Tea enthusiasts are certainly familiar with Pu'er tea, but not all may know how to truly appreciate it. Today, let's discuss the seven steps to drinking Pu'er tea.
Step 1: Observe the Tea
Mature production techniques result in cakes that are evenly shaped, compact, and uniform in thickness.
With the advent of electrostatic dust removal machines, modern Pu'er teas from reputable manufacturers are free of foreign objects. Prior to 2004, when such machines were not widely used, older teas might have some impurities due to manual sorting.
The color distinguishes raw from ripe teas: ripe teas are dark brown, while raw teas range from dark green (young) to brownish-red (aged), transitioning from loose to compact, thin to robust, dry to lustrous.
Step 2: Touch the Tea
The compactness of the tea indicates its aging potential; loosely packed leaves age faster under equal storage conditions, while tightly packed leaves age more slowly.
Surface blending involves sprinkling higher-grade leaves on the surface for a better appearance, while a single-grade cake consists of uniformly graded leaves throughout, without any external embellishment.
Step 3: Smell the Dry Tea
As the name suggests, use your nose to carefully smell the tea. Pu'er tea improves with age, but improper storage can lead to off-flavors, such as damp, grassy, smoky, musty, or even flavors from spices.
Pu'er tea can also develop off-flavors during processing. In summary, any tea with off-flavors is not enjoyable! Drinking such tea will leave you with an unpleasant experience.
Step 4: Infuse and Smell the Aroma
Use 6-8 grams of tea, rinse it once or twice, then pour out the tea liquor and smell the aroma left in the pitcher. Some teas have no discernible aroma, while others have faint, fleeting, or penetrating aromas. For example, ancient tree teas from Jingmai have prominent, lasting fragrances, while those from Bingdao have delicate, subtle scents.
Some aromas result from processing errors, such as grassy smells from insufficiently cooked fresh leaves or a raw green flavor from undercooked leaves. It's worth noting that some tea enthusiasts may actually enjoy these aromas, although finding such teas would be difficult.
Step 5: Infuse and Observe the Color
Ripe teas have a reddish-brown hue, which is the product of full Fermentation. The colors of raw Pu'er teas change over time, pleasing to the eye.
Colors range from yellow-green → wine red: 1-2 years (the tea has a youthful, vibrant color) → around 3 years (golden yellow) → 3-5 years (orange-yellow) → 5-8 years (orange-red) → 8-15 years (pomegranate red) → 15-30 years (ruby red) → over 30 years (wine red), like a perfect match.
Clarity ranges from murky → crystal clear: murky (like mountain floodwaters, with visible suspended particles, common in plantation teas) → unclear (like yellow river water, with less visible suspended particles) → clear (like June's Yangtze River, where fish can be seen up to one meter deep) → transparent (like Dianchi Lake, with a clear view of aquatic life) → luminously transparent (like the water from the twin wells in Yunnan's Mojiang, clear and sparkling) → crystal clear (like the waters of Jiuzhaigou, exquisitely pure).
Viscosity ranges from watery → viscous: watery (like tap water) → oily (with a silky feel) → viscous (dense and rich in texture).
Step 6: Infuse and Taste the Aroma
Any off-flavors indicate a problem. Common off-flavors include smoke (from using wood fires during processing), burnt (from overheating), Wok-roasted (from pan-drying instead of sun-drying), oven-dried (from oven-drying instead of sun-drying), Black Tea (from wilting the fresh leaves), damp (from rain during processing), and mold (from poor storage).
Mature aromas progress from fresh (unfermented new tea) → floral (lightly oxidized) → fruity (well-oxidized) → Honey-like (after some fermentation time) → resinous (from leaves of well-protected trees with fewer harvests, after some fermentation time) → aged (aroma of aromatic alcohols produced after long-term fermentation) → camphor (a unique, subtle camphor scent, only present after long-term natural fermentation) → medicinal (a special aroma of aromatic alcohols produced after long-term fermentation, not found in all aged teas).
The complexity of the aroma progresses from simple → complex: simple (one-dimensional aroma) → rich (multiple aromas) → layered (different aromas emerge as the tea cools down) → evolving (different aromas emerge in different infusions).
The character of the aroma progresses from subdued → pronounced: subdued (reserved and unassuming) → restrained (rich, harmonious, and lasting) → pronounced (sharp and persistent).
Step 7: Infuse and Taste the Flavor
Bitterness and astringency are basic flavors of Pu'er tea, often summarized as “no bitterness, no astringency, not Pu'er.” Sourness (from processing errors) → bitterness and astringency (the baseline flavor; evaluate if the bitterness or astringency dissipates quickly) → fresh sweetness (varies by tea region and variety).
Mouthfeel refers to the sensation of the tea liquor in the mouth. Devoid (lacking substance) → thin (slight sensation) → thick (substantial body) → full-bodied (rich and full).
The flow of the tea refers to the sensation from mouth to throat. Coarse (prickly feeling on the tongue) → smooth (smooth sensation on the tongue) → velvety (smooth and slippery, hard to retain).
Throat sensation ranges from dry (dryness in the throat) → sweet (sweet aftertaste) → moist (like the nourishment of dew, with lingering sweetness). Aftertaste ranges from none → short-lived → long-lasting.