community consult on puerh?

hello steepster community,

i am distinctly a member at large. i have been studying, writing and defending without pause.

i currently face a different challenge: for years auto immune has been overly friendly towards my nervous system, this weekend it seems to have jumped to my gut: ulcerative-angry-you’ll-regret-it-bowel something or another. it’s very exciting.

from the roster of steeping leaf treasures puerh has been my least favourite. though i absorbed enough about them to know they have the capacity to assist with digestion and can soothe offended bowels (‘there there…it’s only food’). i have a couple kicking around. they do seem to help.

i am reasonably sure that regular use would provide benefits—wouldn’t it be nice if i could also like them? a large part of the problem doubtlessly lies in my lack of knowledge.

i have a large pressed disk that i (accidentally?) proved myself worthy of buying one day while in chinatown…i was looking for large black tea pearls… i still wonder if the puerh disk was a sun tzu type tea distraction. i find that one quite complex—like a dry smelling tree bark as tea. there is no english on the package and my cantonese is 1) lapsed 2) likely not sufficiently advanced to be able to read the packaging 3) the package could easily be mandarin and be mocking my aging abilities 4) do you see the problem?

i have another loose puerh which i can only describe as a moss pillow exploding in my mouth with spores. no. no no no. lapsed chinese is not the issue here—a worn out label that is completely unreadable supersedes that problem as do the sticky spores that attach to everything behind my lips.

one puerh works, the other not again. i am looking for knowledge of puerh as a supportive dietary medicine and digestive aid. i’m supposed to be on a predominantly liquid diet to encourage the damage to heal… fun fun.

sharing of your experience is greatly appreciated~
james