云南普洱茶 Pu’er

　　Introduction of Pu’er in Simao, Yunnan

　　Pu’er County is situated in 100°43′ to 101°37′east longitude and 22°to 23°36′north latitude with a width of 91 kilometers from east to west and a length of 101 kilometers from north to south. The annual average temperature is around 15°C to 18°C. It is neither extremely hot in summer nor terribly cold in winter. The difference in temperature is lower than that in Kunming and it has a higher proportion of vegetation than Kunming. A lot of rivers run through the area and it has abundant precipitation.

　　Pu’er is the hometown of the world-renowned “Pu’er tea” and it is also the origin and distribution center of “Pu’er tea”. The famous film star Yang Likun and our national hero Zhang Peiying were born in Mohei Town of Pu’er County. The first stele of southern Yunnan – the stele with the inscription of national unity was established in Pu’er as the witness of the unity among different ethnic groups in south Yunnan. There are eight famous scenic spots in Pu’er: Tianbi Xiaoxia (daybreak sunlight on steep cliffs), Huilong Xizhao (afterglow on Huilong Temple), Xiandong Chunyun (Spring clouds from the divine cave), Longtan Qiuyue (reflection of the autumn moon in the dragon pool), Dongling Lan’e (orchids in Dongling), Xiling hot spring, Chengban Hefeng (lotuses near the city) and Cha’an Niaodao (path for birds in Cha’an). These beautiful scenic spots led to the creation of countless poems by writers and poets. Moreover, the special geography of Pu’er makes it extremely suitable for growing various economic crops. Nowadays, there are scenic spots at provincial level, including Pu’er scenic spot (composed of three areas, Tianbi Mountain, Song Mountain, White Grassland, and 20 other scenic spots, including Xiaohei River, hot water pool, Dong’er river reservoir, Guanyinshan Temple, Tea-horse ancient road), Patriotic Education Center of Mohei Middle School, National Unity Park. The ecological tourist resources here are the perfect integration of green forests, mountains, rivers, valleys, karst landscape, “Pu’er culture” and the folk customs of Hani and Yi ethnic groups. The tourist development prospect here is great.

　　Early in the Eastern Han dynasty around 1700 years ago, the planting, processing and sales of Pu’er tea were highly advanced. The rapid development of the tea industry brought huge economic benefits to Pu’er. At the peak of tea transaction, tea merchants throughout the country came to Pu’er and established a guild. Tea transactions were carried out here day and night. The planting, processing and sales of tea also prompted the great development of tea culture, which was an important part of the local culture in Pu’er.

　　More than one thousand years ago, a small amount of Pu’er tea was sold to Tibet. The tea gradually became a daily necessity for the minority ethnic groups to reduce greasiness from cheese and meat, which are their staple foods. That’s why there are some sayings about tea there: “Living without food for three days is better than going without tea for a single day.” “One will have diarrhea if he does not drink tea in a single day and if that continues for three days, diseases will come.” Governors of various dynasties strictly controlled the tea transaction in order to buy war horses at a lower price. By exchanging tea for horses, they indirectly managed the region. In this way, tea was a kind of hard-to-get commodity. As a result, the planting, processing and transaction of tea saw an unprecedented development. In the 9th year during the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing dynasty, Pu’er tea was even more renowned because it was awarded the title of “tribute tea”. Many classics such as A Dream of Red Mansions, Compendium of Materia Medica, and War and Peace mentioned the name of Pu’er tea.

　　History of Pu’er Tea

　　Yunnan is the place of origin of tea. During the Trias period about 180 million years ago, Yunnan was a land above sea level where many gymnosperms grew. During the Tertiary period about 70 million years ago, the Three-river Drainage Basin (Nujiang River, Lancangjiang River and Jinshajiang River) of ancient western Yunnan had three conditions for the emergence of tea, i.e., flourishing gymnosperms, stable land and hot humid weather. The ancient magnolia plant which appeared and flourished here evolved into the tea tree because of the special weather and environment. The activity of the glaciers during the Quaternary period destroyed many plant communities. However, the south and southwest of Yunnan such as Simao and Xishuangbanna were free from glaciers, and thus ancient plants like the tea tree survived and developed into the wide-leaf type tea of the tropical and subtropical areas.

　　Distribution of Pu’er Tea

　　Pu’er tea is mainly planted in Menghai, Mengla, Simao, Gengma, Cangyuan, Shuangjiang, Lincang, Yuanjiang, Jingdong, Dali, Pingbian, Hekou, Maguan, Malipo, Wenshan, Xichou, Guangnan of Yunnan Province, Panxian, Rongjiang of Guizhou Province, Fusui, Shaoping of Guangxi, Nanjing of Fujian Province, Ruyuan, Lianshan, Maoming of Guangdong Province and Changjiang, Qiongzhong, Ledong, Baoting, Lingshui of Hainan Province. It is grown in the mountainous forests of subtropical and tropical areas with an altitude of 1200 to 1400 meters. Pu’er tea is also planted in northern Vietnam, Thailand, Burma and India.

　　Status Quo of Pu’er Tea

　　Wild tea tree (including cultivated wild tea tree) is also known as Pu’er tea. It is grown in southern Yunnan and Hainan Province. In Yunnan, there is a “King of Tea Trees” with a history of more than 800 years. Although the local authorities have already taken some measures to protect the big tree, the plant still suffers from people’s damage. If no stricter measures were taken to protect the tree, it might be endangered. In Hainan, with the gradual increase of population, the area of natural forests reduces dramatically. Moreover, during the Qingming Festival (Tomb-sweeping Day), many people climb the mountain to pick wild tea leaves. The number of wild tea trees is decreasing gradually.

　　Morphological Features of Pu’er Tea

　　Pu’er is a kind of evergreen arbors or bushes, with a height from 5 to 13 (or even 20) meters. The diameter of its trunk can be one meter or more. Soft hair is grown on its tender branches and leaves. Its leaves have a leather quality with an elliptic or upside-down long oval shape. The leaves are 4 to 8 (or 12) centimeters long, 1.8 to 4.5 centimeters wide. One end of the leaf is obtusely sharp, sometimes radically sharp. The leaf has a wedge-shaped base and both sides of the leaf are smooth without hair. The leafstalk is 3 to 7 millimeters long. Its flower is grown alone or combined with two to four, forming an axillary umbrella inflorescence. The flower is white with a diameter of 2.5 to 3.5 centimeters. It has fragrance. The stalks is 6 to 10 millimeters long with a curved lower part. The flower has 5 to 6 round sepals that will hide when the plant bears fruit. There are 7 to 9 upside-down oval shaped or round petals. Stamen account for the majority and the outer border of the flower grows into a short tube. There are three rooms in the ovary with hair outside. The top of the style is divided into three parts. The capsule is spherical or ellipsoid-shaped with a diameter of 25 centimeters. The peel has a leather quality. There are one or two spherical seeds with slight edges. The diameter of the seed is around 1.5 to 1.8 centimeters and its color is light brown.

　　Features of Pu’er Tea

　　In Yunnan, there grow many south tropical evergreen broad-leaf forests. The major tea producing area, Nannuo Mountain of Menghai has an annual average temperature of 17--19℃. The highest temperature is 22.3℃ and the lowest is -5.4℃(in January). Its annual rainfall is around 1300 to 1400 millimeters. Most of the land is red crimson or yellowish red. The plant grows well in areas where there are hills and valleys, where there are clouds in the dry season with high humidity and deep soil filled with humus, where the drainage conditions are good. The flowering season is around September to November and the fruit-bearing season is around April to June. Sometimes there are flowers and fruits at the same time. The fruits of the wild tea trees are often gathered by people. The natural propagation of the plant is poor and seedlings are seldom seen under the tree. The arbors that usually grow with the plant are Schima wallichii Choisy, Lithocarpus truncatus Rehd, Phoebe puwenensis Cheng etc.

　　Tea Drinking Method

　　Pu’er tea is the treasure of tea. The tea leaves are picked selectively and processed gingerly. Some of the tea is completely processed by manual labor. As a result, its drinking method is quite complicated. In ancient times, it was said that “water is the mother of tea”. There were two kinds of water, water from above and underground water. The former referred to water from rainfall, snow, frost and dew and the latter referred to water from springs, rivers, lakes and wells. The choice of water plays a key role in the taste of “Pu’er tea”. In Cha Jing (Classic of Tea), Lu Yu said, “water should be chosen from the top of a mountain, the middle of a river or the bottom of a well.” In Cha Jian (Tea Annotations) of the Ming dynasty, it was also said that “the best water for tea comes from mountain springs, then from rivers. If water from wells is chosen, it’s better to use water with more waves (from deep wells).” This means suitable water should be chosen to go with the famous tea so as to maintain its good quality. Therefore, in Pu’er, the best choice of water is the springs in the Dongmen Mountain. As to the tea set, generally speaking, the best one for Pu’er is porcelain bowls with lids. However, while drinking famous teas such as “Pu’er Haofeng” (extremely tender leaves of Pu’er), a transparent glass should be used. In this way, you can see the tender leaves first rise to the top of the water and then go down gradually. The tender leaves and water shine in the transparent glass. In addition, it is better not to use thermos cups to make Pu’er green tea because the temperature can simmer the tea leaves and influence the unique flavor of the green tea. The tea making method should also be paid close attention to. First the tea set should be warmed with boiled water. Then put in some tea leaves and soak the them with boiled water for one minute. The water should not exceed one fourth of the total volume of the cup. When the tea leaves are completely soaked, add more water. Lid the cup and wait for two or three minutes. Then a cup of good tea is ready to be served.

　　Six Specialties of Pu’er

　　Special place of origin: Pu’er is originally the name of a place and now it is the name of a tea. Pu’er tea was produced in Pu’er, Yunnan Province, a major distribution center of Pu’er tea leaves.

　　Special variety: The fresh leaf of the tree is a variety of Pu’er, i.e. the fresh leaf of the broad-leaf tea tree in Yunnan.

　　Special raw material: Pu’er tea is made from Maocha, a kind of unoxidized green tea from the broad leaves of the tree. Pu’er tea is the result of fermentations. There are two approaches of fermentation. One is natural fermentation occurred in the long storage period. Pu’er tea produced in this way is called traditional Pu’er tea; the other is artificial fermentation. After the artificial fermentation, Pu’er tea is compressed into different shapes and is called modern Pu’er tea or ripened Pu’er.

　　Special shape: Apart from loose tea, the compressed Pu’er tea has various shapes. Some looks like a small pellet, a ball, some like a Chinese chess, a bowl, and a cake. Some tea is as big as a pumpkin, a huge cake, a tree trunk, a folding screen or a big plaque etc.

　　Special quality: The longer the age of Pu’er tea, the better its quality. This is contrary to the normal marketing rule, which says the newer the tea, the better; the older the spirits, the higher the price. If stored appropriately, Pu’er tea could be kept for around one hundred years.

　　Special drinking method: If the aged Pu’er tea is made with lidded bowls or Zisha teapots, the same tea leaves could be used for 20 times. Because of the aforesaid features, Yunnan Pu’er tea has become a kind of antique and this is the unique feature of Pu’er. Therefore, Pu’er tea should be regarded as an independent tea category, i.e. Pu’er category.

　　Knowledge about Pu’er Tea

　　1. What is Pu’er tea? Why is it called “Pu’er”?

　　In order to unify the understanding about Pu’er tea, an international seminar about Chinese Pu’er tea was held in Jinghong City, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in June 2002. More than 20 tea experts from home and abroad, including Japan, Korea, Malaysia, formed an experts committee and identify the concept of Pu’er tea. It is agreed that Pu’er tea was originally grown in Lancangjiang River valley in western and southern Yuannan province. Pu’er is created from the fresh leaves of broad-leaf tea trees. There are loose tea and pressed tea with various shapes. Some Pu’er tea is made after natural storage for a certain period and some is produced after artificial Wodui (wet piling) fermentation. Pu’er was originally the name of a county in Simao area. In fact, in the Yuan dynasty, that place was named “Buri Bu”. At the beginning of the Yuan dynasty, because Pu’er tea was often served in the royal palace, Genghis khan asked a minister where the tea came from. Because of the similar Chinese pronunciations of the two words, “Buri Bu” was called “Pu’er Fu” later. In 1736, the Qing government set up a tea bureau to manage the tea production and transaction in Pu’er and Pu’er became the distribution center for Pu’er tea. Ever since then, the small town of Yunnan was world-renowned because of its Pu’er tea.

　　2. Is Pu’er tea a kind of green tea or red tea?

　　Pu’er tea cannot be classified as green tea or red tea. Judging from the color of the tea liquor, “raw Pu’er” looks like a green tea while “ripened Pu’er” looks like a red tea. However, the nature of Pu’er tea (natural transformation; the older, the better; long storage period; collectable and useful) and its unique processing techniques are quite different from the other six tea categories. Therefore, Pu’er tea should be regarded as a unique category.

　　3. Is Pu’er tea one of the top ten Chinese tea?

　　Yes. As the ancestor of tea, Pu’er tea has a very long history. It has not only become a famous tea in China, but also won recognition of tea lovers from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, south-east Asian countries, Europe and America. In this sense, Pu’er is also an internationally famous tea.

　　4. Why is Pu’er tea collectable?

　　Nowadays, the aged Pu’er has become not only the pursuit of tea lovers, but also the new favorite of collectors. There are four reasons for that. First, the natural environment created the unique quality of aged Pu’er. Pu’er tea trees are grown in Xishuangbanna where there are lush forests with rich plant resources. There are more than 7000 kinds of plants there. Pu’er tea trees grow together with these plants in the forests, constituting a complete ecological system and absorbing the useful ingredients of those plants. Second, Pu’er tea has an extremely long history. It is said that the history of Pu’er is the history of China. Now Pu’er tea has a history of more than 1700 years. Xishuangbanna of Yunnan province is situated in the southwest of China where there are steep mountains and swift torrents. In ancient times, because of the poor traffic conditions, the transportation of tea was totally depended on horses and cattle, creating the famous “Tea-horse Ancient Road”. Pu’er tea is full of historic and cultural value. Third, the processing techniques of Pu’er tea determine its characteristic, “the more aged, the more fragrant”. The longer the tea is kept, the better the quality and the higher the price. Fourth, its output is limited. It is medically proved that Pu’er tea can nourish the stomach, clear heat, decrease blood lipid and resist arteriosclerosis. Drinking Pu’er tea can lose weight. All these features of Pu’er tea fit in quite well with the requirements of modern people who always pursue good health and cultural taste. The consumption of Pu’er tea will increase definitely and the output of good Pu’er tea can hardly satisfy the market demand. The good aged Pu’er is consumed every year, which reduces the amount of aged tea. Therefore, the longer the tea is kept, the higher the value.

　　6. What is “raw Pu’er” and what is “ripened Pu’er”?

　　The classification of raw and ripened Pu’er depends on its fermentation method. Raw Pu’er refers to Pu’er made from green rough tea. The rough tea is dried and pressed, then stored in a dry place with good ventilation to inhibit the enzyme activity. Examples of raw Pu’er include the ancient cake tea of Mengwang Tea Factory, Gushan Youle Arbor cake tea, Jingmaiqing cake tea, Yiwuzhengshan tea, Bulangshan ecological tea etc. “Ripened Pu’er” generally refers to tea made from green rough tea after wet piling fermentation. The fermentation reduces the transformation period artificially and changes the bitter and astringent flavor of raw Pu’er into sweet and mellow flavor. The color of the tea is changed from golden yellow into maroon red or brown maroon etc. We usually called this kind of tea “ripened Pu’er tea”. Examples of ripened Pu’er include the cake tea No. 75726, 72626 from Mengwang Tea Factory, Guifeigong cake tea, Gongtingyuan cake tea and various loose teas etc. Raw tea can also be transformed into ripened tea naturally. Actually, whether the tea is raw or ripened is determined by whether it has been transformed.

　　7. How to differentiate raw and ripened Pu’er tea?

　　The difference between raw and ripened Pu’er tea can be told from the following aspects, i.e. color, flavor, tea liquor color and leaf bottom.

　　Name Raw Pu’er (usually less than 10 years old) Ripened Pu’er

　　Outlook tea leaves symmetrically arranged; dark green color with delicate fragrance tea leaves tightly pressed; dark brown color with ripened fragrance

　　Flavor bitter but sweet later; thirst-quenching with fragrance sweet, smooth and tender taste; good ripen tea also has the flavor of ginseng or jujube etc.

　　Tea Liquor Color orange, light red, brilliant and transparent red, dark maroon, transparent

　　Leaf Bottom light green or maroon, full of vitality dark maroon or black without vitality

　　8. What is spring tea, summer tea and Guhua (flower of cereal) tea?

　　The classification of spring, summer and Guhua teas depends on the time of picking. From February to April, spring tea is picked. After hibernation, the tea trees store a lot of nutrition inside. The best spring tea is picked within 15 days after the Qingming Festival (Tomb-sweeping Day). Usually one leaf and shoot are picked together. The shoot is thin and white and the leaf is thick covered with hair. The leaf veins are thin and close. The sawtooth brim of the leaf is not clear. Spring tea is very fragrant with mellow flavor. The tea liquor is orange and transparent. Spring tea is the best raw material for making Pu’er. The period of spring tea picking is also the busiest season of the tea factory. Summer tea is picked from May to July. Xishuangbanna has the biggest rainfall during this period. So summer tea is also called “Rain Tea”. The flavor and liquor color of summer tea are not as good as those of spring tea. The leaf is bigger and the stalk is thicker. There are more old leaves and the saw tooth brim of the leaf is clear. Summer tea is relatively bitterer than spring tea. In addition, because there are more rainy days than sunny days, it is hard to dry the tea. Most of the summer tea is baked and processed to make green tea. Autumn tea is picked from late September to early November. Because this period is a harvest season and there are golden cereals everywhere with fragrant flowers, autumn tea is also called cereal flower tea. For most of the time, the weather is bright and clear. The shoots on the trees are white with golden color. Autumn tea has a mellow flavor, as light as the fragrance of a lotus. The period for picking autumn tea is short and its output is small. So it is the treasure of Pu’er tea.

　　9. Is there any difference in the processing techniques of raw and ripened Pu’er?

　　The processing techniques of raw and ripened Pu’er are completely different. To make raw Pu’er, the tea leaves are first dry pan-fried, or “killed green”, then rolled and rubbed. Next the leaves will be dried and pressed into different shapes. The leaves will undergo natural fermentation in storage. As long as the quality of the raw materials is guaranteed, ordinary factories can produce raw Pu’er according to the preferences of consumers. However, this is not true for ripened Pu’er. In short, to make ripened “Pu’er”, the tea leaves are first dry pan-fried, or “killed green”, then rolled and rubbed. Then wet piling technique is used and the tea leaves are then pressed into different shapes before drying. The procedure of making ripened “Pu’er” is complicated. It requires the strict control of not only the temperature, but also producing environment, water quality, ferment etc. The techniques for making ripened “Pu’er” are the core business secrets of a tea factory. At present, there are few factories that can produce good ripened “Pu’er” in large scale.

　　10. What is “dry green” and what is “bake green”?

　　After the fresh tea leaves are dried, rolled and rubbed, they are spread on a mat for drying naturally under the sun and it is called “dried green tea”. This kind of tea is the raw material for making Pu’er. It can be stored for a long time. Using the dying machine to dehydrate the fresh tea leaves is called “bake green”. Tea made from this kind of materials is more fragrant than the first one but it has a limited period for storage. In a strict sense, this kind of raw materials cannot be used to make “Pu’er”.

　　11. How to grade Pu’er tea?

　　Pu’er tea can be divided into high, medium and low grades. Examples of high grade tea include Jinguagong tea, Jipin brick (cake) tea, Guifeigong cake tea, Gongtingyuan cake tea etc; examples of medium grade tea include 72626 ripened cake tea, Yiwuzhengshanqing cake tea, first and third grade brick tea, bowl tea, first to fifth grade loose tea; examples of low grade tea include sixth to tenth grade loose tea. Both the leaf and the shoot should be picked together. Usually, leaves are picked from the top to the third. If there is one leaf and one shoot, pick the shoot; if there are two leaves and one shoot, pick the shoot and one leaf; if there are three leaves and one shoot, pick the shoot and two leaves. Tea leaves with more shoots are graded higher than leaves with more stalks.

　　13. What are the different functions of different grades of Pu’er tea?

　　If tea leaves come from the same kind of tea trees (for example, arbor tea tree), there is no difference between their ingredients and functions, but their flavors might differ slightly.

　　14. What does the number of the cake tea 72626, 75726 mean?

　　Because there are many kinds of Pu’er and different formulas were used to make Pu’er in different periods, in order to unify the identity of Pu’er, Yunnan Tuhsu Company numbered all Pu’er tea in early 1970s. The first two digits represent the year when the formula is made; the third digit represents the formula and the last digits represent the tea factory. For example, in the number of the ripened cake tea 72626, “72” means the formula was made in 1972; “6” means the 6th formula was used; “2” represents Menghai tea producing area and “6” represents Mengwang Tea Factory.

　　15. What kind of material should be used to pack Pu’er tea?

　　The basic principle is that the package material should be clean, tasteless with good ventilation. Pu’er tea should normally be packed with traditional cotton paper and bamboo container during its storage period. Cotton paper facilitates ventilation and the transformation of the tea. During this process, the fragrance of bamboo can be absorbed too. Before and while drinking, tea leaves can be put into Zisha or pottery teapot to prevent the invasion of other tastes and facilitate the transformation of tea leaves. Some people use plastic paper to pack Pu’er for the sake of beautiful outlook and this kind of package is not desirable.

　　16. Why is there no production date on the package of Pu’er tea?

　　This question is often raised by people who drink Pu’er tea for the first time. It is necessary mark the production date on all kinds of products nowadays because most of them have a limited life or valid period. Pu’er tea is not a modern commodity. It has such a long history that its processing method and unique quality guarantee that it will never expire. This gives us one more interesting topic while drinking Pu’er tea and leaves some space for our imagination.

　　17. What is the function of the stamp on the tea package?

　　When Pu’er tea was originally produced, there was no package at all. There was only a piece of square paper (known as “inside ticket”) pressed on top of the cake tea, indicating the producer and year of production. Later, with the market development, Menghai, Xiaguan and Mengwang Tea factories used red and blue stamps respectively. Then green and yellow stamps were used by other factories to identify the producer and year of production.

　　18. What is the difference between dry storage and wet storage Pu’er tea?

　　“Dry storage Pu’er tea” refers to tea leaves that are put in a dry place (humidity lower than 80%) and undergo the natural aging process. Wet storage is to accelerate the conversion of Pu’er tea by putting the tea leaves in a humid place. This method will create mold and other harmful materials in the conversion process. It not only tastes bad, but also does harm to our health.

　　19. What is the white frost on the surface of Pu’er tea?

　　The frost is the result of oxidization of the tea leaves, also known as “Danning”. It tastes bitter and can diminish inflammation. Academically, this is called natural oxidization.

　　20. Why will the fresh green tea leaves turn red after conversion?

　　It’s true that the fresh tea leaves are green when picking and after drying. However, after conversion, the leaves and the liquor turn red. This is a chemical change, or oxidation. The enzyme plays a very important role in this process. Experts think that the red leaves are the result of three kinds of activities: oxidation of the tea leaves themselves; enzymes’ activities and the activities of microorganisms.