Tea at Tao's - what's Pu-erh all about?

When asked how best to describe the taste of pu-erh tea...  my brother replied: "Ever wonder what compost tastes like?"  Well, that would be what some poor quality pu-erh tastes like.  However, that was not the case of the teas that Tao and his friend Raymond presented for the pu-erh tasting last Saturday.  

First I should start by explaining how this ancient tea is different from most teas.  All true tea comes from the tea plant Camellia sinensis.  It's how it is processed that determines what kind of tea it becomes - green, oolong, black, white or pu-erh tea.  Pu-erh comes from the broad leaf variety (camellia sinensis var. assamica) of this plant.  This variety is found mostly in Yunnan province in southwestern China.  Pu-erh can be loose but best recognized as the compressed brick or round disk shaped tea that was traded along the Ancient Tea Horse Road centuries ago.

In this video, Jeff Fuchs who was the first westerner to traverse the entire Ancient Tea Horse Road, explains more about pu-erh for us. 




Pu-erh can be categorized as sheng (raw/uncooked/green) and shou (ripe/cooked/black).  Throughout history pu-erh was allowed to age naturally.  However due to popular demand for the vintage pu-erh taste, in 1973, manufacturers developed ways to artifically speed up the aging process ("cooked" or fermented) resulting in the shou pu-erh style.  Now instead of having to wait 20 or 30 years for the tea to mature, you can get tea with similar flavours out in the market in a matter of months!

Tao and his friend Raymond prepared four pu-erhs for us to taste which we will be exploring in the next post to come.  Yes... we will finally get to taste!

Tea at Tao's - an Intro to Pu-erh

On a windy and snowy Saturday morning, I had the privilege of attending a special pu-erh tea tasting at Tao Tea Leaf.  It's a lovely tea shop located just south of Rosedale subway station that definitely has some of the finest Chinese teas in Toronto.

Tao Wu, the proprietor and a fellow certified tea sommelier, had invited his friend Raymond Wang, a pu-erh tea aficionado to lead a small group of us in this educational event.


What's that you say?  What's pu'erh?  Oh pu-erh (pu-er, pu'er, puerh, pu'erh -  pronounced poo -arh), as most Cantonese Chinese know, is the typical Chinese tea that's served during dim sum ...  you know, that dark brown, almost black coloured, earthy tasting, barnyard smelling murky brew.

That's what I grew up thinking too... but I have since learned that this ancient tea (the only one that can be aged)  like wine,  can be quite complex and interesting ... as Raymond and Tao showed us that morning... which I will in turn show you in future posts to come...


So please come back again, the table's set and waiting for you ...

Some of the different pu-erh teas and snacks to be enjoyed

Updated on November 29/10