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Ooh-er, what's Puerh?

6th July 2009

Hailed as the ultimate dieters' drink, Puerh tea's celeb fans and miraculous weight-loss properties have propelled it to the top of the tea charts! By Alexandra Fullerton.

The types of tea that can be made from one plant, the Camellia sinensis, seem infinite... But one variety that's currently basking in the limelight is Puerh tea, a favourite of Victoria Beckham. The Spice Girl has allegedly been drinking three cups of the brew each day to help her lose weight.

Well, drinking tea beats dieting any day!

Puerh, which comes in either 'naturally fermented' (raw) or 'artificially fermented' (ripe) varieties has long been praised in China for it's metabolism-boosting properties. Taking a cup of Puerh tea with each meal is a traditional Chinese method for speeding up your system - as well as being an excellent way to get a daily dose of antioxidants that all teas contain.

It's also been suggested that drinking Puerh can reduce cholesterol. Recent Chinese studies showed that drinking three cups of Puerh a day, for a month, could lower blood fats by up to 30%. It seems that drinking Puerh makes cholesterol 'bond' in your blood and therefore stops so much of it being absorbed by the body (and therefore blocking your arteries and causing heart disease...). The naturally low levels of caffeine in Puerh also appear to help the body burn calories faster (although all tea is virtually calorie free and an excellent choice of drink for weight loss regimes - as long as dieters don't sneak in any milk or sugar!)

But what makes Puerh so different to a regular cuppa? The Chinese definition of Puerh is rather convulted, describing the tea as "products fermented from green tea of big leaves picked within Yunnan province". Basically, it means that, Puerh is an aged tea from the mountainous Yunnan province in south-western China which has been fermented. Contrary to it's Chinese description, Puerh can be made from black tea too and the tea takes it's name from Puerh city, once the main tea trading venue in Yunnan.

How is it made? Raw, or 'naturally fermented' Puerh is made by a involved method of withering fresh leaves on bamboo trays, dry-frying them in a wok then twisting and rolling the leaves by hand. The leaves are then dried in the sun, steamed (to soften them) and then they're either left loose or compressed into flat cakes or blocks, which are then stored to mature - this is where they attain Puerh's distinctive, earthy taste. James Pogson of Northern Tea Merchants reveals that the tea is often stored in caves as "they're damp and dark," offering the ideal conditions for the leaves to mature.

For ripe (or 'artificially fermented') Puerh, the same pattern is followed as the raw method but after the leaves are dried in the sun they're mixed with water and covered in blankets to speed up fermentation. This brew is stirred over a several week period until the leaves are ready - they're then steamed and either left loose or compressed as above.

Although it takes at least forty days to make Puerh in the ripe way, this method allows the tea to be matured more speedily than the raw process (which can take up to fifty years!). Once you've got a 'cake' of Puerh and are ready to drink it James Pogson insists that the first infusion should always be thrown away and recommends brewing the tea with water heated at 80 - 85 degrees. "Boil the kettle then leave it to stand for a few moments," James advises.

Demand for Puerh continues to soar (thanks to celebrity endorsement) so the speedy, ripe method is becoming more popular. Puerh fans cite the tea as a soothing brew - when young it's flavour is fresh, brisk and lively but it becomes mellower with age. The tea always keeps it's earthy tang too. And while caffeine levels in the tea decrease with age, according to JingTea.com, Puerh's value increases by 100% each year! Nick Gandon at Reginald Ames, a London-based Tea Merchants agrees with this statement, "In Japan people pay a fortune for Puerh tea and buy it as an investment - like vintage wine!"

So, next time you fancy a cuppa, try a cup of Puerh instead. You might not end up as skinny as Posh, but you can still marvel at the intricate artisan process that bought the distinctively-flavoured Puerh to your cup.

Victoria Beckham picture Splash via Dailymail.co.uk

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