Top 10 Best Pu-erh Tea Cake Brands From Yunnan

Finding the best Pu-erh tea cake or Pu’er tea cake is not an easy task if you don’t know the basics of tea. Tea is a complex subject as different varieties of tea are made from the same plant Camellia Sinensis. Only style of processing is different for different variety.

Pu-erh is a special kind of tea produced from large-leaf variety of Camellia Sinensis plants that grown in Yunnan Province, China. This is the only tea variety which improves in taste and flavor along with age like finest quality wine. So, sometimes, it’s also called as aged tea or living tea. More aged means more in-depth taste and distict flavor.

We have compiled this list of top 10 best Pu-erh tea cake brands in order to make your search easy and convenient for finest quality pu-erh tea cake. This list contains both raw and ripe Pu-erh cakes.

Have a look

10 Best Pu-erh Tea Cake Brands from Yunnan Province, China

1. Melody of Yiwu Mountain – Aged Raw Pu-erh Tea Cake

Melody of Yiwu Mountain is one of the best raw puerh tea brands from Yunnan Province, China. This finest quality pu-erh tea provides Amber-Golden color liquor which is really complex and full-bodied. The taste is lightly bitter and it provides smoky flavor which is quite similiar to Keemun Black tea. The sensetional lingering aftertaste will definitely refresh your mind and tantalize your taste buds.

The liquor color of this raw puerh tea is bright red-brown and provides unique subtle flavor with a mild bitterness and long lasting lingering aftertaste. The taste is very exciting and the aroma is really refreshing.

3. Sheng Pu-erh Wild Tea – Raw Pu-erh Tea Cake

It is one of the exceptional raw puerh tea brands which is made from the large-leaf variety Camellia Sinensis plants that are growing wildly in the Bulong Mountain area of Yunnan Province. This pu erh tea provides floral, grassy and crisp menthol taste with a lingering hint of mushroom. The aroma ranges from floral to sweet wood with earthy overtones.

4. Wild Grown Pu-erh Tea Cake – Pudao’s Puer Pu-erh Tea Cake

This 1729 model Pudao’s Pu’er Cake is aged and microbial fermented in natural way which gives it the distinct test and flavor. Brewed cup of this tea offers smoky taste with earthy flavor and distinct sweet notes of subtle aroma and a lingering after taste without any bitterness at all. It’s a classic pu-erh cake to taste once for better understanding of pu-erh tea.

5. Golden Buds Pu-erh Tea – Organic Ripe Pu-erh Tea Cake

Organic Yunnan Ripe Puer Tea Cake is a vintage tea brand which was made in 2003. As a aged puer tea it gets more distinct flavors and taste along with the passing years. Brewed cup of this tea provides smooth taste with rich earthy flavor and distinct sweet notes of subtle aroma and a lingering after taste.

6. Shu Fermented Pu-erh Tea – Shou Pu-erh Tea Cake

Shou Pu’er Tea Cake is made from the matured leaves of old large leaf variety Camellia Sinensis plants which are grown in Yunnan province of China. The plucked leaves undergo through a special natural fermentation process up to 50 days. This long natural fermentation process gives this tea the most subtle sweet taste without any bitterness.

9. Yunnan Longrun Pu-erh Tea Cake

This traditional superb quality fermented puerh tea is made from the 100 years old large leaf variety Camellia Sinensis Plants that grown in Yunnan Province. Plucked leaves go through a unique fermentation process and the fermented leaves are blended with some spring buds of Arbor tea trees that are grown wildly in Lin Cang, Yunnan.

10. Yunnan Longrun Pu-erh Tea Cake – 826

The liquor color of this fermented pu’er tea is bright reddish brown and provides unique flavors with smooth and sweet taste. Its long lasting lingering aftertaste will definitely tantalize your taste buds. The floral flavored taste and aroma are very exciting and subtle in nature.

How to brew Pu-erh tea cake

Rinse the teapot and the teacup to be used for this tea with properly boiled hot water

Break off a small piece of tea from the tea cake using your prying pick

Properly weight the tea in order to get the right quantity for your cup

Rinse the tea leaf of the pu-erh cake with hot water for 10 seconds

Pour the boiled water at above said temperature into a 8 ounce cup which is already rinsed

Add the rinsed tea to that cup and cover it

Let it steep for 3 – 5 minutes

Quantity of tea to be used per 8 ounce cup

Raw Pu’er tea cake – 5 grams

Ripe Pu’er tea cake – 4 grams

Type of teapot, teacup and teaware to be used

Porcelain or Ceramic Teapot or Gaiwan

You can brew the same tea leaf for 5 consecutive infusions. Just remember to increase the steeping time for each consecutive brewing.

If you need one stronger cup then also increase the boiling temperature of the water.

One brief note on the manufacturing process of the Pu’er tea cake

Good quality tea leaves are plucked and minimally processed to make Maocha or green rough tea before making raw /sheng and ripe/shu pu-erh tea.

Plucked leaves are withered to reduce the water content by way of spreading the leaves under the sun or in a ventilated space for some hours. After that, these leaves are roasted or fired to arrest enzyme activity in the leaf and to stop further oxidation.

After pan-firing, the leaves are rolled and shaped to break the cells which help the leaves to expose inner essence of tea. Then rolled leaves are sun-dried.

In pu-erh tea making process, withered leaves are not dried with hot air instead those withered leaves are dried through pan-firing or pan-roasting process which leave small amount of enzymes which in turn contribute a minor amount of fermentation during sun-drying process.

Maocha is ready after completion of all these stages.

To make raw or Sheng Puer tea cake, Maocha is pressed to give cake like shape and keep it for almost 3 years for ageing and microbial fermentation which improves the quality, taste and flavor of the tea cake.

For making Ripe or Shu Pu-erh tea cake, raw pu-erh teas are artificially fermented in warm and humid environment under controlled conditions. In this process, raw pu-erh teas are artificially manipulated by allowing bacterial and fungal fermentation for almost 50 days which help the tea to acquire its distinct taste and flavor.

As a tea lover, one should taste these finest quality aged pu erh tea cake brands to understand the unique taste and falvor profile of this tea. Pu’er tea cake is a great tea brand for weight loss and treating sleeping disorder.

So, why don’t you taste it for two reasons – tantalize your taste buds with wonderful taste and flavors, and have some wonderful health benefits?

TeaOCity is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com and its partner websites.