Good Pu'er ripened Tea has a brownish-red color, resembling the color of pig Liver, with robust and tightly bound leaves. When smelling it, there are subtle scents of Longan, Rose, camphor, jujube, and a unique aged aroma. Let's use Pu'er loose tea as an example for introduction.
How to Distinguish the Quality of Pu'er Ripened Tea
Look at the appearance: High-quality Pu'er tea has robust and tightly bound leaves with a lustrous color; otherwise, it is inferior.
Look at the liquor color: High-quality Pu'er tea has a bright red-brown liquor (commonly known as “pig liver color”); if the liquor is dark and murky, it is inferior.
Smell the aroma: High-quality Pu'er tea, after brewing, not only has a unique aged aroma but also subtle scents of longan, rose, camphor, and jujube; if there is a musty smell, sourness, or other unpleasant odors, it is inferior.
Taste the flavor: High-quality Pu'er tea has a rich and fresh taste with a returning sweetness; if it has a strong musty taste upon entry, it is inferior.
Examine the infused leaves: High-quality Pu'er tea has even and clean infused leaves without impurities. If the infused leaves are broken and mixed with other impurities, it is inferior.
How to Appreciate Pu'er Ripened Tea?
1. Thickness
The thickness of ripened Pu'er tea provides a very comfortable sensation. When the tea soup slides into the mouth and stimulates the taste buds, using the tip of your tongue to stir the tea soup, you can feel its fullness and richness, which can also be understood as a viscous sensation.
Thickness is not the same as the concentration of the tea soup. Thickness is related to the texture of Pu'er tea, where the tea soup has a certain intensity, and when more soluble substances are present in the water, the mouthfeel will be thicker and richer.
2. Silken Smoothness
The silken smoothness refers to the “oily” feeling of ripened tea, similar to drinking chicken soup or rice soup. A very smooth tea will leave a feeling of “having left a layer of oil” after drinking. This needs to be distinguished from the sensation of “being easy to swallow due to the absence of bitterness.”
In fact, the silken smoothness is related to the thickness of the tea soup. The more mellow the tea soup, the more noticeable the silken smoothness will be. When the tea soup enters the mouth and pauses for a moment before flowing down the throat and into the stomach, it feels very smooth, gentle, and natural, leaving a strong impression on the taster. Poor quality tea soup may have a “choking” sensation.
3. Moistness
Good Pu'er ripened tea moisturizes the throat upon entry, immediately relieving dryness. Experienced tea connoisseurs place great importance on this characteristic of throat moistness. This moistness is a must for ripened Pu'er, and high-quality ripened tea should leave one feeling as if they were being warmed by a gentle breeze.
After three to four infusions, the ripened tea soup leaves the throat feeling fresh and moisturized, the mouth neither dry nor parched, and the entire abdomen warm and comfortable. This is how the moistness of ripened tea is manifested.
4. Sweetness
Sweetness is the simplest and most direct aspect of appreciating ripened tea. Good ripened tea exudes a sweet aroma even before it touches the tongue. Additionally, since ripened tea has little to no bitterness, this sweetness is even more pronounced! Upon tasting, the sweetness is quickly felt and spreads throughout the mouth, lingering for a long time.
5. Purity
Purity is an important indicator of the skillfulness of the fermentation process of ripened tea. Whether the fermentation environment was hygienic, whether the method was correct, whether the fermentation degree was appropriate, and whether the storage conditions were ideal can all be assessed through the purity of the tea liquor.
Tea with good purity tastes very clean and comfortable, even those who do not particularly prefer ripened tea will find it acceptable. If there is an odd smell, it indicates that the hygiene conditions during production were not up to standard, or the tea was contaminated during later storage.
6. Aroma
Different raw materials and blending methods bring about different aromas, which is one of the charms of ripened tea. The wet-piling process may result in some “wet-piling odor” in new ripened teas, which is unavoidable. However, skilled techniques and strict production processes can reduce this odor to some extent, and after two to three years of aging, the wet-piling odor fades, revealing a fuller and rounder flavor.
The aged aroma is the basic scent of ripened tea. If stored properly, ripened tea that has undergone over five years of transformation can further elevate and present a richer array of aromas, such as camphor, ginseng, medicinal, jujube, aged, woody, and others. However, this is determined by the quality of the tea product, storage conditions, and a long period of time. In other words, if the raw material of a cake of tea is not good to begin with, no matter how much it transforms, there will be no pleasant surprises.