Delicious & Cheap Pu: does it exist?
I’m really trying to like Pu-erh tea, since it does have a lot going for it: You can find cheap 357g cakes or 250g bricks and those really last a lot (it can be resteeped for ~10 times), and sometimes you get that extra “something”/relaxation which I guess people call cha-qi.
It sounds like a dream come true for us who can’t afford to spend a lot of $$$ on tea.
But every inexpensive Pu (sheng/shu) that I’ve come across tastes terrible, or doesn’t give you anything other than bitterness and astringency, or maybe some smoky notes (sheng) or cardboard/feet taste (shu).
So, have you guys found anything inexpensive that actually tastes good? :)
I really enjoyed this tea which is on the cheap side (see links below). I agree there are some terrible cheap Pu Erh out there and it’s off putting whilst your trying to get the taste for something new.
http://www.dragonteahouse.biz/bamboo-tube-tea-mengsong-pu-erh-tea-2008-50g-raw-sample.html
http://steepster.com/teas/dragon-tea-house/32438-bamboo-tube-tea-mengsong-pu-erh-tea-2008-raw
Thanks for the suggestion, Kitty! :) It’s def a sample I’ll be ordering. The bad side is that for the same amount of tea of a cake, you’d have to spend ~$35 (350g) – and with that money on the same dragonteahouse you could buy, for example, the supposedly “decent” cakes like:
http://www.dragonteahouse.biz/organic-arbor-king-mengku-pu-erh-cake-2010-500g-raw.html
Mandala Tea also offers pretty cheap yet excellent cakes. Their 100g Phatty Cake ($15) is one of my favorites.
Whats your budget for tea you want to try. I can probably recommend a few for you. I have decent knowledge and know a few good sellers.
I would try popular recipes from Menghai and Xiaguan tea factory for ripe stuff. Prices have gone up a bit in the past few years, but you can still get some classic recipes for fairly low prices. Also, they tend to rest the stuff more before pressing / selling it, which should result in less fishy / pondy taste without having to wait for the wodui taste to fade.
I like some of Bana Tea’s older loose ripe stuff (disclaimer; the owner is someone I drink tea with locally).
Sheng is really where you want to pay big bucks for better quality material. I think even the more expensive cakes really are not so expensive (when young) if you consider that most are almost a lb of tea.
May have to add to what Will said both the Menghai and the Xiaguan offerings are great. The Haiwan and Boyou factory are also making some nice stuff too. Here is a good one from the Boyou factory from the puerh shop that was a great buy for $13.98 not sure which country you are in but this was a steal considering the quality of it. here is a link so you can check it out.http://www.puerhshop.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_6&products_id=1387&zenid=qagq6jnffaffugbd6vqbnnk1i2
Login or sign up to leave a comment.