TEA UTENSIL TO BREWING PU'ER TEA

Hi ! Everyone,

Further to my previous post, I write to discuss further on the topic on tea utensils.

UTENSILS

Some of you may aware that tea can be prepared in a variety of styles, using many different types of tea pots, vessels, utensils, serving pitchers, cups and water temperatures. Tea preparation throughout cultures and centuries is as diverse as tea itself.

TEA POT

As far as brewing Pu'er tea is concern, its tea leaves are much larger in size when soak inside boiling water. Because of its characteristic, you need a bigger pot for allowing  tea to flow out easily..


GENERAL GUIDE FOR PURCHASING A GOOD TEA POT

For passionate tea drinkers, teapots are invaluable collectible treasures and they can accompany their masters throughout their life like dear and cherished friends. Therefore take your time to choose the right teapot to accompany you. Here are a few points you need to check and ensure that:-

- it pours evenly and is not too heavy. which determine the quality of the workmanship of the maker.

- its handle is well-balanced and is comfortable to hold.

- its handle is not hollow or too hot to hold when boiling water added into it.

- its lid fits well and secure. A small hole at the top is to allow air to enter the pot and acts as a force behind when water is poured out..

It is worthwhile to take your time to choose the pot you really love especially for those who use it daily or frequently. It may become your most treasured possession after long usage. Some pots may become alive when they interact with the teas - the clay surface of the pot become more and more naturally shiny after each usage. Its clay become lively in the eyes of its collector and its value will also go up.

Some owners will treat their pots as their treasures especially those that can deliver marvelous tea that relaxes, revitalizes, warms, and cheers the owners' and their guests' souls.


SIMPLIFIED STYLE OF TEA BREWING

In Asia "Gung-Fu" style of brewing is the most often used and is preferred method for preparing tea. It differs from the traditional way that tea is brewed in Western cultures. The main differences are:


smaller tea pot

larger quantity of tea leaves

shorter steeper times

tea leaves are steeped a number of times before being discarded



BASIC STEPS FOR TEA BREWING

Tea Utensils

small tea pot

small, shallow tea cups

tea board

tea accessories - tong for holding heated cups, small spoon for the tea leaves, small pick to keep the mouth of the tea pot from becoming clogged with leaves.



Basic Steps

1. boil water to just below a rolling boil
2. place tea pot, cups onto the tea board - place cups in a semi-circle around the pot so that their sides are touching each other
3. pour the boiled water over the tea pot and cups to rinse them - use the tongs to empty the small cups - your fingers should not touch the cups
4. fill the small pot about 1/3 full of tea leaves
5. add hot water and immediately pour off - this washes the leaves
6. add hot water a second time - steep for approximately 30 seconds
7. pour the tea slowly over the cups, without lifting the tea pot between cups - this ensures each cup has a consistent flavour
8. once again add water to the pot and allow to steep about an extra 15 seconds
9. repeat this process until there is no flavour remaining in the leaves - high quality leaves can often be infused 8 to 10 times
10. each time hot water is added increase steeping time 10 - 15 seconds, the third infusion is most often the most flavourful - the leaves have totally unfurled and are releasing their flavours



THESE ARE SIMPLIFIED STEPS ONLY - TRADITIONAL STYLE IS MUCH MORE CEREMONIAL AND COMPLEX.


I will discuss more in-depth in my forthcoming post.

Trust you enjoy all these while. Thank you and see you again,

Cheers and have a lovely day,

James Oh

HOW TO BREW GOOD PU'ER TEA

Dear Valued Readers,


Drinking Pu'er tea is more than an art. It has been part of the Chinese culture for more than a thousand years. Due to its long historical record, there are several versions of preparing good Pu'er teas amongst its passionate drinkers.


For those who have very hectic daily lives and intent to slow down. Then they may consider tea drinking their hobbies. Tea drinking may not only nurture individual patience, but also working towards balance and healthy life.


To brew a good Pu'er tea, you also need to pay attention in details. Everything counts - water, tea base, utensil.


WATER
It is one of the key deciding components in brewing good quality of the teas. Spring water is preferred because it tastes comparatively much better and convenient than other type of water.


Spring water may be safer than your drinking water. Bottled water or spring water is definitely the drink of choice especially if you live in a neighbor with lousy and unsafe tap or well water. Tap or well water could be contaminated with high levels of chemicals (lead, arsenic and benzene), micro bacteria (bacteria, viruses and parasites), and hazardous materials (glass chips and metal fragments). Imagine drinking all of those disgusting inhabitants every day. Yuck!


That's why in the ancient time, the people at that time very much preferred to collect the stream water at the mountain top because it is less contaminated. They also prefer to have tea at the place where they can find tranquility - well balance with natural beautiful scenery with birds song, sound of waterfall coupled with cozy breeze blew beyond words. You can only use your imagination to do the work.


Please take note the contaminated water will affect the taste of the tea. This is because the tea leaves find will not be dissolved well into it comparative to clean stream water. Stream water is also much softer comparative to other type of water especially those with highly contaminated.


It is advisable to heat up the water about 80-95 degree, when you begin to see the bubble rising from the bottom of the kettle. Now, you know why I recommended you to use glass kettle in the first place. Once you see lots of bubbles rising from the bottom of the kettle - well indicate that the water is over boiled. As a result, the water become comparatively harder.


When you pour the over boiled water to another tea pot with the Pu'er tea, you will realize that the tea leaves will not be able to dissolve well comparatively with the former. Naturally, it will affect not only the aroma, but its taste as well.


KETTLE HEATER
Because you are using the glass kettle, therefore you have to use the conventional mode instead of electrical heater, which is more convenient and easily available. One good side is that it will nurture your patience because it more tedious. After all this is the beauty of having such a hobby.


UTENSILS
There are a lot to deal with this topic. Therefore, I opt to discuss further in my forthcoming posts.


Thanks and trust you enjoy reading it.


See you again,


James Oh

 To read other related article on Pu'er, please click at the link below:-
http://teaartblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/dear-our-valued-visitors-when-we-talk.html

MY OLD CLASSMATE'S TEA SHOP

Dear valued visitors,


This shop stored more than 300 types of Pu’er tea.


It is well designed and displays not only with various types of Pu’er teas, but also its accessories such as tea ports, cups and other utensils.


Some of the tea ports are of the reproduction of ancient master pieces.


The owner, Mr Lim always welcome visitors to his shop in Kuantan. He is more than happy to share his ideas, knowledge and experience to anyone who is interested.


If you want him to grade your teas, then you are encouraged to bring along your teas of your favour to his shop. He has been in this field for more than two decades.


For those who want to invest in tea, he is more than happy to give you insight of his real experience where he can import in bulk directly from his reliable network.


Below please find some of the photos taken from his shop.


Besides of displaying variety types of Pu'er, you may find some creative works too. The table base of dried roots from huge trees attracted my attention. You may make a trip there and find out more of such creative works if you wish to.


The shop, AMBITIOUS NETWORK SDN BHD , is located in Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia.


Tel No : 09-5669137
H/p No : 012-0383361
Email: limet@ansb.com.my

PU'ER HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND ITS HEALTH BENEFITS

Dear valued visitors,


To have a better understanding and appreciation of Pu'er tea, it is good to know some of its historical background and its health benefits.


I. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND


Yunnan province in China is a famous producer of Pu'er. It has been known as a medical tea, which claims that it heals certain illness. Its history can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty (618AD to 906AD) and was a favorite tea amongst the noblemen at that time.


It had been used as a form of currency in China over a few centuries and an important international trading commodity before. It had also been used as a form of currency in the South East Asia in the early of 1930. At one time, it was well known even in the Northern Canada amongst the northern natives, who were trading across the Bering Strait.


Pu’er tea derives its name from the town of Pu'er trading, where it was originally processed and traded. However, its trees were planted at the Nuoshan Mountains. A long distant from each other and the tea leaves were transported by horses. As a result the unique taste of Pu’er Tea was discovered during the long journey. Coupled with the humid conditions, its leaves began to ferment and released a strong, fragrant aroma, which the people there found it pleasant. Since then a special technique of tea fermenting was developed and Pu’er was thus created. This secret of Pu’er tea process has been kept in China for centuries.


These tea leaves are usually chosen and picked from a special broad-leaf tea tree, which is closely related to ancient prehistorical tea trees. These leaves would then go through two types of fermentation, which will result in its uniqueness characteristic of a mild, but distinctively earthy flavour.


Pu’er requires a minimum of 10 years to mature and gets better with age. Pu’er tea is very much like fine wine, which become smoother and more balanced with age. Pu’er tea is very much lower in tannins than other teas due to its unique processing method.

II. HEALTH BENEFITS


Pu’Er tea has been claimed to have healing power for certain diseases since the Tang Dynasty.


Modern medical science has recently shown that the health benefits of Pu’er tea may be more than just Chinese folklore.


Other scientific findings from France, Japan and China that it may help to reduce:-

a) cholesterol level in the blood stream
b) body weight
c) high blood pressure
d) heart ailments; liver diseases as a result of high saturated fat diets
e) the toxic of the liver


More over its findings also shown that it may prevent:-


a) intestinal infection, digestive problems and constipation
b) the formation of cancer cells in the body due to its anti-oxidants


I like to end here and see you again,




James Oh

PU'ER : THE CHINESE WINE

Dear valued visitors,


Pu'er can be compared to wine in the western world. It has an intrinsic value which increase as it ages, exactly like wine- the older it is, the better its value. Of course, it must be stored properly, like wine. However the way it is being stored is differs from wine.


Pu'er that is of value must have a good quality of tea base. The reason I said it has life, like wine, because its taste, fragrance, color, texture will change over time.


So, what collectors normally do is to taste the tea from the time to time till get the taste and the fragrance of they really love. Otherwise, they will repack it and store it again. This process will be repeated.


Hope you find the above information interesting and useful. I will talk further at my forthcoming post.


Look forward to hearing from you,

James Oh

To view other related article, please click the link below:-

http://teaartblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/puer-tea.html

PU'ER TEA

Dear valued visitors,

I am a Pu'er tea lover and I  have a fair collection of such teas back to 2004. Today, I write to share with you about this tea. There is a unique way of drinking this type of tea so as to get the best from it,

How to Drink Pu'er

When drinking Pu'er, drink in a small sip so as enjoy its good taste. Open up your mouth as widely as possible when sipping the tea. Try to keep your upper and lower teeth apart when you close your mouth. This is important because it will enlarge the room inside your mouth. Relax the muscles inside mouth and enlarge the room between tongue and upper jaw. This will enable tea liquor to soak into your lower gum and back of your tongue. When swallowing tea, reduce the room inside mouth, and press tea liquor down through your throat. Tea liquor under your tongue will then be pressed out during this process, and create a bubbling feeling. This is what is called "Ming Quan (Sounding Spring)".


Pu'er Tasting Terms

Mouth Tasting - Sip a small amount of tea into your mouth and draw air in from two sides of your mouth. This will make tea liquor tumble at the adjoining area of mouth and nose, and enable you to smell the aroma of tea while drinking.

Lingering Charm of Tongue - This is a unique experience only associated with Pu'er. When drinking Pu'er, let tea flow from tip to the end of tongue, and come down through your throat. Feel the long lasting aroma lingering on the tongue, enjoy the calmness, and experience the spiritual comprehensions that Pu'er brings.

So try it out and trust you will enjoy it. Please share with me if you have other way of drinking tea. Have  good fun,

James

SOME FACTS ON CHINESE TEA

Dear valued visitors,


I write to share with you a list of teas that are mentioned most often. Below are the information related to all these teas:-


Pinyin                    Chinese name             Colour typology Province


Biluochun                                                        Green          Jiangsu
Huangshan Maofeng       黄山毛峰                 Green         Anhui
Xihu Longjing                 西湖龙井                 Green         Zhejiang
Liu’an Guapian               六安瓜片                 Green         Anhui

Junshan Yinzhen              君山银针                                   Yellow Hunan
Tie Guanyin                     铁观音                                        Dark Green Fujian
Qimen Hongcha              祁门红茶                                    Red Anhui
Xinyang Maojian             信阳毛尖                                    Green Henan
Wuyi Yancha                  武夷岩茶                                    Dark Green Fujian
Duyun Maojian               都匀毛尖                                     Green Guizhou
Lushan Yunwu               庐山云雾                                      Green Jiangxi
Mengding Ganlu             蒙顶甘露                                      Green Sichuan
Pu’er                             普洱                                              Black Yunnan
Baihao Yinzhen              白毫银针                                     White Fujian






Obviously there are many more well-known Chinese teas. But these teas have two attributes that make them stand out among the innumerable teas of high quality and refined taste and that justify their presence on a list of the “most famous”: Their notoriety reaches over the regional level and they have a history and tradition that makes them culturally acceptable and is good for consumption. Liu’an Guapian and Junshan Yinzhen, for example, are mentioned under an older name in the great 18th century novel Dream of the Red Chamber (红楼梦).