#chinesetea

This is very important when first starting out and even once you’ve become more experienced. If a store does not offer a sample size of a puerh cake, then do not buy it, unless you are at least 95% positive you will like it. This kind of assurance does come from much time of tasting and research but until then, only buy what you can sample, otherwise you might be stuck with a 250g+ cake you hate. A sample size of 25g-50g is a perfect amount to start with to get a feel of a tea. The price of a sample size is usually a reflection of the price of a full cake, which directly relates to the first tip mentioned in Beginners Puerh #1.

Some reputable puerh sites may even offer educational puerh sample sets such as White2Tea. They offer 4 amazing sampler sets for starters. Two for ripe puerh and two for raw puerh. One sampler set is directed towards learning about how teas grown in different regions can differ as well as blends of teas from different regions. While the other sampler for each differs. For raw the second sampler revolves around harvest time and grade, while the ripe sampler revolves mainly around grade of leaf and blends of grades.

All of these samplers come with 4-5 mini cakes for a very reasonable price and are a big recommendation for anyone just starting out to gain a good understanding of harvest area, grading and development of the palate.