Why Drink Sheng Puer?
Sheng or raw puer is one of the most difficult teas to "get into". It can seem extremely bitter to the untrained palate, and often times it will take a few good college tries for the curious tea drinker to actually start coming back for more of this traditional type of tea. So in an effort to nudge you along in your tea journey, we've compiled our top reasons for drinking sheng puer.
It's a great morning wake up
Some people like their four shots of espresso, or grande cappuccinos to get them going in the morning, but we're tea drinkers and for us the best morning pick-me-up is a few rounds of strong kung fu with a good raw puer. Brewing the tea mindfully but with strength is a shock to the tastebuds but also goes straight to your head, waking you up both physically and mentally. Sitting down to brew a few strong infusions in the morning is the best way to go from still semi-groggy to ready to take on the day. It also allows one to focus on their intentions for the day, which brings us conveniently to our next point...
It has centering qualities
Sheng puer has arguably the strongest cha qi of any type of tea. This means that it has the most noticeable effect on our bodies when we drink it. As mentioned above, a strong kung fu session can be felt in one's head, the shoulders, down or up the neck, or in the drinker's cheeks. These feelings, when focused upon and embraced can sink the tea drinker into a meditative, centered state of semi-euphoria. For an in depth look at how we center with tea, check out our blog post Back to Center.
You see it change over time
A wise man once said to me, "If the tea doesn't change, what's the point?". This was of course just one man's opinon, but what he was referring to was how the tea we were drinking had changed drastically from the first to the last infusions. This is what makes young raw puer so magical; the first brews are intense and assertive while the later infusions mellow out to an almost sweet roundness that keeps the tea drinker thirsty for more. And it's in this gradual progression that the tea brewer can really hone their skills. It becomes more about extracting what you want from the tea, and sheng puer allows us to develop such a skill.
