Tea (rec.drink.tea) Discussion relating to tea, the world's second most consumed beverage (after water), made by infusing or boiling the leaves of the tea plant (C. sinensis or close relatives) in water.

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  #1 (permalink)   Report Post  
Alex Krupp
 
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Default Did I buy real Puer?

I bought some puer in Kunming (capital of Yunnan) last week when I was
there with my family. The guy poured my some and it was the most
delicious puer I have ever had, though certainly I'm not the most
experienced drinker. Anyway the guy said it was seven years old, and it
tasted very floral. However the sample wasn't from the cake I bought,
and not speaking Chinese it seems there isn't really any way to tell if
I got ripped off or not. Later on I showed it to a guy who spoke
Chinese, and he said that it didn't say the age on it so it was
unlikely to actually be that old.

On the wrapper it says Yunnan Chi Tse Beeng Cha and on the paper inside
it says Yunnan Chitsu Pingcha, and that it is manufactured from puercha
my the Mengchai tea factory Xishuangbanna in Yunnan. Anyway I guess
there isn't really any way to know until I taste it, but do tourists
frequently get ripped off at those little stores beside the road? I
only payed 70 yuan (9 USD) for it, so it isn't too big a deal, but I am
just wondering what experiences others have had with these guys.

Alex

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Mydnight
 
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You did buy real pu'er, but it is impossible that it is 7 years old if
you only paid 70RMB for it. No matter what shop/factory you go to,
unless you know the people there, they will always lie and say that
their pu'er is old. I frequent the Fangcun tea market in Guangzhou,
basically to drink tea for free and see if I can find a good deal, and
I very often drink "20 year old" pu'er...you can easily find such "20
year old" pu'er by going to a new shop. Chances are that you bought a
2004 or 2005 bing that's probably worth 5-15 yuan for 70; not that big
of a deal. If it is really Menghai, it would be a little more
expensive. Hell, at least you didn't pay like 100 bucks for it.

Or, the other old trick in the book is to have the sample that's good
quality or a little old and then the sell the buyer a different tea.
It has been said that even many shop bosses themselves have never drank
real aged pu'er before or wouldn't know the difference if they did.
It's hard to find real aged pu'er.

As for your description of the pu'er being "floral," I'm not sure what
to make of that. Most pu'er is rather earthy; some describe it as a
dirty flavor. Regardless of age, grade, or whatever else denotation
tea is classified by, if you think the taste is good, consider it a
good buy for 70 kuai.

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Mydnight
 
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>I bought some puer in Kunming (capital of Yunnan) last week when I was
>there with my family. The guy poured my some and it was the most
>delicious puer I have ever had, though certainly I'm not the most
>experienced drinker. Anyway the guy said it was seven years old, and it
>tasted very floral. However the sample wasn't from the cake I bought,
>and not speaking Chinese it seems there isn't really any way to tell if
>I got ripped off or not. Later on I showed it to a guy who spoke
>Chinese, and he said that it didn't say the age on it so it was
>unlikely to actually be that old.


Sorry, forgot to quote:

You did buy real pu'er, but it is impossible that it is 7 years old if
you only paid 70RMB for it. No matter what shop/factory you go to,
unless you know the people there, they will always lie and say that
their pu'er is old. I frequent the Fangcun tea market in Guangzhou,
basically to drink tea for free and see if I can find a good deal, and
I very often drink "20 year old" pu'er...you can easily find such "20
year old" pu'er by going to a new shop. Chances are that you bought a
2004 or 2005 bing that's probably worth 5-15 yuan for 70; not that big
of a deal. If it is really Menghai, it would be a little more
expensive. Hell, at least you didn't pay like 100 bucks for it.


Or, the other old trick in the book is to have the sample that's good
quality or a little old and then the sell the buyer a different tea.
It has been said that even many shop bosses themselves have never drank

real aged pu'er before or wouldn't know the difference if they did.
It's hard to find real aged pu'er.


As for your description of the pu'er being "floral," I'm not sure what
to make of that. Most pu'er is rather earthy; some describe it as a
dirty flavor. Regardless of age, grade, or whatever else denotation
tea is classified by, if you think the taste is good, consider it a
good buy for 70 kuai.

  #4 (permalink)   Report Post  
Space Cowboy
 
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It doesn't make any economic sense for free tastings of 'aged' puer.
If it did then everyone would be tasting and not buying just because of
the price. I see the new 2005 Menghai 300g+ on TaoBao for 20 yuan.
I've also seen some reports of 2003 factory productions sold out such
as White Dragon. I think you could buy a five year old Menghai for
$10. Easily ten year old around $20. I think a green or silver bud
beeng could be described as 'floral'. Have you seen any indications of
the reports for new prices going through the roof because of demand?

Jim

Mydnight wrote:
> You did buy real pu'er, but it is impossible that it is 7 years old if
> you only paid 70RMB for it. No matter what shop/factory you go to,
> unless you know the people there, they will always lie and say that
> their pu'er is old. I frequent the Fangcun tea market in Guangzhou,
> basically to drink tea for free and see if I can find a good deal, and
> I very often drink "20 year old" pu'er...you can easily find such "20
> year old" pu'er by going to a new shop. Chances are that you bought a
> 2004 or 2005 bing that's probably worth 5-15 yuan for 70; not that big
> of a deal. If it is really Menghai, it would be a little more
> expensive. Hell, at least you didn't pay like 100 bucks for it.
>
> Or, the other old trick in the book is to have the sample that's good
> quality or a little old and then the sell the buyer a different tea.
> It has been said that even many shop bosses themselves have never drank
> real aged pu'er before or wouldn't know the difference if they did.
> It's hard to find real aged pu'er.
>
> As for your description of the pu'er being "floral," I'm not sure what
> to make of that. Most pu'er is rather earthy; some describe it as a
> dirty flavor. Regardless of age, grade, or whatever else denotation
> tea is classified by, if you think the taste is good, consider it a
> good buy for 70 kuai.


  #5 (permalink)   Report Post  
Alex Krupp
 
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> As for your description of the pu'er being "floral," I'm not sure what
> to make of that. Most pu'er is rather earthy; some describe it as a
> dirty flavor.


Every Puer that I've ever tasted except for this one has been very
earthy. This however was not earthy at all and was actually sweet.

UPDATE: I brewed up the puer he sold me this morning and it is
definitely a different tea. It is slightly earthy, but not too bad. It
is nowhere near as good as the one I tried in the store, but at least
it is drinkable and I learned something in the process.

Alex



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samarkand
 
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Hi Alex,

Let's put the question on age aside first.

Look at the wrapper, is there a 'Cha' logo? What is the colour of the logo?

Look at the tea itself. Does it look light green? Dark green? Brown? Dark
brown? Black?

If there's a sticker stuck on the cake, take a look at it. Is there a small
line of wormy characters on the lower right of the sticker?

How many characters are there on the sticker?

Is there a logo on the sticker? What does it look like?

Smell the center of the cake, where the 'crater' is. What does the smell
reminds you of?

Now smell the edge of the cake. What does the smell reminds you of?

When you said you sampled the tea today, how did you break the cake? Did you
broke off the edge, or from the centre?

Does it break easily or so you have to hack it?

What does the brewed leaves look like?

Danny

"Alex Krupp" > wrote in message
...
>I bought some puer in Kunming (capital of Yunnan) last week when I was
>there with my family. The guy poured my some and it was the most delicious
>puer I have ever had, though certainly I'm not the most experienced
>drinker. Anyway the guy said it was seven years old, and it tasted very
>floral. However the sample wasn't from the cake I bought, and not speaking
>Chinese it seems there isn't really any way to tell if I got ripped off or
>not. Later on I showed it to a guy who spoke Chinese, and he said that it
>didn't say the age on it so it was unlikely to actually be that old.
>
> On the wrapper it says Yunnan Chi Tse Beeng Cha and on the paper inside it
> says Yunnan Chitsu Pingcha, and that it is manufactured from puercha my
> the Mengchai tea factory Xishuangbanna in Yunnan. Anyway I guess there
> isn't really any way to know until I taste it, but do tourists frequently
> get ripped off at those little stores beside the road? I only payed 70
> yuan (9 USD) for it, so it isn't too big a deal, but I am just wondering
> what experiences others have had with these guys.
>
> Alex
>



  #7 (permalink)   Report Post  
Alex Krupp
 
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> Let's put the question on age aside first.
>
> Look at the wrapper, is there a 'Cha' logo? What is the colour of the logo?


I am assuming that by Cha logo you mean the chinese character for tea.
I used babelfish to get this, and yes it is in the center of the cake.
It is green.
>
> Look at the tea itself. Does it look light green? Dark green? Brown?
> Dark brown? Black?


Dark brown.
>
> If there's a sticker stuck on the cake, take a look at it. Is there a
> small line of wormy characters on the lower right of the sticker?


No sticker, but there is a piece of paper insider the wrapper
>
> How many characters are there on the sticker?
>
> Is there a logo on the sticker? What does it look like?
>
> Smell the center of the cake, where the 'crater' is. What does the
> smell reminds you of?


Dirt
>
> Now smell the edge of the cake. What does the smell reminds you of?


The same but a bit lighter

> When you said you sampled the tea today, how did you break the cake?
> Did you broke off the edge, or from the centre?


He used a pocket knife to pry off a piece from the edge
>
> Does it break easily or so you have to hack it?


I used the knife, so I'll test next time. Using the knife produced a
lot of dust particles though.

>
> What does the brewed leaves look like?


Dark brown with a bit of sediment at the bottom of the cup (after being
decanted). However it is even in color and doesn't stratify towards the
bottom.

Alex

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samarkand
 
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Hi Alex,

Yours is probably a small factory production, new but heavily stored in a
high and humid enclosed environment. The dirt smell in the centre and the
edge of the tea seems to point to this. When the leaves are brewed, do they
look anything close to leaves? Or do they just looked 'charred'? If you
take up a piece and rub between your fingers, do they crumple easily? If
they do and looked charred, then it confirms the wet storage speculation.

The lack of the sticker is mostly an indication of small factory production,
some might say that it is produced in the Guangzhou region, but I don't
think that's where you bought the tea, right?

Your tea is a cooked pu'er, not one that's cooked naturally through post
fermentation and oxidation, but one that is kept in wet storage and aged
rapidly. Point is, there is nothing wrong with this, unless it isn't what
you have asked for in the first place.

The floral note from a pu'er will come from it being produced as a raw cake
and then aged nicely over a long period of time.

To remove the 'dirt' smell on the cake, leave the cake with the wrapper on
on a shelf away from the sunlight and in an airy, clean area. Then remember
it again 6 months later. It might improve then...

Danny

"Alex Krupp" > wrote in message
news:2005081712205916807%alexkrupp@gmailcom...
>> Let's put the question on age aside first.
>>
>> Look at the wrapper, is there a 'Cha' logo? What is the colour of the
>> logo?

>
> I am assuming that by Cha logo you mean the chinese character for tea. I
> used babelfish to get this, and yes it is in the center of the cake. It is
> green.
>>
>> Look at the tea itself. Does it look light green? Dark green? Brown?
>> Dark brown? Black?

>
> Dark brown.
>>
>> If there's a sticker stuck on the cake, take a look at it. Is there a
>> small line of wormy characters on the lower right of the sticker?

>
> No sticker, but there is a piece of paper insider the wrapper
>>
>> How many characters are there on the sticker?
>>
>> Is there a logo on the sticker? What does it look like?
>>
>> Smell the center of the cake, where the 'crater' is. What does the smell
>> reminds you of?

>
> Dirt
>>
>> Now smell the edge of the cake. What does the smell reminds you of?

>
> The same but a bit lighter
>
>> When you said you sampled the tea today, how did you break the cake? Did
>> you broke off the edge, or from the centre?

>
> He used a pocket knife to pry off a piece from the edge
>>
>> Does it break easily or so you have to hack it?

>
> I used the knife, so I'll test next time. Using the knife produced a lot
> of dust particles though.
>
>>
>> What does the brewed leaves look like?

>
> Dark brown with a bit of sediment at the bottom of the cup (after being
> decanted). However it is even in color and doesn't stratify towards the
> bottom.
>
> Alex
>



  #9 (permalink)   Report Post  
hanry
 
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To Spacecow, are you a Chinese=EF=BC=9F Sounds you like a native Chinese.

  #10 (permalink)   Report Post  
Space Cowboy
 
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=E5=88=87=E5=8B=BF. I defer too others for specifics on the Chinese langua=
ge and
customs. I can handle a simple phrase using Google and Bablefish but
that's it. The only Chinese I know I learned from reading tea tins and
recently =E9=A5=BC wrappers. I hoping that Google Groups will honor my
unicodes with your utf-8 post.

Jim

hanry wrote:
> To Spacecow, are you a Chinese=EF=BC=9F Sounds you like a native Chinese.




  #11 (permalink)   Report Post  
RJP
 
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"Alex Krupp" > wrote:

>Anyway I guess there isn't really any way to know until I taste it, but do tourists frequently get ripped off at those
>little stores beside the road?


I know next to nothing about Puer, so I let others address that.
However, I believe the answer to the above question in China is
"YES". I have several close friends who have spent a lot of time
in China, and one who worked as a teacher for years in Xian.
My understanding from them is that it is standard practice for
merchants to overcharge or otherwise try to bamboozle foreigners.
In fairness, this is probably true in many other countries as well.


--
Randy
(To reply by e-mail, remove DeLeTe and SPAMFREE from my address)


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Mydnight
 
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>Anyway I guess there isn't really any way to know until I taste it, but do tourists >frequently get ripped off at those
>little stores beside the road?


It's not just tourists. It's pretty much anyone, including Chinese,
that aren't up to snuff when it comes to knowledge on pu'er; also
including unknowledgeable shop bosses. I've been to some shops that
the bosses had no idea what they actually had.

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