sheng pu-erh
Treasures from Five Mountains: Vintage 2008 Raw Pu-Erh Tea from Bana Tea Company
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.
Proper Pu-erh Storage for Best Results
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.
The Mini Green Tuocha Experiment
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
7 Common Questions about Pu-erh Tea
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.
