Pu'er tea brewing method revealed: the difference between raw tea, cooked tea and old tea

How to brew Pu'er tea, in fact, is to look at the tea and follow it.

Raw tea is wilder, new tea is tenderer, cooked tea is smoother, and old tea is heavier. You have to know its character before deciding how to brew it. If you "hard brew" indiscriminately at the beginning, the light tea will have no taste, and the heavy tea will be so bitter that you want to pour it out.

Tea is something that you have to understand and follow it to brew it.

• Raw tea: wild enough, but it also needs to be tamed

Raw tea is not fermented, and its temper is fierce, especially the new tea of ​​1 to 3 years, which is particularly bitter. When brewing, don't make the water temperature too high, just control it at around 90 to 95℃. Too hot will easily damage the tea leaves and the taste will be out of control. Aged raw tea over five years old can be brewed with boiling water, and the aroma will be more pronounced.

I usually use a white porcelain covered bowl to brew raw tea, which dissipates heat quickly, makes it easier to control the time of brewing, and is also convenient for watching the state of tea leaves brewing. If you use a pot, it is more appropriate to choose a purple clay pot with a thinner body, which will not absorb all the aroma of the tea.

Don't put too much tea. Generally, 6-7 grams is enough for a 100ml covered bowl. For a particularly strong tea like Laobanzhang, 6 grams is enough. The first five brews should be fast in and out, basically within five seconds. You can slowly add a few seconds for each brew later, and brew for about 20 seconds at the end, and the sweetness will be more obvious.

• Ripe tea: remove impurities first, then find the taste

Ripe tea has been fermented, and looks mild, but it is also picky. New ripe tea will have a bit of piled smell and impurities, while old ripe tea needs to slowly awaken the aroma of the part that has sunk.

I will wash the newly ripened tea with boiling water twice, about 5 seconds each time, mainly to remove the impurities. For old ripe tea, wash it once, don't wash away its old fragrance.

It is more suitable to use a purple clay teapot. The material of purple clay or bottom groove is strong in odor absorption, which can absorb excess impurities and make the tea soup cleaner and smoother. In terms of tea, 6-7 grams is enough for a 100ml teapot. Don't put too much in the newly ripened tea. Too much will easily make it like soy sauce soup, and you won't want to drink it even if you look at it.

The first few brews are quick in 5 seconds to avoid being too strong. Starting from the fourth brew, each brew is extended for 10 seconds, the tea soup will become smoother and sweeter. Old ripe tea can also be slowly boiled in an iron kettle. The more it is boiled, the more glutinous it becomes, like rice soup, and the aroma is also stronger.

• New tea: brew carefully and don't hurt it

The characteristic of new tea is "tenderness" - whether it is new or newly ripe tea, it is more delicate. If it is not brewed well, it is either bitter or dull.

It is recommended that the temperature of new tea be 90 to 95℃. Water should not be poured directly into the tea core. It is best to pour water along the wall of the pot slowly to let it slowly wake up. Otherwise, it is easy to brew out the "cooked taste", but the original fragrance is gone.

It is recommended to "dry wake up" the new cooked tea first - pry it open and put it in a ventilated place to dry for one or two days to disperse the piled smell. When brewing, the first three brews are quick to come out, and the fourth brew can be simmered for 10 seconds to make the tea soup more stable.

It is recommended to use a covered bowl for easy operation. If you want to use a pot, use a Duan clay pot for new tea, which is breathable and not easy to be suffocated; use a purple clay pot for new tea, which can speed up the "driving away" of miscellaneous flavors.

In short, don't toss the new tea too hard, brew it gently, so as to leave it room for transformation.

• Old tea: The fragrance given by time must be brewed slowly

Old tea (more than 15 years) is a treasure and the most difficult to serve. It is not tasteless, but it is hidden deep, which requires time and patience.

The first step is to wake up the tea. Dry wake up: pry open the tea one week in advance and put it in a purple clay pot for ventilation; wet wake up: boil water, steam it in a pot for one minute, and use the steam to let the aged aroma come out.

When brewing, it is recommended to use an iron kettle to boil water, and the water must be boiling vigorously. Use a purple clay pot, old purple clay or Jiangpo clay, which is a thick and heat-insulating material, to gather the aroma together.

When pouring water, pour it in at a higher level. The water flow is a bit strong, and pressure is formed in the pot, which can force out the good things in the tea. The first three brews come out quickly, and the fourth brew starts to be extended for 15 seconds each time. After ten brews, you can simmer for one minute, and the last few brews can even be put in a ceramic pot and slowly boiled to boil out the medicinal fragrance and wood fragrance, which is the true essence of old tea.

For compressed tea like iron cake, the amount of tea should be reduced a little. 8 grams in a 200ml pot is enough, otherwise the tea leaves will be too crowded after brewing, and the soup will be difficult to come out.

Many people think that brewing tea depends on skills, but it is actually more like dealing with tea. If you understand it, it will respond to you. Whether it is the freshness of raw tea or the mellowness of ripe tea, the liveliness of new tea or the depth of old tea, you have to explore it little by little.

It is not something that can be brewed right by following the tutorial. It depends on time, experience, and a little patience for tea.

In the final analysis, brewing tea is like making friends - you can't force it, and getting along well is the best taste.