From what I've been able to gather there are two schools on the
usefulness of aging cooked/black puer. Pu-erh.net and other sources
that I unfortunately can't remember at the moment state that it is
either useless or actually harmful to age a black puer cake. Does
this mean that all of the aged cooked beencha that can be bought from
sources like the Imperial Tea Court are actually inferior to their
younger brethren? Many commercial sites as well as tea shops I've
visited in Hong Kong, Thailand, and Malaysia claim that black puer
improves in complexity and smoothness with age. I understand that
they have a vested interest in claiming such, but they really did seem
to believe it.

I don't have enough experience with puer yet throw my lot in with
either side, though I will say that the far and away the best cooked
puer I've ever had was from a 30yr old beencha.

Can someone with more experience with puer of various ages shed some
light on this issue?

Regards,

Cameron

Just to clarify a bit,

When I talked about a black puerh "deteriorating" I was actually
referring to deterioration that occurs when any puerh is "over"
oxidized. There is a point where further oxidation actually begins to
break down the organic matter and results in decay. Even with green
puerh some collectors will discourage further oxidation after 30 years
or so by wrapping the tea in cellophane because the tea will start to
loose aroma and other subtleties.

Black puerh is oxidized to varying extents during the processing
stage. Not all black puerh is oxidized to its fullest extent and
therefore some may benefit from aging, but the benefit will be slight.
I have some cakes that clearly marked as "Shu" that are only about 40%
oxidized and taste rather green and brew to a golden liquor. These
probably would improve over time somewhat. However I also have some
that are about 80% oxidized or more. They brew up to a dark red almost
black liquor. These are the ones that could actually deteriorate if
encouraged to oxidize too many years.

I must admit that whenever I have bought older vinatages it has always
been green not black, although I have tasted a few old blacks. The
older naturally oxidized greens just seem to have so much more depth
than an black of equal age so I never invested in an old black.



On 1 Feb 2004 12:18:47 -0800, (Cameron Lewis)
wrote:

From what I've been able to gather there are two schools on the
usefulness of aging cooked/black puer. Pu-erh.net and other sources
that I unfortunately can't remember at the moment state that it is
either useless or actually harmful to age a black puer cake. Does
this mean that all of the aged cooked beencha that can be bought from
sources like the Imperial Tea Court are actually inferior to their
younger brethren? Many commercial sites as well as tea shops I've
visited in Hong Kong, Thailand, and Malaysia claim that black puer
improves in complexity and smoothness with age. I understand that
they have a vested interest in claiming such, but they really did seem
to believe it.

I don't have enough experience with puer yet throw my lot in with
either side, though I will say that the far and away the best cooked
puer I've ever had was from a 30yr old beencha.

Can someone with more experience with puer of various ages shed some
light on this issue?

Regards,

Cameron


Mike Petro
http://www.pu-erh.net
remove the "filter" in my email address to reply

The main purpose of aging a pu-erh tea is to give it time for a slow
oxidationby air.

When a tea is highly oxidised already, there will be no requirement
for further oxidising it.

when airing pu-erh black teas for long periods of time, this will
prompt further oxidation which isnt really necessary else the factory
would have oxidised the tea maximally in the first place.

its the easiest for black pu-erh teas to go bad or mouldy due to the
high levels of oxidation and the large degree to which leaf components
break down.

a lot of black pu-erh teas have very strong "shui3 xing4" (water
character) after a period of aging in air, this results in degradation
in quality as such a character in pu-erh tea is undesired. (shui xing,
water character refers to the taste caused by presence of water, i.e
when a tea cake is kept in a very humid environment, it oxidises very
quickly, and goes mouldy, and this tea cake will have a wet mouldy
taste, we call the tea having a very strong Shui Xing, and the taste
is overly earthy)

Airing black pu-erhs for a span of a month or two in perfectly dry air
will aid in removing all unwanted mouldy odours etc and turn the scent
a little sweetish.

i never liked airing black pu-erhs, neither was i really taught to age
them by experienced tea shop owners who showed me the differences in
aged black tea, one that is not excessively aired, which tasted bold,
woody and profound, whilst the other sample being aired frequently,
tasted less woody, a lot more earthy and a less complex aroma.

its all a just of matter of preference for taste.

note that aging can occur in different ways, aging in a confined place
or aging while airing it. even for green pu-erhs over thirty years,
they should be sealed in plastic and should minimally be exposed to
air, so as to prevent loss of the desired tastes and scents in pu-erh.
the process for keeping it for many years is AGING, whilst airing is
for oxidation whilst aging is another issue.

my apologies for not making the distinction between aging and airing
while aging clear. do not confuse these two terms. its perfectly to
age black pu-erh if desired, this causes some minute unclassified
changes in the tea, but its not really good to age black pu-erh in an
airy environment.