“Old tea heads” are fermentation's happy accident — dense, sweet nuggets. Pressed into bricks, they brew thicker and sweeter than ordinary shou.
Tea Profile
At a glance: 2009 · Ripe (shou/shu) puerh · 250g brick · fermented tea heads · DaYi (Menghai Tea Factory)
- Compression & dry leaf: It is pressed into a 250g brick. Breaking it open reveals some stems and an even, dark fermentation.
- Liquor: The liquor is deep red.
- Taste: Through the middle infusions, hints of caramel come forward over a sweet and rich base. Each round shows a slightly different side of it.
- Mouthfeel & body: Expect a smooth mouthfeel.
- Aftertaste: Expect a soft, clean finish after each cup.
- Best for: improving your tea experience — worth reaching for once you have moved past being a beginner.
Brewing Guide
- Water: bring it to a full boil — 100°C (212°F).
- Steps:
- Use about 5g of tea per 100ml of water.
- Rinse the leaves twice with boiling water, about 5 seconds each time, then pour it away. Cover and let the leaves rest for around 10 minutes.
- Steep 10–15 seconds for the first infusions, adding roughly 5 seconds each round.
- Decant into a sharing pitcher.
- Serve. Ripe puerh stands up well to many resteeps.
- These are starting points, not fixed rules. Play with high or low pours, fast or slow streams, and adjust across seasons until you find your method. Getting the best out of the same tea in any year, season, weather or place takes practice — and that skill is the real goal.
Storage
Store the cake somewhere ventilated, cool and dry, out of direct sunlight and away from strong smells such as kitchen spices or smoke. For aging over years, paper or clay containers allow better airflow than sealed plastic.
A Note on Appearance
You won't find these on every cake — they tend to turn up more often in teas that have been stored longer.
- Bamboo powder (zhu fen): a natural sign of traditional bamboo-husk packing. In Guangdong's warm, humid climate, tiny bamboo insects can make their home in the husk, nibbling the husk and cotton paper wrapper while leaving the tea itself untouched. What they leave behind is a fine powder, seen only on certain teas and more often on aged ones. It is harmless to hygiene; a few strokes with a clean toothbrush or soft brush before brewing is all it takes.
- Tea oil spots: yellowish spots sometimes appear; they come from the tea's natural oils and are not a defect.
- Torn wrapper: the cotton paper may pick up small tears or holes during storage and handling. The tea inside is fine.
