LogFAQs > #946189000

I really enjoy tea myself. Blacks, greens, oolongs, whites, pu erhs. My favorite tea like thing is yerba mate, but it's a different plant. But still.

Pu erhs in particular are weird and I'm not sure I'd have gotten into them if it wasn't for this tea spot in Santa Cruz, CA called Hidden Peak Teahouse. The place specialized in pu erhs and they had this traditional Chinese ceremonial option for tea service called gung fu. I had been many times before, but they also had options I was more familiar with and for really cheap (like fifty cents to a dollar!), so I had always gone with that.

But this particular time I was tripping on acid the day after my friend had just died and thought it would be a good place to relax. It was, and the gung fu service sounded cool to us, so we went with it and each got a different pu erh to share and try. It was a great experience. The gung fu ceremony was very cool to learn about and the tea wasn't like others I have had. I didn't actually like it much at the time, but I have grown to like them quite a bit. They have a much deeper and earthier flavor that isn't as immediately palatable as, say, an oolong, but personally I like the complexity in the flavor and the earthiness.

I currently have a couple really good oolongs that a tea shop I used to go to got imported from China. They're very tasty.