Puerh Cake Take: Jade Mark and Pots
My last two sessions with the ’14 Jade Mark raw puerh cake were rather disappointing. Brewing it in the spring-tea pot mutes its fruity appeal and the elusion rate is too slow for such young mostly autumn material.
’14 Jade Mark photo Aug ’16
Today I got nine spectacularly fruity and sweet infusions, from 4.5g in my little red zisha. Water temperature ranged from 212 to 195. As I extended the brewing time, my water temp lowered. Ten second infusions at 200. Simply delicious.
Elusion is the rate of pour. Different pots obviously drain at different rates. This difference will greatly affect final results, particularly affecting the sweetness/astringency ratio. I hadn’t really settled which pot was best for what until quite recently.
- My black zisha pot is for spring tea, old or young. Slow pour rate.
- There’s goofy green clay pot that isn’t green inside gifted to me. I use it for XG productions, smoky and sometimes spicy productions, like some Liming and Xinghai productions. Medium pour rate.
Bell Pepper Pot with the ’01 GM Puerh
- Eggplant-shaped red zisha. Fast pour rate. Referenced above. Young raw high quality productions.
- Glazed teapot for Dragon Pearls. Fast pour rate.
- Big red clay gifted to me for autumn teas of any age. Medium fast pour rate.
“Big” red clay, 170ml
- My mineral pot, a pot I hated till I found the type I believe it performs with best. Slow pour rate.
Pour rate is a big deal. Whenever you cannot affect the quality of taste and astringency through parameters like pour rate and temperature, then chances are good the the raw material itself is of questionable quality for drinking purposes. These can be repurposed for topical application.
I cannot over emphasize how impressive I found the Jade Mark. Whatever tweaks I made in storage and brewing proved consistent with the earlier deeply satisfying sessions.
