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Michael Plant

Mike 2/16/06

>
>>> How did you brew it? Try water around 195f and short, very short
>>> infusions. Green puerh does not really become smooth until it has
>>> 20-30 years under it's belt.
>>
>> [Michael]
>> Good points on brewing.
>>
>> Mike, a note on your last sentence here. I beg to differ, but it might be a
>> simple matter of semantics. A green Pu'erh can be perfectly smooth from its
>> outset, but that smoothness will more than likely lack the subtle
>> camphor/mint/leather/plum notes -- never all together, I know -- of an old
>> Pu'erh. The young Pu'erh of good family will present among other things
>> flower/fruit/smoke/must/astringency/bitterness, sometimes in such balance as
>> to make it delightful. I'm a big fan of bitter, by the way; as long as it
>> lives happily with sweetness and other qualities I crave. See what I mean?
>
> You are correct Michael, I did not express myself very well there. The
> analogy I had in mind was "when does the smoothness of a typical
> Green puerh approach the smoothness of a Typical Black puerh?"
> Green/sheng/raw is such a different animal that it is difficult to
> convey the differences to someone who has only know Black/shu/cooked.
> It sounded to me like the original poster may have only tried black
> puerh in the past and I was looking for an analogy that would make
> sense to a newbie, I obviously failed.

Not necessarily failed. I wasn't thinking at all of shu when I made my
statement. That's another thing. It really is semantics because there are so
many styles of smooth out there. What I like about a really good shu is its
creamy loam. That's smooth.

Michael