How often do you buy samples? Do you just buy them to decide on a cake or just get every sample you can to try everything there is and then maybe if you find some you like you get the cake?

Do you maybe prefer samples over cakes?

This is just a question out of curiosity, I often see people in here in comments recommend teas what seem off top of their head, knowing right away that this or that tea from this or that year this season pressing was good and is a good fit for what the poster is asking about.

I also see a loooot of terms thrown around for this or this type of tea from this and this sub ans sub sub region, and know exactly the flavor profile for it.

I have been drinking tea for a while, only a bit ago started taking a deeper interest in Puer, but the terms thrown around and the experience seems much more complex than with other tea types.

How do I get to learn all these new terms? And you who know how every sub sub sub region tastes like… do you have a lot of cakes? Do you drink a lot of samples? I presume you buy off sites like king tea mall and YS, where there to me seems to be a bit more distinction then on sites like w2t. But then, how do you decide what to buy and sample?

I guess my bottom line question is: there are SO many puers around but everyone always seems to know what the other is talking about when there isn’t a specific brand in question!

I hope my question makes sense, and hope I don’t come off too dumb haha.

Tried some young sheng from FL.

2024 Bangwai small trees 2021 Jingmai Shengtai 2024 Huey Wa 2024 Fa Zuan He 2021 Jingmai Yellow Flakes 2024 Jingmai Miyun

Have to say all six have very similar characteristics. Good sweetness, some level of slight bitterness, floral. Definitely won’t make you go wow, but very drinkable.

Jingmai Miyan is probably my fav of the 6.

Ultimately in search of something cheap to thermos brew on a daily. My tastebuds would disagree 😂.

Been into tea for a little over a year now! It’s been my hobby I leaned into after quitting booze and changing jobs! Life saver! I’ve placed several orders with several different vendors that I learned from here, and I’m realizing I don’t like Raw Puer that much. Ripes, I haven’t had one I don’t like on the other hand! Am I doing something wrong? Does every session have to be gong fu? Am I buying the wrong ones? Anybody have a suggestions!? I am American and have enjoyed many western cups before and I have a natural affinity toward strong black tea! Is sheng just not for me??

Recently there have been a few complaints/remarks about W2T being a bit too prominent on this sub. Though they are a good vendor I agree that a bit of variety would be welcome.

That's why I am happy too mention that I am quite impressed with this sheng from Eastern Leaves. Nice but not overpowering bitterness, plenty of mouthfeel and depth and decent huigan.

It has some (to me) unique vegetal notes and a sort of effervescence on the tongue. A well-balanced quality sheng.

I paid 73 euros for a 200g cake which is not cheap. Not sure yet whether that is a bit too expensive or not, for that I need to have a couple of more sessions. But overall I can recommend this.

https://preview.redd.it/e34clpm1jm4e1.jpg?width=900&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=74a23b8d0ec2164de0158c336cdf777d8d76b33a

Decided to grab a couple minis of the most expensive 2024 shou from W2T, at ~60 cents a gram this is the priciest shou I’ve tried, so i’m interested to see what difference in quality I can notice.

Tea: White2Tea Machines of Loving Grace 2024 shou (7g mini)

Brewed at 100C, 100ml gaiwan, 2 rinses, 5-10s steeps.

Aroma had a bit of wodui but by the second wash that was mostly gone. Wet leaf aroma had a lot going on, some stonefruit notes and a bit of generic herbal, but the dominant one was butter and butterscotch. Never had this experience with a shou, it smelled like butterscotch candy with a tiny bit of browned butter on the back end. The liquor was much more mild. Developed into a more bready yeasty note as time went on.

Flavor on the first steeps was very earthy, with a slight almost coffee-like bitterness. Noticeable cooling effect in the mouth but no distinct menthol notes like Lumber Slut has. Still a very smooth tea with a nice mouthfeel, and the earthy notes are very deep and evolving. Smoothed out quite a bit in later steeps into a very balanced shou, lots of very subtle notes.

Overall this is a really nice shou, very well balanced and lots of subtle flavors. At this age and price I probably wouldn’t buy a cake, but I think some age would make this a really unique shou.

Hey all,

I have been looking for a birthday cake from 1995 for a while, that is a sheng and won't make me poor.

Earlier today I found this offering on generationtea.com for a 1995 Song Pin Hao cake for a relatively cheap price. Does this offer look legit and worth a sample? Could it actually be a genuine Song Pin Hao for that price? Did they even still make Song Pin in the 90's?

Does anyone here have experience with that site? It looks like they have relatively much older teas (90s and earlier), but for comparison their 7542 cake from 1995 is much more expensive.

I'm interested to hear your thoughts.

Hello all! I want to get myself a puer cake from my birth year to celebrate turning 20. I'm looking for something that will continue to age nicely. I really like teas with a smoky or woody flavor. Any recommendations? Thanks :)

Hi all,

I was originally gonna ask this question in r/tea but figured y'all might have a bit more specialized answers for me, and most my tea is puer either way.

I am just starting to amass a bit bigger collection of samples and cakes, though mostly samples, and I dedicated a kitchen cabinet to it, and prior to this I haven't been to concerned with storage as I had my teas in cool and dry and dark drawers, and I was drinking it all without it sitting too long. But now as the chances of it sitting a while are higher and my cabinet changed, I have some questions.

The cabinet is on the wall high up near the ceiling(ceilings aren't that high, maybe 3 meters and change), though I am on the top floor of a 2 story house. Winters get cold and summers hot, pretty decent difference, especially since I like the cold, in the winter I keep my floor pretty cool, which I try in summer to but it get hot af no matter the AC(I'm in Croatia), and the cabinet doesn't have a perfect seal.

So my questions are... How can I control humidity and temp in a pretty big cabinet with not a perfect seal, and how big are the fluctuations I can allow for? Or should I consider getting a new cabinet more fitting for tea and put it in a cooler corner of the house?

All tips are welcome, thank you!

I know it’s a strange question to ask but anyone know a good tea shop that focus on puer tea in Kyoto? Online in Japan seems to focus more Taiwanese oolong tea

Hey! New to Pu Erh and really enjoying it. I was wondering if anybody had recommendations for affordable cakes to keep exploring.

I'm in the EU but I travel a lot to England, so Mei Leaf and Tea Encounter are the ones I haves tried. Any other sources or specific recommendations from these two?

Hi,

 Could anyone recommend a reputable site to purchase a tea tray, some tea pets, and glass tea pot in the EU or Japan.

 It will be used primarily for the Chinese green tea and Puerh

 Worried that they all selling knock off from temu, and looking for a quality product as it will be a gift for someone special

After 2 weeks of rest in mylar with a 65% Boveda, finally breaking into this Dayi, my first factory tea, and the oldest sheng I’ve tried. Bought this blind from The Steeping Room after seeing good things about them, no idea about authenticating the tea.

Tea: Dayi 7542 2010 (Stored in Taiwan until 2024, but tbh I know very little about storage).

Brewed at 96C in a 100ml gaiwan, ~6g. One 5s rinse.

Tea was pretty brittle, tons of the small leaves already fallen within the paper wrapping. Made it easy to break off for sure. Very dark brown color on the leaves for a sheng compared to others I’ve seen.

Dry leaf aroma had a slightly musty smell to it but couldn’t detect much else.

Aroma on the wet leaf had a really musty (idk what a more positive term for this is but its a good thing) deep aged note. I've noticed similar on other aged shengs but this was on another level. Some plum/cherry fruity notes but more like red wine style, where the “sweetness” is gone from the smell and you’re getting the really dry vibes. Some light citrus as well. Soup also had a noticeable herby note, like basil. Later steeps the aroma was similar in terms of notes, but they all evolved a bit over time more than most teas I’ve tried.

1st-2nd steep flavor was very well rounded. Bitter, bright, and astringent but pretty balanced, though the bitterness was a touch more than I like. The big difference from other mid-aged shengs I noticed was the depth. Some mineral/umami notes but very subtle compared to all the shou I’ve been drinking, really nicely balanced. I hear young Dayi is a rough tea to drink, considering the flavors are this strong even 14 years in I can see what people mean. Mellowed out a lot from steep 3 onward into something very nice and drinkable, but still with a lot of depth. Honestly having a hard time describing some of the aged notes in it but very enjoyable.

I only did about 6 steeps on this, but I see why people consider it a benchmark, nothing super unique about it but really well balanced in everything. Since I have a few other shengs I think I’m going to leave this one stored for a few months and see if I can notice any differences next time.

I’ve tried the following for young sheng: Beautiful Taiwan tea company Yunnan sourcing W2t Farmer leaf (best so far imo) Red lotus tea I currently have an order with bitter leaf on the way What is your recommendations for quality of source Also any cakes you can recommend to try. I like only raw honestly all the ripe stuff I have tried tastes so flat to me and I like bitter/astringency in my tea. Thank you.

So i got the 2021 spring morning recommended to me a while ago, and now i see that the 2024 is out, and way cheaper. Does it worth it to buy the newest release or the taste woudnt be as good yet?

I am asking this because the few young shengs(as in 2024) i tried from yunnan sourcing either tasted like nothing or vegetables. Neither of them is my goal when looking for pu erh. Meanwhile the ones with even just a couple of age on them tasted good. I was thinking about "eh i am ordering a bunch of oolong this month anyways, so logically i shoud order some pu erh as well" and 33 for a whole sheng cake seemed nice enough, but because of the samples i had i am not sure about it now.

Maybe young shengs just arent my thing.

Maybe i just picked the wrong one(like the wu liang mountain one, tasted like a weak vegetable soup).

Did anyone already gave the 2024 spring morning a try?

It has been pointed out to me that this is a whiskey glass. What looks a bit like whiskey poured in a whiskey glass is in fact a smooth, deliciously sweet Yiwu. It has a slight smokiness and a hint at sundried wood, but that’s where similarities end.

I wish you an elated morning.

My Chinese sister-in-law mentions she likes Pu'er tea in dried orange and I want to get her some good stuff for Christmas. What is the best place to order online that isn't super expensive? (I live in California)

Hey everyone, I wanted to know everyone's thoughts on young factory Sheng? I know the general consensus is that factory teas are better aged than young, but I regularly see good reviews for young Xiaguan and dayi cakes on KingTeaMall and Yunnan Sourcing... Does anyone have any insight to some good young factory Sheng?

This is a budget factory shu with a bit of age on it. Purchased from Yee On Tea, so HK storage. Fresh off my porch, so no acclimation time. Will revisit later.

5 g/100 mL, full boil, glazed stoneware gaiwan, 10s-vibes based brewing time.

Dry leaf: spicy dry log, hint of camphor. No pile smell (as you’d expect—it’s been off the pile a loooong time.

Wet leaf: wet log, warm spice, camphor, earth, petrichor. Vanilla? Really beautiful complex dark smell.

Rinse: not that much odor. Amber color, clear. Mouthfeel very viscous, oily, slippery. Hint of earthy forest floor flavor. Sliiiiiiight camphor.

1st steep: lid smell strong camphor. Vanilla-nutmeg (or mace maybe? Warm spice) off the wet leaf. Smooth earth flavors. Clear dark orange liquor. Oddly, less viscous than the rinse. Maybe a temperature thing? Cooling effect in throat and nose

2nd steep: smells about the same in the gaiwan. Scent picking up in the cup. Sweetness on the back, mix of wet log, warm spices, mild camphor. Still smooth and slippery.

Steep the 3rd: wood starting to pick up in the smell of the leaves and liquor. Still getting lots of vanilla, though (not that I’m disappointed). Lot of sweetness in the aroma.

4th: steeped a little longer. Earth/wet dirt and camphor are more forward.

5th on: pushing a bit more. Warm spice departed, vanilla wood + cooling stays. Viscosity starting to drop off a bit, but still smooth. Bit of smoke in the lid smell. It’s not near done yet, but this review is getting long, so I’ll cut here.

Body feel: some grounded calm, but it’s not like being beaten over the head with serenity. Helped with the migraine I had (ofc that could just be the caffeine).

Overall: I’m rather pleased at this $32 (+ shipping) cake. There’s a lot of complexity and depth in the aroma and flavor, and it feels good in my mouth. Nothing off in the flavors whatsoever. It was a great blind buy and could easily be a daily for me when I’m not chasing qi. Looking forward to a revisit when the shipping wears off.

Final note: I was brewing this to red-amber, not ink, so it’s probably earthier if you push it more.

EDIT: getting some cream in the late steeps that I didn’t expect. Yum!

So the only pu’er tea i’ve greatly enjoyed have been these 3–

https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2017-bao-he-xiang-peach-cake-raw-pu-erh-tea?variant=12076805324868

https://www.bitterleafteas.com/shop/tea/puer/eden-2019-manzhuan-raw-puer

https://www.bitterleafteas.com/shop/tea/puer/higher-ground-2024-spring-tianmenshan-raw-puer

The only other pu’er samples (sheng) I’ve had thusfar have tasted like shitty basement must. The links I listed I enjoyed enough to buy a whole cake of. Is the YS cake worth it?

I’ve looked at farmerleaf, crimson lotus tea, and yunnancraft and was trying to pinpoint mid 2010’s sheng (not shy about what these can cost) but really wasn’t…experienced enough in raw pu’er to know what tastes/aromas I’m searching for— but that’s why I posted these pu’ers I’ve sampled^^

Those 3 shengs were utterly delightful. (All of them are blends, I believe, I’ve heard mixed things regarding sheng blends from folks so i wonder if I should try a single origin pu’er?)

To that point^, are there really in-depth, DEEP dive translated videos/books/breakdowns from the east on raw/sheng pu’er? Especially from the last decade on the different regions & how their climate/land/production style affect their tastes. I read up a bit on wet/dry storage, but couldn’t say why yiwu is sweet and lancang is…(???)

I appreciate it a bunch.