How to Identify Good Puerh Tea - Zhi Zheng Tea Shop

„Smokiness
The art of making tea from ancient tea trees is very old. Hand-roasting is not easily mastered. Any slight error will influence the taste of the tea. Smokiness or yan wei is one example but it should be distinguished from a burned flavour which is described as hu wei. The latter, typically arises when tea is not well roasted and is, unfortunately, not uncommon. Yan wei or smokiness is caused by oven drying. “

„Tea that is picked in the summer, often referred to as Yu Shui Cha, is not of high quality. In the rainy season, levels of sunshine are comparatively low so it is often not possible to sun dry tea so a wood stove is used to dry it. This can produce a smokey aroma and flavour. With time it will abate, but not considerably, so any smokey tea that one has not witnessed being made is probably best put to one side.“