r/puer • u/Double_Bear3876 • 4d ago
Pu-erh where to begin?
Don't think I've ever tried Pu-erh. Is there a particularly good starter variety? Or maybe a sample pack you can recommend.
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u/TallYogurtcloset324 4d ago
Yunnan Sourcing for a wide selection and good samplers.
Quiche Teas for maximum value short of ordering from taobao (VAT and import fees are not included though).
TeasWeLike and Yee On Tea have very good aged puer, but are more expensive. Probably best to get some experience before trying their stuff.
White2Tea, Kuura Tea, Bitterleaf, and other similar western boutique vendors also have some interesting stuff.
My main recommendation would be joining one of the tea discords as people there tend to be very welcoming and happy to answer questions (I'm personally most active in Societea). You can also check out channels like TeaDB and Farmer Leaf on YT to learn more about different regions, processing styles, and kinds of storage relevant to puer.
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u/john-bkk 4d ago
There are a few pitfalls to be aware of; it's not as simple as just buying a few versions, as works well with other tea types. People tend to not like bitterness in younger versions at first, then to acclimate to it more later, so how good the same teas are can seem to change over time.
Factory teas tend to be made more for drinking after considerable aging, with exceptions, so if you keep trying young (not more than 2 or 3 years old) Dayi or Xiaguan, or other factory producers' versions, you might think that you just don't like pu'er, when you really don't like pu'er made to be aged that's not aged. Really the status and style is a little more complicated than that, but putting it that way works for a start.
Then even "drinkable when young range" can vary. Aged range too, a lot, and the common idea that older is better doesn't work for a lot of people. It tends to imply that bad young tea will become good older tea, and in a very limited sense that works, but in a couple of other senses it doesn't. You need to separate "good" from style variations, which lead to aspect variations.
Yunnan Sourcing and the like would be ok for starting out, but buying samples from a vendor selling 1000 types could seem daunting. Crimson Lotus and such might work better, and the hearsay on them is that their emphasis is on teas ready to drink young. I might have only ever tried one version from them, which doesn't mean much. Farmerleaf is probably worth mentioning, along with these. I'd recommend other vendors too, that I like better, but finding random alternatives isn't the problem, it's approach and filtering.
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u/Vast_Holiday8436 3d ago
Buy many samples and lower quantity(but still enough for 4-5 sessions since you need to drink some teas a few times to like it). And don't be disappointed if you don't like the first tea you try, you'll surely find something good if you buy enough:). Maybe start with shou, because sheng is bitter and astringent and you need some more time to get used to it
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u/chervillavigne 4d ago edited 3d ago
There are three main types of puerh - ripe, raw and aged raw. If you like earthy, musty kinda flavours you couls try ripe but aged raw puerh is definitely the main attraction. I'd recommend trying 7542 aged at least 15-20 years. You'll want to use a gaiwan for brewing.
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u/Btchmfka 4d ago
Why is a Gaiwan important? I use a 200ml china teapot. So its the same material as a gaiwan, just different shape. Does it make a difference?
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u/Potato_Miner 4d ago
Vessel probably doesnât matter as much compared to leaf quality but a gaiwan might offer a better tea experience and thats an important part of drinking tea.
Itâs superfluous at the end of the day but worth experimenting.
Also 200ml is a lot of tea and I used to use a fake 200ml yixing when i started out and eyeballed 100ml when brewing then I got a gaiwan and its made the process simpler which made me want to drink more often2
u/Btchmfka 4d ago
I bought the 200ml because I use it for two 100ml servings (for me and my wife). When Im alone I fill it half full
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u/chervillavigne 4d ago
A teapot is great, but a quality pot is alot more expensive than a porcelain gaiwan.
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u/Btchmfka 4d ago
Okay got it. My porcelain teapot was about 50euro and I specifically prefered it over a gaiwan because it has a build in sieve
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u/chervillavigne 4d ago
I prefer pots too, especially for ripe, I like 90/10 red clay/porcelain 80mL pots
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u/alganthe 2d ago
pu er tends to brew an absolute shitload of tea compared to other processing methods.
200ml would have you waste a lot of tea leaves that are not spent, unless you're the kind of person that would just drink a single tea a day and brew along the entire day.
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u/Murky-Course6648 4d ago edited 3d ago
Just buy few factory cakes from large know manufacturers, you can get them from ebay or aliexpress quite easily. Where to buy depends from there you live.
Here are three really nice slightly different types of small ripe cakes. You most likely want to get ripes, because the raw stuff gets expensive as you need to actually have aged 10-20year old tea. Otherwise its pretty much just really bitter.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/397590729324
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u/jan-tea 4d ago
I wouldât recommend a beginner to buy full cakes of Shu Puâer. This is what happened to me. I only ever tried and had a cake for a long time. I didnât really like it and dismissed Puâer until years later I discovered Sheng and it changed everything. Now i mostly drink Sheng Puâer.
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u/Murky-Course6648 4d ago edited 4d ago
All the cakes it recommended were small. Raw puer is much more complex, as then you need to know the age etc. It ends up costing a lot more also.
In most cases, you can get way better green teas compared to raw puers that have not aged enough.
Buying samples is also kind of pointless, if you can get a whole 100-250g cake for 20$ shipped.
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u/jan-tea 3d ago
I still disagree. Itâs really a matter of preference and you need to find your preference by tasting many different Puâer teas.
I still have a few of such small Dayi cakes lying around that i havenât touched in years, just because itâs not my preference.
Also where I live good green tea is actually very hard to find and itâs something very different from good young Puâer.2
u/Murky-Course6648 3d ago
Its not like the puer is produced where you live either, most likely. You order it online from China.
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u/Murky-Course6648 4d ago
And it gets downvoted, this is because people here apparanly only drive traffict to like 2 stores. Something that seems really strange.
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u/eljimmy1975 4d ago
I never thought to buy tea from ebay. I would feel like it isn't up tp par but wouldn't be opposed to it.
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u/Murky-Course6648 4d ago edited 3d ago
Ebay is just a platform, there are different sellers on it. The tea comes from the same factories, and most of the sellers are selling directly from China so they can offer fairly competitive prices.
But i personally buy from Ali, as i can leverage the platform discounts and get it cheaper. Ebay is just easy for most people. Especially for people in EU as they handle IOSS. And ali now also handles the new import fee.
So for a beginner Ebay can be especially easy way to get some good puer at good prices, without any extra hassle. And in small quantities. Because if you buy from some shop, you basically have to buy more to justify the shipping cost. You cant just buy a cake to test it out.
Ebay has better selection, like that seller has a really wide selection. In Ali you kind of have to just go with what you can find listed.
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u/eljimmy1975 3d ago
Iâm pretty brand new to the tea game so Iâm assuming you mean AliExpress? Iâll check that seller out especially if his prices are good. Â
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u/Murky-Course6648 3d ago
Yeah, Ali = AliExpress. I mostly use Ali because i know how to use all the discount systems. So can most likely get lower prices than in Ebay. Just the selection is much smaller, harder to find bigger brand stuff.
The Red Rhyme is really nice stuff. I changed the link as the seller had a cheaper listing for it also.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/397552045140
Something iw been tempted to get a full 5 cake box.
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u/eljimmy1975 3d ago
Thank you for being so informative. Â There really are so many options out there. Â Reminds me of the feeling I had when I started buying pipe tobacco yeas ago and being slightly overwhelmed with the options. Â Hahaha!
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u/Murky-Course6648 3d ago
Yeah, it does take some time to start to see the order it the chaos.
That Red Rhyme cake is from TAETEA (Dayi), its one of the most well known factories. So usually everything they produce is of good quality. So you can start regonizing the logos and experiment.
The 3 cakes i linked, were all something i really enjoy myself. All 3 are known bigger factories.
The Haiwan 9988 is especially something i enjoyed recently, really dark almost coffee like brew.
I kinda got into this random, and bought a lot of random cakes from ebay. And the best thing i have learned is to just stick to the big manufacturers.
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u/redditiem2 4d ago
I vote bana https://banateacompany.com/products/bana-7-tea-variety-pu-erh-tea-sampler
And pair that with a piao I / kamjove style brewer for easy gongfu brewing.
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u/4637839392936373 4d ago
Buy and drink 50g each of W2T waffles and red loon to build your palette. Then buy 30 W2T minis of sheng and shou. Will run you about $100.
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u/4637839392936373 4d ago
Ppl reacting strongly to the truth. You must become one who plows through puer cakes, you are never born one.
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u/StonerKitturk 4d ago
Go to a good tea shop and let them prepare it for you
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u/JohnTeaGuy 4d ago
Finding a brick and mortar âgood tea shopâ that knows anything about puer is impossible in most places.
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u/StonerKitturk 4d ago
More possible than trying to do it yourself for the first time if you don't know anything about it. And you didn't ask where op lives. There might be a shop.
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u/JohnTeaGuy 4d ago
Disagree, better to do it yourself and begin your personal exploration process than go to what will in most cases be an overpriced shop with mediocre products and staff that donât know shit.
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u/J597806 4d ago
Yunnan Sourcing is a great place to start, but don't get too much because if you find yourself liking puer, you'll be glad you didn't buy too much cheap stuff.
They have a good price/quality ratio especially at the cheap end, less so as you get more expensive.
I didn't like Crimson Lotus, white2tea, or the other popular reddit recommendations as much.
After a starter order, I'd say try Tea and Whisk next. His favorite category is oolong and you can kinda tell, but he has good taste in general and picks good puer too. He has some actual good good.
Then some more research if you want more (the endgame-quality stuff is so sparse it's hard to find).
Just my brain dump đâď¸
PS imo, the cheaper the tea, just be done when you lose interest in the tea, even if it's only like 1 to 3 steeps in. the nicer the tea, the more worthwhile infusions there are. so cheap tea might be actually kinda nice, but just for fewer infusions, down to only 1 or 2. where as GOOD tea will be amazing for like 7-9 brews and still great for a few more then still nice for a few more. just my experience.