sandra said

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

10 Replies
tperez said

-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

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sandra said

i have the pineapple version.

tperez said

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

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sandra said

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. !

yssah said

lol

tperez said

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

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mrmopar said

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!

yssah said

cool. i am getting a Golden Puerh and would like to know what you think of it :)

tperez said

Haha Mr. Mopar, surpass the teacher? I think I need a few more years and a fridge full of tea under my belt before that can happen. THEN maybe we can duel it out with our tea knives!!! :D lol

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mrmopar said

Ha i think we all are on the learning curve on this tea journey! yssah i think it would be great if you share your tasting notes on the Golden Puerh!

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