My young sheng pu-erh is unbearably harsh

In short

Young sheng is genuinely harsh, and some of it is meant to be — the material bought for long ageing is often the least pleasant to drink now. Separating the part that is the tea from the part that is the brewing is the whole diagnosis here, and bitterness and drying astringency have different causes within it.

Likely causes, in order

Most likely first. Answer the question under each one before moving on — several of these look alike in the cup and are told apart only by what was done to the leaf.

1. 1. Far too much leaf for the vessel

   Leaf quantity

   Check: How much leaf is in how large a gaiwan?

   Fix: Drop to about 5 g in 100 ml and pour off fast. Young sheng is often dosed as though it were aged, and the ageing is what makes a high dose tolerable.

2. 2. Steeps far too long, or an incomplete pour

   Over-extraction

   Check: Are the first infusions under ten seconds, and is the vessel emptied completely?

   Fix: Five to ten seconds for the first several infusions, and empty the gaiwan to the last drop. Liquor left behind starts the next infusion already over-extracted.

3. 3. Boiling water on very young material

   TemperatureInferred by TeaHQ, not established

   Check: Did the water come straight off the boil?

   Fix: Try 90–95 °C for the first few infusions and rise from there. Aged sheng wants full heat; a cake made this year often does not.

4. 4. Drying astringency rather than bitterness, from broken leaf and agitation

   Agitation

   Check: Is the sensation a rough dryness across the tongue rather than a bitter taste?

   Fix: Break the cake into larger intact pieces rather than crumbs, and pour gently down the side of the vessel. Fragments and a hard pour both raise astringency without adding flavour.

5. 5. The tea is Bulang-area or similar material bought for ageing

   Leaf quality

   Check: Does the bitterness turn into a strong sweetness after swallowing, and where is the cake from?

   Fix: If the bitterness resolves into a returning sweetness, that is the tea working as intended and it is not a brewing fault. Yiwu-area material is the conventional recommendation for drinking young.

Tea types this applies to

• Dark tea and pu-erh

Brewing methods this applies to

• Gongfu brewing (gaiwan) — A high-leaf, low-volume, many-infusions approach: a great deal of leaf in a small vessel, steeped for seconds at a time and poured off completely, repeatedly.
• Gongfu brewing (Yixing pot) — The same short-steep, high-leaf approach as gaiwan gongfu, carried out in a small unglazed clay pot that seasons over time and is dedicated to one tea.

When this cannot be fixed

Some young sheng cannot be made pleasant now by any adjustment, because it was made for storage. That is a reason to put the cake away rather than to keep trying, and there is no brewing technique that substitutes for the years.

Related problems

Sharing a cause category, a tea type or a brewing method with this one.

• 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 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 roasted oolong tastes only of burnt toast — Char and ash dominate, and none of the fruit, mineral or floral character the tea was described as having comes through.
• 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 gongfu brewing falls apart when I have guests — Sessions that work perfectly alone become chaotic with three or four people: the tea is inconsistent, the pours are rushed, and the cups arrive at different strengths and temperatures.

Sources