Brewing pu-erh

[tsmba]

OK, I have several varieties of raw pu-erh I received from Netsurfr. How about some brewing tips?
I looked around a bit and saw instructions to use water just off the boil (95C) with an approx 30sec infusion. I've never re-used tea, but I understand multiple infusions are done with this type of tea. I have several ceramic teapots of the English type. Any hints for a total newbie to this?

 

[MajorBurnz]

I don't know where you saw the instructions you mention.
Pu-Erh (either loose or Tuo Cha) must be brewed for a long time with nearly boiling to boiling water. You should use 5-6 mins of brewing.
However, you MUST wash the leaves first. Use nearly boiling water for about 30 sec, and then throw that out. It will break up a Tuo Cha chunk and you'll notice particulate matter in the discarded liquid.
If you want to infuse multiple times, use 4-5 mins for the first brewing and longer times after that.
Experiment to see what works for you. Don't go by the depth of the colour of the tea, as it will always be dark....even underbrewed.
Try it in small volumes first. 2.5 g /cup.

 

[Aquanin]

MajorBurnz, most people brew Pu-erh gong fu style which requires either a small gaiwan or yixing teapot. You brew ~5g of tea in ~100ml of water for seconds, not minutes. Depends on the tea but rinse it for a few seconds first, then brew 5s, 10s, 20s, and so on for additional steepings. You can usually do this for around 8-10 times. With that tea to water ratio if you brewed for 5-6 mins it would be a horrid bitter mess.

 

[MajorBurnz]

I stand corrected.
I hadn't thought of gong fu style brewing, though I didn't know people used it much for Pu Erh. I've been doing it the longer way (western style?) for a long time.
I tried the gong fu process a long time ago (with the wrong teapot, of course) and didn't like that as much, so I promptly forgot about it.

I shouldn't have been as dismissive of the OP's research in my first post. I apologize, tsmba.

Edit: Wikipedia seems to indicate that gong fu is the way to go for Pu Erh. I must give that a shot again.

 

[arghblech]

I am currently using ~7g of tea in my 100ml gaiwan.

I generally do a single rinse for about 10s and discard. Then I let the leaves sit in the gaiwan with the lid on for a minute or so. Let the remaining moisture break it up and revive the leaves.

First drinking infusions is somewhere around 10s for the first session with a tea. The 2nd is ~15s. 3rd is ~25s depending on the amount of bitterness. Once I hit ~45s I'm playing it by ear and not really keeping good time.

Go get a journal to keep notes. Note each tea and how you brew it so you can refer back and see what works and what doesn't. I could never keep track of all the different samples and their parameters. I also find it fun to see how your palate develops as you drink more teas.

 

[netsurfr]

[FONT=times new roman,times]Unfortunately (or fortunately if you love to tinker), there is no precise recipe for infusing pu-erh tea. However, I have a basic guideline
that I always use as a starting point.
First, how much tea to use: I use between 5 and 7 grams of tea per 100 ml of water.
Second, the rinse: For green pu-erh, I rinse the tea once for about 10-15 seconds using boiling water. For cooked or ripe pu-erh,
I rinse twice using boiling water and 1 minute for the duration.
Next, infusions for drinking: I start off with ten seconds for the first drinkable infusion; this includes the time that it takes to pour the
boiling water off of the tea. I increase subsequent infusions about five seconds each for the first half dozen infusions and may increase by
additional time in subsequent infusions depending on the flavor profile. If you find your tea does not have enough flavor characteristics,
then try increasing infusion time. If you find that your tea is a little too bitter or astringent, try decreasing the infusion time. The only rule is
to have fun and keep exploring. [/FONT]

Extract from Wikipedia:
Preparation of pu-erh involves first separating a well-sized portion of the compressed tea for brewing. This can be done by flaking off pieces of the cake or by steaming the entire cake until it is soft from heat and hydration. A pu-erh knife, which is similar to an oyster knife or a rigid letter opener, is used to pry large horizontal flakes of tea off the cake such as to minimize leaf breakage. Steaming is usually performed on smaller teas such as tuocha or mushroom pu-erh and involves steaming the cake until it can be rubbed apart and then dried. In both cases, a vertical sampling of the cake should be obtained since the quality of the leaves in a cake usually varies between the surface and the center of the cake.
Pu-erh is generally expected to be served Gongfu style, generally in Yixing teaware or in a type of Chinese teacup called a gaiwan. Optimum temperatures are generally regarded to be around 95 degree Celsius for lower quality pu-erhs and 85-89 degree Celsius for good ripened and aged raw pu-erh. Steeping times last from 12-30 seconds in the first few infusions, up to 2-10 minutes in the last infusions. The prolonged steeping techniques used by some western tea makers can produce dark, bitter, and unpleasant brews. Quality aged pu-erh can yield many more infusions, with different flavour nuances when brewed in the traditional Gong-Fu method.
Because of the prolonged fermentation in ripened pu-erh and slow oxidization of aged raw pu-erh, these teas often lack the bitter, astringent properties of other tea types, and also can be brewed much stronger and repeatedly, with some claiming 20 or more infusions of tea from one pot of leaves. On the other hand, young raw pu-erh is known and expected to be strong and aromatic, yet very bitter and somewhat astringent when brewed, since these characteristics are believed to produce better aged raw pu-erh.

 

[Sp1key]

I use a slightly varied rinsing method...
young sheng are still green, rinsing for 2-3times is fine since the first few infusions are usually bland. I drink them to taste it not to consume it throughout the entire session.
aged sheng rinsing for once would be enough since it is matured and we do not want to miss any of its tasty broth. 2 times for tightly compressed discus cake.
ripe pu could be rinsed a few times depending on personal preference.

rinsing is usually a matter of seconds to 10 seconds, very seldom have I seen people rinsing for up to a minute... perhaps for younger ripe

 

[Salsero]

I do pretty much as netsurfr does with a new puerh that I am just getting to know. I don't rinse as much, however. Like Sp1key, I often taste or drink the rinse, often not rinsing at all, just considering the first warming of the leaves as the first infusion. I am much more likely to rinse shu. Several shu that I have require a substantial rinse to wash out off flavors remaining from wo dui.