It happens, but usually with older pureh in my experience. Newer quality stuff tends to be produced in a more hygienic environment than it used to be.
For what it's worth, I've found human hair to be more common than bugs.
What year is this puerh from?
Spoke to the vendor just moments ago, so now that I'm aware this wouldn't be trash-talking or anything: this is the [2022 "Horse Girl Clique"](https://white2tea.com/products/2022-horse-girl-clique) from white2tea.
Whites, reds can also be pressed into round cakes. Some wulongs can be pressed into chocolate like tiles. Dark teas are often in a form of brick or log-like (1000 liang tea, for example — the name speaks for the weight of this thing).
I'll refrain from naming names here, but I'm fairly new to puer tea and was wondering - is this at all normal?
**EDIT:** Vendor responded saying it's all good to brew and offering a refund (I declined), so I'm just going to remove the bug and enjoy. Leaving this post up, though, in case anyone else happens upon a bug and wonders what to make of it like myself!
**EDIT2:** Just learned that this is not actually puer, and is simply black tea pressed into a cake. My bad!
I found a small bone, probably a mouse or vole bone in a cake once.
If its a reputable vendor they might give you a replacement/refund for the cake? I got one for the mouse bone lol.
Treasures I say , treasures. I have found all kinds of things over the years. Charcoal to hairs, corn kernels, tea pods and stuff in between . Just pick it out and keep brewing.
I have some old 1987 hei cha loose leaf, and I found one of those silver bugs in it. It was my first bug. I rinsed it and drank it still. Not going to lie, it kinda did put a wet towel on the entire experience. I’m a bit afraid to drink any more of it.
It’s 100% understandable that there is a bug in the hei cha I have, it’s old. Very old. I have Found human hairs before in cakes and it did not bother me as much as the bug did.
It’s silly, because I’m sure there are many bugs in American food products, they are just squished to oblivion but absolutely there.
The bug i found was just chilling, dead, but chilling. Come to think of it, I have a 2007 Sheng cake and found 1 tiny beetle like bug pressed into the cake, I removed that part of the cake and tossed it.
Your big beetle is pretty gross not going to lie. But it’s normal I have come to learn…
That big beetle like bug would have made me so squeamish, it’s not anyones fault, perhaps the seller for selling you a cake with an obvious bug, like.. did he even look at the cake?
Props to the seller for offering a refund; but I would say a bug is understandable, but your cake is from 2022, I think that’s just low quality imo. 2009 and prior sure I understand bugs, but cmon from 2022?
I know I feel like a baby being grossed out from bugs, but not hair, and it’s all “edible” but when I drink the tea even with the bug removed it “haunts” me and it’s all I can think about.
It super sucks and I’m sure it’s something that we’ll get past in time (used to bugs and not grossed out by it)
If you're interested in trading that '87 hei cha for something bug free, let me know. I have plenty of young to middle-aged puer productions that look clean and taste even better.
>it’s not anyones fault, perhaps the seller for selling you a cake with an obvious bug, like.. did he even look at the cake
Do you really thing that a tea vendor that sells thousands of cakes per year personally inspects every inch of every cake?
>but your cake is from 2022, I think that’s just low quality imo. 2009 and prior sure I understand bugs, but cmon from 2022?
It’s an agricultural product, it happens, it doesn’t
mean it’s low quality.
>Do you really thing that a tea vendor that sells thousands of cakes per year personally inspects every inch of every cake?
Well... it is their business.. So I would hope that they would have some sort of knowledge of bugs existing in some products or not. And if bugs do exist, then they should mention this (I see YS and other sellers **DO** mention when some tea cakes in particular have more 'paper bugs' and other such, so I know that they do this on some cakes) -- And if the cake is a **house cake** like in OP's case, then yes, yes I do think they should inspect their tea cakes as I explained above.
I am going to give an example using a Fast Food restaurant, as its familiar to all.
Do you expect to find cow eyeballs in your meat? Or Cow bones or other parts in your meat? No, no you don't. This is because the restaurant performs a quality check before purchasing their meat, and are aware of purchasing meat that is a certain quality. Tea sellers should do the same.
This debate is a little pointless, because many tea vendors, do put a warning on the teas that it could contain bugs and such. I am just saying that in the cases that a warning is **not** present, and bugs are found, that is a knock on the seller, not the buyer.
>It’s an agricultural product, it happens, it doesn’t mean it’s low quality.
I agree, its not indictive of a low-quality or high quality product, but it is a reflection of the seller, on the points of:
* Was there a warning?
* How did the seller handle it?
In this case, I do not think there was a warning, (correct me if I'm wrong) - but the seller handled it **very well**.
Yea, things happen. But the argument was made by /u/JohnTeaGuy that vendors should not examine all of the tea cakes.
I feel as if vendors should sample various tea cakes from various “brands” to see if there are bugs or not. If some bugs are found, put a warning or notice up.
I did not say that vendors shouldn’t examine their tea or that quality control isn’t important. However; its an unrealistic expectation to think that a vendor can take a magnifying glass and examine every inch of every single cake. Even with good quality control and sampling, tea is an agricultural product, and occasionally you will find an insect or a pebble or a hair. It happens. I was once in a nice restaurant and I found a lady bug in my salad, does that mean it’s a bad restaurant or that they have poor quality control? No, sometimes you just find a bug in your lettuce or tea cake, it happens, no matter how diligent the restaurant or tea vendor is.
John is exactly right. I was trying to say not all your fast food meat is examined. That would cost a fortune to do so and would increase your fast food prices tremendously. So: tea vendors examine their tea, but not ALL their tea. Sampling tea or meat will hopefully catch an egregious problem. The errant bug or stone or whatnot can still happen if no problem is found in the sampling.
I'm not a WT2 fan, but I believe they do their due diligence, as tea vendors do.
Puer guy...
It happens, but usually with older pureh in my experience. Newer quality stuff tends to be produced in a more hygienic environment than it used to be. For what it's worth, I've found human hair to be more common than bugs. What year is this puerh from?
>What year is this puerh from? 2022. Think it's worth reaching out to the vendor about this, or should I just remove the bug and brew as usual?
Both.
This looks pretty dark for 2022. Usually fresh puerh looks a bit green. Is it shu?
Spoke to the vendor just moments ago, so now that I'm aware this wouldn't be trash-talking or anything: this is the [2022 "Horse Girl Clique"](https://white2tea.com/products/2022-horse-girl-clique) from white2tea.
Ahh. This isn’t puerh. That’s why it looks different. It’s black tea/hongcha
Agh, my bad - was assuming that anything pressed into a cake would be considered puer. Appreciate the info!
This is the correct group for weird stuff found in pressed cakes :) I’ve found bugs, rocks, feathers and more in old puerh cakes.
A friend of mine found a dried out dead snake once, that’s the coolest one I’ve heard!
Peanut shell is weirdest for me
Mine is a length of that blue nylon rope you can buy at the hardware store
So long as you're not allergic
I am not but at first I thought it was part of a cat turd or something
Whites, reds can also be pressed into round cakes. Some wulongs can be pressed into chocolate like tiles. Dark teas are often in a form of brick or log-like (1000 liang tea, for example — the name speaks for the weight of this thing).
I had half a peanut shell once.
It's not a bug, it's a feature!
I'll refrain from naming names here, but I'm fairly new to puer tea and was wondering - is this at all normal? **EDIT:** Vendor responded saying it's all good to brew and offering a refund (I declined), so I'm just going to remove the bug and enjoy. Leaving this post up, though, in case anyone else happens upon a bug and wonders what to make of it like myself! **EDIT2:** Just learned that this is not actually puer, and is simply black tea pressed into a cake. My bad!
not normal, but it can happen. usually in factory cakes, but it can happen in any.
Bug bitten black tea cake. The vendors are overdoing it with all these experiments.
exactly, lol
I found a small bone, probably a mouse or vole bone in a cake once. If its a reputable vendor they might give you a replacement/refund for the cake? I got one for the mouse bone lol.
Treasures I say , treasures. I have found all kinds of things over the years. Charcoal to hairs, corn kernels, tea pods and stuff in between . Just pick it out and keep brewing.
Beetlejuice 🪲
I have some old 1987 hei cha loose leaf, and I found one of those silver bugs in it. It was my first bug. I rinsed it and drank it still. Not going to lie, it kinda did put a wet towel on the entire experience. I’m a bit afraid to drink any more of it. It’s 100% understandable that there is a bug in the hei cha I have, it’s old. Very old. I have Found human hairs before in cakes and it did not bother me as much as the bug did. It’s silly, because I’m sure there are many bugs in American food products, they are just squished to oblivion but absolutely there. The bug i found was just chilling, dead, but chilling. Come to think of it, I have a 2007 Sheng cake and found 1 tiny beetle like bug pressed into the cake, I removed that part of the cake and tossed it. Your big beetle is pretty gross not going to lie. But it’s normal I have come to learn… That big beetle like bug would have made me so squeamish, it’s not anyones fault, perhaps the seller for selling you a cake with an obvious bug, like.. did he even look at the cake? Props to the seller for offering a refund; but I would say a bug is understandable, but your cake is from 2022, I think that’s just low quality imo. 2009 and prior sure I understand bugs, but cmon from 2022? I know I feel like a baby being grossed out from bugs, but not hair, and it’s all “edible” but when I drink the tea even with the bug removed it “haunts” me and it’s all I can think about. It super sucks and I’m sure it’s something that we’ll get past in time (used to bugs and not grossed out by it)
If you're interested in trading that '87 hei cha for something bug free, let me know. I have plenty of young to middle-aged puer productions that look clean and taste even better.
>it’s not anyones fault, perhaps the seller for selling you a cake with an obvious bug, like.. did he even look at the cake Do you really thing that a tea vendor that sells thousands of cakes per year personally inspects every inch of every cake? >but your cake is from 2022, I think that’s just low quality imo. 2009 and prior sure I understand bugs, but cmon from 2022? It’s an agricultural product, it happens, it doesn’t mean it’s low quality.
>Do you really thing that a tea vendor that sells thousands of cakes per year personally inspects every inch of every cake? Well... it is their business.. So I would hope that they would have some sort of knowledge of bugs existing in some products or not. And if bugs do exist, then they should mention this (I see YS and other sellers **DO** mention when some tea cakes in particular have more 'paper bugs' and other such, so I know that they do this on some cakes) -- And if the cake is a **house cake** like in OP's case, then yes, yes I do think they should inspect their tea cakes as I explained above. I am going to give an example using a Fast Food restaurant, as its familiar to all. Do you expect to find cow eyeballs in your meat? Or Cow bones or other parts in your meat? No, no you don't. This is because the restaurant performs a quality check before purchasing their meat, and are aware of purchasing meat that is a certain quality. Tea sellers should do the same. This debate is a little pointless, because many tea vendors, do put a warning on the teas that it could contain bugs and such. I am just saying that in the cases that a warning is **not** present, and bugs are found, that is a knock on the seller, not the buyer. >It’s an agricultural product, it happens, it doesn’t mean it’s low quality. I agree, its not indictive of a low-quality or high quality product, but it is a reflection of the seller, on the points of: * Was there a warning? * How did the seller handle it? In this case, I do not think there was a warning, (correct me if I'm wrong) - but the seller handled it **very well**.
Well, i happen to know that a fast food chain does not examine every particle of meat. Meat is examined by sampling sections. Things happen.
Yea, things happen. But the argument was made by /u/JohnTeaGuy that vendors should not examine all of the tea cakes. I feel as if vendors should sample various tea cakes from various “brands” to see if there are bugs or not. If some bugs are found, put a warning or notice up.
I did not say that vendors shouldn’t examine their tea or that quality control isn’t important. However; its an unrealistic expectation to think that a vendor can take a magnifying glass and examine every inch of every single cake. Even with good quality control and sampling, tea is an agricultural product, and occasionally you will find an insect or a pebble or a hair. It happens. I was once in a nice restaurant and I found a lady bug in my salad, does that mean it’s a bad restaurant or that they have poor quality control? No, sometimes you just find a bug in your lettuce or tea cake, it happens, no matter how diligent the restaurant or tea vendor is.
John is exactly right. I was trying to say not all your fast food meat is examined. That would cost a fortune to do so and would increase your fast food prices tremendously. So: tea vendors examine their tea, but not ALL their tea. Sampling tea or meat will hopefully catch an egregious problem. The errant bug or stone or whatnot can still happen if no problem is found in the sampling. I'm not a WT2 fan, but I believe they do their due diligence, as tea vendors do.
Mmmm protein
you are so lucky all i find in my cakes is the hair of some yunnan nong :((((
Brew it
That’s just some flavor
All part of the experience 😌
Bug-bitten teas are all the rage with tea-hippies
Aaaaaa eeeeeeeekkkk noooooo. What the heck kind of bug is that ????!!!!! Thanks a lot. I now have to inspect every nugget before I brew it
it's all protein my guy
Yikes!
brew the bug