Sheng Pu-erh (Young)
生普洱 · Raw Pu-erh
Dark
This is the broad-leaf plant of Yunnan, not the small leaf behind most Chinese tea, and it is picked coarse. A bud with three or four mature leaves, which any green tea maker would throw straight out.
It is pan-fired low, dried in the sun, and pressed young into cakes. Left alone for thirty years it will darken and deepen and become something else entirely, which is half the reason it is made at all.
But it is also drunk now, and now it is still rough. Apricot and green vigour, a grassy edge, and a bitterness that turns sweet a moment after you swallow it.
- stone fruit
- grassy
- bittersweet
- Origin
- Yunnan, China
- Water
- 95°C / 203°F
- Ratio
- 6 g / 100 ml
- Caffeine
- High
- Rinse
- Yes · 10s
GI-protected (2008); UNESCO Jingmai (2023)
How much leaf
Gong fu brewing is leaf-heavy and short. Set your gaiwan or pot size and this is what to weigh out.
Vessel volume
100 ml
Recommended dose
Use ~6.0g of tea
The session
8 infusions after the rinse, about 4m 35s of total contact time.
- Rinse10sWake the leaf and pour it away — this one isn’t for drinking.
- Steep 110sGreen and restless, not yet clear.
- Steep 215sGreen vigor sharpens into apricot.
- Steep 320sBitterness rises, then turns sweet.
- Steep 425sA floral brightness cuts through.
- Steep 530sAstringency softens, sweetness widens.
- Steep 640sStone-fruit sweetness steadies the cup.
- Steep 755sA cooling sweetness returns slow.
- Steep 81m 10sClean bittersweet water lingers on.
Also sold as
Sheng Pu-erh, Green Pu-erh, Sheng Cha, Sheng Puer, Young Sheng
In Czech and Slovak shops
Sheng (Raw, Zelený) Puerh, pu erh raw
Steaper times this session for you
A countdown per infusion, a gong when each one is up, and the whole library in your pocket. Coming to iPhone.
Get notified at launchThese numbers are a median of independent gong fu sources, not a law. Leaf age, vessel and water all move them. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.