Tea Bits About Pu-erh

As with many teas, Pu-erh is named after the region where it was first harvested. There was a small town in the Yunnan province called Pu-erh. All teas have a wide spectrum of health benefits, but Pu-erh has an extra one. Drinking Pu-erh tea can help reduce cholesterol, according to scientific studies. By helping digestion (particularly of fatty foods), Pu-erh is the perfect tea after a heavy meal. I personally drink it at night after my evening meal.

Though Pu-erh has some caffeine content it has been known to assist in sleeping by helping the body digest. The tea is darkly red, and has a bold, earthy taste. This is due to fermentation (not the oxidation used for oolong or black teas). Pu-erh is often compared to wine, as it improves with time (and is very hard to get the stain out if spilled on white carpet).

Pu-erh should be prepared using boiling water and a long steeping time (5 to 7 minutes). The tea can be enjoyed many times over with multiple steeping. Come discover Pu-erh for yourself.

The following is an article that was sent to me by my friend who is a financial analyst at a top equity firm in NYC. Even the financial world is getting in touch with tea…

“Making tea the next big thing”
BY FARNOOSH TORABI
NewYork August 14, 2006

If you like music, you’ll love an ice-cold blend of Chinese green tea with lemongrass. At least, that’s what the owners of Tavalon Tea Bar on East 14th Street are betting. Since April the sleek 400-square-foot drink shop near Union Square has been brewing customers a fusion of teas, while DJs spin Bob Marley, Madonna and John Coltrane from atop.

“Music brings everyone together, and we want to appeal to everyone,” said Tavalon co-owner John-Paul Lee. “We want to revamp [tea’s] image so it’s not so foreign, to say it’s not just a feminine beverage. People think you drink tea with your pinky in the air and that it’s aristocratic,” he said. Of course, Lee was referring to tea’s general depiction in the United States, where it’s yet to catch on as the drink du jour, as it has in most other countries. “We grew up drinking tea, so we have a natural, innate liking for it,” said Lee, who is Korean. Co-owner Sonny Caberwal is from India. Still, Tavalon couldn’t have opened at a more booming time in tea’s modern history. It’s reportedly the most consumed beverage in the world (after water), and while the United States lags other nations in tea sales, more Americans — especially hip and health-conscious New Yorkers — are sipping iced chamomile over a mocha frappe. Lee describes the bar’s customers as “dynamic” and include a mix of women, men and “hip-hop kids.” And it’s not just Earl Gray in their cups. Organic teas and exotic mixes come highly requested. The most popular order this summer has been the “Genius” tea, which is said to “boost brain activity,” according to Tavalon’s assistant manager, Jessica Sachs.

If you’re still not convinced, Tavalon has its own tea “sommelier,” Chris Cason. He creates and teaches patrons about the bar’s teas, which come from various countries, including India, China, South Africa and Japan. Cason also hosts a free seminar on Wednesday nights from 6:30 to 7:00 at Tavalon that educates guests about tea’s health benefits, its aid in weight loss and how it can enhance brain power. Looking ahead, Lee and Caberwal are ramping up their Web site to sell Tavalon tea and merchandise. The company is also expanding its business by wholesaling its tea blends to restaurants and hotels. There are also plans to bring more Tavalon Tea Bars to the city. “Our mission is to make tea the next big thing,” Lee said.

Tang, (not just the weird orange stuff)…

So the time is around the year 1000 and the custom of drinking tea began to spread from southern China throughout other countries in the Orient. This is known as China’s Golden Age in which the Tang Dynasty ruled. Monks were drinking tea like it was going out of style and it not only became a part of a daily beverage but also as a spiritual elixir. It was a way to go beyond this world and loose some inhibitions. Now this is where it gets interesting… because when you ask most people today to name a liquid that makes you loosen up and loose your inhibitions, can you guess what they will say?

Well those people will have some company with Europeans at that time. You see, as the Orient was basking in its Golden Age with tea, Europe was still drinking its foul (think Mad Dog 20/20 but not as good) medieval wine during her Dark Ages. It’s interesting, to see how a society’s beverage of choice can affect its culture. For example notice the two poems during the year 1000. One is about wine in Europe, the other; tea during the Tang dynasty. Who do you think would win the Reader’s Digest contest?

“Wine it is that gives life pleasure,
Yet tis naught in single measure,
Better is it thrice repeated,
And the fourth is rich conceited,
At the fifth, the mind’s labyrinthine,
At the sixth, the body’s supine.”
_____________________________________________________________

“I was lying lost in slumber as the morning sun climbed high,
When a thunderous knocking at the door shattered my dreams:
An officer of the law delivering a letter from the Imperial Censor,
Its three great seals slanting across the white silk cover.
Opening it, the words I read bring him vividly to mind.
He says enclosed is three hundred catties of moon-shaped cakes of tea…
For me.

The first drink sleekly moistened my lips and throat;
The second banished all my loneliness;
The third expelled the dullness from my mind,
Inducing inspirations born from all the books I read;
The forth broke me out in a light perspiration,
The fifth drink bathed every atom of my being.
Disbursing a lifetime’s troubles through my pores.
The sixth lifted me higher to kinship with Immortals.
This seventh is the utmost I can drink—”
_____________________________________________________________

Interesting, one is going into descriptive details of each steeping inspiring him from all the books he has ever read. While the other guy is saying that if you drink enough of this stuff, you’re mind will become twisted and you’ll end the night lying on your back, (I had to look up the meaning of labyrinthine).

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