handling puerh and puerh to water ratio
1)how do you air out a puerh that has just been delivered? just paperbag it and leave in an open box? and for how long until you know you can drink it ok? do you leave it in the paperbag afterwards?
2)also, i read somewhere that samples/broken cakes are not good for aging? why is that?
There is some debate as to whether you have to air out a puerh that has just been delivered. If you choose to do so I would think storing it in a cardboard box for a few days would be sufficient.
Please don’t take this as gospel but with the August humidity, I’ve opened up a lot of my sample envelopes to the air for a few days. Just kind of wake them up. Many are over 6 months old.
I tried this with some teas from the Sheng and Shou travelling tea box. These were teas I had started the box with and they’d spent 4 months flying around the country during the Winter. I tried a couple when the box came back and was disappointed. I think the travel had harmed them, and the airing out (with humidity) seemed to help.
I’m putting this out there as an idea. Others may say it’s a dumb idea and I won’t say they’re wrong.
oh i think there is merit in airing out. a few days huh? will try that :D i thought one day would be enough haha.
just an idea..idk how feasible..how about getting each member of the TTB to air the teas with humidity since everybody’s gonna open them up anyways :)
another question, aha!
3) on puerh leaft to water ratio: w2t says 1g/15ml but ive read 1g:30ml and others.
The ratio of puerh to water is a matter of taste, depends on how strong you want your tea.
Like Allan said. If you’re averse to bitterness/astringency I’d stay on the light end!
i see. well you dont have to answer this but im just curious – what’s the max dilution you have ever had to use on a puerh?
Some teas I’ll just break up maybe an hour before I drink them. Humid stored aged puerh definitely improve with some airing out. The w2t 90 HK style improved drastically when I broke it up and left in a small non air tight jar for a couple weeks. I think marshaln said that he’ll air some really humid pu for up to 6 months before drinking. In the end it’s a matter of taste. Some people like more funk than others
Thanks for the tip. I bought a sample of the HK storage during the moving sale but wasn’t impressed. I just broke it up and will expose it to the last few days of humid August weather. Hope it helps.
Just to add to max dilution question, some people like to western steep their Pu. And older people need much less tea and much more water. Shou puerh, for example, is nice with just a pinch or so of leaves in a full mug of hot water. To do this, I use a small hand strainer. I rinse the leaves in cold water, and then pour boiling water over the leaves letting it run out of the strainer as a rinse. Then I dump the leaves into my mug, fill it up with boiling water, the leaves sink to the bottom eventually.
I do this, I think it’s now called Grandpa steeping though, to me western steep is when after a period of time you take the leaves out of the water. The grandpa steep you leave the leaves in and keep topping it off with hot water once you get about half way done. You don’t really get the flavor progression as much as gong fu brewing, but it’s an easy, travel friendly, and economical way to drink tea.
Being new to puerh, I’ve had many of these doubts myself. Based on advice I received & what I’ve practiced so far, these are what worked for me.
Since I like my puerh thick, viscous, & full bodied, I use close to the ‘standard’ 1g/15ml and would likely experiment with using more tea rather than less. You have to be very careful with brewing sheng when using a lot of leaves. Shu is more tolerant to wide ranging steep timings, but to avoid bitterness in sheng, you need to pour out the initial steeps almost immediately. It is easy to get this right after a few tries.
I leave the paper covered puerh to air out in the cabinet for 1-2 weeks before sampling them (just because others do it, I’m still inexperienced to make out subtle differences). I store them in the top shelves of a cabinet away from any strong smells. The humidity & temperature at my house is close to ideal conditions all year round, so no pumidor or other methods are required for me.
Rinsing the leaves before the 1st steep also helps waken the leaves. Some shu may even require a quick 2nd rinse. It can also help to give it a break of some time after rinsing and before the 1st steep.
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