The Ultimate Guide on How to Make Pu-Erh Tea

It’s no surprise that a lot of people love drinking tea. In 2020, a total of 6.3 billion kilograms of tea was consumed globally.  Interestingly, tea is the second most consumed drink in the world and has been around since 2700 BC.

This is not surprising since tea is not only delicious but also has health benefits. As for tea flavors, Darjeeling, English Breakfast, and Matcha come out on top. However, there’s one healthy tea type that people are talking about right now- the Pu-erh tea.

Pu-erh tea or sometimes called puer tea hails from the province of Yunnan in China. This Chinese tea is a semi-rare type with a complex and hearty smooth taste.

Types of Pu Erh Tea

There are two types of Pu-erh tea in the market, raw and ripe. Ripe Pu-erh tea is made by fermenting loose leaves for several months and then compressing them. This is a quick method. The raw Pu-erh tea, on the other hand, has fresh leaves pressed initially and then fermented and post fermented for years.

Depending on the strength of the Pu-erh tea, it usually contains around 30-100mg caffeine per serving.  It is said to be a weight loss tea. Its also said to prevent fatty liver disease, manage cholesterol, and kill breast, oral, and colon cancer cells. Read on to know how to perfectly brew this premium tea.

Ingredients:

• Pu-erh compressed tea cake
• Regular teapot or Yixing teapots for an authentic experience
• Tea Knife to cut through compressed Pu-erh tea cakes
• Teacups
• Filtered Water
• Optional: Sweeteners like cream and sugar

How to Brew Loose Pu’Erh Tea:

1. Boil filtered water at 212F.
2. Carve the Pu-erh tea cake using the tea knife. Pry them loose and prevent damaging the tea leaves. Estimate about 3-4 grams of tea per serving.
3. Place loose leaves in the teapot and pour water.
4. Steep the tea for 5 minutes.
5. After 5 minutes, pour the boiled tea into a teacup using a strainer. This is to prevent the leaves from mixing with the tea.
6. Add sweeteners if desired.
7. Serve and enjoy your brewed tea.

How to Brew Gaiwan Style

Gaiwans are lidded bowls with no handle and are used for tea drinking. Brewing the Pu-erh tea here allows you to enjoy the flavors at different stages of steeping.

1. Bring filtered water to a boil at 212F.
2. Put 1 tablespoon of Pu-erh tea loose leaves in your gaiwan and pour water.
3. Wait for 5 seconds and discard the water from the gaiwan while retaining the leaves.
4. Pour water again and wait for 10-20 seconds.
5. Pour tea through a strainer and into a teapot and serve.
6. Repeat this process and see how the taste and color changes. If the tea flavor can no longer be tasted, that means that it has been fully extracted.

Conclusion

If you want an authentic and smooth taste, you should try Pu-erh tea. Aside from the taste, sip in confidence knowing it has health benefits and a great source of caffeine as well to perk you. Try something new and brew a Pu-erh tea today. Try our https://lightloadtea.com/ to know more.