Puer Shu (ripe) Tea Qiao Mu Cake 357g

Puer Shu (ripe) Qiao Mu Tea is mainly made from the large-leaf tea type typical of the high mountains of Yunnan, China. This is a traditional tea processed using specific techniques to bring it to a full fermentation. The expertly selected leaves ensure a very pleasant, enveloping taste with a strong woody flavor and soft notes of wet earth.

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Place of origin

Yunnan, China

Production

After harvesting, the leaves of Puer Shu (ripe) Qiao Mu Tea are left to wither in the sun for a certain amount of time depending on the producer before going through the ‘green killing’ stage which is very similar to that used to produce green tea.

In this case, however, the leaves are heated in the iron wok with a lower temperature than the usual standards for a green tea so it is possible to preserve some enzymes capable of changing the the taste of the tea through the time.

Once cooked, the leaves are taken in large quantities and stacked to form large piles.

The vegetable mass thus arranged is then moistened and covered with cloths in order to retain heat and to start the fermentation process. The producer here have to move and wet constantly the leaves in order to achieve an homogeneous fermentation on all the vegetal mass.

Once this process, which can last from 20 to 70 days, is finished, the leaves are spread and left to air. At this point one can (eventually) proceed to press the puer in order to give it the best conditions to be transported and aged.

To press the leaves, the producer exposes a certain quantity of the product to a strong steam jet for few seconds in order softened the vegetal mass and then wrap all up in a kind of sock or sac to imprint the final, usually discoid, form.

To maintain the desired shape the sac is put under an heavy stones for several hours or under a mechanical press while the leaves loose the residual moisture caused by the steam in the previous phase.

Preparation of Puer Shu (ripe) Qiao Mu Tea

We highly recommend infusing this tea in the traditional Chinese method (gong fu cha) to best enjoy these leaves. Following this preparation, 5 grams of leaves (about 5 teaspoons) can be used in a gaiwan of about 150 ml to make several infusions with different tastes.

After a quick rinse of the leaves in 95°C water, an initial infusion of 20 seconds can be made, and after that, keeping the water at the same temperature, the time can be increased each time by 5 seconds compared to the previous infusion (20 – 25 – 30 …)

This tea has a longevity of about 7 brewings.

For a classic preparation according to the Western style, we recommend 3 grams of leaves (about 2 teaspoons) in a 200-mL cup with water at 95°C for an infusion time of 3 minutes.

The tea can be filtered for greater ease at the moment of tasting, and also the infusion times indicated above are intended to be purely indicative, so you can also adjust according to your personal taste.

Store in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight.