Shou pu-erh (ripe)

History

Wet-piling was developed at the Kunming and Menghai factories in the early 1970s to imitate decades of natural ageing in a few months, in response to demand that aged sheng could not meet. Shou pu-erh is therefore younger than most people drinking it, and any 'ancient recipe' claim about it is false by construction.

Brewing

• Gongfu brewing (gaiwan)

  5–8 g/100 ml · 98–100 °C · 6 authored infusions

  Open in the brew assistant

• Western brewing (teapot or mug)

  1.5–2.5 g/100 ml · 98–100 °C · 1 authored infusion

  Open in the brew assistant

• Gongfu brewing (Yixing pot)

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

  Open in the brew assistant

Common mistakes

• Skipping the rinse, which leaves a dusty first cup
• Confusing it with sheng and expecting bitterness, or buying sheng expecting this
• Reading mustiness as authenticity — it is a storage fault

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.

• Roasted oolong vs dark tea — Two dark, earthy, gongfu-brewed teas that get shelved together and are made by completely different mechanisms — one by fire, the other by microbes.
• Sheng vs shou pu-erh — The two halves of pu-erh are made differently, taste almost nothing alike, and are bought for different reasons — but are sold under one name and constantly confused.
• Raw vs ripe pu-erh processing — Sheng and shou pu-erh share a name, a region and a leaf, and are made by processes forty years and one invention apart. This compares the manufacture rather than the taste.
• Liu Bao vs shou pu-erh — Two fermented dark teas from different provinces, both smooth and earthy, arrived at by different mechanisms and different storage traditions.
• Chinese dark teas compared — Four dark teas from four provinces, each with its own fermentation practice. They are grouped as one category and share less than the grouping suggests.
• What is pu-erh? — Pu-erh is compressed tea from Yunnan that changes through microbial activity rather than oxidation. It splits into two halves that share a name and very little else, and knowing which one you have is the whole of understanding it.
• Aged sheng vs shou pu-erh — Ripe pu-erh was invented to imitate aged raw pu-erh. Forty years on, the question of how close it gets is the most useful one in the category.
• Hei cha vs pu-erh — Pu-erh dominates the conversation about Chinese dark tea and is one of several traditions, from different provinces with different mechanisms.
• Pu-erh vs dark tea — Pu-erh is a kind of dark tea, not a synonym for it, and treating the two as the same word hides three other traditions. Fu Zhuan, Liu Bao and the Anhua and Hubei traditions all disappear when the words are used as synonyms.
• Should I rinse tea before brewing? — A rinse is standard for some categories and pointless for others, and the reasoning is not the one usually given. The explanation usually given for rinsing is not the one that holds up.
• Shou pu-erh vs Liu Bao — Two smooth earthy fermented teas from different provinces, and the closest relative shou pu-erh has. The storage format is part of the flavour in one of them and merely packaging in the other.
• Black tea vs pu-erh — Two dark-looking teas produced by entirely different mechanisms, and the naming collision between English and Chinese makes it worse.
• Tuocha vs cake — Two pu-erh formats differing in shape and pressing density, and the differences show up in ageing rather than in the cup.
• Cheap vs expensive pu-erh — Price in pu-erh tracks a small number of specific claims, most of which a buyer cannot verify. Knowing which they are is the only defence.
• How fast does green tea go stale? — Faster than almost anything else in the catalogue, and the answer changes what you should buy and in what quantity. It changes how much you should buy at a time, which is where most money on tea is wasted.

Botanicals this connects to

• Chrysanthemum — Chrysanthemum and ripe pu-erh are served together across Guangdong and Hong Kong as a standard restaurant pairing.
• Orange peel — Aged tangerine peel is blended with pu-erh in Guangdong, and the peel is aged and graded much as the tea is.
• Chenpi — Aged mandarin peel stuffed with shou pu-erh makes gan pu, a Guangdong product that ages both materials together.
• Chrysanthemum — Chrysanthemum with shou pu-erh is a standard Cantonese pairing, drunk as guk pou, and the flower softens the earthiness of the tea.

Journeys featuring this tea

• Discover Chinese tea — Someone who wants the breadth of the country tea came from.
• Discover aged tea — Someone curious about tea that is meant to be kept rather than drunk fresh.
• Understanding tea families — Someone who has heard there are six kinds of tea and wants to know what actually separates them.
• Gongfu for beginners — Someone with a gaiwan who wants to learn short repeated infusions without wasting good tea.
• I want stronger tea — Someone who finds most tea watery and wants something that arrives with force.
• Setting up to brew gongfu — Someone who has read about short repeated infusions and wants to know what to buy and which teas repay it.

Guides covering this tea

• Gongfu vs western brewing
• Why tea tastes weak