Pu’erh is a hot tea. In the past 15 years it has moved beyond its longtime audience in Hong Kong and Taiwan into mainland China, the rest of Asia and more recently the west. With Ebay, Taobao, and the ever-growing worldwide marketplace, options for buying pu’erh online have exponentially increased in the last ten years. Pu’erh is even sold as a dieter’s tea to more “ordinary” consumers in the west. This dynamic marketplace has spawned both monstrous creations as well as very high-quality tea. The specialized vendor scenes tends to be different for pu’erh compared with vendors for other teas, i.e. Taiwanese Oolongs. This guide will attempt to highlight the various options available to the western consumer. This guide disregards any offline options (i.e. Chinese supermarkets). (more…)
Category: Raw Pu’erh
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80’s Wild Arbor Raw Pu’erh Origin Tea [Episode 56]
In episode 56, Denny and James review a great intro tea to aged raw pu’erh, Origin Tea‘s 80s Wild Arbor Raw Pu’erh. A reasonably priced, well-aged pu’erh.
EDITED: Some additional notes after chatting with Tony. The earlier steeps are more affected by the storage rather than the tea itself (in this case the storage was natural Taiwanese). The ripeish notes that Denny gets are likely from this storage. The later steeps (which we didn’t really get to) speak more to the tea’s character. From my experience, this tea was able to easily go for 10+ steeps.
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Pu’erh Compendium
White Tea. Green Tea. Oolong Tea. Black Tea. Yellow Tea. Pu’erh Tea? A weird outlier in the tea world, pu’erh is a weird, unntuitive name for an odd-ball in the tea world. Pu’erh represents both an ancient tradition of tribute tea, as well as a fast-moving, contemporary urban trend. So what is Pu’erh tea? Pu’erh tea not only represents a processing method and location (two actually!), but a successful marketing campaign that is mirrored by the chaotic tea marketplace that surrounds it. (more…)
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Lincang Lancang 2008 Sheng Pu’erh [Episode 27]
In episode 27, James & Denny are again joined by Glen and Lamu from Crimson Lotus Tea. This is a more open-ended podcast and we talk about both the tea as well as just pu’erh tea in general, how to get started with pu’erh, storage in North America, and some of the offerings that Crimson Lotus will be offering. Lincang Lancang 2008 Raw Pu’erh.
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Camellia Sinensis 2001 Lahu Sheng Pu’erh [Episode 25]
In episode 25, James & Denny continue with the very diverse selection of Camellia Sinensis. Today’s tea is a 2001 raw pu’erh from Lahu. Grown from very old trees, this is likely wet-stored, this tea is pleasantly fruity and quite mellow.
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Big Leaf 2006 Sheng Pu’erh [Episode 8]
James & Denny continue their series of Pu’erh teas with Episode 8 and another Verdant offering, a big-leafed green (raw/sheng) Pu’erh: Big Leaf 2006 Sheng Pu’erh.
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Hua Yuan “Jing Brand” 1999 Sheng Pu’erh [Episode 7]
James & Denny continue their series of Pu’erh teas with Episode 7 and an older sheng Pu’erh, a primarily raw, slightly ripe offering from Hua Yuan via Yunnan Sourcing: Hua Yuan Jing Brand.
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Menghai 7542 2009 Sheng Pu’erh [Episode 6]
James & Denny continue their series of Pu’erh teas with Episode 6 and their first sheng (raw) offering, a classic, robust offering from Dayi via Yunnan Sourcing: 7542 2009 Menghai.