Pu-erh Tea for Beginners: What IS This Stuff?
Pu-erh for Beginners — Part 1 of 3
You open the package and there it is.
A tiny, tightly wrapped little disk of tea.
It doesn't look like the loose-leaf tea you're accustomed to. It certainly doesn't look like a tea bag. And if you've never encountered Pu-erh before, your first thought may very well be:
What in the world am I supposed to do with this?
Welcome to Pu-erh.
One of the oldest, most fascinating—and sometimes most misunderstood—styles of tea in the world.
And despite its somewhat mysterious reputation, you don't need to be a tea expert, own an elaborate Gong fu tea set, or memorize centuries of Chinese tea history to enjoy it. You really just need hot water, a cup or teapot, and a little curiosity.
So, What Exactly Is Pu-erh?
Pu-erh (also written Pu'er) is a tea traditionally associated with Yunnan Province in southwestern China, a region with an extraordinarily long tea-growing history.
Like green, black, white and oolong tea, Pu-erh comes from the tea plant. What makes Pu-erh different is what happens to those leaves after they're harvested and initially processed. Pu-erh belongs to a family of teas often called post-fermented or dark teas. Microbial activity and aging can continue changing the aroma, flavor and character of the tea after its initial processing.
In other words, Pu-erh isn't necessarily finished becoming itself when the tea maker is finished with it.
Time gets a say, too.
And that's where things get interesting.
Sheng or Shou?
If you start exploring Pu-erh, you're going to encounter two words pretty quickly:
Sheng and Shou.
Don't let the terminology scare you. The basic difference is pretty simple.
Sheng — Raw Pu-erh
Sheng is commonly called raw Pu-erh.
Young Sheng can be fresh, lively, vegetal, floral, fruity, bitter or pleasantly astringent.
But Sheng has another trick up its sleeve. It can continue developing during proper storage. As the years pass, its aroma, flavor and character can change dramatically.
That's one of the fascinating things about Sheng Pu-erh:
Time becomes part of the tea-making process.
Shou — Ripe Pu-erh
Shou is generally called ripe or ripened Pu-erh.
Rather than waiting many years for natural aging to transform the tea, Shou undergoes an accelerated microbial fermentation process traditionally known as wet piling.
The result is the darker, smoother and deeper character many people associate with Pu-erh. Depending on the tea, you might discover flavors reminiscent of dark wood, cocoa, nuts, dates, earth, warm spices or dried fruit.
And yes—you'll hear the word “earthy” quite a bit.
But earthy doesn't have to mean drinking a cup of dirt.
A good ripe Pu-erh can be rich, smooth, mellow and wonderfully complex.
Why Is My Tea Shaped Like a Hockey Puck?
Now we get to the fun part.
Pu-erh has traditionally been compressed into all sorts of shapes—cakes, bricks, bowls and more.
Compression made tea easier to store and transport, something that was particularly useful when tea traveled long distances.
Today you'll find everything from large traditional cakes to adorable little individually wrapped mini tea cakes.
And those little cakes are perfect for someone who's just beginning to explore Pu-erh.
Instead of committing to one big cake of a tea you've never tasted, you can explore different styles one small cake at a time.
Which brings us back to that mysterious little wrapped disk sitting on your counter.
Now you know what it is.
The next question is obvious:
What in the world do you do with it?
That's exactly where we're going in Part 2 of our Pu-erh for Beginners series.
We're going to unwrap one, rinse it, brew it—and find out why you definitely shouldn't throw those leaves away after the first cup.
Happy steeping,
Tea-Licious
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