Experiencing Pu'er Tea requires calmness and a gradual process, involving many sensory perceptions to appreciate the evolving flavors. How can one appreciate Pu'er tea, particularly raw Pu'er? Here's how to discern the quality of raw Pu'er tea when purchasing:
Selecting Raw Pu'er Tea
Look at the tea: shape, processing, color.
Feel the tea: compactness, check inside and outside.
Scent: dry tea, tea infusion.
Observe the infusion: color, clarity, turbidity.
Taste: fullness and smoothness, aftertaste and salivation.
Looking at the Tea
Shape: High-quality raw Pu'er tea has complete and uniform strands, with moderate buds, typically picked as one bud with two to three leaves. The leaves should be clean without impurities, yellow leaves, or too many stalks.
Mature production process: The shape of the Cake is uniformly balanced, neatly compacted with consistent thickness and edges.
Color by age: Short-aged: dark green; Long-aged: brownish red.
Feeling the Tea
Compactness: A loose body means faster aging under equal storage conditions, while a compact body ages more slowly.
Check inside and outside: Some teas have higher-grade leaves on the surface for better appearance, but a consistent blend means the entire Compressed tea is of uniform quality, not just attractive on the outside.
Scenting the Tea
Scent of dry tea: Pu'er tea improves with age, but improper storage can lead to off-flavors like dampness, straw, smoke, mold, or Seasoning. Errors in production can also cause odd aromas.
Scent of tea infusion: Some cups lack aroma, some have a faint scent, some disperse quickly, while a strong and penetrating aroma indicates high quality. For example, Jingmai ancient tree tea has a prominent, lingering fragrance, while Bingdao ancient tree tea has a delicate, silk-like aroma that is more about taste than scent. Some scents result from production errors, such as grassy smells from undercooked fresh leaves or a raw green flavor from insufficient heating during processing.
Observing the Infusion
Color: ~2 years: yellow-green, like a child's innocence. 3 years: orange-yellow. 5-8 years: orange-red. 8-15 years: pomegranate red. 5-30 years: gemstone red. Over 0 years: wine red, akin to a perfect match.
Tasting raw Pu'er tea primarily focuses on its aroma, sweetness, bitterness, astringency, aftertaste, salivation, throat resonance, moisture, and the unique Qi present in some top-tier teas. This allows you to appreciate their essence and determine their quality level.