Pu-erh tea often has flavors such as sweet, bitter, astringent, sour, watery, or tasteless. These tastes may exist alone in a certain brew of Pu-erh tea, or several flavors may coexist simultaneously.

Among them, sweetness is what Pu-erh tea drinkers dream of;

Bitterness and astringency are originally characteristic flavors of tea leaves. Especially, experienced tea drinkers mostly prefer an appropriate degree of bitterness and astringency;

Sourness and wateriness, however, are disliked by everyone. Pu-erh tea should try to avoid sour and watery flavors;

As for tastelessness, although it is not a flavor, it is customary to regard mildness and tastelessness as a characteristic of Pu-erh tea, which is the flavor of no flavor!

Sweetness

Sweetness is not only liked by children but also makes adults drool over sugar. However, strong sweetness is often both loved and feared. Yet, the subtle sweetness in tea is so elegant. It is not harmful to health and can satisfy the temporary craving for sweetness. At the same time, due to its subtlety, it elevates the appreciation of Pu-erh tea to an artistic realm.

Pu-erh tea belongs to large-leaf species tea, with relatively rich and concentrated components. After long-term aging, the bitter and astringent flavors gradually weaken or even disappear completely due to oxidation, while sugar components remain in the tea leaves. After brewing, they are slowly released into the Pu-erh tea, resulting in a sweet taste.

High-quality Pu-erh tea becomes increasingly sweeter with later infusions. Among Pu-erh teas, "Red Lotus Round Tea" and "Round Tea Iron Cake" are made from the same batch of Pu-erh tea raw materials but with different manufacturing methods. Both have a honey-like sweetness unmatched by other Pu-erh teas.

We, enthusiasts of Pu-erh tea appreciation, deeply experience that only Pu-erh tea products made from raw tea leaves have a pure, elegant sweetness in their soup, which best represents the true nature of Pu-erh tea. The sweetness of Pu-erh tea is best expressed in those made from old-tree arbor tea leaves, raw tea, and dry-storage aged, most capable of showcasing sweetness.

Bitterness

Bitterness is the original taste of tea. Ancient people called tea "bitter tea," which has long been confirmed. The earliest wild tea had a broth so bitter it was hard to swallow. After long-term cultivation by our ancestors, from "wild-type" tea trees to "transitional-type" tea trees, they evolved into today's "cultivated-type" tea trees. Although this is a series of plant physiological evolution processes, from the perspective of tea appreciation, we are more concerned with the transformation from an unbearably bitter taste to gradually thinning bitterness, and even to being regarded as a delicious treasure by ordinary people. First extreme bitterness leads to subsequent returning sweetness, bringing true enlightenment to Pu-erh tea drinkers.

The reason Pu-erh tea has bitterness is because it contains "caffeine." The reason tea can refresh and awaken is due to these "caffeine" stimulating the human nervous system. Truly healthy Pu-erh tea appreciation does not seek refreshment through bitterness but achieves the effect of returning sweetness and throat sensation through the slightly bitter tea soup. Pu-erh teas made from relatively tender grade tea leaves all carry bitterness. For example, Pu-erh loose tea like "Lotus Fragrance White Needle Golden Lotus," or currently produced higher-end tender Pu-erh teas, all have bitterness. As for handling bitterness, it is controlled by brewing methods. It also depends on each drinker's acceptance of bitterness to brew an appropriately bitter tea soup.

Astringency

It is often said, "No bitterness, no astringency, no tea." In fact, for aged Pu-erh tea over sixty or seventy years, bitterness and astringency are no longer noticeable. Without bitterness and astringency, yet still able to express other tea flavors, such tea products are generally called good tea. There are Pu-erh teas with a stronger taste profile, known as "masculine," and those with a milder taste, known as "feminine." Which are masculine and which are feminine? It is determined by their degree of bitterness and astringency, which is the most specific identification method.

The astringent sensation in tea is due to the "tannin" content. Pu-erh tea is made from large-leaf tea leaves, containing more "tannin" than ordinary teas. Therefore, new raw Pu-erh tea is very strong and particularly astringent. Appropriate astringency is acceptable to tea drinkers because astringency causes muscles in the mouth to contract, promoting salivation. Astringency can increase the strength and robustness of Pu-erh tea soup, satisfying drinkers who prefer heavier tastes. Based on our tea drinkers' experience, Pu-erh teas produced in central Yunnan, in areas like Mengku, Mengnong, and Fengqing, belong to the bitter base. Brewing bitterness and astringency requires attention to technique and personal acceptance.

Sourness & Wateriness

Sourness and wateriness are both undesirable flavors in Pu-erh tea. Naturally, one does not wish for sour or watery tastes to appear during Pu-erh tea appreciation. Poor tea processing or improper storage may lead to sourness. Some of these sour-tasting Pu-erh teas may see their sourness gradually decrease after three to five infusions. Sourness is a flavor tea drinkers are unwilling to accept. It represents inferior tea quality.

In the production of generally fresh tea leaves, if the "water removal" process is not handled well, it can also result in a watery taste in the tea leaves. As for why Pu-erh tea becomes watery, there is no reliable information to corroborate.

Currently produced, relatively lightly fermented Pu-erh brick teas mostly have a watery taste. Wateriness gives a feeling of weakness, spoilage, and lack of freshness, which is also rejected by Pu-erh tea drinkers.

Tastelessness

Most Pu-erh tea appreciation experts agree that the flavor of tastelessness is the highest grade of Pu-erh tea. This may be related to the aging period. For example, the evaluation of "Golden Melon Tribute Tea" with over a hundred or two hundred years of aging is: "The soup has color, but the tea taste is aged and mild."

The flavor of tastelessness carries a full Zen意境 (Zen state). This kind of supremely noble realm is probably unique to Pu-erh tea among hundreds of tea varieties. Although the Pu-erh tea ceremony assimilates the true principles of Taoism, it is also everywhere filled with Zen opportunities.