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Does Loose Leaf Puer Age?
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2019 7:01 pm
by Janice
I’m looking at this loose leaf sheng puer on the Seven Cups site.
https://sevencups.com/shop/bai-long-xu- ... oose-leaf/
It’s new and it’s never been compressed into a cake. Is it intended to be drunk as is, or if I put some aside for several years will it age?
Re: Does Loose Leaf Puer Age?
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2019 7:16 pm
by Bok
It will age. Any tea you put aside will age for that matter, question just is how long you need to wait until it's something decent.
Re: Does Loose Leaf Puer Age?
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2019 7:45 pm
by aet
I believe there is a difference between Mo Jiang and Jing Gu tea , but not sure if worth to pay 4x higher price.I guess this is individual. ( yet there are in same area Puer )
It's a white tea not a puerh tea ,as website suggesting. The tips of the Yun Keng Shi Hao type bush which hasn't gone trough the kill green step of processing , therefore it is not a puerh tea but just a white tea. In Jin Gu ( Yunnan ) they call this Bai Hao , or big ones Da Bai Hao. which is just a White Hair (fur).
The white tea tends to kinda age up to certain time ( get the sweet taste caused by nat.chem reaction when oxidizing ) , after that turns bitter like Chinese medicine. Some people say 7 years, some 10 years, I believe it all depends on environment where it's stored. I have 2y old few grams left and it has lost a bit it's natural tea leaf bitterness ( which is the one of the points of aging ) , but I believe the same flavor of tea leafs/tips which I have developed in my KM storage for 2 years, might be achieved within 20s of steaming them before pressing in cake.
If you use a heater ( dry air ) in your home, I'd suggest to keep them sealed in some jar or box. Not vacuum tight as oolongs but with some space in jar for inner air / environment.
Re: Does Loose Leaf Puer Age?
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2019 8:59 pm
by Chadrinkincat
Why wouldn’t loose puerh age?
In general it’ll age faster than compressed cakes but 2-3 years isn’t gonna have much of an aging effect unless you live in a hot and humid place in Asia.
Re: Does Loose Leaf Puer Age?
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2019 10:08 pm
by aet
Chadrinkincat wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 8:59 pm
Why wouldn’t loose puerh age?
In general it’ll age faster than compressed cakes but 2-3 years isn’t gonna have much of an aging effect unless you live in a hot and humid place in Asia.
correct! I got distracted by the link of actual tea ( which is not puerh ) , rather focusing on question
There are certain temp. and humidity criteria for enzymes start to work ( the aging ). I haven't observe that in laboratory to say exact numbers. I think it's said that minimum threshold is like around 60-70% humidity, or something? More humidity, faster aging. Even in Kunming are places with various humidity . Yet the temperature is involved as well.
Re: Does Loose Leaf Puer Age?
Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2019 7:57 pm
by oolongfan
I have some lovely lovely aged loose shengs from the '90's and '70's - both from Norbu. They have incredible body and energy.
I can't really speak to the experience of aging loose sheng, since I have only had these less than a year. It will be hard not to drink them entirely before any significant amount of time passes