Pu-erh Tuo Cha "Coin"
Maintaining the Pu-erh tradition of being sold in various shapes and sizes, the selection here has been compressed into small nests, called tuo cha. In brewing this tea we have discovered that each coin produces about 16 oz of hot tea. When brewed this tea is a full bodied, dark, earthy brew that has a rather damp aroma to it. It retains its flavor after numerous steepings and each piece is individually wrapped to preserve its shape and aroma. Please remove the wrapping before brewing.
Product Info
For a tea to be called pu-erh, it must be made from the large-leaf subspecies Camellia sinensis var. assamica and grown in Yunnan Province in China's southwest, where Han Chinese as well as many ethnic minorities share borders with Burma and Laos. It's one of the few teas to be designated a protected origin product by the Chinese government, a rarity in an industry run wild with loose, unregulated terms and limited oversight (Though knock-offs are still out there).
Like other fine Chinese teas, it benefits from using a lot of leaf in small pots, brewing for short times (15 to 60 seconds) over a series of as many as two dozen infusions with boiling or near-boiling water, adjusting as you go.
More than most tea, pu-erh is built for change, not just over months and years, but over a single brew session.
You can use a scale to weigh out your leaves to the gram, but I usually break off a six- to 10-gram chunk with a butter knife for a 100-milliliter gaiwan or clay teapot.*(This is for tea bricks or coins)
Even relatively simple fresh, young sheng pu-erh will develop in your pot as you keep re-steeping, and more mature aged teas can travel from dank and mushroomy to spicy-sweet to grapey-floral.