Tea that gets better with age

Tickets imbedded in pu-erh tea cakes help ensure authenticity.

Pu-erh tea is unique in that like certain wines, the older it gets, the better it becomes.  If you've ever eaten dim sum, the dumplings and small bites served in Cantonese restaurants, then there’s a very good chance that you have tried pu-erh tea.   “Pu-erh is the birthright of every Cantonese,” says Roy Fong, owner of Imperial Tea Court www.imperialtea.com with retail stores in Berkeley and San Francisco’s Ferry Plaza, but you won't be served top quality pu-erh in a restaurant unless you order it."   While the tea itself is not new to the West, it most likely arrived in San Francisco in the 1850s with the Cantonese workers who came to build the railroads, Pu-erh’s growing popularity is a sign that Western palates are expanding to fully appreciate its earthy, pungent flavors as well as its many health benefits.  Pu-erh is one of the few teas (in addition to Oolong) that actually improve with age something that can’t be said of green teas which should ideally be consumed within one year of harvest.

These loose pu-erh tea leaves have aged for eight years. 

Pu-erh gets its name from a city in the remote southern mountains of China’s YunnanProvince where it has been cultivated and traded since the First century.  It is produced in two styles - raw and cooked - both of which improve with proper aging and is traditionally pressed in to cakes or bricks.  The tea is described as pungent and earthy, but also clean and smooth, reminiscent of the smell of rich garden soil or an autumn leaf pile and often with roasted or sweet undertones. Roy Fong, who markets his own custom-blended pu-erh, believes good-quality cooked pu-erh peaks at 20 years. “There is something magical that happens with cooked (shou) after 20 years,” he says. “It becomes soft, smooth, silky and rich, and some teas can have delicate plummy and almond notes. They are still youthful and retain their floral qualities, but they are highly concentrated, with distinct layers of flavor.”

Tea steeped from a 20-year-old cake. Note the deep amber color.

Quick Quality Clues
- Look for fragrant leaves that are dry and delicate but not powdery.
- Loose tea should be free from large stems and debris.
- Tea cakes should not smell moldy or have dark or white patches of mold on the surface.
- Brewed pu-erh tea is always clear and bright, never muddy or opaque.
- Flavors are complex and persistent developing over multiple steepings.