Puerh tea (Pu erh Tea, Pu-erh Tea, Puer Tea)
JING Puerh teas offer the ultimate Puerh tea experience, whether young or matured.
Puerh tea has been touted as a weight loss miracle. In China puerh is catching the attention of investors as it increases in value at more than 100% per year. But what is it about this tea, so unknown outside China, that makes it so special?
Puerh tea is so different to other teas - its taste, aroma and texture have an appeal which transcends analysis and intellect. Those that truly love Puerh tea find that its appeal is not just in its unique flavours and textures, but also in the way it soothes both mind and body.
Jing Puerh tea
Until recently, Puerh was China’s great mystery tea, famous for its health giving benefits, low caffeine levels and comforting, earthy flavour.
The secret is in the aging process. Young Puerh is fresh and brisk as it hits the palate and as it ages it becomes mellow, smooth and complex.
Puerh tea contains approximately 10-20mg’s of caffeine per cup, decreasing with age. Known for its digestive properties, it is drunk throughout China with meals.
The agents found in Puerh teas have given it a strong reputation for having the ability to break down fats in food, fighting obesity and high cholesterol and consequently contributing to weight loss. Tea and Health
RAW AND COOKED PUERH. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?
After picking the leaves, the first step in making raw or ripened Puerh is converting the leaf to “mao cha” (literally, "light green rough tea" or "rough tea").
Raw Pu-erh
Picked leaves are handled carefully to prevent bruising and unwanted oxidation. They are allowed to wither on bamboo trays in a ventilated space. This withering stage allows the leaves’ cell walls to weaken so that moisture can evaporate smoothly during later stages.
The leaves are then dry pan-fried using a large wok in a process called "kill green" which arrests enzyme activity in the leaf and prevents further oxidation. With enzymatic oxidation halted, the leaves can then be rolled and shaped.
The shaped leaves are then ideally dried in the sun and hand sorted to remove stalks. After sorting, the tea can be:
The shaped leaves are then ideally dried in the sun and hand sorted to remove stalks. After sorting, the tea can be:
- sent directly to the factory to be pressed into raw Puerh cakes,
- stored in non-airtight sacks to allow quick maturation before blending and pressing into cakes
- processed into Cooked Puerh
- allowed to mature uncompressed and sold as loose-leaf raw Puerh.
Cooked Puerh
The process used to convert raw leaf into ripened Puerh is a recent invention that manipulates conditions to approximate the result of the aging process by prolonged fermentation in a warm humid environment under controlled conditions; it involves piling, dampening and turning the tea leaves to ensure an even fermentation.
Control over the multiple variables in the ripening process (particularly humidity) is key in producing ripened Puerh of high quality. The ripening process typically takes anywhere from upwards of forty days after it has begun but others are aged for much longer.
Raw Puerh (top) and Cooked Puerh.
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