Acclimating to sheng pu'er preference, to bitterness and astringency

 

one of the last sheng versions I've reviewed, but a tea from Thailand

Another Reddit post raised an interesting subject, asking why someone seemed to not like sheng pu'er, when it's regarded so positively by so many tea enthusiasts.  They framed that as asking "Is it possible that I just don't like raw pu'er tea in general?"  My comment there:

Sure, you don't like it. I didn't like it for a long time, many years, and after continually revisiting it I eventually started to explore it more, and it's been the main type I drink for the last 4 years or so. There are parts to that; I can describe them.

Acclimation to bitterness is the main factor. I hated it for a long time; it just tasted like taking an aspirin, and then eventually I was more open to it, and now it's a pleasant part of what is normal to me. It seems similar to how people don't love beer at first, or coffee, then later they tend to, unless they stop trying those, which would also make plenty of sense. I own and drink aged sheng, and own a half dozen cakes from 15-20 years old, but I mostly drink young (new) versions, often made within the last year, or beyond that of differing ages, and a good bit in between, 8-10 years old. It's all quite bitter and astringent, relative to other types, but just normal for me now. Oddly I'm more open to sourness now too, which doesn't come up much in sheng pu'er, so that's a different story.

Another part is that people often start on random sheng, so they're drinking factory versions, which are generally fairly low in quality and made of chopped up material. There wouldn't be awareness of how long versions (types) are typically aged. A Xiagun tuocha is generally challenging material, both bitter and astringent, not even close to ready to drink after a decade of aging, but a higher quality, more whole leaf, natural environment grown Yiwu or Jing Mai origin version is generally pleasant enough right away, and mellowed beyond that 2 to 4 years into aging. Storage conditions change fermentation level and that timing quite a bit; dry area or controlled environment storage can make an 8 - 10 year old tea seem equivalent to one aged for that shorter 3 to 4 year time frame in a wetter and hotter place (partly true Taiwan or Hong Kong, but it's even more exaggerated in places like Malaysia or Thailand).

Optimum brewing approaches vary by tea type, and I personally find that Western brewing isn't very suitable for sheng, and prefer high proportion and short infusion time gongfu brewing. That's not necessarily universal, maybe except that the part about approaches being adjusted for tea type is more broadly applicable. Once you really lean into bitterness preference and can tolerate a range of intensities brewing using a broader range of ways may seem positive.

Should someone develop a liking for sheng; is there a compelling reason for moving through an exploration and acclimation curve? Maybe, maybe not. It's more intense, complex, and varied than other tea types, especially since aging transition makes every tea version seem different year to year. People into sheng find the flavor ranges more appealing. But then that's not so different than for any other type. I get it why people see pu'er enthusiasts as somewhat elitist, in general, because it is a main theme that comes up. Then to me it's odd linking your own tea preference to some sort of subculture / group personality type, in any way. Group associations can be a funny thing, developing organically in different ways.

The consensus there was that it's fine to not like any given tea type, which of course works.  Then people had trouble placing why others might like a tea type that actually tastes bad to them, not just falling outside their main preference, how the acclimation process I just covered works out.

Just to add a little on the comment related to sourness, that is a more uncommon flavor inclusion in tea range, and it often relates to poor processing resulting in a flaw.  Not always though.  A fermented tea version like Japanese goishicha can be a little sour, related to normal aspect range for the type.  Atypical plant types can seem to cause this in sheng pu'er, as in the case of a purple varietal version I bought awhile back, or a local Thai wild plant version (which may not have been all Camellia Sinensis variety Assamica; who knows).  I'm more open to sourness now than years ago, but wouldn't want to drink versions with pronounced sourness too often.

that purple leaf varietal brick; it does look a little unusual

It has been interesting hearing about others experiencing the same type of acclimation that I'm describing.  An online contact is an oolong specialist and vendor, and she always claimed that she didn't care for the "energy" from pu'er, but eventually she did acclimate to drinking it, and sold it.  I guess a commercial driver comes into play for that.

A respected earlier time period tea enthusiast discussed how sheng pu'er was popular 20 years ago partly because it was inexpensive, so a lot of the image around it has changed completely, almost the opposite of what it had been.  The greater demand of the "pu'er bubble" changed everything, when buying that tea type and holding it as an investment changed things, around the 2005 time-frame.

New styles changed things again, as factory tea versions gave way in popularity to milder, more whole leaf, often natural environment grown, higher quality "boutique" versions, which come in a broad range of forms now.  Thai, Laos, and Vietnamese versions made in these newer, more approachable styles probably almost didn't exist a decade ago, and production volume of any South East Asian sheng pu'er (or pu'er-like tea, depending on one's acceptance of the Chinese regional designation of the type name) was quite limited, even that recently.

My most recent post describes a main step in my own acclimation process, getting exploration wrong, as it worked out, related to a role that good input plays in that path:

In one of my first exposures to differing tea types a local Chinese-Thai woman was selling sheng pu'er...  About 10 years ago I bought a cake of modestly priced "young" or new factory sheng at that shop to drink, to explore and acclimate to the type...  It was probably roughly as poor a choice as I could've made, quite harsh without significant aging input.  Still, it worked out; I acclimated to bitterness, some, and went on to explore oolongs more, returning to sheng exposure and preference some years later...

If back then I had bought any of the current Wawee origin area Thai teas I've been drinking several versions of over the last year that probably would've went quite differently.  Those tend to be less bitter, softer in feel character, sweeter, more aromatic, with pleasant floral and fruit tones.  Yunnan Sourcing--or lots of outlets now, really--sells better quality in-house versions in a broader range now, many a bit more traditional in style than what I've been trying from Thailand and Vietnam over the past few months.  Those are still not as challenging as factory versions made in the earlier conventional style, which is still fine, they just need significant age to soften some rough edges, per my preference.