Pu'er Tea comes in raw and ripe varieties, with some people enjoying the distinct flavors of raw tea, its mingling sweetness and bitterness, while others prefer the subtlety and richness of ripe tea, which is neither bitter nor Astringent. For ripe Pu'er, a good cup should not have any unpleasant or discomforting off-flavors, such as storage or pile Fermentation odors. While it's true that ripe Pu'er may have some pile fermentation smell right after processing, this dissipates over time. If you taste a ripe tea several years old and it still has an unbearable pile fermentation odor, then the quality of this tea is significantly reduced. So what makes a ripe tea tasty, and how can we judge its quality?
Generally, good ripe tea, whether loose or compressed, should have dry leaves that are tightly knitted, heavy, complete, with few broken pieces, showing downy tips, evenly colored, and having a certain degree of moisture and brightness. There should be no non-tea foreign matter, and the purity should be good. Poor-quality ripe tea, due to inadequate fermentation or processing, will have loosely bound, light, and more broken leaves.
The color of the tea liquor is the result of water-soluble pigments dissolving in water. To evaluate the quality of the tea liquor, one should consider the depth, clarity, and transparency of the color. Typically, good ripe tea has a pure, bright, and translucent liquor, such as deep red, radiant red, or wine red. Poor-quality ripe tea will have a color that is too light or too dark, lacking transparency and brightness, and the tea liquor may not be clear, even containing sediment or fine floating particles.
To identify the aroma of ripe tea, one must first determine if the scent type is correct. Then, under the condition that the scent is correct, compare the aroma's purity, intensity, and persistence. Common aromas for ripe tea include aged, sweet, sugary, mature, jujube, Ginseng, and woody scents. High-quality ripe tea should have a rich, high, and lasting aroma. An aroma that is high but not persistent, or low and coarse, indicates inferior quality. If there are smoky, burnt, sour, rancid, moldy, stale, or other odd odors in the ripe tea, it is considered a poor-quality product.
Regardless of the type of tea, it is a flavored beverage, and a pleasant taste sensation is one of the essential factors constituting tea quality. To judge the taste of ripe tea, one must first distinguish if the flavor is pure. Pure flavors can be evaluated based on their strength, richness, and harmony. Impure flavors may cause sourness, bitterness, astringency, or other unpleasant sensations. Additionally, high-quality ancient tree ripe tea should provide a pleasant aftertaste and salivation.
After Steeping, the tea leaves unfold, revealing the age, color, uniformity, and whether the processing was appropriate. 1. First, check if the leaf base color is normal, then examine its brightness, dullness, and whether it is mottled. 2. The age of the leaf can be determined by its softness and elasticity. Use your fingers to press the leaf base; if it feels soft and does not spring back when released, it indicates good tenderness. Hardness with elasticity, where the leaf springs back when released, suggests coarseness and age. Note that the size of the leaves is unrelated to their tenderness, as many ancient tree teas have large leaves yet are tender. Also, good uniformity does not necessarily mean good tenderness. 3. Pay attention to the degree of leaf expansion and whether there are any impurities. If the tea shows signs of darkening, aging, thinning, scorched leaves, or decayed leaves, it is a poor-quality product.