I just picked up a low grade but very inexpensive pu-erh in NYC's
Chinatown from Kam Man on Canal St.

It is in a red tin with the major label "Nor Sun Pu-Erh Tea" and is
packed by Ten Fine Trading Co. Ltd. of Hong Kong.

150 grams was $3.50.

The quality of the leaves is coarse and the tea has a strong odor not
so much of "earth" but of dirt.

I'll brew some up and let people know how it came out. I'm not
expecting much at the price but at the price..........

Maria Stojakovic

Never had it, but for anyone who wants to see a pic of the can, I found
several online, including the vendor page.

http://tinyurl.com/bhr4w
http://tinyurl.com/dhfkq

"G.Stojakovic" > wrote in
oups.com:

> I just picked up a low grade but very inexpensive pu-erh in NYC's
> Chinatown from Kam Man on Canal St.
>
> It is in a red tin with the major label "Nor Sun Pu-Erh Tea" and is
> packed by Ten Fine Trading Co. Ltd. of Hong Kong.
>
> 150 grams was $3.50.
>
> The quality of the leaves is coarse and the tea has a strong odor not
> so much of "earth" but of dirt.
>
> I'll brew some up and let people know how it came out. I'm not
> expecting much at the price but at the price..........
>
> Maria Stojakovic
>

I picked up a can from the same source last month and was pleasantly
surprised at the quality to price ratio. So ultimately was at least one
other person who has far more expertise: <http://dcs.nac.uci.edu/
~strombrg/tea.html> "...My current box is pretty decent though, for such a
cheap tea."

Ozzy

"G.Stojakovic" > writes:

> I just picked up a low grade but very inexpensive pu-erh in NYC's
> Chinatown from Kam Man on Canal St.
>
> [...]
>
> The quality of the leaves is coarse and the tea has a strong odor not
> so much of "earth" but of dirt.

Then you might want to give it two quick rinses with boiling water
before brewing it to drink.

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

Lewis Perin wrote:
> "G.Stojakovic" > writes:
>
> > I just picked up a low grade but very inexpensive pu-erh in NYC's
> > Chinatown from Kam Man on Canal St.
> >
> > [...]
> >
> > The quality of the leaves is coarse and the tea has a strong odor not
> > so much of "earth" but of dirt.
>
> Then you might want to give it two quick rinses with boiling water
> before brewing it to drink.

Is two really necessary? I thought one would suffice. I do this with
*all* cooked puer, as I don't know where it's been ;-)


stePH
in cup: Xiaguan cooked tuocha, 2nd infusion
np; King Crimson "Into the Frying Pan"

"stePH" > writes:

> Lewis Perin wrote:
> > "G.Stojakovic" > writes:
> >
> > > I just picked up a low grade but very inexpensive pu-erh in NYC's
> > > Chinatown from Kam Man on Canal St.
> > >
> > > [...]
> > >
> > > The quality of the leaves is coarse and the tea has a strong odor not
> > > so much of "earth" but of dirt.
> >
> > Then you might want to give it two quick rinses with boiling water
> > before brewing it to drink.
>
> Is two really necessary? I thought one would suffice. I do this with
> *all* cooked puer, as I don't know where it's been ;-)

I suggested two because of the dirt. Normally one's enough for me.

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

Jason F in Los Angeles wrote:
> Never had it, but for anyone who wants to see a pic of the can, I found
> several online, including the vendor page.
>
> http://tinyurl.com/bhr4w
> http://tinyurl.com/dhfkq

Thanks, Jason. I was surprised to see online info about the tea.

Maria

Ozzy wrote:
> "G.Stojakovic" > wrote in
> oups.com:
>
> > I just picked up a low grade but very inexpensive pu-erh in NYC's
> > Chinatown from Kam Man on Canal St.
> >
> > It is in a red tin with the major label "Nor Sun Pu-Erh Tea" and is
> > packed by Ten Fine Trading Co. Ltd. of Hong Kong.
> >
> > 150 grams was $3.50.
> >
> > The quality of the leaves is coarse and the tea has a strong odor not
> > so much of "earth" but of dirt.
> >
> > I'll brew some up and let people know how it came out. I'm not
> > expecting much at the price but at the price..........
> >
> > Maria Stojakovic
> >
>
> I picked up a can from the same source last month and was pleasantly
> surprised at the quality to price ratio. So ultimately was at least one
> other person who has far more expertise: <http://dcs.nac.uci.edu/
> ~strombrg/tea.html> "...My current box is pretty decent though, for such a
> cheap tea."
>
> Ozzy

Here's my initial report. I don't think it is very good because I've
never written up something like this before and I'm not sure what words
to use.

I used 6 grams of tea for a bit less than 16 ounces of water.

I first washed the tea in boiling water, as suggested, for 15 seconds.

I then poured off the wash water, refilled the pot with fresh boiling
water, and let it steep for 3 minutes.

The tea had much less of a bouquet than I would have suspected from
smelling the dried leaves. It had a sort of mild flowery smell that
increased as the tea cooled a bit and then feel off.

There was also a slight smell of dirt that seemed to hit the nose from
inside my mouth a second after the tea was swallowed, particularly if I
let it rest in my mouth for any length of time.

The tea had a very low tannin, not at all the type of tea that Lipton
once described as "brisk."

It produced a creamy feel on the tongue without the taste of cream of
course. After a few sips the descriptive word that came to mind was
"teflon." I don't mean that to be negative as if the taste was plastic.
It was just very slick, almost slippery.

After everything in the pot had cooled I smelled the used damp leaves.
The smell of earth was even greater then when they were dry.

However, on to the second infusion which was with boiling water for
five minutes.

The bouquet was much the same as the first infusion.

The taste was a bit less and had a bit of a "plastic" quality to it.

Overall it isn't among my favorites.

But with one infusion of 3 grams to a pint of water the cost works out
to seven cents a pint. If you use two infusions the cost is less than
two cents a cup.

Given that and the posts indicating quality improves with age I'm going
to keep it around.

Maria

"G.Stojakovic" > writes:

> [...tasting results for this tea...]
> Given that and the posts indicating quality improves with age I'm going
> to keep it around.

Sorry, but a cooked (shu) Pu'er like this, especially one that isn't
excellent to start with, is much less likely to improve with age than
a raw (sheng) one.

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

When it comes to describing aged puer I use the word Supposedly. I
learned a long time ago to trust my taste instincts with teas. I pay
attention to what others say but in the end I am my own judge. I might
have enough time left to put away some uncooked for twenty years. But
then in 20 years physiologically I have changed and so have my
tastebuds. I might be able to find the document on a computer with my
notes but you know what happens when things crash or the microbes from
puer have eaten your CD backup. I'm a collector in another genre. I
have it, you don't. A woman even offered herself to me once for
something from my collection. I have an assortment of Xiaguan cooked
and uncooked from 2000 to 2005. There is a difference in taste which I
contribute simply to different enough crops from different years. I've
bought my assortment of commercial loose cooked puer from over the
decades. I can compare those to recent compressed cooked years. I
will say loose commercial Puer does not compare in general to
compressed Puer for whatever arbitrary bench mark one chooses. I think
if one is describing Puer then compressed offers more of everything
plus some. So much so you might like the taste of loose better. If it
doesn't taste good now time won't make a difference.

Jim

PS: What she had didn't compare to what I had. Yeah, I also told my
wife. I'm also pleased to see all the posts on commercial teas.

Lewis Perin wrote:
> "G.Stojakovic" > writes:
>
> > [...tasting results for this tea...]
> > Given that and the posts indicating quality improves with age I'm going
> > to keep it around.
>
> Sorry, but a cooked (shu) Pu'er like this, especially one that isn't
> excellent to start with, is much less likely to improve with age than
> a raw (sheng) one.
>
> /Lew
> ---
> Lew Perin /
> http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

> Given that and the posts indicating quality improves with age I'm going
> to keep it around.


Hi Maria,

Here are a couple of thoughts for you:

Aging black puerh further will provide some benefit, mostly in the form
of reducing musty, yeasty, or "off" flavors, but the changes are very
slight. Black puerh is probably best after aging for roughly 7 years or
so, as by then it will have lost most of the yeasty notes that are a
by-product of the processing. However after about 7 years there will be
very little improvement, if any at all.

The exception to this rule would be what is often called "half cooked"
puerh, although I think this description is misleading. Processing
black puerh is akin to composting where the leaf is piled up and
fermented (some say hydro-fermented) under careful humidity,
temperature, and time controls. Sometimes they will use less time and
only ferment the leaf partially, like 40 or 50 or 60%. This type of
cooked/black puerh has more room to improve over time than a fully
cooked black puerh. These however are far less common and only likely
to be found from a vendor who specializes in puerh.

If you look at my site right now the front page has pictures of black
puerh being fermented in piles, one of the pictures shows the
thermometer stuck in the (compost like) piles.

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

Lewis Perin wrote:
> "G.Stojakovic" > writes:
>
> > [...tasting results for this tea...]
> > Given that and the posts indicating quality improves with age I'm going
> > to keep it around.
>
> Sorry, but a cooked (shu) Pu'er like this, especially one that isn't
> excellent to start with, is much less likely to improve with age than
> a raw (sheng) one.
>
> /Lew
> ---
> Lew Perin /
> http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

Thank you, Lew. That was the understanding I had, that only the
uncooked pu-erh would age. But I thought one other poster, who I
figured knew more about this tea than do I, mentioned that the black
type also had some age effect.

Maria

>> Sorry, but a cooked (shu) Pu'er like this, especially one that isn't
>> excellent to start with, is much less likely to improve with age than
>> a raw (sheng) one.
[...]
>
>Thank you, Lew. That was the understanding I had, that only the
>uncooked pu-erh would age. But I thought one other poster, who I
>figured knew more about this tea than do I, mentioned that the black
>type also had some age effect.

Lew didn't say that it wouldn't improve "at all" he just said that
wouldn't improve as much as a green puerh - comparatively speaking.

See http://www.pu-erh.net/sections.php?Choice=Black_Puerh



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

Mike Petro > writes:

> >> Sorry, but a cooked (shu) Pu'er like this, especially one that isn't
> >> excellent to start with, is much less likely to improve with age than
> >> a raw (sheng) one.
> [...]
> >
> >Thank you, Lew. That was the understanding I had, that only the
> >uncooked pu-erh would age. But I thought one other poster, who I
> >figured knew more about this tea than do I, mentioned that the black
> >type also had some age effect.
>
> Lew didn't say that it wouldn't improve "at all" he just said that
> wouldn't improve as much as a green puerh - comparatively speaking.
>
> See http://www.pu-erh.net/sections.php?Choice=Black_Puerh

Exactly. Another way to look at it is, while shu Pu'er might improve
but keep its basic character, sheng is likely to turn into something
radically different with age.

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