Young sheng · under ~5 years
How to brew young sheng puerh gongfu style
Sheng, or raw puerh, is not fermented in a pile. Young sheng (here: under about five years) is bright, floral and fresh, and it can be bitter.
Most of the bitterness comes from water that is too hot or an infusion that is too long. The numbers below keep it in balance. Use them as a starting point and change them to your taste.
Leaf and water
| Vessel | Leaf | Water | Rinse |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 ml | 5 g | 92 °C 198 °F | 5 s |
| 150 ml | 7.5 g | 92 °C 198 °F | 5 s |
Good range for the water: 90–95 °C (194–203 °F). Other vessel sizes: 5 g of leaf for every 100 ml.
Infusion times
- Rinse5s
- #110s
- #210s
- #315s
- #420s
- #525s
- #635s
- #745s
- #860s
- #980s
- #10100s
Times are in seconds, counted from when the vessel is full. After infusion 10, add 20 seconds for each new one. In the app, "Softer" and "Stronger" make all the times shorter or longer.
How to brew it
- Heat the water to 92 °C (198 °F). The range for this tea is 90–95 °C (194–203 °F).
- Pour hot water into the empty vessel and the cups to warm them. Pour it out.
- Put in 5 g of leaf for a 100 ml vessel, or 7.5 g for 150 ml.
- Rinse: fill the vessel, wait 5 seconds, pour the water out.
- First infusion: fill the vessel, wait 10 seconds, then pour all of the tea into a pitcher or the cups.
- Go on with the next infusion times from the list. Pour out all of the tea each time.
Tips
- Too-hot water makes it bitter. Hold 90–93 °C to keep the floral freshness.
- Pour fast. The first infusions are only 10 seconds, so a slow pour adds a lot of time.
- Leave the lid open between infusions. Hot, wet leaf under a closed lid keeps cooking and turns bitter.
- Bitter cup? Lower the water by 2 to 3 °C or make the next infusion a few seconds shorter.
- Loosen a piece from the cake gently with a tea pick. Whole leaves give a cleaner cup than broken ones.
- Keep going while the tea still has taste. After the list, add 20 seconds for each new infusion.
Brew this in Seventh Steep
The app has these numbers built in. It works out the grams for your vessel and times the rinse and every infusion, with a bell when it is time to pour.
You can also identify a tea from a photo. That part is optional, and the answer is an estimate, not a guarantee.