I'm reading all of these "dirty, earthy" notes and must butt in: some
shus and many shengs are smooth, mellow, and more OR less robust. I
would suggest reading the list at Livejournal
(community.livejournal.com/puerh_tea) or checking out some critiques
on Pu-erh.net.
My favourite pus are older, mellower, and very, very complex.
Considering pu characteristics as simplistic as a loamy adjective is
not giving might Pu its due - like saying "greens are fishy".
Buy samples of good pu from good vendors: Yunnan Sourcing, Dragon
House and, of course, HouDeAsian all sell very worthwhile samples at a
small price.
After tasting several you'll begin to discern the lengthy variety of
flavours that arise in a cup of pu-erh. Use a Yixing and make a small
bit; try multiple infusions and distinguish the changes from pour to
pour.
But, PLEASE, NEVER insult pu-erh with an uninspired categorical
description.
Shen
(sipping 2004 Chan-Tai Jin Zhu Shan Yeh Sheng Wild Beeng) - uncooked
pu-erh, yet round, smooth, barely astringent. More delicate and
hauntingly aromatic. Even in the 5th, 6th and 7th infusion, the liquor
remains amber and sweet. A pu that will age extremely well.




Oh dear Shen, I'm afraid I don't measure up to your standards for tasting
ability...in fact this is something I've noticed about myself and while I do
concentrate hard sometimes I can't seem to get the huge wide breadth of
adjectives about taste to occur to me. I thought using the word "loamy"
was an indication of growth in my tea tasting vocabularly, you have wounded
me deeply.

Seriously though, I'm seeing huge differences in people's ability to discern
various taste nuances in tea (if I go by what they say on their tasting
logs). I really do think it's something physical, not just a person not
concentrating or being careless or whatever. After all, not everyone is a
great perfumer for example.

Melinda, who also thinks the term "camphor" is used perhaps too much in
describing sheng puerh.