On 8 Nov 2006 12:45:21 -0800, "MarshalN" > wrote:

>For young puerh, it is pretty much the ONLY criteria that should be
>used to evaluate the tea, because almost all the flavours will change
>over the course of aging, but mouthfeel is something that will stay
>constant and will tell you more about the quality of the tea than any
>flavour you're getting from it for now. A puerh that tastes great now
>might not age into something great, and vice versa. In fact, if a
>puerh tastes too good (for example, if it reminds you of a good oolong)
>it's probably not good for aging. If it's not bitter at all or not
>astringent at all, it's probably not good for aging. If it's too
>fragrant, it's probably not good for aging.
>
>While I'm not in the "it has to taste nasty now for it to be great"
>school, it is unfortunately true that some producers now are making
>puerh that tastes great now, but at the possible price of its future.
>Some renowned Taiwanese puerh makers are guilty of this.

A large Puerh dealer in Kunming, who tutored me early on, held similar
views. This guy sells literally sells tons of puerh every month, he
owns his own shop in the oldest market in Kunming, he also works
directly with the owners of that tea market itself in Kunming, he has
proven himself to me time and again as being extremely knowledgeable
in his craft.

Anyway, he taught me that a good aging candidate will have a certain
strength in its youth, and that it is this strength that develops into
the characters we appreciate in an aged gem. He warned me against
investing in sweet tasting young puerhs like the silver tip ones that
are popular now. These taste great now but do not have that strength
(could he be referring to a form of Qi?) that make them worthy of
taking up storage space for years. He also warned me against many of
these mild tasting young puerhs as they also do not have the strength
required for aging. Cakes that he sent me that he described as being
good candidates did have a lot of astringency and were often bitter,
they did not taste great when young but some were drinkable if you
acquire the taste for astringency, others were simply too strong. He
taught me to be conscious of the feeling in my body, to look for the
"flush" that would start in my chest and spread up through my head,
this was the strength he was referring to, not to be confused with
caffeine either.

Wang also warned me about many of these so called wild arbor cakes.
Many of them come from trees in old abandoned plantations. He spoke of
five families who used to own most of these plantations. He said many
of the plantations were abandoned because the soils had been depleted
and the trees simply did not yield good tea anymore. Now many,
particularly Taiwanese, speculators are investing in these old
plantations. The tea from them will not live up to the hype, from what
I am told.

--
Mike Petro
http://www.pu-erh.net