I've never had aged pu but I have 100 tongs of 2009 sheng

[Milhouse]

After reading through many of the post here I've noticed a pattern of people w/o any experience with aged pu'erh buying/collecting large amounts of young sheng for aging. Seems rather odd to blindly buy stuff w/o fully understanding what it should taste like. I can understand buying a few cakes of younger sheng/shou to drink now. It just makes more sense to have more experience with all types before you start aging stuff yourself. Tasting pu that's in different stages of aging will probably help you get a better understanding of how to pick something to age rather than just buying one because its cheap now or so and so likes it. Skip buying so many bargain priced cakes and put that money towards a cake thats already 10yrs down the road. Waiting 5-10yrs to find out you bought $4000 worth of bad tea is pointless when you could have spent that money buying good aged tea instead. That's not to say you should only buy aged stuff. I'm just saying that if your going to spend that kind of money on tea for aging you should at least be spending a portion of that on already aged stuff that you can consume while you wait for all your young stuff to mature. Yes I know aged tea can be a risky buy and is harder to come by if you live outside Asia. I can't imagine it's any riskier than buying $200 worth of generic new pu. The difference is the length of time it takes before you know your got screwed. Aged cake/brick-find out it sucks/fake the day you get it, loss in one day = $75-350. New unknown bargain tong, mini toucha, brick or crappy loose kg, loss over time = $5, 10, 15, 20, 25.....= the same as that aged tea.

I'm new to pu'erh myself so I'm not trying to pretend i have more experience than anyone here. I just find fault with the way many people are going about it. I want to be knowledgeable and have more experience before i start investing money and time. Not that i have any current plans to start storing long term. Feel free to *BOO* me out if you feel offended. or just state your opinion if you disagree.

[nickE]

I believe this is a pretty harsh criticism as well as over-exaggeration of what most people on the forum are doing.

If I buy a cake, or more, I always make sure that I enjoy drinking it now, even if the reason I'm buying it is for aging.

As for my own "collection," I have a little over 8kg. Everything I have, I can drink now and enjoy.

With regards to "just paying the premium for aged stuff now," I see where you're coming from. However, I think you are missing a main aspect of why us Pu-heads like buying young tea. For me, I enjoy watching it change, and I enjoy drinking it young or aged.

Drink what you like, like what you drink.

[Chip]

Drink what you like, like what you drink.

+1, I could not have said it any better myself ...

[Milhouse]

Your probably right about it being a harsh criticism now that i reread it. I didn't mean for it to come off as saying everyone here is like this. I know there are plenty of serious pu-heads here that really know their stuff. I was more referring to those that give the impression that they're getting into "buying for long term storage" before they know much about the tea. Treating it like another fad that they'll soon forget once they realize how long it takes for the tea progress.

Buying all of your tea aged already seems rather boring so i get why pu-heads enjoy buying young and watching it change over time. It's like planting fruit trees in your yard and watching them grow until the fruit is ready to be picked and eaten. On the other hand buying too much without be knowledgeable doesn't make sense either if I'm planning to spend 20 years watching it grow into something worthwhile. Maybe that's part of the learning process that people enjoy. Clearly everyone is different so there cant really be a single universal approach to collecting or consuming that everyone will agree on.

[ltannenbaum]

You could also easily compare an investment in young pu now to buying a decent case of bordeaux. Put it into your wine cellar and drink a bottle each year. I am of the mind that any collection of a living thing which clearly has increasing value as time goes on is a good one.

While new to pu, I do have years of collecting wines. The 1200 bottle cellar I put together over the years (about 10) sold for a high 5 figure profit when I sold it at auction 4 years ago.

And reading reviews of what others think certainly does give a good indication on how or if a pu will age. That is how a lot of people in the wine world make money. Robert Parker makes a living tasting wines and if he rates it high, you better be early to buy it as the price will increase immediately. I believe the same thing applies here.

Yes, I have some older pu from the 60's, but most of my collection is less than 10 years old. I love pu. Period.

[sp1key]

luckily we do not have a 'RP' figure of the puerh world yet.

[skilfautdire]

Being a newbie, I taste a tea and if I like it, I buy more of it.

I like simple things although sometimes I worry about humidity, like in summer.

I also worry about the weight of all that the day I will die.

But then, I'm a newbie.

It is interesting to see how the cakes change over time. All for the better so far, for the about 6-7 kg I have. Some of the organic shu has lost its strong odor and taste, for the better. Some of the sheng has kind of unfolded within itself, which is also nice. I also have loose purple and 'slow black' (Yue Guang Bai) that I look at aging, and tasting from time to time.

I certainly do not consider this an investment of any sort, apart for having tea for me and to share.

[debunix]

While I definitely planned to mostly purchase samples of puerhs, I really liked some of those samples, and went back and bought a beeng here, and a beeng there, and actually bought a few more beengs of one I really really liked before it was sold out, and now I have nearly 20 beengs and bricks, only a few of which have been consumed enough to show a dent, plus many samples that still promise many sessions apiece.

At present rates of consumption, I don't need to buy any more puerh for 5 or 10 years, and I will then be enjoying more 'lightly aged' sheng and shu....

[odarwin]

reading your topic and thinking that its your actual situation would really make me think if you are serious or not...

but just in case you are serious... id rather trade all those tea for a round trip ticket to hong kong for some serious tea tasting and shopping
i was there for a short stop just before the end of the year, and its nice to be able to taste older teas and be able to compare them to similar aged teas that you have at home... 1-2 hours was able to "re-generate" and recalibrate my senses on taste and aromas... in the end, its comforting to know that what i have in my closet seems to be doing great...

...well i guess its really a different cup for each person...

[bryan_drinks_tea]

... id rather trade all those tea for a round trip ticket to hong kong for some serious tea tasting and shopping

agreed!

[gene3627]

First, I am new to this forum. Although I have drunk tea for decades, I am totally new to PU. I am excited about learning about PU and I thank everyone for their time and effort to help others explore pu. I have spent hours online and talking to people, without making much headway. I have started to lay in samples and taste. I know that tasting is the key. However, I am amazed at what little information there is available. And especially so that an active forum like this does not have a short list of starter recommendations of available, reasonably priced PUs. Perhaps there is no consensus?

I understand everyone has different taste and PU will be a journey. I've been in wine since the early 70s. At the Heublein Auction tastings, I quickly learned two things, in order of importance; I did not like 1860s Burgundy, and if I did, I could'nt afford it anyway.

The probability of landing a good bottle of white wine white for less than $15 or a good bottle of red wine red for less than $20 at random is slim, but looking like a cinch compared to finding a good - great PU at any price. If I had $.25 for every review and comment concluding a tea was

not bad

,

not especially bad

, etc., I wouldn't have to worry about $$$.

Someone commented earlier that they were thankful that there is no Robert Parker in puer. I am well aware of the arguments and opinions opposed to RP / Wine Spectator / et. al. and how they have ruined the wine trade.

However, thanks to reviews and, yes,

ratings

, I spent about 45 minutes online, and about $150 for tasting. Thanks to holiday sales, I picked up a great drinker Riesling for $5, a very good Chardonnay for $9, a wonderful Pinot Gris for $12 and almost felt bad grabbing up outstanding CS and Merlot at $11 - $13.

PU ?????

[entropyembrace]

There´s a number of tea blogs out there where people post reviews of what they are drinking, including puerh...and also you can find many posts on this forum that discuss the puerhs we are drinking.

Two of the puerh focused blogs which I read time to time are

http://half-dipper.blogspot.com/

http://puerh.blogspot.com/

and bearsbearsbears has recommendations for beginners to puerh

http://puerh.blogspot.com/2005/05/sugge ... nners.html

the information is out there, you just need to learn how to find it

Also check the puerh teavendor guide on this forum for a list of sources with a good reputation. Don´t be afraid to email the vendors to ask for suggestions...most of them are in the tea business because they are really passionate about tea...they will usually give good advice

http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=11929

[Milhouse]

I'd also suggest checking out these links on pu-erh. Cloud has a lot of great information about proper brewing technique. The other 2 links also have a lot of useful information for newbies. These sites won't give you recommendations on stuff to buy but they will answer a lot of questions your bound to ask or wonder about the more you get into pu-erh.

http://www.cloudsteacollection.com/html ... log_e.html
http://www.cloudsteacollection.com/

http://chadao.blogspot.com/

http://the-leaf.org/Issues.html

[odarwin]

to be honest... and i hope i dont offend anyone, but to me blogs or sites are just to "wet your appetite"... IMHO, if circumstances allow, nothing beats a plane ticket to hong kong, and to have cloud sit with you and try some very nice tea from his collection... it doesn't even need to be cloud... it could be a teashop that someone here can set you up with to have a tasting of some teas... that way, you really have a standard to gauge. nothing really beats experience in my opinion.

[MarshalN]

to be honest... and i hope i dont offend anyone, but to me blogs or sites are just to "wet your appetite"... IMHO, if circumstances allow, nothing beats a plane ticket to hong kong, and to have cloud sit with you and try some very nice tea from his collection... it doesn't even need to be cloud... it could be a teashop that someone here can set you up with to have a tasting of some teas... that way, you really have a standard to gauge. nothing really beats experience in my opinion.

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