We Love DC has an article on afternoon teas in fancy hotels in Washington DC.  Puerh tea gets a mention as the Park Hyatt Washington’s Tea Cellar contains the biggest collection of aged puerh teas in the United States, with teas dating back to 1949.  While the cellar has over 50 teas, vintage and reserve [...]]]>

We Love DC has an article on afternoon teas in fancy hotels in Washington DC.  Puerh tea gets a mention as the Park Hyatt Washington’s Tea Cellar contains the biggest collection of aged puerh teas in the United States, with teas dating back to 1949.  While the cellar has over 50 teas, vintage and reserve puerh teas teas fetch prices in excess of $800 a pound. The Cellar employs a tea expert to guide guests on a taste exploration of puerh and other teas.

A traditional tea table is set Saturday and Sunday from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm each week.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This video is a little controversial.  While there is some disagreement on the technique used to prepare Pu-rh tea, this is definitely an interesting video on proper preparation.

Click here to view the embedded video.

While Puerh Tea is predominantly pressed into cakes, an interesting variety of [...]]]> The pressing of Puerh tea into cakes and the aging of the tea perhaps originated in the need to transport the tea conveniently from Yunnan to Tibet and northern China and in the natural aging process that happened in tea storerooms and during transport.

While Puerh Tea is predominantly pressed into cakes, an interesting variety of additional compact shaped may be used including squares, bricks, bowls, mushrooms, and melons. Most Puerh Tea is distributed in small cakes weighing about 357 grams. Regardless of the final shape, each of these forms is created by steam-moistening the máochá or ripened tea leaves to improve cohesion prior to compressing the tea into the desired form. Occasionally, cakes are made of older leaves mixed with the current year leaves. This mixing is, unfortunately, difficult to get information about as it is considered a trade secret.

Next, the desired amount of tea is placed within a cloth and under the press. This compression can be preformed mechanically or by hand with a hydraulic or lever press. Traditionally, a large rock was used for the pressing. A small piece of paper called a Nèi fēi will also be pressed in with the tea, as a sign of authenticity that resists easy tampering. The pressed tea must be allowed to dry prior to packaging and sale.

When sold individually, each pressed cake will come in a cotton wrapper printed with information on the production location and year of production. These wrappers also sometimes include interesting artwork. As mentioned above, the cake will have an impressed authenticity paper embedded in the tea with manufacturer information. Some cakes will also include a loose flyer with additional information about the tea. Pu-erh is also sold wholesale in larger bamboo containers called tong.

Click here to view the embedded video.

A video showing how to break/flake Puerh tea.  The complete breaking is unusual, as one will often simply break off what is needed to make a single serving of Pu-erh tea at a time.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Pu-erh teas are believed to be beneficial beverages for health since they possess several pharmacological properties such [...]]]> In an article titled, Comparative Safety Evaluation of Chinese Puerh Green Tea Extract and Pu-erh Black Tea Extract in Wistar Rats, Di Wang et al found that very high doses of aged Pu-erh tea extract were safe for laboratory animals.

Pu-erh teas are believed to be beneficial beverages for health since they possess several pharmacological properties such as antioxidation, hypocholesterolemia, and antiobesity properties, but their potential toxicities when administered at a high dose as concentrated extracts have not been completely investigated. In this study, the chemical components in Pu-erh green tea and Pu-erh black tea were analyzed and compared, and the safety of tea extracts was evaluated in Wistar rats. The polysaccharide, tea pigment, and flavonoid levels were substantially increased in the Pu-erh black tea, while the polyphenol and free amino acid levels were higher in unfermented green tea. Low toxicities of Pu-erh green tea extract (GTE) were observed at doses of 2500 and 5000 mg/kg/day with a 28-day subacute study. Serum biochemical data including alanine aminotransferase increased to 5000 mg/kg/day GTE males, and creatinine (Cr) increased in all 5000 mg/kg/day GTE groups and 2500 mg/kg/day GTE males. Slight bile duct hyperplasia in the liver was also observed. The target organs of GTE were considered to be the liver and kidney. Comparatively, no adverse effects were observed in Pu-erh black tea extract (BTE)-treated rats. In conclusion, a dose of 1250 mg/kg/day for GTE and 5000 mg/kg/day for BTE following oral administration could be considered safe under the conditions of this study.

Chemical compositions and infusion colour differences of seven puerh tea samples and their correlation to sensory quality were investigated. The results [...]]]> In an article titled, A study on chemical estimation of Puerh tea quality, Yuerong Liang et al found that the chemical composition of infused Puerh Tea and the sensory quality of the tea are correlated.

Chemical compositions and infusion colour differences of seven puerh tea samples and their correlation to sensory quality were investigated. The results showed that the puerh tea contained 37.1 mg g-1 caffeine, 15.7 mg g-1 amino acids, 67.0 mg g-1 polyphenols and 8.41 mg g-1 total catechins, on average. Among the 17 tested volatile compounds, n-valeraldehyde was not detected. The most abundant volatile was -ionone and the next was linalool oxide II. Infusion colour analysis showed that the puerh tea had deep hue with E ranging from 66.8 to 79.2. Spearman’s linear correlation analysis showed that total quality score (TQS) of the puerh tea was significantly correlated to concentration of amino acids, linalool oxide II and infusion colour indicator E. Five components were extracted from the 34 tested indicators by principal component analysis and were regressed on the TQS to produce six Pearson’s linear regression equations for estimating sensory quality of puerh tea, among which two were statistically significant, ie TQS = 57.47 – 0.18geraniol + 0.33polyphenols – 1.14n-caproaldehyde – 1.38linalool oxide I + 0.21caffeine (p < 0.01) and TQS = 57.42-0.03Citral + 0.33polyphenols – 1.14n – caproaldehyde – 1.40linalool oxide I + 0.20caffeine (p < 0.01).