Ripe Pu-erh tea is Pu-erh tea made from Yunnan big-leaf sun-dried green tea as raw material and processed by fermenting and other processes. Pu’er cooked tea is brownish-red in color, pure in taste, and has a unique aroma.
However, if you want to drink good-quality Pu-erh cooked tea, you must learn how to choose and avoid buying inferior cooked tea. Now, let’s learn how to choose ripe Pu’er tea.
1. Appearance identification
Pu-erh loose tea: Generally, it is divided into super-grade and one to ten-grade Pu-erh tea.
In terms of appearance: the appearance of Pu’er tea is brownish red (commonly known as pig liver color), the cords are fat and tender, and tightly knotted (because the large-leaved species is used as raw material). The grade of Pu-erh loose tea is based on tenderness, and the higher the tenderness, the higher the grade. There are three points to measure the tenderness: many buds, not too obvious, high tenderness; the cord (the degree of tightness of the leaves) is tightly knotted, heavy, high tenderness; smooth and moist tenderness, good tenderness, dry color tenderness Poor degree.
Pressed Pu-erh tea: The shape is required to be even and correct; the edges and corners are neat, without missing corners; the thickness is uniform, and the elasticity is moderate; the mold pattern is clear, the cords are neat and tightly knotted; the color is usually dark brown, tan, and maroon. Pu-erh teas with mildew on the surface and mildew spots are of inferior quality.
2. Endoplasmic identification
Soup color: bright, thick red, reddish brown. If the soup color is red, thick and clear, it is high-quality Pu-erh tea, just like a glass of red wine; dark red and reddish-brown soup colors are normal. Yellow, orange or light, or dark and turbid are inferior.
Aroma: In addition to looking at the purity of the aroma, it is also necessary to distinguish between musty and stale aromas. Musty is a spoiled smell that is unpleasant. Aged aroma is a comprehensive aroma produced by new substances formed by various chemical components under the action of microorganisms and enzymes during the post-fermentation process of Pu-erh tea.
Some are like longan fragrance, red date fragrance, betel nut fragrance, etc., in short, it is a pleasant fragrance. The highest state of Pu’er tea aroma is what we often call the Chen Yun of Pu’er tea. So the old smell is different from the musty smell. If there is musty smell, sour smell, or other peculiar smell, fragrance, etc., it is abnormal.
Taste: The taste of Pu’er tea should be mellow, smooth and sweet. It means that the irritation is not strong, there is no astringency, and the taste is very comfortable. Back to sweetness refers to the tea soup is thick but not irritating, and the root of the tongue has an obvious aftertaste of sweetness after drinking the tea soup.
In short, it is recommended that you drink tea to seek nature, and drinking tea that you feel comfortable and natural in taste is generally not wrong.
In addition, one must pay attention to the storage of good Pu-erh cooked tea, so that it can be aged effectively and the quality of the cooked tea can be retained. How should it be stored? come~
- The date of manufacture of the purchased ripe Pu-erh tea is within half a year, so the storage method does not need to be too deliberate to create a storage environment space within one year, just the same storage method as above. Because the ripe tea that leaves the factory for about half a year is stored in a naturally ventilated space for about a year, there is still room for its tea properties to continue to change naturally, and the tea flavor will not dissipate.
- If the purchased tea is more than 2 years old, the space for the natural transformation of its tea properties has been used up, and the storage method can be adjusted appropriately, for example, in a space with natural ventilation, no peculiar smell and no humidity, but try to reduce this space as much as possible. If conditions permit, you can use a clean, odorless, and air-permeable large clay pot to put the cooked tea inside, so that the tea smell will not dissipate after 5 years or so. And the taste quality will gradually improve.
Many medical experiments have proved that drinking Pu’er tea continuously can bring benefits to health. It will be late autumn soon, so hurry up and get out your cooked Pu’er tea and start brewing!
