On Sun, 26 Jun 2005 18:27:35 -0700, "Melinda" >
wrote:

>Hey on that topic I have a quesiton-what is meant by the "bamboo" quality?
>Because I ahve a bamboo puer from David Hoffman (packed in a bamboo tube)
>and I can't pick out a "bamboo-ness"...can you elaborate (whomever) on what
>you mean and what I should look for? Shoul a bamboo shu taste as different
>from a non-bamboo shu and a shu does from a sheng for instance?

Hi Melinda, also see my other post this morning that talks about the
"bamboo component". The genre covers a wide range of teas. There is a
big difference between teas wrapped and stored in bamboo versus teas
compressed directly in bamboo and left there.

Yes, you can indeed tell the difference between a bamboo sheng versus
a regular sheng if the component is strong enough. I generally don't
taste that component in the teas that are simply compressed and then
stored in bamboo containers. The component is much more noticeable in
the teas compressed directly into a bamboo cane and allowed to age
there. I have tasted some shu bamboo canes where the component was
very strong, and pleasurable, but it was the type directly compressed
and stored in the cane.

I have seen and tasted those so-called smoked-pipe bamboo, the ones
where a stack of tablets is wrapped in paper and stored inside of a
bamboo tube with a removable cap, some descriptions claim it to be
compressed in bamboo and extracted and sliced. I don't buy that
description. If you inspect those tablets closely you will see that
the leaves are not sliced or broken on the surface, the leaves on the
surface are whole, they are clearly compressed into that tablet shape
much like the mini-tuocha. I have my doubts that they ever saw bamboo
before being packaged and stored.


Mike Petro
http://www.pu-erh.net
"In this work, when it shall be found that much is omitted, let it not be forgotten that much likewise is performed."
Samuel Johnson, 1775, upon finishing his dictionary.