Pu'er Tea 普洱茶 or "Pu'er Cha" is made from Yunnan large-leaf varietal of Camellia sinensis. It's one of the oldest forms of tea and travelled the Ancient Tea Horse Road or Cha Ma Gu Dao (茶马古道). For ease of transport, the loose tea leaves were typically processed into compressed disks (bing cha), bricks (zhuan cha), squares (fang cha), and mushroom-type shapes (tuo cha). Pu'er is particularly special because it can be aged for decades or longer, always changing and developing more depth and texture. Raw Pu'er or Sheng Cha (生茶) is the traditional form of Pu'er, and is sun-dried and compressed.
2002 Spring Harvest Ai Lao Pu'er Tea produced by Hai Lang Hao, a well-loved tea producer with an extensive catalogue. An unpretentious yet intricate cake produced with the Ming Xiang Ya Yuan nei fei or "inner ticket", which is the name of Hai Lang's tea shop in China. This pure Ai Lao Mountain material was dry aged in Kunming. A nice mellow cake with an orange tea liquor and nice mouth-feeling. It exhibts an aged taste with with some welcome bitterness and astringency.
200 grams per cake (+/- 5 grams)
2002 Ai Lao Mountain Raw Pu'er Tea Cake
Apart the tea itself, the water you choose to make your tea is of utmost importance. Here are some basic guidelines and suggestions for preparing gong fu cha style tea.
Water
Start with water that tastes good to you. Generally spring water or purified water is the best choice. Avoid unpurified tap water.
Brewing Vessel
Choose a gaiwan, teapot, or cup, and preheat with hot water. If there is not a built-in filter to strain the leaves when you pour the tea, use a strainer and pour into a serving pitcher (cha hai) or cup.
Tea
Allow enough room for the tea to fully contact the water and unfurl once it's rehydrated. With ball-rolled oolong or compressed whole leaf tea, you may be surprised at how much the leaf expands. Avoid small metal tea balls or other closed infusers.
Whole leaf tea is best measured by weight since different types are shaped quite differently. A small digital scale is helpful. A good starting point is: 1 gram (g) of dry tea for every 15 milliliters (ml) water (1ml of water weighs 1g). You may use a scale to determine the water volume of your brewing vessel.
Temperature
We prefer White and Green tea at well below boiling temperature (175°–185° F) as these leaves are generally more delicate. The lower temperature helps avoid bitterness (especially with Green tea) and allows the tea to maintain its delicate aromas and more subtle flavors. Oolong tea can be steeped at 185°–210° F. Black tea and most Sheng Pu'er, just off a boil. Shou Pu'er, Hei Cha and some Sheng Pu'er do well with a full rolling boil (212° F).
Time
Until you discover how you like to brew a particular tea, steep it for just a few seconds, then taste it. You may add 3-5 seconds (or more) with each subsequent steeping. Pay attention to the flavor. When the tea tastes right to you, decant the entire vessel into your serving pitcher (cha hai) or cups to avoid over-steeping. Most of the tea we offer is meant to be infused multiple times; gradually increasing steeping time for subsequent infusions.
Experiment
Once you've tasted your tea, feel free to experiment. Adjust water temperature, brewing times, and proportion of tea to water. Watch the leaves unfurl, enjoy the aroma of the leaves as well as the essential oils that have collected on the lid of the brewing vessel.