How do you brew sheng puerh without it turning bitter?
Quick answer
Use 5 g per 100 ml, water around 90 °C (cooler than you'd use for shu), rinse once, then steep in short flashes — about 10 seconds to start, adding a few seconds each round. Young sheng gets bitter from heat and long steeps, so pour it off the moment it's full and let later rounds lengthen naturally.
Step by step
- Warm the gaiwan, add the leaf, and rinse for ~5 seconds; discard the rinse.
- Cool the water slightly to ~90 °C for young, lively sheng.
- Flash the early steeps — pour as soon as the vessel is full.
- Lengthen gradually across rounds; good sheng keeps giving many infusions.
- Adjust: if it's sharp, go cooler and faster; if flat, hotter and a touch longer.
Common questions
Why is my sheng so bitter? Usually water that's too hot or steeps that are too long for a young tea. Drop the temperature and shorten the early infusions first.
Should I rinse sheng? Yes — a quick rinse wakes up compressed leaf and clears any storage dust, just like with shu.
Compare it to the shu puerh tablet method, read the sheng profile, or open the timer preset.