Hello, All

First, let us clear up the names of Puerh and maybe one day Puerh will
be called by the correct names. In China within the tea field Puerh
is called cooked or un-cooked nothing else, it is completely clear in
Chinese. Therefore, the most accurate name for Puerh in English is
Cooked or un-cooked Puerh.

The Pin Ying spelling for cooked and Un-cooked are as fallows "Shu
(cooked)" and "Sheng (un-cooked)"

Here are some other names for Puerh that you may have seen.

Cooked Puerh other names:
Black Puerh, Red Tea Based Puerh or Compressed Black tea.

Un-cooked Puerh other names: Green Puerh, Raw Puerh

From this point on I will only refer to the Puerh as Cooked or
un-coked.

The names for Puerh Cooked and Un-Cooked is really a way of describing
the way the tea is processed.

Un-cooked is a more traditional and older way of manufacturing Puerh
tea. The cooked is a slightly newer idea of manufacturing Puerh.
However, cooked Puerh has been around for quite some time.

What is the difference between cooked and un-cooked Puerh? The answer
is simple the only difference is the way the tealeaves are processed.

I will try to make this as clear as possible by explaining the process
of preparing the tea.

All of the Puerh tealeaves come from the same type of tree. Not to
get to scientific but all of the leaves in Puerh are Yunnan Big leaf
species.

The process of making the tea:

1. Un-cooked Puerh is picked, crumpled, dried, steamed and then
compressed.

2. Cooked Puerh is picked, crumpled, dried, watered down and placed in
a pile and let sit for a few days until the leaves turn dark brown and
then steamed and compressed.

The end-result for cooked Puerh is a tea that is smoother on the
tongue and ready to be drank right away or stored for aging.

The end-result for un-cooked Puerh is more natural/raw tasting tea
ready to be drank right away or stored for aging

They both taste wonderful and are both unique in taste. Cooked is
processed this way to speed up the aging taste so that it has a taste
like it has been aged for years. It is really the speedy version of a
naturally aged un-cooked Puerh.

Un-cooked is left alone so that it can naturally age and oxidize over
years, once you get a chance to taste aged un-cooked Puerh vs. a aged
or new cooked Puerh you will notice the real reason why people let
un-cooked sit for years. Whenever you rush a natural process like
aging, it will never be as good as the real thing.

Just like wine the longer it is stored the better. In addition, just
like wine the longer it is stored the more it cost.

Not all Ageing is good:

There is no shelf life for Puerh tea, again using wine as a reference
the older the better. However, you as a consumer need to be careful
of fake and poorly age Puerh. Fake and poorly aged Puerh go hand in
Hand because a fake aged Puerh is typically a poorly aged Puerh, let
me explain (that's a lot of Poor's on one sentence).

Many vendors around the world sell a fast aged Puerh and here is how
it is done. They start with an un-cooked Puerh the get it wet and let
it sit repeatedly, wet and dry repeatedly over 2-3 years. This tea
molds and is always stored in a damp/humid area. They then sell this
to distributors whom may or may not know how it was aged. This tea is
typically sold as a 15 or 20-year-old Puerh tea and the price for a
real aged tea like this can be very expensive. Not only is this
dishonest it is a waste of good tea because they typically use a good
grade un-cooked Puerh to really jack the prices up.

This way of aging the tea may not be such a bad idea but it is wrong
to sell it as 20-year-old Puerh when it is only 3 years old. In fact,
some people like the tea aged this way. However, they buy it knowing
it is a fake and will never pay an outrageous price for it.

I have been involved directly with major manufactures of tea and been
drinking for years. Tea is my business, life, passion and will be
around these message boards more often so if you have any questions
about tea feel free to ask.

P.S. Yixing teapots are my even bigger addiction and passion so I am
game for questions about this area also.

Sincerely,
mandsj

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

From this point on I will only refer to the Puerh as Cooked or
un-coked.

I realize that this is only a typo, but it does give a number of
rather goofy ideas, such as:

I knew that coke was used in the production of steel. I didn't
realize it was used in processing tea.

--
Derek

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everybody else.

Michael 1/14/04


Hello, All

First, let us clear up the names of Puerh and maybe one day Puerh will
be called by the correct names. In China within the tea field Puerh
is called cooked or un-cooked nothing else, it is completely clear in
Chinese. Therefore, the most accurate name for Puerh in English is
Cooked or un-cooked Puerh.

The Pin Ying spelling for cooked and Un-cooked are as fallows "Shu
(cooked)" and "Sheng (un-cooked)"

Here are some other names for Puerh that you may have seen.

Cooked Puerh other names:
Black Puerh, Red Tea Based Puerh or Compressed Black tea.

Un-cooked Puerh other names: Green Puerh, Raw Puerh

From this point on I will only refer to the Puerh as Cooked or
un-coked.

The names for Puerh Cooked and Un-Cooked is really a way of describing
the way the tea is processed.

Un-cooked is a more traditional and older way of manufacturing Puerh
tea. The cooked is a slightly newer idea of manufacturing Puerh.
However, cooked Puerh has been around for quite some time.

What is the difference between cooked and un-cooked Puerh? The answer
is simple the only difference is the way the tealeaves are processed.

I will try to make this as clear as possible by explaining the process
of preparing the tea.

All of the Puerh tealeaves come from the same type of tree. Not to
get to scientific but all of the leaves in Puerh are Yunnan Big leaf
species.

The process of making the tea:

1. Un-cooked Puerh is picked, crumpled, dried, steamed and then
compressed.

2. Cooked Puerh is picked, crumpled, dried, watered down and placed in
a pile and let sit for a few days until the leaves turn dark brown and
then steamed and compressed.

The end-result for cooked Puerh is a tea that is smoother on the
tongue and ready to be drank right away or stored for aging.

The end-result for un-cooked Puerh is more natural/raw tasting tea
ready to be drank right away or stored for aging

They both taste wonderful and are both unique in taste. Cooked is
processed this way to speed up the aging taste so that it has a taste
like it has been aged for years. It is really the speedy version of a
naturally aged un-cooked Puerh.

Un-cooked is left alone so that it can naturally age and oxidize over
years, once you get a chance to taste aged un-cooked Puerh vs. a aged
or new cooked Puerh you will notice the real reason why people let
un-cooked sit for years. Whenever you rush a natural process like
aging, it will never be as good as the real thing.

Just like wine the longer it is stored the better. In addition, just
like wine the longer it is stored the more it cost.

Not all Ageing is good:

There is no shelf life for Puerh tea, again using wine as a reference
the older the better. However, you as a consumer need to be careful
of fake and poorly age Puerh. Fake and poorly aged Puerh go hand in
Hand because a fake aged Puerh is typically a poorly aged Puerh, let
me explain (that's a lot of Poor's on one sentence).

Many vendors around the world sell a fast aged Puerh and here is how
it is done. They start with an un-cooked Puerh the get it wet and let
it sit repeatedly, wet and dry repeatedly over 2-3 years. This tea
molds and is always stored in a damp/humid area. They then sell this
to distributors whom may or may not know how it was aged. This tea is
typically sold as a 15 or 20-year-old Puerh tea and the price for a
real aged tea like this can be very expensive. Not only is this
dishonest it is a waste of good tea because they typically use a good
grade un-cooked Puerh to really jack the prices up.

This way of aging the tea may not be such a bad idea but it is wrong
to sell it as 20-year-old Puerh when it is only 3 years old. In fact,
some people like the tea aged this way. However, they buy it knowing
it is a fake and will never pay an outrageous price for it.

I have been involved directly with major manufactures of tea and been
drinking for years. Tea is my business, life, passion and will be
around these message boards more often so if you have any questions
about tea feel free to ask.

P.S. Yixing teapots are my even bigger addiction and passion so I am
game for questions about this area also.

Sincerely,
mandsj


mandsj,

Not that I'm doubting your authority, but could you perhaps tell us just a
little bit more about yourself, your tea business, and your yixing pots.

Question: What is the best way to season (cure) my new yixing zisha gungfu
teapots? (They ring beautifully, lids fit well, pour beautifully, and are
of a pleasing color and simple, functional form.)

Michael

Not that I'm doubting your authority, but could you perhaps tell us just a
little bit more about yourself, your tea business, and your yixing pots.


I can attest to the quality of his offerings. I just received a 10kg
package from him today filled with a bamboo wash tray, Yixing teapot,
reserve pot, and matching cups in a most intricate and beautiful
design. The teapot is crafted to look like natural wood and is so
realistic that it is absolutely stunning. The package also included
about 8 different types of puerh.

I was most pleased with his service and offerings. His prices are
pretty good by US standards but shipping from China is high so make
sure you factor that in. I will definitely order from him again! I
found out about him from another post in this newsgroup who also
appeared to be satisfied.

Just my 2 cents worth,

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

First, let us clear up the names of Puerh and maybe one day Puerh will
be called by the correct names. In China within the tea field Puerh
is called cooked or un-cooked nothing else, it is completely clear in
Chinese. Therefore, the most accurate name for Puerh in English is
Cooked or un-cooked Puerh.

Michael, first you know from our correspondence that I respect you,
heck I just bought a couple hundred dollars worth of tea and Yixing
from you.

I am really a little confused about your use of the terms un-cooked
and cooked. I have looked a t a lot of Puerh sites and your site is
the ONLY place I have ever heard these terms used. Now admittedly I do
not understand chinese so I have only really looked at english sites.
However every single other english site that I have seen uses the
terms Green and Black. I have even seen some chinese sites refer to it
as green/black.

I correspond with a gentlemen from Singapore who is also somewhat of
an expert and a serious collector. I mean this guy can look at an old
cake and tell you the vintage, factory, grade, and current value. He
has impressed me repeatedly with his knowledge and I have come to
trust him. I asked him about the terms green/black cooked/uncooked and
his response was "Generally Puerh tea is offered in 2 varieties, Green
or Black, but different factories/makers will actually process the
teas differently, resulting in some combinations like 40% oxidized,
80% oxidized etc."

I am not challenging you, heck I trust you as you are more straight
forward about puerh qualities and vintages than just about any other
vendor I have seen. It's just that what you are saying is
contradictory to everything I learned so far. How can every other
English site be wrong? Can you, or any of the other readers, offer
some corroborating sites that use these same terms?

Humbly


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

First, let us clear up the names of Puerh and maybe one day Puerh will
be called by the correct names. In China within the tea field Puerh
is called cooked or un-cooked nothing else, it is completely clear in
Chinese. Therefore, the most accurate name for Puerh in English is
Cooked or un-cooked Puerh.

Michael, first you know from our correspondence that I respect you,
heck I just bought a couple hundred dollars worth of tea and Yixing
from you.

I am really a little confused about your use of the terms un-cooked
and cooked. I have looked a t a lot of Puerh sites and your site is
the ONLY place I have ever heard these terms used. Now admittedly I do
not understand chinese so I have only really looked at english sites.
However every single other english site that I have seen uses the
terms Green and Black. I have even seen some chinese sites refer to it
as green/black.

I correspond with a gentlemen from Singapore who is also somewhat of
an expert and a serious collector. I mean this guy can look at an old
cake and tell you the vintage, factory, grade, and current value. He
has impressed me repeatedly with his knowledge and I have come to
trust him. I asked him about the terms green/black cooked/uncooked and
his response was "Generally Puerh tea is offered in 2 varieties, Green
or Black, but different factories/makers will actually process the
teas differently, resulting in some combinations like 40% oxidized,
80% oxidized etc."

I am not challenging you, heck I trust you as you are more straight
forward about puerh qualities and vintages than just about any other
vendor I have seen. It's just that what you are saying is
contradictory to everything I learned so far. How can every other
English site be wrong? Can you, or any of the other readers, offer
some corroborating sites that use these same terms?

Humbly


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

Sorry I goofed, didnt mean to send it twice......
Mike Petro
http://www.pu-erh.net
remove the "filter" in my email address to reply

Awesome post.
Thank you.

--Tom

PS I also thought that Derek would appreciate another non-Mike in this thread.

Subject: Puerh, Aging and the real name!
From: (Michael Ryan)
Date: 1/14/2004 10:35 AM Eastern Standard Time
Message-id:

Hello, All

First, let us clear up the names of Puerh and maybe one day Puerh will
be called by the correct names. In China within the tea field Puerh
is called cooked or un-cooked nothing else, it is completely clear in
Chinese. Therefore, the most accurate name for Puerh in English is
Cooked or un-cooked Puerh.

The Pin Ying spelling for cooked and Un-cooked are as fallows "Shu
(cooked)" and "Sheng (un-cooked)"

Here are some other names for Puerh that you may have seen.

Cooked Puerh other names:
Black Puerh, Red Tea Based Puerh or Compressed Black tea.

Un-cooked Puerh other names: Green Puerh, Raw Puerh

From this point on I will only refer to the Puerh as Cooked or
un-coked.

The names for Puerh Cooked and Un-Cooked is really a way of describing
the way the tea is processed.

Un-cooked is a more traditional and older way of manufacturing Puerh
tea. The cooked is a slightly newer idea of manufacturing Puerh.
However, cooked Puerh has been around for quite some time.

What is the difference between cooked and un-cooked Puerh? The answer
is simple the only difference is the way the tealeaves are processed.

I will try to make this as clear as possible by explaining the process
of preparing the tea.

All of the Puerh tealeaves come from the same type of tree. Not to
get to scientific but all of the leaves in Puerh are Yunnan Big leaf
species.

The process of making the tea:

1. Un-cooked Puerh is picked, crumpled, dried, steamed and then
compressed.

2. Cooked Puerh is picked, crumpled, dried, watered down and placed in
a pile and let sit for a few days until the leaves turn dark brown and
then steamed and compressed.

The end-result for cooked Puerh is a tea that is smoother on the
tongue and ready to be drank right away or stored for aging.

The end-result for un-cooked Puerh is more natural/raw tasting tea
ready to be drank right away or stored for aging

They both taste wonderful and are both unique in taste. Cooked is
processed this way to speed up the aging taste so that it has a taste
like it has been aged for years. It is really the speedy version of a
naturally aged un-cooked Puerh.

Un-cooked is left alone so that it can naturally age and oxidize over
years, once you get a chance to taste aged un-cooked Puerh vs. a aged
or new cooked Puerh you will notice the real reason why people let
un-cooked sit for years. Whenever you rush a natural process like
aging, it will never be as good as the real thing.

Just like wine the longer it is stored the better. In addition, just
like wine the longer it is stored the more it cost.

Not all Ageing is good:

There is no shelf life for Puerh tea, again using wine as a reference
the older the better. However, you as a consumer need to be careful
of fake and poorly age Puerh. Fake and poorly aged Puerh go hand in
Hand because a fake aged Puerh is typically a poorly aged Puerh, let
me explain (that's a lot of Poor's on one sentence).

Many vendors around the world sell a fast aged Puerh and here is how
it is done. They start with an un-cooked Puerh the get it wet and let
it sit repeatedly, wet and dry repeatedly over 2-3 years. This tea
molds and is always stored in a damp/humid area. They then sell this
to distributors whom may or may not know how it was aged. This tea is
typically sold as a 15 or 20-year-old Puerh tea and the price for a
real aged tea like this can be very expensive. Not only is this
dishonest it is a waste of good tea because they typically use a good
grade un-cooked Puerh to really jack the prices up.

This way of aging the tea may not be such a bad idea but it is wrong
to sell it as 20-year-old Puerh when it is only 3 years old. In fact,
some people like the tea aged this way. However, they buy it knowing
it is a fake and will never pay an outrageous price for it.

I have been involved directly with major manufactures of tea and been
drinking for years. Tea is my business, life, passion and will be
around these message boards more often so if you have any questions
about tea feel free to ask.

P.S. Yixing teapots are my even bigger addiction and passion so I am
game for questions about this area also.

Sincerely,
mandsj








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

First, let us clear up the names of Puerh and maybe one day Puerh will
be called by the correct names. In China within the tea field Puerh
is called cooked or un-cooked nothing else, it is completely clear in
Chinese. Therefore, the most accurate name for Puerh in English is
Cooked or un-cooked Puerh.

are the mushroom shaped pu-erh cakes favored by tibetans classically cooked
or uncooked? until recently i've only seen cooked.

-ben

Michael Plant wrote in message ...
Michael 1/14/04


Hello, All

First, let us clear up the names of Puerh and maybe one day Puerh will
be called by the correct names. In China within the tea field Puerh
is called cooked or un-cooked nothing else, it is completely clear in
Chinese. Therefore, the most accurate name for Puerh in English is
Cooked or un-cooked Puerh.

The Pin Ying spelling for cooked and Un-cooked are as fallows "Shu
(cooked)" and "Sheng (un-cooked)"

Here are some other names for Puerh that you may have seen.

Cooked Puerh other names:
Black Puerh, Red Tea Based Puerh or Compressed Black tea.

Un-cooked Puerh other names: Green Puerh, Raw Puerh

From this point on I will only refer to the Puerh as Cooked or
un-coked.

The names for Puerh Cooked and Un-Cooked is really a way of describing
the way the tea is processed.

Un-cooked is a more traditional and older way of manufacturing Puerh
tea. The cooked is a slightly newer idea of manufacturing Puerh.
However, cooked Puerh has been around for quite some time.

What is the difference between cooked and un-cooked Puerh? The answer
is simple the only difference is the way the tealeaves are processed.

I will try to make this as clear as possible by explaining the process
of preparing the tea.

All of the Puerh tealeaves come from the same type of tree. Not to
get to scientific but all of the leaves in Puerh are Yunnan Big leaf
species.

The process of making the tea:

1. Un-cooked Puerh is picked, crumpled, dried, steamed and then
compressed.

2. Cooked Puerh is picked, crumpled, dried, watered down and placed in
a pile and let sit for a few days until the leaves turn dark brown and
then steamed and compressed.

The end-result for cooked Puerh is a tea that is smoother on the
tongue and ready to be drank right away or stored for aging.

The end-result for un-cooked Puerh is more natural/raw tasting tea
ready to be drank right away or stored for aging

They both taste wonderful and are both unique in taste. Cooked is
processed this way to speed up the aging taste so that it has a taste
like it has been aged for years. It is really the speedy version of a
naturally aged un-cooked Puerh.

Un-cooked is left alone so that it can naturally age and oxidize over
years, once you get a chance to taste aged un-cooked Puerh vs. a aged
or new cooked Puerh you will notice the real reason why people let
un-cooked sit for years. Whenever you rush a natural process like
aging, it will never be as good as the real thing.

Just like wine the longer it is stored the better. In addition, just
like wine the longer it is stored the more it cost.

Not all Ageing is good:

There is no shelf life for Puerh tea, again using wine as a reference
the older the better. However, you as a consumer need to be careful
of fake and poorly age Puerh. Fake and poorly aged Puerh go hand in
Hand because a fake aged Puerh is typically a poorly aged Puerh, let
me explain (that's a lot of Poor's on one sentence).

Many vendors around the world sell a fast aged Puerh and here is how
it is done. They start with an un-cooked Puerh the get it wet and let
it sit repeatedly, wet and dry repeatedly over 2-3 years. This tea
molds and is always stored in a damp/humid area. They then sell this
to distributors whom may or may not know how it was aged. This tea is
typically sold as a 15 or 20-year-old Puerh tea and the price for a
real aged tea like this can be very expensive. Not only is this
dishonest it is a waste of good tea because they typically use a good
grade un-cooked Puerh to really jack the prices up.

This way of aging the tea may not be such a bad idea but it is wrong
to sell it as 20-year-old Puerh when it is only 3 years old. In fact,
some people like the tea aged this way. However, they buy it knowing
it is a fake and will never pay an outrageous price for it.

I have been involved directly with major manufactures of tea and been
drinking for years. Tea is my business, life, passion and will be
around these message boards more often so if you have any questions
about tea feel free to ask.

P.S. Yixing teapots are my even bigger addiction and passion so I am
game for questions about this area also.

Sincerely,
mandsj


mandsj,

Not that I'm doubting your authority, but could you perhaps tell us just a
little bit more about yourself, your tea business, and your yixing pots.

Question: What is the best way to season (cure) my new yixing zisha gungfu
teapots? (They ring beautifully, lids fit well, pour beautifully, and are
of a pleasing color and simple, functional form.)

Michael


Hello, All

Instead of boring everyone I will just paste a link to my about-us
page on our website. This should answer you questions about my
Business and me.

As for curing your teapot I will tell you what Xu Han Tang' s brother
Xu Xui Tang says in his book about Yixing teapots. For your
reference, in case you do no not know who Xu Han Tang is he is the
best Yixing teapot artists alive today. They say he is as good as Gu
Jing Zhou was when he was alive.

Here is his method of curing a teapot.

Take the intended tea to be used in the new pot and put some in a
large cooking pot (clay pot preferred to avoid any metal taste) place
your teapot inside and bring it to a boil. Once the pot boils shut
the fire off and let it sit until the water it cold and repeat this
for about 3 times. Only one exception a true high grade Green clay
will have an extra strong earthy smell or taste it may take more the
three times for true high-grade green clay to treat. That is it after
this the best way to treat this teapot is use it. I personally do not
get too fancy with the treating I have found that moving the tea tray
next to me PC allows me to drink a lot more tea and I always pour the
excess tea over the pots sitting on the tray this works great.


About Us:------ http://www.mandjs.com/h_about-us.asp

Mike Petro wrote in message . ..
First, let us clear up the names of Puerh and maybe one day Puerh will
be called by the correct names. In China within the tea field Puerh
is called cooked or un-cooked nothing else, it is completely clear in
Chinese. Therefore, the most accurate name for Puerh in English is
Cooked or un-cooked Puerh.

Michael, first you know from our correspondence that I respect you,
heck I just bought a couple hundred dollars worth of tea and Yixing
from you.

I am really a little confused about your use of the terms un-cooked
and cooked. I have looked a t a lot of Puerh sites and your site is
the ONLY place I have ever heard these terms used. Now admittedly I do
not understand chinese so I have only really looked at english sites.
However every single other english site that I have seen uses the
terms Green and Black. I have even seen some chinese sites refer to it
as green/black.

I correspond with a gentlemen from Singapore who is also somewhat of
an expert and a serious collector. I mean this guy can look at an old
cake and tell you the vintage, factory, grade, and current value. He
has impressed me repeatedly with his knowledge and I have come to
trust him. I asked him about the terms green/black cooked/uncooked and
his response was "Generally Puerh tea is offered in 2 varieties, Green
or Black, but different factories/makers will actually process the
teas differently, resulting in some combinations like 40% oxidized,
80% oxidized etc."

I am not challenging you, heck I trust you as you are more straight
forward about puerh qualities and vintages than just about any other
vendor I have seen. It's just that what you are saying is
contradictory to everything I learned so far. How can every other
English site be wrong? Can you, or any of the other readers, offer
some corroborating sites that use these same terms?

Humbly


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


They all start from the exact same type of tealeaves and then….

#1. Un-cooked Puerh is picked, crumpled, dried, steamed and then
compressed into different shapes.

#1 Result: Green Puerh or Un-cooked Puerh or Sheng Puerh or whatever
you want to call it.

#2. Cooked Puerh is picked, crumpled, dried, WATERED DOWN AND PLACED
IN A PILE AND LET SIT FOR A FEW DAYS UNTIL THE LEAVES TURN DARK BROWN
and then steamed and compressed.

#2 Result: Black Puerh, Cooked Puerh, Shu Puerh or whatever you call
it.

I only put CAPS to emphasize the difference in the process I am not
yelling LOL. As you can see, it is all most the same except for the
CAPS part.

No matter who you are or where you come from you cannot deny the way
the tea is processed or the end-result. Therefore, it makes sense to
call it cooked or un-cooked just like the Chinese Puerh tea
manufactures do. I think they would know best because they have been
calling it cooked or uncooked for years.

mandjs

"Ben Snyder" wrote in message .net...
First, let us clear up the names of Puerh and maybe one day Puerh will
be called by the correct names. In China within the tea field Puerh
is called cooked or un-cooked nothing else, it is completely clear in
Chinese. Therefore, the most accurate name for Puerh in English is
Cooked or un-cooked Puerh.

are the mushroom shaped pu-erh cakes favored by tibetans classically cooked
or uncooked? until recently i've only seen cooked.

-ben

Hello, Ben

The mushroom teas you are referring to are made by just about the most
famous Puerh tea company in China Xia Guan. They come both in cooked
and un-coked however, I have read that the Tibetan prefer the
un-cooked version because it is an essential part of their Butter Milk
tea they make also Tibetan people have a large diet of meant and this
tea can help aid in the digestion of the meat. As I am sitting here
writing this I am drinking some of the Mushroom Puerh and I must say
it is a great Puerh. I assume the reason why the un-cooked is more
popular then the cooked is because the cooked makes their Milk tea
taste horrid LOL.

Sincerely,
Michael Ryan

Michael 1/15/04


major snippage here

As for curing your teapot I will tell you what Xu Han Tang' s brother
Xu Xui Tang says in his book about Yixing teapots. For your
reference, in case you do no not know who Xu Han Tang is he is the
best Yixing teapot artists alive today. They say he is as good as Gu
Jing Zhou was when he was alive.

Here is his method of curing a teapot.

Take the intended tea to be used in the new pot and put some in a
large cooking pot (clay pot preferred to avoid any metal taste) place
your teapot inside and bring it to a boil. Once the pot boils shut
the fire off and let it sit until the water it cold and repeat this
for about 3 times.

From the SQD "(Stupid Question Department), we have...

Do you mean put new tea in new water and start the process again (3x) or
just turn the existing tea-in-a-cooking-pot water on again, let it cool, and
turn it on once again? I gather the latter from your grammatical
construction.

Only one exception a true high grade Green clay
will have an extra strong earthy smell or taste it may take more the
three times for true high-grade green clay to treat. That is it after
this the best way to treat this teapot is use it. I personally do not
get too fancy with the treating I have found that moving the tea tray
next to me PC allows me to drink a lot more tea and I always pour the
excess tea over the pots sitting on the tray this works great.

That, and, if you do the pouring correctly (I'm given to believe), you
"overflow" the pot each time you pour, causing tea to cascade down the outer
wall of the teapot. (Directions above sound sane. [Not that everyone else's
curing instructions to our little tea family here on rfdt were nuts.])

And the Big Question from the SQD this morning (It's 0700 hours in New York
City): If we ignore all curing and seasoning instructions and just use our
teapot, say, four times a day for year will we and our teapot arrive at the
same place as we would had we "cured" and "seasoned"?

BTW, Mike Pietro, your attestation is noted. Thanks. You are so right: Those
shipping costs are a killer.

Michael

Michael 1/15/04


Mike Petro wrote in message
. ..
First, let us clear up the names of Puerh and maybe one day Puerh will
be called by the correct names. In China within the tea field Puerh
is called cooked or un-cooked nothing else, it is completely clear in
Chinese. Therefore, the most accurate name for Puerh in English is
Cooked or un-cooked Puerh.

Michael, first you know from our correspondence that I respect you,
heck I just bought a couple hundred dollars worth of tea and Yixing
from you.

I am really a little confused about your use of the terms un-cooked
and cooked. I have looked a t a lot of Puerh sites and your site is
the ONLY place I have ever heard these terms used. Now admittedly I do
not understand chinese so I have only really looked at english sites.
However every single other english site that I have seen uses the
terms Green and Black. I have even seen some chinese sites refer to it
as green/black.

I correspond with a gentlemen from Singapore who is also somewhat of
an expert and a serious collector. I mean this guy can look at an old
cake and tell you the vintage, factory, grade, and current value. He
has impressed me repeatedly with his knowledge and I have come to
trust him. I asked him about the terms green/black cooked/uncooked and
his response was "Generally Puerh tea is offered in 2 varieties, Green
or Black, but different factories/makers will actually process the
teas differently, resulting in some combinations like 40% oxidized,
80% oxidized etc."

I am not challenging you, heck I trust you as you are more straight
forward about puerh qualities and vintages than just about any other
vendor I have seen. It's just that what you are saying is
contradictory to everything I learned so far. How can every other
English site be wrong? Can you, or any of the other readers, offer
some corroborating sites that use these same terms?

Humbly


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


They all start from the exact same type of tealeaves and then….

#1. Un-cooked Puerh is picked, crumpled, dried, steamed and then
compressed into different shapes.

#1 Result: Green Puerh or Un-cooked Puerh or Sheng Puerh or whatever
you want to call it.

#2. Cooked Puerh is picked, crumpled, dried, WATERED DOWN AND PLACED
IN A PILE AND LET SIT FOR A FEW DAYS UNTIL THE LEAVES TURN DARK BROWN
and then steamed and compressed.

#2 Result: Black Puerh, Cooked Puerh, Shu Puerh or whatever you call
it.

I only put CAPS to emphasize the difference in the process I am not
yelling LOL. As you can see, it is all most the same except for the
CAPS part.

No matter who you are or where you come from you cannot deny the way
the tea is processed or the end-result. Therefore, it makes sense to
call it cooked or un-cooked just like the Chinese Puerh tea
manufactures do. I think they would know best because they have been
calling it cooked or uncooked for years.

mandjs


The only little semantic problem we have here IMHO is that the English word
"cooked" is generic and can mean boiled, steamed, fried, roasted, toasted,
fired, baked, whatever. Therein might lie the source of our confusion. Just
don't call us late for dinner, and we'll all get along fine.

Michael

"Michael Ryan" wrote in message
om...
They all start from the exact same type of tealeaves and
then..

#1. Un-cooked Puerh is picked, crumpled, dried, steamed and
then
compressed into different shapes.

#1 Result: Green Puerh or Un-cooked Puerh or Sheng Puerh or
whatever
you want to call it.

#2. Cooked Puerh is picked, crumpled, dried, WATERED DOWN AND
PLACED
IN A PILE AND LET SIT FOR A FEW DAYS UNTIL THE LEAVES TURN
DARK BROWN
and then steamed and compressed.

#2 Result: Black Puerh, Cooked Puerh, Shu Puerh or whatever
you call
it.

Haven't you left out the aging part here?

Someone in this forum (I think it was Mr Livio Zanini) described
two types of Pu'erh called "raw" and "artificially ripened". I
take it that "raw" corresponds to "uncooked" and "artificially
ripened" to "cooked". As I remember it, "raw" Pu'erh (the
traditional type) is aged for up to 40 years or more, while
"artificially ripened" Pu'erh (the modern type) is aged for just
a year or two, but "artificially ripened" by being placed in a
pile and watered down the way you described it above. Or have
you just described two different "modern" production processes
without the traditional long term aging?

I hope I haven't completely misunderstood this, having never
tasted anything but loose leaf "black" Pu'erh myself.

Jon