Pu-erh cakes suggestion

[khlara]

So my friend and I have fallen in love with pu-erh, but it's been at tea shops that aren't exactly using quality pu-erh. We've also had to make do with poor quality tea bags. We were at a Chinese tea ceremony/tasting years ago and had good quality pu-erh, so we know we love the stuff. However, getting back to that original shop is extremely

Comments

[bearsbearsbears]

Hi Khlara:

What kind of pu are you looking for? Raw/sheng? Cooked/shu? Aged?

For new sheng or shu pu (not aged), I suggest:
jas-etea.com (US)
puerhshop.com (US)
yunnansourcing.com (China)
stores.ebay.com/dragon-tea-house (China)
stores.ebay.com/awazon-tea (China)

You won't likely find a whole cake of something truly aged for under $80. The vendors below do sell samples of aged tea, which can make it a lot more affordable:

houdeasianart.com (US)
essenceoftea.co.uk (UK)

Either I or my friends have bought from the shops listed above and had very positive experiences.

If you'd like my thoughts on pu, please visit my blog at puerh.blogspot.com or check out the puerh_tea.livejournal.com community.

There are also lively discussions on pu'er at Adagio's teachat forum (teachat.com) and the badger & blade "sheng of the day" forum (google it).

If you're ever in Los Angeles, feel free to let me know. We have an informal tea group here "LA Tea Affair" (www.latea.org) that meets up to drink mostly oolong and pu'er, and we love having guests.

~Jason