It usually begins modestly enough with green, black, or white tea. Then you might discover the rich, orchestral aromatics of premium oolongs. But when you try your first quality Puer, there's a chance you'll never look back.
Puer tea is often the endpoint for tea obsessives. The ne plus ultra, a final destination and a never ending quest for perfection at the same time. The variations in flavor, texture, and psychoactive effects are unparalleled in the tea world. They don't fit neatly into any box.
There's no substitute for firsthand exploration. Here's your one-way ticket. We'll map out everything you need to brew your own ripe or raw Puer at home using methods like grandpa style, infuser baskets, gongfucha, long thermos infusions, and the ancient practice of boiling leaves.
Gongfu style Puer tea session with a teapot, tea pitcher and teacup
How to brew Puer tea grandpa style
"Grandpa style" is a truly minimalist method of drinking tea. Simply place some loose Puer leaves (mao cha) or a chunk of compressed tea cake into your mug, rinse with boiling water and discard the infusion once or twice without dumping out the leaves, and then fill to the top with boiling water and sip slowly as soon as it's cool enough to do so.
This is essentially how tea drinking began, an OG method. It works very well for any type of loose leaf tea and especially for raw or ripe Puer. Despite its simplicity, grandpa style is really helpful for developing a deep understanding and appreciation of the tea you're drinking. It's also the least skill- and equipment-intensive method of making tea so it's excellent for traveling or working.
Grandpa style Puer tea preparation, simply pour water into a mug with leaves and you’re ready
Grandpa style teaware
All you need is a mug or cup that holds at least 10-12 ounces (about 300-350 ml) of water, around 2-10 grams of Puer depending on how strong you like it, and some boiling water.
You'll be refilling the mug multiple times without discarding the leaves, so you don't need a gigantic mug — with decent to good Puer you'll be able to refill at least 5-6 times before it's finished.
You can use a standard coffee mug; an insulated travel mug with a built-in lid; a ceramic tea mug with a fitted lid of the type often found at Chinese and Asian groceries; or even sip directly from a large 300 ml gaiwan. The lid is helpful for temperature control and rinsing the leaves in any case, but not required. Fancier contraptions with screw top lids and built-in filters to keep floating leaves contained are also a viable option, but not at all necessary.
A thermos or insulated vacuum flask filled with boiling water to refill your mug is optional, but perfect for a long drive or enjoying the outdoors. Be sure to pre-heat the thermos with boiling water for a minute or two, then dump that water and fill with fresh boiling water, to ensure it's as hot as possible, especially for shou Puer tea.
Ceramic lidded mugs like this one are the traditional choice for grandpa style Puer tea, but any mug will work fine
Use 2-10 grams of intact Puer leaves for grandpa style
It's a mistake to pack your mug with tea a la gongfu style, because the leaves will expand and take up too much room. Stick to about 9-10 grams max, or you'll end up with a very concentrated, possibly bitter, and less drinkable concoction. Using as little as 2 grams of leaves will provide a mellower brew with less caffeine and is a nice way to highlight some of the more delicate notes of young sheng Puer like our 941 blend.
If you don't have a $15 digital pocket scale or a kitchen food scale that measures grams, grandpa style is forgiving. With mao cha, throw in about enough loose tea leaves to fully cover the bottom of the mug. For compressed cakes or minis, use your best guess, but once the compressed leaves expand fully after rinsing and hydrating, they should fill the otherwise empty mug no more than about 20-30%.
7 grams of dry, loose-leaf raw Puer is enough to cover the bottom of this mug before rinsing the leaves
Speaking of leaves, grandpa style works best with intact tea leaves as opposed to small dusty bits of broken leaf. As long as you use intact leaves, they'll sink down as you infuse and you won't drink them by accident.
Grandpa style summary
Here's the process start to finish:
- Tea goes in mug: Put your mao cha, mini, or a chunk of a compressed Puer cake into a mug or gaiwan that's about 10-12 ounces (300-350 ml)
- Rinse tea with boiling water: Pour boiling water over the tea and then discard the rinse without pouring the leaves out. A lid comes in handy here, but you can also use a large spoon or a saucer to keep the leaves from falling out. Repeat once more if needed to help the compressed leaves expand, especially with teas that are tightly compressed.
- Steep and sip: Fill the mug with boiling water to begin steeping the leaves. Placing the lid (if you have one) on top of the mug will keep the tea hotter, resulting in a stronger brew if you'd like. You can sip as soon as the temperature is tolerable.
- Refill at halfway: Once the mug is about halfway empty, refill again with boiling water. The idea here is to continually steep the leaves without drinking all of the tea each time before refilling. Use the lid to control the temperature to your liking.
- Drink down and refill a final time: When the tea begins to taste weaker, you can drink it all the way down and refill from empty one final time. Place the lid on top of the mug to extract as much as possible from the leaves during the final steep.
Grandpa style Puer recommendations
Grandpa style is a great method for both types of Puer, ripe and raw. You'll find the continual steeping brings out a thicker body and new layers of depth in ripe Puers like Waffles and Grandpa’s. Because these shou Puers are the least bitter type of tea, they're very forgiving for grandpa style sipping.
For raw Puer, grandpa style tends to highlight the sheer strength and intensity of the tea, especially when it comes to young shengs like Green Hype and Parola. You may choose to use less leaf material for this reason unless you're craving a very heady, energizing cup of tea.
More delicate, sweet, and floral raw Puers like Veldt or La Sombra will start off bold but quickly reward you with their gentler and subtler notes after the first refill. To ensure that you’re coaxing out the softer character of a raw Puer tea, use less leaf. If it’s too light, you can always add additional weight next session.
Older shengs like Repave and 2222022 tend to be less assertive than young sheng, but will still deliver a strong grandpa style experience. They'll usually start out with deep earthy and woody notes, then progress toward warmer and more medicinal herbal flavors with each refill.
Western-style brewing guidelines for Puer tea
Western-style brewing uses an infuser (refillable basket, bag, ball, cylinder, or other similar gadget) to steep 2-3 grams of loose leaf tea, most often with lower concentrations of tea compared to other methods we'll discuss, and several 1-3 minute steeps. The idea is to provide a consistent, comforting, and generally mild tea drinking experience, and it works just fine for Puer or any tea.
That said, you have much less control over the tea compared to gongfu style, and we personally find Western-style to be less convenient and also less rewarding than grandpa style. If you find your Puer experiences to be lacking with Western-style, we urge you to branch out to these other methods that allow you to dial in more precisely.
Western-style brewing times
The standard guideline of steeping 1 minute, drinking the cup, steeping 2 minutes and drinking, and then steeping 3 minutes on the third infusion is a reasonable starting point for an infuser basket.
However, Puer lends itself more to experimentation than any other tea by a long shot, and there's no rule against a 30-second or 5-minute first infusion, either. Start with the standard and adjust times as needed. Good raw Puer should easily provide more than three infusions, and you'll want to keep increasing the duration until the leaves are spent.
Most people will infuse 2-3 grams of tea Western-style for a medium mug, which is also a fine starting point. However, keep in mind that the size of your infuser can make a huge difference in the quality of your experience. If your infuser is so small that it won't allow the compressed leaves to fully expand, you're not going to have a very rewarding cup of tea. You can fix this by reducing the leaf dose, getting a bigger infuser that allows leaves to expand, or trying grandpa or gongfu style instead.
As with infusion times, feel free to experiment further with the amount of leaf material you use. A gram of leaves is a good choice for a lighter and less caffeinated experience, while 5-6 grams would be delicious if your infuser can hold that much.
Puer tea recommendations for your infuser
Shou Puers like Old Reliable and Hokum will turn out great Western-style because they're so darn easy to work with. Steep them closer to 1 minute to explore the lighter, more delicate and sweeter notes, or go straight to 3+ minute steeps to jump into real dark territory.
In contrast, sheng or raw Puer can sometimes be hit-or-miss Western-style because the standard parameters of 1-3 minutes can deliver brash, bitter notes that are likely different from what many drinkers are expecting. You can ease into the raw experience by starting with a 30-second steep instead of a minute the first time, then increase from there — or not — with subsequent steeps. And if you're especially sensitive to bitter and astringent notes, try filling your infuser with less sheng than you usually would with other teas.
Our favorite sheng Puer recommendations for Western-style infusions are Repave and Veldt. They're both heavy on the sweet, floral, and fruity notes and less challenging compared to heavy hitters like Gas, which would turn out to be, well…gas..
A ruyao gaiwan full of shou Puer tea
How to steep Puer gongfu style
Gongfucha or "making tea with skill" is our favorite method to explore the nuances of any type of tea, including and especially Puer. The idea is to use high leaf-to-water ratios and lots of short infusions in a small vessel, pouring into a small cup, to explore everything the tea has to offer.
In short, you need a small teapot or gaiwan that holds about 3.5 ounces (100 ml) of water, 6-7 grams of ripe or raw Puer, a small teacup (a tea pitcher is optional but helpful, especially if you're sharing), and boiling water. After rinsing the tea and discarding the first infusion, you'll start with 5-10 second steeps and increase the steeping time from there according to taste.
We've also got an entire deep-dive guide on making tea gongfu style that covers techniques, in-depth equipment recommendations, and specific tips for each type of tea.
A teapot with shou Puer tea, ready for gongfu style tea preparation
Gongfu style teaware for Puer
The most important piece of equipment for gongfu style brewing is the vessel itself: you'll either use a gaiwan (a small lidded cup, often with a saucer underneath) or a tiny teapot.
Gaiwans have a few notable advantages. They pour fast, so they give you a lot of control over steep times; they are also very easy to empty and rinse when you're done with your session. The proper technique for a gaiwan requires a bit of dexterity, holding the lid at an angle to pour out the tea liquid and retain the leaves, but most people don't find it overly difficult. With practice it's easy.
Small teapots are an equally good choice for Puer, with a few differences. People with hand tremors or arthritis may find them more comfortable to use one-handed. The other advantage is that a quality teapot tends to retain heat longer than a gaiwan, which is very helpful for long steeps toward the end of the session. You can also shower the exterior of a teapot with boiling water on a tea tray to maximize heating and extraction.
A teapot and shou Puer with a Celadon tea cup, a typical gongfu setup
Teapots pour more slowly than gaiwans, so you'll want to keep that in mind for steeping. A "flash steep" (explained below) with a gaiwan that empties in 1-2 seconds will be less strong than one with a teapot that takes 6-8 seconds to empty. And because the teapot lid is smaller, they require a little more work to remove all the tea leaves when you end your session.
In either case, we typically recommend a 100 ml vessel for beginners: it's a great size for a solo session or sharing with 1-2 friends. The ruyao standard gaiwan or ruyao pumpkin teapot, respectively, are ideal choices.
Keep in mind you'll get 8-12+ infusions out of your little gaiwan or teapot, so while it may look small, that's plenty of Puer for most people. In fact, a 70 ml pocket pipe kyusu is a smaller vessel that's great for soloing if you find a 100 ml vessel would produce too much tea for you to drink in one sitting, and it allows you to use less leaf material too.
Alternatively, if you plan to host larger sessions, a 150 ml gaiwan or teapot is suitable for a medium group without being unmanageably large for one person to enjoy a session.
Teapot, tea pitcher and teacup with an aged raw Puer tea, all atop a tea towel and chabu or tea cloth
What else do you need for gongfu style Puer along with a gaiwan or teapot?
If you're keeping to a tight budget, you can pour directly from the gaiwan or teapot into any mug or cup you already have, such as a coffee mug. That said, gongfu teacups will enhance your sessions, and a tea pitcher is helpful for sharing.
For a minimalist solo gongfu set, you can pick up a teacup that matches the size of your vessel, like the 90 ml artisan green lake glaze or 75 ml walnut-shaped glass cup, and pour directly from the gaiwan or teapot into your cup. This is also a convenient option for traveling since you can roll everything into a small towel and pack it away.
Tea pitchers can serve a few important purposes, particularly in group settings. It's messy to pour from a gaiwan into multiple cups, and it's better if everyone is tasting the same tea together. Without a pitcher, the Puer leaves will continue steeping as you pour, so you might get a milder brew while your friend across the tea table gets hit with some out-of-this-world tasting notes.
Also, tea pitchers help cool the tea a little faster, meaning you get to enjoy it while it's fresher instead of waiting for it to cool down. They also allow you to use smaller teacups during a solo session. Most teacups are 30-70 ml, and with a tea pitcher, you can solo with a smaller cup like the 40 ml three-footed ruyao fish or 45 ml tianmu wide bowl regardless of vessel size.
Aged raw Puer tea and a new ruyao gaiwan
Gongfu guidelines for Puer tea
All you really need to keep in mind to make great gongfu style Puer is the size of your vessel, the weight of the tea that goes in the vessel, and approximately how long you're steeping during each infusion.
Because most Puer is stored and sold in a compressed cake form, and the level of compression varies, it's very difficult to eyeball. We strongly recommend you get an inexpensive digital pocket scale (about $15) or use a kitchen scale that provides gram measurements if possible. Another option is to purchase minis, that are pressed into 7g spheres for convenience, like our La Sombra raw Puer or Lumber Slut ripe Puer.
The most common gongfu ratio is 1 gram of leaf for every 15 ml of vessel capacity, which equates to 6-7 grams of Puer for a typical 100 ml gaiwan or teapot. While quite concentrated, this is the best ratio to learn the method, as you can still adjust steeping times to get the brew strength you desire.
If you've got a different-sized vessel you can just divide the capacity (in ml) by 15 to figure out how much leaf to use, like so:
- About 4.5 grams of tea for a small 70 ml vessel
- 6 grams of tea for a medium 90 ml vessel
- 8 grams of tea for a 120 ml vessel
- 10 grams of tea for a 150 ml vessel
Your teaware should come with a description of the capacity, but if you're unsure, you can place it on your scale, tare the scale, and fill close to the brim with water to measure the capacity. Water weighs 1 gram per ml, so the reading on the scale is the capacity you'll use for determining the proper amount of Puer to use.
Vessels larger than about 150 ml generally make too much tea for one-person gongfu sessions, because you'll typically infuse the leaves 8-12+ times. Additionally, a 200 ml vessel would require nearly 14 grams (almost half an ounce) of tea for standard gongfu ratios.
That said, these are suggestions, not rules. If you want to down a half-gallon of strong tea by yourself in a single session, we raise our cups to you!
Aged raw Puer tea in a simple gongfu style setup with a chabu tea cloth
Start with short steeps and increase duration with each steep
Because of the high leaf ratio you'll be using for gongfu style, you'll want to keep steep times shorter compared to other methods. It's helpful to have a stopwatch or timer app handy so you can keep your steep times accurate, especially while learning. As you gain experience, you'll develop intuition for how long each infusion should be.
If you're trying a tea for the first time, a "flash steep" of 10 seconds or less is a good starting point for the first steep (after you rinse). You'll coax out the most delicate and subtle notes of the tea. If you want another similar cup of tea, you can use the same duration for the second steep, but you can also increase by 5-10 seconds each steep according to taste.
For example:
- First steep: 10 seconds or less
- Second steep: 15-20 seconds
- Third steep: 20-25 seconds
- Fourth steep: 25-30 seconds (and so on)
Each time you increase the steeping duration, you'll unlock new flavors, textures, and aromas in your cup. With later infusions, you can steep for 1-3 minutes or longer to extract as much from the leaves as possible. When the tea is no longer interesting, give it a final long steep (or boil the leaves, explained below) before discarding.
Once you become more acquainted with a particular Puer, you may decide to increase or decrease the duration on the first steep and subsequent steeps according to your experience. For example, you could use a series of flash steeps to stay in the realm of subtler notes, or jump straight in with a 30-second first steep for a strong first cup.
Raw Puer maocha, or loose leaf tea, in a gaiwan
When to adjust water temperature and leaf ratio
We recommend you try boiling water for each new Puer you try (whether ripe or raw), and if you like it, stick with it. If you're finding your cup of tea is too strong for your liking, the easiest way to mitigate this is simply to shorten the steeping duration on the next infusion. You can solve most issues by steeping for less time rather than adjusting temperatures.
That said, adjusting water temp downward is another way you can tone down the intensity of Puer if you're finding it's too strong or bitter. Young raw Puer like Sheddan can be more manageable, but still delicious, at 95° Celsius (203° Fahrenheit). Feel free to go down to 85° Celsius (185° Fahrenheit) or even lower if you fancy. As with most of tea related topics, your personal preference should supersede any rules.
Fully post-fermented Ripe Puer like Old Reliable is typically the least bitter tea and doesn't present the same challenges to new tea drinkers as raw. But lightly fermented shous like Stranger can have more sheng-like characteristics, including relatively mild bitterness. In both cases, you can experiment with lower temps if boiling water with varying infusion times isn't doing the trick for you, but definitely give them a chance with full boiling.
Adjusting the leaf ratio away from 1 gram of leaf per 15 ml of vessel volume is another variable you can work with. We recommend you start with the standard 1-to-15 ratio because varying your steeping times is likely adequate to get what you want out of most Puers.
If you're going to experiment, a strong ratio of 1 gram of leaf per 10-12 ml of vessel volume can work well for ripe Puer. That's about 8.5 to 10 grams of shou in a 100 ml vessel. You'll find the high concentration makes an even stronger tea with a thicker body and mouthfeel. Going more concentrated than 1-to-10 doesn't necessarily make for better tea because the extra leaves take up space after expanding, and the decreased amount of water in your vessel is less able to retain heat and dissolve tea solids while steeping. A word of caution, much like with over salting your food, you can easily become accustomed to a heavy handed brewing style and it will be difficult to turn back. It may benefit you long term to embrace a moderate amount of tea rather than chasing extremes.
You can also move in the direction of lower concentrations, like a 1-to-20 ratio (5 grams of Puer in a 100 ml vessel). If you want to conserve your Puer stash or tame a BYS (bitter young sheng), this is still in the realm of gongfu. Going with concentrations lower than 1-to-20 is also fine if you'd like, but you may find that you need to compensate with longer infusion times or the tea in your cup could be disappointingly weak.
How to make Puer thermos tea
Making Puer in a thermos is as easy as adding 5-20 grams of ripe Puer (or raw Puer if you're brave), rinsing with boiling water in the thermos and discarding the liquid without dumping out the leaves, then refilling with boiling water and waiting 15-30 minutes or longer before decanting and enjoying.
Thermos tea is similar to grandpa style, but more like a rugged, outdoorsy great uncle. And in fact, it's the optimal method for bringing ready-to-drink Puer along for work, long drives, or time in nature.
The best type of thermos for making tea is the style that has a built-in pour spout in the lid and an accompanying cup that helps to insulate the opening. This design is self-contained, portable, and keeps leaves from ending up in your cup when you pour.
Rinsing your leaves one or two times in the thermos helps the leaves awaken and expand, rinses off any residual tea dust, and preheats the thermos. You can also rinse your Puer in a gaiwan before adding the leaves to the thermos, but if you do this, preheat the thermos separately for 1-2 minutes, then discard the water before adding the leaves and filling it to the top with boiling water.
Most thermoses or insulated vacuum flasks hold about 1 liter. This is a nice size for one or two people, but you can use any size, and compared to gongfu, the leaf ratio is very much up to personal preference. The amount of leaf material is really the only variable to adjust — full boiling water works best, and the tea will steep for hours with this method — so you should experiment to find your favorite leaf ratio for each tea.
Mind you, you can refill the thermos multiple times. Refilling with boiling water at the halfway mark, as you would with grandpa style, will result in more resteep opportunities before the leaves are depleted. Before discarding the leaves, drink the thermos down to the bottom and refill a final time with boiling water so you can get everything the leaves have to offer.
Puer recommendations for thermos tea
We find that making thick-bodied shou Puer is where thermos tea really shines, especially with darker ripes like Pretty Girls and Camphornought. Every shou aficionado should try 15-20 grams in a liter thermos at least once. Make it before bed and leave it overnight and you'll have at least a full day of the strongest, most robust shou you'll ever experience. Lower ripe Puer concentrations, down to 5 grams per liter, are also great in a thermos, again personal preference rules.
You can consider raw Puer in a thermos to be an experiment. Depending on the specific tea you choose, you might get great results, or you might get a muddled flavor profile in your cup. There is no doubt that you'll get a strong, energizing brew, but you likely won't get the rewarding nuances and subtleties that gongfu style can provide with sheng.
Our experiments have shown us that young sheng can be hit-or-miss in a thermos (but still worth trying). While you might think younger sheng would be overly bitter in a thermos, it isn't necessarily; the extended infusion time seems to extract deeper and sweeter notes that "wash out" some of the bitter high notes.
Mid-aged shengs like Repave tend to be reliably tasty and rewarding, and older shengs like our 2002 LC Brick will fill your thermos with deep foresty and herbal notes at the expense of some of the overall complexity you'd get with gongfu style.
Putting 5 grams of sheng into a 1 liter thermos is a good starting point. You can always increase the leaf dose next time if you want it stronger, but we recommend starting with a light touch with raw Puer.
Boiling your Puer leaves
Boiling your Puer leaves in a pot on a stove for 10-20 minutes is the surest way to get your money's worth. You can boil fresh ripe or raw Puer to make a strong brew fast, or you can boil "spent" leaves leftover from gongfu instead of discarding them.
Bring the water in the pot to a boil, then turn it down to a simmer and cover it. You can add the leaves as soon as you add the cold water to the pot, or wait until the water is boiling. Either way, boil it for 10-20 minutes, then decant the tea liquid and enjoy.
Rinsing unused leaf material before boiling to knock any tea dust off is optional; if you want to do it, use a gaiwan to rinse the tea as you would for gongfu, then add the leaves to the water to boil.
Compared to grandpa style, gongfucha, and thermos tea, boiling leaves may seem like a bit of a novelty. But it's one of the earliest methods of tea preparation, and it's no joke if you want really strong tea. You can experiment with boiling your favorite ripes and raws, or make an ultrapotent concoction from some of the less exciting Puers languishing in the back of your storage cabinet.
For the leftovers from a 7-gram gongfu session, 300-400 ml (10-13.5 ounces) of water will provide a good ratio. If you're adding unused Puer leaves, you can also use this as a starting ratio and adjust the water or tea weight in the future if needed.
In Yunnan province, where Puer is grown, we've been fortunate to sit with families simmering 30 grams (about an ounce) or more of fresh-picked young sheng leaves in a liter kettle. They'll pour tea off the top to serve guests, refill with water, and add even more leaves as needed as the brew loses strength. While not for the fainthearted, this is an incredible way to experience the sheer psychoactive intensity of raw Puer!
Breaking apart a pressed shou Puer tea cake with a tea pick
Frequently asked questions (FAQs) about brewing Puer tea
How do you break apart Puer cakes?
You can break apart compressed ripe or raw Puer cakes using a tea pick, pointy kitchen utensil, pocket knife, or your fingers. Try to avoid crumbling the leaves. Sticking a pointy object into the edge of the cake, then gently wiggling it, can help to separate intact leaves from the cake. Be careful and take your time. Especially when using sharp knives, a slip can really ruin a tea session before it starts.
Why is it important to rinse Puer tea?
Even the highest quality teas will arrive in your hands with some residue from processing, if only a bit of dust from pulverized tea leaves. So just as it’s normal to rinse fruit or veggies or other agricultural products, rinsing your Puer with boiling water is helpful.
And in the case of compressed Puer cakes or minis, rinsing once or twice for about 10-30 seconds helps to open up the tea, providing you with richer infusions following the rinsing.
Gongfu style tea session with a cup and a gaiwan
What is the best way to brew Puer tea?
Gongfucha or "making tea with skill" is the method of choice for fully enjoying and appreciating Puer; it also works well for any quality oolong, black, white, or green tea. You use high leaf-to-water ratios and many brief infusions in a small gaiwan or teacup, pouring from the vessel into a small cup.
Other infusion methods like grandpa style (putting loose leaves in a cup with boiling water, then drinking and refilling as needed), brewing Puer in a thermos, or boiling your leaves also offer unique experiences.
My Puer tea is too weak, what should I do?
First, use boiling water if you aren't already. Gongfu style also allows you to increase the strength of your Puer easily by steeping for longer, which can also work with a basket infuser. You can also add more leaf material if that doesn't do the trick.
Why is my Puer so bitter?
If your Puer is bitter, it's likely raw Puer, also called sheng. Not all Puer is bitter; aged sheng and fully fermented ripe Puer tend to be much mellower. Try shortening your infusion time, and if that doesn't work, reduce the amount of leaf material you're brewing.
Fresh Puer tea leaves on a tea tree in Yunnan province, China
How much caffeine is in Puer tea?
Tea can contain up to about 30 mg of caffeine per gram, so a gongfu session with 7 grams of young, bud-heavy raw Puer could provide as much as 210 milligrams of caffeine, about the same as you'd get from two cups of coffee. But aged and ripe Puers may contain a third or half that, providing around 70-100 mg in a normal session. These numbers are unfortunately not exact, as there are many variables in terms of tea type, processing, leaf size and extraction.
Unlike coffee, tea contains l-theanine (along with many other unique chemical compounds), which appears to mellow out the stimulating effects of caffeine. There are many variables here, and caffeine content in the leaves is only one of them. If you've had your fill of caffeine, you can always pause your tea session and come back later.
How long do you brew Puer tea?
The length of each infusion depends on the method and your preferences. We recommend 10 second steeps as a starting point for gongfu style, increasing from there on later steeps. If you're using an infuser basket try 1-3 minute steeps and adjust as needed.
Puer tea can be infused many times during a single gongfu tea session
How many times can you brew Puer tea?
Puer tea has the most endurance of any tea, meaning it can generally be steeped more times than other teas. Good sheng (raw) Puer can be steeped at least 8-12 times gongfu style, and most quality ripe Puer will last for 8-10 steeps or more.
For Western-style brewing in an infuser basket, expect to get 3-5+ steeps lasting 1-5 minutes apiece.
If you want to extract as much as possible from the leaves, try boiling them in water on the stove for 10-20 minutes before discarding.
How much does Puer cost?
You can pay as little or as much as you can afford for Puer, but for beginners, the 10-20 cents per gram price point is a sweet spot to explore ripe and raw Puer. Below that price, quality tends to drop off a steep cliff, but not always.
Puer teas that cost 20+ cents per gram can still be relatively affordable for daily 7-gram sessions. These leaves may come from older trees, be aged for longer, or originate from tea production regions that are in higher demand. You should take these claims with a large grain of salt, but with honest vendors, you usually get what you pay for. The ultimate test is whether you like what's in your cup, not what the description tells you.
At white2tea, we recommend you start with samples or a tea club membership to expand your knowledge before stocking up on cakes.