What Is Puer Tea?

Video Transcript

Hi today we are talking about tea, and now I am going to talk about Puer and what it is to be a Puer. Now Puer is sometimes in North American is referred to as Puer (poo-ar), but in Manderin it's pronounced Puer (poo-er), so Puer. So Puer is a really a tea of it's own, like black tea is black tea, green tea is green tea, white tea is white tea, oolong is oolong. All of these have their own world and Puer is the same. It really has its own depth and variety and flavor. One of the most interesting features of Puer is just the different shapes that it comes in. Okay. Later I'm going to talk about each of these teas individually. I'll just go over roughly, this is what is referred to as a Bird's Nest Puer, and these are both a bird's nest and this tea is a disk, a medium sized disk here. This little piece of paper in here is referred to as the Nayfee, which is the inner slip. It is something which is designed to develop some authenticity and to reduce counterfeits because Puer is a tea that is, for example this Puer, if this brand of Puer was decided that it was very expensive and very valuable then it might be the case that several people would copy this packaging, so one of the ways that they sort of stop and create a feeling of authenticity through these inner slips that are then pressed in to the actual shape of the tea. Again, so this is a mini disk and then here we have a very large brick of Puer, and this here is an interesting shape. This is a mushroom shape, so this is a really fun shape. Again, the mushroom shape has the Nayfee. This is one of the most common shapes is the disk, the Puer disk. Originally, this tea was sold in a town called Puer. This is how it got it's name. Actually it is not from the town of Puer, but would it would be transported to the town of Puer and then be sold at the market there. And the transportation is the reason why the tea would be pressed into these various shapes. So you press tea into disks like this and then the disks would be stacked and you could pack these on the side of the horse and then carry it for a great distance. When talking about Puer, you should distinguish whether the Puer is cooked or raw. Cooked Puer is going to be like this large brick here and these bird's nest and the mini disks are example of cooked Puer, and you can see that the cooked Puer is very dark. Now, uncooked or raw Puer is like this mushroom here where this is actually really dark, but a lot greener than this. And again, with this, this is another example of the green Puer. So the green Puer is going to be a lot lighter. Then when talking about Puer, then you should consider what type of leaf was used to make the Puer. Because you can make Puer out of any tea leaf as long as it is camilious insis variety you can make it a Puer. Sometimes Puer is made out of oolong tea, sometimes it is made out of black tea, sometimes it is made out of oriental beauty or from oasa oolong and sometimes it is made out of green tea, and sometimes it is made out of the ancient tree Puer or the ancient tree which is a tree plant that is a 100 to 250 years old. So there is quite a variety of teas that can be used to make Puer, and that is all going to influence the quality of the tea. Now Puer is a tea that improves with age, but just like wine, it matters what wine or tea you start with when you age it. If you age a bottle of very inexpensive, low quality wine for twenty years it is still not going to be very good after twenty years, and the same is true with Puer. If you have a really high grade leaf and a really good quality tea and then it is pressed into a Puer and you age it for twenty years, then chances are as long as it is stored correctly, you will have a really high quality and a really great Puer after that twenty years. But again, if it is a low quality leaf it is not going to improve much over that time. So Puer is a tea that there is not a lot of information about in the U.S. but there are more and more magazines that are featuring Puer and there is a lot of misinformation. Some people say that Puer is stored in a cove and this kind of thing is not and in fact, the best storage is in a cool dry place that has no sunlight and no scent of any kind going through. You want to have your Puer be exposed to the air, so that the way that Puer ages and the way the Puer improves is through changes in humidity, so if it is in a sealed container it won't experience those changes in humidity. Interestingly, in Colorado where it is very arid and there isn't any humidity or isn't changes in humidity, the Puer drinkers there prefer cooked Puer because if they were to buy a green Puer and let it sit in Colorado it wouldn't change, where as here in Eugene, Oregon this is a very good climate for storing and aging Puer. Puer is a world of its own. There is a lot of fun to be had with it and I just recommend that you go out, and try a variety of Puers and that's a little bit about the different kind of Puer and the world of Puer.

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