Pu’erh tea

Pu'erh is a fermented tea from Yunnan province in southwest China, named after the historic trading town of Pu'er. It is made from the large-leaf variety of Camellia sinensis. After the leaves are pan-fired, rolled and sun-dried into a base called maocha, they are either left loose or pressed into cakes, bricks and small nuggets. What makes pu'erh unique is microbial fermentation, which keeps changing the tea over time.

There are two main styles. Sheng (raw) pu'erh is pressed and left to age naturally, sometimes for many years. Shou (ripe) pu'erh goes through an accelerated, controlled fermentation called wo dui, developed in the 1970s, that produces a dark, mellow tea within months.

Ripe pu'erh brews a deep, almost coffee-coloured cup that is earthy, smooth and sweet, with notes of forest floor, dark chocolate, dates and wet stone. Young raw pu'erh is the opposite: brisk, bright, floral and sometimes bitter, which mellows into dried fruit, camphor and wood as it ages. Pu'erh is often blended with flowers, citrus or chai spices to round out its earthiness. Browse our selection above to find a style that suits you.

Start with a rinse: pour 95–100°C water over the leaf, wait 5–10 seconds, and discard it. This wakes up compressed leaf and washes away dust. For a mug, use 2–3 g per 250 ml and steep for 2–4 minutes; ripe pu'erh handles longer steeps easily. If you have a pressed cake, use a pu'erh knife or butter knife to gently pry off a piece along the layers rather than crumbling it.

Pu'erh is also ideal for gongfu brewing: about 5–7 g in a 100–150 ml pot, with steeps of 10–30 seconds that grow longer each round. Good pu'erh can go well past ten infusions.

Pu'erh contains a moderate amount of caffeine, generally similar to or a little below black tea. Rinsing and short gongfu steeps spread it across many small cups. Some people find ripe pu'erh pleasantly grounding after a heavy meal.