Favorite places to purchase tea & question about pu'erh

Hello fellow Steepsters,

Where do you purchase your tea? I just recently purchased some from DAVIDsTEA and Adagio Teas, but aside from that the only loose leaf teas I have tried have been from Teavana and Zhi Tea. I love my teas but I want to branch out.

I’ve never had pu’erh tea. What brand/type of pu’erh would you recommend for a noob like me?

36 Replies

I do like Adagio quite a bit. Whispering Pines (http://whisperingpinestea.com) has some really excellent stuff, as does A Quarter to Tea (http://aquartertotea.etsy.com/) so I’d invite you to try those too! :) Both users are also pretty active on this site I believe, so take a look around for them.

As for pu-erh, I personally love sheng pu-erhs, which often lean taste-wise more towards a green tea. Not that this is a product plug, but my shop carries a really great sheng puerh here: http://bit.ly/1PxUKxI As for shou pu-erh (the darker, fermented one) there’s a really awesome site called (edit: Red Blossom Teas (Oops! You’re absolutely right — I was thinking of Red Blossom Teas. Thank you for catching that, @boychik. (http://www.redblossomtea.com/tea/pu-erh.html)) that sells extremely high quality pu-erh. It can sometimes be a bit pricy but it’s definitely worth it when you get more into it. Teavana and DavidsTEA both sell more affordable options if you’re looking for an entry-level pu-erh.

Happy steeping! :) – alexander

boychik said

Misty Peak Teas sells sheng only.

Thank you for your suggestions! I’m checking them out now :)

This might be a stupid question…but for a pu’erh cake, how much do you break off to steep? And what about rolled pu’erh? Do you steep the entire ball or do you break off a piece of it? Do you store it as is or in an airtight tin?

Thank you for catching that! I was totally thinking of a different company.

boychik said

@alexander&james tea co. no problem ;D

Fission, that really depends on the amount of tea you’re making and how strong you like your tea. Generally, for a standard 8oz. cup of water, I’d use 1 to 2 tsp of the cake. You can reuse pu-erh leaves quite a bit, too.

Teavivre has a couple of articles that might help you get started: http://www.teavivre.com/info/pry-pu-erh-tea/ and http://www.teavivre.com/info/brew-an-enjoyable-pu-erh-tea/

Brian said

teavana sells puerh. LOL.

@Brian: as a tea seller myself I think it’d be poor form to comment negatively on the quality of that particular pu-erh. ;) Was simply listing it as a cheap option.

@Brian, I probably wouldn’t go to Teavana for a pu’erh but I am looking for cheaper beginner options. I don’t want to spend a whole lot on tea that I have never had before that I might end up not liking :(

@alexander&james, thank you so much for your help!

AllanK said

What Teavana sells is a perfect example of the worst puerh available. Yunnan Sourcing, Mandala Tea, Crimson Lotus Tea, and Whispering Pines are all recommended along with Berylleb King Tea on EBay.

@AllanK – thank you! Do you have any specific suggestions for a pu’erh noob from those places?

AllanK said

From Whispering Pines 2012 Huron Gold Needle. From Crimson Lutus their 2012 Gushu Shou puerh I forget the exact name. From Yunnan Sourcing, I don’t know where to begin there are so many.

Thank you for your suggestions, I’ll check them out. The selection from YS is overwhelming.

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boychik said

Puerh sources:
Yunnan Sourcing. has 2 sites China and US
http://yunnansourcing.com/
http://www.yunnansourcing.us/store/

White 2 Tea
http://www.white2tea.com/

Crimson lotus tea
http://crimsonlotustea.com/

Whispering pines
http://whisperingpinestea.com/

Mandala tea
http://shopmandalatea.com/

i recommend you to start from samples until you figure out your likes and dislikes.
Yunnan Sourcing and White 2 tea have monthly clubs. it would be a nice way to try

Just to echo that these companies are awesome.. Definitely give them a quick email as to their recommendations – most would put together a ‘dealer sampler’ to get you hooked.. first one’s free ;)

White2Tea (Paul): [email protected]
Crimson Lotus (Glen): [email protected]
Mandala (Garret): [email protected]
Whispering Pines (Brenden): [email protected]
Yunnan Sourcing (Scott): [email protected]

All highly reputable and have great customer service and would just talk to you about puerh, in general, if you have questions about it – or you can ask us on here!

@Kieblera5: Thirded for Whispering Pines and Crimson Lotus being great companies. I don’t know either of the owners personally but I’ve heard wonderful things.

Awesome! Thank you so much for your suggestions!!!

mrmopar said

I will add a couple to the list.
ChaWang shop. Excellent service.
King Tea on Aliexpress.
Tribute Tea.

@mrmopar – thank you for your suggestions!

mrmopar said

Forgot, Berylleb on eBay.

Awesome, thanks!

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bigjinla said

I love Mandala, Crimson Lotus and Whispering Pines. I’ve had great experiences with all three and their product is great.

I’ve yet to try white2tea or Yunnan Sourcing but probably will in the near future. They both have monthly tea clubs that might be a good intro to the puerh world. I’ve seen people post comments about both clubs here on Steepster.

Oh those tea clubs sound great! I’ll check them out, thanks!

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In regards to pu’erh, in my opinion, it is much wiser to find a few individuals who will help you acquire small samples of different styles before you buy stuff not knowing what they may taste like. All of the options provided above are fantastic, but it’s like going into a bike shop that charges for a test ride when a friend may let you just ride his for a day instead.

That’s kind of what I am trying to do…acquire small samples instead of acquiring a whole brick/cake/whatever with the risk of me not liking it.

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How do you store a brick/cake of pu’erh? And are bricks/cakes better than loose leaf?

Dr Jim said

I would recommend you stay away from buying bricks or cakes until you figure out what you like. I have a bunch of tuochas that I’m not that fond of that I bought while still developing my tastes. I’m now drifting in the direction of higher quality teas, which means I may wind up sitting on a pile of low-to-medium quality cakes that I’m not really into.

Unless you really insist on diving right in, look at shipping costs. Most of the Chinese vendors (W2T, Chawang shop, etc.) have pretty significant shipping cost. Not a big deal when you’re spending a couple hundred dollars, but a lot for smaller lots.

I notice your original question dealt with tea in general but the pu-heads have kind of taken over the responses. Yunnan Sourcing (US site) and Mandala are two high-quality puerh vendors with reasonable shipping that also carry high quality Black, oolong, etc. Whispering Pines and Verdant have a great reputation for tea, but their puerh stock is limited.

There is a ton of good tea out there. Different people have different tastes, and part of the journey is determining what you enjoy.

mrmopar said

When you find the ones you like after the sampling period we will assist you in the storage aspect. I do encourage the sampling and all the vendors listed are trusted ones on this site.
Dr Jimis right. the pu heads have taken over here. But we are a good group here pu heads or not.
The whole site is good people.

boychik said

3 companies out of 5 I listed sell other teas too besides puerh. Yunnan Sourcing, Mandala and Whispering pines. So it’s not puerh recommendations only .
Also completely slipped my mind
http://www.teavivre.com

@Dr Jim, @mrmopar, thank you. Should I store loose pu’erh samples like I would with other loose teas, in an airtight container?

And yes, this place is great! I’m so glad I found it :)

@boychik, thanks again for your suggestion!

Dr Jim said

Take this as a suggestion rather than knowledge, but I just keep my samples in a cardboard box, but every few weeks expose them to high humidity for a few hours.

In the summer I just pick a hot humid day. In the winter, I use a guest bathroom (you don’t want one in regular use for obvious reasons) and run a humidifier until the humidity is at about 80% (mirrors totally steamed). I also do this for my cakes, which I store in old plastic bins. (Old because new plastic can “out-gas” which means giving off organic chemicals – think “new-car smell”.)

There are only two types of tea.. Puerh and everything else ;)

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I’d (predictably) also add backing for Verdant Tea (www.verdanttea.com) – they’re deffo my favourite all-round tea vendor, with a really lovely range of high-quality teas. They also offer sample sizes and sample packs of most of their teas, which make for great starting points! :-)

(Certainly I discovered a lot more about my tea preferences through buying their tea. I did also rather love Butiki for that, but they’re all gone now :’( )

Dr Jim said

Verdant offers (one time only) one of the great bargains in tea: 5 great teas for $5 postpaid. Try that to get an idea what great tea tastes like.

Ah, yes – 5 for $5! Not to be missed :D

Oooo 5 for $5! that’s fantastic! :D

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