Pu’er tea is a representative of compressed teas and comes in forms such as tea cakes, tea bricks, and tuocha. When facing these tightly compressed Pu’er teas, many novice tea enthusiasts often feel at a loss. Today, let’s talk about the topic of ‘qiaocha’.
How to Pry Tea?
How should Pu-erh tea be pried? This question actually has another layer of meaning: how to pry tea in a way that prevents the tea cake/brick/tuo from breaking easily? Everyone knows that prying tea can generate broken leaves, which is a significant loss. If the tea cake is relatively expensive, too much breakage can be quite painful.
1. Tea Prying Tools: The specialized tools for prying tea are mainly tea knives and tea needles. Generally, it is recommended to use a tea knife, especially one with a relatively wide and flat blade, which makes it easier to insert into the tea cake along its surface for prying.
2. The Specific Process of Prying Pu-erh Tea:
1. Start from the side of the tea cake. Find a slightly loose section on the side of the tea cake to serve as a breakthrough point and insert the tea knife directly;
2. Pry along the texture of the tea strips. When Pu-erh tea is compressed, there is a clear stacked texture between the leaves. Pry downwards along the texture of the tea strips, like prying a layered cake;
3. Insert the tea knife about 2-3 centimeters. When prying, apply a little force to push the tea knife about 3 centimeters further into the tea cake. The deeper the point of effort, the more likely it is to successfully pry out a complete piece;
4. In this way, the tea cake can be gradually loosened. Next, the tea can be stored in a jar to awaken it, or an appropriate amount of pried tea can be taken directly for brewing and tasting.
3. What should be done with the crushed tea produced when prying tea cakes? When prying Pu’er tea cakes/tea bricks/tuocha, no matter how skilled you are, some small crushed tea pieces will inevitably be produced. So how should these crushed teas be used? If you brew them with a filter cup, the crushed tea will block the filter; if you use a Yixing teapot, the water outlet holes will get blocked; if you use a cup, the crushed tea will float on the surface, making it almost impossible to drink. We discovered two clever ways to use crushed tea.1. Use a non-woven fabric tea bag to brew the small crushed tea. Non-woven tea bags are very useful: put the crushed tea inside, and it will stay tightly enclosed without spilling. If you measure the tea correctly, the tea brewed will taste just as good. You can find non-woven tea bags online for less than 10 yuan for 200 bags, which is very affordable.2. Mix tea chunks and crushed tea in a 7:3 ratio. Specifically, if using a 180cc Yixing teapot with 10 grams of tea, you can use 7 grams of tea chunks and 3 grams of small crushed tea as a supplement.By following this method, small crushed tea can completely be turned from waste into treasure!
AYM Pu’er
Black Tea Puerh Tea is harvested directly from the source, supplied directly from the tea plant to Europe, simple, easy to store and easier to brew.Coffee lovers will love YM’s tea!
