Menghai Shou Puer Tea

Shou Puer

Shou puer, also known as ripe puer, is a post-fermented tea with dark and earthy flavors. This tea is easy to brew and many feel that it helps with digestion. 

What is Shou Puer?

The birthplace of puer tea is the Yunnan province of China. While there are many puer-style teas, technically only those made in Yunnan can be called puer. There are two main styles of this tea: the older, traditional production of sheng (raw), and the faster, more modern production of shou (ripe). Both start as maocha, which is essentially a green tea from the large leaf Camellia sinensis var. Assamica plant. Maocha can be aged before being pressed into cakes for sheng puer or wet-piled for shou puer.

Shou puer was first produced in the 1970s by Menghai Tea Factory and Kunming Tea Factory, both of whom helped develop the wet-pile process. Younger sheng puer tends to be bitter and astringent so the wet-piling process, or wodui, was created to smooth out the bitterness and mimic the flavors of aged (10+ year old) sheng puer. This sped up fermentation process starts with piling up maocha, dampening the tea with water, and covering it all with cloth to force start the fermentation. Over the course of a few weeks, microbial activity turns the green maocha into the darker shou puer.

Shou puers tend to have darker flavors, from earthy petrichor to woody and camphorous or even sweet, dark fruit. The flavor profile of a shou is highly dependent on the terroir the base material is from, length of the wet-piling process, and environment of where the tea is stored to age.

How to enjoy Shou Puer

Shou puers are fairly forgiving when it comes to heat and oversteeping. They can take boiling water and longer steeps. The tea just brews darker and more concentrated without becoming astringent.

There are two main ways I like to brew shou puer: gongfu style when I want to focus on the tea and grandpa style for an easy session.

Gongfu style brewing is a little more involved but is one of the best ways to appreciate tea in general. The process feels very meditative and lets you learn more about the tea which in turn helps you get the flavors you enjoy. I typically do 6-7 grams in a small 100ml tea pot or gaiwan. After a quick initial rinse, I start with a 10 second first steep, adding a few seconds for each subsequent steep when I want a stronger cup. Shou puers usually have a solid 6-8 steeps before waning in flavor.

Grandpa style brewing is a great, easy-going way to enjoy shou puer as well. Start with a hefty three-finger pinch (3-5g) of tea in a medium-large mug or thermos and fill with hot water. The larger leaves of puer tend to sink to the bottom so you don’t need a strainer to sip the tea straight from the mug. Before the mug is fully emptied, refill with more hot water and enjoy throughout the day. This is similar to how puer is served during dimsum, where you have a pot of tea that gets topped off with water over the course of the meal.

The last way I like to drink shou puer is as an iced milk tea. Brewed darker than soy sauce, chilled, and with milk and sugar. Shou puer tends to be pretty strong and earthy, which stands up to the milk and sugar. The Menghai Shou Puer we have on special this month is on the earthy, forest floor, and damp wood in terms of flavor with a bit of bitterness and starchiness. We’ve tried a handful of shou puers as milk teas during our recipe testing and have been surprised many times. Keep an eye out for more puer tea specials in the future!

-Darwin, Co-founder of Camellia Rd, Mustache Grower

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu%27er_tea

https://teajourney.pub/pile-fermentation-catalyst-create-shou-puer/