Help Needed - Relaxing with Puerh

[JRS22]

My first experience with Puerh was the Teachat Puerh OTTIs. That was an interesting introduction. I followed up with purchases of samples from vendors that I've read about here including EOT and the Mandarin's Tea Room. I find that the samples are sitting in the tea cabinet while I'm drinking Japanese and Chinese greens. There are two reasons that come to mind. There's an immediate reward with the greens, while I seem to have to go through a number of steeps with the Puerh to get to the good steeps. That leads to the second reason, which is that each Puerh session is a long-term commitment.

So do I just have to learn to love the process, or is there a more relaxed approach that I can adopt?

[iannon]

i have much more limited experience than a lot here..but on some aged teas that really take a while to wash away the "storage" tastes that i dislike i find myself rinsing a few times first before i even drink any. of course you would have had to try it once or twice before to know how much it takes to get to where you enjoy it. probably not the traditional way of doing things but its worked ok for me

[teaisme]

so by relaxed approach you mean fewer infusions?

it doesn't have be drunk all at once, you can always put it aside and finish later at your own pace...(though I don't find the want to go past a 10-15 hr brew towards the end, others do and I imagine if I was patient enough it would be rewarding).

The first infusions don't have to be bad either...I really enjoyed mine, lots of "immediate reward" for me, maybe you didn't have enough small pieces?

[debunix]

For young sheng, the first infusions can be pretty harsh, and for one of my favorites I let those flavors out with a 40 second 'rinse' that I discard, and then I start drinking flash infusions. The 20 infusion session might take only an hour or two, while I'm reading or cooking or doing paperwork, because most of those are pour water in, pour water out, drink--quick.

Those quick steeps are also a big part of why I'm so obsessed with small and smaller and smallest teapots--it's easy to drink 20 infusions over an hour when each infusion is only an ounce or two. Also, with some of the young shengs, if the infusion sits for more than a minute or two, the flavor noticeably starts to change--it gets harsher. I'm not sure how much of this is oxidation/bitterness developing vs cooler temperatures altering the perception of the flavor, but what matters is that I like the steeps to be small enough that I can sip-sip-slurp them down pretty quickly.

And now you've got me craving some nice Lao Ban Zhang, when what I need to be doing is finishing my morning sencha and preparing to baptize another new pot with some TGY. All your fault!

[JRS22]

so by relaxed approach you mean fewer infusions?

it doesn't have be drunk all at once, you can always put it aside and finish later at your own pace...(though I don't find the want to go past a 10-15 hr brew towards the end, others do and I imagine if I was patient enough it would be rewarding).

The first infusions don't have to be bad either...I really enjoyed mine, lots of "immediate reward" for me, maybe you didn't have enough small pieces?

I'm happy to have lots of good infusions, so the problem would be the number of "not so good" infusions it takes to get there. What's this question about small pieces? Am I supposed to be separating the chunks into leaves before the rinse? I've just been leaving the tea in chunks.

[JRS22]

Those quick steeps are also a big part of why I'm so obsessed with small and smaller and smallest teapots.

I think you were the inspiration for my purchase of a 40 ml yixing from the DTH.

So break up the chunks, as I interpret the previous poster's comment, do an extended rinse, followed up with flash steeps.

[TIM]

I think the question you have to ask yourself is: Do you like a good proper meal with wine, starter, appetizer, main course and dessert or a fast food take out?

Good tea is always a proper meal for the soul, you have to give yourself time to relax and enjoy. Easy tea only give you max 3 infusions, just like fast food, which only takes 15 mins.

Of course, if we spend every meal a feast... we all will get bored. A mix of quick fix and enlightening courses is the way to enjoy life.

[TomVerlain]

throw out how ever many infusions it takes to get to where you want to be... I assume you are drinking young sheng, and if it is good for 10-15 infusions, but the first 5 are bitter, throw them out. Drink the next however many you want, and throw the rest out. Even at $60 a beeng, 5 grams is less than a dollar. If you manage to get 5 100 ml servings out of it, it is still a lot less than a cup of starbucks or even the cost of a soda. Pleasure is not always hard work or following rules.

[nickE]

I think the question you have to ask yourself is: Do you like a good proper meal with wine, starter, appetizer, main course and dessert or a fast food take out?

Good tea is always a proper meal for the soul, you have to give yourself time to relax and enjoy. Easy tea only give you max 3 infusions, just like fast food, which only takes 15 mins.

Of course, if we spend every meal a feast... we all will get bored. A mix of quick fix and enlightening courses is the way to enjoy life.

+1
Love this answer.

[JRS22]

To my mind this is only a good answer if you haven't actually read the question. I don't believe that there are many people who would compare a fine sencha or long jing to fast food because the first five steeps are excellent.

[TIM]

To my mind this is only a good answer if you haven't actually read the question. I don't believe that there are many people who would compare a fine sencha or long jing to fast food because the first five steeps are excellent.

Hmm.. You asked for comparing puerh to green, right? Perhaps my idea of fastfood and yours might have different direction. Quick fixes could include a good slice of jamon iberico, a great french fries in duck fat, a quick bite of dumont burger from brooklyn or great rose macaroons from payard. These are all quick fix like a 20 mins of a real long jing or 10 mins of a gyo. Good Puerh or proper aged oolong is a full course meal or an opera

So choose your moment which suite your needs. Cause the tea is always there for you, if you really listen to them.

[JRS22]

Hmm.. You asked for comparing puerh to green, right?

I compared my experience drinking green tea to my experience drinking Puerh. Then I asked for and received some practical advice on how to improve my experience with Puerh. I wouldn't come to the Puerh forum and compare Puerh adversely to green tea.

[teaisme]

all these comparisons are making things more complicated then I think they have to be...how much 'reward' you get out of a session depends a lot on you, be it a 3 infusion 1 hour session out of a big pot or a day long session of puuer under a tree.
But yeah I do like my tea, so naturally things do slow down and take longer (at least for me).

My original comment about small pieces was referring to this bit of advice I read from clouds blog...http://www.cloudsteacollection.com/html ... log_e.html , There are 4 parts on proportion

This has worked very well for me and the first few infusions I look forward to as much as the later.

[JRS22]

My original comment about small pieces was referring to this bit of advice I read from clouds blog...http://www.cloudsteacollection.com/html ... log_e.html , There are 4 parts on proportion

This has worked very well for me and the first few infusions I look forward to as much as the later.

Thanks for the link, which I've bookmarked. I'll be travelling for a few weeks, probably w/o tea, but definitely with my Ipad. If I can't drink tea at least I can read about it!