Pu'er Tea Knowledge

2026/09/02

Water Temperature: Boiling, 90 Degrees, and When to Let It Cool

Pu'er is mostly brewed with boiling water, but young raw tea with strong bitterness and tender bud tea sometimes call for slightly cooler water. How do you judge temperature without a thermometer? What if you live in the mountains and water won't reach 100°C? From raw, ripe, young, and aged to high altitude, here's the full picture.

2026/09/01

Leaf-to-Water Ratio: How Much Tea to Use

How much tea you use determines how strong a cup of pu'er is. How many grams for a gaiwan, small teapot, mug, or large pot? How to measure without a scale? What happens if you use too much? With leaf-to-water ratios and a conversion table, here's how much leaf to use; just taste the first infusion and fine-tune from there.

2026/09/01

Water for Tea: Change the Water, Change the Taste

Water is the other half of tea. How do you choose between soft water, hard water, filtered water, and mineral water? How far should you boil it? Bring out the aroma and sweetness of your pu'er.

2026/09/01

What Is White Frost? The White Substance on Tea Cakes and Citrus Peel

A layer of white frost sometimes appears on the surface of aged tea cakes or on the peel of xiao qing gan. It may be crystals of constituents coming to the surface, or it may be mold. From how crystals and hyphae differ in appearance and smell to whether it can be wiped off, here's how to look closely and tell.

2026/08/31

Lab Quality Indicators for Tea: Moisture, Ash, and Water Extract

Beyond appearance and taste, the national standard for pu'er also sets physicochemical indicators: moisture, total ash, water extract, crude fiber, and tea polyphenols. What each one measures, how the figures are set for raw and ripe tea, and how to read the fields on a lab report, all explained.

2026/08/31

Water Chemistry: Hardness, pH, and Dissolved Solids

Change the water and the same pu'er tastes different. From total hardness and pH to TDS, here's how calcium, magnesium, and acidity in water affect liquor color and taste, along with the total hardness of tap water across Taiwan's cities and counties and Taiwan's drinking water standards.

2026/08/31

Cream Down and Foam on Tea: The Science Explained

Strong tea that turns cloudy as it cools and clears again when reheated is showing cream down; the white foam that rises when you pour comes from tea saponins. From caffeine binding with polyphenols and the effect of minerals in water to the sheen and film on the liquor's surface, here's the full explanation.

2026/08/30

Cakes, Bricks, Tuos, Dragon Pearls, and Loose Leaf: The Shapes of Pu'er

Why is pu'er pressed into cakes? What sets apart the 357 g qizi bing, bricks, tuos, dragon pearls, and loose-leaf tea, and how do you break off what you need?

2026/08/30

The Chemistry of Bitterness, Astringency, and Sweetness

Where do pu'er's bitterness on entry, astringency on the tongue, and huigan in the throat each come from? From caffeine, ester catechins, and flavonol glycosides to amino acids and sugars, understand the chemistry behind the taste, and how to adjust it with your brewing.

2026/08/30

The Chemistry of Raw Pu'er Aging: Oxidation, Microbes, or Enzymes?

Raw tea slowly turns red and mellow over time, but is that driven by oxidation, residual enzymes, or microbes? From water activity, catechin hydrolysis, and theabrownin accumulation to the 5–8 year turning point seen in research, here's the chemistry of aging and the role of temperature and humidity.

2026/08/29

Aroma Compounds: Where Aged Aroma and Pile Taste Come From

Which aroma compounds lie behind ripe pu'er's aged aroma, the woody and camphor notes of aged raw tea, and the pile taste of new ripe tea? From linalool in raw tea to the methoxybenzenes of ripe tea and the cedrol of aged tea, here's how pu'er's aroma changes through wodui and year after year of storage.

2026/08/29

The Three Major Pu'er Regions: Xishuangbanna, Pu'er, and Lincang

Pu'er comes from Yunnan, and its geographical indication protection covers 11 prefectures and cities, with Xishuangbanna, Pu'er, and Lincang as the three regions where output and fame are most concentrated. Learn where they are, their signature mountains and styles, other regions such as Baoshan and Dehong, and how region relates to quality.