Pu-erh tea
Encyclopedia
Pu'er, Pu-erh, Puer, also Po Lei or Bolay is a variety of post-fermented tea
produced in Yunnan
province, China. Post-fermentation is a tea production style in which the tea leaves undergo a microbial fermentation process after they are dried and rolled. This is a Chinese specialty and is sometimes referred to as dark tea. There are a few different provinces, each with a few regions, producing dark teas of different varieties. Those produced in Yunnan are generally named Pu'er, referring to the name of Pu'er county which used to be a trading post for dark tea during imperial China.
Pu'er is available as loose leaf or in various compressed forms (see Tea brick
). There is also the differentiation of ripened (shou) and raw (sheng) types. The shou type refers to those varieties that have gone through a proper post-fermentation process, while the sheng types are those in the process of gradual darkening through exposure to the environmental elements. Certain selections from either type can be stored for maturity before consumption. That is why some are labelled with year and region of production.
There had been no standardized processing for the darkening of pu'er tea until the postwar years in the 1950s, where there was a sudden surge in demand in Hong Kong, because of the concentration of refugees from the mainland. In the 1970s, the improved process was taken back to Yunnan for further development, which has resulted in the various production styles today.
In recent decades, it has become more common for the crude tea to be sold as a finished product before it is darkened. This is called sheng cha, or "raw tea". The tea leaves are supposed to be darkened gradually through exposure to environmental elements during storage. The truly post-fermented type has thus been given a relative name, shu cha, or "ripened" tea. Whether sheng cha or shu cha, appropriate selections of pu'er can mature to acquire improved taste.
processed from a "large leaf" variety (C. sinensis assamica) of Camellia sinensis
found in the mountains of southern Yunnan. Maocha can undergo ripening for several months prior to being compressed to produce ripened pu'er (also commonly known as cooked pu'er), or be directly compressed to produce raw pu'er.
While unaged and unprocessed, raw pu'er is technically a type of green tea. Ripened or aged raw pu'er has occasionally been mistakenly categorised as a subcategory of black tea
due to the dark red colour of its leaves and liquor. However, pu'er in both its ripened and aged forms has undergone secondary oxidization and fermentation
caused both by organisms growing in the tea and free-radical oxidation, thus making it a unique type of tea.
The post-fermented tea, dark tea (黑茶), is one of the six classes of tea in China, and pu'er is sometimes classified as a dark tea (defined as post-fermented), something which is resented by some who argue for a separate category for pu'er tea. As of 2008, only the large-leaf variety from Yunnan can be called a pu'er.
Ripe pu'er (熟普) is produced in the same way as raw (青普), but with the addition step of wet piling (渥堆), a process similar to composting, just after fixation, prior to being dried.
The leaves are then dry pan-fried using a large wok
in a process called "kill green" (殺青; pinyin
: shā qīng), which arrests enzyme activity in the leaf and prevents further oxidation. With enzymatic oxidation halted, the leaves can then be rolled, rubbed, and shaped through several steps into strands. The shaped leaves are then ideally dried in the sun and then manually picked through to remove bad leaves. Once dry, maocha can be sent directly to the factory to be pressed into raw pu'er, or to undergo further processing to make ripened pu'er. Sometimes maocha is aged uncompressed and sold at its maturity as aged loose-leaf raw pu'er.
Raw pu'er tea ( or ), also known as uncooked or green pu'er," is simply máochá tea leaves that have been compressed into its final form without additional processing.
Ripened pu'er tea is pressed maocha that has been specially processed to imitate aged raw pu'er. Although it is more commonly known as cooked pu'er, the process does not actually employ cooking to imitate the aging process. The term may come about due to inaccurate translation due to the dual meaning of shú (熟) as both "fully cooked" and "fully ripened".
The process used to convert máochá into ripened pu'er is a recent invention that manipulates conditions to approximate the result of the aging process by prolonged bacterial and fungal fermentation in a warm humid environment under controlled conditions, a technique called wòdūi (渥堆, "wet piling" in English
), which involves piling, dampening, and turning the tea leaves in a manner much akin to composting.
The piling, wetting, and mixing of the piled máochá ensures even fermentation. The bacterial and fungal cultures found in the fermenting piles were found to vary widely from factory to factory throughout Yunnan, consisting of multiple strains of Aspergillus
spp., Penicillium
spp., yeast
s, and a wide range of other microflora. Control over the multiple variables in the ripening process, particularly humidity and the growth of Aspergillus spp., is key in producing ripened pu'er of high quality. Poor control in fermentation/oxidation process can result in bad ripened pu'er, characterized by badly decomposed leaves and an aroma and texture reminiscent of compost
. The ripening process typically takes anywhere from half a year to one year after it has begun. As such, a ripened pu'er produced in early 2004 will be pressed in the winter of 2004/2005, and appear on the market between late 2005 and early 2006.
This process was first developed in 1972 by Menghai Tea Factory
and Kunming Tea Factory to imitate the flavor and color of aged raw pu'er, and was an adaptation of wet storage techniques being used by merchants to falsify the age of their teas. Mass production
of ripened pu'er began in 1975. It can be consumed without further aging, though it can also be stored to "air out" some of the less savory flavors and aromas acquired during fermentation. The tea is often compressed, but is also common in loose form. Some collectors of pu'er believe ripened pu'er should not be aged for more than a decade.
d indentation at the reverse side of a tea cake when pressed. Depending on the shape of pu'er being produced, a cotton bag may or may not be used. For instance, brick or square teas often are not compressed using bags.
Depending on the desired product and speed, from quickest and tightest to slowest and loosest, pressing can either be done by:
Pressed pu'er is removed from the cloth bag and placed on latticed shelves, where they are allowed to air dry, which may take several weeks or months, depending on the wetness of the pressed cakes. The pu'er cakes are then individually wrapped by hand, and packaged in larger units for trade or commerce.
s", pillar
s, calabash
es, yuanbao
, and small brick
s (2–5 cm in width). Pu'er is also compressed into the hollow centers of bamboo
stems or packed and bound into a ball inside the peel of various citrus
fruits.
n tea markets as post-fermentation or black teas, respectively, pu'er teas in actuality can be placed in three types of processing methods, namely: green tea, fermented tea, and secondary-oxidation/fermentation tea.
Pu'er can be green teas if they are lightly processed before being pressed into cakes. Such pu'er is referred to as maocha if unpressed and as green/raw pu'er" if pressed. While not always palatable, they are relatively cheap and are known to age well for up to 30 years. Pu'er can also be a fermented tea if it undergoes slow processing with fermenting microbes for up to a year. This pu'er is referred to as ripened/cooked pu'er, and has a mellow flavour and is readily drinkable. Aged pu'ers are secondary-oxidation and post-fermentation teas. If aged from green pu'er, the aged tea will be mellow in taste, but still clean in flavour.
According to the production process, four main types of pu'er are commonly available on the market:
province produces the vast majority of pu'er tea. Indeed, the province is the source of the tea's name, Pu'er Hani and Yi Autonomous County. Pu'er is produced in almost every county and prefecture in the province, but the most famous pu'er areas are known as the Six Famous Tea Mountains
The six famous tea mountains are a group of mountains in Xishuangbanna, renowned for their climates and environments, which not only provide excellent growing conditions for pu'er, but also produce unique taste profiles (akin to terroir
in wine
) in the produced pu'er tea. Over the course of history, the designated mountains for the tea mountains have either been changed or listed differently.
In the Qing dynasty government records for Pu'er (普洱府志), the oldest historically designated mountains were said to be named after six commemorative items left in the mountains by Zhuge Liang
, and using the Chinese characters of the native language of the region. These mountains are all located northeast of the Lancang River (Mekong
) in relatively close proximity to one another. The mountains' names, in the Standard Chinese
character pronunciation are:
Southwest of the river there are also six famous tea mountains that are lesser known from ancient times
due to their isolation by the river. They are:
For various reasons, by the end of the Qing dynasty
or beginning of the ROC period
, tea production in these mountains dropped drastically, either due to large forest fires, overharvesting, prohibitive imperial taxes, or general neglect. To revitalize tea production in the area, the Chinese government
in 1962 selected a new group of six famous tea mountains that were named based on the more important tea producing mountains at the time, including Youle mountain from the original six.
Many other areas of Yunnan also produce pu'er tea. Yunnan prefectures that are major producers of pu'er include Lincang, Dehong, Simao
, Xishuangbanna, and Wenshan
. Other tea mountains famous in Yunnan include among others:
Region is but one factor in assessing a pu'er tea, and pu'er from any region of Yunnan is as prized as any from the six famous tea mountains if it meets other criteria, such as being wild growth, hand-processed tea.
and Guangdong
, have also produced the tea. The Guangyun Gong cake, for example, although the early productions were composed of pure Yunnan máochá, after the 60's the cakes featured a blend of Yunnan and Guangdong máochá, and the most recent production of these cakes contains mostly from the latter.
In late 2008, the Chinese government approved a standard declaring pu'er tea as a "product with geographical indications", which would restrict the naming of tea as pu'er to tea produced within specific regions of the Yunnan province. The standard has been disputed, particularly by producers from Guangdong
.
, Laos
, and Burma are also known to produce pu'er tea, though little of this makes its way to the Chinese or international markets.
Determining whether or not a tea is wild is a challenging task, made more difficult through the inconsistent and unclear terminology and labeling in Chinese. Terms like yěshēng (野生; literally "wild" or "uncultivated"), qiáomù (乔木; literally "tall tree"), yěshēng qiáomù (野生乔木; literally "uncultivated trees"), and gǔshù are found on the labels of cakes of both wild and "wild arbor" variety, and on blended cakes, which contain leaves from tea plants of various cultivations. These inconsistent and often misleading labels can easily confuse uninitiated tea buyers regardless of their grasp of the Chinese language
. As well, the lack of specific information about tea leaf sources in the printed wrappers and identifiers that come with the pu'er cake makes identification of the tea a difficult task. Pu'er journals and similar annual guides such as The Profound World of Chi Tse, Pu-erh Yearbook, and Pu-erh Teapot Magazine contain credible sources for leaf information. Tea factories are generally honest about their leaf sources, but someone without access to tea factory or other information is often at the mercy of the middlemen or an unscrupulous vendor. Many pu'er aficionados seek out and maintain relationships with vendors who they feel they can trust to help mitigate the issue of finding the "truth" of the leaves.
Sadly, even in the best of circumstances, when a journal, factory information, and trustworthy vendor all align to assure a tea's genuinely wild leaf, fakes fill the market and make the issue even more complicated. Because collectors often doubt the reliability of written information, some believe certain physical aspects of the leaf can point to its cultivation. For example, drinkers cite the evidence of a truly wild old tree in a menthol
effect ("camphor
" in tea specialist terminology) supposedly caused by the Camphor laurel trees that grow amongst wild tea trees in Yunnan's tea forests. As well, the presence of thick veins and sawtooth-edged on the leaves along with camphor
flavor elements and taken as signifiers of wild tea.
Factories are generally responsible for the production of pu'er teas. While some individuals oversee smaller higher-end productions, such as the Xizihao and Yanqinghao brands, the majority of tea on the market is compressed by factories or tea groups. Until recently, factories were all state owned and under the supervision of the China National Native Produce & Animal Byproducts Import & Export company (CNNP), Yunnan Branch. Kunming Tea Factory, Menghai Tea Factory
, Pu'er Tea Factory and Xiaguan Tea Factory
are the most notable of these state owned factories. While CNNP still operates today, few factories are state-owned, and CNNP contracts out many productions to privately owned factories.
Different tea factories have garnered good reputations. Menghai Tea Factory and Xiaguan Tea Factory, which date from the 1940s, have enjoyed good reputations, but these factories now face competition from many of the newly emerging private factories. For example, Haiwan Tea Factory, founded by former Menghai Factory owner Zhou Bing Liang in 1999, enjoys a good reputation, as does Changtai Tea Group, Mengku Tea Company, and other new tea makers formed in the 1990s. However, due to production inconsistencies and variations in manufacturing techniques, the reputation of a tea company or factory can vary depending on the year or the specific cakes produced during a year.
The producing factory is often the first or second item listed when referencing a pu'er cake, the other being the year of production.
, indicated by a recipe number. Recipe numbers consists of four-digits. The first two digits represent the year the recipe was first produced, the third digit the grade of leaves used in the recipe, and the last digit represents the factory. 7542, for example, would be a recipe from 1975 using fourth-grade tea leaf made by Menghai Tea Factory (represented by 2). There are also those who believe that the third number indicates a recipe for a particular production year.
Tea of all shapes can be made by numbered recipe. Not all recipes are numbered, and not all cakes are made by recipe. The term "recipe," it should be added, does not always indicate consistency, as the quality of some recipes change from year-to-year, as do the contents of the cake. Perhaps only the factories producing the recipes really know what makes them consistent enough to label by these numbers.
Occasionally, a three digit code is attached to the recipe number by hyphenation. The first digit of this code represents the year the cake was produced, and the other two numbers indicate the production number within that year. For instance, the seven digit sequence 8653-602, would indicate the second production in 2006 of factory recipe 8653. Some productions of cakes are valued over others because production numbers can indicate if a tea was produced earlier or later in a season/year. This information allows one to be able to single out tea cakes produced using a better batch of máochá.
Pu'er tea cakes, or Bĭngchá, are almost always sold with a:
Recently, nèi fēi have become more important in identifying and preventing counterfeit
s. Menghai Tea Factory in particular has begun microprinting
and embossing their tickets in an effort to curb the growth of counterfeit teas found in the marketplace in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Some nèi fēi also include vintage year and are production-specific to help identify the cake and prevent counterfeiting through a surfeit of different brand labels.
shoot
husks, bamboo stem husks, or coarse paper. Some tongs of vintage pu'er will contain a tŏng piào (筒票), or tong ticket, but it is less common to find them in productions past the year 2000. The number of bĭngchá in a tŏng varies depending on the weight of individual bĭngchá. For instance one tŏng can contain:
Twelve tŏng are referred to as being one jiàn (件), although some producers/factories vary how many tŏng equal one jiàn. A jiàn of tea, which is bound together in a loose bamboo basket, will usually have a large batch ticket (大票; pinyin: dàpiào) affixed to its side that will indicate information such as the batch number of the tea in a season, the production quantities, tea type, and the factory where it was produced.
Just as important and the tea's properties, environmental factor
s for the tea's storage also affect how quickly and successfully a tea ages. They include:
When preserved as part of a tong, the material of the tong wrapper, whether it is made of bamboo shoot husks, bamboo leaves, or thick paper, can also affect the quality of the aging process. The packaging methods change the environmental factors and may even contribute to the taste of the tea itself.
Further to what has been mentioned it should be stressed that a good well-aged pu'er tea is not evaluated by its age alone. Like all things in life, there will come a time when a pu'er teacake reaches its peak before stumbling into a decline. Due to the many recipes and different processing method used in the production of different batches of pu'er, the optimal age for each age will vary. Some may take 10 years while others 20 or 30+ years. It is important to check the status of ageing for your teacakes to know when they peaked so that proper care can be given to halt the ageing process.
, or black tea, because the process is not catalyzed by the plant's own enzymes but rather by fungal, bacterial, or autooxidation influences. Pu'er flavors can change dramatically over the course of the aging process, resulting in a brew tasting strongly earthy but clean and smooth, reminiscent of the smell of rich garden soil or an autumn leaf pile, sometimes with roasted or sweet undertones. Because of its ability to age without losing "quality", well aged good pu'er gains value over time in the same way that aged roasted oolong does.
Raw pu'er can undergo "wet storage" (shīcāng, 湿仓) and "dry storage" (gāncāng 干仓), with teas that have undergone the latter ageing more slowly, but thought to show more complexity. Dry storage involves keeping the tea in "comfortable" temperature and humidity, thus allowing the aging process to occur slowly. Wet Storage or "humid storage" refers to the storage of pu'er tea in humid environments, such as those found naturally in Hong Kong, Guangzhou and, to a lesser extent, Taiwan.
The practice of "Pen Shui" 喷水 involves spraying the tea with water and allowing it dry off in a humid environment. This process speeds up oxidation and microbial conversion, which only loosely mimics the quality of natural dry storage aged pu'er. "Pen Shui" 喷水 pu'er not only does not acquire the nuances of slow aging, it can also be hazardous to drink because of mold, yeast, and bacteria cultures.
Pu'er properly stored in different environments can develop different tastes at different rates due to environmental differences in ambient humidity, temperature, and odours. For instance, similar batches of pu'er stored in the different environments of Taiwan
and Hong Kong
are known to age very differently. Because the process of aging pu'er is a lengthy one and teas may change owners several times, a batch of pu'er may undergo different aging conditions, even swapping wet and dry storage conditions, which can drastically alter the flavor of that tea. Raw pu'er should not be stored at very high temperatures, or be exposed to direct contact with sunlight, heavy air flow, liquid water, or unpleasant smells, since such poor storage conditions can ruin even the best quality pu'er.
Although low to moderate air flow is important for producing a good quality aged raw pu'er, it is generally agreed by most collectors and connoisseurs that raw pu'er tea cakes older than 30 years old should not be further exposed to "open" air since it would result in the loss of flavours or degradation in mouthfeel. The tea should instead be preserved by wrapping or hermetically sealing
it in plastic wrapping or ideally glass.
It is often recommended to age ripened pu'er to "air out" the unpleasant musty flavours and odours formed due to maocha fermentation. However, some collectors argue that keeping ripened pu'er longer than 10 to 15 years makes little sense, stating that the tea will not develop further and possibly lose its desirable flavours. Others note that their experience has taught them that ripened pu'er indeed does take on nuances through aging, and point to side-by-side taste comparisons of ripened pu'er of different ages. Though the storing period increases the value of the tea, it is not often that such actions will be taken as it is not economically efficient.
, is used to pry large horizontal flakes of tea off the cake such as to minimize leaf breakage. Steaming is usually performed on smaller teas such as tuocha or mushroom pu'er and involves steaming the cake until it can be rubbed apart and then dried. In both cases, a vertical sampling of the cake should be obtained since the quality of the leaves in a cake usually varies between the surface and the center of the cake.
Pu'er is generally expected to be served Gongfu
style, generally in Yixing
teaware
or in a type of Chinese teacup
called a gaiwan
. Optimum temperatures are generally regarded to be around 95 degree Celsius
for lower quality pu'ers and 85–89 degree Celsius for good ripened and aged raw pu'er. Steeping times last from 12–30 seconds in the first few infusions, up to 2–10 minutes in the last infusions. The prolonged steeping techniques used by some western tea makers can produce dark, bitter, and unpleasant brews. Quality aged pu'er can yield many more infusions, with different flavour nuances when brewed in the traditional Gong-Fu method.
Because of the prolonged fermentation in ripened pu'er and slow oxidization of aged raw pu'er, these teas often lack the bitter, astringent properties of other tea types, and also can be brewed much stronger and repeatedly, with some claiming 20 or more infusions of tea from one pot of leaves. On the other hand, young raw pu'er is known and expected to be strong and aromatic, yet very bitter and somewhat astringent when brewed, since these characteristics are believed to produce better aged raw pu'er.
Quality of the tea can be determined through inspecting the dried leaves, the tea liquor, or the spent tea leaves. The "true" quality of a specific batch of pu'er can ultimately only be revealed when the tea is brewed and tasted. Although, not concrete and sometimes dependent on preference, there are several general indicators of quality:
culture, pu'er is known as po-lay (or bo-lay) tea. Among the Cantonese long settled in California, it is called bo-nay or po-nay tea. It is often drunk during dim sum
meals, as it is believed to help with digestion. It is not uncommon to add dried osmanthus
flowers, pomelo
rinds, or chrysanthemum
flowers into brewing pu'er tea in order to add a light, fresh fragrance to the tea liquor. pu'er with chrysanthemum is the most common pairing, and referred as guk pou or guk bou (菊普; pinyin: jú pǔ). Pu'er is considered to have some medicinal qualities.
Sometimes wolfberries
are brewed with the tea, plumpening in the process.
properties as well.
It is also widely believed in Chinese cultures to counteract the unpleasant effects of heavy alcohol consumption. In traditional Chinese medicine
, the tea is believed to invigorate the spleen
and inhibit "dampness." In the stomach
, it is believed to reduce heat and "descends qi
".
Pu'er tea is widely sold as a weight loss tea or used as a main ingredient in such commercially prepared tea mixtures. Though there is as yet no empirically backed evidence as to how pu'er might facilitate weight loss, there are widely proposed explanations include that the tea increases the drinker's metabolism
, or that the high tannin content in the tea binds macronutrients and coagulate digestive enzyme
s, thus reducing nutrient absorption. Although evidence is still sparse, it has been shown that rats experience reduction in body weight, blood triglycerides, and blood cholesterol following a diet containing pu'er tea.
Some pu'er brick tea has been found to contain very high levels of fluorine
, because it is generally made from lesser quality older tea leaves and stems, which accumulate fluorine. Its consumption has led to fluorosis
(a form of fluoride poisoning
that affects the bones and teeth) in areas of high brick tea consumption, such as Tibet.
The common misconception is that all types of pu'er tea will improve in taste—and therefore get more valuable as an investment item—as they get older. There are many requisite variables for a pu'er tea to age beautifully. Further, the cooked (shou) pu'er will not evolve as dramatically as the raw (sheng) type will over time from the secondary oxidation and fermentation.
As with wine, only the finely made and properly stored ones will improve and increase in value. Similarly, the percentage of those that will improve over a long period of time is only a small fraction of what is available in the market today.
Beginning in 2008, much of the Pu'er industry suffered a tremendous drop in prices. Consequently, many have lost their fortunes and some have even decided to stop selling, growing, or distributing Pu'er as a result of the financial loss plaguing many of those in the industry. Investment-grade Pu'er has witnessed declines in price as well, although not as drastically as those varieties which are more common.
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
produced in Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
province, China. Post-fermentation is a tea production style in which the tea leaves undergo a microbial fermentation process after they are dried and rolled. This is a Chinese specialty and is sometimes referred to as dark tea. There are a few different provinces, each with a few regions, producing dark teas of different varieties. Those produced in Yunnan are generally named Pu'er, referring to the name of Pu'er county which used to be a trading post for dark tea during imperial China.
Pu'er is available as loose leaf or in various compressed forms (see Tea brick
Tea brick
Tea bricks or compressed tea are blocks of whole or finely ground black tea, green tea, or post-fermented tea leaves that have been packed in molds and pressed into block form...
). There is also the differentiation of ripened (shou) and raw (sheng) types. The shou type refers to those varieties that have gone through a proper post-fermentation process, while the sheng types are those in the process of gradual darkening through exposure to the environmental elements. Certain selections from either type can be stored for maturity before consumption. That is why some are labelled with year and region of production.
Introduction and history
Darkening tea leaves to trade with ethnic groups at the borders has a long history in China. These crude teas were of various origins and were meant to be low cost. Darkened tea is still the major beverage for the ethnic groups in the southwestern borders and, till the early 1990s, was the third major tea category produced by China mainly for this market segment.There had been no standardized processing for the darkening of pu'er tea until the postwar years in the 1950s, where there was a sudden surge in demand in Hong Kong, because of the concentration of refugees from the mainland. In the 1970s, the improved process was taken back to Yunnan for further development, which has resulted in the various production styles today.
In recent decades, it has become more common for the crude tea to be sold as a finished product before it is darkened. This is called sheng cha, or "raw tea". The tea leaves are supposed to be darkened gradually through exposure to environmental elements during storage. The truly post-fermented type has thus been given a relative name, shu cha, or "ripened" tea. Whether sheng cha or shu cha, appropriate selections of pu'er can mature to acquire improved taste.
Production
All types of pu'er tea are created from máochá (毛茶), a mostly unoxidized green teaGreen tea
Green tea is made solely from the leaves of Camellia sinensis that have undergone minimal oxidation during processing. Green tea originates from China and has become associated with many cultures throughout Asia. It has recently become more widespread in the West, where black tea is traditionally...
processed from a "large leaf" variety (C. sinensis assamica) of Camellia sinensis
Camellia sinensis
Camellia sinensis is the species of plant whose leaves and leaf buds are used to produce Chinese tea. It is of the genus Camellia , a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. White tea, green tea, oolong, pu-erh tea and black tea are all harvested from this species, but are processed...
found in the mountains of southern Yunnan. Maocha can undergo ripening for several months prior to being compressed to produce ripened pu'er (also commonly known as cooked pu'er), or be directly compressed to produce raw pu'er.
While unaged and unprocessed, raw pu'er is technically a type of green tea. Ripened or aged raw pu'er has occasionally been mistakenly categorised as a subcategory of black tea
Black tea
Black tea is a variety of tea that is more oxidized than the oolong, green, and white varieties.All four varieties are made from leaves of the shrub Camellia sinensis. Black tea is generally stronger in flavor and contains more caffeine than the less oxidized teas. Two principal varieties of the...
due to the dark red colour of its leaves and liquor. However, pu'er in both its ripened and aged forms has undergone secondary oxidization and fermentation
Fermentation (food)
Fermentation in food processing typically is the conversion of carbohydrates to alcohols and carbon dioxide or organic acids using yeasts, bacteria, or a combination thereof, under anaerobic conditions. Fermentation in simple terms is the chemical conversion of sugars into ethanol...
caused both by organisms growing in the tea and free-radical oxidation, thus making it a unique type of tea.
The post-fermented tea, dark tea (黑茶), is one of the six classes of tea in China, and pu'er is sometimes classified as a dark tea (defined as post-fermented), something which is resented by some who argue for a separate category for pu'er tea. As of 2008, only the large-leaf variety from Yunnan can be called a pu'er.
Summary of pu'er processing
Pu'er is typically made through the following steps:- green/raw 青普: sun fixation 曬青 > rolling 揉捻 > sun drying 曬乾
- dark/ripe 熟普: sun fixation 曬青 > rolling 揉捻 > piling 渥堆 > sun drying 曬乾
- added processes: green and dark pu'er can be compressed/shaped into cakes and aged.
Ripe pu'er (熟普) is produced in the same way as raw (青普), but with the addition step of wet piling (渥堆), a process similar to composting, just after fixation, prior to being dried.
Raw pu'er and maocha
After picking appropriate tender leaves, the first step in making raw or ripened pu'er is converting the leaf to maocha (青毛茶 or 毛茶; literally, "light green rough tea" or "rough tea" respectively). Plucked leaves are handled gingerly to prevent bruising and unwanted oxidation. Weather permitting, the leaves are then spread out in the sun or a ventilated space to wilt and remove some of the water content. On overcast or rainy days, the leaves will be wilted by light heating, a slight difference in processing that will affect the quality of the resulting maocha and pu'er. The wilting process may be skipped altogether depending on the tea processor.Wok
A wok is a versatile round-bottomed cooking vessel originating in China. It is used especially in East and Southeast Asia.Woks are most often used for stir frying, but can also be used in other Chinese cooking techniques, such as in steaming, deep frying, braising, stewing, smoking, or making soup...
in a process called "kill green" (殺青; pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
: shā qīng), which arrests enzyme activity in the leaf and prevents further oxidation. With enzymatic oxidation halted, the leaves can then be rolled, rubbed, and shaped through several steps into strands. The shaped leaves are then ideally dried in the sun and then manually picked through to remove bad leaves. Once dry, maocha can be sent directly to the factory to be pressed into raw pu'er, or to undergo further processing to make ripened pu'er. Sometimes maocha is aged uncompressed and sold at its maturity as aged loose-leaf raw pu'er.
Raw pu'er tea ( or ), also known as uncooked or green pu'er," is simply máochá tea leaves that have been compressed into its final form without additional processing.
Ripe pu'er
The process used to convert máochá into ripened pu'er is a recent invention that manipulates conditions to approximate the result of the aging process by prolonged bacterial and fungal fermentation in a warm humid environment under controlled conditions, a technique called wòdūi (渥堆, "wet piling" in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
), which involves piling, dampening, and turning the tea leaves in a manner much akin to composting.
The piling, wetting, and mixing of the piled máochá ensures even fermentation. The bacterial and fungal cultures found in the fermenting piles were found to vary widely from factory to factory throughout Yunnan, consisting of multiple strains of Aspergillus
Aspergillus
Aspergillus is a genus consisting of several hundred mold species found in various climates worldwide. Aspergillus was first catalogued in 1729 by the Italian priest and biologist Pier Antonio Micheli...
spp., Penicillium
Penicillium
Penicillium is a genus of ascomycetous fungi of major importance in the natural environment as well as food and drug production. Members of the genus produce penicillin, a molecule that is used as an antibiotic, which kills or stops the growth of certain kinds of bacteria inside the body...
spp., yeast
Yeast
Yeasts are eukaryotic micro-organisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with 1,500 species currently described estimated to be only 1% of all fungal species. Most reproduce asexually by mitosis, and many do so by an asymmetric division process called budding...
s, and a wide range of other microflora. Control over the multiple variables in the ripening process, particularly humidity and the growth of Aspergillus spp., is key in producing ripened pu'er of high quality. Poor control in fermentation/oxidation process can result in bad ripened pu'er, characterized by badly decomposed leaves and an aroma and texture reminiscent of compost
Compost
Compost is organic matter that has been decomposed and recycled as a fertilizer and soil amendment. Compost is a key ingredient in organic farming. At its most essential, the process of composting requires simply piling up waste outdoors and waiting for the materials to break down from anywhere...
. The ripening process typically takes anywhere from half a year to one year after it has begun. As such, a ripened pu'er produced in early 2004 will be pressed in the winter of 2004/2005, and appear on the market between late 2005 and early 2006.
This process was first developed in 1972 by Menghai Tea Factory
Menghai tea factory
Menghai Tea Factory is a tea factory producing pu'er tea located in Menghai, Yunnan, China. The factory is well known for its old raw pu-erh cakes and is highly reputed in the tea industry of China.-History:...
and Kunming Tea Factory to imitate the flavor and color of aged raw pu'er, and was an adaptation of wet storage techniques being used by merchants to falsify the age of their teas. Mass production
Mass production
Mass production is the production of large amounts of standardized products, including and especially on assembly lines...
of ripened pu'er began in 1975. It can be consumed without further aging, though it can also be stored to "air out" some of the less savory flavors and aromas acquired during fermentation. The tea is often compressed, but is also common in loose form. Some collectors of pu'er believe ripened pu'er should not be aged for more than a decade.
Pressing
To produce pu'er, many additional steps are needed prior to the actual pressing of the tea. First, a specific quantity of dry máochá or ripened tea leaves pertaining to the final weight of the bingcha is weighed out. The dry tea is then lightly steamed in perforated cans to soften and make it more tacky. This will allow it to hold together and not crumble during compression. A ticket, called a "nèi fēi" (内飞) or additional adornments, such as coloured ribbons, are placed on or in the midst of the leaves and inverted into a cloth bag or wrapped in cloth. The pouch of tea is gathered inside the cloth bag and wrung into a ball, with the extra cloth tied or coiled around itself. This coil or knot is what produces the dimpleDimple
A dimple is a small natural indentation in the flesh on a part of the human body, most notably in the cheek or on the chin.-More about dimples:...
d indentation at the reverse side of a tea cake when pressed. Depending on the shape of pu'er being produced, a cotton bag may or may not be used. For instance, brick or square teas often are not compressed using bags.
Depending on the desired product and speed, from quickest and tightest to slowest and loosest, pressing can either be done by:
- A hydraulic pressHydraulic pressA hydraulic is a machine using a hydraulic cylinder to generate a compressive force. It uses the hydraulic equivalenta mechanical lever, and was also known as a Bramah press after the inventor, Joseph Bramah, of England. He invented and was issued a patent on this press in 1795...
, which forces the tea into a metal form that is occasionally decorated with a motif in sunken-relief. Due to its efficiency, this method is used to make almost all forms of pressed pu'er. Tea can be pressed either with or without it being bagged, with the latter done by using a metal mould. Tightly compressed bǐng, formed directly into a mold without bags using this method are known as tié bǐng (鐵餅, literally "iron cake/puckHockey puckA puck is a disk used in various games serving the same functions as a ball does in ball games. The best-known use of pucks is in ice hockey, a major international sport.- Etymology :The origin of the word "puck" is obscure...
") due to its density and hardness. The taste of densely compressed raw pu'ers is believed to benefit from careful aging for up to several decades. - A lever press, which was operated by hand for tight pressings and has largely been replaced by the modern hydraulic press.
- A large heavy stone, carved into the shape of a short cylinder with a handle, simply weighs a bag of tea down onto a wooden board. The tension from the bag and the weight of the stone together give the tea its rounded and sometimes non-uniformed edge. Due to the manual labor involved, this method of pressing is often referred to as: "hand" or "stone-pressing", and is how many artisanal pu'er bǐng are still manufactured.
Pressed pu'er is removed from the cloth bag and placed on latticed shelves, where they are allowed to air dry, which may take several weeks or months, depending on the wetness of the pressed cakes. The pu'er cakes are then individually wrapped by hand, and packaged in larger units for trade or commerce.
Classification
Aside from vintage year, pu'er tea can be classified in a variety of ways: by shape, processing method, region, cultivation, grade, and season.Shape
Pu'er is compressed into a variety of shapes. Other lesser seen forms include, stacked "melon pagodaPagoda
A pagoda is the general term in the English language for a tiered tower with multiple eaves common in Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and other parts of Asia. Some pagodas are used as Taoist houses of worship. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most commonly Buddhist,...
s", pillar
Column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
s, calabash
Calabash
Lagenaria siceraria , bottle gourd, opo squash or long melon is a vine grown for its fruit, which can either be harvested young and used as a vegetable, or harvested mature, dried, and used as a bottle, utensil, or pipe. For this reason, the calabash is widely known as the bottle gourd...
es, yuanbao
Sycee
A sycee was a type of silver or gold ingot currency used in China until the 20th century. The name derives from the Cantonese words meaning "fine silk"...
, and small brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
s (2–5 cm in width). Pu'er is also compressed into the hollow centers of bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
stems or packed and bound into a ball inside the peel of various citrus
Citrus
Citrus is a common term and genus of flowering plants in the rue family, Rutaceae. Citrus is believed to have originated in the part of Southeast Asia bordered by Northeastern India, Myanmar and the Yunnan province of China...
fruits.
| Image | Common name | Chinese characters | Pinyin Pinyin Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into... |
Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S Simplified Chinese character Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Xiandai Hanyu Tongyong Zibiao for use in Mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, it is one of many standard character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language... |
T Traditional Chinese character Traditional Chinese characters refers to Chinese characters in any character set which does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. It most commonly refers to characters in the standardized character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong, or in the Kangxi... |
||||
 |
Bing, Beeng, Cake, or Disc | 饼茶 | 餅茶 | Bǐngchá | A round, flat, disc or puck-shaped tea, the size ranges from as small as 100g to as large as 5 kg or more, with 357g, 400g, and 500g being the most common. Depending on the pressing method, the edge of the disk can be rounded or perpendicular. It is also commonly known as Qīzí bǐngchá (七子餅茶, literally "seven units cake tea") because seven of the bing are packaged together at a time for sale or transport. |
 |
Tuocha, Bowl, or Nest | 沱茶 | 沱茶 | Tuóchá | A convex knob-shaped tea, its size ranges from 3g to 3 kg or more, with 100g, 250g and 500g being the most common. The name for tuocha is believed to have originated from the round, top Top A top is a toy that can be spun on an axis, balancing on a point. This motion is produced in the most simple forms of top by twirling the stem using the fingers. More sophisticated tops are spun by by holding the axis firmly while pulling a string or twisting a stick or pushing an auger as shown... -like shape of the pressed tea or from the old tea shipping and trading route of the Tuojiang River River A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including... . In ancient times, tuocha cakes may have had holes punched through the center so they could be tied together on a rope for easy transport. |
 |
Brick | 砖茶 | 磚茶 | Zhuānchá | A thick rectangular block of tea, usually in 100g, 250g, 500g and 1000g sizes, Zhuancha bricks are the traditional shape used for ease of transport along the ancient tea route Ancient tea route The Ancient Tea Route was a network of mule caravan paths winding through the mountains of Yunnan Province in Southwest China. It is also referred to as the Southern Silk Road and Tea and Horse Road... by horse caravan Caravan (travellers) A caravan is a group of people traveling together, often on a trade expedition. Caravans were used mainly in desert areas and throughout the Silk Road, where traveling in groups aided in defence against bandits as well as helped to improve economies of scale in trade.In historical times, caravans... s. |
 |
Square | 方茶 | 方茶 | Fāngchá | A flat square of tea, usually in 100g or 200g sizes, they often contain words pressed into the square. |
 |
Mushroom | 紧茶 | 緊茶 | Jǐnchá | Literally meaning "tight tea," the tea is shaped much like túocha, but with a stem rather than a convex hollow. This makes them quite similar in form to a mushroom Mushroom A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi that... . Pu'er tea of this shape is generally produced for Tibet Tibet Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people... an consumption, and is usually 250g or 300g. |
 |
Melon, or gold melon | 金瓜 | 金瓜 | Jīnguā | Its shape is similar to tuóchá, but larger in size, with a much thicker body decorated with pumpkin-like stripes. This shape was created for the famous "Tribute tea" (貢茶) made expressly for the Qing Dynasty Qing Dynasty The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China.... emperors Emperor of China The Emperor of China refers to any sovereign of Imperial China reigning between the founding of Qin Dynasty of China, united by the King of Qin in 221 BCE, and the fall of Yuan Shikai's Empire of China in 1916. When referred to as the Son of Heaven , a title that predates the Qin unification, the... from the best tea leaves of Yiwu Mountain. Larger specimens of this shape are sometimes called "human-head tea" (人頭茶), due in part to its size and shape, and because in the past it was often presented in court in a similar manner to severed heads of enemies or criminals. |
Process and oxidation
Although pu'er teas are often collectively classified in Western and East AsiaEast Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
n tea markets as post-fermentation or black teas, respectively, pu'er teas in actuality can be placed in three types of processing methods, namely: green tea, fermented tea, and secondary-oxidation/fermentation tea.
According to the production process, four main types of pu'er are commonly available on the market:
- Maocha is the green pu'er leaves sold in loose form as the raw material for making pressed pu'ers. Badly processed maocha will result in an inferior pu'er.
- Green/raw pu'er is pressed maocha that has not undergone additional processing; high quality green pu'er is highly sought by collectors.
- Ripened/cooked pu'er is pressed maocha that has undergone fermentation in the ripening process for up to a year. Badly fermented maocha will create a muddy tea with fishy and sour flavours indicative of inferior aged pu'ers.
- Aged raw pu'er is a tea that has undergone a slow secondary oxidation and a certain degree of microbial fermentation. Although all types of pu'er can be aged, the pressed raw pu'ers typically are most highly regarded, since aged maocha and ripened pu'er both lack a clean and assertive taste.
Yunnan
YunnanYunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
province produces the vast majority of pu'er tea. Indeed, the province is the source of the tea's name, Pu'er Hani and Yi Autonomous County. Pu'er is produced in almost every county and prefecture in the province, but the most famous pu'er areas are known as the Six Famous Tea Mountains
Six famous tea mountains
The six famous tea mountains are a group of mountains in Xishuangbanna, renowned for their climates and environments, which not only provide excellent growing conditions for pu'er, but also produce unique taste profiles (akin to terroir
Terroir
Terroir comes from the word terre "land". It was originally a French term in wine, coffee and tea used to denote the special characteristics that the geography, geology and climate of a certain place bestowed upon particular varieties...
in wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
) in the produced pu'er tea. Over the course of history, the designated mountains for the tea mountains have either been changed or listed differently.
In the Qing dynasty government records for Pu'er (普洱府志), the oldest historically designated mountains were said to be named after six commemorative items left in the mountains by Zhuge Liang
Zhuge Liang
Zhuge Liang was a chancellor of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. He is often recognised as the greatest and most accomplished strategist of his era....
, and using the Chinese characters of the native language of the region. These mountains are all located northeast of the Lancang River (Mekong
Mekong
The Mekong is a river that runs through China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is the world's 10th-longest river and the 7th-longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annually....
) in relatively close proximity to one another. The mountains' names, in the Standard Chinese
Standard Chinese
Standard Chinese, or Modern Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin or Putonghua, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China , and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
character pronunciation are:
- Gedeng (革登山): The term for "leatherLeatherLeather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...
stirrupStirrupA stirrup is a light frame or ring that holds the foot of a rider, attached to the saddle by a strap, often called a stirrup leather. Stirrups are usually paired and are used to aid in mounting and as a support while using a riding animal...
" (马蹬, pinyin: mǎdèng) - Mansa (慢撤山): The term for "seed sowing bag" (撒袋, pinyin: sǎdài)
- Mangzhi (莽枝山): The term for "copperCopperCopper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
cauldronCauldronA cauldron or caldron is a large metal pot for cooking and/or boiling over an open fire, with a large mouth and frequently with an arc-shaped hanger.- Etymology :...
" (铜鉧, pinyin: tóngmǔ) - Manzhuan (蠻磚山): The term for ironIronIron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
brickBrickA brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
" (铁砖, pinyin: tiězhuān) - Yibang(倚邦山): The term for "wooden clapper" (木梆, pinyin: mùbāng)
- Yōulè (攸樂山): The term meaning "copper gongGongA gong is an East and South East Asian musical percussion instrument that takes the form of a flat metal disc which is hit with a mallet....
" (铜锣, pinyin: tóngluó)
Southwest of the river there are also six famous tea mountains that are lesser known from ancient times
Ancient history
Ancient history is the study of the written past from the beginning of recorded human history to the Early Middle Ages. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, with Cuneiform script, the oldest discovered form of coherent writing, from the protoliterate period around the 30th century BC...
due to their isolation by the river. They are:
- Mengsong (勐宋山):
- Menghai (勐海山):
- Jingmai (景迈山):
- Nánnuò (南糯山): a varietal of tea grows here called zĭjuān (紫娟, literally "purple lady") whose buds and bud leaves have a purple hue.
- Bada (巴达山):
- Yōulè (攸乐山):
For various reasons, by the end of the Qing dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
or beginning of the ROC period
History of the Republic of China
The History of the Republic of China begins after the Qing Dynasty in 1912, when the formation of the Republic of China put an end to over two thousand years of Imperial rule. The Qing Dynasty, also known as the Manchu Dynasty, ruled from 1644 to 1912...
, tea production in these mountains dropped drastically, either due to large forest fires, overharvesting, prohibitive imperial taxes, or general neglect. To revitalize tea production in the area, the Chinese government
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
in 1962 selected a new group of six famous tea mountains that were named based on the more important tea producing mountains at the time, including Youle mountain from the original six.
Other areas of Yunnan
Many other areas of Yunnan also produce pu'er tea. Yunnan prefectures that are major producers of pu'er include Lincang, Dehong, Simao
Simao District
Simao District is a district under the jurisdiction of Pu'er Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China. It is the seat of Puer Prefecture....
, Xishuangbanna, and Wenshan
Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture
Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture is an autonomous prefecture in Yunnan Province, China.-Subdivisions:-Ethnic groups:Wenshan is highly diverse...
. Other tea mountains famous in Yunnan include among others:
- Bāngwēi (邦崴山)
- Bānzhāng (班章): this is not a mountain but a Hani ethnicity village in the Bulang Mountains, noted for producing powerful and complex teas that are bitter with a sweet aftertaste
- Yìwǔ (易武山) : perhaps the most popular tea mountain amongst collectors.
- Bada(巴達山):
- Wuliang:
- Ailuo:
- Jinggu:
- Baoshan:
- Yushou:
Region is but one factor in assessing a pu'er tea, and pu'er from any region of Yunnan is as prized as any from the six famous tea mountains if it meets other criteria, such as being wild growth, hand-processed tea.
Other provinces
While Yunnan produces the majority of pu'er, other regions of China, including HunanHunan
' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...
and Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
, have also produced the tea. The Guangyun Gong cake, for example, although the early productions were composed of pure Yunnan máochá, after the 60's the cakes featured a blend of Yunnan and Guangdong máochá, and the most recent production of these cakes contains mostly from the latter.
In late 2008, the Chinese government approved a standard declaring pu'er tea as a "product with geographical indications", which would restrict the naming of tea as pu'er to tea produced within specific regions of the Yunnan province. The standard has been disputed, particularly by producers from Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
.
Other regions
In addition to China, border regions touching Yunnan in VietnamVietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
, and Burma are also known to produce pu'er tea, though little of this makes its way to the Chinese or international markets.
Cultivation
Perhaps equally or even more important than region or even grade in classifying pu'er is the method of cultivation. Pu'er tea can come from three different cultivation methods:- Plantation bushes (guànmù, 灌木; taídì, 台地): Cultivated tea bushes, from the seeds or cuttings of wild tea trees and planted in relatively low altitudes and flatter terrain. The tea produced from these plants are considered inferior due to the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizerFertilizerFertilizer is any organic or inorganic material of natural or synthetic origin that is added to a soil to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of plants. A recent assessment found that about 40 to 60% of crop yields are attributable to commercial fertilizer use...
in cultivation, and the lack of pleasant flavours, and the presence of harsh bitterness and astringency from the tea. - "Wild arbor" trees (yěfàng, 野放): Most producers claim that their pu'er is from wild trees, but most use leaves from older plantations that were cultivated in previous generations that have gone feral due to the lack of care. These trees produce teas of better flavour due to the higher levels of secondary metaboliteSecondary metaboliteSecondary metabolites are organic compounds that are not directly involved in the normal growth, development, or reproduction of an organism. Unlike primary metabolites, absence of secondary metabolities does not result in immediate death, but rather in long-term impairment of the organism's...
produced in the tea tree. As well, the trees are typically cared for using organic practices, which includes the scheduled pruningPruningPruning is a horticultural practice involving the selective removal of parts of a plant, such as branches, buds, or roots. Reasons to prune plants include deadwood removal, shaping , improving or maintaining health, reducing risk from falling branches, preparing nursery specimens for...
of the trees in a manner similar to pollardingPollardingPollarding is a pruning system in which the upper branches of a tree are removed, promoting a dense head of foliage and branches. It has been common in Great Britain and Europe since medieval times and is practiced today in urban areas worldwide, primarily to maintain trees at a predetermined...
. Despite the good quality of their produced teas, "wild arbor" trees are not as prized as the truly wild trees. - Wild trees (gŭshù, 古树; literally "old tree"): Teas from old wild trees, grown without human intervention, are the highest valued pu'er teas. Such teas are valued for having deeper and more complex flavors, often with camphor or "mint" notes, said to be imparted by the many camphor trees that grow in the same environment as the wild tea trees. Young raw pu'er teas produced from the leaf tips of these trees also lack overwhelming astringency and bitterness often attributed to young pu'er.
Determining whether or not a tea is wild is a challenging task, made more difficult through the inconsistent and unclear terminology and labeling in Chinese. Terms like yěshēng (野生; literally "wild" or "uncultivated"), qiáomù (乔木; literally "tall tree"), yěshēng qiáomù (野生乔木; literally "uncultivated trees"), and gǔshù are found on the labels of cakes of both wild and "wild arbor" variety, and on blended cakes, which contain leaves from tea plants of various cultivations. These inconsistent and often misleading labels can easily confuse uninitiated tea buyers regardless of their grasp of the Chinese language
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
. As well, the lack of specific information about tea leaf sources in the printed wrappers and identifiers that come with the pu'er cake makes identification of the tea a difficult task. Pu'er journals and similar annual guides such as The Profound World of Chi Tse, Pu-erh Yearbook, and Pu-erh Teapot Magazine contain credible sources for leaf information. Tea factories are generally honest about their leaf sources, but someone without access to tea factory or other information is often at the mercy of the middlemen or an unscrupulous vendor. Many pu'er aficionados seek out and maintain relationships with vendors who they feel they can trust to help mitigate the issue of finding the "truth" of the leaves.
Sadly, even in the best of circumstances, when a journal, factory information, and trustworthy vendor all align to assure a tea's genuinely wild leaf, fakes fill the market and make the issue even more complicated. Because collectors often doubt the reliability of written information, some believe certain physical aspects of the leaf can point to its cultivation. For example, drinkers cite the evidence of a truly wild old tree in a menthol
Menthol
Menthol is an organic compound made synthetically or obtained from peppermint or other mint oils. It is a waxy, crystalline substance, clear or white in color, which is solid at room temperature and melts slightly above. The main form of menthol occurring in nature is -menthol, which is assigned...
effect ("camphor
Camphor
Camphor is a waxy, white or transparent solid with a strong, aromatic odor. It is a terpenoid with the chemical formula C10H16O. It is found in wood of the camphor laurel , a large evergreen tree found in Asia and also of Dryobalanops aromatica, a giant of the Bornean forests...
" in tea specialist terminology) supposedly caused by the Camphor laurel trees that grow amongst wild tea trees in Yunnan's tea forests. As well, the presence of thick veins and sawtooth-edged on the leaves along with camphor
Camphor
Camphor is a waxy, white or transparent solid with a strong, aromatic odor. It is a terpenoid with the chemical formula C10H16O. It is found in wood of the camphor laurel , a large evergreen tree found in Asia and also of Dryobalanops aromatica, a giant of the Bornean forests...
flavor elements and taken as signifiers of wild tea.
Grade
Pu'er can be sorted into ten or more grades. Generally, grades are determined by leaf size and quality, with higher numbered grades meaning older/larger, broken, or less tender leaves. Grading is rarely consistent between factories, and first grade tea leaves may not necessarily produce first grade cakes. Different grades have different flavors, and many bricks feature a blend of several grades chosen to balance flavors and strength.Season
Harvest season also plays an important role in the flavor of pu'er. Spring tea is the most highly valued, followed by fall tea, and finally summer tea. Only rarely is pu'er produced in winter months, and often this is what is called "early spring" tea, as harvest and production follows the weather pattern rather than strict monthly guidelines.Tea factories
Menghai tea factory
Menghai Tea Factory is a tea factory producing pu'er tea located in Menghai, Yunnan, China. The factory is well known for its old raw pu-erh cakes and is highly reputed in the tea industry of China.-History:...
, Pu'er Tea Factory and Xiaguan Tea Factory
Xiaguan tea factory
Xiaguan Tea Factory is a tea factory producing pu'erh tea. Xiaguan Tea Factory was founded in 1941 and is located in Dali, Yunnan, China.-Products:...
are the most notable of these state owned factories. While CNNP still operates today, few factories are state-owned, and CNNP contracts out many productions to privately owned factories.
Different tea factories have garnered good reputations. Menghai Tea Factory and Xiaguan Tea Factory, which date from the 1940s, have enjoyed good reputations, but these factories now face competition from many of the newly emerging private factories. For example, Haiwan Tea Factory, founded by former Menghai Factory owner Zhou Bing Liang in 1999, enjoys a good reputation, as does Changtai Tea Group, Mengku Tea Company, and other new tea makers formed in the 1990s. However, due to production inconsistencies and variations in manufacturing techniques, the reputation of a tea company or factory can vary depending on the year or the specific cakes produced during a year.
The producing factory is often the first or second item listed when referencing a pu'er cake, the other being the year of production.
Recipes
Tea factories, particularly formerly government-owned factories, produce many cakes by its recipe tea blendsTea blending and additives
Tea blending describes the process of blending different teas together to produce a final product. This occurs chiefly with black tea that is blended to make most tea bags but can also occur with such teas as Pu-erh, where leaves are blended from different regions before being compressed. The aim...
, indicated by a recipe number. Recipe numbers consists of four-digits. The first two digits represent the year the recipe was first produced, the third digit the grade of leaves used in the recipe, and the last digit represents the factory. 7542, for example, would be a recipe from 1975 using fourth-grade tea leaf made by Menghai Tea Factory (represented by 2). There are also those who believe that the third number indicates a recipe for a particular production year.
- Factory numbers (fourth digit in recipe):
- Kunming Tea Factory
- Menghai Tea FactoryMenghai tea factoryMenghai Tea Factory is a tea factory producing pu'er tea located in Menghai, Yunnan, China. The factory is well known for its old raw pu-erh cakes and is highly reputed in the tea industry of China.-History:...
- Xiaguan Tea FactoryXiaguan tea factoryXiaguan Tea Factory is a tea factory producing pu'erh tea. Xiaguan Tea Factory was founded in 1941 and is located in Dali, Yunnan, China.-Products:...
- Lan Cang Tea Factory or Feng Qing Tea Factory
- Pu'er Tea Factory (now Pu'er Tea group Co.Ltd )
- Six Famous Tea Mountain Factory
- unknown / not specified
- Haiwan Tea Factory and Long Sheng Tea Factory
Tea of all shapes can be made by numbered recipe. Not all recipes are numbered, and not all cakes are made by recipe. The term "recipe," it should be added, does not always indicate consistency, as the quality of some recipes change from year-to-year, as do the contents of the cake. Perhaps only the factories producing the recipes really know what makes them consistent enough to label by these numbers.
Occasionally, a three digit code is attached to the recipe number by hyphenation. The first digit of this code represents the year the cake was produced, and the other two numbers indicate the production number within that year. For instance, the seven digit sequence 8653-602, would indicate the second production in 2006 of factory recipe 8653. Some productions of cakes are valued over others because production numbers can indicate if a tea was produced earlier or later in a season/year. This information allows one to be able to single out tea cakes produced using a better batch of máochá.
Tea packaging
Pu'er tea is specially packaged for trade, identification, and storage. These attributes are used by tea drinkers and collectors to determine the authenticity of the pu'er tea.Individual cakes
- Wrapper: Made usually from thin cotton cloth or cotton paper and shows the tea company/factory, the year of production, the region/mountain of harvest, the plant type, and the recipe number. The wrapper can also contain decals, logos and artwork. Occasionally, more than one wrapper will be used to wrap a pu'er cake.
- Nèi fēi (内飞 or 內飛): A small ticket originally stuck on the tea cake but now usually embedded into the cake during pressing. It is usually used as proof, or a possible sign, to the authenticity of the tea. Some higher end pu'er cakes have more than one nèi fēi embedded in the cake. The ticket usually indicates the tea factory and brand.
- Nèi piào (内票): A larger description ticket or flyer packaged loose under the wrapper. Both aid in assuring the identity of the cake. It usually indicates factory and brand. As well, many nèi piào contain a summary of the tea factories' history and any additional laudatory statements concerning the tea, from its taste and rarity, to its ability to cure diseaseDiseaseA disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...
s and effect weight lossWeight lossWeight loss, in the context of medicine, health or physical fitness, is a reduction of the total body mass, due to a mean loss of fluid, body fat or adipose tissue and/or lean mass, namely bone mineral deposits, muscle, tendon and other connective tissue...
. - Bĭng: The tea cake itself. Tea cakes or other compressed pu'er can be made up of two or more grades of tea, typically with higher grade leaves on the outside of the cake and lower grades or broken leaves in the center. This is done to improve the appearance of the tea cake and improve its sale. Predicting the grade of tea used on the inside takes some effort and experience in selection. However, the area in and around the dimple of the tea cake can sometimes reveal the quality of the inner leaves.
Counterfeit
To counterfeit means to illegally imitate something. Counterfeit products are often produced with the intent to take advantage of the superior value of the imitated product...
s. Menghai Tea Factory in particular has begun microprinting
Microprinting
Microprinting is one of many anti-counterfeiting techniques used most often on currency and bank checks, as well as various other items of value. Microprinting involves printing very small text, usually too small to read with the naked eye, onto the note or item. Microprint is frequently hidden in...
and embossing their tickets in an effort to curb the growth of counterfeit teas found in the marketplace in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Some nèi fēi also include vintage year and are production-specific to help identify the cake and prevent counterfeiting through a surfeit of different brand labels.
Wholesale
When bought in large quantities, pu'er tea is generally sold in stacks, referred to as a tŏng (筒), which are wrapped in bambooBamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
shoot
Bamboo shoot
Bamboo shoots or bamboo sprouts are the edible shoots of many bamboo species including Bambusa vulgaris and Phyllostachys edulis. They are used in numerous Asian dishes and broths...
husks, bamboo stem husks, or coarse paper. Some tongs of vintage pu'er will contain a tŏng piào (筒票), or tong ticket, but it is less common to find them in productions past the year 2000. The number of bĭngchá in a tŏng varies depending on the weight of individual bĭngchá. For instance one tŏng can contain:
- Seven 357–500g bĭngchá,
- Five 250g mini-bĭngchá
- Ten 100g mini-bĭngchá
Twelve tŏng are referred to as being one jiàn (件), although some producers/factories vary how many tŏng equal one jiàn. A jiàn of tea, which is bound together in a loose bamboo basket, will usually have a large batch ticket (大票; pinyin: dàpiào) affixed to its side that will indicate information such as the batch number of the tea in a season, the production quantities, tea type, and the factory where it was produced.
Aging and storage
Pu'er teas of all varieties, shapes, and cultivation can be aged to improve their flavour, but the tea's physical properties will affect the speed of aging as well as its quality. These properties include:- Leaf quality: The most important factor, arguably, is leaf quality. Maocha that has been improperly processed will not age to the level of finesse as properly processed maocha. The grade and cultivation of the leaf also greatly affect its quality, and thus its aging.
- Compression: The tighter a tea is compressed, the slower it will age. In this respect, looser hand- and stone-pressed pu'ers will age more quickly than denser hydraulic-pressed pu'er.
- Shape and size : The more surface area, the faster the tea will age. Bingcha and zhuancha thus age more quickly than golden melon, tuocha, or jincha. Larger bingcha age slower than smaller bingcha, and so forth.
Just as important and the tea's properties, environmental factor
Environmental factor
Environmental factor or ecological factor or ecofactor is any factor, abiotic or biotic, that influences living organisms.- Environmental factors inducing diseases :...
s for the tea's storage also affect how quickly and successfully a tea ages. They include:
- Air flow: Regulates the oxygen content surrounding the tea and removes odours from the aging tea. Dank, stagnant air will lead to dank, stale smelling aged tea. Wrapping a tea in plastic will eventually arrest the aging process.
- Odours: Tea stored in the presence of strong odours will acquire them, sometimes for the duration of their "lifetime." Airing out pu'er teas can reduce these odours, though often not completely.
- Humidity : The higher the humidity, the faster the tea will age. Liquid water accumulating on tea may accelerate the aging process but can also cause the growth of mold or make the flavour of the tea less desirable. 60–85% humidity is recommended. It is argued whether tea quality is adversely affected if it is subjected to highly fluctuating humidity levels.
- Sunlight: Tea that is exposed to sunlight dries out prematurely, and often becomes bitter.
- Temperature: Teas should not be subjected to high heat since undesirable flavours will develop. However at low temperatures, the aging of pu'er tea will slow down drastically. It is argued whether tea quality is adversely affected if it is subjected to highly fluctuating temperature.
When preserved as part of a tong, the material of the tong wrapper, whether it is made of bamboo shoot husks, bamboo leaves, or thick paper, can also affect the quality of the aging process. The packaging methods change the environmental factors and may even contribute to the taste of the tea itself.
Further to what has been mentioned it should be stressed that a good well-aged pu'er tea is not evaluated by its age alone. Like all things in life, there will come a time when a pu'er teacake reaches its peak before stumbling into a decline. Due to the many recipes and different processing method used in the production of different batches of pu'er, the optimal age for each age will vary. Some may take 10 years while others 20 or 30+ years. It is important to check the status of ageing for your teacakes to know when they peaked so that proper care can be given to halt the ageing process.
Raw Pu'er
Over time, raw pu'er acquires an earthy flavor due to slow oxidation and other, possibly microbial processes. However, this oxidation is not analogous to the oxidation that results in green, oolongOolong
Oolong is a traditional Chinese tea produced through a unique process including withering under the strong sun and oxidation before curling and twisting. Most oolong teas, especially those of fine quality, involve unique tea plant cultivars that are exclusively used for particular varieties...
, or black tea, because the process is not catalyzed by the plant's own enzymes but rather by fungal, bacterial, or autooxidation influences. Pu'er flavors can change dramatically over the course of the aging process, resulting in a brew tasting strongly earthy but clean and smooth, reminiscent of the smell of rich garden soil or an autumn leaf pile, sometimes with roasted or sweet undertones. Because of its ability to age without losing "quality", well aged good pu'er gains value over time in the same way that aged roasted oolong does.
Raw pu'er can undergo "wet storage" (shīcāng, 湿仓) and "dry storage" (gāncāng 干仓), with teas that have undergone the latter ageing more slowly, but thought to show more complexity. Dry storage involves keeping the tea in "comfortable" temperature and humidity, thus allowing the aging process to occur slowly. Wet Storage or "humid storage" refers to the storage of pu'er tea in humid environments, such as those found naturally in Hong Kong, Guangzhou and, to a lesser extent, Taiwan.
The practice of "Pen Shui" 喷水 involves spraying the tea with water and allowing it dry off in a humid environment. This process speeds up oxidation and microbial conversion, which only loosely mimics the quality of natural dry storage aged pu'er. "Pen Shui" 喷水 pu'er not only does not acquire the nuances of slow aging, it can also be hazardous to drink because of mold, yeast, and bacteria cultures.
Pu'er properly stored in different environments can develop different tastes at different rates due to environmental differences in ambient humidity, temperature, and odours. For instance, similar batches of pu'er stored in the different environments of Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
are known to age very differently. Because the process of aging pu'er is a lengthy one and teas may change owners several times, a batch of pu'er may undergo different aging conditions, even swapping wet and dry storage conditions, which can drastically alter the flavor of that tea. Raw pu'er should not be stored at very high temperatures, or be exposed to direct contact with sunlight, heavy air flow, liquid water, or unpleasant smells, since such poor storage conditions can ruin even the best quality pu'er.
Although low to moderate air flow is important for producing a good quality aged raw pu'er, it is generally agreed by most collectors and connoisseurs that raw pu'er tea cakes older than 30 years old should not be further exposed to "open" air since it would result in the loss of flavours or degradation in mouthfeel. The tea should instead be preserved by wrapping or hermetically sealing
Hermetic seal
A hermetic seal is the quality of being airtight. In common usage, the term often implies being impervious to air or gas. When used technically, it is stated in conjunction with a specific test method and conditions of usage.-Etymology :...
it in plastic wrapping or ideally glass.
Ripe Pu'er
Since the ripening process was developed to imitate aged raw pu'er, many arguments surround the idea of whether aging ripened pu'er is desirable. Mostly, the issue rests on whether aging ripened pu'er will, better or worse, alter the flavor of the tea.It is often recommended to age ripened pu'er to "air out" the unpleasant musty flavours and odours formed due to maocha fermentation. However, some collectors argue that keeping ripened pu'er longer than 10 to 15 years makes little sense, stating that the tea will not develop further and possibly lose its desirable flavours. Others note that their experience has taught them that ripened pu'er indeed does take on nuances through aging, and point to side-by-side taste comparisons of ripened pu'er of different ages. Though the storing period increases the value of the tea, it is not often that such actions will be taken as it is not economically efficient.
Preparation
Preparation of pu'er involves first separating a well-sized portion of the compressed tea for brewing. This can be done by flaking off pieces of the cake or by steaming the entire cake until it is soft from heat and hydration. A pu'er knife, which is similar to an oyster knife or a rigid letter openerLetter opener
A paper knife or letter opener is a knife-like object used to open envelopes or to slit uncut pages of books. Electric versions are also available, which work by using motors to slide the envelopes across a blade...
, is used to pry large horizontal flakes of tea off the cake such as to minimize leaf breakage. Steaming is usually performed on smaller teas such as tuocha or mushroom pu'er and involves steaming the cake until it can be rubbed apart and then dried. In both cases, a vertical sampling of the cake should be obtained since the quality of the leaves in a cake usually varies between the surface and the center of the cake.
Pu'er is generally expected to be served Gongfu
Gongfu tea ceremony
The gongfu tea ceremony or kungfu tea ceremony , is a commercialized show basing on the tea preparation approach originated probably in Fujian or Guangdong. The original term "Gongfu Cha " literally means "making tea with efforts". Sometimes '功' instead of '工' is used thus 功夫茶...
style, generally in Yixing
Yixing clay
Yixing clay is a type of clay from the region near the city of Yixing in Jiangsu province, China. Its use dates back to the Song Dynasty when purple clay was first mined around Lake Taihu in China. From the 17th century on, the ware was commonly exported to Europe. The finished stoneware, which...
teaware
Teaware
Teaware encompasses a broad international spectrum of equipment used in the brewing and consumption of tea. Many components make up that spectrum, and vary greatly based upon the type of tea being prepared, and the cultural setting in which it is bring prepared...
or in a type of Chinese teacup
Teacup
A teacup is a small cup, with or without a handle, generally a small one that may be grasped with the thumb and one or two fingers. It is typically made of a ceramic material. It is usually part of a set, composed of a cup and a matching saucer. These in turn may be part of a tea set in...
called a gaiwan
Gaiwan
A gaiwan is a Chinese lidded bowl used for the infusion and consumption of tea and was invented during the Ming Dynasty. It consists of a bowl, a lid, and a saucer.-History:...
. Optimum temperatures are generally regarded to be around 95 degree Celsius
Celsius
Celsius is a scale and unit of measurement for temperature. It is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius , who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death...
for lower quality pu'ers and 85–89 degree Celsius for good ripened and aged raw pu'er. Steeping times last from 12–30 seconds in the first few infusions, up to 2–10 minutes in the last infusions. The prolonged steeping techniques used by some western tea makers can produce dark, bitter, and unpleasant brews. Quality aged pu'er can yield many more infusions, with different flavour nuances when brewed in the traditional Gong-Fu method.
Because of the prolonged fermentation in ripened pu'er and slow oxidization of aged raw pu'er, these teas often lack the bitter, astringent properties of other tea types, and also can be brewed much stronger and repeatedly, with some claiming 20 or more infusions of tea from one pot of leaves. On the other hand, young raw pu'er is known and expected to be strong and aromatic, yet very bitter and somewhat astringent when brewed, since these characteristics are believed to produce better aged raw pu'er.
Judging quality
- Dried tea: There should be a lack of twigs, extraneous matter and white or dark mold spots on the surface of the compressed pu'er. The leaves should ideally be whole, visually distinct, and not appear muddy. The leaves may be dry and fragile, but not powdery. Good tea should be quite fragrant, even when dry. Good pressed pu'er often have a matte sheen on the surface of the cake, though this is not necessarily a sole indicator of quality
- Liquor: The tea liquor of both raw and ripe pu'er should never appear cloudy. Well-aged raw pu'er and well-crafted ripe pu'er tea may produce a dark reddish liquor, reminiscent of a dried jujubeJujubeZiziphus zizyphus , commonly called jujube , red date, Chinese date, Korean date, or Indian date is a species of Ziziphus in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae, used primarily as a fruiting shade tree.-Distribution:Its precise natural distribution is uncertain due to extensive cultivation,...
, but in either case the liquor should not be opaque, "muddy," or black in colour. The flavours of pu'er liquors should persist and be revealed throughout separate or subsequent infusions, and never abruptly disappear, since this could be the sign of added flavorFlavorFlavor or flavour is the sensory impression of a food or other substance, and is determined mainly by the chemical senses of taste and smell. The "trigeminal senses", which detect chemical irritants in the mouth and throat as well as temperature and texture, are also very important to the overall...
ants.- Young raw Puerh:The ideal liquors should be aromatic with a light but distinct odours of camphorCamphorCamphor is a waxy, white or transparent solid with a strong, aromatic odor. It is a terpenoid with the chemical formula C10H16O. It is found in wood of the camphor laurel , a large evergreen tree found in Asia and also of Dryobalanops aromatica, a giant of the Bornean forests...
, rich herbal notes like Chinese medicineTraditional Chinese medicineTraditional Chinese Medicine refers to a broad range of medicine practices sharing common theoretical concepts which have been developed in China and are based on a tradition of more than 2,000 years, including various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage , exercise , and dietary therapy...
, fragrance floral notes, hints of dried fruitDried fruitDried fruit is fruit where the majority of the original water content has been removed either naturally, through sun drying, or through the use of specialized dryers or dehydrators. Dried fruit has a long tradition of use dating back to the fourth millennium BC in Mesopotamia, and is prized...
aromas such as preserved plumPlumA plum or gage is a stone fruit tree in the genus Prunus, subgenus Prunus. The subgenus is distinguished from other subgenera in the shoots having a terminal bud and solitary side buds , the flowers in groups of one to five together on short stems, and the fruit having a groove running down one...
s, and should exhibit only some grassy notes to the likes of fresh senchaSenchaSencha is a Japanese green tea, specifically one made without grinding the tea leaves. The word "sencha" means "decocted tea," referring to the method that the tea beverage is made from the dried tea leaves...
. Young raw pu'er may sometimes be quite bitter and astringent, but should also exhibit a pleasant mouthfeel and "sweet" aftertaste, referred to as gān (甘) and húigān(回甘). - Aged raw Puerh: Aged pu'er should never smell moldy, musty, or strongly fungal, though some pu'er drinkers consider these smells to be unoffensive or even enjoyable. The smell of aged pu'er may vary, with an "aged" but not "stuffy" odour. The taste of aged raw pu'er or ripe pu'er should be smooth, with slight hints of bitterness, and lack a biting astringency or any off-sour tastes. The element of taste is an important indicator of aged pu'er quality, the texture should be rich and thick and should have very distinct gān (甘) and húigān(回甘) on the tongue and cheeks, which together induces salivation and leaves a "feeling" in the back of the throat.
- Young raw Puerh:The ideal liquors should be aromatic with a light but distinct odours of camphor
- Spent tea: Whole leaves and leaf bud systems should be easily seen and picked out of the wet spent tea, with a limited amount of broken fragments. Twigs, and the fruits of the tea plant should not be found in the spent tea leaves, however animal (and human) hair, strings, riceRiceRice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
grains and chaff may occasionally be included in the tea. The leaves should not crumble when rubbed, and with ripened pu'er, it should not resemble compost. Aged raw pu'er should have leaves that unfurl when brewed while leaves of most ripened pu'er will generally remain closed.
Practices
In CantoneseCantonese people
The Cantonese people are Han people whose ancestral homes are in Guangdong, China. The term "Cantonese people" would then be synonymous with the Bun Dei sub-ethnic group, and is sometimes known as Gwong Fu Jan for this narrower definition...
culture, pu'er is known as po-lay (or bo-lay) tea. Among the Cantonese long settled in California, it is called bo-nay or po-nay tea. It is often drunk during dim sum
Dim sum
Dim sum refers to a style of Chinese food prepared as small bite-sized or individual portions of food traditionally served in small steamer baskets or on small plates...
meals, as it is believed to help with digestion. It is not uncommon to add dried osmanthus
Osmanthus
Osmanthus is a genus of about 30 species of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae, mostly native to warm temperate Asia but one species occurring in North America . It is sometimes included in Nestegis.They range in size from shrubs to small trees, 2-12 m tall...
flowers, pomelo
Pomelo
The pomelo is a citrus fruit native to Southeast Asia. It is usually pale green to yellow when ripe, with sweet white flesh and very thick albedo . It is the largest citrus fruit, 15–25 cm in diameter, and usually weighing 1–2 kg...
rinds, or chrysanthemum
Chrysanthemum
Chrysanthemums, often called mums or chrysanths, are of the genus constituting approximately 30 species of perennial flowering plants in the family Asteraceae which is native to Asia and northeastern Europe.-Etymology:...
flowers into brewing pu'er tea in order to add a light, fresh fragrance to the tea liquor. pu'er with chrysanthemum is the most common pairing, and referred as guk pou or guk bou (菊普; pinyin: jú pǔ). Pu'er is considered to have some medicinal qualities.
Sometimes wolfberries
Wolfberry
Wolfberry, commercially called goji berry, is the common name for the fruit of two very closely related species: Lycium barbarum and L. chinense , two species of boxthorn in the family Solanaceae...
are brewed with the tea, plumpening in the process.
Health
Scientific studies of that pu'er tea has not only demonstrated experimental results of lowered LDL cholesterol in rats, but also discovered specific mechanisms through which chemicals in pu'er tea inhibit the synthesis of cholesterol. Pu'er tea has been shown to have antimutagenic and antimicrobialAntimicrobial
An anti-microbial is a substance that kills or inhibits the growth of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, or protozoans. Antimicrobial drugs either kill microbes or prevent the growth of microbes...
properties as well.
It is also widely believed in Chinese cultures to counteract the unpleasant effects of heavy alcohol consumption. In traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine refers to a broad range of medicine practices sharing common theoretical concepts which have been developed in China and are based on a tradition of more than 2,000 years, including various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage , exercise , and dietary therapy...
, the tea is believed to invigorate the spleen
Spleen
The spleen is an organ found in virtually all vertebrate animals with important roles in regard to red blood cells and the immune system. In humans, it is located in the left upper quadrant of the abdomen. It removes old red blood cells and holds a reserve of blood in case of hemorrhagic shock...
and inhibit "dampness." In the stomach
Stomach
The stomach is a muscular, hollow, dilated part of the alimentary canal which functions as an important organ of the digestive tract in some animals, including vertebrates, echinoderms, insects , and molluscs. It is involved in the second phase of digestion, following mastication .The stomach is...
, it is believed to reduce heat and "descends qi
Qi
In traditional Chinese culture, qì is an active principle forming part of any living thing. Qi is frequently translated as life energy, lifeforce, or energy flow. Qi is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts...
".
Pu'er tea is widely sold as a weight loss tea or used as a main ingredient in such commercially prepared tea mixtures. Though there is as yet no empirically backed evidence as to how pu'er might facilitate weight loss, there are widely proposed explanations include that the tea increases the drinker's metabolism
Metabolism
Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that happen in the cells of living organisms to sustain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories...
, or that the high tannin content in the tea binds macronutrients and coagulate digestive enzyme
Digestive enzyme
'Digestive enzymes' are enzymes that break down polymeric macromolecules into their smaller building blocks, in order to facilitate their absorption by the body. Digestive enzymes are found in the digestive tract of animals where they aid in the digestion of food as well as inside the cells,...
s, thus reducing nutrient absorption. Although evidence is still sparse, it has been shown that rats experience reduction in body weight, blood triglycerides, and blood cholesterol following a diet containing pu'er tea.
Some pu'er brick tea has been found to contain very high levels of fluorine
Fluorine
Fluorine is the chemical element with atomic number 9, represented by the symbol F. It is the lightest element of the halogen column of the periodic table and has a single stable isotope, fluorine-19. At standard pressure and temperature, fluorine is a pale yellow gas composed of diatomic...
, because it is generally made from lesser quality older tea leaves and stems, which accumulate fluorine. Its consumption has led to fluorosis
Fluorosis
Fluorosis can refer to:* Dental fluorosis* Skeletal fluorosisSkeletal fluorosis can be caused by: Cryolite ....
(a form of fluoride poisoning
Fluoride poisoning
In high concentrations, soluble fluoride salts are toxic and skin or eye contact with high concentrations of many fluoride salts is dangerous. Referring to a common salt of fluoride, sodium fluoride , the lethal dose for most adult humans is estimated at 5 to 10 g...
that affects the bones and teeth) in areas of high brick tea consumption, such as Tibet.
Investment
Pu'er tea can generally improve in taste over time (due to natural secondary oxidation and fermentation). Teas that can be aged finely are typically:- Made from high quality material
- Processed skillfully
- Stored properly over the years
The common misconception is that all types of pu'er tea will improve in taste—and therefore get more valuable as an investment item—as they get older. There are many requisite variables for a pu'er tea to age beautifully. Further, the cooked (shou) pu'er will not evolve as dramatically as the raw (sheng) type will over time from the secondary oxidation and fermentation.
As with wine, only the finely made and properly stored ones will improve and increase in value. Similarly, the percentage of those that will improve over a long period of time is only a small fraction of what is available in the market today.
Beginning in 2008, much of the Pu'er industry suffered a tremendous drop in prices. Consequently, many have lost their fortunes and some have even decided to stop selling, growing, or distributing Pu'er as a result of the financial loss plaguing many of those in the industry. Investment-grade Pu'er has witnessed declines in price as well, although not as drastically as those varieties which are more common.