Vintage Aged Pu Erh
Aged Pu-erh’s not just great tea… it’s a lifetime obsession.
This 1998 pu-erh beeng cake comes from the Menghai Tea Factory in Yunnan Province. You know it's from one of the most respected pu-erh factories because of the label, with the large yellow hanzi for "tea." Inside? Large flavorful leaves. Click the image to see more vintage beeng cakes~
Most teas don’t last. Most give you six months, a year before the flavor’s faded.
Pu-erh, though, gets better with age.
Because pu-erh teas are fermented, they age like fine wine. Each passing year imparts more flavor and more value. In fact, some collectors pay top dollar for aged pu-erh.
The ideal aged pu-erh comes with its original factory label, to prove its provenance.
And while it make take 5 to 10 years for a pu-erh to go from green maocha to a ready-to-drink sheng pu-erh, once there it only gets better.
Don’t like to wait? Then just buy vintage pu-erhs!
Aged Pu-Erh gives you years of taste in each pot
This 2001 aged pu-erh beeng cake has the manufacturer's label pressed in with the tea leaves so you can be assured of its provenance. As a more recent cake, I'd give it a few years yet before drinking. To shop for aged pu-erh, just click the cake!
When you buy aged pu-erh, you’ll brew it like a regular pu-erh. Break off a few leaves and brew them in a gaiwan.
Steep the leaves briefly.
Depending on the age & leaves, you’ll want to vary your steeping time. Greener leaves act like green tea– steep too long and they turn bitter. Maybe a minute or so. Darker, older leaves need hotter, though never boiling, water. Maybe 2, 3 minutes.
After drinking, you can enjoy the shape & color of the leaves in the gaiwan.
This next, final step is the most important: after you drink, steep the leaves again.
Every time you brew the leaves anew, you go another year back in the tea’s history. A vintage pu-erh’s leaves can handle many steepings. When you want to really stretch it out, try short infusions of 15-30 seconds.
Some people find a yixing pot adds to the experience. Because above all, drinking aged pu-erh is an experience.
Buy Aged Pu-Erh Here
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Normally I put directions for making a pot of tea down here. For aged pu-erh teas, let’s take a look at how to store them…
Pu-erh teas of an older vintage (1980s, 1990s) will come ready-to-drink. For pu-erhs like a 2004 Yiliang Sheng Pu-Erh Beeng Cake, or an investment like a 1973 Cultural Revolution pu-erh brick ($1000!), you’ll want a safe place to store them.
Safe from thieves… from scents… from tiny children who smear things with creamed corn.
I lock mine in a hermitage hidden in the mountain range near my house. If you have no mountains, try a cupboard.
Ideal conditions include:
- Safe from rats, children, tea-loving “friends,” insects, direct sunlight.
- Contrary to common sense, you don’t want a “cool, dry place!” Tea experts agree that you want a warm, semi-dry place. In fact, temperature changes can be helpful. Because going from hot to cold causes the moisture in the pu-erh to come out and go back inside, it coats the leaf’s surface with ever-richer layers of flavor. Some people think cave or basement– which depends entirely on how humid the cave is, and whether it has any unpleasant odors that will affect your cakes.
- Pu-erh likes air flow. For instance, shelves out of direct sunlight, or in a ceramic pot with a cloth cover instead of a lid.
- Put young pu-erhs next to older, mature pu-erhs. The older ones influence the flavors of the younger, rather like role models.
- This happens because pu-erh ferments microbially, rather like yogurt or miso. Older pu-erhs can jumpstart microbial cultures in the younger ones. So to get your pu-erh going well, think like a microbe. How hot, cold, wet, dry, would a microbe like it?
Follow these steps, tweaking them for your own environment, and you’ll develop delicious pu-erhs that will provide years of tasty pleasure!
