Classic pu?

Puerh and other heicha
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Brent D
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Wed Jan 17, 2018 1:01 pm

I’d like to learn more about pu, but it’s kind of overwhelming. I don’t drink it too often. I’m more into oolong and Gao Shan.
When I first decided to learn about pu, I went and ordered about 2 dozen samples from YS. Tried them all. Liked them all.
Now that I’ve drank all this tea, I don’t feel like I really know any one of those teas very well. I’m thinking of getting 1 sheng and one shou cake so I can really learn their profile.
I am hoping that this would be something that has a “classic” profile. Something that when I’m done with these 2 cakes that I would feel like I have a good base to compare all others to.
Does this exist? Any suggestions?
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Demea
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Wed Jan 17, 2018 1:23 pm

In terms of sheng, I've really enjoyed some of the offerings from White2Tea.

Two of my favorites in vastly different price ranges:

http://white2tea.com/product/2016-fade- ... ian-brick/

This is an excellent starter/everyday sheng IMO. The material is "huangpian" (yellow leaf), meaning that it is comprised of the lower-down, larger leaves on the tea tree that are usually seen as less desirable. This one, however, uses pretty high-quality huangpian and tastes great, with a full thick body and good energy, and is great now or will also age well.

http://white2tea.com/product/2016-last-thoughts/

This one is obviously much, much more expensive, but is, IMO, a great example of high-end yiwu material. If you are looking for really top-notch classic wild sheng taste, you could probably do much worse than this.

For something in between, I think EoT has some nice cakes.
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tealifehk
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Wed Jan 17, 2018 1:47 pm

If I was gonna suggest classics: 7542 and 7572. Or maybe 8653 and 7581!
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ShuShu
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Wed Jan 17, 2018 1:54 pm

Really recommend the TEA TERROIR RAW PUER SAMPLE SET from White2Tew - exactly what you need..
From the description:
The Tea Terroir Raw Puer Sample Set includes four 100 gram cakes from the following regions:
Menghai
Lancang/Jingmai
Lincang/Mengku
Yiwu
Tea Terroir is a tasting set that explores the differences between regions in Yunnan. The entire set is raw Puer tea, processed in nearly identical fashion.


http://white2tea.com/product/tea-terroi ... ample-set/
Chadrinkincat
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Wed Jan 17, 2018 2:38 pm

tealifehk wrote:
Wed Jan 17, 2018 1:47 pm
If I was gonna suggest classics: 7542 and 7572. Or maybe 8653 and 7581!
+1
True classics that everyone should try before venturing into modern boutique brands. Maybe add 8582.

Also these recipes should be broken up and mixed for best results rather that chipping off chunks.
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Psyck
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Wed Jan 17, 2018 2:49 pm

Classic pu equals standard factory recipes. Get samples of various factory recipes and then buy a cake of the one you like best.
Raw: 7542, 8582, 7532, 0622, 8653, etc.
Ripe: 7262, 7581, 8592, 7262, 7452, 7572, 7262, 7592, V93, etc.
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Brent D
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Wed Jan 17, 2018 8:14 pm

Excellent!
These are the exact sort of answers I was looking for. Always wondered what the number was for.
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CWarren
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Wed Jan 17, 2018 10:18 pm

Brent D wrote:
Wed Jan 17, 2018 8:14 pm
Excellent!
These are the exact sort of answers I was looking for. Always wondered what the number was for.
First two numbers are year of recipe creation, next the grade of leaf and finally factory number. Example: 7542 is 1975 recipe, Grade 4 leaf and factory 2 which in this case is Menghai Tea Factory also currently known as Dayi / TaeTea.
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Brent D
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Wed Jan 17, 2018 10:59 pm

CWarren wrote:
Wed Jan 17, 2018 10:18 pm
Brent D wrote:
Wed Jan 17, 2018 8:14 pm
Excellent!
These are the exact sort of answers I was looking for. Always wondered what the number was for.
First two numbers are year of recipe creation, next the grade of leaf and finally factory number. Example: 7542 is 1975 recipe, Grade 4 leaf and factory 2 which in this case is Menghai Tea Factory also currently known as Dayi / TaeTea.
nice! There should be a “pu 101” thread with this info.
On the grade, would 3 be better than 4?
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CWarren
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Wed Jan 17, 2018 11:33 pm

Brent D wrote:
Wed Jan 17, 2018 10:59 pm
CWarren wrote:
Wed Jan 17, 2018 10:18 pm
Brent D wrote:
Wed Jan 17, 2018 8:14 pm
Excellent!
These are the exact sort of answers I was looking for. Always wondered what the number was for.
First two numbers are year of recipe creation, next the grade of leaf and finally factory number. Example: 7542 is 1975 recipe, Grade 4 leaf and factory 2 which in this case is Menghai Tea Factory also currently known as Dayi / TaeTea.
nice! There should be a “pu 101” thread with this info.
On the grade, would 3 be better than 4?
Not necessarily better but different. Usually difference in size of leaf or age of leaf, inclusion of buds, etc and not always an indicator of quality and often different grades are blended into a cake. Not even sure if there is a real consistency with grading between factories but I’ll leave that to folks who know more than I do. If you do a search on google of puerh leaf grade I’m sure you’ll get back a bunch of different results.
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CWarren
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Wed Jan 17, 2018 11:39 pm

Totally agree with the above responses regarding factory teas as a great baseline. Playing with different years of the same recipes will even bring more depth to your
puerh learning. I love boutiques but there is something special about classic factory especially Menghai/Dayi...maybe because it was my first real puerh purchased. Biased. :lol:
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Psyck
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Thu Jan 18, 2018 5:02 am

Don't bother too much about what the recipe numbers mean, it is mostly not of much relevance. Even the leaf grade isn't particularly an indication of quality since larger leaves and blends of different leaf sizes are used for puerh manufacture, unlike other tea types where bud plus two adjacent leaves may be prized more. The top recipe numbers are already a shortlist of what grades of leaves from the various factories work well so we needn't concern ourselves any more about them.

In addition to the recipe number, there is also the year and batch numbers to consider - and this is of more significance. In a cake named "2009 Dayi 901 7542" the batch number 901 would refer to the 1st batch of the 9th year of the decade. In general, the earlier batches (cakes pressed from spring harvest) are prized more than later ones (pressed from summer/autumn harvests) - there are always exceptions and sometimes later batches may be better and often there may not be much of a difference between batches. The year of manufacture obviously has a major impact on the cost and everyone new to puerh should sample different years of the same recipe to see how its profile changes as it ages.
lopin
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Thu Jan 18, 2018 6:36 am

I am looking to buy Dayi cakes from 2008-2012 range. Was there any year particularly bad or particularly good ? My budget is around 70 USD and would like to get taste of typical Dayi.
the_skua
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Thu Jan 18, 2018 9:23 am

The alternative to drinking a bunch of pesticide-laden factory tea would be to order some single village or single mountain pressings from vendors such as Yunnan Sourcing, Farmerleaf, Essence of Tea, or Crimson Lotus (there are others). This will allow you to become more familiar with the distinct qualities of a region and or mountain, instead of getting to know one of the highly blended factory formulas.
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Brent D
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Thu Jan 18, 2018 10:33 am

Thanks for all the great info.
I was doing some research and I read that the third number isnt necessarily grade, but refers only to leaf size.
Anyone have a line on a nice quality (real) 7542 cake?
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