires experience to balance out wet/dry ratio..where is my favorite storing place for Puerh? Korea

++1 (those guys in Hong Kong & Guangdong were/are masters)

Speaking to old timer Malaysian tea traders, one would hear that prior to 2003 (some say 2005) most puerh in Malaysia were imported from Hong Kong and Guangdong...snip

Thank you for giving us more information regarding the Malaysian pu market.
The roots of the spread of tea through different regions are intriguing.