Pu-erh: Difference between revisions

'''Pu-erh tea''' (普洱茶), also spelled as '''pu'er tea''', is a variety of fermented tea produced in Yunnan province, China. Fermentation is a tea production style in which the tea leaves undergo microbial fermentation and oxidation after they are dried and rolled. This process is a Chinese specialty and produces tea known as [[Hei Cha]] ([[wiktionary:黑茶|黑茶]]), commonly translated to dark, or black tea (this type of tea is completely different from what in West is known as "black tea", which in China is called "red tea"). The most famous variety of this category of tea is Pu-erh from Yunnan Province, named after the trading post for dark tea during imperial China. Real Pu-Erh tea is made of tea leaves harvested of hughe tea trees called Qimao. Initially it was assumed that thoes trees are just very tall [[Assam]] bushes but recent DNA test showed that it's an entire new species. The discoverer named this plant [[Camellia taliensis]] to honor the Dai (Thai) minority which uses this plant traditionally to produce tea. <ref>Bio Med Central: [http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/12/92 Phylogeography of Camellia taliensis (Theaceae) inferred from chloroplast and nuclear DNA: insights into evolutionary history and conservation]</ref>.

== Introduction and history ==

Dark tea 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. [[Hei Cha]] (dark tea), is still the major beverage for the ethnic groups in the southwestern borders and, until the early 1990s, was the third major tea category produced by China mainly for this market segment.

In recent decades, demand has come full circle and it has become more common again for Hei Cha, including Pu-erh, to be sold as the raw product without the artificial accelerated fermentation process.

Maocha can be sold directly to market as loose leaf tea, compressed to produce "raw" Sheng Cha, naturally aged and matured for several year before being compressed to also produce "raw" Sheng Cha or undergo Wo Dui ripening for several months prior to being compressed to produce "ripe" Shou Cha. While unaged and unprocessed, Maocha pu-erh is similar to green tea. Two subtle differences worth noting are that pu-erh is not produced from the small leaf chinese varietal but the broad leaf varietal mostly found in the southern Chinese Provinces and India. The second, is that pu-erh leaves are picked as one bud and 3-4 leaves whilst green tea is picked as one bud and 1-2 leaves. This means that older leaves contribute to the qualities of pu-erh tea.

Ripened or aged raw pu-erh has occasionally been mistakenly categorised as a subcategory of black tea due to the dark red colour of its leaves and liquor. However, pu-erh 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. This divergence in production style not only makes the flavour and texture of pu-erh tea different but also results in a rather different chemical makeup to resulting brewed liquor.

==Processing==

Pu-erh is typically made through the following steps:

# green/raw 青普: sun fixation 曬青 > rolling 揉捻 > sun drying 曬乾

===Raw pu-erh and ''maocha''===

After picking appropriate tender leaves, the first step in making raw or ripened pu-erh is an optional wilting/withering stage, thus converting the leaf to ''maocha'' ([[wikt:青|青]][[wikt:毛|毛]][[wiktionary:茶|茶]] or [[wikt:毛|毛]][[wikt:茶|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-erh. The wilting process may be skipped altogether depending on the tea processor.

=== Ripe pu-erh ===

"Ripened" Shou Cha (熟茶) tea is pressed ''maocha'' that has been specially processed to imitate aged "raw" Sheng Cha tea. Although it is also known as cooked pu-erh, 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".

=== Pressing ===

To produce pu-erh, 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''" ([[wiktionary:内|内]][[wiktionary:飞|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 dimpled indentation at the reverse side of a tea cake when pressed. Depending on the shape of the pu-erh 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 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-erh bǐng'' are still manufactured.

!T

|-

|''Bing'', ''Beeng'', Cake, or Disc

| ''Bǐngchá''

| A round, flat, disc or puck-shaped tea, the size ranges from as small as 100g to as large as 5&nbsp;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.

| A convex knob-shaped tea, its size ranges from 3g to 3&nbsp;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-like shape of the pressed tea or from the old tea shipping and trading route of the Tuo River. 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

| [[wiktionary:砖|砖]][[wiktionary:茶|茶]]

===Process and oxidation===

All Pu-erh teas undergo some oxidation during sun drying and then become either 1) fully fermented with microbes during a processing phase which is largely anerobic, i.e. without the presence of oxygen. This phase is similar to composting and results in Shu (ripened) Pu-erh, or 2) partly fermented (by microbes) and partly oxidized during the natural aging process resulting in Sheng (raw) Pu-erh. The aging process is controlled by the owner and thus the degree of fermentation and oxidization achieved depends on how the Sheng Pu-erh is stored.

===Regions===

====Yunnan====

Yunnan province produces the vast majority of ''pu-erh'' tea. Indeed, the province is the source of the tea's name, pu-erh Hani and Yi Autonomous County. ''pu-erh'' is produced in almost every county and prefecture in the province, but the most famous ''pu-erh'' areas are known as the Six Famous Tea Mountains [[wiktionary:六|六]][[wiktionary:大|大]][[wiktionary:茶|茶]][[wiktionary:山|山]]

=====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-erh'', but also produce unique taste profiles (akin to terroir in wine) in the produced ''pu-erh'' tea. Over the course of history, the designated mountains for the tea mountains have either been changed or listed differently.

===Cultivation===

Perhaps equally or even more important than region or even grade in classifying ''pu-erh'' is the method of cultivation. ''pu-erh'' tea can come from three different cultivation methods:

*Plantation bushes (''guànmù'', [[wiktionary:灌|灌]][[wiktionary:木|木]]; ''taídì'', [[wiktionary:台|台]][[wiktionary:地|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 [[Fertilizer|chemical fertilizer]] in cultivation, and the lack of pleasant flavours, and the presence of harsh bitterness and astringency from the tea.

==Recipes==

Tea factories, particularly formerly government-owned factories, produce many cakes using recipes for tea blends, indicated by a four-digit ''recipe number''. The first two digits of recipe numbers represent the year the recipe was first produced, the third digit represents the grade of leaves used in the recipe, and the last digit represents the factory. The number 7542, for example, would denote a recipe from 19''75'' 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):'''

==Tea packaging==

''pu-erh'' 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-erh tea.

==Aging and storage==

''pu-erh'' 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.

===Ripe pu-erh===

Since the ripening process was developed to imitate aged raw ''pu-erh'', many arguments surround the idea of whether aging ripened ''pu-erh'' is desirable. Mostly, the issue rests on whether aging ripened ''pu-erh'' will, better or worse, alter the flavor of the tea.