The rather obvious one is the single malts and blends comparison. These exist quite clearly in the puerh world, with single mountains and specific factory blends. In whiskey certain blends are known for being solid, and while the material they have to work with changes from year to year, they do their best to create something as similar to the previous year’s product that they can. Whereas puerh experts can tell you what characterizes a certain mountain’s tea while being able to pick out the mountains of each tea from a blind taste test. I do not have that ability; I’ll admit it flat out.
But what I find as the more interesting observation I have for this comparison. I find that with puerh, especially aged, and whisky, the more you drink them the more you can over look what people find unpleasant about them initially. Many people turn away from puerh for the earthy flavors, and the musty and damp leaves characteristic they tend to exhibit. But drink aged puerh every day or every other day for a week or more, I believe the more and more you drink the easier it is for you to overlook those flavors, and focus on the nuances in that particular tea. In whisky the similarity is hopefully obvious to anyone that has ever had any hard liquor, and felt the burn. Now I’m willing to venture anything at 40+%ABV is going to burn when you drink it. But you have a glass every night or every other night, because you are on holiday, the burn does not bother you, you are comfortably familiar with it, and the tastes of that whiskey is no longer performing shock and awe on your system, you are being shocked and awed by all the unique flavors.
So to say this to people getting into puerh it is not like most teas. Puerh given a long enough break between your last session with it, may just shock your taste buds. But persist through the obvious flavors, and eventually you will be able to pick out the subtle details hiding beneath those strong tones.
5 comments:
Like everybody else when I first started drinking puerh there were indeed flavors I didnt like. I dont think it,s so much that I learned to overlook those same flavors as much as I learned to appreciate and really enjoy those flavors. Learning to enjoy puerh requires persistence and experementation (not to mention a healthy wallet)
Bret, you are right overlook seems to be the proper word choice with Whisky but to make the better connection with puerh, perhaps desensitized to the flavors might be a better phrasing. In short I am saying it is no longer only those flavors which stand out, you can get a much fuller view and appreciation of the tea.
I think it's not so much overlooking the flavors themselves as overlooking your own objection to it. It's getting over preconceived notions that the earthy flavor is a bad thing. It's very Western to see dirt as dirty. And unsanitary is associated with sickness. It's a leap of faith at first but gets easier to say, "this is good dirt, not the bad stuff." --Spirituality of Tea
Puerh a form of Tea is compared here with Whiskey.It is clearly mentioned that the more you drink the more you you will get acquainted with it and will not look for its unpleasantness.Puerh is quite different from other teas.It gives a long enough break between last session and shock our taste buds.Definitely looking forward to have some some puerh along with some Cuban Cigars to feel the difference.
jgriffen,
If you haven't already check out "The Mandarins Tea" http://themandarinstea.blogspot.com/
He often smokes a cigar while drinking tea, and knows far more about cigars, and puerh than I do. But Toki might have some good recommendations on pairing a Tea with a cigar for ultimate enjoyment.
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