Now I know why folks here like pu-erh!!

My wife and I have always been tea fans, Chinese Teas and Indian Teas as well.
I did some reading up on Pu-erh as my interest has been peaked from the many posts.
Of course I discovered that Pu-erh is brewed in the Gongfu style in a Gaiwan.

While looking up some of those Gaiwans - it struck me.

Those things would make PERFECT shaving soap containers!!!

For the Pu-erh masters out there, what are some of the things to keep in mind when trying to determine if you'd like to try raw or cooked Pu-erh?

For someone new to the game, is one preferred over the other?
Any pitfalls you could warn me about ahead of time?

luvmysuper said:

My wife and I have always been tea fans, Chinese Teas and Indian Teas as well.
I did some reading up on Pu-erh as my interest has been peaked from the many posts.
Of course I discovered that Pu-erh is brewed in the Gongfu style in a Gaiwan.

While looking up some of those Gaiwans - it struck me.

Those things would make PERFECT shaving soap containers!!!

For the Pu-erh masters out there, what are some of the things to keep in mind when trying to determine if you'd like to try raw or cooked Pu-erh?

For someone new to the game, is one preferred over the other?
Any pitfalls you could warn me about ahead of time?

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Raw FTW!
from jas-etea get the simple ceramic gai wan, some cups, a fairness pitches, a strainer, and the menghai and xiaguan raw sampler

I have some cooked if you wanna buy from me though XD




Gaiwan's are fairly small, wouldn't want to use it for soap

It would be great if there were some sort of "starter kit" for the Pu-erh with everything one would need to get started, kind of like what some folks put together for shave-newbies in the B/S/T and PIF threads.

Seems like an interesting art and science.

Miles said:

It would be great if there were some sort of "starter kit" for the Pu-erh with everything one would need to get started, kind of like what some folks put together for shave-newbies in the B/S/T and PIF threads.

Seems like an interesting art and science.

Click to expand...

I could starter kit you a list, but I won't be able to get around to it till this evening. If no one's posted by then, I'll post one up.

Carlin said:

Raw FTW!
from jas-etea get the simple ceramic gai wan, some cups, a fairness pitches, a strainer, and the menghai and xiaguan raw sampler

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Helpful. Thanks

I throw in an inexpensive strainer with your initial gaiwan purchase. Let me know if you have any questions.

netsurfr said:

I throw in an inexpensive strainer with your initial gaiwan purchase. Let me know if you have any questions.

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I do in fact.

It would appear that Carson prefers raw, but I still am unsure of the differences between raw and cooked, and why someone might choose one over the other.

luvmysuper said:

I do in fact.

It would appear that Carson prefers raw, but I still am unsure of the differences between raw and cooked, and why someone might choose one over the other.

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They're not mutually exclusive. I drink and enjoy both. Some will tell you cooked/shu is disgusting, but no one listens to Ouch anyway .

I would start off with a sampler from Steve aka Jas-etea

I'm very glad to read that someone else has been accosted by the bug!

Shupu (cooked) is simple and accessible. It has been treated to give it an approximation of what real pu'er turns into after plenty of aging. Nice tea of this kind can taste rich, "bookish", "leathery", or "libraryesque". It's also very easy to get bad teas of this type, which can taste fusty, musty, and pondlike. Some people complain about the taste of burning tyres in cheaper teas of this type. Overall, expect to pay very little for shupu/cooked pu'er, and don't expect great things from aging it. It will mellow out gradually, but after 10 or so years becomes fairly stable with little improvement. This tea is cheap, common, and is what most Chinese drink when they refer to pu'er*.

Shengpu (raw) is the real thing. Traditionally, it tastes aggressive and bitter when young (< 5 years old), then gets more woody (5-10 years old), then develops complex, ever-richer woody flavours (10+ years old). This is typically more expensive than shupu / cooked when young, and much more expensive when old. People tend to avoid this tea because of its unfriendliness when young, and because of its (relatively) enormous cost when old.

To further complicate things, there is a modern trend to making shengpu (raw) pu'er into a more accessible, less aggressive drink, such that it would appeal to more people immediately. There are questions marks as to how well such teas will age, because "something" is invariably taken out / neutered in the process of making it friendlier, and it is likely that this "something" is a key part of what old, mature shengpu taste as good as it does. Telling aggressive shengpu apart from these modern neutered shengpu is a good skill to develop, if you're interested in buying tea to age.

Aging tea oneself is appealing: rather than pay $hundreds or $thousands for an aged cake, why not buy it young for < $50, and then age it yourself? The process, as with aging anything from wine to cheese, is perilous, with many ways to get it wrong. However, it's not too hard, and as long as you're careful, you can see good results after around 5 years.

Good luck with your drinking; be sure to tell us how you're getting on!


Toodlepip,

Hobbes

*Most Chinese people know very little about tea. An even tinier proportion know anything about pu'er. An even tinier proportion still know anything about shengpu. This isn't derogatory - it's similar to asking how many Western people could tell you about Chateau Margaux. As a result, virtually all the Chinese people I know (now a statistically significant sample up in the hundreds) drink simple green tea (lucha), jasmine tea (molihua cha), or very mundane qualities of Tieguanyin (a wulong), if they drink anything tea-like at all.

Hobbesoxon said:

I'm very glad to read that someone else has been accosted by the bug!

Shupu (cooked) is simple and accessible. It has been treated to give it an approximation of what real pu'er turns into after plenty of aging. Nice tea of this kind can taste rich, "bookish", "leathery", or "libraryesque". It's also very easy to get bad teas of this type, which can taste fusty, musty, and pondlike. Some people complain about the taste of burning tyres in cheaper teas of this type. Overall, expect to pay very little for shupu/cooked pu'er, and don't expect great things from aging it. It will mellow out gradually, but after 10 or so years becomes fairly stable with little improvement. This tea is cheap, common, and is what most Chinese drink when they refer to pu'er*.

Shengpu (raw) is the real thing. Traditionally, it tastes aggressive and bitter when young (< 5 years old), then gets more woody (5-10 years old), then develops complex, ever-richer woody flavours (10+ years old). This is typically more expensive than shupu / cooked when young, and much more expensive when old. People tend to avoid this tea because of its unfriendliness when young, and because of its (relatively) enormous cost when old.

To further complicate things, there is a modern trend to making shengpu (raw) pu'er into a more accessible, less aggressive drink, such that it would appeal to more people immediately. There are questions marks as to how well such teas will age, because "something" is invariably taken out / neutered in the process of making it friendlier, and it is likely that this "something" is a key part of what old, mature shengpu taste as good as it does. Telling aggressive shengpu apart from these modern neutered shengpu is a good skill to develop, if you're interested in buying tea to age.

Aging tea oneself is appealing: rather than pay $hundreds or $thousands for an aged cake, why not buy it young for < $50, and then age it yourself? The process, as with aging anything from wine to cheese, is perilous, with many ways to get it wrong. However, it's not too hard, and as long as you're careful, you can see good results after around 5 years.

Good luck with your drinking; be sure to tell us how you're getting on!


Toodlepip,

Hobbes

*Most Chinese people know very little about tea. An even tinier proportion know anything about pu'er. An even tinier proportion still know anything about shengpu. This isn't derogatory - it's similar to asking how many Western people could tell you about Chateau Margaux. As a result, virtually all the Chinese people I know (now a statistically significant sample up in the hundreds) drink simple green tea (lucha), jasmine tea (molihua cha), or very mundane qualities of Tieguanyin (a wulong), if they drink anything tea-like at all.

Click to expand...

This is so true. I work with an inordinate amount of Chinese folks. For some reason I always assume they know something about pu'er, but I mostly get blank looks.

Scotto said:

This is so true. I work with an inordinate amount of Chinese folks. For some reason I always assume they know something about pu'er, but I mostly get blank looks.

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Wow, I had no idea. The number of Chinese people that I know is not statistically significant and because they know quite a bit about pu-erh, I guess I had assumed almost all Chinese were well versed in this national treasure.