Does Pu-Ehr really provide more infusions than other teas?

Beware, this is somewhat like a math story problem!

I'm a fairly recent convert to tea drinking after giving up coffee completely. I've dabbled in quite a few teas including sheng and shu Pu-Ehrs, Chinese green teas, Darjeeling and even Heirloom Tea Flowers.

I have been brewing my teas in both a Gaiwan and also using a Bodum YoYo tea infusing set up which holds 12 ounces.

When I brew Pu-Ehr, I use the generally recommended 5 grams of tea. 100ml serving size is annoyingly small for my western disposition. Adjusting for 6 ounce cup size instead, I can normally get over 10+ infusions from that 5 grams of tea. I steam my Tuo cakes and store the separated loose tea in containers. 5 grams of steamed separated Pu-Ehr amounts to two tablespoons.

When I brew green teas and Darjeeling, the supplier I have purchased from recommends 1 teapoon to 1 1/2 teaspoon in 6 ounces of water. That's 1/6th to 1/4th the amount of 5 grams of Pu-Ehr. For the greens and Darjeelings, I can get a solid two 12 ounce sized cups of brew in my Bodum YoYo amounting to 4 six ounce cups (although I have not yet actually re-brewed these teas four times).

It seems to me then, in my experience adjusting for the smaller amount of tea used to brew non Pu-Ehr teas, is Pu-Ehr really providing for more infusions or is it simply that more tea is used when brewing Pu-Ehr?

Chris L

Just by way of clarification, I think the "more infusions" math relates more to gong fu brewing than western brewing. So, where I take pu-erh into the teens if I'm feeling adventurous, oolongs have yet to make it out of single digits. I'm far from experienced, but that's what I've seen so far.

When you say you're using 1/4 to 1/6 the amount of tea compared to 5g for pu'er, are you suggesting you're using roughly one gram of tea?


You can brew some pu'ers all day, and even into the next.

ouch said:

When you say you're using 1/4 to 1/6 the amount of tea compared to 5g for pu'er, are you suggesting you're using roughly one gram of tea?


You can brew some pu'ers all day, and even into the next.

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Bingo. One thing to mention - I have noticed for some folks puer can be a bit too potent for their stomaches - especially when consuming steeping after steeping.

I'd start with a green puer and take 'er easy at first.

ouch said:

When you say you're using 1/4 to 1/6 the amount of tea compared to 5g for pu'er, are you suggesting you're using roughly one gram of tea?


You can brew some pu'ers all day, and even into the next.

Click to expand...

Sorry, my explanation may have been a bit muddy.

5 grams of steamed loose Pu-ehr fills a 2 tablespoon measuring spoon I have perfectly.

Upton tea normally suggests 1 teaspoon to 1 1/2 teaspoon of loose non-Pu-ehr tea per 6 ounce cup of water for brewing. A 2 tablespoon measuring spoon holds 6 teaspoons. That's where I'm getting my 1/6 to 1/4 the amount of green tea to Pu-ehr calculation.

My query is simply wondering if the larger amount of tea used for Pu-ehr infusions correlates to some degree to the increased number of infusions versus the "smaller" amount of tea used to for an infusion for a cup of non-Pu-ehr tea.

Chris L

And I still humbly submit you're comparing apples to oranges.

The amounts of tea you're talking about w/pu erh are for gong fu style brewing. That is, 5g of tea in 100ml of water steep for as little as 10-15s to begin with, ramping up to a few minutes with a solid dozen infusions in between. So that 5g of tea could be serving, easily, 1500ml of beverage for a solid young sheng. Granted, you're drinking it all day, but that's more relevant a consideration to me than others.

Most mornings, I make 750ml of tea in my Breville (aka, "western style") with about 2 tablespoons of leaves. I'll steep that once for now (a mug with breakfast and a big mug to go) and once for later (two good glasses of tea for dinner or something). That's 1500ml of beverage as well. But, by your math, twice the leaves.

I think that's where people are getting the idea that pu erh gives you more mileage. Make sense?

Addendum:

I'll add that I seem to drink a lot of tea these days. I'm enjoying the ever-loving heck out of it, and I'm not bouncing off the walls like one might expect. I do my morning mugs, and then later, probably 8-10 rounds with a pu-erh, or perhaps 4-5 with an oolong and a couple with a green. Throw a bowl of matcha in there most weekdays, and finish off dinner with a glass or two of that 2nd infusion tea from the morning. That's a lot of tea - but I'm coming from a background of drinking lots of strong coffee throughout the day. This is far easier on my stomach (which was my reason for switching) and my waistline (not that coffee makes you fat, but I think tea helps lean you out a bit, accompanied by good eating decisions elsewhere).

So what I have to say about it might not be all that relevant to you.

Chrisl said:

Upton tea normally suggests 1 teaspoon to 1 1/2 teaspoon of loose non-Pu-ehr tea per 6 ounce cup of water for brewing. A 2 tablespoon measuring spoon holds 6 teaspoons. That's where I'm getting my 1/6 to 1/4 the amount of green tea to Pu-ehr calculation.

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Gotcha. But surely you wouldn't compare a fluffy baozhong to tightly rolled pellets of oolong? You can only go by weight.

For pu'er, use a high ratio of leaf to water and short infusion times. Any way you look at it, you can brew some of them more times than you would believe possible based on any experience with other teas. Some greens won't go for more than one or two infusions, and very few oolongs yield more than a handful.


Just keep playing around with it until you feel comfortable.

Yes, experimentation is the name of the game. It would probably be best and fun at the same time for me to load five grams of a non Pu-ehr green tea and brew it Gong Fu style in my Gaiwan with extremely short Pu-ehr type infusion times and see how many infusions I get. I know it's going to vary from tea to tea. In doing such an experiment my aim would be to determine whether Pu-ehr teas in general weight for weight, water volume for water volume, brewing method for brewing method and infusion time for infusion time yields:

• An increased number of infusions versus a typical green tea
• A moderately higher number of infusions versus a typical green tea
• All things being equal, mind you, a dramatically higher number of infusions

Once I get the time, if interested, I'll report back.

Thanks.

Chris L