This was my tea of choice at work today. This is by far the oldest pu’erh I’ve had. The aged pu’erh I was drinking yesterday was really mellow and smooth. I was expecting this one to be more of the same. NOT.
This is really BOLD, EARTHY (not fishy), and a hint of something that seems minty to me. I don’t do mint, but that’s what it reminds me of. The hotter this is the more minty it is, as it cools it becomes more like a “traditional” pu’erh but it’s big and bold and in your face. There is nothing offensive here, but this isn’t my favorite. I like the one I was drinking yesterday much better.
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Aged Puerh, Heicha and other similar aged teas like Liu Bao and Liu An develop ‘camphor’, the ‘minty’ taste/sensation. I’d recommend sticking to younger ones and you’ll avoid the camphor notes for the most part. Good note :)
Thanks for the info. I’m feeling a little “yay I got it right” – mint seemed weird to me. The other thing I didn’t mention – should add it, was how “clear” this was. It was a light brown color, but CLEAR – if you had handed me a cup, I would have thought dark oolong – that’s what the liquor looked like. Most pu’erh is more opaque. This was strange for me – but a good learning experience. Thank you for your comments.
Ah, Ripe Puerh is usually opaque during its younger days, as it gets older it gets cleaner and shows from a ‘clean’ brown or burgundy color. Shengs should start clear but light in color and later get darker hues of amber into bronze and later into burgundy/brown colors as it ages, but should never turn opaque/cloudy/murky since it would most likely mean bad storage conditions or just low quality material. Tea is awesome!
This is really interesting. Was this a sheng or a shu?
Shrug – I know nothing – I thought this was a shu, but I just did a little research (very little of which I understood) and from what I’m reading this is processed “usual manner of post-oxidizing Pu Erh”, but to be called pu’erh it has to be from Yunnan – I don’t think this is Yunnan and therefor not even really pu’erh. That might be splitting hairs – like it’s sparkling wine unless it’s from Champagne France…. is it shu or sheng… not sure at this point.
I have a lot of tea, I love a lot of tea, but I am really uneducated about what I’m drinking. I just agree with JC – Tea is awesome!
That’s right, Dexter, the most important part of drinking tea is enjoying it! :D
Sheng and Shu are inside the ‘Puerh’ catergory. We also have Heicha, the ‘real’ black tea of China and basically Puerh would be a Heicha if it wasn’t that it got ‘big’ enough to be it’s own category and defined its distinct processing and overall requirements to be called Puerh (like Dexter mentioned, like Champagne France or Cognac, it has to be from a certain region).
Liu An and Liu Bao are basically another type of Heicha, but they are also defined by their own requirements like origin and overall process and even aging methods. I’m not too educated on Liu An or Liu Bao, but they are both very interesting tea and have distinct traits.
Aged Puerh, Heicha and other similar aged teas like Liu Bao and Liu An develop ‘camphor’, the ‘minty’ taste/sensation. I’d recommend sticking to younger ones and you’ll avoid the camphor notes for the most part. Good note :)
Thanks for the info. I’m feeling a little “yay I got it right” – mint seemed weird to me. The other thing I didn’t mention – should add it, was how “clear” this was. It was a light brown color, but CLEAR – if you had handed me a cup, I would have thought dark oolong – that’s what the liquor looked like. Most pu’erh is more opaque. This was strange for me – but a good learning experience. Thank you for your comments.
Ah, Ripe Puerh is usually opaque during its younger days, as it gets older it gets cleaner and shows from a ‘clean’ brown or burgundy color. Shengs should start clear but light in color and later get darker hues of amber into bronze and later into burgundy/brown colors as it ages, but should never turn opaque/cloudy/murky since it would most likely mean bad storage conditions or just low quality material. Tea is awesome!
This is really interesting. Was this a sheng or a shu?
Shrug – I know nothing – I thought this was a shu, but I just did a little research (very little of which I understood) and from what I’m reading this is processed “usual manner of post-oxidizing Pu Erh”, but to be called pu’erh it has to be from Yunnan – I don’t think this is Yunnan and therefor not even really pu’erh. That might be splitting hairs – like it’s sparkling wine unless it’s from Champagne France…. is it shu or sheng… not sure at this point.
I have a lot of tea, I love a lot of tea, but I am really uneducated about what I’m drinking. I just agree with JC – Tea is awesome!
That’s right, Dexter, the most important part of drinking tea is enjoying it! :D
Sheng and Shu are inside the ‘Puerh’ catergory. We also have Heicha, the ‘real’ black tea of China and basically Puerh would be a Heicha if it wasn’t that it got ‘big’ enough to be it’s own category and defined its distinct processing and overall requirements to be called Puerh (like Dexter mentioned, like Champagne France or Cognac, it has to be from a certain region).
Liu An and Liu Bao are basically another type of Heicha, but they are also defined by their own requirements like origin and overall process and even aging methods. I’m not too educated on Liu An or Liu Bao, but they are both very interesting tea and have distinct traits.