Julia Vern 46 037 3
It so happened that a person is closer to the familiar classics, well-established canons, the unchanging order of well-known things. Such conservatism is often transferred to culinary preferences. Morning cup of coffee, a mug of black or green tea between lunch and dinner. Variety is more about the order than the type of drinks consumed.
Meanwhile, in the homeland of tea, in China, hundreds of its varieties and processing methods are known. The painstaking people use all stages of tea leaf growth, fix all degrees of fermentation, use natural processes and microorganisms, turn to ancient technologies and invent new ones. The result is the same tea, but each time - with unique properties and taste.
Pu-erh is one of the varieties of long-fermented tea.
Chinese Pu-erh tea is a post-fermented tea produced in limited regions of China. It is produced according to a specific technology, when maturation during the fermentation procedure does not occur in a generally accepted way (with the help of natural tea leaf enzymes), but as a result of complex factors, including the work of microorganisms.
Interesting!
A distinctive feature of Pu-erh is also the final stage of production - pressing. This facilitates its storage, transportation, and also affects the taste of brewed tea.
There are two types of pu-erh:
- Raw (Shu). This refers to the technology of fermentation. Dried and twisted tea leaves are piled up and filled with water. This allows you to increase the temperature inside, speed up the fermentation process. It has special characteristics. The taste of "earthy" tea only improves over the years, bitterness and heaviness disappear, nobility appears. Tea is stored for 20 or more years.
- Cooked (Shen). Forcing the fermentation process with water is not used. The fermentation process occurs naturally up to a certain level, this is carefully monitored. Fermentation is stopped by the next stage - drying.
The last stage of manufacturing is pressing. There are several methods of pressing, the main ones are as follows:
How to choose the best Pu-erh for brewing
To brew pressed Pu-erh tea and enjoy it, you need to know its features, be able to listen to your own feelings, and not chase cheapness. Preliminary assessment of the quality of tea can be done by only two parameters:
- Nice appearance. Despite the strongly pressed forms, whole leaves should be clearly visible in cakes and bricks. Color may be slightly uneven. Shu puer is darker, Sher puer is light brown with greenish hues. Foreign inclusions, garbage are not allowed.
- Pleasant specific smell. Puer is called "earthy" tea. But notes of earth and wood should not be predominant. The aroma is obligatory tobacco, nutty notes. The smell of dampness should suggest that storage conditions have been violated. This tea is not of good quality.
If you are going to cook Pu-erh for the first time, give preference to a good, not the cheapest variety. Otherwise, excessive roughness and strength of taste, not the most refined aroma, may repel. Pu-erhs have different packaging. Buy a "nest" or "square" at a time, follow all the rules of preparation and find the tea to your liking. The degree of vivacity, freshness, and taste ratings depend on how to brew earthen tea.
There are special tools for separating a portion of tea for brewing
Brewing tea
The rule for making Pu-erh is 5-15 brews. Rule of use - do not take before bedtime and on an empty stomach. Water should be taken best quality, at a time brew the amount of tea that will definitely be drunk.
The preparation of Pu-erh involves the use of special utensils:
- Big kettle.
- Gaiwan. Special deep cup with lid. Instead, you can use a special small teapot for Pu-erh with a volume of 150 ml.
- Strainer. When separating a part from a large pressed cake, too small pieces, dust, will inevitably appear.
- Chahay. A device that replaces the milk jug. But it is used not for milk, but for uniform mixing of the infusion.
- Bowls of small volume.
A feature of the preparation is the soaking of Pu-erh. Enough 10 g per 100 ml of water. It is customary to scrape off the right amount of tea with a knife or break it off with your fingers. Tea is prepared in the following sequence:
- Soak dry brew. The required amount is put into the gaiwan, poured cold water. Time - 5 minutes. Drain the water. She is dyed in dark color and the tea is ready for further use. Water is no longer used. It is believed that the tea is washed.
- In a large kettle bring water to a boil, pour into a thermos to maintain the desired temperature. Tea is brewed with water at 95°.
- Pour pu-erh with water from a thermos and drain immediately. Rinse with drained water and heat cups and tea. Leave the Pu-erh in the gaiwan, cover with a lid. Wait 30 seconds. The vapors begin to wake up the tea, it swells slightly, preparing to give off aromas.
- Pour the tea leaves with a new portion of water. After 5-10 seconds, pour into the chahai and immediately into the cups. This is the first brewing of tea, tea drinking begins with it.
- The next brew is shorter by a couple of seconds. It gives an amazing rich shade, strong taste, the aroma becomes richer.
- Each subsequent brewing may be longer than the previous one. It depends on the preferences of the guests and the host. How many times to brew Pu-erh, experience will tell over time. It depends on the variety and favorite concentration of tea leaves.
Properly brewed, this type of tea has a rich bouquet of aromas and invigorates well.
Pu-erh, especially well-aged varieties, has unique properties. By changing the time of brewing tea, they achieve lightness, vivacity, and arousal of appetite. A strong concentration of tea leaves quickly tones up all body systems, and can even cause the effect of intoxication. Pu-erh, due to its enzymatic composition, can be drunk by people with peptic ulcer. It improves digestion, cleanses blood vessels. European doctors even suggested that low level cancer among the Chinese, achieved thanks to frequent use fermented teas.
Drink Pu-erh, try previously unknown foods and drinks. This expands our understanding of a foreign culture, makes the choice richer, and life more interesting.
Tea is one of the most common drinks in the world. Many people drink it as often as regular water. Exists big number varieties of this ancient drink, one of which is pu-erh. This special type of tea undergoes special processing and a long fermentation process. Connoisseurs of the noble drink are wondering: how to brew pu-erh? Since this relaxing tea is different from other varieties, there are some subtleties. proper cooking: water temperature, number of leaves, quality of dishes and others.
How to brew pu-erh at home
There are two types of this ancient drink: shen (green, raw, wild pu-erh) and shu (black, ready-made). They have a different taste and color (shades from white to red). After processing the leaves of earth tea, both types are released in different types:
- Loose.
- Pressed in the form of a pancake.
- Tea tablets.
- In the form of a square tile.
Preparation of this type of hot drink - special art. The best quality, long aged pu-erh may taste like regular tea if the brewing conditions are not right. Important role water plays during preparation - the drink always absorbs it taste properties. Therefore, the brewing liquid should not contain a large amount of heavy metals. Bottled, filtered or spring water will do.
Many novice tea makers are wondering - at what temperature should tea be brewed? With a very hot or not hot enough liquid, the leaves lose their beneficial qualities and taste, smell. Anyone who is at least a little familiar with the culture of tea drinking knows that the temperature of the water plays important factor when making tea. For Shu tea, a liquid is prepared, heated to 90 - 100 degrees, and for shen - 85-95. In order not to constantly heat up, water during the tea ceremony is stored in a thermos.
There are several original ways brew earthen tea with various additives. Consider one of them - pu-erh with milk:
- Rinse two teaspoons of earthen tea with boiling water.
- Put the milk (500 grams) on the fire, bring to a boil.
- Add 2 tablespoons of tea and 20 grams butter.
- Boil for about five minutes.
- At the end of cooking, add spices to taste: half a cinnamon stick or a cardamom pod is ready. Many tea connoisseurs like to drink milk pu-erh with honey, lemon, tangerine.
Shen pu-erh
This tea is known as "green puer". This is a powerful natural energy drink with a juicy taste and a tonic effect. The history of sheng tea goes back over 750 years. This is the only type of hot drink that improves medicinal and taste qualities with age. When stored under special conditions, the fermentation of tea does not stop, as a result of which changes occur at the cellular level - the composition of caffeine and tannin decreases.
Shu pu-erh
It is the most famous black tea in the world, although it has a short history. The technology for the production of shu pu-erh was developed by the Chinese in the 70s. The secret lies in the invention of accelerated fermentation by scientists. This process has the obvious advantage that there is no need to wait for the tea to age and acquire necessary qualities. good drink shu gives a pleasant taste even if aged for one year, so aging this tea for 10-30 years or chasing age when buying does not make sense.
How many times can pu-erh be brewed
Tea brewing is used from three to six times - the answer to the question of how many times tea can be brewed. At the first preparation, pu-erh is insisted for no more than 40 seconds - the drink aged for a longer time will turn out to be tart and bitter, unhealthy. For each next tea leaves, ten seconds must be added: the second will be 50, the third - a minute, and so on.
How to drink pu-erh correctly
To enjoy tea drinking, you should know some basics of the tea ceremony. It is also carried out at home in the company of friends. For such cases, connoisseurs buy special dishes. Utensils for tea ceremonies are selected depending on the number of participants - if there are 1-4 people who drink the drink, a gaiwan (a special teapot with a saucer and a lid) is suitable. For big companies teapots of different sizes and materials are used (ware from Yixing clay is valued).
Pu-erh properties
Often, visitors to tea shops come and ask for such a puerchik, so that after drinking it will “poke” or start to “pin”, could “insert”. Indeed, this drink is associated with such a concept as "narcotic effect". However, the properties of tea have not yet been fully studied - it acts differently on each person. There are two varieties of earthen drink that have an effect of intoxication on the body - Da Hong Pao and Te Guan Yin. Some are wondering: is pu-erh harmful? Under certain conditions - yes! Doctors advise - earth tea should not be brewed in such cases:
- During pregnancy.
- The presence of kidney stones.
- At high temperature.
- Having problems with blood pressure.
Often people ask doctors - how much pu-erh can you drink a day? To avoid health problems, doctors advise limiting yourself to one or two drinks per day. To enjoy this amount of tea is enough. Puer benefits:
- It has the properties of a sorbent.
- Effective in loss programs excess weight.
- It is used to remove cholesterol and cleanses the walls of blood vessels.
- The ability to invigorate.
Learn how to drink and brew properly.
Video: how to brew pressed pu-erh
If you have a desire to learn how to brew pu-erh tea correctly, then this video is for you. Here you can find information about what effect the drink causes, what is harmful, how much it costs and how to choose it. AT short video In this review, you will not only learn how to prepare earthen tea, but also other secrets - why it sometimes smells like fish and how tea affects the body.
