pls help - wild pu ehr
received a batch of wild pu ehr.
buds are greyish green, and rather large, and smell like lemon.
steep: done, and huh I am getting a lemon/fruity tea??
??? don’t get me wrong, I really don’t want to get a pu ehr taste (leave alone the smell yuck) but this is odd.
am I doing something wrong?. anyone know of this wild pu ehr. (harvest feb. 2013)
tia
-Where did you get it from?
-Are the buds normal tea buds or pineapple-top looking things?
-Fresh sheng(raw) pu’erh can be sort of fruity and green tea-like
i have the pineapple version.
Ok, those are wild buds/ya bao/yabao
They’re young sun-dried buds picked before the leaves really begin to grow during the spring season. They’re usually considered a white tea or sheng pu’erh, or somewhere in between. They’re sweet and sort of fruity/flowery, but they don’t really taste much like pu’erh (as you noticed)
I have some from Yunnan Sourcing, and Mandala and Verdant sell them too. :)
http://steepster.com/teas/yunnan-sourcing/27187-early-spring-2012-sun-dried-buds-wild-pu-erh-tea-varietal
http://steepster.com/teas/mandala-tea/27901-wild-arbor-buds
http://steepster.com/teas/verdant-tea/23592-silver-buds-yabao
thank you so much for your reply.
so this is basically what pu ehr is like when it’s pressed and cooked into cakes? amazing. (and what a shame, my first pu ehr smelled like a combo of the local fishmarket and a mushroom swap-dirt.
I really like this, it’s lovely and green. I really had no idea.
I actually think I may like pu ehr. !
No problem, glad you liked it :)
Raw pu’erh is somewhat similar but stronger and more green/oolongy. There’s also some cakes made out of sun-dried silver needle that would probably be up your ally.
Sounds like the one you tried before was a ripe tea that wasn’t very good… It definitely shouldn’t taste fishy
Yes you will like it if you get some good pu’er. The dirt and off smells will usually dissipate over time if it’s a good pu’er. The off aroma is usually from an early tea being put out to be sold early. Good tea producers will “age” the tea before putting it out on the market for sale. If you have a chance , the Menghai V93 is a pretty good starter pu’er for most people. Your own preference to a shou (cooked, speeded up fermentation process) or sheng ( a pure green cake without aging) would help you to decide. I think I converted Mr. Perez over to pu’er and he is a good reference for this as the pupil has surpassed the teacher. If you have any questions we are all ready to help as we all grow in our knowledge this way. Good luck on your journey!
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