Judging Pu-erh: Bitterness, Hui Gan and the Finish

A pu-erh is judged on four things: how the bitterness behaves, whether sweetness returns after swallowing, what the throat feels like, and how the tea changes across the session. Bitterness alone is not a defect, because a young sheng is bitter by design and the bitterness is what converts into depth. What separates a good cake from a poor one is what happens after the bitterness arrives.

The vocabulary is Chinese and it is worth learning because the English equivalents are clumsy. Ku is bitterness, hui gan is the return of sweetness after swallowing, hou yun is the sensation that lingers in the throat, and sheng jin is the flow of saliva. Each describes a different part of the experience.

The four signals

Bitterness that turns into sweetness is good. Bitterness that stays bitter is a fault, and it usually means a careless kill-green or an over-steeped cup rather than a poor leaf.

Hui gan is the most reliable single indicator. A tea with a strong sweet return is well made and will age, and a tea without one is flat regardless of how it smells.

Hou yun is the quality that separates a good cake from an exceptional one. It is a cooling, slightly numbing sensation at the back of the throat that persists for a minute or more, and it cannot be faked by brewing.

• Bitterness is expected in young sheng and is not a defect.
• Bitterness that turns sweet is good, bitterness that stays is a fault.
• Hui gan is the most reliable single indicator.
• Hou yun is what separates good from exceptional.
• Sheng jin indicates body and a clean finish.
• Judge at the third steep, not the first.

Why the third steep matters most

The first steep is a rinse and a wetting, and it tells you about the surface of the leaf. The second is fuller and shows the body. The third is where the tea declares itself, because the leaf is fully open and the extraction is even.

A cake judged on its first steep will seem weaker than it is. A cake judged on its tenth will seem better than it is if the early steeps were strong. The third is the fair sample.

The change across the session is the other signal. A good cake holds its character for eight to ten steeps and fades gradually; a poor one collapses at the fourth and turns to sweet water.

That collapse is easy to detect and it is one of the few quality signals a beginner can use immediately. A cake that gives four good steeps and then nothing is not a cake to buy again.

What the aroma tells you, and what it does not

Aroma is the easiest thing to notice and the least reliable indicator of quality. A cake can be highly aromatic and thin, or quiet and deep. Chinese tasters rank hou yun above xiang for that reason.

The aromas themselves are a useful vocabulary: floral and honey in young sheng, dried fruit and wood in aged, camphor in the best old cakes, and earth and geosmin in shou. A cake whose aroma does not match its claimed age is suspect.

Smoke is a special case. A light smoke from the wok is traditional and fades with age; a heavy smoke masks a fault and does not fade.

The aroma of the empty cup is worth checking. A good cake leaves a clear sweet smell in the cup after it is drunk, and a poor one leaves little.

Bitterness and the beginner

A drinker new to sheng often reads bitterness as a defect. It is not, and the confusion leads people to buy cakes that have been processed to remove it, which are smoother young and age poorly.

The way to learn is to taste a young sheng and an aged one from the same producer. The bitterness in the young tea and its absence in the old one is the whole trajectory in one comparison.

A cake that is bitter and sweet at once is the target. A cake that is only bitter is a fault; only sweet is usually shou or an old cake.

Putting it together

The practical order is: smell the dry leaf, brew three steeps, note the bitterness and the sweet return, check the throat, and count how long the tea lasts. That takes ten minutes and it is more informative than any label.

A cake that passes all five is a good cake regardless of its village. A cake that fails two is a cake to avoid regardless of its price.

The most useful habit is to write a line after each session. A record of what a cake tasted like at one, three and five years is the only way to learn how aging works, and it costs nothing.

• Bitterness is expected in young sheng.
• Bitterness turning sweet is good, staying bitter is a fault.
• Hui gan is the most reliable single indicator.
• Hou yun separates good cakes from exceptional ones.
• Judge at the third steep, not the first.
• Count how many steeps hold their character.

What a session record should contain

A line a year is enough: the colour of the liquor, the intensity of the bitterness, the strength of the sweet return, and the number of steeps before the tea faded.

Four notes taken once a year turn a cupboard into an experiment. A drinker who keeps them learns how age works from their own storage rather than from an article.

The record also catches failure early. A cake whose bitterness rises or whose smell turns musty is going wrong, and the change is easier to spot against a note than from memory.

What the mouthfeel tells you

Body is the weight of the liquor on the tongue, and in pu-erh it is a better guide than aroma. A thick cake coats the mouth and the coating persists; a thin one feels like flavoured water however pleasant it smells.

Old-tree tea is usually thicker than plantation tea, and that thickness is the most consistent difference between them. It is also the hardest to fake, because it comes from the leaf rather than from the process.

Astringency is separate from body and it is a defect when it dominates. A drying sensation on the tongue that does not fade is a sign of a harsh leaf or an over-steeped cup, and it does not improve with age.

The distinction between body and astringency is the one most beginners miss. A tea can feel thick and not dry, or thin and drying, and only the first is what a good cake should do.

The colour of the liquor

Colour is a rough indicator of age and of branch. Young sheng is pale gold to amber; shou is dark red-brown to almost black; aged sheng sits between and deepens with time.

Colour can be faked by over-steeping, so it should never be the only signal. A dark cup from a supposedly young tea is more likely a long steep than an old cake.

Clarity matters more than shade. A bright, clear liquor suggests a clean process and clean storage; a cloudy or muddy one suggests dust, mould or a cake pressed badly.

What a beginner can actually judge

Three of the four signals are available to a drinker with no experience. Bitterness is obvious, the sweet return is obvious, and the number of steeps before the tea fades is a count rather than a judgement.

Hou yun takes longer to notice because it is a sensation rather than a taste, and most drinkers miss it until someone points it out. Once noticed, it is as unmistakable as bitterness.

The practical exercise is to brew two cakes side by side, swallow both, and wait. The one whose throat sensation and sweetness persist is the better tea, and the judgement requires no vocabulary.

That is a more reliable buying test than any tasting note. A cake that survives the wait is worth buying again; one that does not is not redeemed by an impressive label.

Frequently asked questions