Puer id question (+intro)
 

Hello from Belgium,
I'm a 23yo tea drinker enjoying mainly oolongs and puers, although I do
like golden yunnan as my first morning cup and green teas from time to
time...

I recently bought a 100g green puer brick at a local tea shop and would
like your help to id it.
I gave up asking the seller more info about the brick when she told me
a puer specifically labelled as sheng she was selling was a black
puer......all I know is that it's supposedly from 2002 and from ancient
trees.

here are the pics :

http://greenleaf2202.free.fr/puer1.JPG

http://greenleaf2202.free.fr/puer2.JPG

http://greenleaf2202.free.fr/puer3.JPG

Puer id question (+intro)
 

"Kevin" > writes:

> Hello from Belgium,
> I'm a 23yo tea drinker enjoying mainly oolongs and puers, although I do
> like golden yunnan as my first morning cup and green teas from time to
> time...
>
> I recently bought a 100g green puer brick at a local tea shop and would
> like your help to id it.
> I gave up asking the seller more info about the brick when she told me
> a puer specifically labelled as sheng she was selling was a black
> puer......all I know is that it's supposedly from 2002 and from ancient
> trees.
>
> here are the pics :
>
> http://greenleaf2202.free.fr/puer1.JPG
>
> http://greenleaf2202.free.fr/puer2.JPG
>
> http://greenleaf2202.free.fr/puer3.JPG

Ancient trees on Jingmai Mountain, they say. It looks like this one
being offered at auction for 20 yuan:

http://auction.china.alibaba.com/buy...tail_chuchuang

So how does it taste?

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

Puer id question (+intro)
 

It wasn't obvious because I had to override the expanded Asci encoded
character strings generated from the search field on the input form
with the hardcoded GB2312 encoded characters for the search term 'Puer'
to get the Google Translate function to behave properly with Alibaba.

The URL for Suppliers of Puer:

http://translate.google.com/translat...?keywords=ÆÕ¶ý

The URL for Auctions of Puer:

http://translate.google.com/translat...?keywords=ÆÕ¶ý

Jim

PS: I couldn't get Babelfish to work with any kind of Alibaba URL. I
tried the obvious but why bother when the other works? Also Alibaba
only finds strings in the Title and not the Description.

Jim

Lewis Perin wrote:
> "Kevin" > writes:
>
> > Hello from Belgium,
> > I'm a 23yo tea drinker enjoying mainly oolongs and puers, although I do
> > like golden yunnan as my first morning cup and green teas from time to
> > time...
> >
> > I recently bought a 100g green puer brick at a local tea shop and would
> > like your help to id it.
> > I gave up asking the seller more info about the brick when she told me
> > a puer specifically labelled as sheng she was selling was a black
> > puer......all I know is that it's supposedly from 2002 and from ancient
> > trees.
> >
> > here are the pics :
> >
> > http://greenleaf2202.free.fr/puer1.JPG
> >
> > http://greenleaf2202.free.fr/puer2.JPG
> >
> > http://greenleaf2202.free.fr/puer3.JPG
>
> Ancient trees on Jingmai Mountain, they say. It looks like this one
> being offered at auction for 20 yuan:
>
> http://auction.china.alibaba.com/buy...tail_chuchuang
>
> So how does it taste?
>
> /Lew
> ---
> Lew Perin /
> http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

Puer id question (+intro)
 

Sorry,

I didn't think Google would break on the GB2312 pair. So, instead of
reassembly from Google Usenet and I think those with regular
newsreaders wouldn't see the pair correctly:

The URL for Suppliers of Puer:

http://tinyurl.com/b7hhb

The URL for Auctions of Puer:

http://tinyurl.com/asmbo

Jim

Space Cowboy wrote:
> It wasn't obvious because I had to override the expanded Asci encoded
> character strings generated from the search field on the input form
> with the hardcoded GB2312 encoded characters for the search term 'Puer'
> to get the Google Translate function to behave properly with Alibaba.
>
> The URL for Suppliers of Puer:
>
> http://translate.google.com/translat...?keywords=ÆÕ¶ý
>
> The URL for Auctions of Puer:
>
> http://translate.google.com/translat...?keywords=ÆÕ¶ý
>
> Jim
>
> PS: I couldn't get Babelfish to work with any kind of Alibaba URL. I
> tried the obvious but why bother when the other works? Also Alibaba
> only finds strings in the Title and not the Description.
>
> Jim
>
> Lewis Perin wrote:
> > "Kevin" > writes:
> >
> > > Hello from Belgium,
> > > I'm a 23yo tea drinker enjoying mainly oolongs and puers, although I do
> > > like golden yunnan as my first morning cup and green teas from time to
> > > time...
> > >
> > > I recently bought a 100g green puer brick at a local tea shop and would
> > > like your help to id it.
> > > I gave up asking the seller more info about the brick when she told me
> > > a puer specifically labelled as sheng she was selling was a black
> > > puer......all I know is that it's supposedly from 2002 and from ancient
> > > trees.
> > >
> > > here are the pics :
> > >
> > > http://greenleaf2202.free.fr/puer1.JPG
> > >
> > > http://greenleaf2202.free.fr/puer2.JPG
> > >
> > > http://greenleaf2202.free.fr/puer3.JPG
> >
> > Ancient trees on Jingmai Mountain, they say. It looks like this one
> > being offered at auction for 20 yuan:
> >
> > http://auction.china.alibaba.com/buy...tail_chuchuang
> >
> > So how does it taste?
> >
> > /Lew
> > ---
> > Lew Perin /
> > http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

Puer id question (+intro)
 

thanks for the help.

as for the taste, I got 10+ infusions out of it (5g 120ml/inf); first
three were quite astringent (too much for my taste), but no bitterness.
a fresh vegetal taste with hint of floral and grassy notes; no
smokiness. First jingmai montain I taste, so I can't really compare.

Puer id question (+intro)
 

"icetea" > writes:

> [...]
> green puer usually is cheap because it has not been aged much, black
> puers are aged.

Huh?

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

Puer id question (+intro)
 

I've seen Chinese references to the cooked Puer process of fermentation
as aging. It is not time in the Western sense but what happens when
the process of fermentation is speeded up to produce what nature will
eventually do itself eventually. In other words sheng becomes shu if
given enough time or there is some taste characteristics in sheng that
only appears in shu overtime like Camphor. I'm trying to put in words
a nagging impression I get from the Chinese sites when describing sheng
in aging terms of taste and not time. Or I should curse the day I
discovered that Google could translate Chinese web pages and give me
the wrong impression.

Jim

Lewis Perin wrote:
> "icetea" > writes:
>
> > [...]
> > green puer usually is cheap because it has not been aged much, black
> > puers are aged.
>
> Huh?
>
> /Lew
> ---
> Lew Perin /
> http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

Puer id question (+intro)
 

"icetea" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> about the acient trees, puer is about post fermenting tea and aging,
> the tea bushes should not be to old or too tall or the water and all
> the tea goodies cant get to the tea leaves and they will be bland(root
> to leaf too far away, sorry guys) and lanky limp branches. green puer
> usually is cheap because it has not been aged much, black puers are
> aged. (quicky you can buy a cheap good green puer and age it yourself
> at least five to 10 years. and if done right you gotta great tea)
> pu-er, pu erh puerh, oh the spelling.......
> ~~icetea
> http://teaarts.blogspot.com/
>

I'll second Lew. HUH?! Whachatalkin' abot?!

Icetea, I see you are transplanting your understanding of Taiwan tea
cultivation to Pu'er. Not wholly true in what you said. There are 3
broad
categories of Pu'er: The Transitional, The Wild grown, The Cultivated.

Each will yield its own characteristics. If root to leaf is too far
away,
then half the trees we get on earth should be balding - relax, the
trees
have a more powerful & sturdier internal irrigation system than we
mere
humans know. And we are talking about trees, not tea bushes here.

Green pu'er WAS cheap, but thanks to the intervention of Taiwanese
businessmen and China mainland's entrepreneurs, things are not as cheap
as
you think they are these days. The raw ingredient in 2005 compared to
2003
had gone up almost 50%, this has no doubt perk up the living standard
of the
local natives, but modernisation has its evil face too, but that's not
our
discussion here.

Black pu'ers are aged? Black pu'ers are 'speed-cooked', but in chinese

terminology I've yet to come across a reference that says black pu'er
is
aged. Green pu'er often referred to as 'Sheng', or 'Qing'; and old
aged
Green Pu'er as 'Lao (old) Qing bing (cake)' or 'Lao Sheng bing', or the
less
used terms 'Yuan Jiu Lao Sheng (or Qing) bing' - Yuan (Original) Jiu
(Old).

Black pu'er, once it is aged over a period of time, is often known as
'Lao
Shou bing'.

Buy a cheap green pu'er and age it? Easier said than done, isn't it?
Firstly, it involves a set of elements that is beyond our control -
from the
weather to the ingredients to the processing methods. Not all green
pu'ers
are suitable for ageing, but the ability to tell which will age well
and
which will not, is an intricate knowledge that we are only beginning to

understand.

You are still young Kevin (hey I like your name!), and you should drink
more
pu'er before thinking (if ever) of investing in it. And if you intend
to,
buy from a trusted source, I'm sure in your quest for this tea you will
come
across those you can trust, and as an advice for a beginner, buy a
pu'er
from one of the better known factories if you intend to age a cake - at

least from record, we have a feel of their aged products, whereas from
a
factory that's new in the market for a couple of years, we still do
not
know how well will their products age.

Danny

Puer id question (+intro)
 

Hey Danny,

Can we use the term 'speed-aging' in any meaningful sense when talking
about fermenation for Shou? I do get the sense from translated Chinese
sites that one of the desired results of Shou fermentation is too mimic
some of the taste profile from a Lao Qing. It may simply just mean
that you could read the translated word aging in fermention but I think
it is something more than simply the passing of time for Lao Qing or
that shu is shu and sheng is sheng without any overlap.

Thanks,
Jim

Danny wrote:
....snipped other good stuff
> Black pu'ers are aged? Black pu'ers are 'speed-cooked', but in chinese
>
> terminology I've yet to come across a reference that says black pu'er
> is
> aged. Green pu'er often referred to as 'Sheng', or 'Qing'; and old
> aged
> Green Pu'er as 'Lao (old) Qing bing (cake)' or 'Lao Sheng bing', or the
> less
> used terms 'Yuan Jiu Lao Sheng (or Qing) bing' - Yuan (Original) Jiu
> (Old).
>
> Black pu'er, once it is aged over a period of time, is often known as
> 'Lao
> Shou bing'.

Puer id question (+intro)
 

One interesting term I came across and have used, is Hydro-thermal
fermentation. That's basically what a quick-fix Shou tea would have
gone through to mimic the Lao Qing flavours. Or Hydro-thermal speed
fermentation? quite a mouthful of air...I'll stick with Hydro-thermal
fermentation.

Danny