Hello Lara,

I agree with Mike and Danny. $100 is much more than what is really
needed to jump into pu erh especially since you already tried the
cooked loose. You can focus more on the green/raw pu erh.

I would say that starting with tuo cha and fang cha are your best bet
because of their weight, price, and also because they use smaller grade
which make the tea not as "strong" as a traditional beeng cha. After
experiencing with these and if you think you like the tea, then you
could try a beeng cha.

Happy discovering!

SEb

Lara Burton wrote:
> I've been enjoying the discussion on a thread about how newbies should go
> about purchasing pu er ("question for you Pu-er experts" thread--which I
> created it but soon was lost in from the discussion).
>
> So, here you go. Anyone out the if you had a friend who was interested
> in learning more about pu er and they told you "_________ (fill in the
> blank: Mike! Jim! SEb! etc.) Your longstanding devotion to pu er has
> inspired me. I have $100 (US)--please suggest a tea or teas that I should
> buy (including vendors) so that I can start experiencing pu er (preferably
> over the Internet because there are no local Chinatowns)."
>
> What would you answer?
>
> Just wondering about responses.
> thanks
> one of the newbies
> L