6 advices for my wild, raw pu-erh

Here is the translation of 6 advices from my pu-erh book (below):

1. Take your time to flake the pu-erh cake. (Breaking the leaves makes it bitter.)

2. Don't overboil the water. (The bubbles must be the size of crab eyes.)

3. Use a zhuni teapot. (It keeps the heat.)

4. Drink from slim tea cups. (For a delicate taste.)

5. Pay attention to the quantity (2 grams for 150 cc.)

6. Adjust the brew time to fit your taste. (This tea is easy to brew.)

Here are the 6 advices in chinese on how to brew this pu-erh.

Here is the little book that came with my pu-erh. It also serves as quality certificate for this tea made in limited quantity (1428 cases).

Une vue de coupe de mon pu-erh vert et sauvage de 2003. Pressé manuellement sur une pierre, ce pu-erh est relativement facile à décortiquer.

I have started to drink from my wild raw pu-erh of 2003. Nothing is written on the wrapping paper.

Tea and health

I have recently joined 2 tea discussion groups on Yahoo! (Teammail and Tea-disc) and found many valuable information I am still busy reading and digesting. The world of tea is big and I found myself welcome by several new friends. You could also say that such groups are an original version of cooperative blogs.

One information I stumbled upon lately is: "Green Tea's Record Against Cancer Grows". It may be comforting to know that my favorite drink is not bad for my health, but it shouldn't be a news anymore (anybody heard it for the the first time?!) and it shouldn't be the primary reason to drink tea. The article is quite carefully worded and even says: "To get green tea’s potential disease-fighting benefits, studies have suggested that you should drink four cups a day."(!)

From this, it is clear that this kind of research is not aimed at boosting the consumption of tea, but at selling their pills. The article finishes: "Green tea supplements are also available, and at least one study has shown that you may actually get more powerful antioxidants from supplements than from drinking tea".

During all my classes with Tea master Chih, he never mentioned tea's health benefits. Web sites that tout tea mainly for its health benefits probably sell bad tasting tea. You may reluctantly drink medecine prescribed by your doctor, but nobody should feel obligated to drink bad tea when there are so many good ones around.

La coopérative de Lu Gu (Dong Ding)

Cette coopérative des producteurs de thé de Lu Gu, le grand village à côté de Dong Ding, propose des thés de qualité supérieure, mais pas les grands 'crus'. Leur méthode d'évaluation des thés oolong:
- 3 grammes,
- un tea taster de 150 cc,
- de l'eau bouillante à 100 degrés,
- une infusion de 6 minutes.
J'y ai acheté un tel tea taster pour 3 euros!
Leur date d'arrivée du thé de printemps sur le marché: 2 mai 2005.

All about Puerh

A truly amazing site about the tea Westerners understand the least: puerh. The good news: it's in English! And an even better news: it has a great collection of links and translation help from Chinese to English! And to top it all: it has a link to the Tea Masters blog!

Impressions du mont Dong Ding

J'y ai fait un tour juste avant le Nouvel An chinois et en ai ramené les photos ci-dessous. C'est un endroit assez minuscule. Il y a donc peu de chance que le thé Dong Ding (Tung Ting) que vous buvez provienne exactement de cette montagne. C'est tout le problème des appellations contrôlées pour le thé. D'ailleurs, il n'y en a pas et c'est incontrôlable!

Lorsque les thés de Dong Ding devinrent populaires à Taiwan il y a 25 ans environ, tous les producteurs/vendeurs appelèrent leur thé 'Dong Ding'. Si bien qu'un thé 'Dong Ding' désigne plus un certain type de oolong sec qu'une région. De nos jours, ce sont les thés de haute montagne (plus de 1000 mètres) qui sont le plus prisés. Mais là aussi, je doute qu'ils satisfassent tous au critère d'altitude.

La bonne nouvelle, vous la voyez dans les photos ci-dessus: le brouillard. Il avait tendance à disparaitre avec la modernisation de Taiwan. Or, celui-ci est un bienfait pour le thé. Et ce jour de soleil à Taichung, le brouillard ne s'est jamais complètement levé de Dong Ding. La récolte du printemps 2005 risque donc d'être bonne!

A view from the top (of mount Dong Ding).