Pu-Erh Tea

The Genesis

Making Raw Pu-Erh
(Mao cha)

After the leaves are plucked, the tea leaves are handled only minimally to prevent bruising of the tea leaves (when the leaves are bruised the oxidization process begins).

The raw green tea leaves are then spread out in the sun if the weather is agreeable, or spread in a well-ventilated space to dry out some of the excess water in the leaves. It can also be lightly heated to help in the wilting process.

When the wilting process has been finished the leaves are then dry fried in a wok. This prevents further chemical reactions from occurring as well as halting the oxidization process.

After this step, the tea leaves are rolled, and shaped into strands and left to dry in the sun.

At this stage, after drying in the sun, the leaves are gone through and the bad leaves are discarded leaving only the best leaves remaining.

The mao cha is now ready to be pressed into cakes or blocks, ripened, aged, or sold as-is in loose form.

Making Ripened Pu-Erh

Ripened Pu-Erh is made from mao cha cakes. This process tries to imitate and bring about the taste of aged Pu-Erhs and is a recent invention.

This is done through a fermentation process which is similar to the process for making compost, where bacteria and fungus are introduced to the Pu-Erh and conditions for fermentation are created (such as keeping the Pu-Erh in humid conditions).

During this process, the Pu-Erh needs to be turned and/or mixed to ensure a good even fermentation.

A good, ripened Pu-Erh should not taste like compost. This only means that the fermentation process was not carried out properly.

Aging of Pu-Erh Teas

A few things will need to be in place before Pu-Erh teas can be aged to perfection, namely,

• The quality of the leaves used: If the tea used in the initial processing to make the mao cha is not of good quality, the tea will not age nicely.
• The size, and the shape of the tea block: The tea will age differently depending on the size of the block of pressed tea leaves. For instance, a block with more surface area will actually be better, such as a Bingcha (disc-like), whereas a block in the shape of a Toucha (knob) will take longer to age.
• Compression of the tea block: If the tea leaves are packed in very tightly, they will take longer to age, as opposed to those tea blocks that are hand pressed, or more loosely pressed.
• Proper environment:
• Sunlight: The ageing tea blocks should not be exposed to sunlight as this will dry them out (and produce a bitter taste sometimes).
• Fresh air: There needs be good air flow around the ageing tea blocks as this helps to keep the air - and ultimately the tea blocks - from getting stale and dank.
• Even temperature: The surrounding temperature where the tea is stored should not be high. Lower temperatures are more desirable to help in the ageing process, although at very low temperatures the ageing process of the tea gets halted (the same thing that happens when you put food into a fridge - the bacterial processes get halted or slowed down).
• Humidity levels: Ideally there should be between 60-85% humidity within the storage area.
• Odors: If the tea is stored where there are heavy odors, it will most likely have these odors infused into them by the end of the ageing process.

...Read the next article in the series on Pu-Erh Tea Shapes

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