Mandala Tea’s Seven Steps raw pu’er nei-fei
When you open up a new cake of tea, have you wondered about the piece of paper that is sometimes embedded into the leaf? Question it, no more!
The nei-fei (pronounced knee-fay) is also known as the “inner ticket.” Think of it as a branding tool. Often times, it is a way to make sure that the correct cakes are getting into the proper wrappers at the pressing workshop. It is now a time honored tradition and some pu’er heads, save their nei-fei’s like a concertgoer saves their ticket stubs.
The inner ticket is placed on top of the leaves during the pressing process and due to the “glue” that gets released in the tea leaves during the steaming process, the piece of paper can become stuck to the leaves and make it difficult to remove before making the tea.
Most often, the nei-fei is just sitting on top of the leaves and can easily be pulled off. Other times, it can be underneath a layer of leaves, and can be frustrating to remove, even with a breaking knife or pick, as the paper sticks to the leaves. That means you either brew your tea with some paper bits in it (not really a problem) or you do the trick below.
When you’ve gotten to the point where only the section remains with the nei-fei glued into it and you’re ready to brew it, place it into your pot or gaiwan and pour hot water over it and let it sit for ten seconds or so (you’d be using this as your rinse time, anyway). Pour off the water and remove the section of tea with the nei-fei and let it cool a bit. You should now be able to easily separate the nei-fei from the leaves using your breaking pick or fork and commence with your the brewing of the tea.
Easy-teasy, am I right?