I got my package of Puer tea from Bitterleafteas on Friday! Very excited!
My teas of choice have been Taiwanese oolongs and I'll still be drinking these, but I've been trying to branch out more. Puer is a type of tea that is considered fermented and most people I know of Cantonese descent that go to "yum cha" or dim sum will know it as "bo lei cha" the dark tea that is earthy and sometimes undrinkable depending on where you go. That is how I knew Puerh tea when I was under 20.
About 10 years ago I bought my first cake of Puer from a tea shop in San Francisco Chinatown. I was not educated at all, didn't know anything about it and don't remember the random shop I stopped into. I'm SURE I overpaid, especially being a tourist! I was actually looking for an oolong that would resemble the natural cooling - menthol like feeling I got after having an oolong tea at Ten Rens Teahouse. The man did not know what I was talking about and we ended up tasting Puer and that was how I ended up buying a cake.
The Puer tea cake was a ripe puer (there are ripe and raw puer teas) and it was smooth and earthy and I did enjoy it. But afterwards I drank more oolong and feel in love with oolong teas (and began my never-ending oolong tea journey).
Fast forward several years and I had my first raw Puer experience and was surprised by how different it was from the ripe. It was quite bitter as it was young, but I still thought it was pretty unique as there was more to it than bitter. However, I think I was scared off pursuing Puer because I didn't know how to judge whether I was getting the real thing, whether I was over paying, how to store it, and there were not as many Puer sellers in North America at the time - online sales were not what they are today.
Then came the blog reading last year...
Somehow I came across a number of bloggers that border on 'obsessive'...I mean one blogger who I now faithfully check in with almost daily has a stock of over 500 teas!! And this post from a blogger who was nominated for a Saveur blog award is an example of the complexity of tea knowledge that I only hope to have one day. I've also started to follow a few on Instagram like @boychik2989, the variety of tea and teaware that gets posted will really inspire you to explore different teas. The only downside...my wallet tends to get a little lighter as I start to buy more tea and teaware!
Here is a munchies.vice article on a gathering of wine and tea drinkers and here is one reddit thread that followed. The main point...how is flavour judged and is it paramount in whether a tea is good or not?
Initially, first thoughts is flavour is extremely important and people would question why that is even a question. But, when you dig deeper into the experience of tea drinking there is also the component of fragrance, mouthfeel/body, aftertaste (or huigan), and what sparked the discussion, "how it makes you feel".
For me, how a tea makes me feel partly is determined by my mood. There are times where some teas although taste great may not be great for the mood I'm in and I opt for something else. There are also times that this one might have notes of peach and this honey...I like both flavours so is one better than the other? Of course it then depends on other things you look at. Finally, it could just end up being how you feel after drinking the tea and the act of brewing tea.
Getting back to puer specifically, here is a final post about puer tea collecting which I think was really good in articulating what it means to be a collector of puer tea and touches on the fact that this type of tea is living, it is still fermenting.
Anyway, for those looking to expand their tea knowledge please do take a look at these blogs. There is always something to learn. And now it begins...
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