"Blues Lyne" > writes:

> After all the Puerh talk here, I decided it was time to give it a try. I
> received an order from Teaspring Saturday, (sorry Jim, I haven't had much
> luck in the Asian markets here, but I keep trying). They generously
> included some Puerh samples for me to try.
>
> The first one I tried was a 2 year old green Puerh. I used 1 heaping tsp
> and boiling water and steeped for 2 mins.

I think you'd enjoy a green Puerh more at a lower temperature. I like
them best in the same temperature range as for green oolongs.

> I immediately recognized the musty, dank basement taste I've heard
> mention of. Better than the only other Puerh I'd tried (Organic
> Puerh ZH25 from Upton Tea), but I still wasn't sure I was getting
> what all the fuss was about. Then Bam! it hit me, this strong,
> delicious, fruity aftertaste. Totally took me by surprise. It was
> so totally different than the taste of the tea itself. I found
> myself wanting more of the tea, not for the flavor of the tea, but
> the lingering aftertaste.

Congratulations; you've got the itch! Sooner or later you'll find a
green Puerh and a way of brewing it that will be satisfying in aroma,
main taste, and aftertaste.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

>I still
>wasn't sure I was getting what all the fuss was about. Then Bam! it hit me,
>this strong, delicious, fruity aftertaste.

Welcome blues.
You will never be quite the same again.

--Tom
-oo-
""\o~
------------------------------------
"Homo sum, humani nil a me alienum puto."
Terrance

While intrepidly exploring rec.food.drink.tea, Blues Lyne rolled
initiative and posted the following:

> I'm still not sure I'm getting it, but from experience it
> sometimes takes a few times with a new tea for me to warm up to
> it. So I'll keep experimenting, and enjoying a new sensation.
> I also have a 2 year old black Puerh, 10 year old black puerh
> and some Puerh in bags to try. At the moment, I don't think it
> will replace the Sencha's and Keemuns that I'm so fond of, but
> who knows.

Along the same lines, I too picked up a sample of Puerh from my
LTS given the attention it's been getting here.

It's a supposedly wonderful cave-aged product that from first wiff
to last sip reminds me of the summers I spent mucking out stalls
on horse farms. Unfortunately, those are NOT necessarily good
memories.

The shop owner commented that some people "spike" their puerh with
a little Earl Grey. That at least makes it drinkable.

--
Derek

Luck can't last a lifetime unless you die young.

Hi Blues,

Welcome to the club. I personally started out drinking black puerhs
and then grew into the green puerh which is now my favorite. Blacks
are more mellow, yet they can be brewed up strong, and they are
virtually impossible to oversteep. Greens can be astringent,
particularly if steeped too long. Greens also have the most potential
for that hauntingly sweet and elusive aftertaste. Play around with
temperatures on the greens, I usually start around 170F, but use a
full boil for the blacks.

By the Way, there is no shame in obtaining your puerh wherever you may
find it. If Chinatown doesn't work for you try your local neighborhood
Chinese Restaurant. They will probably be drinking oolong themselves
but I have had some success with taking a wrapper from a puerh cake to
them and asking them to get some for me. Several of them have obliged
me over the years. I personally buy mine online nowadays for a lot of
reasons and I find no shame in it. For me the road to success was to
strike a personal relationship with a couple of knowledgeable vendors.
Go with whatever works for you and don't worry about the naysayers.


Mike



On Mon, 8 Mar 2004 13:08:29 -0800, "Blues Lyne"
> cast caution to the wind and posted:

>After all the Puerh talk here, I decided it was time to give it a try. I
>received an order from Teaspring Saturday, (sorry Jim, I haven't had much
>luck in the Asian markets here, but I keep trying). They generously
>included some Puerh samples for me to try.
>
>The first one I tried was a 2 year old green Puerh. I used 1 heaping tsp
>and boiling water and steeped for 2 mins. I immediately recognized the
>musty, dank basement taste I've heard mention of. Better than the only
>other Puerh I'd tried (Organic Puerh ZH25 from Upton Tea), but I still
>wasn't sure I was getting what all the fuss was about. Then Bam! it hit me,
>this strong, delicious, fruity aftertaste. Totally took me by surprise. It
>was so totally different than the taste of the tea itself. I found myself
>wanting more of the tea, not for the flavor of the tea, but the lingering
>aftertaste.
>
>Yesterday I tried some of the 10 year old green Puerh. Once again, I
>immediately recognized the flavor from descriptions I'd read. This time it
>was the clean horse barn, or to me 4H fair taste. It was smoother than the
>2 year old, but lacked the delicious aftertaste.
>
>I'm still not sure I'm getting it, but from experience it sometimes takes a
>few times with a new tea for me to warm up to it. So I'll keep
>experimenting, and enjoying a new sensation. I also have a 2 year old black
>Puerh, 10 year old black puerh and some Puerh in bags to try. At the
>moment, I don't think it will replace the Sencha's and Keemuns that I'm so
>fond of, but who knows.
>
>Blues
>
>PS. If anyone is interested, the Long Jing and Bai Mudan I received in the
>same order were excellent. The Ying De Hong and Yunnan Gold I received
>weren't my cup of tea, so to speak. There are some Yunnans that I love, and
>a lot that don't do much for me, so that isn't to say they were bad teas
>just not for me.
>


Mike Petro
http://www.pu-erh.net
remove the "filter" in my email address to reply

"Lewis Perin" > wrote in message
news
> "Blues Lyne" > writes:
>> I think you'd enjoy a green Puerh more at a lower temperature. I like
> them best in the same temperature range as for green oolongs.
>

Thanks, I'll give that a try.

> Congratulations; you've got the itch! Sooner or later you'll find a
> green Puerh and a way of brewing it that will be satisfying in aroma,
> main taste, and aftertaste.

I'm looking forward to the search

Thanks,
Blues


>
> /Lew
> ---
> Lew Perin /
> http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

"Mike Petro" > wrote in message
...
> Hi Blues,
>
> Welcome to the club. I personally started out drinking black puerhs
> and then grew into the green puerh which is now my favorite. Blacks
> are more mellow, yet they can be brewed up strong, and they are
> virtually impossible to oversteep. Greens can be astringent,
> particularly if steeped too long. Greens also have the most potential
> for that hauntingly sweet and elusive aftertaste. Play around with
> temperatures on the greens, I usually start around 170F, but use a
> full boil for the blacks.
>
> By the Way, there is no shame in obtaining your puerh wherever you may
> find it. If Chinatown doesn't work for you try your local neighborhood
> Chinese Restaurant. They will probably be drinking oolong themselves
> but I have had some success with taking a wrapper from a puerh cake to
> them and asking them to get some for me. Several of them have obliged
> me over the years. I personally buy mine online nowadays for a lot of
> reasons and I find no shame in it. For me the road to success was to
> strike a personal relationship with a couple of knowledgeable vendors.
> Go with whatever works for you and don't worry about the naysayers.
>
>
> Mike
>
Thanks for the advice on water temp. I'll give it a try. I'm not too
concerned with where my tea comes from, for the most part. That was just an
attempt at humor in light of some of the recent posts.8^) I enjoy going to
the Asian shops and searching for tea, I just don't get much time to do it.
I really have yet to find anything that made me say wow, certainly some
drinkable teas though. By the same token, I'm sure I've barely made a dent
in searching out the available shops. I enjoy the convenience of the net
and like to be able to purchase small samples before committing to a larger
quantity. I have a couple hundred grams of Sencha's that I don't like, but
I feel weird about throwing out. I think for me hitting the shops has as
much to do with the thrill of the chase as it does finding a good cup of
tea.

Blues

On Tue, 9 Mar 2004 02:02:14 -0800, "Blues Lyne"
> cast caution to the wind and posted:

>Thanks for the advice on water temp. I'll give it a try. I'm not too
>concerned with where my tea comes from, for the most part. That was just an
>attempt at humor in light of some of the recent posts.8^) I enjoy going to
>the Asian shops and searching for tea, I just don't get much time to do it.
>I really have yet to find anything that made me say wow, certainly some
>drinkable teas though. By the same token, I'm sure I've barely made a dent
>in searching out the available shops. I enjoy the convenience of the net
>and like to be able to purchase small samples before committing to a larger
>quantity. I have a couple hundred grams of Sencha's that I don't like, but
>I feel weird about throwing out. I think for me hitting the shops has as
>much to do with the thrill of the chase as it does finding a good cup of
>tea.
>
>Blues

Since you have ready access to an Asian community by all means explore
it. You might find that making a translation sheet of paper with the
Chinese characters for your favorite teas might help. I have NEVER
been successfully simply "asking" for puerh, but I have had limited
success when I show them the Cantonese characters for several
varieties of puerh. Just search the web and you can find a lot of the
character translations. The tissue paper wrappers that the cakes come
in are also very helpful. Learn the characters for the different
seasons and different years as well as the characters for "shu"
(cooked or black) and for "sheng" (raw or green). I am working on an
extensive puerh specific translation table which I will post on my
website shortly.

Enjoy the journey, it never ends...



Mike Petro
http://www.pu-erh.net
remove the "filter" in my email address to reply

I've been using one tsp per cup for my taste tests. I've been doing some
reading and see that many like to do puerh Gong Fu style. I don't have any
clay pots, but should I be filling the cup 1/3 to 1/2 full of leaves for my
trials? Am I totally missing out? I want to make the most of the samples I
have. If it would be better to use all of the sample to have one great
night of multiple infusions as opposed to having several evenings of
mediocre cups of tea, I'm game.

Blues

On Tue, 9 Mar 2004 22:20:58 -0800, "Blues Lyne"
> cast caution to the wind and posted:

>I've been using one tsp per cup for my taste tests. I've been doing some
>reading and see that many like to do puerh Gong Fu style. I don't have any
>clay pots, but should I be filling the cup 1/3 to 1/2 full of leaves for my
>trials? Am I totally missing out? I want to make the most of the samples I
>have. If it would be better to use all of the sample to have one great
>night of multiple infusions as opposed to having several evenings of
>mediocre cups of tea, I'm game.
>
>Blues
>


Gongfu literally means "with skill". It is as much about the "art" of
preparing tea as it is about drinking it. I would recommend starting
out slow and work your way up to gongfu. Get to "know" the tea first.
Let your taste buds be your guide for a while as to how much tea to
use. If the cup tastes a little weak use more leaf, if its a little
strong use a little less. Learn the results of different steeping
times by playing a bit. Play with multiple infusions, increasing your
steep time a little with each infusion, they tend to have different
subtleties. Which infusion tastes the best to you? Learn the effects
of temperature on your green puerh by playing with it, note the
differences it makes on the bitterness and sweetness etc. Only after
you have developed a relationship with your tea would I recommend
graduating to gongfu, by then you will have learned to appreciate all
of the subtleties that this type of preparation brings out.

BTW check out the Aria Teapot at Adagio teas. I have found it to be an
inexpensive yet wonderful way to brew tea, It lends itself well to
multiple infusions. I have posted instructions for using this method
at http://www.pu-erh.net/howtobrew.html



Mike Petro
http://www.pu-erh.net
remove the "filter" in my email address to reply

"Mike Petro" > wrote in message
...
> On Tue, 9 Mar 2004 22:20:58 -0800, "Blues Lyne"
> > cast caution to the wind and posted:
>
> >I've been using one tsp per cup for my taste tests. I've been doing some
> >reading and see that many like to do puerh Gong Fu style. I don't have
any
> >clay pots, but should I be filling the cup 1/3 to 1/2 full of leaves for
my
> >trials? Am I totally missing out? I want to make the most of the
samples I
> >have. If it would be better to use all of the sample to have one great
> >night of multiple infusions as opposed to having several evenings of
> >mediocre cups of tea, I'm game.
> >
> >Blues
> >
>
>
> Gongfu literally means "with skill". It is as much about the "art" of
> preparing tea as it is about drinking it. I would recommend starting
> out slow and work your way up to gongfu. Get to "know" the tea first.
> Let your taste buds be your guide for a while as to how much tea to
> use. If the cup tastes a little weak use more leaf, if its a little
> strong use a little less. Learn the results of different steeping
> times by playing a bit. Play with multiple infusions, increasing your
> steep time a little with each infusion, they tend to have different
> subtleties. Which infusion tastes the best to you? Learn the effects
> of temperature on your green puerh by playing with it, note the
> differences it makes on the bitterness and sweetness etc. Only after
> you have developed a relationship with your tea would I recommend
> graduating to gongfu, by then you will have learned to appreciate all
> of the subtleties that this type of preparation brings out.
>
> BTW check out the Aria Teapot at Adagio teas. I have found it to be an
> inexpensive yet wonderful way to brew tea, It lends itself well to
> multiple infusions. I have posted instructions for using this method
> at http://www.pu-erh.net/howtobrew.html
>
>
>
> Mike Petro
> http://www.pu-erh.net
> remove the "filter" in my email address to reply

Well, the 2 year old Menghai sample is really growing on me. I haven't
achieved the same degree of aftertaste that I got with my first brewing of
this tea with my experiments, but it's been a little different each time.
Last night it was really smoky with not much of the dank basement tastes and
just a hint of the fruity aftertaste. So far the cooked Puerh's aren't
resonating with me as much. Not that they aren't drinkable, but I don't
find myself looking forward to the next cup.

I've been reading about Liu-An. I appears that it really isn't a green
Puerh, but is very similar. Any more info on the similarities/differences
from the knowledge of this group?

To borrow from Michael Plant, I'm listening to Wes Montgomery and sipping
the first steep of a 10 year old green puerh. Smooth horse barn flavor
followed by sweet fruitiness in the aftertaste. Still seems bizarre to me,
but I'm starting to get it.

Blues

PS. In an earlier post I mentioned that the Yunnan Gold and Ying De Hong
teas I received from teaspring weren't doing it for me. I've since found
the Yunnan to be nice using more leaf and water temp around 190F. This
morning was cloudy and cool here in North County San Diego so I added a
little Lapsang Suchong to the Ying De Hong (2 tsp YDH to 1/2tsp LS - 12oz.
190F water) and loved the blend. Smokey with a nice sweet aftertaste.