FISHY TEA?! What makes Ripe PuErh taste funky? 

Even though I don't get many differences in ripe puerh flavour profiles, the fishy stuff is a totally different experience. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. It's been years since I last had a bad, fishy ripe, but I still wince at the memory! *shivers*

Since I mostly drink green teas I stayed away from PuErh for many many years. But last year I tried one from my local tea seller, a not further described "China Mannong Pu Erh BIO" for about 10EUR/100g (I bought only 50 g to taste it). It was exactly that fishy, seafoody aroma which hit me as soon as I opened the bag at home (strangely it was not so intense in the shop). The taste was better but still not what I wanted to drink again. Then, a few weeks ago, I became adventurous and ordered a sample of an "IMPERIAL GRADE SHENG LAO BAN ZHANG 2012" at 19EUR/10g (or 580EUR for a full cake) and I discovered a completely different world of PuErh. What a pleasure. I had 5g (9.50EUR) in my Gaiwan and it lasted for almost 15 brewings (compare that to the standard tea in a restaurant where you will pay 3.50 EUR for a glass of hot water and a paper bag of tea dust). I will never buy any "unidentified" PuErh again. Btw... I used the "fishy" one for smoking tofu - worked very well 😋

Hahaha I remember preparing a beautiful tea session then drinking... an oyster 😭😭😭 thank you for this video

First time I asked my daughter to describe the ripe puerh smell she mentioned "fish ass". Now she calls all ripe puerh "fish ass" even when I cannot identify any fishy smell.

Yes. Finally talking about fishiness in teas which is what has kept me away for years. I find it in greens, too. Maybe I'm over sensitive.

Parents went to China and brought back some random tuo cha . My first ever. Got lucky and it is quite delicious in my opinion. Thick and syrupy, dark color, and after a few infusions has a sort of cantaloupe rind aftertaste

My first ripe PuErh was Fire Phoenix, and I still had a 'WTF is this?' moment. I cannot get past the sensation of licking a rock at lowtide, even if it's had over 10 years of aging. Still, cuz it's PuErh, I can keep it in the cupboard and try it again after more time. :)

Thank you for this! My first experience with pu erh was fishy and mineraly, and I worried that it was bad for my health. You've put that worry to rest, and now I know it's a normal part of the process. Fortunately, I've traded fishy, foamy crags for sweet, medicinal stone fruits.

Will you be having a live session soon again? :) I love those, I get to learn a lot and just connecting with other teaheads are fun! :)

Thanks for taking one for the team! Fishy Puer has puckered many lips, but the real stuff is heaven in a cup!

I always learn and interested in Pu erh both. This video is useful to understand scientifically how similar and different these teas. Thanks you.

Good luck my first ripe experience was Fire Phoenix! Compared to other kinds of tea ripe on average is much cheaper (although there's also this new thing to ferment gushu material from famous towns), so it makes sense to pay a little bit more.

very interesting and informative!

Definitely this *smack smack* sulfurous *smack smack* fishy *smacksmacksmacksmack* not pleasant

I've been very content with White, Green, Wulong, and Red tea. But everybody in the virtual tea party was riding on the Pu-Erh wave, so I tried it. And tried. And tried. And just didn't enjoy it at all. In some cases the fishy aroma wasn't even the problem, but mostly the taste that a handful of dirt also holds. So now I'm back to (everything but) black.

Hi. I just watched this video and immediately after, ordered some Black Yunnan Tuo 96 from you. Hopefully, this will be my first of many orders from you and I’m looking forward to also investing in a ceramic cup and a Gaiwan too sometime, to enjoy my tea experience even more. Many thanks to you, Peace, Kev

I feel that it can also happen in any other tea, if you store it imporperly. I live in a attic flat where in the summer you easly get 30°C or higher combined with a slightly humid environment I feel that some of my teas are slightly fishy, especially green ones...

As another person stated my first experience with the smell/taste was Fire Phoenix. I was shocked, honestly I didn't get any of the flavors listed, it was like drinking fish tea which is a shame because it was one of the ones I was most interested in trying based on the description. My wife wouldn't even try it.

That 'yep' at the beginning just says it all.

I Once had fish-n-chips at Rheindahlem Royal Airbase that tasted like ripe puerh!😩

I'm a brand new tea lover. I received a small cake of ripe pu erh as a gift I'm sure it was inexpensive it has a slightly fish umami smell. But the flavor is smooth slightly sweet and quite enjoyable. There is no fishy taste or smell in my cup. It is juicy in the mouth. The smell leaves the leaves after a rise or two. I have also tried the tiny pellets. One shaped like a heart with rose petals. Not fishy but not great and one with rice leaves. Lol my daughter tried it and said" bread? No, its white rice without the butter and salt ". Its actually good with milk and sugar. Like rice! Anyway thank you for opening my eyes to trying anything not in a bag. I enjoy the teas blended with fruit and herbs but I'm also enjoying gong fu tea sessions with different types of true teas. Baby steps.

Would you please consider publishing a session of the various types of Yerba Mate?

Great video.. another lesson learn. 😊. May i ask, why does raw pu erh tea cake taste bitter n doesn't smell too good?. No matter how much tea i put it. It still taste bitter..

Hi Don, Have you ever used one of those clay tea stoves fueled by charcoal? Or maybe an electric version of it?

I had this with ripe as well as raw pu-erh. Sometimes it smells fishy, but the taste is good. Actually, I don't call it fishy myself, other people do. For me it's more like a marine quality, a walk on the beach, a bit salty. Do you think it could help to leave the leaves in an open space for a few days?

I like a little bit of Wo Dui taste in my puer. I'm weird. Or maybe I have never experienced a really fishy puer. I have and like good ripe puer too.

Had good steepings of ripe from Jingmai mountain yesterday again and I never discovered any fishy flaws in this tea. I only know this from sen cha. :D

Have you done similar videos (in depth experiential) on TCM ingredients?

Yeah, I bought what was supposed to be top shelf Pu erh tea. It was my first Pu erh. I noted a distinct dried fish taste , and it tasted like I steeped a pair of old socks. Trying it again now, and found your video. Probably going to toss it. Payed good money from a well reputable source. Ha….

I drink Aged Pu'erh every day but I like it very strong so I put 7,5 g per 10 cL, but I also drink cheap Gunpowder or Rize Turkish tea because I drink too many tea to only drink expensive tea 🙂

It's hard for me to tell if the issue I've had with Pu'er in the past is the "fishy" smell that's supposed to be there or if I bought crappy tea that was compromised and had started to rot. I put in a big Pu'er sampler order with West China Tea and am really looking forward to digging in! Even if I end up not vibing with the tea I totally recommend the service.

So it might be a good investment to buy a kilo of those small packets and store them for two or more years. Or is there a chance they won't lose the fishiness?

Buying fishy puerh from my local tea shop lead me to search for, and find Mei Leaf tea.

My first puer were tuo's. They had "sticky rice" aroma added to them. I liked that about them. It was some years ago, I should try to find these again.. What do you think about that sticky rice thing?

My first experience with Pu'erh was when my son was taking a Muay Thai kickboxing class and the instructor would have tea time and share. He would bring cakes back from his trips to Shanghai. I remember saying, wow that reminds me of sticky rice. We eat that at home a lot so my son thought that was cool. So I ordered some online. It was a mixture of samples of touchas from Yunnan. A few were a sticky rice aroma, all were abt 10 years old and ripe. The label said one was a sheng and the other 3 were shou. None tasted fishy at all. From some of the comments I've read, these may be the cheaper versions of Pu'erh but we like them and hey they don't taste like fish. I will say tho I am not a big tea person. I typically do not like the tannins or the bitters that dry my tongue and make me thirsty for water. I am interested in exploring Pu'erh more but not if it involves anything fishy. When I do brew I do like to add some dried Osmanthus tea/blossoms to my pu'erh to give it an extra floral note. Even tho I have bought these before, sometimes I just harvest the flower blossoms straight from the trees in my yard. One of my favorite scents of all time.

Is it just TMA or other tertiary amines as well? A lot of them have quite a fishy smell.

i got the black yunnan tuo 96 from mei leaf yesterday and it did have a bit of a dry squid smell. but i know that its probably because i need to let it rest for a week or two? anyhow if i look past that its really complex and interesting i definitely get the incense you mentioned

Golden dragon loose pu er tea has this fish smell when dry and after brewing, but I have not yet tried rinsing a few times

Crpyt-like is a good description; my metaphor was taking a core out of an Egyptain mummy and throw it in a teapot. Can't remember what type but not super cheap PuErh and there wasn't any fishiness (although this is interesting esp. when we get to chemistry) but not for me at all; maybe I could be trained to like very expensive PuErh but I prefer to invest in tea styles I like

also, usually my sencha tastes a bit fishy. I buy it loose in a local teashop, the leaves look nice and it generally tastes good, I always assumed the slight fishy aroma is something specific to sencha!

New to tea. I just bought some Jasmine Pearls - won't say what brand - but definitely bought fish instead of jasmine. Very disappointed. Also, even when I emptied & cleaned out my Teabloom teapot, the odor was still there! I hope it didn't ruin my teapot!

I love Puer tea more than anything! But if you're going to "do the pu" it's gotta be shu! I don't gripe when it's ripe.

you pause when describing tea in the same way that gordon ramsay does when cooking.

Hey Often I hear from people that some puerhs have florat notes. What flowers would it be? I have hard time to find any flower notes in any tea beacuse I don't know how flowers smell xD So If I know names of flowers you can smell in puerhs I'm going to go to some flower shop and find them

I had some Tuo Puerh here. It was okay but not one of my favorites teas, a bit too earthy I think... and looked like it could brew infinite infusions!

I actually like that fishy funkiness of non-high end ripe PuErhs; it reminds me of bonito (skipjack tuna) broth.

What is the device you are using to adjust focus?

I had never encountered this until I bought a monkey picked oolong, brewed a cup and took a wiff. It was incredibly disappointing as now I am greatly nervous about purchasing oolongs, which until now were my favorite

I got a standard pu erh tea from my local tea merchant/shop an have been pleasantly suprised( first time I've tried it). It's obviously not the best but also not the worst tea. At first I really hated that strong earthy taste. But as my taste has got used to it I can taste lovely dried raisins and strong prune and mellow woody flavours. Now I long to taste a really good quality example of this style of tea 😊

I just got into ripe (mostly) and raw puerh but i just dont pick up on these smells or subtle flavors.. its like i am drinking hot water.

Mine has a smell of a clean horse stall🤣

I am having some Pu erh tea that has a strange smell and taste I have never tasted before. It is not fishy at all but it has a strong "nutty/yeast" smell and taste, reminds me a little of how corn chips smell lol. It is a pungent smell, although not entirely off puttting. Is this a common thing or is something wrong with the tea?

I have a question. Does anyone have any tea companies to that I could look into and trust to buy Pu'er cakes? I'd appreciate it. I have bought a ripe Pu'er cake recently, it's from 2015. The thing is, it has a very very settle fishy/black lickerish taste to it. Not bad enough to ruin it for me. I love it. But, not good enough for me to be spending 50 bucks on it again. Especially if he's mentioning the fact that there's hints of vanilla in his. I want what he's having.

Very nice video... But I believe there are as many bad bricks/cakes as bad mini tuos Ripe puerh is an ocean of bad surprises if you're cheap - even with reputable sellers

I have some of these small bricks from the middle, but the fishy smell is actually quite sutle. Maybe I was lucky?

My main reason of not liking puerh that much is that it feels like im drinking piss. Thank god i never had funky fishy taste, after that i would definetly quit drinking puerh :D So far my favorite puerh is nectar raider, that one is very easy to drink.

Where can I find that tea tray?

Bought this 2015 yr TAETEA Puerh Yuan Ripe Pu'er Shu Pu-erh Tea 357 g from eBay for $22. Taste and smell soo fishy that I have to store it in a separate room.

We got a ripe pu'er tea cake as a gift, my girlfriend says she finds it fishy but it sorta goes away with a few rinses. I don't feel the fishiness that much, I just find it really bitter and one dimensional. But if I brew it at a lower temp and/or shorther time then it has barely any flavor at all. It's a 2013 Menghai 7562 Ripe Pu'er, which is supposed to be a great tea from a well respected producer, so either I'm doing something wrong or it's just not my cup of tea (badumm tsss). Let's just say I've had much cheaper teas than this that I liked better.

I mean its just so much stress, what am I going to do, am I going to buy a tangerine puerh tea wrapped in paper and wait for 23 years?

Asphalt smell-vinyl taste! No Thanks. I once complained to Scott at Yunnan Sourcing about not liking Ripe Puerh- He said try a ripe from 1990 -CNNP 9016 (very expensive) and if i didnt like it that i just don’t like ripe puerh! I did’nt like it.

To expel a smell from your nose, you must use a control aroma .... I recommend coffee

Why does tea start tasting like metal after a day of brewing, and as it grows weaker? I've noticed it mostly on PuEhr and Green teas?

My first ripe Puerh experience was extremely fishy, cheap Puerh in like a 400g tin from the local chinese grocery store. I still have the tin, but for other tea. My next ripe Puerh was Fire Phoenix in a flight box in fall 2018, with 2018 young gushu. Will drink Black Yunnan Tuo 96 later today :)

My first ripe pu-erh tea was a 9 year old, tightly pressed 200g cake from Yunnan. It was an acceptable tea, with an unspectacular taste profile, mostly wood and earth. Nothing to be proud of but at least no funny tastes and fishy aromas. It could have been much worse.

Once I smell 🐟 I can't smell anything else. And I am out....

...Tried Puerh once...gave it away...why even taste test a fishy/foul tasting drink... Give me a nice cup of Mi Lan any day..."Your honeymoon tea"...YOU are still the best ! (a loyal customer)

I ofthen get this fishy smell and taste from tea bag green tea. I will try to avoid these bags in future.

Without intending to influence anybody reading, or outright disparage an entire company, I have to say that Whittards PuErh tea was distinctly, ahem, 'marine-like' in profile. I couldn't enjoy it and sadly deposited the entire bag's contents into the compost heap. If I'm buying highly specialised tea here in London, I'd only buy from Mei Leaf. I learned this lesson the hard way.

😃😃😃👍👍👍👍🌿🌿🌿🌿☕

you're getting what of aromas??

Thankfully I’ve never had a fishy Pu Erh, or a fishy tea at all. I’ve had some awful Pu Erhs that tasted like paracetamol though.

Infusion after infusion after infusion after infusion after infusion after infusion after infusion after infusion after infusion after infusion ... ripe pu erh ...

I personally like that fishy smell :)

Well, I noted fishy notes in one TGY, which was quite surprising for me. It was not too storong and it appeared only when smelling dry leaves in preheated gaiwan (clean gaiwan :) and in happend everytime I was having it), but I noticed it. I would like to know what went wrong with this tea. I have about 5g remaining, it is from Anxi - spring 2018 €5,5/50g. Actually it looks nice. Nicely green, quite compact marbles, very floral and fruity - but at the begining there is slightly fishy hint. This made me sad, because therefore I just do not want more of this tea, which is has other attributes very good.

a very feminine odor can be released on the first rinses....

Now, I like the video, but to be honest, this is not a good controlled experiment... first, you must have a set of cups of each tea, and you must taste them blind folded with the assistance of someone.... and because you have a set of tea for each type, you can divide the experiment over a few days... to remove taste/flavor saturation... I'm just being truthful.

Yes, the flavor is dried squid plus "attic", and a little of grandma's old sweat socks. IMO the attraction to Pu Erh mirrors "The Emperor's New Clothes" story. The Chinese will eat and conserve *anything*. But if you're one of the believers, go ahead, drink up. I will keep my giggles to myself.

Yes , I tried to get rid of pu-erh....is just nasty

Funky? How about smell and taste "like swamp water?"

Your 1998 tuos are bad quality

Brew puer tea by yixing teapot is better.

Most companies should just stop doing ripe puerh. Sheng is drinkable straight away and ripens better.

I would also crack open the compressed 普洱茶 (Pu Erh tea, the one in the middle) to let it brew well. It didn't brew well here and the results might not be fair .... just being honest again ...