> It has been my contention
> that puer fermentation is essentially preservation over time not
> change. Yum that tasted good because 30 years ago it tasted good. I
> also have 30 year old oxidize teas that haven't changed much in taste
> either.

This has not been my experience. In my experience many (but not all)
sheng puerhs will indeed evolve noticeably over time, but this is only
marginally true for shu. Whether this evolution yields good or bad
results is a culmination of many factors, the three biggest being the
quality of maocha used, the skill in preparing the maocha and the
subsequent compression, and perhaps most of all the care in which it
was stored. If all three of these are hit just right a remarkable
evolution will take place in the tea, hit any one or more wrong and
you can wind up with old swill. Case in point are those 25 year old
PLA bricks floating around for $35, mere aged floor sweepings.

I have to admit though that I am seriously questioning the value of
these old puerhs, even the great ones. I find myself asking "is *any*
tea really worth $5+ per gram"? I am only a working stiff, I do not
have a trust fund or any other such source of endless income. To spend
$50-$100 on a single pot of tea is rather decadent for me, perhaps
once a year or so with friends but still..........

That is why I am aging about 200kg of puerh myself, then hopefully
when I am an old man I will have good tea to drink that only cost a
few $ per bing, plus some square footage of storage. I sure am glad
that I bought most of it about 5 years ago before the recent
puerh(gold) rush. I keep hearing rumors of a stock market crash being
inevitable in China, maybe that will slow things down a bit.

Mike
http://www.pu-erh.net