With her permission, I thought I would share her two videos. The first shows the initial processing of tea leaves, and the second details the pressing stage, where the leaves are compressed into cakes. Enjoy!

Preliminary pu-erh processing

Inside the Pu-erh Factory: Pressing the Leaves into Cakes

For more about the production of pu-erh, I also recommend checking out Linda’s photo gallery of her time in Yunnan. Be sure to also read Linda’s guest post on Tea Finely Brewed about pu-erh storage.

Disclaimer: You ought to know that Bana Tea Company advertises on Tea Finely Brewed.

© Eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2010. | Pu-erh Tea: From Harvest to Cake Pressing | One comment |
Post categories: Pu-erh tea
Post tags: pu-erh production, tea production

From 2006′ autumn harvest comes this ripe pu-erh tea, a wonderfully smooth tea with one dominant flavour: almonds.

I have Linda from Bana Tea Company to thank for this lovely sample (disclosure: Bana Tea Company is an advertiser on Tea Finely Brewed). It’s the fourth tea from Bana Tea Company that I have reviewed here, and again it’s an impressive, high-quality pu-erh.

Denong brick is included in loose form in Bana’s sampler set, which is how I received it. You can also buy it in brick form ($18 for a 250 gram brick).

As I mentioned at the outset, this tea is dominated by the flavour of almonds. But it doesn’t have the sharpness or mouth-drying quality that nutty teas often seem to have; instead, it’s very, very smooth ? calming, in its way. I was briefly reminded of vanilla, though this is a much subtler flavour. Also subtle is the hint of apples that starts to emerge with later infusions, balancing out the almond flavour.

After writing my notes on this tea, I thought I would take a look at what I wrote about Bana Tea Company’s Denong Wild Ripe Pu-erh, which is a wild-grown pu-erh tea. It struck me just how similarly I described the wild denong: it had “flavours of almonds”, a “smooth, almost delicate body” and a “refreshing effect on the mouth”. While the cultivated pu-erh doesn’t seem to be as complex as the wild-grown pu-erh, it is nevertheless remarkable to read how similar the two teas are.

Denong Pu-erh Brick is available from Bana Tea Company.

Browse more pu-erh tea in the Tea Finely Brewed marketplace.

© Eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2010. | Denong Brick from Bana Tea Company | No comment |
Post categories: Pu-erh tea, Tea reviews
Post tags: Bana Tea Company, ripe pu-erh, shou pu-erh

When I first started drinking wine, one of the things that I most enjoyed was the feeling afterwards, once the wine had coursed through the throat and into the stomach. That warmth. It was amazing to me to feel how the body responded to the drink.

I had a similar experience this morning with tea. The tea is an aged pu-erh tea from Bana Tea Company, a Menghai factory raw (sheng) pu-erh that has been aging since 1996.

What struck me about this tea was how refreshed the mouth felt after drinking it. Just like you can feel the wine burning in your chest, I could feel the tea coating and cooling my mouth.

I had steeped the tea according to Linda’s (the owner of Bana Tea Company0 instructions: start with two rinses, followed by a 10-second infusion; increase it by 10 seconds for the next three infusions; then infuse it for a minute, and increase it by a minute for every subsequent infusions. I am now on my fifth infusion, and the tea still has plenty of juice to give. In fact, many of the leaves have only just now begun to unfurl. I’ll be drinking this all day.

Dry, the tea looks impressive. Big, lush leaves, with some bronzed tips. It smells of earth, as you would expect from a pu-erh.

This is a very earthy pu-erh. But perhaps the most notable flavour I have found is a citric tartiness. This becomes more pronounced as the tea cools, and it has also become much more obvious with subsequent infusions.

Menghai Aged Raw Pu-erh is available in cake form from Bana Tea Company. Linda still has a limited supply of the loose leaf pu-erh, so if you’re interested in that, email her directly. Browse and compare more pu-erh tea from different merchants in the Tea Finely Brewed marketplace.

Disclosure: Bana Tea Company is a current advertiser on Tea Finely Brewed. This tea was sent to me as a free sample.

© Eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2010. | Menghai Aged Raw Pu-Erh from Bana Tea Company | No comment |
Post categories: Pu-erh tea, Tea reviews
Post tags: Bana Tea Company, raw pu-erh, sheng pu-erh

Today’s tea: Denong Wild, Bana Tea Company’s newest offering. This is a 2009 pu-erh tea made from 100% rare wild ancient arbor trees. (Disclosure: Bana Tea Company is a Tea Finely Brewed advertiser and this tea was received as a free sample).

With pu-erh, parameters are important. Here’s what I used: Six grams for the gaiwan. A twenty second infusion, the first time around. Add ten seconds for each of the next three infusions. Two minutes for the fifth infusion, and then add a minute for every infusion after that.

Brewing tea like this lets you experience how the tea opens up, as each infusion coaxes a little more out of the leaves.

The first infusion here yields a light amber infusion with a striking sweetness. The tea has a smooth, almost delicate body. But there is complexity there. As it cools, I notice how the tea changes in the mouth, from a sweet almond-like nuttiness to a mild tartiness. I also find that the tea has a cooling, refreshing effect on the mouth.

With the next infusion, the tartiness has become much more apparent. The liquor is much darker now, and the body isn’t delicate anymore. The earthy, campfire qualities that I have noted in other ripe pu-erhs is here, but it’s in balance with the other flavours. I have had other pu-erhs where all you can taste is that earthy flavour, but here it is part of a greater whole. Flavours of almonds and citrus fruits float around, interacting playfully.

I find it hard to do this tea justice. There is a great deal of complexity here. Ideally, I think you would allow this brick to age, but it’s great for drinking right now.

Denong Wild is available from Bana Tea Company for $12 for a 100-gram brick, or as part of their Beginner’s Gift Pack.

© Eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2009. | Denong Wild Ripe Pu-erh Tea from Bana Tea Company | No comment |
Post categories: Pu-erh tea, Tea reviews
Post tags: Bana Tea Company, ripe pu-erh, shou pu-erh

Fair trade is a tricky thing. I’ve written before about why I believe fair trade is important, but there’s a flipside: too often, fair trade tea is of lower quality to similarly-priced, non-fair trade tea. Which leaves a tea lover to decide between sacrificing quality or sacrificing an ethical stance.

Over the past year I have bought primarily non-fair trade tea, for one big reason: there are very few fair trade tea options around here in Melbourne, and the ones that I can find tend to be in teabag form. But one goal I’ve set for myself over the next few months is to explore some of the fair trade tea options available online. Here are four online tea stores that sell fair trade tea.

1. The Tea Spot

The Tea Spot have four fair trade organic teas:

• Organic Blue Mountain Nilgiri ? Single-estate black tea from India’s Nilgiri tea region.
• Organic Green Twisted Spears ? Hand-twisted spears from Sri Lanka.
• Organic Monkey-Picked White ? A buttery white tea from Fujian Province, China.
• Organic New Moon Darjeeling ? Autumnal Darjeeling tea. It’s single-estate, but they don’t specify which estate.

You can also get The Tea Spot’s Black Label Organic Teas set, which includes all four of the teas above and ends up saving you about 20%.

2. Numi Organic Tea

Numi Organic Tea have quite an extensive range of fair trade teas, most of which are organic as well:

• White Rose – Velvet Garden ? A white tea combined with rose petals. Also available as tea bags.
• White Nectar – Osmanthus Spring ? Organic white tea with Osmanthus flower. Also available as tea bags.
• White Orange Spice – Moonlight Spice ? White tea mixed with orange, berries, lime and spices. Also available as tea bags.
• Ginger Sun – Lemon Decaf Green ? Himalayan grown green tea combined with lemongrass and ginger. Also available as tea bags
• Jasmine Green Tea – Monkey King ? Jasmine tea from Jiangxi Province in China. Also available as tea bags
• Mate Lemon Green Tea – Rainforest Green ? Yerba Maté blended with lemon myrtle and chun mee green tea. Also available as tea bags
• Decaf Black Vanilla – Indian Night ? Organic black tea blended with vanilla. Also available as tea bags
• Breakfast Blend – Morning Rise ? A breakfast tea blended from Ceylon, Assam, Keemun and Darjeeling teas. Also available as tea bags
• Aged Earl Grey – Bergamot Black ? Full-leaf Assam tea blended with natural Italian Bergamot, not oils or flavorings. Also available as tea bags
• Berry Black – Raspberry Darjeeling Black Tea ? North American forest fruits blended with Darjeeling tea. Also available as tea bags
• Golden Chai – Spiced Assam Black Tea ? Numi’s chai tea. Also available as tea bags
• Lapsang Souchong – Smoky Tarry ? From the Wuyi Mountains in China comes Numi’s Lapsang Souchong.
• Chamomile Lemon – Sweet Meadows ? Egyptian chamomile tea blended with Australian lemon myrtle.
• Ruby Chai – Spiced Rooibos is a rooibos chai blend. Also available as ]tea bags.

Also check out Numi’s Velvet Tea Caddy, which has four of their fair trade teas and could make a great gift idea. (Click here for more tea gifts).

3. Art of Tea

Art of Tea have a small selection of fair trade teas, all three of which can be bought together in their Fair Trade Tea Gift Set, which includes:

• Biodynamic Darjeeling ? Black tea from the Makaibari Estate.
• Egyptian Chamomile ? Chamomile tea from Egypt.
• Gunpowder ? Gunpowder green tea from Zhejiang Province, in northern China.

4. Rishi Tea

Rishi Tea have made a name for themselves with quite a huge range of fair trade teas. You can see all their fair trade teas listed here. Also be sure to check out their store on Amazon , which has some great discounts.

© Eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2009. | 4 Places to Buy Fair-Trade Tea Online | 5 comments |
Post categories: Black tea, Fair Trade tea, Green tea, Oolong tea, Organic tea, Pu-erh tea, Tisanes, White tea
Post tags: Art of Tea, buying tea online, Numi Organic Tea, Rishi Tea, The Tea Spot

I’ve been writing about tea for almost a year, and drinking it for much longer than that, but sometimes I still feel like a kid in a candy shop full of sweets he’s never tried. There is an almost never-ending variation in the world of tea. How one tree can yield such an immense array of flavours never ceases to amaze me.

Within this world of teas is pu-erh tea, itself a wild and varied beast. My dabbling in pu-erh has so far consisted of a couple of loose leaf pu-erhs, a small brick and a mini green tuocha that, according to a much more experienced pu-erh aficionado, isn’t green at all. But I am very thankful to Linda from Bana Tea Company (a current advertiser on Tea Finely Brewed), who has graciously sent me a sampling of her pu-erhs, along with plenty of advice on how best to prepare them. Today, I turn to her Treasures from Five Mountains, a 2008 vintage, early spring harvest pu-erh tea.

Right off the bat, it’s clear that this is unlike any pu-erh I’ve had before. It infuses into a golden soup, suggesting to me that this is going to be far milder than previous pu-erhs I’ve tasted, which tend to brew into a very dark tea.

As anticipated, this tea has a milder taste ? the earthiness that dominates other pu-erhs is faint here. Instead, this tea is marked by a sharp nutty flavour. It’s astringent and mouth-drying, but leaves me feeling warm and nourished. There is just a wonderful sense of wholesomeness after drinking this.

I enjoy three infusions of this, the last of which I enjoy the most, perhaps down to the fact that I used water that had cooled to 65º C. I’ve no doubt I could have re-infused these beautiful leaves at least a couple more times, but responsibility calls and I’m due to go to work.

Treasures from Five Mountains is available from Bana Tea Company on its own ($28 for a 200 gram brick) or as part of their $10 sampler pack, which features 7 of their pu-erhs teas.

© Eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2009. | Treasures from Five Mountains: Vintage 2008 Raw Pu-Erh Tea from Bana Tea Company | No comment |
Post categories: Pu-erh tea, Tea reviews
Post tags: Bana Tea Company, raw pu-erh, sheng pu-erh

I know, I know, I’ve been awfully quiet lately. But I’ve been busy working on some exciting stuff behind the scenes, which will hopefully be unravelled very soon…

Anyway, I’m very pleased today to share a wonderful post by Linda Louie, a pu-erh tea specialist who runs Bana Tea Company. Linda has sent me a sampling of some of her pu-erhs, which I will be writing about soon. You can also read an interview with her on Ajikas. But in the meantime, here is her advice on how to properly store pu-erh tea. Enjoy.

***

A good Pu-erh tea for brewing and consumption requires a quality base tea, careful pre-processing and well-designed post-processing. Pre-processing refers to the preparatory steps to produce the ?raw materials? (green mao cha) and post-processing refers to the storage condition under which Pu-erh teas are aged to enhance proper fermentation. In other words, it is not necessarily true that the older the Pu-erh tea, the better. A superior Pu-erh tea for brewing requires that one start with a good quality ?raw tea? that is carefully and properly pre-processed, and then aged under optimum storage conditions.

Tea Master Vesper Chan, a pioneer in Pu-erh dry storage, states that the ideal conditions for storage are an environment with between 50%-60% humidity and a temperature range of between 60-70 degrees. As different parts of the world vary in their weather and humidity, Pu-erh teas stored in different environments yield different results. For example, Pu-erh teas stored in relatively dry places like Beijing or Los Angeles will age to become more aromatic, but they will take longer to achieve the smoothness that teas aged in more humid places like Hong Kong or Guangzhou will exhibit.

Pu-erh tea should not be exposed to excessive humidity for prolonged periods of time or it can become flat and dull. During the season when humidity is very high, opening the window to allow fresh air in the room is advisable. Pu-erh tea should be stored well above ground level and be given good ventilation. If you have a large amount of tea, it should be rotated once every six months to even out the tea?s exposure to fresh air. Extreme variations in temperature should be avoided.

Pu-erh tea has a tendency to absorb odors in the environment. Avoid storing your Pu-erh tea in kitchen cabinets or near moth balls or around other items that emit strong odors. With regard to the appropriateness of using a humidifier in places with low humidity, Master Chan opined that it would be fine to use one a few hours once a month to promote faster fermentation. Lastly, if you are storing a variety of Pu-erh, always store the raw Pu-erh and the ripe Pu-erh separately in order for the respective teas to retain their own aroma.

© eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2009. | Proper Pu-erh Storage for Best Results | 2 comments |
Post categories: Pu-erh tea
Post tags: pu-erh storage, sheng pu-erh, shou pu-erh, tea storage

I am no expert on pu-erh tea, but I’m learning. Over the past few months I’ve tried several loose leaf pu-erhs, as well as a small pu-erh cake I picked up from Ten Ren here in Melbourne. Last week, I made my latest pu-erh purchase: a small bag of mini green tuocha, sold by Tea Leaves (a local Australian chain of tea stores).

Today, I finally got a chance to make this for the first time. As I said, I’m no expert on pu-erh, and for a minute there I stopped and realized that I wasn’t really sure how to brew this. Ardent pu-erh aficionados tend to prefer the gong-fu style of brewing, but I have neither yixing nor gaiwan, so I am yet to venture into the world of gong-fu brewing. In The Story of Tea, the Heisses offer some broad parameters: 2 – 5 minutes with water around 93° – 100° Celsius. Two to five minutes is quite the range though, so I decided to conduct this little experiment.

The Experiment

This a very simple experiment, and one that you could apply to any tea if you want. Here’s what I did:

As suggested in The Story of Tea, I decided to use freshly boiled water. Lately I’ve been leaning towards using my Japanese porcelain tea set, so again I used this. I probably used about 300 ml of water, though that’s little more than a guess.

Four cups of the same tea, just poured at different stages in the brewing process.

The experiment is all about timing. I let the tea steep for a minute before pouring one cup, then waited. At the 2 minute mark, I poured another cup. I poured two more cups, one at 3 minutes and another at 3:30.

The first thing that’s apparent is how much the extra infusion time affects the brew’s colour. The first cup was a very light orange amber, which grew steadily darker with each consecutive cup ? by the time I’d reached the fourth cup, the brew was almost black. Based on its colour alone, I was already anticipating that one to be a bit too strong.

Off to the tasting table. I was very glad to have my esteemed wife join me for this part of the experiment.

First up, the 1 minute brew: I could smell very little in this one, but Bec picked up a hint of woody, smokiness ? like a bonfire on a farm, as she put it. The taste was on the weak side, with a sweetness bounded by the slightest earthiness. Bec, who ate an entire clove of garlic last night, couldn’t taste much at all.

Next came the 2 minute brew, which had a more intense smoky aroma about it. For Bec, it evoked images of old time, rustic places. I tasted it and found that it had grown earthier in that extra minute of brewing time. After a few sips, I thought I could taste something fruity. A few more sips. Dates!

I could taste those dates even more intensely on the third cup, which was starting to feel a bit too strong. I found it quite drying of the tongue, with more tannins, astringency and a slightly unpleasant sourness. Bec agreed that it wasn’t as nice as the second cup.

Then came the fourth cup. As I’d anticipated, this one was too strong. Far too strong, it turns out. “Yuck!” That was Bec’s reaction to her one and only sip. I tried it and while I think being familiar with pu-erh allowed me to put up with it a bit more, it was obviously far too strong. That astringency that was starting to emerge half a minute earlier was biting now. I ended up emptying half the cup on our beleaguered chili plant.

The 3 Lessons I Learned

It’s good to experiment: Don’t always go by the book (or the instructions on the packet). Experimentation is fun, and it will help you figure out how to make tea the way you like it, every time. Now that I know how much difference a couple minutes of infusing has, I’ll be very careful to time how long I infuse this tea for.

Timing matters: I have a tendency to be lazy about timing a lot of the time, but depending on the tea, it can make quite a considerable difference. Many teas turn out far too weak if you don’t give them long enough, and will make you gag if you steep them too long. Occasionally, you’ll come across a tea that just doesn’t seem to care how long you steep it, but those are in the minority.

Taste with someone: It was really fun tasting these teas with Bec. She would pick up a lot of smells that I would miss entirely, while I tended to be a bit more perceptive on the taste profiles. I loved how the tea would evoke vivid imagery for her. It didn’t do the same for me, but even just hearing how she was experiencing it allowed me to appreciate the tea’s depth a bit more.

© eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2009. | The Mini Green Tuocha Experiment | 9 comments |
Post categories: Pu-erh tea
Post tags: experiments, raw pu-erh, sheng pu-erh, tuocha

• Mighty Leaf Tea are giving a 25% discount off selected black teas. This offer runs out on September 25, so you have to act quick. If you’re looking for a good place to start, try their Organic Breakfast Tea.
• Numi Organic Tea is offering a 25% discount on their flavoured pu-erh teas. Get 2 boxes of their pu-erh tea for $14.95 when you quote Coupon Code NMP99. This offer runs out after September 30.
• The Tea Spot are donating 10% of all their sales in September to prostate cancer survivors.

© eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2009. | Special Deals for September | No comment |
Post categories: Black tea, Organic tea, Pu-erh tea, Specials
Post tags: breakfast tea, Mighty Leaf Tea, Numi Organic Tea, The Tea Spot

What is pu-erh tea, exactly?

Darjeeling may be considered the Champagne of Teas, but it is pu-erh that has the most in common with wine. Unlike other teas, which are ready (and best) to consume straight after production, the best pu-erh is aged for years before it is used.

Pu-erh tea is fermented. It may or may not be oxidized, depending on the type of pu-erh (see below).

Pu-erh is sold in loose leaf or compressed form. It is compressed into many different shapes, from traditional round cakes to mushrooms, pyramids, coins and other shapes.

In China, pu-erh tea is known as black tea; what we know as black tea is called red tea in China.

Where is pu-erh tea grown?

Pu-erh gets its name from Pu’er county in southern Yunnan Province, China. From this region, pu-erh is made from extra large leaves plucked from long-lived tea bushes, which are plentiful in Yunnan Province.

Check out this website for more about Yunnan tea.

What are the main types of pu-erh tea?

There are two main types of pu-erh:

Sheng pu-erh is not oxidized (it is also known as “raw” or “green” pu-erh). Sheng pu-erh is traditional pu-erh, made to age for years before consumption. Mao Cha is the young sheng pu-erh, which requires proper storage and aging. This is cheaper than naturally aged sheng pu-erh, which can be consumed immediately or allowed to age even longer.

Shou pu-erh, on the other hand, is made to be enjoyed immediately. Invented by enterprising tea artisans in the 1970s who needed a way to satisfy growing demands for ready-to-drink pu-erh, shou pu-erh is oxidized (thus, it is also known as “black” or “cooked” pu-erh) to accelerate the aging process. Shou pu-erh is generally not as complex as sheng pu-erh, but it is much more affordable and can be drink within two or three years.

What’s the best way to brew pu-erh tea?

Pu-erh is best brewed in full rolling boil water around the 93°-100°C (200°-212°F). The same leaves can be infused many times, with each infusion revealing something different. You can steep pu-erh between 2 and 5 minutes, though I’ve seen suggestions around the internet that pu-erh can have a much shorter infusion time. As with any tea, experiment.

What are the health benefits of drinking pu-erh tea?

Scientific studies into the health benefits of pu-erh tea appear to have been conducted primarily on rats, so it is quite impossible to know for sure what the health benefits of drinking pu-erh might be. One study found that rats with pu-erh tea in their diet lost weight and cholesterol. Pu-erh’s ability to lower cholesterol has been examined in other studies, but again, results were not tested on humans. Another experiment on rats suggested that pu-erh tea can protect against bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus (also known as golden staph).

Does pu-erh tea contain caffeine?

As with every other tea made from Camellia sinensis, pu-erh tea contains caffeine.

For related information, see my earlier post about the caffeine content of green tea.

Where can I buy pu-erh tea online?

To begin with, browse the Tea Finely Brewed marketplace to compare pu-erh teas from different tea merchants.

Pu-erh tea is growing in popularity, so you can find it amongst better known teas at shops like Adagio Teas (see their Pu-erh Dante and Pu-erh Poe), >Mighty Leaf and Numi Organic Tea. These shops aren’t specialists, but they can help you get a basic introduction to the world of pu-erh.

Pu-erh tea can get very expensive, so if you’re a beginner, I’d recommend starting with a few cheaper examples from the shops above to get yourself acquainted. Once you’re sufficiently familiar with pu-erh, check out these pu-erh specialists.

Yunnan Sourcing is an eBay store specializing in pu-erh teas. They have a huge range, with over 500 pu-erh varieties. However, they ship from China, so shipping can sometimes take a while.

Generation Tea are based in the US and stock over 100 pu-erh varieties. One small store with a selection of hand-picked pu-erh teas is NadaCha.

Finally, I also recommend you check out The Half-Dipper, an excellent blog from one very astute tea aficionado with a particular fondness for pu-erh teas.

Other posts in this series

• 7 Common Questions About Green Tea
• 7 Common Questions About White Tea
• 7 Common Questions About Oolong Tea
• 7 Common Questions About Black Tea

© eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2009. | 7 Common Questions about Pu-erh Tea | 10 comments |
Post categories: Pu-erh tea
Post tags: chinese teas, sheng pu-erh, shou pu-erh, Yunnan