Ok, from everything I've read, I thought Pu-er sounded like an
interesting tea. I was near a Teavana so I had them make me a cup.

Oh, my. I did NOT like it.

I assume it's an acquired taste? The after taste lasted for HOURS.
Anyone like the tea the first time around?

Cathy Weeks

Cathy Weeks wrote:

Anyone like the tea the first time around?

I did, when I tried it a few weeks ago. But then I was expecting it
to taste weird, after hearing about it for years. Plus it was some
good stuff.

With any acquired taste, like lapsang souchong, it depends on how
persistent you are, and how willing you are to be persistent about
something like tea. :-)

Ian
--
http://www.bookstacks.org/
http://www.sundry.ws/

Cathy Weeks wrote:
Ok, from everything I've read, I thought Pu-er sounded like an
interesting tea. I was near a Teavana so I had them make me a cup.

Oh, my. I did NOT like it.

I assume it's an acquired taste? The after taste lasted for HOURS.
Anyone like the tea the first time around?

Cathy Weeks

I liked Pu-Erh the first time I tried it, and if that specific type
tastes that bad to you I wouldn't try to acquire a taste for it! Before
giving up on it, though, maybe you should try other Pu-Erh's? Maybe you
just didn't care for that specific Pu-Erh, or maybe you'd hate them
all, who knows?

On 6 Dec 2004 17:29:19 -0800, Cathy Weeks wrote:

Ok, from everything I've read, I thought Pu-er sounded like an
interesting tea. I was near a Teavana so I had them make me a cup.

Oh, my. I did NOT like it.

I assume it's an acquired taste? The after taste lasted for HOURS.
Anyone like the tea the first time around?

Cathy Weeks

Tried it, didn't like it. Tried it repeatedly, and different
variations. Never developed a "taste" for it.

Every cup tasted the way my mouth did after spending a day mucking out
horse stables. Perhaps if I didn't have that memory, I could learn to
like it. As it is, the taste of stall dust is NOT a pleasing memory.
--
Derek

Your role may be thankless, but if you're willing to give it your all,
you just might bring success to those who outlast you.

Cathy Weeks wrote:
Ok, from everything I've read, I thought Pu-er sounded like an
interesting tea. I was near a Teavana so I had them make me a cup.

Oh, my. I did NOT like it.

I assume it's an acquired taste? The after taste lasted for HOURS.
Anyone like the tea the first time around?

Cathy Weeks


I did not like it the first or second time.. Some things to suggest:

1) Rinse the puerh for 30 seconds and throw away that initial steeping.
2) Try a Green pu-erh.

For me, a switch just clicked and I began to kindof like it.. Although
that initial SpecialTeas Tuo Cha still kinda tasted bad until the 2nd or
3rd steep.

On 6 Dec 2004 17:29:19 -0800, "Cathy Weeks"
wrote:

Ok, from everything I've read, I thought Pu-er sounded like an
interesting tea. I was near a Teavana so I had them make me a cup.

Oh, my. I did NOT like it.

I assume it's an acquired taste? The after taste lasted for HOURS.
Anyone like the tea the first time around?

Cathy Weeks

I would say it depends on the quality of the stuff you got and the
type. Was it the sheng (green) or the shu (cooked/fried/whatever) and
how old was it? Some people prefer the taste of the cooked version
better than the green version.

Some of the newer stuff (less than 5 years) tastes horrid. Most
people recommended to me that you should try to score stuff that was
at least 5 years before even thinking about trying it.

There again, I did some gongfu cha with pu'er for my mom when she
visited and she hated it but my brother loved it. I say keep up with
it though. I didn't like it as well at first, but after I got some
good quality stuff and after someone showed me how to brew it
correctly, I found it to be one of the most rewarding tea experiences
I can recall. It can be really smooth like a fine coffee if you can
get some good stuff!



Mydnight

--------------------
thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.

Hi Cathy,

It may be that you won't ever like Puer. That's fine - after years of
trying, I've concluded I just don't like green teas, wherever they're from
(of course, they're also not nearly as good as good Puer...).

However....

Trying Puer in most USA tea rooms, probably especially non-Asian chain tea
rooms like Teavana is, let us say, probably not the best way to experience
the tea. Puer isn't like the black teas that tea rooms like this mostly
serve. I suspect the people working there never even heard of Puer before
they worked there, and if this is, as it appears to be, Teavana's only Puer,
their tea buyers probably would barely know a Puer if it came up and kicked
them in the head. Most tea rooms (and restaurants) I've been in can't steep
and serve English Breakfast correctly, much less something at all exotic.

I see only one Puer at Teavana: http://store.yahoo.com/teavana/18pureh.html;
it is, virtually for sure, a "black" or "cooked" or "ripe" Puer (those all
mean the same thing); it's also $9.00 a quarter lb., which for me put's it
in the "low-grade, too cheap to mess with" category (though others here will
disagree). If this is the one you had, that's another reason to go someplace
else (though if you're in Atlanta, there probably isn't anywhere better to
go); better: get a few samples from a good dealer and try making it
yourself. There are plenty of knowledgeable people on this group who would
be willing to advise you.

There are tea dealers who care about Puer, and there are dealers who don't.
A dealer or tea room that carries one or maybe two low-grade Puers doesn't
care about Puer. From the evidence I see, Teavana is in the "don't"
category.

A few months ago in a previous Puer thread, I posted this:
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...b81903617a,767
c348a28308e0d,e7e3cf7e23bcd802,6a012b6cbb3f15bf,c2 367dc622128bbb,74f44d9caeb
27b43?thread_id=951d0408d3b080f1&mode=thread&nohea der=1&q=doug+hazen,+Jr.+gr
oup:rec.food.drink.tea#doc_123efdda21ee9998

which you may or may not find useful. I won't repeat what I said there, but
I still stand by it.


Doug


"Cathy Weeks" wrote in message
oups.com...
Ok, from everything I've read, I thought Pu-er sounded like an
interesting tea. I was near a Teavana so I had them make me a cup.

Oh, my. I did NOT like it.

I assume it's an acquired taste? The after taste lasted for HOURS.
Anyone like the tea the first time around?

Cathy Weeks

A couple of years ago I knew nothing about puerh and my first trials of it were
definitely not appealing. It was the cooked variety, but I realized that, in a
weaker version, I'd been served it from time to time in Chinese restaurants.

Through acquaintance with several members of this newsgroup, I was introduced
to better quality puerh, particularly the "green" puerh. which I find far more
intriguing and rewarding.

I'm in. I've bought a yixing pot specifically for puerh, and have several
varieties at hand. For me, a good green puerh (and both young and old can be
good) is a real pleasure.

Yes, it can be an acquired taste, but if you have the good stuff, it's not a
hard taste to acquire. For me, it's still not a tea I reach for on a daily
basis, but it's often "just the thing."

Joe K

"Cathy Weeks" wrote in message

Anyone like the tea the first time around?

I immediatly hate the first horrid puer I have drunk (tasted like dirty
mud)and immediatly loved the first good one (aged leaves bought in
Hong-Kong).

I assume it's an acquired taste?

For the horrid muddy version certainly. Well, you may never like puer, but
don't make the mistake of concluding after drinking only one.

Kuri

Steve Hay wrote:

I did not like it the first or second time.. Some things to suggest:

1) Rinse the puerh for 30 seconds and throw away that initial steeping.
2) Try a Green pu-erh.

For me, a switch just clicked and I began to kindof like it.. Although
that initial SpecialTeas Tuo Cha still kinda tasted bad until the 2nd or
3rd steep.

Same here - I tried Pu Erh about 1 year ago, and didn't like it very
much. Back then we just put boiling water over the loose tea leaves.

Ater I read so much about Pu Erh in this NG I decided to give it a 2nd
try. I just stumbled over it, not in a teashop though, but in a local
imported goods shop. I got a kind of pressed 'teaball', about 1,5 cm in
diameter...well...not really a ball, but pressed and small, though ^-^
Anyone knows what this is? Is that one of the 'cakes' read aout?

I rinsed it two times with boiling water, and then infused for only 30
seconds (also with boiling water). That way the infusion lost a lot of
the earthy taste that I didn't like on my first Pu Erh experience, but
there was still enough earthiness to make it interesting.

now I'll try to go for green Pu Erh, should be excitig.

ciao
Patrick

--
"But please remember: this is only a work of Fiction.
The truth, as always, will be far stranger"

Arthur C. Clarke, 2001 - A Space Odyssey

If a pu-erh made in any tearoom by any "master" from anything called "puerh"
would be immediately loved by everyone, it would not be a fine, elusive,
complex drink that we love so much (those of us who do).
The best way I know is to be introduced to puerh by a master who knows not
only puerh, but also a gentle way of introducing it. I highly recommend Roy
Fong from ITC. Call him in advance, tell him you want an introduction to
puerhs. I wish I would have done that myself.

There are thousands of different puerhs and ways of making it. Just do not
be quick to make conclusions.

Sasha.


"Cathy Weeks" wrote in message
oups.com...
Ok, from everything I've read, I thought Pu-er sounded like an
interesting tea. I was near a Teavana so I had them make me a cup.

Oh, my. I did NOT like it.

I assume it's an acquired taste? The after taste lasted for HOURS.
Anyone like the tea the first time around?

Cathy Weeks

Cathy 12/6/04


Ok, from everything I've read, I thought Pu-er sounded like an
interesting tea. I was near a Teavana so I had them make me a cup.

Oh, my. I did NOT like it.

I assume it's an acquired taste? The after taste lasted for HOURS.
Anyone like the tea the first time around?

Cathy Weeks

Cathy,

Yup, loved it the first time round. But, do not give up. Actually, Pu'erh is
many tastes, and it is still possible to find one just right for you. In the
most general sense, we have "cooked" Pu'erhs that taste of the loam of the
earth, young "uncooked" ones that often taste of flowers with a certain
delightful mustiness, and finally the old "uncooked" ones that cost an arm
and a leg, and some believe are worth every digit.

Michael

It's called Xiao Tuo Cha, small(mini) bowl tea. Puerh can come loose,
or compressed as Tuo ('birdsnest') or beeng('pancakes'). The mini
tuocha is about 10g, tuocha 100g, and beeng 300g+. The Xiao is good
for a pot. The other two you have to crumble.

Jim

Patrick Heinze wrote:
Ater I read so much about Pu Erh in this NG I decided to give it a
2nd
try. I just stumbled over it, not in a teashop though, but in a local

imported goods shop. I got a kind of pressed 'teaball', about 1,5 cm
in
diameter...well...not really a ball, but pressed and small, though
^-^
Anyone knows what this is? Is that one of the 'cakes' read aout?

Patrick Heinze writes:

[...]

Ater I read so much about Pu Erh in this NG I decided to give it a 2nd
try. I just stumbled over it, not in a teashop though, but in a local
imported goods shop. I got a kind of pressed 'teaball', about 1,5 cm
in diameter...well...not really a ball, but pressed and small, though
^-^
Anyone knows what this is? Is that one of the 'cakes' read aout?

No, cakes (bingcha/beengcha/beencha) are more or less flat discs,
though they're much thicker than e.g. a DVD. What you have is a
tuancha.

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

"Space Cowboy" writes:

Patrick Heinze wrote:
Ater I read so much about Pu Erh in this NG I decided to give it a
2nd
try. I just stumbled over it, not in a teashop though, but in a local

imported goods shop. I got a kind of pressed 'teaball', about 1,5
cm in diameter...well...not really a ball, but pressed and small,
though ^-^ Anyone knows what this is? Is that one of the 'cakes'
read aout?

It's called Xiao Tuo Cha, small(mini) bowl tea. Puerh can come loose,
or compressed as Tuo ('birdsnest') or beeng('pancakes'). The mini
tuocha is about 10g, tuocha 100g, and beeng 300g+. The Xiao is good
for a pot. The other two you have to crumble.

Tuochas are bowl-shaped, not ball-shaped. Can the original poster
clarify this?

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