How to Break and Wrap PuErh Cakes

[@pip5528]

Fireworks going off towards the end! They're celebrating Celine's success at wrapping that PuErh cake!

[@wanderingteaapprentice]

Great film, pu'er is just so incredible. It is nice seeing your exact method to pull pu'er apart.

[@1000bouddhas]

Great video! I'm kind of a tea buff myself... first video of you guys I'm watching and I'll watch more 👍🏻 I do feel I have to point something out because it's about safety. The way to break some leaves out of the cake you're showing can be dangerous. Even though you're saying this cake is kind of tightly packed, a lot of cakes are actually much much harder (like lower grade shou with very broken leaves, for example). Also, the pick you're using is quite fancy... I also have one like that but beginners might use the cheaper, and super pointy needle type. All that to say: the way you're showing is the best way to stab yourself in the hand! Be careful people. What you're doing is quite all right for a Lao Bang Zhang with big leave (and you're doing a good job at keeping it pretty clean)... but as a rule of thumb, for people learning how to do this for the first time, I would strongly advise people to aim the tea pick AWAY from your opposing hand. I don't want to be a bother... it's just that... well, let's just say I've learned that lesson the hard (and bloody) way. 😅

[@666aron]

A little added iron in the tea won't hurt anybody... well except the brewer. I had some problems with extra pressed pu erhs in the beginning too.

[@gardentealounge4548]

PERFECT!!!! Don I have learned so much from you! Whenever I need a question answered I check out your youtube vids. Just got an aged white tea cake from the Fujan Providence ( bai mu dan) and wanted to get info on storage and your instructions were spot on. After watching Celine I ran and grabbed my tea cake and rewrapped it! Perfectly I might add! Thank you soooo much! Now I'm going to go and rewrap my Puerh cake correctly :)

[@MeiLeaf]

Great stuff!

[@GlennHigley]

Thank you for this informative video. I nearly bought an all too small tea inspection tray on Amazon until I saw your video and the obvious benefits of a larger tray. I'll be ordering yours. : )

[@teaformeplease]

Great video! I never thought of turning the cake while wrapping. I'll definitely have to give that a try as I've been pretty bad at re-wrapping puerh in the past :)

[@CaesarrrZ]

Exactly what I was looking for! Nice video! Thanks Don!

[@philave5482]

Thank you for your work very much

[@srslywhattf]

Not that many will read this, but i find on more compressed cakes it is easier, and safer, to work from the beeng outwards. This lets you stabilize or hold the cake behind the tea pick/knife so you don't stab yourself and also makes it easier to get a good angle to enter the cake. This varies from cake to cake and is also just my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt, but it is worth a shot if you are having trouble.

[@melinaguillon2449]

great video!

[@ButTheGin]

Right on time, as with your black friday discount I ordered a Cone Bandit cake, my first cake, tho since I was scraping for money so that I don't have to delay the purchase of a monitor by another month I left the pick out, but I don't think a screwdriver is gonna be a too bad of a tool to break up the cake. Also a bit off topic question from this subject - I tried out your Wuyi Lapsang, it was nicely balanced, lightly smoked, and superb flavor. I bought Lapsang Souchong from a local loose leaf tea seller and that stuff was smoked to all hell, like all up in your face with the smoke aroma and in the flavor too, thing is I know they're rather low quality tea sellers and they also do a bunch of artificially scented teas, so I couldn't figure out if it was artificial scent or genuinely super hard smoked. Then I tried out another local seller, I have more trust in them as they actually sell Gong Fu teawares, a bunch of PuErhs and other teas, but their Lapsang Souchong is very similar hard smoked to the first local seller. So, finally, the question - do some tea producers smoke their Lapsang Souchong a lot more than your source farmers/producers, or could this tea really be artificially scented?

[@MeiLeaf]

It is probably hard smoked - we select a lightly smoked Lapsang because we feel that it results in a more enjoyable and balanced experience and forces the producer to use higher quality leaves.

[@KasiopeaAnastasiya]

Love your videos and your positive energy!:) Would love a video on Assam tea:) maybe a tasting video of couple different types:)

[@brit4858]

very useful, thank you!

[@susansun3455]

Thanks for your videos, that’s very useful even though I am from China.

[@leoonthego5077]

thank you for this amazing video. I still have one question, my paper tear apart on a side so even if I close it well, I can see the leafs on the ripped part so I don´t know what can I use to cover it. It´s been aging for 9 years already. Thank you

[@marioa.l.2665]

Really interesting, I've never seen any info on how to wrap cakes before, so I've always sort of half-assed it.

[@MeiLeaf]

We all half-assed it before but when you have to wrap them for sale you begin to learn!

[@marioa.l.2665]

I'm sure you do

[@susanallen7681]

I'm not doubting your words, goodness knows you have brought me to such a higher understanding of tea--more than sitting in China with tea master friends in their tea shops--but this has me shocked. Does that mean that you consider a third or even a quarter of tea bought in cakes is not brewable (if not interested in ice tea)? I don't remember anyone telling me this before. Who can afford to throw away so much good tea?

[@shivazleaf9709]

Can you make a video about if it's okay to totally break up a puerh tea cake and store it in a upright tea tin. I curious to know if the cake with stay fresh that way.

[@MeiLeaf]

Breaking the cake will speed up the ageing process so it depends if you want to age the tea or keep the taste of young tea.

[@RonaldBuskens]

Nice video, Don and Celine! I'm wondering about something. It's about green tea. According to many tea sellers it's better to brew green tea in water that has a temperature around 80°C (to avoid (too much of) bitterness). But what happens if you brew it in water with a temperature around 95-100°C but using a shorter steeping time? Will it have the same taste as a brew with 80°C water and a longer steeping time? Would be interesting to see/hear the difference in a video. Thanks!

[@TraveltheRedRoad]

Ronald Buskens The higher temp tends to pulls out the bitter notes faster than the lower temp

[@RonaldBuskens]

Right, so would it make much of a difference if you brew it in boiled water but using a shorter steeping time? Short enough to avoid too much of these bitter notes. I'm just curious about the differences.

[@TraveltheRedRoad]

Ronald Buskens yeah you could avoid the bitterness if you brewed for a short enough time but the flavour would also be weaker, basically you wouldn't get the full effect of the tea. The reduced temperature allows you to brew for maximum flavour while avoiding bitterness.

[@RonaldBuskens]

Thanks for your answer. And yeah I was thinking the same thing. Wanted to see/taste the difference myself but can't measure the water temperature [yet]. That's why I asked Don :)

[@MeiLeaf]

Wow Ian do you want my job?! :) Perfect answer. Thanks for asking us Ronald!

[@20thcenturyboy85]

Thank You!

[@roksraka9241]

Make a video about yourself, about Celine, how you started out with teas, where did you learn everything, how Chinelife/Mei Leaf came about.... :)

[@MeiLeaf]

OK Rok we will do this one.

[@denisemi]

That's right. I would love a video like that.

[@MeiLeaf]

OK we will do one for Christmas!

[@barbaracarbone4658]

Great vid. So nice to touch real tea leaves. Very nice wrapping work. How do you store? Refrigerator? Or container on a shelf? Thanks

[@wishkeba]

Thank you so much ,easy things at first sight but in fact they're not! Good tips!!

[@danielnelson4447]

Hey, guys! Would you be able/willing to make a video on how to age your own tea?

[@kwitchabichen]

What were the fire works in the back ground celebrating?

[@Mindful_TEA_Break]

I never had problems with wrapping Pu Erh cakes but think now I'll start to do it in this - definitely more elegant way :)) Does the ring on Celine's finger means congratulations are in order? :))

[@MeiLeaf]

Yes try it out for yourself. Celine's ring was a Christmas present last year but we married last year too :)

[@lolitapoly123]

Wow....love it.👍

[@achin83]

Hi Don, a question about breaking puher cakes. I heard in an earlier video to break the whole cake at once. Is this necessary only for 5+ year aged cakes to distribute drier or more densely packed leaves? I’m wondering if I could break pieces as in this video instead which I prefer. Thank you @meileaf

[@Jerry_9997]

And what if I break it all and store it in some container like other teas, is it OK?

[@tsconleyUT]

How do you wrap a Square or Rectangle Tea Cake? Also I recently obtained a Mega Brick of Ripe Pu-Erh - Should I Segment it into 2 or 3 wraps - so it keeps fresher?

[@erinasher3231]

How would you reccomend brewing tea for large groups of people at a party? what are your reccomendations for brewing when you'll be out all day and carry your tea in a thermos?

[@MeiLeaf]

Great question and we are planning a video for this one. If you are planning to stay out all day with a thermos then there are some travel tea infusers that you can buy but I don't really like them (they stew the tea). I prefer to cold brew my tea (kzbin.info/www/bejne/jqOXlZ56iMqIpqM).

[@erinasher3231]

Mei Leaf Thank you! I have a travel mug for tea and use it often. Theres a little compartment for tea leaves and a filter. I was wondering If I should brew it Western style or Gung fu and pour in several infusions.

[@MeiLeaf]

Hi Erin, You can probably brew either if the compartment is separate from the water when you start drinking. If the leaves are staying in the water then I would advise using less leaves or cold brewing.

[@ruia.9848]

Great job done by both of you. Celine, shall I bring some of my pu'er tea cakes over for me to get them wrapped so well? I am useless at wrapping back the tea cakes.😀

[@MeiLeaf]

What! With your experience in PuErh collecting we imagined you would be super fast wrapper!

[@cafeconlechegrl]

Did you see the documentary on Netflix called “Chefs Table France”??? They had a couple on episode 2 that showed their passion for Tea!! Seriously watched all the episodes!! Highly recommend you to see it!!! 🍵😩👍🏻

[@MeiLeaf]

No , I will try to watch it thanks!

[@mqb788]

I just break the cake with my hands...does that effect the taste?

[@ryancole5780]

It can break more tea leaves than if you use a pick. You dont need a fancy tea pick though, you can use a butter knife. Just dont stab yourself!

[@bigcantelope8621]

How do you open a small tea cake, such as black yunnan yup 96?

[@MeiLeaf]

Those are designed to brew in one portion without breaking.

[@matthewwoo6684]

I need help... I bought the pick but I can't open it! I tried pulling, and twisting, but no luck. Or I'm too weak... Am I missing something??

[@daltondabee]

When I break apart my cakes and sort the leaves by size I tend to have some leftover dust and bits. Is there any use for the leftovers or reason for me to not toss these?

[@MeiLeaf]

Yes! We often coldbrew the powdered PuErh overnight and filter in the morning for a deliciously different flavour. We don't recommend for cooked PuErh though.

[@jcheero84]

For someone who has never tried Pu Erh Tea, Which Pu Erh Tea would you recommend to try for beginners? Thank you!! :)

[@MeiLeaf]

I would recommend a lighter Raw Gushu like Young Gushu (chinalifeweb.com/shop/product/tea-xigc/) or for Ripe I would recommend Black Yunnan Tuo (chinalifeweb.com/shop/product/tea-yubc/)

[@CatBat90s]

Did pretty well for firsr time but think I can do even better next time

[@r6louier6]

what is the purpose of wrapping it if im drinking it every day its a full time job just to have a cup of tea who has time for this

[@reubenk1615]

If you have time for tea you have time to break some off a cake. Besides... it only takes a moment when you get proficient at it. Not to mention you can break up the entire thing once if you know you want to work your way through a given cake. Cheers

[@thetruthchannel5987]

YOO, from Buffalo, NY I took too long to see this you know how many Jade Star paper wraps I have damaged over the last couple years, this has taken me entirely too long for me to see this

[@user-xu4xj7bf2q]

grazie!:)

[@Digital-Sparks]

Doctor: Now tell me again how you stabbed yourself, you say you were drinking tea?

[@kapirk2244]

I bet Celine could have narrated that process all on her own as well as origami’d the heck outta the wrapper.

[@Eleolune696]

Thought that pick was a cigar at first, lol

[@coolguytrevor]

I'm confused, is Celine your wife? or is she just a friend?

[@hrabianero]

This knowledge is irrelevant because of the channel's subject matter ;)

[@TraveltheRedRoad]

coolguytrevor queue Eastender dumdumdum

[@coolguytrevor]

+Mei Leaf lol, subtly avoiding the question 😂

[@MeiLeaf]

Hahahaha Eastenders on a really, really slow day

[@mychemicalromanceann]

Celine is his wife.

[@michaelmilbocker4548]

would'nt be better to leave the cakes in their original wrapper with original seal. Your cakes pretty thin, I'D RATHER HAVE THE ORIGINAL WRAPPER. NO KITCH WRAPPER FOR ME

[@satsukiyatouji4720]

Do never touch the tea cake with your (naked)hands.