36 months or 10 years
Pu'er tea can be divided into raw and cooked types. The shelf life of "raw Pu'er tea" is generally 36 months, and the "ripe Pu'er tea" can generally be stored for more than 10 years. Pu'er tea is a kind of shelf-stable tea. It needs to be stored and aged for several years to taste better. Pu'er tea becomes more fragrant with age and is known as a "drinkable antique". However, Pu'er tea is more afraid of humid environments. If it is placed in a humid place for a long time, it will easily cause mold.
Pu'er tea is neither green tea, black tea nor dark tea, but a post-fermented tea processed from Yunnan large-leaf sun-dried green tea. In recent years, tea culture academic circles have gradually reached a consensus that Pu'er tea is independent from the six major tea categories and becomes its own tea category. Pu'er tea is made from Yunnan large-leaf sun-dried green tea, which is processed into loose tea and pressed tea through post-fermentation.
Pu'er tea can be divided into two categories: traditional Pu'er tea and modern Pu'er tea. Traditional Pu'er tea is the collective name for various products obtained from Yunnan large-leaf sun-dried green tea after slow natural fermentation; modern Pu'er tea is based on Yunnan large-leaf sun-dried green tea, artificially fermented, and then processed into A variety of loose teas and pressed teas.
Pu'er tea comes in many forms, including loose tea, Tuo tea, cake tea, brick tea, etc. Good Pu'er tea has fat and strong strands, translucent soup color, mellow and sweet taste, and rapid production of body fluids. Pu'er tea also has the quality of "getting more fragrant with age". When the material selection, technology, and storage conditions are relatively good, the older the Pu'er tea is, the more delicious it will be when you drink it.
How to brew Pu'er tea
Meet the conditions
Different types of tea have different requirements for the water temperature when making tea, but the temperature must be guaranteed Above 92 degrees, the water temperature should be adjusted for different types of tea. Low water temperature can bring out the fragrance of the tea and help the tea flavor to be extracted more easily. High water temperature makes it easier for the brewed tea to have a sweet taste, but high water temperature will destroy some substances in the tea, which is not good for the tea itself. For cake-shaped tea, boiling water can be used to compress the tea, and the water temperature should be lower for tender tea.
Secondly, when making tea, you should also pay attention to the amount of tea leaves. It is better to occupy about one-fifth of the container. Too little will make the taste too weak, and too much will be too strong. For cake-shaped tea, it needs to be spread and exposed to the air for two weeks to fully develop the aroma when brewing. We can place the tea leaves according to our own taste. As for the water for making tea, either mountain spring water or pure water can be used. Be careful not to use water that is too boiling. The oxygen content of this water is too low, which will affect the activity of the tea. For tea sets, you can choose purple clay pots or porcelain cups.
Specific steps
First rinse the tea drinking utensils with hot water. First, it can sterilize and remove dust. Second, it can also help wake up the tea. It should be noted that when the weather is cold in winter, when using a purple clay teapot to make tea, you need to pay attention to preheating it, otherwise the inside of the teapot cannot adapt to the temperature changes and cause cracking. Secondly, put an appropriate amount of tea into a vessel for brewing. Pour out the first two teas to wake up the tea. The aroma of the tea leaves in the first two times cannot be fully evaporated and has a bitter taste, so the first two times should be poured out. Pour it out every time. Then brew it with hot water for ten seconds, filter out the broken tea leaves, and pour it into a cup to taste. When sipping tea, don’t be too fast. Only by sipping slowly can you feel the unique fragrance of the tea.