Is this even a Pu 'erh?

[delicate disaster]

Hello all, first post. Forgive me if I ask something stupid, I lurked for a little bit but I didn't see an answer to my questions.

I bought a loose-leaf Pu 'erh at a store called the Tea Market in Winston-Salem. My only prior experience with Pu'erh is a character named for it on Dragonball, so I don't know much more than what wikipedia has told me. I'm not sure I like it, but I'm beginning to think this is a poor example.

It's loose as I already mentioned and the leaves appear to be rolled. I don't think there are twigs or any other loose things in the tea. When I brewed it, the leaves didn't unfurl. The tea itself was a reddish brown when brewed the first time, but the second time it was more the color of a green tea. The tea didn't have much odor when I brewed (which was disappointing) but did have a fishy smell when brewed... that only smelled slightly less fishy the second time. In my poking around here, I've only seen the fishy smell mentioned once, what's up with that? I read that some of the pu 'erh is faux-mented is that what I've come across or do I have a raw? The leaves look black to me, maybe a very deep reddish brown, so it's probably the former.

How should I brew this tea? I read somewhere that I should brew it the first time 20 seconds, but that hardly seems like enough time. But then, I tend to like stronger teas, so maybe that's why.

I'd really like it if someone could help me identify this weird smell and perhaps the tea itself, though I don't have any further information on it.

:edit: To say, this is nothing against the store I bought it from. The lady was very attentive, but I don't think she spoke English at all. I just hate that I couldn't ask questions about the other teas she had before I left. I live nowhere near there.

[TomVerlain]

Pu'erh, to my knowledge, is not rolled. Loose, it can curl up a bit, but if it is sheng (un cooked), it should flatten out to the origonal leaf. If it is shu (cooked), it might not uncurl, but it is normally good for several ruby colored (or darker !!) infusions.

In any case, it does not sound like a high quality pu'erh. Hard to tell with out pics and the label (if there ever was one).

[hop_goblin]

Can you describe rolled? Some loose cooked can look rolled. From your descrption, it appears to be some time of inferior cooked pu. A photo would help.

[zhi zheng]

All Puer is rolled, either by machine or hand. With 'raw' Puer the leaves should open completely after a few steepings (determined by how intact the leaves are), but with 'cooked' Puer, because of the processing, the leaves will open but be much less easily identifiable.

[JAS-eTea Guy]

I cannot comment on the quality of the tea you have picked up but from your description, it is most certainly a fermented or ripe pu-erh tea. The fishy smell is a leftover from the fermentation process and is called "wo dui." This smell tends to dissapate over the years so I would hazzard a guess that your ripe tea is relatively young. For me, a ripe tea should be rinsed twice with boiling water for about 60 seconds. These rinses will help a bit with the wo dui or fishy funk smell. I infuse a ripe tea using about 7-8 grams per 125 ml of water. After the rinses, infusion times can vary but most folks start at about 20 seconds and gradually increase them. On the other hand, some folks like it steeped for minutes. It is all a matter of personal preference.

[delicate disaster]

Thanks for the responses guys, sorry it took me so long, but I do have pictures. It looks a little green in that one picture, but I think that's due to the coloring of the bag. Also, I think the bag is generic, so it's probably not very helpful, but I've got a picture of it too.

[AdamMY]

It looks highly probable to be a loose leaf puerh, Probably a loose leaf Shu puerh, which while it is a speedy fermentation there are some decent Shu puerh out there, and shu is most peoples introduction to puerh. That being said I am surprised the the leaf looks somewhat whole, so I can not completely rule out Aged Sheng (raw) puerh, though something that dark would probably take 10+ years of storage or a bit less if stored in a very humid climate.

[MarshalN]

Looks like pu to me. If you brew it and show us pics of the wet leaves, then we can tell you if it's cooked or not with high probability

[debunix]

If you brew it and show us pics of the wet leaves, then we can tell you if it's cooked or not with high probability

What would you look for to tell the difference? Just curious, I have a few cakes which I did not get a lot of info about when I bought them....

[Maitre_Tea]

the spent leaves of aged sheng aren't usually as "bunched up" as shu, unless there's been serious wet-storage, in which case the ossification of the leaves can make the leaves of a sheng sort of look like a shu. Spent leaves can be one of the most important indicators in puerh, since it can tell you all sorts of information, ranging from shu vs. sheng to degrees of wet-storage, and possible age.

[debunix]

Very interesting! Will have to check a few of my better documented sheng and shu to see if I can tell the difference.

[kotapura]

Hi. From your description, this could be a Liu Bao Tea.

[delicate disaster]

I know it took me a while again guys, but I do have pictures. I tend to brew tea for long periods (a couple of minutes) so take the color with a grain of salt.

[Drax]

Hm, if it's a shu, then the color of the brewed tea should be much, much darker. Usually it's a deep, dark amber, almost black.

It doesn't appear that your diffuser holds a lot. A good general rule of thumb is about 1 gram of tea per 1 oz of water.

With larger amounts of tea, you can actually cut the brewing down to the 20 second range. With fewer leaves, you can compensate by brewing longer -- but again, most shu shows a much darker color.

[procarel]

If the tea was brewed for a couple minutes and is the color shown, I would guess it is raw puerh. At least the young sheng I have tends to brew a golden color as opposed to my ripe puerh which brews up deep ruby to almost coffee colored.