Sheng and Shu Pu Erh - Alcoholic?

Puerh and other heicha
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Baisao
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Tue Aug 16, 2022 2:27 pm

I suppose there could also be biosynthesized non-nutritive sweeteners created during fermentation.

There are many things I don’t understand about aged pu: the ephedrine-like feeling of young sheng, the deep chaqi of aged pu, etc. but I chock these up to the phytochemical diversity in plants under environmental stress.
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Baisao
Posts: 1396
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Sun Aug 21, 2022 7:54 pm

LeoFox wrote:
Tue Aug 09, 2022 7:09 am
pedant wrote:
Tue Aug 09, 2022 5:18 am
next time you brew up a sweet tea, plug your nose and see if you can taste the sweetness. i'll do the same and let you know.
Will need a super taster like Debbie for sure to test this, hahaha. I'm just an under taster.

Just did this for a strong tasting hojo zairai- and the tea became water. Hahahaha
I’m drinking some shou from 1979 that is very sweet. I pinched my nose and it remains just as sweet. It reminds me of stevia more than glucose.
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Nis
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Mon Sep 26, 2022 7:02 am

metalfan1999 wrote:
Fri Aug 05, 2022 5:47 pm
I am a big fan of Pu Erh tea and I drink lots of the Shu (ripe variant). Does Pu Erh Tea (particualrly Shu) contain any alcohol due to the fermentation process?
Short answer: No.

Longer answer: It's not actually fermented. That term is mostly used due to lack of anything better in the English language. For shu, an arguably more accurate (but still wrong) term would be composted. Also, I'm not sure it's even possible to create alcohol in a dry substance such as tea leaves and it certainly wouldn't last long if it was possible.

Edit: The best English term for shu is probably ripened.

You can read more here:
The science and nomenclature of tea processing. Part 1: Enzymatic browning
The science and nomenclature of tea processing. Part 2: Microbial ripening
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