Pu er Tea
Pu'er tea is native to Xishuangbanna, Lincang, Pu'er and other areas of Yunnan Province. They are large trees, up to 16 meters high, the shoots are slightly hairy, the terminal buds have white pilose. Pu'er Tea is characterized by brewing skills and drinking art, and can be drunk clear or mixed. It makes a thick orange-yellow tea broth, has a high and persistent aroma, unique fragrance, and a strong, mellow flavor that lasts for a long time.
Pu-er tea was once categorized as black tea, but is now classified as a post-fermented tea in the reprocessing category.
History
Zhou Dynasty
Pu'er tea has a very long history, as early as three thousand years ago, during the period of King Wu's conquest of the Zhou Dynasty, the Pu people, the pioneers of tea cultivation in Yunnan, already offered tea to King Wu of the Zhou Dynasty, only that there was no name for Pu'er tea at that time.
Tang Dynasty
Historical documents record that the earliest cultivator of Pu'er tea was the Tang official Fan Chuo, who wrote "The Book of the Barbarians", Volume VII, "Tea is grown in the mountains at the border of the city of Yinsheng, and there is no method of harvesting and manufacturing. Mengshe barbarians drink it with pepper, ginger, cinnamon and cooking." According to the evidence, the tea in Yinshengcheng should be Yunnan large-leaf tea species, that is, Pu'er tea species.
Ming and Qing Dynasties
During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Xie Zhaojing mentioned the word "Pu-tea" (i.e. Pu-erh Tea) in his book "Dianliu", which said: "All the tea used by the common people is Pu-tea, which is steamed and formed into balls". This is the first time the word "Pu tea" in writing. Li Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty, "Compendium of Materia Medica" also has "Pu'er tea out of Yunnan Pu er" record.
Production
Puer Tea is divided into two categories: Puer Loose Tea and Puer Tight Tea. Puer loose tea, traditionally Mao Jian and Coarse Leaf, has developed into six categories: Puer Green Tea, Puer Oolong Tea, Puer Red Tea, Puer Black Tea, Puer Yellow Tea and Puer White Tea.
Raw Tea: Pu-er tea (raw tea) is made from the fresh leaves of Yunnan large-leafed tea trees grown under the environmental conditions of Pu-er tea's place of origin, and made through the processes of greening, kneading, drying in sunlight, and steaming and molding, including loose tea and tightly pressed tea. Its quality characteristics are: dark green in appearance, pure and persistent aroma, rich and sweet taste, green and yellow soup color, leaf bottom fat and yellow-green. Raw tea is fresh tea leaves picked and aged in a natural way, without going through the fermentation process. Raw tea is strong and stimulating. Newly made or aged raw tea has a strong bitter taste, and the color of the soup is lighter or yellow-green. The longer the raw tea is stored, the mellower the flavor.
Ripe Tea: Pu-er tea (ripe tea) is a loose tea and tightly pressed tea processed with Yunnan large-leaf sun green tea that meets the environmental conditions of the Pu-er tea production area as the raw material, and adopts the Ovarying Pile process, through the post-fermentation (artificially adding water to raise the temperature to promote the propagation of bacteria, accelerating the ripening of tea to remove the bitterness and astringency of the tea in order to achieve a pure mouth and a distinctive character of the red and thick soup color). Its quality characteristics are: soup color red, thick and bright, unique aroma of Chenxiang, mellow taste and sweetness, the bottom of the leaf red and brown uniform. Ripened tea is fermented to make the tea tend to be mild, ripe tea has a mild tea, the tea is silky smooth, mellow aroma, more suitable for daily drinking. The aroma of ripe tea will become smoother and stronger with the aging time. The year 1973 is the demarcation point for ripe tea, and there is no ripe tea before 1973.
Brewing Pu er Tea
Pu Er tea can withstand a very high temperature (90-100°C) and is distinctive in that it can be steeped multiple times without loosing its original flavor. The beauty of Puer lies in its ability to be steeped multiple times, each infusion revealing new complexities and subtleties. 5-7 grams of Pu er is used to make around 200 ml of tea. It can then be steeped for 2-3 minutes, with each subsequent infusion can be for longer period of time.
