Pu-erh Help!

Just want some help/confirmation on the general flavour of pu-erh as well as feeling too!

Raw – opinions on a smokey flavoured raw pu-erh?

Ripe – Unpleseant taste, very earthy, but added something gross (not fishy, maybe more moldy, but not quite?) and a sludgey feeling tummy after drinking it?

10 Replies
mrmopar said

What kind of flavor on the raw?

The ripe, is it from a big factory? I try and stay with factories and sellers I know as sanitation is important in the shou process. Shou can be earthy even from good producers. Young shou can be hard to stomach sometimes.

Raw was sweetish but also had a strong smoked flavour.

mrmopar said

Some raw is still processed in a wok over a fire. It can also have smoke from being stored in a smoky area as well. I don’t do much flavored puerh but I have had some mainly ripe. The mini tuos are probably the worst/leftovers by the producer trying to maximize material usage.

AllanK said

Also, smoky flavors can dissipate over time. I bought a tea called the Smoky Lee but the last time I drank it it was not so potent.

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From what I’ve been able to gather, it is dependent on the quality source of the tea.

The place I got it from boast about how quality they are, but I’m left thinking… probably not.

mrmopar said

Lots of accolades out there but not as many are the truth.

I reviewed them. They weren’t happy >.< https://www.tastethetea.co.uk/2017/10/20/teaspec-raw-ripe-puerh/

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Sheng Gut said

The main difference between puerh and virtually every other category of tea (except for Oolong, I’d argue), is that the emphasis is not on flavor, but instead on mouth- and body-feel. High-quality puerh offers a variety of sensations: it can tingle your cheeks/tongue, cool your throat, make you salivate, relax your muscles, etc.—just to name a few.

That being said, puerh’s flavor profile is unique from other teas, but difficult to pin down in one fell swoop, because there are so many factors that effect the taste: region, tree age, picking season, processing methods—and that’s just scratching the surface.

The smokiness you’re picking up on the raw could be due to a variety of things, but my guess is that it’s probably due to the tea being low-quality in the first place, and then was poorly-processed. The fact that the raw came as in a tin as uncompressed “maocha” (loose-leaf puerh) without being advertised as “maocha” is a huge red-flag.

Shou is known to have a much more pungent flavor, but it shouldn’t ever taste fishy. You’re probably picking up on foul tastes/aromas caused by inattentive wet-piling (the process for how ripe puerh is fermented). High-quality shou is delightful, and is typically extremely sweet, thick, and woodsy.

Always follow your palate! If this was your first intro to the ever-expanding world of puerh, don’t let it be your last. There are literally THOUSANDS of puerhs for you to try out there, and I guarantee that you’ll find something you love.

Thank you. I was just looking for confirmation on the knowledge I already had, as the review I produced lead to a very upset company!

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