Pu'er Tea is a distinctive type of Chinese Tea, renowned for its rich flavor and unique taste, capturing the hearts of many tea enthusiasts. Pu'er tea has always been a favorite among tea lovers due to its excellent health benefits and suitability as a wellness choice. However, for those who love drinking tea, enjoying a good cup of Pu'er tea not only depends on the quality of the tea but also on mastering the art of brewing it. How can you brew raw Pu'er tea to make it even more enjoyable? Let's explore a simple method for brewing Pu'er tea.
Brewing Pu'er Tea for Optimal Flavor
Pu'er tea comes in two varieties: raw (sheng) and ripe (shou). Raw Pu'er tea, after sun-drying, has a restrained flavor and is typically drunk as loose leaves or broken off from compressed cakes. Ripe Pu'er tea, after undergoing pile fermentation, undergoes internal changes that make its components easy to extract; it is often sold as compressed teas, such as cakes or tuos. From the processing methods, we can deduce that when brewing raw Pu'er, the focus is on releasing its aroma and flavor, while with ripe Pu'er, the aim is to allow a graceful and gradual extraction.
Understanding the Tea Before Brewing
Before brewing, observe the age of the tea. Typically, new teas aged three years or less have a greenish-yellow color, with some darker ones having a dark green hue. As the tea ages and its internal substances oxidize further, the color gradually turns darker. Around ten years old, raw Pu'er tea usually presents a yellow-brown color, with golden hues in the downy buds.
The degree of compression offers a more direct impression. The difference in compression affects the integrity of the tea leaves when breaking them apart and the speed at which the tea liquor is released during steeping. Generally, tightly compressed teas tend to produce shorter and more fragmented leaves, and the tea releases its components faster in water.
After examining the color and compression, pay attention to the ratio of leaves to buds. Raw Pu'er tea commonly consists mainly of mature leaves with one bud and two or three leaves, accompanied by a small amount of bud tea. Understanding this ratio is crucial for determining the water temperature and steeping time during brewing. When there are more buds, the water temperature can be slightly lower, especially at the beginning of the brewing process.
Mastering the Brewing Process
Selecting the right brewing vessel is essential for raw Pu'er tea. The choice of vessel is primarily related to the tea's age. When you determine or estimate that the raw Pu'er tea is from recent years, a Gaiwan is typically chosen for brewing instead of a clay teapot with high heat retention properties. This prevents newer teas from becoming overcooked in a clay teapot.
Avoid directly pouring boiling water onto the tea leaves, which is another key point when brewing raw Pu'er tea. Using a gentle approach helps prevent excessive and rapid release of bitter and astringent compounds, resulting in a more pleasant tasting experience.
In addition to choosing the right vessel and avoiding direct pouring, the timing of steeping is particularly important for raw Pu'er tea. Generally, if the tea has been adequately awakened, the first few infusions should be very short—pour in the water and pour out immediately. This is because Pu'er tea contains rich components, and prolonged steeping times can result in overly strong and concentrated flavors, diminishing the tea's drinkability.
Brewing Methods for Pu'er Tea
The brewing of Pu'er tea should be tailored based on the differences in the characteristics of “new tea,” “aged tea,” “raw Pu'er,” and “ripe Pu'er.”
1. New Raw Pu'er
In terms of character, new raw Pu'er is quite similar to Green Tea. During brewing, avoid a cooked taste by using slightly cooler water and quick pouring. Key considerations include understanding the tea's raw material features, such as the tea plant variety, tea region, tree age, and ecological conditions. In principle, teas with stronger flavors require slightly lower water temperatures and shorter steeping times, whereas lighter teas require the opposite.
2. New Ripe Pu'er
Compared to aged teas, new ripe Pu'er often lacks clarity in the tea liquor, purity in aroma, and richness in flavor. It may also exhibit some undesirable qualities like “pile flavor” and a heavier bitterness. Given the fast dissolution of its soluble components, the goal is to highlight the strengths and mitigate the weaknesses. High-temperature washing can help remove impurities, and slightly cooler water should be used for subsequent infusions. The brewing pace should be quicker to avoid bitterness and a thick, sauce-like consistency. Completely brewing and tasting new ripe Pu'er (from full strength to no flavor) can help assess its storage value and potential for aging, though this is a separate topic beyond the scope of this article.
3. Aged Raw Pu'er and Aged Ripe Pu'er
Aged teas generally require high-temperature awakening and high-temperature brewing. Relatively speaking, the amount of tea used for aged raw Pu'er should be less than for aged ripe Pu'er, and the brewing water temperature for aged ripe Pu'er should be slightly higher. For many aged raw Pu'er teas, leaving the lid open between infusions to cool the leaves slightly before the next infusion can yield a different experience, so feel free to give it a try.