Ripe/Cooked Puerh of the Night

**joyfulwoogie** · 02-21-2009, 06:53 AM

Originally Posted by Salsero

No, not a professional photographer at all. I have been publishing a tea photo a day in TeaChat's TeaDay forum for close to a year now. The practice helps.

I put together a book of photos on Lulu for myself (vanity!) and liked the quality of the the prints, but couldn't figure how to control the cropping. I am almost finished compiling another one on Blurb where I can control the cropping. I will post a link when/if I finish the Blurb one. I will set it up at the lowest price Blurb allows since I have no desire to make a profit, but even then I wouldn't recommend that anyone buy a copy. It looks like these self published photo books cost around $30 + shipping, whichever company you use.

Frankly, I can't see why anyone would want a book of such photos. The best way to see them is one at a time on the internet. Here are links to a couple Photobucket slide shows of small files of some of the pix:

http://s171.photobucket.com/albums/u...t=d2263b56.pbw

http://s171.photobucket.com/albums/u...t=ba65a0fd.pbw

You can left click them for bigger images and right click them (at least in Firefox) to download them or copy them. You are welcome to download them from there for screen savers or whatever non-commercial purpose you like. If you want a full resolution file of anything -- say for a print -- let me know and I will send you one.

I really do appreciate the kind words, but at this point it has become compulsive enough that I would probably keep making them and posting them even if I derived an enormous electric shock each time I did it!

Nice photos indeed. I think there defintely be at least some interest even at some cost. $30 isn't much. I wouldn't mind.

It would be real nice to see your home studio set up. We can all maybe work together to have encyclopedea of the puerhs we drink. I take photos of the teas I drink but far from being decent enough to share. I wonder how you do the lighting and what kind of space is needed to take these photos.

In any case, given that the book contains the front back pictures of beeng/bricks/tuos, and tea colour, spent leaves of sheng/shu we drink, I would defintely pay the money to have it printed.

Your photos are good enough that I want to pay money for it. Thanks for sharing those photos.

**thanks** · 03-01-2009, 03:41 AM

This morning I'm drinking the 2006 Golden Sail loose shu from Pu-erh shop. To bring it's value closer to a shu cake of around 357g, you'd buy three boxes of this stuff equaling a total of $6.72. Not bad at all. So how's the tea? It gets fairly astringent at times, which I really have a problem with. This might be due to the fact that it has rested in plastic bag within a cardboard box for the last three years. I figure maybe in another six months now that it's been opened might change it for the better. The flavor really isn't bad, though. Very much a graham shu, fairly one-dimensional in it's malty sweetness. As it stands now, I'd rather spend a similar amount of money (but slightly more) on an 8592 from Dayi.

**netsurfr** · 03-01-2009, 07:15 AM

Originally Posted by Hobbesoxon

I drink it most days - we have seven tong (heh) of a decent 1997 Maguan Panguwan. Smooth and by the numbers. :)

Toodlepip,

Hobbes

Holy smokes! To have only one or two tongs would be great!!!

**Hobbesoxon** · 03-01-2009, 07:51 AM

Originally Posted by netsurfr

Holy smokes! To have only one or two tongs would be great!!!

Have patience, and the tongs will take care of themselves. :)

Before too long, you won't have enough room for it all... If there's one thing I wish I could have been told when I started out (or maybe one thing to which I wish I'd have listened!), it's that there's no rush for buying tea, and if you don't show discrimination, you'll soon end up with more than you can ever drink, and probably of a lesser quality than you'd like.

Toodlepip,

Hobbes

**joyfulwoogie** · 03-01-2009, 11:37 AM

Originally Posted by Hobbesoxon

Have patience, and the tongs will take care of themselves. :)

Before too long, you won't have enough room for it all... If there's one thing I wish I could have been told when I started out (or maybe one thing to which I wish I'd have listened!), it's that there's no rush for buying tea, and if you don't show discrimination, you'll soon end up with more than you can ever drink, and probably of a lesser quality than you'd like.

Toodlepip,

Hobbes

I can't agree more. Not having offline vendor, there is a worry about having a good tea run out before I can make the order. I come to realize the puerh market is far far bigger than the vendors we have. Better teas at 1/5 of usual going price!

**joyfulwoogie** · 03-01-2009, 11:41 AM

It was a usual menghai heavy fermented puerh. My wife did not like the body effects. Too much caffeine feel. I suspect the chemicals to kill off the bateria are not aired out well. Or could just be too much caffeine.

Tasted alright. Not our cup of tea, though.

**ouch** · 03-01-2009, 12:57 PM

Originally Posted by Hobbesoxon

If there's one thing I wish I could have been told when I started out (or maybe one thing to which I wish I'd have listened!), it's that there's no rush for buying tea, and if you don't show discrimination, you'll soon end up with more than you can ever drink, and probably of a lesser quality than you'd like.

**Hobbesoxon** · 03-04-2009, 03:08 AM

2005 Menghai V93.

Bucks, bucks, bucks! That's what this shupu cost, and plenty of them. I was given this cake by a friend who had given up shupu, and could never justify buying shupu at these prices myself.

As shupu goes, it's very nice: smooth, woody, plenty of library.

Toodlepip,

Hobbes

**joyfulwoogie** · 03-05-2009, 06:14 AM

2007 Menghai Laochatu

Brewing method:

30 sec rinse
3 min rinse
flash rinse
then

regular infusion.

Tasted quite shuish but increadibly sweet, thick, creamy, caramellie, coffee, chocolate, decomposed hay taste. :) Taste profile is constant and expectable, no development of any sort but quite comforting.

It lasted, even with such a thorough rinsing, more than 20 infusions. It was time to go to bed.

Nice tea

**netsurfr** · 03-17-2009, 09:54 AM

Originally Posted by joyfulwoogie

2007 Menghai Laochatu

Brewing method:

30 sec rinse
3 min rinse
flash rinse
then

regular infusion.

Tasted quite shuish but increadibly sweet, thick, creamy, caramellie, coffee, chocolate, decomposed hay taste. :) Taste profile is constant and expectable, no development of any sort but quite comforting.

It lasted, even with such a thorough rinsing, more than 20 infusions. It was time to go to bed.

Nice tea

Why do you do the long 3 min rinse for this tea? Is it just based on experience with the particular tea? I am a neophyte but had only read about rinse times in the 30 second range or less.

Thanks in advance,

**Hobbesoxon** · 03-17-2009, 10:52 AM

I've been drinking shupu in the office this week, and have been giving it 3-4 rinses of about 30-40s each.

Shupu is filthy, filthy stuff!

Toodlepip,

Hobbes

**thanks** · 03-17-2009, 12:36 PM

Originally Posted by netsurfr

Why do you do the long 3 min rinse for this tea? Is it just based on experience with the particular tea? I am a neophyte but had only read about rinse times in the 30 second range or less.

Thanks in advance,

Especially lao cha tuo. Lao cha tuo are the little tea nuggets from the bottom of the pile after compressing normal shu cakes. The nuggets are super compacted, super fermented leaf that has sat at the bottom of a very humid and hot pile of rotting tea leaf more or less. The stuff lasts fooooorrrrreeevvveerr though, so you really, really get your money's worth. Did anyone notice the new Dayi lao cha tuo cake from DTH? http://cgi.ebay.com/Lao-Cha-Tou-Meng...4.c0.m14.l1262

I want to stock up on a tong of this stuff and see how it ages if it's already delicious and long lasting.

**kimble22** · 03-17-2009, 02:22 PM

Originally Posted by thanks

Tonight I'm drinking the 12 Gentleman's take on the good ol' 7572. Fantastic stuff, really. Gets better and better as it loses it's fermentation flavor. Very lightly fermented so I predict a bright future for this one as well. Mouthfeel has also improved considerably since I first received this. Leaving one beeng untouched for a while to see how it fares. Might not last much longer before I destroy it!

I think mine has gotten better too! It is dark... My mom thought it was coffee once until she tasted it!

**Salsero** · 03-17-2009, 03:09 PM

Originally Posted by thanks

Did anyone notice the new Dayi lao cha tuo cake from DTH? http://cgi.ebay.com/Lao-Cha-Tou-Meng...4.c0.m14.l1262

I want to stock up on a tong of this stuff and see how it ages if it's already delicious and long lasting.

I haven't tried the Dayi product, but I did get some the the White Dragon "Lao Cha Tou" from Yunnan Sourcing and was very disappointed to discover that it is nothing like the Haiwan brick.

**kimble22** · 03-17-2009, 03:19 PM

BTW, excellent pics Salsero!

**joyfulwoogie** · 03-17-2009, 03:30 PM

It's not cooked puerh precisely speaking but fermented for sure.

It definitely had that fermented taste and the tea was a bit vegetal. However, the tea was very soothing to the stomach and lasted many many infusions. I thnk my wife and I had 15 infusions of the stuff. I put 10gs in 175ml yixing pot.

I still like lightly fermented cooked puerh over luibao.

Luibao has its charms. This one isn't aired out completely being 05 production. I think it will take 3 years or so more to be perfect for drinking. Nevertheless, I liked it.

**thanks** · 03-20-2009, 05:45 PM

Tonight I'm drinking the last of my sample of 2005 Golden Needle White Lotus (Thanks again Sal!) This really is pretty good shu, but I can't find the 05 anywhere, and I have a sneaking suspicion that if I did it'd cost too much.

**kimble22** · 03-20-2009, 06:07 PM

I'm trying an '03 zhongcha 7572 ripe. First infusion (after 2 washes) is surprisingly 12 gentlemen like but a little rounder I'm sure due to the age. Very creamy...

**kimble22** · 03-20-2009, 06:37 PM

Well, if this were part of the knockout thread, the 12 Gentlemen won the fight easily... but the zhongcha did steal an early round.

**joyfulwoogie** · 03-25-2009, 02:30 PM

I picked up some no-name shu from Chinatown store at $9 per pound. When it comes to puerh, I never know how little or how much I know about these teas.

The store was tucked away on the little side street. After doing grocery shopping in Chinatown for 5-6 years, I never thought of this store carry puerh. Actually in Chinatown there are no more herb store that carry good puerh. This store was just missed by me the whole time. The owner wanted to get rid of all the puerh tea she had. There was $18 per pound stuff but I was too skeptical to buy any since I had too many bad disappointing experiences. I actually bought $1 worth of $9/lb stuff.

When I came home and tried the tea, I was blown away. The tea is really aged. It is cooked but there was no cooked smell. I have tasted enough cooked puerh to discern cheap or new ripe puerh to some degree. This one is fairly old puerh but not the highest grade. It also tasted very much like dates. This is entirely a puzzling experience. I am not sure if she knows anything about puerh. I suspect she might even think the stuff is expired.

If any of you are in Toronto area, let me know. I forgot which street it was but I will give you the address after I revisit. I think I might even bargain for lower price. She might even let go of them at much cheaper price. I am curious how good her $18/lb stuff is if $9/lb is this good.