New to Pu'erh and Bad Experiences with Pu'erh: A Helping Hand

165 Replies

I’ve come to learn that when it comes to Pu Erh you get what you pay for. I spent years trying cheap Pu Erh in both Sheng and Shu thinking I had a dislike of it. When I had the chance to try something more expensive I noticed that it was a world apart, heavenly in comparison. I suppose this can be said about most tea’s but I notice it especially with Pu Erh.

Just a quick word of advice for new drinkers. :)

There are still amazing deals out there….
Green Miracle from Yunnan Sourcing is a solid ripe and spring Bang Dong is very pleasant.

2014 laocha at W2T is a staple and so are sheng balls :)

Some higher priced stuff can be better… but like the 2011 Bang Wei showed us all, there are cakes out there that we can say are much lower than they can be while competing in feel n’ taste to those 3x their price

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Woohoo at 38 of 52 already!
Going to need a break to reup on stuff as I am finally hitting the last of some of the cakes I have been breaking off of. With the new taobao and aliexpress split I will have a bunch coming. If my money seems to fair better I’ll start going to Chawang for some luibao and heicha as well for this.

Again, thanks to everyone for the three cakes I’ve had donated thus far to break and send to multiple people :)

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I followed a link from /r/tea over on Reddit.

I have tried one pu-erh but didn’t like the horse-poop notes. Hoping to learn if there are milder versions out there that have that same full bodied richness.

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Hi Liquid Proust. I am part of team Teanami and we just launched our site this week at www.teanami.com. Although I joined this community a few months back, I haven’t been too active. I am really inspired by this post of yours.

We were wondering if you’d be interested in reviewing our tea in exchange for some samples. We specialize in Pu Erh and only sell Pu Erh. Please let me know, thanks a lot!

Personally, I wouldn’t take samples for reviews but if you’d like I can split up what you send and pass it on to more people like those who are contacting me to taste new stuff here.

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Followed via Reddit. A new debutant into the tea world and looking to expand my tastes as far as I can.

mrmopar said

Hi Leo welcome in!

Thanks! Just discovered this and going to have a proper look around tomorrow as I have hockey tonight.

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I have two packages ready to go, then it will be around August until I do some more

lenpra said

Hi… I have been practicing quite a bit with my new Gaiwan and would love to try pu-erh without spending a fortune to taste a few samples. Is your offer still available?
Thank you in advance,
Len

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Kromey said

Hello,
Ive only recently started getting into loose tea. I’ve been finding oolong, green and black really easy to enjoy but the puerh I’ve had has been mostly awful. Ive mostly had ripe and it’s been a dirty wood flavour. The few raws I had I liked but I don’t know where to start.

I live in the UK, can something still be arranged?

mrmopar said

Hi Kromey that LP is a wizard!

Rui A. said

Welcome to Steepster.

Whereabout in the UK are you?

Kromey said

mrmopar: Thanks, I’ll be sure to witness the magic!

Rui: England, Northants.
Why might you ask?

mrmopar said

Roughage is near you as well.

Rasseru said

We need more UK members, I only knew about Rui.

Rui A. said

If you would like I can send you some raw pu’er samples while you wait for Liquid Proust. Rasseru and I do exchange teas but I am happy to send you shengs to get you started.

Rasseru said

Kromey – PM me your address and i’ll send you a few bits of whats considered to be pretty ok pu’erh. Some sheng & some shou..

It took me almost 1 & 1/2 years to really appreciate the earthiness of good shou. Also I was only drinking bad ripe in the beginning so it would always taste a bit crap & that put me off getting any better stuff

Kromey said

Thanks everyone, this community really amazes me with its kindness. It’d be nice to see more of us in the UK, reading about all these tea sharing things those guys in the US do makes me jealous!

AllanK said

I am sure there are lots more tea fanatics in the UK, they probably simply haven’t heard of Steepster. After all the UK is much more known for tea than is the US.

AmnesTea said

Hi Kromey, I’m from Northants but live in Leeds. Have been trying to get my mates into high quality loose leaf tea, cos I can’t find any scene in the UK- it’s all coffee houses, or afternoon tea. Best you can find is people who leave the teabag in long enough! Kitty Loves Tea an obvious exception. Would really be up for Puerh shares. Having bought a whole range of YS samples, I bought YS 2015 Wu Liang Raw – it’s excellent, not too astringent, vegetal & honeysuckle notes. Got my eye on a few, not least White2Tea repave. PM me if you’d be interested.

AmnesTea said

Saying there’s no scene, there’s a full throated Tea Bar is Islington called Piacha – well worth the detour. I found it walking past at 8pm on the a Sunday – and it was open! Walls of loose leaf tea, including wuyi oolong, a water tureen at 80deg & tea timers as standard. Bit far from Yorkshire tho!

Rasseru said

Lets try to keep active then – I would love a travelling tea box at some stage, it seems like a nice relaxed way of sharing tea about

Rui A. said

I am all ears when it comes to raw pu’er as Rasseru knows.

Bit late but I’m UK too! :)

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Anyone interested in receiving a package in August please post below and I’ll get back to you.

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Whoever lives in Richfield: You gave me the wrong address and your package came back. I sent out over 15 during the week of the 9th (which is when I shipped yours out) and I sent USPS tracking and then delete the messages. Please contact me whenever you see this.

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SheaShay said

Hi! I was asking some questions about getting started with puerh in a Facebook group and someone kindly directed me here. Is this still going on? Would love to get a package from someone who seems to know their way around this particular tea type!

Give me about a week and I’ll hook you up! I have some more stuff to pack up and I’ll be in the path to 100g a person :)

SheaShay said

Thanks so much! Just let me know what you need from me.

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