What Pu'er Are You Drinking

Puerh and other heicha
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pantry
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Tue Jul 21, 2020 9:09 pm

Had Gaoshan gushu 2018 and 2019 on consecutive days. The sweetness was more pronounced in the older cake.
I then switched gear to Qing Teng for a late afternoon treat. It was decent, but failed to remind me of why I purchased a cake of it...
thommes
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Wed Jul 22, 2020 7:11 am

Found some Iron Forge from CLT that was broken up. A nice mellow tea.
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debunix
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Wed Jul 22, 2020 3:38 pm

Mori-machi Pu-erh from Den’s Tea.

Den’s is a US-based company featuring mostly sencha, gyokuro and matcha from Japan. This is an interesting tea. It says on the pouch that it is produced in Shizuoka with a new Sake fermentation method from a blend of 1st and 2nd harvest Yakubita cultivar. Their tasting notes suggest it is ‘Toasty, and a little sour. Not muddy like old vintage Pu-erh tea.’ Brewing suggestion is 3 grams leaf to 120 mL water off the boil for 3 minutes.

The leaves are quite broken up, dark brown, and have a rich tart fruity scent in the bag—tart plums. I have not yet weighed my preparation, and am only on my second set of infusions. I probably am brewing more dilute, as usual, but not that far off their parameters because I forgot my count on the first infusion and it likely went 3-4 minutes. I find it a little tart, fruity, earthy, with fermented fruit brandy notes like deeply oxidized oolongs, and more reminiscent of those than Pu-erh. It is lovely, but.....pu-erh?

I am puzzled why they are calling it puerh, when their description suggests that they were not trying for an earthy flavor, which is one of the nicer and more grounding aspects of puerh for me.
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pantry
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Wed Jul 22, 2020 3:57 pm

debunix wrote:
Wed Jul 22, 2020 3:38 pm
I am puzzled why they are calling it puerh, when their description suggests that they were not trying for an earthy flavor, which is one of the nicer and more grounding aspects of puerh for me.
Hmm...I'm pretty sure that the current official definition of Puerh (per the Chinese government) requires that the tea must be from Yunnan Province. But since it's from Japan I suppose it doesn't have to comply with any Chinese laws :lol:
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debunix
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Wed Jul 22, 2020 7:39 pm

This one is different enough that it seems like it should get its own name as fermented tea, as a sparkling wine with little in common in flavor or origin with Champagne. But what would be a good generic term for fermented tea?
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Victoria
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Wed Jul 22, 2020 9:16 pm

debunix wrote:
Wed Jul 22, 2020 7:39 pm
This one is different enough that it seems like it should get its own name as fermented tea, as a sparkling wine with little in common in flavor or origin with Champagne. But what would be a good generic term for fermented tea?
There are several fermented Japanese niche teas like these below. Maybe yours fits into one of those listed;

Japanese Green Tea: Aged, Roasted, Fermented

Fermented:
  • Goishi-cha, Kochi, Shikoku Island. Double fermentation. pedants post.
  • Ishizuchi Kurocha, Komatsu town, Ehime prefecture, Shikoku Island. Double fermentation. Description.
  • Tengu kurocha, Saijo, Shikoku Island. Created by villagers to keep Ishizuchi tradition alive. Double fermentation. Description.
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debunix
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Wed Jul 22, 2020 10:59 pm

Here is more description from Den's



Mori-machi Pu-erh
$20.00
2oz/56g (Item #: 4609)
1lb/454g (Item #: 4610)


Qty :

Description
Reviews (0)

The well-known Pu-erh tea is a fermented tea named after its original production area, Pu-erh City in China. Even if fermented teas are produced in the other areas, they are still called Pu-erh tea because a name "Pu-erh" has come to represent such fermented teas.

Our Mori-machi Pu-erh is Pu-erh tea because it is a fermented tea and has a similar tasting profile, however it is very unique because it is produced in Shizuoka, Japan with a new Sake fermentation method in our clean room. This method produces Gallic acid and Citric acid that non-fermented tea does not have and those components have caused Pu-erh tea to be known for "diet tea"

We recommend our Mori-machi Pu-erh if you:
- Are interested in changing or adding a new beverage to your diet
- Already enjoy Pu-erh tea
- Are a coffee drinker who likes a sour profile and wants to try tea

Origin: Mori-machi, Shizuoka
Harvest: A Blend of First & Second Harvests
Species: Yabukita

Tasting Profile:
Toasty and a little sour. Not muddy like old vintage Pu-erh tea.

Den's Preferred Brewing:
Water: 4oz @ Boiled
Leaves: 3 grams or 1 rounded teaspoon
Steep: 3 min.

I don't know enough about Sake to know which of the tea this resembles more. I missed out on the Awa Bancha from Norbu and have not tried any of the others. They do all seem to have larger more intact leaves than the Mori-Macha.
Rui
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Thu Jul 23, 2020 2:06 am

Rickpatbrown wrote:
Sun Jul 19, 2020 5:42 pm
2003 Hong Kong Henry “Conscientious Prescription” 7542 from TWL

Just what I needed. Nice dark notes, herbaceous wood, incense. Smooth and easy drinking with a calming energy.

I mislabeled the jar last month and drank about 3 sessions of this pretty heavy handedly, thinking it was the 2008 Dayi 8582. I was really excited that such an inexpensive tea was so good ... then I realized my mistake, lol. Fortunately the 2003 Hong Kong Henry isnt too expensive. I might order another cake or two of this guy.
I concur with your opinion about this particular tea cake. Having first shared a tea cake with a friend I have now ordered a full tea cake for myself. On the other hand I still have not tasted the 8582 sample my friend gave me for comparison.

Of the teas from TWL I have tasted, only around 5 or so unfortunately but I am working on it :D , Hong Kong Henry “Conscientious Prescription” is still my favourite for daily consumption and good value for money.
Rui
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Thu Jul 23, 2020 2:12 am

Carrying on working on my 'small' 250gms maocha sample of 2014 Yibang gu shu sheng pu'er from Les Thes Terre de Ciel in France. :D
sqt
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Thu Jul 23, 2020 2:34 am

The Hk Henry 2003 is a good cake. My first experience from EoT was that the cake was rather inconsistent from session to session, but seems to be better with Taiwanese storage so far (or is that just random luck?).

I did a group buy from Taiwan recently for some local friends. May have ended up with a few extra cakes.
Need to assess whether I want to hang on to them myself, so HK Henry it will be for me this morning as well.
thommes
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Thu Jul 23, 2020 6:22 am

debunix wrote:
Wed Jul 22, 2020 7:39 pm
This one is different enough that it seems like it should get its own name as fermented tea, as a sparkling wine with little in common in flavor or origin with Champagne. But what would be a good generic term for fermented tea?
Hei cha is the term used for fermented chinese teas. Puerh is a hei char from the Yunnan province. Sort of the all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares with puerh being the square. This is how I understand it. I'd be willing to call the japanese tea a hei cha but not a puer.

Sort of like the scotch battle with single malt. A US whiskey company started using the term single malt which is sort of reserved for scotches. Some scotch organization in scotchland filed a lawsuit and last I heard the US company rescinded. I don't get companies that try to pull this stunt. If your product isn't good enough to stand on it's own, why steal something that already has a precise definition in the industry.

Back to the japanese tea that's calling itself a pueh... unless the tea leaves come from yunnan and are processed in yunnan, to me it ain't and never will be a puer. If it's just stored in japan, maybe, but doubt I'll ever try it. Not a fan of japanese teas.
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Balthazar
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Thu Jul 23, 2020 7:54 am

sqt wrote:
Thu Jul 23, 2020 2:34 am
The Hk Henry 2003 is a good cake. My first experience from EoT was that the cake was rather inconsistent from session to session, but seems to be better with Taiwanese storage so far (or is that just random luck?).

I did a group buy from Taiwan recently for some local friends. May have ended up with a few extra cakes.
Need to assess whether I want to hang on to them myself, so HK Henry it will be for me this morning as well.
Do tell if you decide on letting go of some cakes (and don't already have buyers lined up), I might be interested in taking one off your hands :)

thommes wrote:
Thu Jul 23, 2020 6:22 am
Hei cha is the term used for fermented chinese teas. Puerh is a hei char from the Yunnan province. Sort of the all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares with puerh being the square. This is how I understand it. I'd be willing to call the japanese tea a hei cha but not a puer.

Sort of like the scotch battle with single malt. A US whiskey company started using the term single malt which is sort of reserved for scotches. Some scotch organization in scotchland filed a lawsuit and last I heard the US company rescinded. I don't get companies that try to pull this stunt. If your product isn't good enough to stand on it's own, why steal something that already has a precise definition in the industry.

Back to the japanese tea that's calling itself a pueh... unless the tea leaves come from yunnan and are processed in yunnan, to me it ain't and never will be a puer. If it's just stored in japan, maybe, but doubt I'll ever try it. Not a fan of japanese teas.
Agreed, although not everyone agrees on labeling sheng puer as heicha.

Also, I think you have the scotch story slightly wrong. Single malt is not reserved for Scottish whiskies, but the term "Scotch" (which may be blended or single malt) certainly is. I'm not sure precicely which case you are thinking about, but perhaps it's this one? Here "Highland" and "Whisky" (instead of Whiskey) were the culprits.


Drinking 2005 XiaGuan 8653 today. Reliable stuff without any bells and whistles.
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debunix
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Thu Jul 23, 2020 1:39 pm

This is the Den’s Mori-machi
793A29F3-ABC2-4AA2-B00D-809B69161562.jpeg
793A29F3-ABC2-4AA2-B00D-809B69161562.jpeg (223.57 KiB) Viewed 5099 times
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pantry
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Thu Jul 23, 2020 3:45 pm

@debunix Yeah...doesn't look like puerh at all. Do you enjoy the tea on its own merit though?

Had my last serving of some Spring 2019 Chawangshu this morning. Wonderful tea!
Noonie
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Thu Jul 23, 2020 3:59 pm

First sips of the Yunnan Sourcing 2007 Pin Xiang "Bu Lang Shan Tuo" Raw Pu-erh Tea purchased a few weeks ago.

At $25 for a 250g Tuo that has many favourable reviews I figured it was a safe bet.

First Tuo I've tried, and prying off 50-75g for tasting over the next while wasn't difficult. I used 5g in a 100ml Gaiwan. Sometimes I use more tea, however, it's close to 5pm and I didn't want it to affect my sleep. Plus when I'm trying a tea for the first time I like to keep my tea/water ratio conservative so I can decide from there the flavour profile and what I may prefer in future sessions. It has been a while since I've had aged Sheng, as my Pu'er drinking has mainly been Shou, with some young Sheng here and there. Initial steeps were are very good. It's sweet and spicy as Scott mentions in his write-up, with a bit of smokiness. It's not a weak tea at all, and in the future I'll stick with 5g. I read somewhere that Shou processing was developed to get to that aged Sheng taste faster; well I haven't had enough Pu'er to give a strong view, but this is nothing like Shou. And it's nothing like young Sheng. It has almost no astingency, does not taste 'young' at all (wouldn't think so as it's a 2007). I find it sits very nicely between a more earthy/malty/sweet Shou, and a young Sheng that is really its own breed. It's a little rough and likely lacks the complexity of more aged Sheng, but I like the profile as is...and overall it's really good value.

Lately I've not bothered with samples, as I live in Canada and placing multiple orders and having to deal with large $ to avoid shipping charges, and duty/customs fees. So I just e-mail Scott to ask what he recommends...and then I buy some cakes. It worked with this tea!
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