Judging the quality of your Pu-erh Bing Cha by its appearance

As we discussed last week, a Pu-erh Bing Cha’s shape and leave presentations on the surface of a cake reveal its quality. A good quality Pu-erh Bing Cha must be in round, regular shape, have even thickness and smooth surface, and tea leaves must be well compressed without breaking into layers. An extremely tightly compressed (flat) Pu-erh Bing Cha will take longer time to age. Those flat Pu-erh Bing Cha normally will become less flat after being aged for a few years and the leaves loosing up during the aging process.

Many experienced Pu-erh collectors know how to judge a Pu-erh by the surface leaves. The quality of leaves and composition of leaves and buds all hold the future of a Pu-erh Bing Cha. Adding tea buds to leaves will make a Pu-erh Bing Cha sweeter. However, it is the strength of leaves that affect the aged taste of a Pu-erh Bing Cha. The balance between buds and leaves is crucial to a Pu-erh Bing Cha’s taste. You can find the perfect balance in our Young Green Ancient Tea Tree Pu-erh Bing Cha (http://www.teahub.com/puerhtea.htm).

We discussed the difference between raw and ripe Pu-erh in the Pu-erh Talk section of our site. Other than the 100% raw or 100% ripe Pu-erh Bing Cha, one common practice is to mix ripe and raw Pu-erh leaves together and compress them into Pu-erh Bing Cha. One famous example of this type of Pu-erh is 80s Zi Tian (purple sky), a 1:1 mix of ripe and raw Pu-erh leaves. We now carry this wonderful Pu-erh online at www.teahub.com.

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