The Tao of Puerh

I’ve been hanging out lately at a great little place called Fireroast Mountain Cafe, which besides having wonderful soups, sandwiches, and pastries, serves a perfectly brewed cup of Puerh, which is a rare and wonderful thing.

A fermented tea that contains microbes — like yogurt of kefir —Puerh has an earthy, amber, slightly caramel flavor. Perfect with a touch of honey. And according to experts going back to the Eastern Han Dynasty, it offers a myriad of health benefits, too. Puerh is said to cleanse the blood and aid in digestion, lowering LDL cholesterol, canceling out the effects of alcohol, and boosting the metabolism. Some people even claim it helps them feel better immediately after a heavy, greasy meal, acting as both fat blocker and antacid.

I have no idea if any of this is true. What I do know is that Puerh makes me feel good, and it’s rich enough to be a decent substitute for that cup of espresso I crave around 2 o’clock every afternoon.

The key to making this and other varieties of tea, however, is to get the water temperature and ratio of leaves just right. Black tea, for instance, should be made with water that’s just off the boil and steeped for five minutes; green with water that’s about 10 degrees cooler — e.g. the stuff that comes out of those red-spigoted hot water taps — and steeped for no more than three.

Puerh, on the other hand, cannot be overcooked. You make it with water that’s at a roiling boil and let it steep forever. . . .10 minutes or so. The key is to use only a teaspoon of leaves, or it can become overpoweringly thick.

I’ve looked for this tea on the shelves of every grocery store I’ve visited for the past month, but it’s simply not available. Lunds carries everything from infused green to Indian chai to maté, but there is, apparently, only a very small retail market for Puerh. The only place in town I’ve found to buy it in bulk is Tea Source.

I’m generally unimpressed by the studies touting the health benefits of various foods. But evidence that goes back 2,200 years will tend to sway me. And just to test the veracity of the claims, I recently consumed a large and meaty meal, then drank a cup of carefully prepared Puerh. And while I doubt it completely eliminated the roasted pork, brie, dark chocolate, and heavy cream from my system, I must say, I went to bed feeling amazingly good.

Those ancient Chinese emperors? I think they were onto something.