Puerh Tea | Healthy Food and Drink

Puerh tea is a variety of tea made by fermenting leaves from a species of tea plant called Camellia Sinensis Assamica. It is unique among teas in that it is the only tea that?s better when aged.

The plant used for Puerh only grows in the mountains of southern Yunnan province of China, with the very best varieties grown in a group of mountains known as the six famous tea mountains in the Xishuangbanna prefecture, located near the Mekong river.

Raw vs. Ripe Fermented

Traditionally, the tea itself is divided into two categories;

1. raw
2. ripe fermented

1. Raw Puerh is not aged and is mostly unprocessed.

Harvested flushes are briefly dried in the sun, cooked in a dry wok under heat to stop enzyme activity, then rolled into larger pieces, making it technically similar to green tea.

The Puerh pieces are then dried again in the sun, and examined to spot and remove bad pieces. The final raw tea can be sold in loose form, or pressed into bricks.

2. To make ripe Puerh, raw pieces are fermented using bacterial, fungal and yeast cultures.

Tea pieces are repeatedly piled, dampened and turned to ensure uniform fermentation. Humidity, airflow, temperature and light are carefully controlled to achieve the best possible quality of tea.

This process can take from one year to as long as 4 years to complete.

Quality

Poor processing can spoil a batch and is characterized by presence of decomposed, crumbling leaves that are barely held together by leaf veins, and compost-like odor.

By comparison, Grade-A quality Puerh tea will have discernible whole leaves and will be quite fragrant. In high quality batches, fragile leaves are acceptable. But powdery leaves and twigs are not.

Authenticity

Many brands, especially ripe ones, are compressed into bricks or huge spheres and are often stamped with manufacturer?s logos and date of production.

To authenticate their tea from counterfeits, many suppliers have adopted micro-printed or micro-embossed labeling system.

Preparing The Brew

To prepare the Puerh tea for drinking, it is necessary to separate an adequate portion from the compressed tea. This can be done easily by steaming the brick until it becomes soft. Then, cut the brick vertically so that you include some of the surface and the center of the brick since both portions add different qualities to the final beverage.

To make a brew, steep the leaves in a Gaiwan with water; 95 Celsius for lower quality brands and 89 Celsius for higher quality.

Initial infusions should range from 15 to 30 seconds, while the last infusion can range from 2 to 10 minutes.

As with other teas, prolonged steeping may produce a bitter and astringent brews.

Enjoy!

Source: http://www.oktea.org/tea/puerh-tea.html

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