The Basic of Pu’er

While the Chinese invented tea 5,000 years ago, the product has undergone a massive transformation. This is the story of Pu’er

While the Chinese invented tea 5,000 years ago, the product has undergone a massive transformation with the bubble-tea bubble currently taking over not only Asia but also Europe and America. While we are now drinking Chinese jasmine tea with mango, strawberries and a thick layer of cheese froth, I still enjoy the basic rituals of pouring hot water over tea leaves. It was only during my journey to Yun Nan (still my favourite province in China) that I truly discovered Pu’er 普洱 and I haven’t looked back since.

You cannot visit Yunnan and not hear about Pu’er. The tea itself is named after the town from which it was originally sold en route to other countries, Pu’er City — which still exists! This tea had been a major commodity in trade. Like any valuable commodity, Pu’er’s value created a tea bubble which eventually burst (similar to the tulip fever in Dutch).

Dynasties after dynasties, as tea became so popular for public consumption and tribute, tea production grew along with transporting volume. The industry was so prosperous that the Tea Horse Road was established. Tea Horse Road is basically a network of trading routes linking the tea-producing areas of Yunnan with the tea-consuming regions — first Tibet, then all across the rest of China. The route even extended all the way to mainland southeast Asia, Nepal and India.

What is referred to as “road” actually consists of not only paths and roads (some paved in bluestone to avoid mud), but also bridges of various sorts (arched, cantilever, and cable), caravanserais 马店 ma dian, market towns, staging posts, as well as shrines and temples, even mosques and a few Christian churches.

Why am I rambling about this Tea Horse Road? Because this network is not merely an important route for commercial activity (trade of tea, salt, medicinal products and luxury goods). It also facilitated for cultural exchange, especially between Tibet and Southwest China and was an important entry point for Buddhism into China, in addition to the more well-known Silk Road.

Now that you understand where the “tea” and “road” comes from, what’s the deal with the “horse”? Well, the tea was originally compressed into shapes for more efficient transit and then packed on horses and carts. Pretty self-explanatory, no? I’m telling you, Chinese tend to be very pragmatic in naming things (for example, gloves are 手套 shou tao in Mandarin, which literally translates to “hand cover”).

There are two types of Pu’er tea in China: sheng and shou. Bear with me as I explain the difference. This is important because their flavours are distinctly different.

Sheng Pu’er

For many years, Pu’er has been aged through a slow fermentation. It can take about 15 years for a ‘raw’ (unfermented) Pu’er to get the dark colour and flavour that its drinkers desire. This is what we know as sheng Pu’er, unripe or raw tea which ferments naturally over time.

It is made from the minimally processed leaves of the large-leaf Yunnan tea tree. After harvest, the leaves are lightly steamed and then (usually) pressed into bing cha (frisbee-like, disc-shaped “cakes” of tea) and wrapped with rice paper. Legend says that after being compressed into shaped and loaded into horsecarts, the tea acquired its dark colour and flavour due to natural fermentation in transit to its final destinations.

This style of Pu’er is often carefully aged for 15 or 20 years under supervised conditions. But it can be aged for much longer for a deeper, richer, smoother, more complex flavour. I know some families who buy sheng tea and leave it to age, only to be consumed when the children or grandchildren get married.

Sheng Pu’er is drunk either ‘young’ or ‘aged’. Most sheng teas go through an awkward phase (equivalent to human’s teenage years, perhaps) from about age 7 through to age 16 or so (depending on how quickly they ferment). They are usually best enjoyed well before or after this stage.

Shou Pu’er

In the 1970s, a style of processing called shou processing (or ‘cooking’) was developed to expedite the fermentation process. Shou Pu’er was originally created to mimic the taste, colour, and aroma of aged sheng Pu’er. If you’ve ever drunk Pu’erin the West, it was most likely a shou.

Shou processing involves the application of heat and moisture, as well as the inoculation of the tea leaves with beneficial bacteria. This type of aged tea is known as black tea (not to be confused with the heavily oxidised “black tea” in the West, which is called “red tea” in China). I know, confusing. The only difference between shou and hei cha is that shou Pu’er is only made from large-leaf ( Assamica) tea trees in Yunnan. Hei cha is the tea type most often brewed with fruit at your closest bubble tea joint.

Hei cha and shou tea are both produced by harvesting tea leaves, putting them into a pile (often in a closed or semi-enclosed space), keeping them moist and hot for an extended period of time (say, 60 days) to encourage beneficial bacteria, yeasts and moulds to grow, and then ‘turning’ (using a pitchfork-like tool to mix) the pile often. It takes about a year for harvested tea leaves to become ‘ripened’ or ‘finished’ Pu’er.

Pu’er commonly comes in shaped forms, such as bricks, cakes (disc-shaped, known as 饼茶 bing cha) and 沱茶 tuo cha (shaped like tiny bowls). These shapes make the transport and storage of Pu’er convenient.

Pu’er may also be in loose form (like other loose-leaf teas) or packed into pomelo fruit or bamboo stalks. Occasionally, it is available in teabags.

Pu’er, unlike most varieties of tea, is ideally suited for investment as it can be stored for decades and, depending on the quality of the tea, will ‘improve’ with age. Some of the Pu’er tea cakes (tea compressed into small discs) are now fetching astronomical prices.

If you’re making Pu’er from a compressed form of tea (rather than loose-leaf), you’ll need to gently pry off about a teaspoon or two of leaves. You can use a Pu’er knife or another small, dull knife to do this.

Once you have your Pu’er leaves, you’ll want to ‘rinse’ them, especially if the Pu’er is an aged sheng rather than a cooked shou. This washing is necessary to remove the dust that has formed as the Pu’er ferments, and to ‘awaken’ the leaves. To rinse your Pu’er, place the tea leaves in a brewing vessel, pour near-boiling water over them and then quickly discard the water.

After you’ve rinsed your Pu’er, you are ready to brew it. Use water that’s around 96C/205F and steep for 15 to 30 seconds (if using a yi xing teapot or gaiwan) or 3–5minutes (if using Western teaware).

Now enjoy A sip of your Pu’er cha.

Originally published at https://www.vanessaintan.live on February 1, 2020.