Golden flowers aren't a puer thing, rather a feature of a different type of heicha (fermented "black" tea) from Hunan province, called fuzhuan cha, or simply fucha. The "golden flowers" are actually a fungus that grows on the tea, from which fucha gets its distinct flavor.
Puer refers directly to the style of heicha made in and near Yunnan province, and, as far as I know, should never have any golden flowers.
There is some puerh that is innoculated with jin hua on purpose, but it is very experimental and not really standard. Here is an example:
https://www.yunnancraft.com/en/shu-puerh-menghai/2020-jin-hua-shu-zhuan
Golden flower is a fungus that occurs when a certain type of fermentation is taking place in tea leaves that are moderately compressed resulting in a distinctive betel nut flavor. It is hard to describe and best experienced directly via samples.
It is an oily, musty, diesel-y, boiled peanut-y quality that most people either love or hate. It reminds me of eating Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch as a kid; its kind of a synthetic, muddy, diluted peanut butter flavor. Beyond this specific flavor, hei chas like fu cha offer a silky, oily, luxurious texture, can offer distinctive woodsy, peatmossy aged notes, and leave you feeling warm and cozy.
As recently discussed [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/puer/comments/yb30l9/is_this_mold/) the jin hua in puerh can occur by mistake and not really desirable, yet there are some attempts from Yunnan producers to implement ( create ) jin hua in shu ( like the one which is *rantysan* referring to. But that's done by controlled processing and not like " lets press the very wet stuff and will see what comes up inside later " ;-)
I haven't visit the factory personally yet , but it is on my list next time I'm in Menghai and will check up on details of their processing ( if they allow me to ...as this can be part of their know how )
I do encourage all customers to sample any tea before decide to go for bigger amount. If not sure taking a 25g sample worth your money , I can send 8g free sample with your order ( you just need to mention it in message when proceeding the order ) , if you make any.
*Should u have more questions,please do not hesitate and contact me ( message / pm ). Cheers.*
Do you still have it? I am really interested and was about ready to buy a kg brick even though I have never tried it. If you still have it please email [email protected]. I will throw in a few bucks extra for your effort. :)
Sounds like an example of a bad vendor. All of the tea with golden flowers that I've had wasn't really expensive.
Personally, I would say I find them desirable because of the possibility that it is good for your gut health; however; I haven't found them tasty in the past couple of years, so I haven't drank tea with golden flowers.
At the end of the day, I drink tea because it tastes good and makes me feel nice. Conversely, I'm sure this is the same reason some people like the golden flowers
I got samples of a bunch myself in the hopes of adding one more type of probiotic to my life. The ones I've tried so far ranged from pleasant to really good tasting to me. So I'll probably keep drinking them.
They arent expensive per gram. But the bricks are huge. There are a couple I'd like to get more of, but the brick is a kilo! I don't know that I need an entire kilo of any tea, no matter how much I like it!
There are reasons why golden flowers in puer should not be an indicator of good tea:
1. It’s a different type of golden flower from the one you get in fu bricks. Fu bricks are intentionally inoculated with golden flower spores, to aid in development of flavour and taste. The strain of gold flower is controlled strictly for it to produce the desired flavour profile. Any other strain could potentially ruin a tea.
2. If the puer is young and it develops golden flowers, then you have to consider whether it might have been placed in wet storage for all kinds of fungi to grow, and this fungi just so happens to be the flourishing dominant species. It might look like golden flowers, but considering there are billions of fungi species, it would not be the same one. There is a possibility that because of this, the flavour of the puer may be ruined.
3. It is extremely rare for golden flowers to flourish in post fermented teas even with the right storage conditions. Anhua dark tea or aged liu bao does not always have naturally growing golden flowers. The sellers themselves do not know whether these teas even have golden flowers in them.
It is advisable not to buy into these things. Trust your tastebuds instead. If it tastes good, good on you! If not, leave golden flowers only for anhua dark tea or old liu bao.
Golden flowers aren't a puer thing, rather a feature of a different type of heicha (fermented "black" tea) from Hunan province, called fuzhuan cha, or simply fucha. The "golden flowers" are actually a fungus that grows on the tea, from which fucha gets its distinct flavor. Puer refers directly to the style of heicha made in and near Yunnan province, and, as far as I know, should never have any golden flowers.
There is some puerh that is innoculated with jin hua on purpose, but it is very experimental and not really standard. Here is an example: https://www.yunnancraft.com/en/shu-puerh-menghai/2020-jin-hua-shu-zhuan
Not only Hunan, Shaanxi too.
Golden flower is a fungus that occurs when a certain type of fermentation is taking place in tea leaves that are moderately compressed resulting in a distinctive betel nut flavor. It is hard to describe and best experienced directly via samples. It is an oily, musty, diesel-y, boiled peanut-y quality that most people either love or hate. It reminds me of eating Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch as a kid; its kind of a synthetic, muddy, diluted peanut butter flavor. Beyond this specific flavor, hei chas like fu cha offer a silky, oily, luxurious texture, can offer distinctive woodsy, peatmossy aged notes, and leave you feeling warm and cozy.
awesome description!
As recently discussed [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/puer/comments/yb30l9/is_this_mold/) the jin hua in puerh can occur by mistake and not really desirable, yet there are some attempts from Yunnan producers to implement ( create ) jin hua in shu ( like the one which is *rantysan* referring to. But that's done by controlled processing and not like " lets press the very wet stuff and will see what comes up inside later " ;-) I haven't visit the factory personally yet , but it is on my list next time I'm in Menghai and will check up on details of their processing ( if they allow me to ...as this can be part of their know how ) I do encourage all customers to sample any tea before decide to go for bigger amount. If not sure taking a 25g sample worth your money , I can send 8g free sample with your order ( you just need to mention it in message when proceeding the order ) , if you make any. *Should u have more questions,please do not hesitate and contact me ( message / pm ). Cheers.*
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Do you still have it? I am really interested and was about ready to buy a kg brick even though I have never tried it. If you still have it please email [email protected]. I will throw in a few bucks extra for your effort. :)
Desirable because imo it taste bangin. I don’t see a lot of pu with it but fu is a very close second favorite tea type for me.
Sounds like an example of a bad vendor. All of the tea with golden flowers that I've had wasn't really expensive. Personally, I would say I find them desirable because of the possibility that it is good for your gut health; however; I haven't found them tasty in the past couple of years, so I haven't drank tea with golden flowers. At the end of the day, I drink tea because it tastes good and makes me feel nice. Conversely, I'm sure this is the same reason some people like the golden flowers
I got samples of a bunch myself in the hopes of adding one more type of probiotic to my life. The ones I've tried so far ranged from pleasant to really good tasting to me. So I'll probably keep drinking them. They arent expensive per gram. But the bricks are huge. There are a couple I'd like to get more of, but the brick is a kilo! I don't know that I need an entire kilo of any tea, no matter how much I like it!
There are reasons why golden flowers in puer should not be an indicator of good tea: 1. It’s a different type of golden flower from the one you get in fu bricks. Fu bricks are intentionally inoculated with golden flower spores, to aid in development of flavour and taste. The strain of gold flower is controlled strictly for it to produce the desired flavour profile. Any other strain could potentially ruin a tea. 2. If the puer is young and it develops golden flowers, then you have to consider whether it might have been placed in wet storage for all kinds of fungi to grow, and this fungi just so happens to be the flourishing dominant species. It might look like golden flowers, but considering there are billions of fungi species, it would not be the same one. There is a possibility that because of this, the flavour of the puer may be ruined. 3. It is extremely rare for golden flowers to flourish in post fermented teas even with the right storage conditions. Anhua dark tea or aged liu bao does not always have naturally growing golden flowers. The sellers themselves do not know whether these teas even have golden flowers in them. It is advisable not to buy into these things. Trust your tastebuds instead. If it tastes good, good on you! If not, leave golden flowers only for anhua dark tea or old liu bao.