First taste of pu-erh

So my wife wanted tea this afternoon and dragged me to one of those really girlie tea joints. They had pu-erh on the menu which surprised me. I had some.

Disclaimers:
I knew that they weren't going to prepare or serve it properly.
I knew it probably wasn't particularly good quality.
They said to let it steep for 5 minutes. I ignored this bit.

I had it anyway because even if they screw it up it should at least taste *something* like the stuff you guys rave about.

My wife said it was good but tasted like fish. I guess I noticed that but I didn't find it that distracting. Does all pu-erh have a subtle fishy flavor?

On the whole it wasn't bad. I mostly find english teas to be boring and too tannic. I like the japanese green tea I get in sushi restaurants but find it to have little flavor. This had plenty of flavor and was a darkish red color. I suspect this is from the poor prep.

I think I may have to buy a starter kit and try to do this correctly.

You had some shupu, i.e. "cooked" pu-erh. The good news is that the stuff most of us are drinking, shengpu "raw" is much different and way better. The bad news is that if you try it, it will suck your wallet dry and steal your soul.

Good! I wasn't planning on using my soul for anything good anyway!

Funny exchange, guys.

Another piece of good news is that there is a lot of shupu that doesn't taste fishy ... What gets served in most restaurants is usually just about the worst. There's whole worlds of dark and strange flavors in shu puerh with fishy (pondy, aquarium) being one of the least attractive.

The stuff I've tried has been very earthy and more coffee like than tea. Great though. It is an acquired taste and not to be consumed daily.

SilkySmooth said:

It is an acquired taste and not to be consumed daily.

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True! It should be consumed at least twice daily.

arghblech said:

Does all pu-erh have a subtle fishy flavor?

... This had plenty of flavor and was a darkish red color. I suspect this is from the poor prep.

Click to expand...

Salsero said:

... there is a lot of shupu that doesn't taste fishy ... There's whole worlds of dark and strange flavors in shu puerh with fishy (pondy, aquarium) being one of the least attractive.

Click to expand...

SilkySmooth said:

The stuff I've tried has been very earthy and more coffee like than tea. Great though. It is an acquired taste and not to be consumed daily.

Click to expand...

Another common (and, to me, not particularly desirable) shu flavo(u)r profile is the stable.
Not to be confused with leather and/or tobacco.

The last cooked puerh I tasted remined me of camping in the dank woods. It was very smokey and smelled like wet bark or leaves with an faint underlying aquarium note.

By the 3rd infusion it was still giving up strong aroma in a good way. I settled into it well as I pondered the many paths this tea took to get to my gullet, that felt creepy though.