Drinking Puer Tea, one finds it gets sweeter the more you drink. This sweetness is not a sugary sweet but rather a light and subtle sweetness that lingers in your mouth. Many tea enthusiasts share this experience: once you fall in love with Puer tea and drink it regularly, it becomes difficult to give up. Sometimes it's hard to put into words why you like it, but you just do. When you encounter a good Cup of tea, the broth is rich, carrying a faint scent of age, slightly bitter at first but then followed by a mild sweetness that lingers, leaving an unforgettable aftertaste and a sensation of saliva welling up under the tongue. So how should one choose Puer tea for personal consumption?

How to Select Puer Tea Suitable for Yourself?

1. Raw Puer tea has a strong character and is excellent for cutting through grease, but it can be somewhat stimulating to the stomach. It is suitable for those with good digestive function, who are slim, or have high blood lipids and blood pressure. Aged Puer tea, on the other hand, has a smooth and gentle character, warming the stomach and aiding digestion, promoting urination, and contributing to weight loss and beauty. It is suitable for virtually everyone.

2. Aged Puer tea has a rich and smooth flavor, a gentle character, and offers benefits such as nurturing and warming the stomach, lowering blood lipids, and aiding weight loss. It is particularly suitable for those with cold constitutions or weak stomachs, especially beneficial for the elderly and women during winter months.

3. Older Puer teas indeed offer better taste and higher appreciation value, but the types and quantities available on the market are extremely limited and come at a high price. In pursuit of profit, some unscrupulous merchants use various means to produce fake aged teas. As it is difficult for the average person to distinguish between genuine and fake aged teas based on appearance alone, one should not blindly pursue older teas but instead seek out reputable sellers or participate in more discussions and exchanges.

4. Price and value being commensurate is a fundamental law of commodity economics. We should oppose exorbitant pricing and deceptive practices while also opposing the vicious competition of low-price dumping. Due to differences in aesthetic standards, consumer psychology, and value orientations, perceptions of the value of Puer tea vary widely, making it difficult to define with a specific number. Under the principle of “voluntary equality,” selecting Puer tea that you genuinely enjoy and suits your needs is most important.

5. Selecting a good Puer tea is not something that can be accomplished overnight; it requires time, effort, and knowledge. Additionally, we would like to share a method for storing Puer tea with our fellow tea enthusiasts. Puer tea should be stored in a “dry warehouse.” Storing it in a hot and humid environment will accelerate its maturation, but it also increases the risk of mold. Moreover, it is essential to keep it away from foods with strong odors to prevent the tea from absorbing unwanted flavors.

Is Aged Puer Tea Better Than Fresh?

The taste, aroma, and even the physical sensations experienced from old and new teas differ significantly, much like raw and aged teas each have their unique qualities. It is difficult to say which is better, as aged teas are not necessarily superior to fresh ones, and good tea does not have to be old. With the concept of “Puer tea getting better with age” spreading by word of mouth, many enthusiasts mistakenly believe that older teas must be better and more valuable than newer ones. Because Puer tea increases in value with age, the notion that “grandfathers store tea for grandsons to sell” is often cited as a long-standing tradition. In reality, there was no concept of “aged tea” in the past, as ancient people did not consume aged teas because they simply didn't exist at that time.