普洱茶膏 (보이차고) / Pu-erh tea in a tablet form (cha gao)

-There are two ways of making pu'erh cha-gao. One is via machine, and the other is making it in a traditional way. After years of preparation, we decided to make cha-gao for this year and make it via traditional way. Once putting raw tea leaves and water into the stainless water tank and set the temperature, it needs to be stirred for 14-16 hours. Because you can't extract tea liquids at once, you have to repeat the procedure. Then you filter the extracted tea liquids thus removing residues and boil them at low temperature in order to remove moistures. Now it is moved to the dry room. It usually takes 5 days for shou pu'er (ripe) to dry and over 15 days for sheng pu'er (raw/green). Once drying procedure is completed, you once again mix all of the cha gao well and melt them down, then dry them one more time after putting them into the mold. Voila, cha gao is made.

-Cha gao, which was known to be offered to the emperor of Qing Dynasty and was occasionally given to higher officials of Qing Dynasty by the emperor as an award, is still introduced as mysterious tea. Due to its rarity, manufacturing method of cha gao wasn't well known and it was only inherited secretly until its method of making was shared via the ancient tea horse road.

-As cha gao is basically the pu-erh tea concentrate (because it has been boiled down for extended time period), a small amount contains much more amount of ingredients compared to that of the regular pu-erh teas. On top of that, it gives you an added portability. It's like a grab-and-go form of pu-erh tea, and come on, this is not instant tea leaves. Convenience of enjoying the tea concentrates is something that shouldn't be missed. I now bring my own tumbler (with cha gao and hot water in it) when I dine out for something greasy and drink my cha gao in between. I travel with cha gao and tumbler, then I don't have to bring all the travel size teawares, haha.

-A small amount goes a long way (although it takes some time to be fully dissolved - in other words, once you put cha gao and add hot water and enjoy it as you wish, then you can add on the water and enjoy second and third rounds of cha gao on your tumbler. So I guess it is a good thing!) I use 750ml (25 oz) tumbler, and I personally like to drop 3-4 pieces. (You can refill water two more times with 3-4 pieces if you'd like. As you reach to the bottom of the tumbler, I suggest stirring the tumbler every once in a while to disperse last bit of undissolved concentrate! Feel free to add or subtract depending on your size of the tumbler and flavor of your choice-:)