Notes on tasting for the “Chinatown” puerhs…

Well, this weekend I sat down to try the tuo cha and the beeng that I got from Chicago’s Chinatown.  I was eager to do this for a few reasons–first off, I really wanted to see how these cheaper shu’s were going to taste.  Secondly, I’ve decided that I’m going to use my new Yixing teapot for shu puerh (more on the “why” of that in another post), and I wanted to make sure that these shu’s weren’t going to be so icky-tasting as to have me not want them ever touching that teapot!

 First up was the tuo cha, which, as I understand it, is available in many Chinatowns and some larger Asian grocery stores.  This could very well be the tuo cha that so many people talk about trying for their first puerh experience and end up despising–I’m not sure.  Here it is again:

In all honesty, my rather dull beginner’s palate didn’t think it was half bad.  In fact, I liked it quite a bit.  It wasn’t nearly as good as the shu I got from Jing Teashop (see tasting notes below), as it was far, far less complex and “interesting” tasting, but it was good. 

As I said, it was very straightforward–it tasted smooth, slightly vegetal, and, well, like shu puerh.  There weren’t any “pondy” or icky overtones/aftertastes, however, and the smell of the leaves and liquor wasn’t offensive in the least.  I brewed up about five infusions of this in my 4oz gaiwan and was pleased with all of them.  Again, it tasted mellow and full and yummy, like something I’d very much want to drink with a meal.  So, setting me back only a buck-fifty in Chinatown, I’m deeming this tuo cha to be shu-puerh-Yixing-pot-worthy.  Hoorah!

The day after that, I tried the beeng:

Now, the very first thing I noticed about this puerh was that it was nowhere near as tightly compressed as the tuo cha’s I’ve been drinking have been–maybe that’s normal for this shape over that.  Also, the leaves were *much* bigger than those in the tuo cha, and were more whole.  There were also a lot more twigs.

Now, I don’t know exactly what the story is behind the bigger leaves–older?  poorer-quality trees?–but while I know it’s desirable sometimes, these leaves-and-twigs struck me as being of a lower quality than what I’ve been drinking.  Of course, I don’t know anything about this all yet, so I might be crazy.

 The taste is the important thing, though, of course, so I did multiple infusions of varying lengths in the gaiwan to see what I thought?  The verdict?  This stuff can go into the pot, too, because I don’t think it will hurt it.  This beeng was very faint-tasting, even when brewed a long time.  Again, there were no offensive smells or tastes, and the tea was very smooth and mild.  This tea was just missing the depth and fullness that even the tuo cha from Chinatown had.  This wasn’t offensive, just different–a much less-flavourful experience, but still not something I’d turn up my nose at a big pot of with dinner.

 So, all in all, I’m pleased with all of this tea and pleased that I bought two beengs and two tuo chas.  This will mean I have quite a bit of lower-quality shu to drink up, but I’m not in any hurry and am starting to really like cooked puerh as an everyday “coffee replacement” of sorts, so I’m glad to have lots of tea that I don’t have to worry about ruining and can put into my Yixing, etc.

Of course, your opinion on these puerhs may very well differ.  As I said, my palate is still pretty uneducated.  But I liked both of these better than I liked, say, the mini-shu-tuo cha’s from TenRen, and it’s the taste that matters.  So, at one-fifty a tuo cha and four-fifty a beeng for the teas above at a Chinatown or grocery near you, give ‘em a try and see what you think–then let me know!