What is Shou (Cooked) Pu'er?
Pu'er is the wine of teas, meticulously picked and aged with each tea mountain having its own personality. True Pu'er is only grown in Yunnan, China, right on the border of Myanmar in the heart of Southeast Asia. It is drunk throughout Asia for its fantastic flavor and health properties.
Shou, or "cooked" pu'er has been put through process that involves piling the leaves and turning the pile repeatedly to rapidly increase oxidation and fermentation. The resulting tea is dark, complex, and known to calm the stomach and aid digestion.
About This Tea
Duidui's 2010 reserve is a real treat of a tea, combining the classic dark earthiness expected from a cooked pu'er with a velvety-smooth mouth feel and hints of jujube.
Aged 13 years, this tea has a bold, crisp fragrance and extremely dark tea color. The first steep of this shou looks like many other shous' second or third steep, and the middle steeps are almost pure dark black. However, shown in front of a light, the tea is indeed clear, not muddy, proving its high quality.
Jesse Says:
This June, my tea guy Duidui invited me on a van tour of Yunnan's best tea mountains. Along with some friends, we spent six days driving through windy mountain roads to visit some of the most famous tea havens in the world - Bingdao, Laobanzhang, Jingmai Shan.
Duidui has been sourcing ancient tree tea for over 20 years, and has long relationships with the old-school farmers at these rare mountains. He gifted me a cake of this 2010 Reserve shou, and immediately I was in love with the rich flavor and sweet aftertaste.
Duidui generously agreed to give me this tea at a price I could include in the subscription. He told me that he hopes it will open a new market for excellent Pu'er around the world, so he can share even more of the tea he has been aging with others.
VALUE AND QUALITY
Want the best value? This tea comes in 100g and 357g (full cake) sizes - check the drop-down menu above!
Jesse's Teahouse started because Jesse realized the quality and value of the tea directly from the Beijing Tea Market was so much higher than what could be easily found in the States -- and around the world.
Jesse contacted his tea friends, they shipped their best teas to him, and he sends them to you. That's it!
These teas are high quality and can be re-steeped multiple times! Each serving makes between 4-8 cups of tea, so at around $.50 a cup, you get top quality Chinese teas at a price that you can enjoy every day.
NOT JUST TEA, TEA CULTURE
Jesse believes the key to making good tea is to help his Chinese tea friends share not just their best teas, but the best ways to make the teas.
That's why each box comes also comes with an info card that tells you:
- Tea Origin
- Steep Temperature
- Steep Time
- Directions for both teapot steeping and gaiwan steeping
All Jesse’s Teahouse Tea Friends (that’s you now!) also get access to private YouTube videos where Jesse and his Chinese tea friends show you how to make the teas and explain the tea-making process.
The links are on QR codes on the back of the info card included in the tea box.
Don't Forget Your Tea Pets!
In Chinese Gongfu Tea Tradition, Tea Pets accompany you at teatime and you "raise" them by feeding them tea! Check out the tea pets at the bottom of this page.
