I hate pu

[laura99]

Thanks for that informative post Entropye.

[Alex]

yes, shu is much more likely to have off flavours than sheng...also if you´re buying aged tea you might want to shy away from anything labeled as wet stored...even if it´s done carefully it develops off flavours imo. Some people like it but it tastes too fungal for me...I won´t eat anything but the mildest cheeses either though.

My advice if you want clean tasting puerh...stick to vendors that are reputable for their puerh...even otherwise good western vendors often stock really bad puerh because they don´t know what it should be like. I´m thinking this could be the case to some degree with Jing UK. It´s better buying from sites like Essence of Tea (UK), Yunnan Sourcing (China) and Hou De (USA) which have a good level of knowledge of how to correctly source puerh.

When you´re buying shu puerh look for well known factory names like Menghai Dayi, Xiaguan, Haiwan ect... Also even good quality shu puerh can have strange flavours when it´s young...buy it a few years old if you want to drink it now so it has had time to air out. Ask the vendors if the tea you´re interested in has "Dui Wei" still or not...you´ll want to avoid the ones that do...that´s the term for those funky fermentation flavours and aromas you´ll want to avoid when you´re buying teas to drink right away.

With sheng when young the issues are more along the lines of being very bitter and having a lot of smoky aroma...this can be good or bad depending on your taste preferences. If those flavours put you off again...ask the vendor if the teas you´re interested in have strong bitterness or smokiness...often the descriptions on the sites will tell you.

With aged sheng the thing to watch out for is if they were stored in high humidity they can develop very fungal flavours...even if they were stored carefully with good controls...which I don´t like...others do. If that bothers you look specifically for dry stored tea. Avoid tea that was aged in humid places like Hong Kong. You can ask the vendor for those kinds of details...they should know.

Dry storage will also help to develop cleaner tasting aged shu too.

Hopefully that helps you in finding puerh without any unpleasant flavours...they certainly exist Not that everything I listed is bad...some people really like puerh aged in humid climates and I personally really enjoy bitter, smoky sheng....but I think those kinds of puerh are better left to explore when you´re feeling a bit more confident and already have some puerh you like.

Very helpful post....thank you

[entropyembrace]

np

my first experience with puerh was awful...but I didnt give up...I ended up learning a bit by trial and error how to avoid what I don´t like in puerh

[Chip]

np

my first experience with puerh was awful...but I didnt give up...I ended up learning a bit by trial and error how to avoid what I don´t like in puerh

I am curious, did the Pu-OTTI help and will the next two possibly help even more?

[entropyembrace]

np

my first experience with puerh was awful...but I didnt give up...I ended up learning a bit by trial and error how to avoid what I don´t like in puerh

I am curious, did the Pu-OTTI help and will the next two possibly help even more?

I already had a pretty good idea what I like when the puerh OTTI started so I jumped on it knowing I would enjoy...it´s reminding me a lot of the old tree maocha Jing Tea Shop had a few years ago.

What it is helping me learn is a bit about the different regions...I really want to try more Nannuo puerh now!

Though I have been trying to save some of the leaves for when my Novak pot is fired and safely here in Canada.

[Chip]

OK, thanks for your reply to my question.

[Herb_Master]

I am curious, did the Pu-OTTI help and will the next two possibly help even more?

It might help me, If I can get in in time.

I have just started on my great Pu adventure, not that I will be foregoing my Oolongs

[Alex]

I am curious, did the Pu-OTTI help and will the next two possibly help even more?

It might help me, If I can get in in time.

I have just started on my great Pu adventure, not that I will be foregoing my Oolongs

Yeah I dont think my passion for oolong will ever be surpassed.

[rhondabee]

Well I tried my first pu erh today. It was a sample of 2009 Yunnan Sourcing sheng yun ripe. I didn't remember how much to put in my gaiwan, so put in about 1/2 the sample. Very short infusion. To me it looks, smells & tastes like mushroom broth. But it is smooth, and kind of oily tasting. Not bad, but I feel like making a mushroom sauce out of it instead of drinking it. Oh! Just checked my mail and the TGY samples arrived - I think I'll be switching to that

[debunix]

Only one infusion????!

And the very name of this one is confusing: Sheng and Ripe in the same phrase is like saying raw cooked tea. Did you mean this tea:

2009 Yunnan Sourcing "Cha Tou Sheng Yun" Ripe Pu-erh

Most of his samples are 1 oz of tea, so 1/2 of that sample is a very strong tea indeed. You might like it better with half that much tea, or infusions half of that length to yield a more dilute tea.

[Proinsias]

giving it a rinse, or two, or three can help quite a bit when drinking younger shu

[rhondabee]

I did 2 rinses before drinking it. I did 3 infusions before deciding I had enough. Yes, probably did put too much in. I actually love mushrooms, so it wasn't bad tasting, just not very tea tasting to me and as I said it was my first pu erh. Yes it was cha tou sheng yun ripe pu erh. If I try it again I'll use a smaller chunk. Going from green oolong to it was probably not a good idea.

[TomVerlain]

puerh can be sweet, delicate and clear with the faintest hint of the sunset colors of autum. Or it can be like drinking a cup of wet dirt. Less tea, and don't "brew" it. Pour water in, and then out. Work your way up from drinking hot water rather than working your way down from silage.

[IPT]

Haha, Silage! I remember that was my first thought when I tried Puer back in the 70's. Grew up on a farm, obviously. I love that you wrote that! It really brought back memories.

[entropyembrace]

Haha, Silage! I remember that was my first thought when I tried Puer back in the 70's. Grew up on a farm, obviously. I love that you wrote that! It really brought back memories.

come to think of it...shu is pretty much tea silage that´s been dehydrated