Puer Shu Tea (Cooked) Mini Portions

Puer shu tea (cooked) mini portions is a very practical product as it is sold in comfortable single doses in a square shape or in a small bowl (called Tuo in China). Both formats of this tea are made with leaves from the mountainous area of Wuliang, located near the city of Dali in the west-hundred part of Yunnan. The squares are collected in a paper package of 2 pieces of 20g each, while the Tuo are found in a cloth bag weighing about 120 grams and therefore about twenty pieces. The puer pressed in small squares allow a better inspection of the dried leaves and dilute the flavours in the case of multiple infusions while the mini Tuo release their flavour more immediately and intensely.

Speaking of flavours, the mini portions of puer shu have a fairly persistent fermented taste that can express itself in different ways on the palate. In the first sips, in fact, you can taste a very intense sweet flavour in the mouth, followed by various nuances of fermented character and a fairly full body. In this case, the fermentation practice results in a light herbal liqueur taste with hints of wood and a slightly balsamic finish. Given these characteristics, the infusion of this conveniently formed puer represents very well the typical traits of the ripe or shu category.

Puer Shu tea Mini portion of 40g (the package contains 2 square mini-doses of 20g each)

Puer Shu Mini Tuo tea: 120g pack (about twenty pieces)

Place of origin

Wuliang – 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. 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 is completed, which can last from 20 to 70 days, the leaves are spread and left in contact with air so that the microorganisms responsible for the fermentation dry up and die leaving the finished product. Once here, 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, a strong jet of steam is passed through them for a few seconds to make them soft on the outside and then they are pressed into the shape of a small bowl or square. 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.

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 put a mini Tuo or square in a gaiwan of about 100 ml to get more infusions with different tastes. After a short preliminary rinse at 100°C to start separating the leaves from their compressed form, an initial infusion of 10 seconds can be made, after which, keeping the water at the same temperature, the time can be increased each time by 5 seconds compared to the previous infusion (10 – 15 – 20…).

This tea has a longevity of about 7 infusions.

For a classic preparation according to the Western style, we recommend a mini Tuo in a 200 ml cup with water at 100°C for a brewing time of two minutes. It would still be preferable to do a prior rinse of about 15 seconds to maximise the flavours of the innermost leaves.

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.