Puer sheng tea (raw) spring cake 2018 357g

The leaves of this puer come from the Bulang area located in southern China. In order to go and frame the category of puer teas we must go and explain more about the area where these teas grow because in most cases it is the area itself that gives the distinctive name of each tea. In our case we are in the eastern part of the Yunnan region (famous precisely for the production of puer) in an autonomous prefecture called Xishaungbanna. Here in the Menghai region, this cake was produced in 2018 by the Ouhai Shenyu factory. This information can tell us many things, but most importantly it indicates that this tea has passed through a factory that will have used a precise recipe to form this product.

Talking about the flavors that will be felt in the infusion of these leaves we might immediately notice some distinctive characteristics of raw puer such as the vegetal and somewhat astringent herbal flavor as opposed to a full-bodied sweetness in the aftertaste. The special feature of this sheng, however, lies in the strong interaction between the mild acidity of the vegetable part of the product with the sweeter, full-bodied part of it. Together these two elements will form a delicate sweetness typical of some oriental fruits that is also generally characteristic of the eastern areas of Bulang.

Place of origin

Bulang – Yunnan, China

Production

After the harvest the leaves whither under the sunlight for a certain period of time depending on the tea masters evaluations before going into the “killing of the green” phase which is similar to the practice adopted for green teas. The particularity in this case is not to heat the leaves as much as it is done for a green tea in order to preserve some enzymes that can change the flavors over time. Once the leaves are cooked, they are left to rest for one night before finishing the drying process in the sun. Once you get there you get the maocha which can be mixed with other maocha to create unique flavor and aroma combinations before being pressed into disc shapes, tiles etc. From here the tea is ready for consumption but is also in perfect condition to be stored over the years before tasting its flavours.

How to prepare

We highly recommend infusing this tea in the traditional Chinese method (gong fu cha) to best enjoy these leaves. Following this preparation you can use 5.5 grams of leaves (about 3 teaspoons) in a gaiwan of about 100 ml to obtain more infusions of different flavors. After a quick rinse of the leaves in water at 100°C, an initial infusion of 10 seconds can be made, and after that, keeping the water at the same temperature, the time can be increased each time by 10 seconds from the previous infusion (10 – 20 – 30 …)

This tea has a longevity of about 7 brewings.

For a classic preparation according to the western style we suggest 2 grams of leaves (about 1 teaspoon) in a 150 ml cup with water at 100°C for an infusion time of one minute and a half.

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.

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