Cheap Chinatown puerh

[trenchrun]

i was walking around chinatown here in toronto with my little daughter this morning and ended up in a big chinese grocery store...i found a couple of no-name puerh teas, i grabbed them since they were cheap...why not?

$7.99 for the big cake, (i didnt realize they were THIS big!)..haven't tried it yet but it smelled fine, nothing moldy or weird that i detected. How does it look to you? And $3.50 for a box of "puerh" 'tea bags...

have any of you tried generic stuff like this before?

(btw how do you pronounce puerh? "poo-er"? "poo-air"?)

[nickE]

I say poo-er, but I've heard both ways.

They look like Shu Puerh to me (cooked). Let us know what you think!

[Victoria]

I think the box is worth the price, but then I like stuff like that.
Brew it mild, it might surprise you. The teabags ... no comment.

[trenchrun]

I only have a tea ball...how should i do it?

should you always rinse the leaves first? (i.e. throw away the first batch)

[entropyembrace]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M60yeyFBCgs

Menghai Dayi TV commercial...they say puerh twice

[Victoria]

I only have a tea ball...how should i do it?

should you always rinse the leaves first? (i.e. throw away the first batch)

Ok tea balls are too small, generally speaking. Yes, always rinse first and discard. It helps remove and dust, debris and helps to loosen the leaves.

You don't have a pot you can use? Or even a measuring cup? You could brew in that, then strain with a hand strainer into a cup.

[MarshalN]

Looks ok to me, lose the flash when taking the pics -- it'll give a much better idea of what it is

[Drax]

$8 is pretty good for a beeng regardless, and it looks like a typical CNNP? Or maybe it's just the wrapper. That happens.

I have no experience with tea-bag pu'erh. But... I have had Golden Sail's mass-packaged tea (comes in a similar box, but all in one bag, loose), which wasn't too bad.

Good luck!

[gingkoseto]

Let us know how it tastes If it's authentic, proper stored CNNP cake, the price is pretty good. Which year is it from? What does the back of the wrap say? I've seen Chinese things in Toronto that are cheaper than same things in China, including fruits, herbal medicine and tea. Toronto is a wonderful city

[trenchrun]

I only have a tea ball...how should i do it?

should you always rinse the leaves first? (i.e. throw away the first batch)

Ok tea balls are too small, generally speaking. Yes, always rinse first and discard. It helps remove and dust, debris and helps to loosen the leaves.

You don't have a pot you can use? Or even a measuring cup? You could brew in that, then strain with a hand strainer into a cup.

oh sure i can do that, thanks

[trenchrun]

Let us know how it tastes If it's authentic, proper stored CNNP cake, the price is pretty good. Which year is it from? What does the back of the wrap say? I've seen Chinese things in Toronto that are cheaper than same things in China, including fruits, herbal medicine and tea. Toronto is a wonderful city

wrapper says:
"yunnan chi tse beeng cha" "china national produce & animal by products import and export corp- yunnan tea branch"

insert says "yunnan chitsu pingcha (also called yuancha) maunufactured from puercha etc...high temp steaming & pressing...etc...bright red-yellow liquid...sweet-bitter...etc...refreshing...etc...

no numbers...pretty generic stuff...i'll try some later.

yeah toronto is a great place to live.

[auhckw]

USD 7.99 for a big cake (357g / 400g) is normal.

Give you some examples, all these are year 2004 at around USD7.99

http://www.tea-li.com/goods.php?id=248
http://www.tea-li.com/goods.php?id=249
http://www.tea-li.com/goods.php?id=250

For casual drink, all the above are fine.

[gingkoseto]

Let us know how it tastes If it's authentic, proper stored CNNP cake, the price is pretty good. Which year is it from? What does the back of the wrap say? I've seen Chinese things in Toronto that are cheaper than same things in China, including fruits, herbal medicine and tea. Toronto is a wonderful city

wrapper says:
"yunnan chi tse beeng cha" "china national produce & animal by products import and export corp- yunnan tea branch"

insert says "yunnan chitsu pingcha (also called yuancha) maunufactured from puercha etc...high temp steaming & pressing...etc...bright red-yellow liquid...sweet-bitter...etc...refreshing...etc...

no numbers...pretty generic stuff...i'll try some later.

yeah toronto is a great place to live.

Oh I mean when you have the cake wrapped, what's printed on the back side of the wrap? Like production date etc.

[trenchrun]

yeah i checked the back of the wrapper, nothing printed there..

anyway i tasted it..made it in my coffee Bodum. Rinsed the leaves in boiling water and brewed for a minute or so, the tea was a nice red-brown colour, it smelled nice to me and tasted quite mild and smooth (though my wife thought it smelled like "dirty underwear...woman's dirty underwear"..i suppose it does have a slight musky scent).

the leaves are clearly not very high quality, lots of bits and pieces, (does higher quality puerh have whole leaves?).

Also the cake is quite dry and brittle, is that normal?

in any case; cheap drinkable puerh....now im curious about higher end stuff, see what the difference is.

you know that divot under the cake? is that there to tuck in all the loose the wrapper so it can lay flat? seems like it was designed to do just that!

[Victoria]

in any case; cheap drinkable puerh....now im curious about higher end stuff, see what the difference is.

And so it begins.