Jim Washkau Jr.

Being the Tea enthusiast that I am, I ordered some more Pu-erh tea imported directly from the Yunnan province of China. Pu-erh tea is actually very rare in North America as it is a tea between green and black tea. It is fermented longer than a green tea but less than a black tea. Basically this means that Pu-erh contains more caffeine than green tea but also retains many of the health benefits. Pu-erhs also have a more “earthly” taste meaning its more bitter than a green tea. The unique trait of Pu-erh teas is that much like Wine, Pu-erhs taste better with age. What I ordered is a Pu-erh “cake” which has aged since 2006 and is about 400 grams. I also ordered about 150 grams more of the other Pu-erh aged since the year 2000 which I enjoyed from my last order. They also added 50 grams of the “Silver Thread Tea” which I have yet to try; it looks like a green tea.

Well I ordered some new tea from a shop directly in China. I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about an aged tea called Pu-Erh. This tea that I ordered was a small sample pack of Pu-Erh tea aged since 2000. Of course there are much older pu-erhs that probably taste even better but I don’t want to spend a lot on my first purchase. The pu-erh I bought came in small bricks that when hot water is poured over it crumbles into a bunch of leaves. The pu-erh leaves are actually a bit harder to brew than other teas I have because with this you have to rinse the leaves first, then steep it for a different amount of time depending on how many times you have steeped it already. The good thing about it is that you can re-steep the same leaves for up to about 5 cups and it has a really nice light red color to it. The taste is not as strong as i expected it to be but after a few sips it really grows on you.

I have been drinking a lot of loose leaf tea lately so I thought I would post about it. Loose leaf tea has many more benefits over bagged tea mostly due to the quality of loose leaf. Most people don’t know that tea bags don’t actually contain tea leaves and actually is just tea “dust”. Tea leaves contain chemicals and essential oils, which are the basis for the delightful flavor of tea. I started loose leaf with a Green Tea sampler pack from Adagio teas which came with the IngenuiTEA strainer thing.