To truly understand Puer tea and enjoy the pleasure of its appreciation is not easy. It requires a significant amount of accumulated personal experience and expertise, as well as a rich knowledge base and artistic cultivation to reach the realm of Puer appreciation.
For raw Puer tea, the unique production process endows it with distinctive color, aroma, flavor, qi (energy), rhythm, and realm, unlike other teas that only emphasize color, aroma, flavor, and shape. Therefore, when appreciating Puer tea, one must fully concentrate and engage all sensory organs and taste buds, as well as various cavities in the body, to perceive the aroma, qi field, qi path, rhythm, and abstract realms. One must then activate their mind to analyze and think about the conclusions perceived, and based on these conclusions, deduce the true condition of the raw material quality, processing, and storage. This allows for an evaluation of the product's strengths and weaknesses, providing a comprehensive assessment. Hence, appreciating Puer tea requires a comprehensive understanding of natural sciences, as well as life experiences, aesthetics, art, and more, to comprehend and enjoy the social, artistic, and philosophical feelings rooted in the nature of the tea.
Raw Puer Appreciation – Color
Dry Leaf Color
The bud is gray-white, the first leaf is gray, the second leaf is gradually black, the third leaf is oily black, and the stem is oily black with a hint of red. The overall appearance should be gray-black and glossy, with clear and diverse colors, and should be dry and brittle. Special attention should be paid to the overall green-gray or reddish-yellow appearance, which indicates certain problems. High temperature during the fixation process, for too long, can lead to excessive fragrance release, which is unfavorable for long-term transformation. Reddish stems and leaves indicate insufficient fixation or Fermentation due to pressure on fresh leaves. Fresh leaves should only undergo static withering and not be shaken to increase fragrance, as this would move towards the Oolong Tea production process. After fixation and rolling, the bud strips should not be overheated and piled excessively, which could lead to a yellow tea-like appearance.
Tea Soup Color
The color of the tea soup reflects some basic qualities of the tea. When Puer tea is completed, the infusion should be golden and transparent. Rainy season production may affect transparency. A small amount of red leaves and stems will make the soup slightly red, which is not a major issue. However, excessive redness suggests “black tea-ization,” resulting in a yeast-like aroma. If the soup appears green with a bean or chestnut aroma, the Puer tea might have undergone “Green Tea-ization,” affecting its later transformation and reducing its vitality. A too yellow soup color could indicate “yellow tea-ization.” A too green soup color, with over-aroused aroma, might suggest “oolong tea-ization.” In summary, any deviation from the standard Puer tea production process by incorporating special processes will result in abnormal soup colors. The normal progression of Puer tea soup color should be from light yellow to deep yellow, golden yellow, red-yellow, light red, golden red, and finally brown.
Leaf Base Color
The color of the leaf base for new raw Puer tea is green when brewed and turns grayish-white after prolonged brewing. If there is a hint of yellow, it indicates a good ecosystem, high altitude, and infrequent picking, suggesting excellent tea quality. Ancient tree tea has large buds, thick and long stems, and a longer distance between the bud and leaves, with tender buds covered in downy hair. As storage time progresses, the color of old raw Puer tea gradually changes from green to yellow-green, light yellow, deep yellow, yellow-red, and finally brown. Generally, the color of the leaf base can reveal the degree of aging and transformation, as well as provide insight into the quality, age, and variety of the tea. Of course, this must be combined with a comprehensive analysis of aroma, flavor, qi, rhythm, and realm to make a final assessment.
Raw Puer Appreciation – Aroma
Aroma refers to the pleasant and comfortable scent and taste collectively. The aroma is the sensation caused by volatile substances stimulating the olfactory nerves within the nasal cavity. Sun-drying determines that the aroma of Puer tea is the most enduring and restrained, as it is processed without high temperatures, making it the most natural type of tea. The characteristic of Puer tea's aroma is the combination of sun, iron pot, and a slight scorched aroma, along with tea and floral fragrances, resembling wild honey with a touch of sweetness. This aroma is unmatched by any other type of tea and is the soul of Puer tea's fragrance. Additionally, mild smoky aromas gradually transform into characteristic flavors of Puer tea through long-term storage, adding layers to the aroma. However, if the smoky flavor is too strong, it can be very drying to the mouth and difficult to dissipate. The primary aspect of Puer tea's aroma is the scent, rather than just the aroma. There is a significant difference between aroma and scent. The aroma is floating and unstable, while the scent is collected and stable, lingering for a long time. Simply put, the scent is contained within the tea soup or hidden inside it. Therefore, the essence of Puer tea's aroma lies in the scent of the soup rather than the aroma itself. It is a scent that deeply permeates the taste buds and the body, not just one that can be fully perceived solely by the olfactory organs.
Raw Puer Appreciation – Flavor
Flavor is the taste of tea, also known as taste. It is a very direct and specific sensation acting upon various parts of the nose, mouth, throat, chest, and digestive system, referred to as taste perception. The main taste-perceiving areas in the mouth are the lips, teeth, gums, tip of the tongue, surface of the tongue, underside of the tongue, root of the tongue, palate, throat, and the bottom of the throat. These areas are particularly noticeable, while the stomach, intestines, abdomen, and bodily sensations are weaker and less easily perceived. The main flavors of tea include: aroma, sourness, sweetness, bitterness, astringency, freshness, agedness, smokiness, soup character, coarse and turbid flavors, as well as sour, damp, and moldy tastes. Each of these flavors is closely associated with chemical components.
Aroma
The aroma and soup aroma of Puer tea. Puer tea's aroma has its own unique characteristics: First, the initial processing mainly determines the tea. Second, different processing methods introduce different types of tea aromas. Third, only by adhering to the standards of initial Puer tea processing can one produce a completely authentic Puer tea aroma. Fourth, the characteristics of Puer tea's aroma are: 1) Reserved, the aroma is collected within the soup, with the soup aroma being the main focus and the qi aroma secondary. 2) Long-lasting and Cup-hanging, invigorating and penetrating, unmatched by any other type of tea. 3) Very stable, unassuming, not flashy, not exposed, yet lingering and continuous.
Different raw materials exhibit different aromas. Pure single-origin teas have pure and transparent aromas, while blended teas have rich and varied aromas with multiple layers. Aroma is an extremely important indicator for Puer tea, with the soup aroma being its primary characteristic. The more reserved, stable, and hidden the soup aroma is, the deeper, more woody, and dynamic it becomes, the better the tea's value and quality.
Sourness
Sourness is related to the growing environment, variety, and storage conditions. Certain regions' soil, altitude, latitude, and ecological environments cause the tea to have a naturally sour quality. Some varieties or mutant types also display a tendency towards sourness. It's important to note that high-temperature storage can also generate a sour quality in the tea. However, sourness cannot be generalized. Mild and subtle sourness can bring unexpected enjoyment during tasting, producing a remarkable salivation effect that makes saliva flow continuously, akin to the expression of being “drooling with anticipation.”
Sweetness
Sweetness greatly improves the overall quality of the tea, making the soup richer and more balanced, greatly enriching the soup's depth. In the early stages of brewing, sweetness accompanies bitterness and astringency, balancing them and increasing the thickness of the soup without overtly showcasing its own sweetness. However, as the bitterness quickly fades in the later stages of brewing, sweetness becomes increasingly prominent, intensifying, and together with astringency, it plays out the captivating finale of the tea soup until the very end.
Bitterness
Bitterness is the essence of