Open a cake of “simple storage” Pu’er raw tea today, ready to drink. The reason why it is called “simple storage”. It is because after taking it out of the bamboo shoot shell, it has been kept in a kraft paper envelope, and then sealed with a plastic bag outside. This is how I preserve Pu’er single cakes. Because this cake tea is relatively expensive, it belongs to the “middle and top grade” of Tibetan tea. After taking it out and trying it once or twice, it was stored in the box like this, and I was not willing to drink it all. In the blink of an eye, more than three years have passed.
Take it out and sniff the dry biscuit, it’s not bad, the fragrance of tea is still there. Immediately, he pried off a piece on the side with his hands and put it in a cup for a try. The tea cake was pressed very loosely at that time, and a piece could be easily broken off. The cake can be dismantled basically without a tea knife, and the original strands of the tea are basically not damaged. This is a cake of 14-year-old Brown Mountain blended with Arbor tea, and old Man’e blended with Banpan. I still remember the taste of the new tea at that time, with a strong floral fragrance, strong and long-lasting saliva, and obvious bitterness. After drinking for five brews, there is a throat rhyme.
With anticipation, I poured boiling water into the tureen. Wash the tea, moisten the tea for 5 minutes, and brew. At the entrance of the tea soup, there is no expected floral fragrance, a bit dull and bitter. After brewing, the tea flavor is still strong and the throat rhyme is obvious. But the aroma is gone, and there is an old smell at the bottom of the leaves, and there is no aroma. I have kept this piece of tea in my study. After simple sealing, it is separated from the outside world with a carton. The temperature and humidity are relatively suitable, and there is obviously no mildew or damp. And long-term storage in airtight cartons, no sunlight. There will be no light pollution, and the decline in tea quality makes me quite puzzled.
The reasons for the decline in tea quality may be as follows:
1. Process defects
If the original tea production process has obvious defects. If you use the green tea making process, the new tea is delicious. Overdrawing the transformation space in the later stage, or not completing it in place or going too far, affecting the transformation in the later stage. Observing the bottom of the leaves, there is no obvious red stem and dark green leaf bottom of green tea, it seems that the above problems do not exist. In order to confirm this judgment, I also specially opened a cake of the same tea that was aged in bamboo shoots. The previous feeling is there, and it is not a process defect.
2. Insufficient awakening of tea
Generally, old raw tea with a certain aging period must be awakened before drinking. Take apart the tea cake and let the tea leaves come into contact with the air. Adapt to the temperature and humidity in the environment, remove dullness, and restore the vitality of tea. Previously, a similar situation did occur with the tea I stored. When I first opened it, I couldn’t help trying to drink it immediately, but it was often not satisfactory. After a week or two, reappear and notice a noticeable improvement. The tea soup is cleaner, the aroma is more prominent, and the flavor is more lingering. Thinking of this, I quickly stored the loose tea in a tea jar to wake up the tea. Two weeks later, although the situation has improved, it still does not have the charm of the past.
3. The storage method is defective
For single-chip tea, the best solution is to drink it as soon as possible. Long-term storage of single-chip tea is relatively difficult. Even if it can be sealed better, it lacks a large environment for centralized storage. Overall, tea quality is gradually lost. How long can the kraft paper plus plastic bag storage method preserve the tea quality. It is worth reviewing. Perhaps it is a wiser choice to put it in a more airtight porcelain jar or glass jar. This point will be compared and improved later. For more storage methods, you can read: How to store Pu-erh tea at home.
4. The tightness of tea leaves
I mentioned earlier that this tea has low compression and is easy to break apart. This is actually not conducive to the preservation of tea aroma and tea gas. The post-fermentation of compressed raw Pu-erh tea is anaerobic fermentation, which actually does not require too much oxygen to participate. If the temperature, humidity, and oxygen are too high, accelerated oxidation cannot produce well-transformed Pu-erh tea. It often brings mildew or red soup with a thin taste. Although the transformation of the firm Pu-erh tea cake is a bit slow, it can better preserve the aroma and tea gas of the tea. To ensure that the tea quality will not be lost too quickly over the long years, and to ensure that the tea content is still there when the peak transformation period of the tea arrives.
One of the charms of Pu’er tea is that the process of storage is also a process of learning and accumulation. When I first came into contact with it, I always wanted to make it change quickly. I can’t wait to take out a piece of tea and immediately let it ventilate, humidify, and pry it loose. Let it change and grow old quickly. I can’t wait to take it out today, so that I can taste old tea tomorrow. Over time, I suffered several losses. It was only after a few pieces of tea were spoiled that I gradually realized that it is not necessarily good soon.
Storing the tea leaves in pieces and increasing the compactness of the tea leaves is an important guarantee to ensure that Pu-erh tea can last ten years or even longer. When the transformation peak comes, the tea quality is still there. It is our best encounter with Pu’er tea that can bring us unforgettable pleasure.
