First Puerh experience
Jimmie Houchin
I just received my first shipment of Puerh (and a couple greens) tea.
I got 1/4 high grade camel breath, 1 green and 1 ripe Tibetan mushroom from Holy
Mountian. I immediatly boiled some water and turned off let stop. And popped
into my tuffslim thermos one camel breath button. I got about 29 buttons to the
1/4 lb. so I am guessing they are about 4g each? This is a .5 liter thermos so
about 1g to 4oz of water.
I don't know if any of this is a proper ratio or not. I guess time to read up
some more. Nevertheless...
I let it brew in the thermos about an hour before I poured my first cup. It
poured out of the thermos a nice clear medium brown liquor. Added a touch of
sugar (pardon me if thats a sin :). Loved it!
After my experience with Mate, I was a little tentative. But this is emminently
repeatable. I can't wait to try my mushrooms tonight. How much caffeine does
this have? :) Will I get any sleep? :) Just kidding.
Any way thanks to all who provided information both to my query and also to the
vast amount of information in the archives of this list.
And Mike, I don't find your site or your posts here to be commercial. I rather
enjoy them and find them very informative. Thanks.
Enjoy your kickback from HolyMtn. ;)
Jimmie
SN
i just had some puerh for the first time yesterday, and i let it about
5 minutes and it was pretty pungent. i think if i had let it sit 1hour
i would have choked on it...but, i'll me try it later... ill reply if
im still alive :)
---> HOW HOT was the water?
Mike Petro
>And Mike, I don't find your site or your posts here to be commercial. I rather
>enjoy them and find them very informative. Thanks.
>Enjoy your kickback from HolyMtn. ;)
Yea, after this they are sending me to Puerh Seminar in the
Bahamas.....
Mike Petro
http://www.pu-erh.net
"In this work, when it shall be found that much is omitted, let it not be forgotten that much likewise is performed."
Samuel Johnson, 1775, upon finishing his dictionary.
Jimmie Houchin
> 1 hour!?!
> i just had some puerh for the first time yesterday, and i let it about
> 5 minutes and it was pretty pungent. i think if i had let it sit 1hour
> i would have choked on it...but, i'll me try it later... ill reply if
> im still alive :)
>
> ---> HOW HOT was the water?
The water had reached a good boil. I turned off the heat, left the
kitchen for a few minutes and prepared my thermos.
From everything I've read, its difficult to oversteep Pu-erh.
This was with the high grade camel breath ripe puerh at holymtn.com.
On the holymtn website it talks about putting in a thermos and brewing
overnight. :)
Later this evening I did similar with the green Tibetan mushroom. It was
quite a bit milder than the camel breath puerh from earlier. So far I
have liked both, but probably prefer the camel breath so far.
Its still early in my experience. But I am encouraged enough to drink
and continue my pursuit and learning of puerh. Try some other brands and
other vendors.
Maybe there was something about your puerh?
Or maybe it just isn't your cup of tea? ;)
(couldn't help myself)
Later.
Jimmie
samarkand
Jimmie, where DID you get this info?
My advice is to read through Mike's website on pu'er before attempting your
next brew...
Danny
Space Cowboy
and greens I drink the same way. It might take 10 minutes to finish it
off. The first sip taste like the last. I think the best part of
cooked puerh are the last few sips. I might hit the cup two or three
times. I've noted in the past especially drinking the cook there seems
to be some infusion delimiter. If I was going to throw an all day tea
into a thermos puerh would be at the top of the list.
Jim
Nico
This is only true of cooked (ripe, as you call it) pu-erh. If you have
any green stuff, I would advise you not to do the same thing. Young raw
pu-ehr is much closer to green tea than to cooked pu-erh in terms of
flavor and effective preparation. It will get bitter fairly quickly if
you oversteep it.
Speaking from my brief experience with pu-erh, I recomend using a
gaiwan if you have one. I usually brew it without the lid, like a green
tea. Somehow this makes it better.
Nico
SN
came out same taste a bit stronger but no bitterness
well the puerh i got tastes a bit like tree bark or something around
there and has a little bit of a minty fresh aftertaste or maybe its
just me...
...my wife said it smells like animal pee so she didnt want any .
Blues Lyne
news:1126362402.0...@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
first sip taste like the last. I think the best part of
> cooked puerh are the last few sips.
If the first tastes like the last, why are the last few sips the best part?
Blues
crymad
Because you don't have to choke down any more.
Michael Plant
Actually, Pu'erh can be VERY tricky to prepare, but doesn't have to be.
Since it changes during its sometimes decades long storage life, it needs
different treatments for younger and older versions. A young Pu'erh can be
VERY harsh and unpleasant oversteeped at overhigh temperatures. 175F is a
good start, and a quickish dip in the water is a good way to get your
bearings with any given Pu'erh. Pu'erhs like a presoak of a half minute to
clean them up. Throw away the presoak water. My recommendations are start
points; you will want to adjust steep time and temperature upwards most
likely as you get comfortable with the tea.
A good place to start might be the "silver needles" style Pu'erh, which uses
buds only, and which is much more forgiving. The advice you were given might
refer to this style of Pu'erh, in which case it would almost be true. I have
also heard this said of cooked Pu'erhs, but personally find them to get
boring and overstrong steeped too long.
A Pu'erh steeped for half an hour in truly hot water would be a foul brew
indeed in my ever so humble opinion. I second Danny's suggestion that you
explore Mike's extensive, well organized, and informational site.
Michael
Michael Plant
19:40Silve...@gmail.com
Silver,
Would you please let us know exactly what this Pu'erh was, how old it was,
and any other information regarding it you can give us. I'm intreagued by
your "minty fresh aftertaste' reference, which would be a quality of an
older green Pu'erh of good breeding. The animal pee thing is definitely an
acquired taste.
Michael
Michael Plant
14:49crymad...@xprt.net
Hey, welcome aboard the good ship RosettaSlur. Where've you been? So, am I
to assume that Pu'erh isn't your favorite brew? How about a nice Pu'erh
made of Sencha leaf? Hey, anything that sells.
Best,
Michael
Choking down some silver needles Pu'erh from Tea Gallery in NYC. Very nice.
Space Cowboy
Let me explain it another way. If you drink tea off the top in a cup
then most of them will make you wish you hadn't drank the last few
zips. The fact you can with cooked puerh and it doesn't taste really
any different than the first is the enjoyable part. Those last few
drops where the leaf touches the lip while using your incisors as a
strainer will probably make you wish you had added water sooner. If
nothing else for Yunnan teas they do come from one of the oldest areas
tea producing areas in the world natural or cultivated. Wuyi rock teas
from outcrops aren't probably far behind growing in the wild along with
some bushes. So if you choke you can blame it on intelligent design.
Jim
crymad
Michael Plant wrote:
> Hey, welcome aboard the good ship RosettaSlur. Where've you
> been? So, am I to assume that Pu'erh isn't your favorite brew?
> How about a nice Pu'erh made of Sencha leaf? Hey, anything
> that sells.
Been here, never left. Correct, Puerh is not my favorite. And so
that leaves me hacking through endless posts about the stuff all
to no avail, like a man hopelessly chipping away at a Puerh cake
with a spork.
--crymad
Mike Petro
So what do you like then? I have grown to really like Japanese greens
over the last year or so. Naturally Shincha in all it's variations is
the best. Makes for an excellant weekend morning cup. I bought a bunch
of Shincha back in June and sealed it into nitrogen flushed 10g
packages (http://www.pu-erh.net/stash-nitro.html). My favorite vendor
is in Japan and he speaks enough broken English to communicate and he
does take plastic. His prices are pretty decent considering the
quality. http://tinyurl.com/b7fy4
Mike
Lewis Perin
Try a *metal* spork.
/Lew
---
Lew Perin / pe...@acm.org
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html
Lewis Perin
> crymad wrote:
> > [...]
> > Been here, never left. Correct, Puerh is not my favorite. And so
> > that leaves me hacking through endless posts about the stuff all
> > to no avail, like a man hopelessly chipping away at a Puerh cake
> > with a spork.
>
> So what do you like then? I have grown to really like Japanese greens
> over the last year or so.
As I remember, Mike, when opined that your increasing interest in
Japanese greens was a kind of balance to your longtime fascination
with teas at the other end of the fresh/aged spectrum (Puerhs), you
said I had a point. I'd love it[1] if Crymad would make a similar
(opposite) move, but when I sent him some Dai bamboo sheng Puerh from
Silk Road a while ago he hated it.
/Lew
---
Lew Perin / pe...@acm.org
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html
[1]I like lots of types of tea, and I like people I respect to agree
with me.
Mike Petro
>"Mike Petro" <m...@mikepetro.org> writes:
>
>> crymad wrote:
>> > [...]
>> > Been here, never left. Correct, Puerh is not my favorite. And so
>> > that leaves me hacking through endless posts about the stuff all
>> > to no avail, like a man hopelessly chipping away at a Puerh cake
>> > with a spork.
>>
>> So what do you like then? I have grown to really like Japanese greens
>> over the last year or so.
>
>As I remember, Mike, when opined that your increasing interest in
>Japanese greens was a kind of balance to your longtime fascination
>with teas at the other end of the fresh/aged spectrum (Puerhs), you
>said I had a point. I'd love it[1] if Crymad would make a similar
>(opposite) move, but when I sent him some Dai bamboo sheng Puerh from
>Silk Road a while ago he hated it.
>
>/Lew
Yes, I never consciously sought the other end of the spectrum but
analysis after the fact does indeed back up the theory as I am now
deeply devoted to both genres. Ok, so if we have Japanese greens on
one end of the spectrum, and Puerh on the other end, where do the
other teas fall?
Dog Ma 1
> Someone will have to try harder than that to catch me in a faux pax.
"False peace"?
> Those last few
> drops where the leaf touches the lip while using your incisors as a
> strainer will probably make you wish you had added water sooner.
-Or grown a moustache. Apologies to those who can't.
-DM
Michael Plant
Michael Plant
> "Mike Petro" <m...@mikepetro.org> writes:
>
>> crymad wrote:
>>> [...]
>>> Been here, never left. Correct, Puerh is not my favorite. And so
>>> that leaves me hacking through endless posts about the stuff all
>>> to no avail, like a man hopelessly chipping away at a Puerh cake
>>> with a spork.
>>
>> So what do you like then? I have grown to really like Japanese greens
>> over the last year or so.
>
> As I remember, Mike, when opined that your increasing interest in
> Japanese greens was a kind of balance to your longtime fascination
> with teas at the other end of the fresh/aged spectrum (Puerhs), you
> said I had a point. I'd love it[1] if Crymad would make a similar
> (opposite) move, but when I sent him some Dai bamboo sheng Puerh from
> Silk Road a while ago he hated it.
>
> /Lew
Good!!! More Pu'erh for me!
BTW, at least he hates Pu'erh in a highly literate sort of a way.
Michael
Michael Plant
19:55spam...@att.net reply w/o spam
I guess this is as good a place as any to suggest that this whole discussion
is a profound waste of extraordinary talent all 'round. Well, Dog, we
*could* make an exception in your case. Seriously, keep it up guys.
Entertainment goes great with my morning brew, which this morning is SRT's
Oolong No. 37, supplied to me by the Dog himself. Thanks Ma.
Michael
crymad
Mike Petro wrote:
>
> So what do you like then? I have grown to really like Japanese
> greens over the last year or so.
Japanese greens are my mainstay. Occasionally drink whatever
Oolong my wife has at the time. I won't turn away from good
Darjeeling, if someone offers. And my tea budget is balanced out
with dirt cheap Ceylon bought from a Lebanese-owned grocery, used
for milk tea to be had with western sweets, which don't go well
with Japanese tea.
> Naturally Shincha in all it's variations is the best. Makes for
> an excellant weekend morning cup. I bought a bunch of Shincha
> back in June and sealed it into nitrogen flushed 10g packages
> (http://www.pu-erh.net/stash-nitro.html). My favorite vendor is
> in Japan and he speaks enough broken English to communicate and
> he does take plastic. His prices are pretty decent considering
> the quality. http://tinyurl.com/b7fy4
Anything especially fine you can recommend from him?
--crymad
crymad
Michael Plant wrote:
> Lewis Perinpc7ek...@panix1.panix.com9/12/05
> 17:12p...@panix.com
>
>> I'd love it[1] if Crymad would make a similar
>> (opposite) move, but when I sent him some Dai bamboo sheng
>> Puerh from Silk Road a while ago he hated it.
>>
>
> Good!!! More Pu'erh for me! BTW, at least he hates Pu'erh in a
> highly literate sort of a way.
Ha-ha! Well, I certainly derive much pleasure from deriding
Puerh. That's kind of liking it, isn't it?
--crymad
crymad
Mike Petro wrote:
> Ok, so if we have Japanese greens on one end of the spectrum,
> and Puerh on the other end, where do the other teas fall?
You ever see those charts that map out wines on the two axes of
body and dryness? We need something like this for tea. "Body"
seems an appropriate categorization of tea as well. As for the
other dimension that Mike leaves unnamed, I suggest
"Freshness/Decay". Naturally, Puerh is at the top of this axis of
evil.
--crymad
Lewis Perin
This is starting to remind me of those romantic copies where the male
lead and the ingenue start out detesting each other and succumb to
their mutual attraction maybe an hour into the picture. So, when you
fall for Puerh, you'll fall *hard*.
Michael Plant
16:09crymad...@xprt.net
Yes, it is. Doesn't quite live up to the Jim and The Rosetta Stone matches,
an inspiration to us all, but it does provide solid entertainment. I'm about
to endulge in what appears to be the last of my Shan Shui Lan Yun from
Winter 2004. It was quite different in 2004, lacking the softer squashy
tones of the 2003 which I had come to like so well. I am given to believe
that these Bao Zhong and Bao Zhong-like leaves are suffering experimentation
in Taiwan, and so come out different year to year. (I'm not speaking of
classical Bao Zhong...whatever the hell that is.
Michael
Mike Petro
>Japanese greens are my mainstay. Occasionally drink whatever
>Oolong my wife has at the time. I won't turn away from good
>Darjeeling, if someone offers. And my tea budget is balanced out
>with dirt cheap Ceylon bought from a Lebanese-owned grocery, used
>for milk tea to be had with western sweets, which don't go well
>with Japanese tea.
>
>> Naturally Shincha in all it's variations is the best. Makes for
>> an excellant weekend morning cup. I bought a bunch of Shincha
>> back in June and sealed it into nitrogen flushed 10g packages
>> (http://www.pu-erh.net/stash-nitro.html). My favorite vendor is
>> in Japan and he speaks enough broken English to communicate and
>> he does take plastic. His prices are pretty decent considering
>> the quality. http://tinyurl.com/b7fy4
>
>Anything especially fine you can recommend from him?
>
>--crymad
The really good thing from them is the Shincha at
http://tinyurl.com/9hfsy , it is too late to get in on it for 2005 but
2006 is just around the corner. They offer 4 different Shinchas
scattered every few weeks from the very earliest offered to the best
offered. You can reserve your portions in advance and they will ship
as soon as the tea is harvested. I did all 4 this year and was very
pleased.