I'm a newbie

[Christopher]

So, I'm 19 years old, and am a beginner in the tea/Pu-erh experience you could say, however I've taken a liken to it. I've read a lot about how important it is to get legit Pu-erh to get quality. Since I am young, I would also love to buy some to age for the next section of my life. So what I would love is some advice on where to look for quality Pu-erh and also what determines the quality so I don't get junk and ripped off. Thanks a lot

[debunix]

If you're just starting off iwth puerh, the best thing to do is NOT start trying to buy fancy stuff, but to stick with small samples to start: I tend to brew my puerh in small volume containers and am content with 1-5 grams per set of infusions. And because each tea may be infused 5-15 times, I can do a lot of experimenting with a 15-25 gram sample.

So....start with samples, don't buy a lot of beengs to start, and see what *you* like. I started with some rather plain ripe puerhs, and bought too much of them, because now I prefer more select ripe pus, but also some rather young and boisterous shengs (fortunately for the budget!).

[Proinsias]

Hi Christopher.

Welcome to the board!

Pretty much what deunix said. The pu'er vendors section might be worth a look. If you're in the US, I'll take a gamble, then Jas-eTea do starter packs and sample packs - I hear Steve there is very helpful if you wish to contact hime direct, he's a member here but I can't recall his user name. Hou de is worth a look if you want to try something that little bit older and fancier.

Another tip for any aspiring pu collector is to keep an eye on these two blogs:
The Half Dipper
A Tea Addict's Journal

Have fun

What are you brewing in?

[theory]

Hi Christopher - welcome and nice to "meet" you. I'm a newbie too

So....start with samples

OK, I don't mean to shanghai Christopher's thread, but I have a followup question about samples for debunix that hopefully both of us can learn from. I have a few Pu samples (some of which I paid for and some of which I got gratis) that I have been trying. I've noticed that a lot of the samples contain really broken leaves - to the point that some have a lot of dust and fannings.

Now, I get that (most) Pu is compressed into cakes and must be broken apart to dose out. I guess my question is - do the leaves always end up getting shattered during this process, or is this maybe a situation where the worst breakage gets made into samples? Not that I have too much of a problem with this (especially for the freebie samples), but I wonder how much the resulting grade (in the English sense) of the tea might effect the brew, and my perception of the particular tea.

Thoughts?

[Christopher]

Alright, thanks so much for the answers.

Right now I'm brewing in a Bee House Ceramic pot, and I also have the option to brew in a glass french press. What is the best way to brew Pu-erh?

Also, when shopping, is there any way to know or hints that will tell you in one is a more quality tea, or a cheap alternative?

[tingjunkie]

Alright, thanks so much for the answers.

Right now I'm brewing in a Bee House Ceramic pot, and I also have the option to brew in a glass french press. What is the best way to brew Pu-erh?

I'd invest in a decent 90ml-120ml gaiwan. It's the only way to go for testing puerh samples. Make sure to try out young sheng, aged sheng, and shu (ripe/cooked puerh) too. Try it all until you find what you like, the start focusing on different factories, varieties and regions. Enjoy, it's a fun journey! I'm a bit jealous you have a decade head start on me.

[Proinsias]

I would recommend picking up a gaiwan, around 60-150ml, if you are making a pu order. They are excellent for pu'er, and generally great for most teas. They are also pretty cheap. If you are tasting young pu'er to get to know the genre you will learn a lot faster using a small brewing vessel maybe 1/3 to 1/2 full of leaf for 10-20 infusions than you would from brewing a few grams in a big pot 2 or 3 times.

I don't think there's an easy way to spot a bargain, aside from keeping an eye on the online pu community and remembering if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. Nicolas posted over here to show the difference between the farmed stuff and the wild stuff, there is also a middle ground where you have old farms that have gone semi-wild.

A bing of Menghai 7542 seems to be a pretty standard recommendation as something cheap and reliable but I think much of the Menghai Dayi stuff is generally pretty cheap and cheerful.

[Mr. Usaji]

Yes, start with samples. Don't buy tea to age when you don't know what you're doing, because you'll regret it. I'm pretty new to pu'er (first tried it a year ago) and I've never bought more than 100 grams of any pu'er yet. I still don't think I would consider buying a whole cake of anything for a long time, and if I did, I still wouldn't buy any tea to age that I didn't like when it was new.

If you're young, you have plenty of time to learn about tea, AND plenty of time to age it yourself if you decide you want to do that later on. It's not like these older, more knowledgeable people can't age their tea because they won't live long enough to drink it when it's old!

Are you new to tea as well as pu'er? If so, don't forget about other tea--if you haven't already tried a variety of green/oolong/black/white tea, try those first. There are so many different kinds of tea besides pu'er that there has to be one, or many, that you'll enjoy. I like pu'er, but I like other tea just as much, and I drink a lot more of the other kinds.

Right now I'm brewing in a Bee House Ceramic pot, and I also have the option to brew in a glass french press. What is the best way to brew Pu-erh?

Unless you want to make a lot of tea at once with only one infusion, I recommend the French press. Don't squash the leaves with the press, because you'll want to re-brew them; just use the press as a strainer when pouring out the tea into a cup. A gaiwan is more traditional, but I think a French press could work pretty well, so don't worry about getting fancier equipment.

Also, when shopping, is there any way to know or hints that will tell you in one is a more quality tea, or a cheap alternative?

This is really complicated. So far I've only learned enough about it to know what I don't know. Unfortunately, since pu'er is a Chinese product, there's basically no regulation of the market; anyone can claim pretty much anything about their tea and it's up to you to find out if they're telling the truth. Buying from well-reputed sellers will help to avoid fakes, but you still have to know what you want.

A bing of Menghai 7542 seems to be a pretty standard recommendation

That's true, but it's not because people generally like drinking new 7542. And buying an entire bing (cake) is a bad idea. I'm not a pu'er expert, but in my opinion you could do worse than to get a few small samples of products from Menghai (aka Dayi) and Xiaguan.

Another tip for any aspiring pu collector is to keep an eye on these two blogs:
The Half Dipper
A Tea Addict's Journal

There seems to be a lot of internet-fueled rumor and speculation about pu'er, partly because of the lack of books and articles about it available in English. I urge you not to pay too much attention to what other people say, but experience things for yourself and form your own opinions. I think the authors of those blogs would agree. If you're looking for an overview, the website pu-erh.net is hideous but informative.

Well, that's a long post from someone who doesn't know much about pu'er. Good luck!

[Christopher]

Are you new to tea as well as pu'er? If so, don't forget about other tea--if you haven't already tried a variety of green/oolong/black/white tea, try those first. There are so many different kinds of tea besides pu'er that there has to be one, or many, that you'll enjoy. I like pu'er, but I like other tea just as much, and I drink a lot more of the other kinds.!

I'm newer to tea you can say, but have really been taught a lot about other types of teas, and everyone always points me to Pu-erh. I would have to say thus far I'm more of a fan of black tea than green. So far my favorite would be Keemun. I'm planning on trying both types, but because of my taste, would I probably like shu better?

[Christopher]

Also, what are some of the popular buying places that are known to be trusted?

[auhckw]

So, I'm 19 years old, and am a beginner in the tea/Pu-erh experience you could say, however I've taken a liken to it. I've read a lot about how important it is to get legit Pu-erh to get quality. Since I am young, I would also love to buy some to age for the next section of my life. So what I would love is some advice on where to look for quality Pu-erh and also what determines the quality so I don't get junk and ripped off. Thanks a lot

The question you should ask yourself when buying puerh is, what is the objective of aging your puerh? Is it for your investment or own consumption?

For investment, I've seen/spoken to people who buy in boxessss of toong for keeping. These people will usually go for standard recipe by those big factories ie Dayi, XiaGuan. It is a volume game and these people normally buy current year puerh as it is cheaper. Also as long it is standard recipe it 'should' be ok for the future as it is well recognized. Eg. 7542 y2010 - in 10 to 20 years time, it will still be sought after. But take note, buying in such bulk requires you to choose trusted suppliers cause there are fakes out there and profit margin for suppliers are very high. So find trusted suppliers and those that is willing to give good discount. I've seen young raw/ripe which was markup 300% (could be more) if you were to buy in few pieces. Another note about investing in puerh, for the recent years puerh are produced in mass production. Will there be oversupply in future? Will the return of investment as good as it used to be? You need a magical crystal ball to tell you

If you are buying for your own consumption, then sample a lot and choose those that you really like now and 'hope' that it will age well. There is no guarantee. Personally, I don't buy puerh for investment. So I tend to choose better grade puerh for aging, as chances of better grade puerh 'should' be better in future. Again there is no guarantee but 'hope'. Better grade now doesn't mean it will turn out good in future. Cheaper grade now doesn't mean it will not turn out good in future.

Also since you are buying for the future, I would suggest you to buy raw and ripe now. Even though you may like raw now, it doesn't mean in the future you may not like ripe. So buy a little of both and when you are 'aged' too, your taste may change. Especially when our body gets older, some people make move towards ripe or aged raw then.

Another thing I've found out is, as when you have tasted better and better quality tea, your expectations will go up. I have currently some puerh that was tasted good back then, but after tasting better standard puerh those that was bought previously have actually become not that good to me. So drink premium puerh at your own risk

[Mr. Usaji]

I'm newer to tea you can say, but have really been taught a lot about other types of teas, and everyone always points me to Pu-erh. I would have to say thus far I'm more of a fan of black tea than green. So far my favorite would be Keemun. I'm planning on trying both types, but because of my taste, would I probably like shu better?

It sounds like you should try more kinds of tea. There's a lot of black tea, and a lot of green, and probably the most variety is in oolong. Have you ever tried any kind of oolong?

Sheng/raw/green pu'er is not really much like green tea. It's not subtle, or seaweed/fresh-vegetable-tasting, or anything you might expect from green tea. It can be extremely harsh and bitter, and sometimes smoky, but apparently some high-end stuff is quite different (I look forward to trying it).

Shu/cooked/ripe/black pu'er isn't a lot like black tea either. The main difference is the lack of astringency, which is a big part of black tea's taste (and it's also not "fruity" like Keemun). Despite the dark color, the flavor is mild. Some might say it's not very interesting, but I think it has a nice texture or mouthfeel.

Try both, and try other kinds of tea too.

[Christopher]

One more question, is there certain Gaiwan's that are better than others because of what they are made of?

[tingjunkie]

One more question, is there certain Gaiwan's that are better than others because of what they are made of?

That's a very long answer, so I'll just say yes, and give my personal vote for thin porcelain because of its ability to hold on to aromas. The Tea Gallery and the Mandarin's Tearoom have superb gaiwans I think, but they aren't cheap. Good porcelain (compared to cheap porcelain) seems to hold on to aroma much better, and good antique porcelain can even make tea taste sweeter. Couldn't tell you why, just does.