Hello everyone,
Can anyone tell me why pu-erh teas need to be steeped for 30 seconds, flushed, and then steeped for the specified time? Is it something about the way it is fermented? Does it really improve flavor? I recently wrote a blog post on tea and in my research for it I discovered that pu-erh tea needs to be flushed and was surprised. Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks everyone!
Re: A question about pu-erh tea
Puerh is usually rinsed in order to clean it and wake up the leaves that were pressed (and perhaps stored) so that they will better release flavor.
Re: A question about pu-erh tea
Hi! I don’t think you need to step in for 30sec. Maybe with very old puerh (1940 or so..) but usually you just rinse it with some water at the same temperature than the tea need to step. About 95C.kissingtinyflowers wrote: Hello everyone,
Can anyone tell me why pu-erh teas need to be steeped for 30 seconds, flushed, and then steeped for the specified time? Is it something about the way it is fermented? Does it really improve flavor? I recently wrote a blog post on tea and in my research for it I discovered that pu-erh tea needs to be flushed and was surprised. Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks everyone!
Hope that help!
Cheers!
Re: A question about pu-erh tea
Than right after rinsing it you step it. That it!Puerh3 wrote:Hi! I don’t think you need to step in for 30sec. Maybe with very old puerh (1940 or so..) but usually you just rinse it with some water at the same temperature than the tea need to step. About 95C.kissingtinyflowers wrote: Hello everyone,
Can anyone tell me why pu-erh teas need to be steeped for 30 seconds, flushed, and then steeped for the specified time? Is it something about the way it is fermented? Does it really improve flavor? I recently wrote a blog post on tea and in my research for it I discovered that pu-erh tea needs to be flushed and was surprised. Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks everyone!
Hope that help!
Cheers!
Cheers!
Re: A question about pu-erh tea
I rinse twice with all pu erhkissingtinyflowers wrote: Hello everyone,
Can anyone tell me why pu-erh teas need to be steeped for 30 seconds, flushed, and then steeped for the specified time? Is it something about the way it is fermented? Does it really improve flavor? I recently wrote a blog post on tea and in my research for it I discovered that pu-erh tea needs to be flushed and was surprised. Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks everyone!
30 seconds is a good start for a tea that is pressed. Maocha gets less time.
Jul 31st, '18, 21:17
Posts: 72
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Location: New Jersey
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teaformeplease
Re: A question about pu-erh tea
It's all a matter of personal preference. Drink your tea the way that you see fit. I rarely rinse my tea anymore and I haven't been poisoned yet 
Re: A question about pu-erh tea
I "rinse" for 1-5 seconds depending on the type of puer. I may do a second 1-3 second wash for wet stored raw, or ripe puer, or might skip it entirely and usually do. Either way, a quick 1-2 second rinse is good enough and after that it's your preference. Or no rinse if you prefer.
Re: A question about pu-erh tea
Do whatever “floats your leaves”. Bad.
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Re: A question about pu-erh tea
Many tea friends replied on this but I like to add more
1) Rinsing the tea with hot water, the main purpose is remove the unwanted dust on it
2) Type of PuEr, is it already scattered PuEr tea? or very hard brick of tea?
a)Scattered PuEr tea, usually are very friendly to wash, a few second will be fine, some people
wants to keep the flavor of tea they even will not use hot water.
b)Brick-PuEr, usually will be enjoyed after it has been kept for at least 5 years. But in the duration of keeping the tea, some unwanted flavor will get into it, such as cigarette, kitchen smell, moist mold smell...then washing the tea is a must
3) In some cases, PuEr tea needed to be washed 2-3 times
4) Choosing and keeping of the PuEr tea, is much more important than washing the tea,
please noted that there are many bad quality or fake PuEr tea
5) Every tea has its own character, a few times trial and error and you will know the most suitable way to make that tea
P.S. I am from Hong Kong, please buy Chinese tea from me
I will give you new experience of good yet not expensive Chinese tea
ben@triptechtrade.com
1) Rinsing the tea with hot water, the main purpose is remove the unwanted dust on it
2) Type of PuEr, is it already scattered PuEr tea? or very hard brick of tea?
a)Scattered PuEr tea, usually are very friendly to wash, a few second will be fine, some people
wants to keep the flavor of tea they even will not use hot water.
b)Brick-PuEr, usually will be enjoyed after it has been kept for at least 5 years. But in the duration of keeping the tea, some unwanted flavor will get into it, such as cigarette, kitchen smell, moist mold smell...then washing the tea is a must
3) In some cases, PuEr tea needed to be washed 2-3 times
4) Choosing and keeping of the PuEr tea, is much more important than washing the tea,
please noted that there are many bad quality or fake PuEr tea
5) Every tea has its own character, a few times trial and error and you will know the most suitable way to make that tea
P.S. I am from Hong Kong, please buy Chinese tea from me
I will give you new experience of good yet not expensive Chinese tea
ben@triptechtrade.com
Re: A question about pu-erh tea
Based on my experience 'it depends'.
Puerh often needs to be 'rinsed' and the thinking behind that is:
1)to remove dust or particulates and other undesirables (clean the tea)
2) heat and steam will start the unfolding of the leaves - so sometimes you may want to wait after rinsing (before your second rinse or your first steep) to allow that to happen.
3) to diminish the initial astringency and bitterness (that may be strong if there is a lot of broken leaf (or in young raw/sheng puerh tuo that is tightly compressed). Broken leaves will wash out hopefully in the rinse.
4) Tea from certain problem areas or times that wasn't organically produced may have traces of pesticide or chemicals - you don't want to be drinking those (but it's fairly rare)
+ more i.e; Puerh, when aged significantly, might have picked up dust or undesirable dirt.
Shu (ripened/cooked) Puehr goes through a process similar to composting. So you probably want to give it a wash first.
Tea that has aged (a long time, like 20+ years) and been kept very clean will sometimes not need to be rinsed, for example dark 'basket' teas (though, these aren't really 'puehr' they are kind of similar) with a lot of age. Rinsing these teas will lose you an opportunity to taste the first flush (often fairly unique in flavour). But you'll want to be confident of where it was stored. The same is true of well stored old shu.
Timing on rinses is also variable (depending on the tea or type of cake). With very compressed tea (like iron cakes or some tuocha) you'll want to do a longer rinse (to help that expansion) - I've seen people do the first rinse for 15-30 seconds (which I don't do). With loosely packed cakes (or loose tea) you can just get away with a 5-10 second rinse.
After your rinse, you can experiment with steeping times and you'll get to know how you like it. Everyone has different tastes. Some people like to get smacked in the face with long steeps straight away and will let the tea expand while steeping.
Puerh often needs to be 'rinsed' and the thinking behind that is:
1)to remove dust or particulates and other undesirables (clean the tea)
2) heat and steam will start the unfolding of the leaves - so sometimes you may want to wait after rinsing (before your second rinse or your first steep) to allow that to happen.
3) to diminish the initial astringency and bitterness (that may be strong if there is a lot of broken leaf (or in young raw/sheng puerh tuo that is tightly compressed). Broken leaves will wash out hopefully in the rinse.
4) Tea from certain problem areas or times that wasn't organically produced may have traces of pesticide or chemicals - you don't want to be drinking those (but it's fairly rare)
+ more i.e; Puerh, when aged significantly, might have picked up dust or undesirable dirt.
Shu (ripened/cooked) Puehr goes through a process similar to composting. So you probably want to give it a wash first.
Tea that has aged (a long time, like 20+ years) and been kept very clean will sometimes not need to be rinsed, for example dark 'basket' teas (though, these aren't really 'puehr' they are kind of similar) with a lot of age. Rinsing these teas will lose you an opportunity to taste the first flush (often fairly unique in flavour). But you'll want to be confident of where it was stored. The same is true of well stored old shu.
Timing on rinses is also variable (depending on the tea or type of cake). With very compressed tea (like iron cakes or some tuocha) you'll want to do a longer rinse (to help that expansion) - I've seen people do the first rinse for 15-30 seconds (which I don't do). With loosely packed cakes (or loose tea) you can just get away with a 5-10 second rinse.
After your rinse, you can experiment with steeping times and you'll get to know how you like it. Everyone has different tastes. Some people like to get smacked in the face with long steeps straight away and will let the tea expand while steeping.
Mar 10th, '20, 04:39
Posts: 151
Joined: Oct 24th, '17, 12:41
Location: Amsterdam
Re: A question about pu-erh tea
I never rinse raw pu erh (unless more than 10 years old), because I really appreciate the aroma of that first brew.
I always rinse ripe pu erh, because the additional production steps allow for more chance of impurities to enter. Especially old ripes are really dirty. I rinse them twice. Back in the days the fermentation happened on concrete floors with bad hygiene conditions.
I always rinse ripe pu erh, because the additional production steps allow for more chance of impurities to enter. Especially old ripes are really dirty. I rinse them twice. Back in the days the fermentation happened on concrete floors with bad hygiene conditions.