The art ofYunnan pure .

DiLiu

No.6 Yuandong Road, Jinxing District, Jin Yu Xuan Tea House, Postcode: 650224 Kunming, Yunnan, P.R.

Summary The Poer tea art take roots in Yunnan, the world's origin. of tea trees. The popularity, regional specialties and irreplacability of Puer Tea art. The ethnic diversity of Puer Tea art. Puer tea is a healthy beverage and is practical. How to make Puer tea.

Keywords PuerTea

Introduction Yunnan is where tea originated and was born, Its long history has bestowed Puer Tea with deep culture. Puer tea filtered into Yunnan along the ancient tea route. The horse caravans were the main transport and were loaded with the Tea Culture of original simplicity, purity, gentleness and tranquility. Puer Tea's contribution to men's health and the tea's glamorous nature have earned people's love and admiration.

Yunnan is the home of tea. And Puer Tea left its mark on the history of Yunnan. The people of Yunnan have created simple but practical tea cuisine through long periods of hard work. Piclded tea leaves, cold tea leaves mixed with other ingredients and the baked tea of Dai and Wai ethnic minorities are some typical examples, boiled with pepper tree, prickly ash, ginger or cinnamon to make a different flavors. These have names such as Salt Tea, Tea, Thundering Teal, Oil Tea and tQe Battle of Dragon and Tiger.

The .ethnic nationalities of Yunnan have passed on .the original and simple ways of tea­ making from generation to generation during the evolution of history, together with their simple affection for tea. Puer Tea has therefore developed characteristics of the region and is irreplaceable.

There are abundant resources in the high mountains of Yunnan. Twenty-five ethnic groups have lived and procreated in this miraculous land. Ethnic diversity has led to the diversity of tea. It was the various tea customs of the minority peoples that cultivated the diversity of Puer Tea culture. It is fair to say the ethnic tea customs wer~ the embryonic form of Puer Tea art, so Puer Tea art is the distillation of the ethnic tea customs. Puer Tea art thus carries the distinctive characteristics of the minority peoples, and this forms the basis of its popularity.

The Puer Tea art lies in Puer tea, a very healthy beverage. . Its incredible effects have been known by people from home and abroad since the ancient times. "Longjin Tea for summer, Puer Tea for winter" was a famous phrase to describe how much Puer Tea was favored by Cixi, Empress of the Qing Dinasty, and it was also a course appearing at the banquets in the Chinese royal palace's "Da Guan Yuan Garden". Puer Tea has also earned many other beautiful titles such as "Tea for beauty", "Diet Tea"; "Tea for longevity" and "Tea for grace". Experiences accumulated from daily life and technical tests have proved Puer Tea's effects on reducing cholesterol, anti-radiation, cancer prevention and refreshing the brain. Puer Tea is useful because it benefits people's health.

Session I -76- Puer Tea provides people with material enjoyment, while the Puer Tea art is something spiritual. People seeking health and happiness have vitalized Puer Tea art. Puer Tea art has also improved with the development of human civilization. People are not only attracted by the flavor of the tea itself but also amazed by the skillful techniques required to make perfect Puer Tea. Its values lie in not only historiography but also aesthetics.

Materials and Methods Tea art is a gift from nature. It was created during people's daily life, and developed with time. Improvement of people's living standard has promoted Puer Tea art. Taking the opportunity of China's development strategy for the western regions, I have revised and reorganized several Puer Tea-making methods to offer to all tea lovers in the hope of passing on the tea art and opening up a better future. (See as below)

Three ways of making Puer Tea: 1. Mixture of old tea and new tea: Make tea respectively with old Puer Tea leaves and new Puer Tea leaves. The old tea has the colour ofthe autumn of Yunnan and a strong taste, while the new tea appears as the color of spring and has a light fragrance. A mixture of the two represents the blending of spring and the autumn harvest, and this also denotes the harmony of nature and man.

2. Boil to bring out its flavour from long-time storage. 2.1 Prepare the environment. 2.2 Appreciate the tea leaves. 2.3 Washing the tea leaves in the lid-bowl with boiling water. 2.4 Boil the tea in a glass pot. 2.5 Make the tea in tht? clay-pot and it from glass cups so that its beautiful colour can be seen.

3. Dali Bai people's 3-courses tea. Course 1: Bake bitter tea; Course 2: Make ; Course 3: Make thetea that gives an after flavour. The 3 courses represent a philosophy oflife that pains are followed by happiness.

Results and Discussion These three tea-making methods were shown on television in Hengxian County of Guangxi Province from August 5th to August gth 2001. They won three awards (3 rd prize, Award of excellent tea and Award for minority customs) at the first National Tea Art Contest. Due to an underdeveloped transport and economic situation, some tea courses that existed in earliest times have been forgotten. Today the .reputation that Yunnan Puer Tea earned at the contest has demonstrated that Puer Tea will display its beauty once again like a Yunnan golden peacock displaying its feathers. Praise from people, recognition by tea experts and support from the provincial "government have come into a stre~ of power to make Puer Tea, a golden phoenix in the ancient tea trees', able to fly to every comer of the world with its fragrance, and a tea spirit symbolizing peace and balance, calm and integrity.

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