What's wrong with my Pu??

[Juno]

Just yesterday I went out and bought a cake of 2009 Mu Ye Chun (07031) Pu-Erh. I made some this morning at my school instead of home and was shocked at how strong of a metalic aftertaste it had. I attributed this to the school water and went home to try again. Shockingly, it still has the same metallic taste!!! I tried looking around for a review of it somewhere online, but I can't find it anywhere, not even for sale. Have I been duped? Or did I just buy some really bad Pu?

*Later I looked around to try and find out if it was fake or not, and found a post on here about how to distinguish between real and fake pu erh (or at least real and fake 2009 Menghai Dayi 7572 901 ripe tea). I can't tell about how it looks very well, because this is only my 3rd Pu-Erh, but it definitely doesn't taste like the Pu I love and the neifei is completely hidden by the tea which that other thread said was suspicious.

[MarshalN]

Have you had this particular tea before? Is it tasting different? Or is it the first time you've had this particular (i.e. Muyechun) one? Because if you've never had it before, chances are this is just how the tea taste and you need to adjust how you brew

[Catfur]

(or at least real and fake 2009 Menghai Dayi 7572 901 ripe tea)

Why the heck would someone fake a new Menghai 7572? I think the effort to fake it would be more than the stuff is worth.

[betta]

Why the heck would someone fake a new Menghai 7572? I think the effort to fake it would be more than the stuff is worth.

In a country where even egg is faked, then faking 7572 is even more profitable.

[bearsbearsbears]

In a country where even egg is faked, then faking 7572 is even more profitable.

+1

[Milhouse]

I'm sure those eggs made PETA very happy. Think of all those chicken living in the wild now that the demand for their eggs is low.

[Juno]

Have you had this particular tea before? Is it tasting different? Or is it the first time you've had this particular (i.e. Muyechun) one? Because if you've never had it before, chances are this is just how the tea taste and you need to adjust how you brew

It's the first time I've had this one. I guess how I make it might be what's wrong, but that makes me really sad because the last Pu-Erh's I've had were extremely easy and delicious.

[Juno]

Okay so today I tried making it differently than usual. This time I used extra extra hot water and messed with how long I let it steep along with making it like I used to and comparing.

This is with the normal temperature water I use. I just poured the water over the leaves once. This isn't the first run of water over the leaves though, somewhere I read that you should throw out the first few pours or whatever and I thought that might help get rid of whatever gave it the terrible taste from before. I think it might of helped, and defintely I think not letting it sit for as long as I normally do helped, but it still had a really bad aftertaste and was just in general disgusting.


Here is just one pour over with extremely hot water. The difference was pretty significant. It's still doesn't taste as sweet and soft as my last Pu (2008 Menghai "Hong Yun" Ripe Pu-erh <3 <3), but it finally actually tastes like tea!


Then I tried steeping it for about 5 minuets in the really hot water. Although I like tea trial #2 (the one above) the best, I've still managed to avoid that terrible metallic taste.


Here are the wet leaves:


Here is the dry tea:


And here is the package:


Thank you everyone for your help!

[gingkoseto]

I don't like shu very much, so most shu taste just stinky or tasteless to me (probably not because of the tea, but my radar). I've had 1 or 2 new shu that's not stinky. But I won't be surprise at all if a 09 shu is stinky. It's a little late to say so, but I think it's a good idea to sample the tea before you buy a whole cake. But this is not a product with bad reputation. So there is always hope that it will improve with time being

Also the suitable infusion time depends on leaf/water ratio, assuming boiling water is used. For the taste preference of the same person, a friend of mine uses 5g or more shu leaves in a 150ml teapot for 5-10 sec. infusions, and 3g of the same tea boiled in 1 liter kettle for 10 minutes. If you intentionally reduce leaf/water ratio and infusion time, it may help to reduce bad aftertaste to certain degree. But chances are the tea just needs a few more years to become less stinky.

[MarshalN]

If you like drinking cooked/shu, just buy Menghai.

[cryptickoi]

+1 on the tip about menghai....im not saying limit yourself to just menghai....but it is a good place to start...

[Spoonvonstup]

If you like drinking cooked/shu, just buy Menghai.

I guess you could do that, if you don't have any tea shops in your area that are interested or interesting. But isn't it kind of limiting to restrict yourself to just one brand? Yunnan is huge and diverse, so while the abundance of producers can make for some bad or dishonest pu'er, it also makes for many more small incredible workshops and factories.

If you're buying shu, my advice would be to first try the shu's at all of the teahouses in your area. Have them prepared for you in the store (gongfu style if they have it and the time, or as a pot of tea at a table) so that can see what they're "supposed" to taste like. If one of those tastes good in the shop, buy an ounce or two to take home. Make it yourself, and see if you still like it.

Then think about the flavors you tended to enjoy more before you go out looking online for pu'er.

Or talk to the tea shops about what you liked, and find out what companys they're getting. If they're a good tea house, they should be able to recommend other pu'er to you that they don't have in stock, or get stuff in for you if you're willing to put some money down on a pre-order.

If you're willing to branch out a bit, you could also head to various tea review sites (like Steepster or the like) and read around the pu'er section to see what's being loved.

For example, I recently tried a couple of really outstanding shu's at my local teahouse (five minutes from my apartment- score!) from the YongMing workshop, their Twin Elephants label. It's a smaller workshop (not one of the huge ones like Menghai), but the bricks were just excellent- young (five or so years old) with absolutely no unpleasant qualities I could taste. I can't imagine what they'll be like in a few more years. Got a brick of both kinds the tea house offered, so I guess I can tell you in five years!



As for your metallic taste? I don't think I've ever come across anything like that in shu. With very young sheng, I've tasted that all the time; I've even had farmer's and vendor friends in China tell me that that's something they look for and prize in young shengs. But a shu? Very odd.
You've experimented with water temp and length of steep- have you tried messing around with the kind of water you use? Try out some different spring waters, and see if that makes a difference. Since tea is mostly water, it could be worth a try.

[MarshalN]

Unlike sheng, there's not a lot of variety in shu that are good. Trying a whole boatload of shu from no-name factories is just a giant waste of time and money.

[bearsbearsbears]

Unlike sheng, there's not a lot of variety in shu that are good. Trying a whole boatload of shu from no-name factories is just a giant waste of time and money.

+5

[Spoonvonstup]

Unlike sheng, there's not a lot of variety in shu that are good.

Ah, but things can change, can they not? Shu pu'er is still relatively new, being researched and perfected season by season! New tea lovers and importers and shop owners are bringing in new tea all the time! Seems a little pessimistic write-off all non-Menghai shu forever. Plus- going to teahouses is almost always a fun way to spend an afternoon, right?

Trying a whole boatload of shu from no-name factories is just a giant waste of time and money.

I'm not advising buying boatloads of "no-name" shu. I'm advising spending a weekend or two, going to respectable teahouses in your area (who would found a teahouse if they didn't really like tea? they're not exactly the most profitable thing you could do with your time and money), and trying the shu's they have to offer. These are shu's that a tealover has already picked as being the best they could find. Might as well take advantage of their hard work!

And it shouldn't cost more than 3 or so dollars a cup- even less with leaves you can resteep, or if the teahouse offers gong-fu style.


Mostly, I'm wary of putting all of my trust in one big-name brand. They are only one name. Sure- it'll be a little more safe, a little less risky, but if you put blinders on and never risk trying anything from a smaller company, you'll probably miss a lot of tea that's really stunning or unique because you weren't willing to deviate momentarily from a brand.
If you don't believe me, I've got a couple of "no name" shu's in my collection I absolutely have to send you, before it's too late and you lose all faith in small workshops!


For a beginner, I always think it's worth putting in a little bit of time to explore the tea resources nearby in person (where you can meet other tea lovers and chat, and where you can just try an ounce or a pot here or there) before investing large amounts of money buying bricks over the internet that you won't see until you open your package. It's just so hard to learn in a vacuum, especially with pu'er (such a large a grand world!) that it is absolutely worth the 20 or 40 dollars it takes to go out a try a few things and calibrate your own taste buds and your own taste.



I am also a little saddened that going out and trying shu's could be considered a giant waste of time. You're going out into the world and trying tea. You're spending an afternoon thinking about flavor (even if that flavor isn't ambrosia). Most of all, someone spent a lot of their own personal time and money to specifically get the particular shu into their shop. They wouldn't offer it if they weren't sure there was something worthwhile in it. That tea represents a part of someone's life that they are humbly offering up to share with you. Owning a teahouse is not something people generally get into because they want to get rich quick or because they want to swindle the world- they do it because they love tea and want to share and foster that love with others.

Writing that offer off as a "giant waste of time" just seems like an unnecessary slap in their faces.



At the very least, you'll slog through a bunch of mediocre stuff, and it will let you truly appreciate any really good pu'er you finally get to have when you order some nice old Menghai off the internet.
Then you can go back to your teahouses and tell them... "Hey! Have you ever tried Menghai? I just got a brick of such-and-such-and-such from them, and I think you'd really like it! Here's a little bit... maybe you could start getting some in for us?" Hint-hint-nudge-nudge-say-no-more...