Pu’er is one of those teas that kind of fall into a wine category in that it’s got it’s own fermenting and vintaging process.  It’s even got a wide range of flavours, tastes, depths, ages, and price points!

I love how this tea starts bitter, but ends with golden after tastes.  And depending on the roast, the age, the area it’s from, the company that processed it, you get so many different flavours and end games.  And it’s truly this comfort drink I enjoy in the evenings, especially after a big meal or a long night out.

Pu’er as an ingredient:

• is cooling in nature
  
• and bitter to taste
• It’s perfect for clearing heat
• eliminating toxins from the body
• aiding in sleep
• targets the spleen and liver
• does have a high caffeine content (which does elevate heart rate in some)

There are so many varieties of teas that even within the pu’er (aka pu’erh) families, they have their own varieties as well!

Pu’er is very different from green, red, or black tea, although it does fall into the category of darker, black teas because of it’s processing and fermenting.

There are 2 methods of processing pu’er which will yield in:

• raw pu’er – dried and naturally fermented, partially pan-fried to stop the fermenting process, rolled, fully dried
• cooked pu’er – picked, intentional bacteria introduction to ferment, then fired and cooked, and rolled

This is why you’ll taste different depths, char, flavours in a pu’er.  There are so many factors that it depends on such as length of fermentation, species of bacteria, cooking time and method, humidity of drying time and length, location of tea leaves, and condition of tea leaves during time of harvest.  The longer the process, the longer the fermentation, the quality of the leaves, the mixing or leaves, and the post storage life will determine the price and rarity of the pu’er blend.