Lao Cha Tou

Where it grows

The districts recorded against this tea, all of them in China. Elevation is given as the band the district is recorded at, not a measurement of the garden this leaf came from.

• Menghai — 1000–1700 metres

  How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.

How it is made, in order

Read top to bottom: the list is the production sequence, and the sequence is what makes this tea its category rather than a neighbouring one. The same leaf from the same bush becomes a green tea or a black tea depending on where the heat falls relative to the bruising, so reordering these steps would not vary the tea — it would produce a different one.

1. 1. Withering — Reduces water content, softens the leaf for later handling, and permits early enzymatic and aromatic development.
2. 2. Kill-green (fixation) — Denatures polyphenol oxidase and related enzymes, arresting enzymatic oxidation.
3. 3. Rolling and shaping — Ruptures cell walls to expose leaf juices, and forms the leaf into the shape it will hold through drying and storage.
4. 4. Sun-drying (shai qing) — Reduces moisture to a storable level at low temperature, leaving residual enzymatic and microbial activity in the leaf.
5. 5. Wet piling (wo dui) — Supports microbial and thermal transformation of the finished leaf, converting harsh young character into a darker, softer profile.

The route it is made by

The steps above are what happens; this is the named production route they belong to, with the other teas made the same way.

• Shou pu-erh — The sheng route for five steps, and then a fork: the maocha is wetted, heaped and fermented by living organisms for weeks before anything is pressed.

  Where it is practised: Yunnan, and the technique is comparatively modern — conventionally dated to the second half of the twentieth century and developed to approximate in weeks what raw material takes decades to do. Related piling processes elsewhere in China are older and are separate operations rather than versions of this one.

What its chemistry turns on

Every true tea contains caffeine, catechins and amino acids, so listing them would say nothing about this one. What differs is what the processing above does to them — and that is the same list of steps, read for its chemistry instead of its craft.

The compounds that substantially decide what this tea is: Theabrownins.

• Withering
  • creates Geraniol
  • creates Linalool
  • creates Linalool oxides
  • creates Theasinensins
  • raises Methyl salicylate
  • raises Nerolidol
  • raises Soluble sugars
  • lowers cis-3-Hexenol
  • lowers Green-leaf volatiles
  • lowers Leaf lipids
• Kill-green (fixation)
  • locks 2-Phenylethanol
  • locks Anthocyanins
  • locks Catechins
  • locks cis-3-Hexenol
  • locks Green-leaf volatiles
  • locks L-theanine
  • locks Leaf lipids
  • locks Methylated catechins
  • locks Theogallin
• Rolling and shaping
  • converts Leaf lipids
  • creates Theaflavins
  • raises Pectins
• Sun-drying (shai qing)
  • raises Beta-ionone
  • lowers Carotenoids
• Wet piling (wo dui)
  • converts Catechins
  • creates Gallic acid
  • creates Theabrownins
  • raises Organic acids
  • raises Pectins
  • lowers ECG (epicatechin gallate)
  • lowers Soluble sugars

These are statements about the leaf and the cup. What any of these compounds does in a body is a different kind of question and is not answered here or on the pages linked from it.

History

Compressed nuggets that form naturally during wet-piling and were originally discarded as a defect. They are now sold at a premium for their density and durability, which makes this a second case — with Oriental Beauty — of a production fault becoming a product.

Brewing

• Gongfu brewing (gaiwan)

  5–7 g/100 ml · 98–100 °C · 6 authored infusions

  Needs: Gaiwan

  Open in the brew assistant

• Gongfu brewing (Yixing pot)

  5–7 g/100 ml · 98–100 °C · 6 authored infusions

  Needs: Yixing teapot, Fairness pitcher (cha hai), Tea tray (cha pan)

  Open in the brew assistant

• Western brewing (teapot or mug)

  1.5–2.5 g/100 ml · 95–100 °C · 1 authored infusion

  Needs: Western teapot

  Open in the brew assistant

• Boiling aged and dark tea (zhu cha)

  0.8–1.5 g/100 ml · 98–100 °C · 1 authored infusion

  Needs: Kettle, Brewing saucepan, Tea strainer

  Open in the brew assistant

When the cup goes wrong

Written against dark tea and pu-erh as a category rather than against this tea in particular, and worked back from the symptom to the likely causes in order. 15 apply to the category; the first 6 are shown.

• Every infusion in my gongfu session tastes the same — The cups are pleasant and interchangeable, with none of the change from steep to steep the method is supposed to show.
• My clay pot has changed how the tea tastes — A tea that tasted right in porcelain comes out muted, differently scented, or carrying something that was not in the leaf.
• My first infusion is always the worst one — The opening cup is thin, dusty or flat, and the second is markedly better — consistently, across different teas.
• My gaiwan is too hot to hold — The rim and lid become uncomfortable within seconds, the pour is rushed, and tea ends up on the tray.
• My gongfu tea is bitter even at five seconds — The timer says five or ten seconds and the cup is over-extracted anyway, with the later infusions dropping off sharply.
• My pu-erh cake will not break apart cleanly — The cake resists the pick, then gives way suddenly into powder and fragments rather than intact leaf.

Every diagnosed brewing problem

If you like this

Grouped by why they were suggested, strongest reason first. Nothing here is a blended score — a suggestion appears under the best reason that exists for it, and never under a weaker one as well.

Compare this tea with another

Written comparisons

Where TeaHQ has set this tea against another in full, rather than deriving the comparison. Each one is a written page with the points of difference argued out.

• Gong Ting, standard shou, and tea heads — Three ripe pu-erhs from the same process at three prices, sorted by what the leaf physically is. The price ladder describes particle size and scarcity, and reading it as a quality ladder gets the most interesting one of the three backwards. Put the two side by side

Journeys featuring this tea

• Discover aged tea — Someone curious about tea that is meant to be kept rather than drunk fresh.

Guides covering this tea

• How many times can tea leaves be reused?
• Exploring aged teas