Puerh Edition The production & Processing of Puerh Wu De

We’ll be turning back to this article as time passes; it’s an excellent reference for how puerh tea is made. And understanding all that goes into this amazing tea furthers our appreciation of puerh. It is indeed a vast world! From forest to farm and from farm to factory, we follow the tea on its journey to our bowls. 茶道

uerh is unique amongst all growth tea is by far the better of these Tea, and lack many of the qualities P the genres of tea because the two. This refers to older trees. There that make puerh so special, as we importance of the raw material far is some debate about what consti- discussed in our article about this outweighs any processing skill. The tutes “old-growth” since tea trees in month’s tea. quality of most , for exam- Yunnan can range from dozens to ple, is determined as much by the thousands of years old. Arbitrarily, we Rough Tea (Mao Cha 毛茶) source of the leaves as by the skill of think that when a tea tree becomes a the one processing the tea. The val- centenarian (100 years), it can rightly All puerh tea begins with ue of puerh, on the other hand, is be called “old-growth”. Old-growth mao cha (毛茶), which translates as ninety percent in the trees. There are tea can then be subdivided into “rough tea”. Mao cha refers to the many kinds of tea trees in Yunnan trees that are wild or those that were finished leaf as it leaves the farm to and the source determines the value planted by people. Though planted be sold directly to factories small and of the tea. What village a tea comes by man, the latter are often indistin- large, or independently at market. from and which trees will decide its guishable from the former as they are Tea at this stage has been plucked value, in other words. Of course, both found in small gardens in the by hand, wilted, fried to remove the there is also plenty of dishonesty in heart of the forest. In fact, you would raw flavor (called sa“ chin” 殺青), the puerh world: material picked in have difficulty picking the trees out kneaded (ro nien, 揉捻), and dried. one region and then taken to a more from their surroundings without the These processes need to occur almost expensive one to be sold as native help of a guide. Another subdivision immediately after the tea has been tea, young trees sold as old trees, could be called “ecologically-farmed plucked, which is why they are done etc. This means producers and con- old-growth”, which refers to old trees directly at the farm rather than at the sumers have to be able to distinguish planted in gardens closer to villages factory. the differences between regions and and/or homesteads. Some people also Most varieties of tea include types of leaves. like to have a category for 1,000+year- all the same stages of processing as Puerh trees can roughly be old trees as well, calling them by that puerh, though unlike puerh, the divided into two main categories, name or maybe “ancient trees”. final processing often ends there and though it is useful to understand Plantation puerh (tai di cha) the loose-leaf tea is then packaged some of the subdivisions as well: is far inferior and often not organic. right at the farm. (Some oolongs old-growth (gu shu, 古樹) and plan- The trees there might even be several were traditionally finished at shops, tation tea (tai di cha, 台地茶). Old- decades old, but they aren’t Living as well. The shop owners would do

15 Puerh Is a Genre in Its Own Right

Puerh tea is sometimes put into the category (remember, this isn’t red tea, which is mistakenly called “black tea” in the West), but it should actually have a category all its own. Tra- ditionally, all puerh was fermented before con- sumption, whether artificially in the case of shou or naturally over time in the case of sheng. As we’ve mentioned elsewhere, tea lovers back in the day considered new, sheng puerh as “unfinished” and rarely drank it, except to see how it was aging. Therefore, all puerh tea was fermented and fit nicely into the black tea genre, which is catego- rized by post-production fermentation. These days, however, much more sheng puerh is consumed young than old. And since sheng puerh vastly overshadows shou in quantity the final roasting to suit their tastes.) and sold some of their and in historicity (shou only dates back to the six- Puerh, on the other hand, often trav- loose, though not as ties or seventies), sheng obviously typifies puerh els to a factory for final processing: much as . tea. compression into cakes if it is raw, Although some of the tea One solution to this change in tea produc- sheng puerh or piling and then com- that was sold loose was tion/consumption would be to put young, sheng pression if it is ripe, shou puerh. fine quality, most of it puerh in the category and aged sheng Some varieties of puerh are was considered inferior. along with shou in the black tea category. But also destined to become loose leaf. At We have a huge that seems much more confusing than just giving the start, that means that they remain collection of loose-leaf puerh tea its own genre. We think that since it’s “mao cha”, but once they are aged, puerh tea here. In fact, the oldest tea, and from the birthplace of all tea, they are technically no longer “rough we have so much that we puerh deserves its own genre! tea”. So an aged, loose-leaf puerh have also become collec- shouldn’t really be called “mao cha”. tors of rare antique jars to Traditionally, these loose teas store it all in. Loose-leaf were the ones that were grown at puerh, no matter how old, is always shape, leaf color or size, compres- smaller farms that didn’t have con- cheaper than puerh compressed into sion, etc. On the other hand, very tracts with any factory—often from cakes. One reason for this is that the few aged loose-leaf teas are pure. so-called “Border Regions” where cakes have an easily-verified vintage. Most of them are blends. Some were Yunnan borders Laos, Vietnam or Though there are fakes, experts have blended during production, though Myanmar. Such teas were then sold developed systems of identifying more often, tea was added later on to at market, traded between farmers them, using a combination of fac- increase the quantity of an aged tea. or bought and stored by collectors. tors from a kind of “wrapperology”, Sometimes blends of wet and drier- You can’t be certain, however, that which identifies characteristic marks, stored teas, or even sheng and shou a loose-leaf puerh is a Border Tea, color changes, etc., in the printing of are mixed to make a tea seem older as the big factories also packaged the wrappers to the cake itself—its than it is. When drinking aged loose-

16 Puerh Edition leaf puerh, it is a good idea to only place outdoors and indoors. The tea erations of experience the farmers rank them relative to other loose-leaf is withered outdoors for some time can tell by appearance and feel when puerhs, rather than believing in the and then placed in a well-ventilated the leaves are sufficiently cooked, date the merchant has given. While room, often shared by members of a and their timing is as impeccable some loose-leaf puerhs do have a dis- particular farming village. as any time/temperature-controlled tinct vintage, most are blends. Look- The heating process/firing (sa machine elsewhere. Scientifically, ing at the wet leaves after chin) is literally performed to remove the process is removing certain green will also verify this. the raw flavor of the tea leaf. This enzymes within the leaf that lend it Beyond that, cakes have been occurs in the production of most all the raw flavor, which in some variet- found to have more Qi than loose kinds of tea (except , which ies is too bitter to be drunk. As we’ll leaf puerh, so that if the same tea categorically skips this process). In discuss later, the sa chin of puerh is were left loose and processed into a Yunnan, the heating process is still less-pronounced than in many other discus (bing, 餅), for example, and often done by hand in large wood- kinds of teas. then aged for thirty years, the cake fired woks. The temperature must After the leaves are fried they would have more Qi than the loose remain constant and the leaves have are kneaded (ro nien). This process leaf. Having done several experi- to be continuously turned to pre- also occurs by hand on most puerh ments where we stored the same vent any singeing. In larger farms, farms or villages near old trees. A exact tea from the same farm in both though not often in Yunnan, this is special technique is used to knead loose leaf and cake form, we can say done in large barrel-like machines the leaves like dough. This bruises for sure that the compressed teas age that spin around like a clothes drier. the leaves and breaks apart their cel- better, and not just in terms of Qi. With puerh, however, the firing is lular structure to encourage oxida- They are better in every way: flavor, still done by hand, once again lend- tion, and later fermentation (fa xiao, aroma, etc. They also age faster and ing tradition and wisdom to the 發酵), which will occur through the more evenly. One possible reason for puerh process. Workers sift the leaves various methods (explained in the this is that the steam used to com- around in circular motions ensuring box about sheng and shou puerh on press the cakes seals the bacteria in, that they never touch the wok for the opposit page). and the inner moisture creates a longer than a blink. Through gen- ...continued on pg. 19 better environment for them to do their work. Still, despite the fact that cakes are better, loose-leaf teas are THE PROCESSING OF MAO CHA often great deals since they are much cheaper than cakes of the same age. It’s like choosing a more affordable antique with a chip under the lid versus a perfect, very expensive one. Depending on your budget, the former may be the better choice.

Processing The freshly plucked leaves are carried back to the house or village and gently spread out on mats to be slightly wilted before they are heated to remove the raw flavor. The purpose of wilting the leaves is to slightly reduce the moisture con- tent in the leaves so that they will be more pliable and less likely to be damaged when they are heated. This process must be watched carefully so that the leaves do not oxidize more than is absolutely necessary. For that reason, wilting typically takes

17/ Processing Puerh Tea Sheng vs. Shou There are two methods of fermenting puerh tea. Knowing the difference between these categories of puerh is essential for anyone who wants to begin understanding, buying, and/or drinking puerh tea.

Green puerh (sheng 生), often called “raw” or Black puerh (shou 熟), often called “cooked” or “uncooked”, is produced without any fermentation “ripe”, is produced through a processes that ferments (fa (fa xiao) during the production or compression of the xiao) the tea to varying levels before it is compressed. cakes. The fermentation of these cakes occurs slowly Called “wo dui (臥堆)” in Chinese, this step in puerh through an aging process that takes seventy years to production is akin to composting. The tea is piled, moist- reach complete maturity. These sheng cakes are by far ened and then often covered with a thermal blanket to the more valuable of the two varieties of puerh and rep- increase internal heat. Sometimes previously fermented resent the traditional method of puerh production. tea is introduced to promote certain bacterial growth. Sheng puerh is said to be fully mature at around The process could be stopped at any time, though a typ- seventy years. Of course, we can enjoy aged puerh at any ical, “full” fermentation runs from forty-five to sixty time, and each age has its own charm. Young puerh has days. Different factories may adjust the length of time characteristics unlike any tea, as does teenage puerh, that a tea is piled based on their recipes, the kind of middle-aged and fully-matured. Nowadays, as vintage tea they use, or the desired level of fermentation. Most sheng puerh gets more and more expensive, many peo- older shou tea was fermented only partially, whereas the ple consider thirty-year-old tea to be very old. Still, there majority of shou produced today is stronger, fully fer- is a reason why puerh experts have always said seventy mented tea. years was full maturity: after around seventy years, the Ripe (shou) puerh can never attain the quality changes in the physical characteristics of the puerh will of flavor, aroma or Qi as a properly aged sheng puerh. slow down enough to say they have stopped chang- The process of piling puerh to artificially ferment it was ing. In other words, the tea liquor isn’t going to get any developed in the late sixties and then licensed for com- darker, and the flavors, aromas and mouthfeel of a tea mercial production in 1973, which is usually the date this old are changing so slowly, you will have to find a most books will cite as the beginning of shou puerh. much older specimen to see the differences. Of course, Factories were looking to mimic the qualities of aged all things equal, the older the better. sheng in less time. Of course, they were not successful. As puerh ages, the rate of change decreases, so What they did create, instead, was a whole new category the difference between a five and ten-year-old puerh is of puerh tea to be evaluated and enjoyed by itself, and more pronounced than the difference between a thirty according to its own criteria of quality, rather than com- and forty-year-old tea. After seventy years, the tea has paring it to sheng puerh. reached the point that its leaves won’t get any darker and Ripe tea doesn’t age the same as sheng. If the tea the liquor will look the same as a one-hundred-year-old was partially fermented, however, it will age. Since many tea, though the latter may have more Qi and a slightly early ripe teas were only partially fermented, they can different flavor profile. even be sold as sheng to the uninitiated. Fully-fermented ripe teas tend to mellow out over time, loosing some of the rough, “pondy” or ammonia flavors associated with such a long period spent piling. Puerh Edition

It takes skill and method to lated room used earlier for wilting and helps further the natural vibra- achieve a gentle bruising without during the hot hours of the day. The tions present in the tea. Not all puerh tearing the leaves. We have personally leaves will be inspected hourly and is processed in this way, especially tried this in Yunnan and Taiwan, and when they have dried sufficiently, with all the innovation and change in found it is very difficult to achieve. they will be bagged and taken to the the modern industry—though, ide- We invariably tore up the leaves. The factory to be processed, or to market ally, we want tea made in traditional farmers, however, can go through the to be sold as loose leaf. ways. movements with surprising speed. The two most distinguish- Once the leaves are processed, Finally, after the mao cha has ing aspects of puerh production are they will often go through their first been kneaded and bruised it is left to the sa chin and the sun drying. The sorting (fan ji). A second sorting dry in the sun. Once again this pro- firing of puerh tea does arrest oxi- will occur later at the factory itself. cess must be monitored carefully to dation, as in all tea, but it is usually This sorting is to remove unwanted, prevent any unwanted oxidation or less pronounced than other kinds of ripped or torn leaves, as well as the fermentation from occurring. Usu- tea, leaving some of the enzymes in leaves that weren’t fired or rolled ally, the leaves are dried in the early the tea alive, as they help promote properly. At this stage, the factory/ morning and late evening sun, as fermentation. Then, after firing and producer may ask the farmer to sort midday is too hot. They will move rolling, puerh is sun dried. This gives the leaves according to size, called the leaves into the same well-venti- it a certain flavor, texture and aroma “grade”. This practice is becoming rarer, however, as the prices of old- growth puerh increase. Nowadays, farmers sell most everything. Some- THE PROCESSING OF PUERH AT THE FACTORY times, they don’t even sort out the broken or mis-processed leaves.

At the Factory Upon arrival to the factory, the mao cha goes through its second sorting (fan ji). This is often done by hand even at the larger factories, though some have large winnowing machines. And most have strict rules controlling the diet of the sorters. Tea is an extremely absorbent leaf and will be altered by any impurities. Sorters therefore shouldn’t eat chili, garlic or onions. Nor can they drink alcohol the night before a sort, as it will be secreted through their skin and con- taminate the leaves. The sorting that occurred on the farm was more cur- sory and based solely on leaf size or “grade”. This second sorting is more detailed and thorough. The leaves are distinguished not only by their size, but also by their quality, type (old or young growth, which mountain they came from, etc.), and other cri- teria that are constantly changing. Larger factories often have mao cha arriving from all over Yunnan and therefore employ experts to monitor all sorts of conditions to determine which leaf size, which locations, etc., will have a good harvest that year.

...continued on pg. 21 19/ Processing Puerh Tea The best puerh teas are still processed by hand, and in the old ways. This tea is being sun-dried on the roof of a house.

20 Puerh Edition

lower shou tea than a new tea could produce. Other times the tea that was inferior and didn’t make it into a cake, is then sold loose leaf later, and labeled “aged” to help market it. Once ready, the leaves are care- fully weighed and placed into cloth compression bags or metal pans. The texture of these bags can be seen imprinted on puerh tea if one looks closely. They are not used to package the tea, only in the compression pro- cess itself. They are made from special cross-woven cotton. Strangely, even the larger factories that we’ve visited still use antique-looking scales to do their weighing. Along with human error, this explains why even new cakes are often incorrect in either direction by a decimal of a gram (of course in aged tea this is usually due to pieces breaking off). Steam is used to prepare the tea for compression. The steam is care- fully controlled—mostly automatous in the larger factories—to ensure the leaves are soft and pliable, but not cooked or oxidized in any way. It is More and more, factories are tar- gle tree, since they receive different basically a process of slight rehydra- geting collectors by creating limited sunlight. There are merits to both tion. The steam softens the tea and edition sets, with cakes from certain kinds of cakes, and it seems point- the cloth in preparation for compres- mountains, for example. less to say that one is better than the sion. Sometimes the steaming takes There is a lot of discussion other in general. It would be better place before the tea is placed into the nowadays about the differences to talk about specific teas, as a certain cloth, using metal pans instead. In a between single-region and blended blended cake may be better than a non-mechanized factory a wooden puerhs. For the last fifty years, most given single-region cake or vice versa. table is placed over a heated wok full all puerhs were blends. The factories The trend towards boutique, of water. The steam rises through a would collect the mao cha from var- private and single-region cakes has small hole in the center. This is far ious regions and then blend them in also changed the way that puerh is more difficult than the automatic ways they thought improved the tea: produced. For example, some cakes steam generators at larger factories choosing strength and Qi from one are made on site and completely because the temperature control is region, blended with sweetness and processed by the farmers themselves. lacking and the leaves can end up flavor from another, etc. In this way, Most tea, however, still travels to being burnt. It requires the skill of cakes would be more balanced. In factories for sorting (blending) and generations to successfully steam the the last fifteen years, there has been compression. What was once one of tea this way. a trend towards single-region cakes, the simplest teas, at least as far as pro- The compression process and with it the idea that such tea is cessing goes, has now become com- was traditionally done with stone more pure. It should be remembered plicated by the vast industry that has block molds. The tea is placed in that all old-growth puerh is actu- grown up around it. the cloth, which is then turned ally a blend, since no two trees are Mao cha can sit in a factory and shaped into a ball. Thenei fei the same. So even tea from a single for a long or short time, depend- is added at this time—an “inner mountain will be a blend of different ing on many factors. In doing so, it trademark ticket” compressed into teas. If you are sensitive enough, you technically ceases to be “rough tea”. the tea to establish branding. The can even distinguish the leaves from Sometimes tea is aged for a while and cloth is then twisted shut and cov- the eastern and western side of a sin- then piled to produce a nice, mel- ered with a stone mold block. ...continued on pg. 23 21/ Processing Puerh Tea The Shapes of Puerh Cakes

1 2 3

4 5 6

1 Discus (bingcha, 餅茶) 4 Mushroom/Heart (jingcha, 紧茶) The discus ages better than other shapes. Tradi- Mushroom cakes are typically 250grams. They tionally, they were 357grams. However, nowa- were mostly exported to . The Chinese lit- days they can be as small as 100g and as large as erally means “tight tea”, but the words sound like 1or even 5kg. Those compressed using the tradi- heart in Tibetan. And the Tibetans found these tional stone mold will be looser. Some bings are cakes to be heart-shaped. compressed very tightly. Those are called “iron discuss (tie bing, 鐵餅) ”.

2 Bowl/Nest (tuocha, 沱茶) 5 Brick (zhuancha, 磚茶) These open, nest-shaped cakes are usually small- Bricks are also ancient shapes, and amongst the er than bings. Traditionally, they were from 75g oldest teas ever found. Like mushrooms, they to 250g, and most commonly 100g or 150g. are almost always 250grams. There are smaller Nowadays, there are huge ones as well. In the and larger ones in modern production. They are old days, more buds were put in tuocha, making also usually tighter than bings. them sweeter. They are also compressed tighter, so they age slower.

3 Melon/Pumpkin (jing gua, 金瓜) 6 Square (fangcha, 方茶) Like a tuocha, these are bowl-shaped cakes, only These flat and square cakes aren’t as old as other with ridges that make them look like a pumpkin shapes. They are often 100-200g in size. Some- or melon. This is one of the oldest shapes, often times they have pictures or characters com- given to honored officials—even the emperor pressed into them for luck or decoration. They himself. They can be many sizes, and stacks of are always tight in compression, as they are ma- them, from larger to smaller, are often used to chine-pressed. decorate shops and for good luck.

22 Puerh Edition

The producer would then physically to days and sometimes even up to a bamboo forest. The Bamboo bark stand on the stone block and use his week. Some big factories use ventila- conserves the freshness of the tea and or her weight to compress the cake. tion systems and/or fans to speed up makes packaging easier. Twelve tongs In some of the smaller family-run the process. are then further wrapped using Bam- factories, puerh cakes are still created When they are finished dry- boo, into a jian (件), which is twelve using this method. On our recent ing, the cakes are taken off the shelves tongs of seven, so eighty-four bings visit to Yunnan, we had the chance to be packaged. Each generation of in all. Other shapes of compression to make our cakes by dancing around cakes has its own unique character- include bricks (zhuan), mushrooms on the stone molds, to the delight istics with regards to the wrapping (which look like hearts to the Tibet- of the Chinese audience present. paper, printing, style of Chinese ans they were primarily exported to, Larger factories often have machines characters, nei fei, etc. As we dis- and thus named “jing cha”), bowl or for compressing their cakes, though cussed earlier, there is a whole sci- nest shapes (tuocha), and sometimes some still produce some of their ence of “wrapperology”. Each decade melons. We have found that the dis- cakes in the traditional way. Some are brought revolutions in the printing cus-shaped cakes (bings) age the best. hand-operated presses that require process worldwide, so it seems obvi- the operator to pull down a lever and ous that the larger factories would Puerh production may seem press the cake into shape; others are change their printing methods. Also, complicated at first, but it really isn’t automatic and occur with the press of the wrapping paper in particular is that difficult to understand. We hope a button. We even saw one machine handmade, and a lot can be discerned that the basics we’ve covered in this that was capable of compressing via fibers, texture, and the appear- article, along with the accompanying twelve bings simultaneously. ance of the paper as well as the ink charts, will help simplify the process After compression, the cakes color. It is impossible to forge many for you and increase your under- are taken out of the compression of these paper and ink combinations standing of the more linear aspects cloths and placed on wooden shelves and make them appear aged. of puerh tea. By including other arti- to dry. They are still slightly damp Discus-shaped cakes, called cles about the energetics of puerh in from the steam at this stage. Many “bingchas” are individually wrapped this issue, as well as past and future larger factories have a separate room in handmade paper and then bundled issues, we hope to fulfill you in a with tons of shelves lined with dry- in groups of seven (qi zi, 七子) called more balanced way. Thus, our under- ing cakes. The cakes are monitored tongs (桶). Each tong is wrapped in standing of puerh will be more holis- and often even stored on particular Bamboo bark (tsu tze ka, 竹子殼). tic, including its history, production shelves that are numbered according Sometimes English articles mistak- methodologies and other informative to their processing time. Different enly assume that these are bamboo approaches along with a spiritual and types of puerh leaves and different leaves. Actually, bamboo trees shed vibrational understanding of this shapes or levels of compression will their skin whenever they get bigger amazing tea. affect the amount of time that is or sprout new stems. You can see this needed to dry the cakes, from hours material covering the floor of any

Information and Wisdom

Having a lot of information about puerh is no ture. But these are not so worthwhile without experi- substitute for drinking these teas, and really only useful ence. What would books of tea information be without in purchasing tea, establishing or verifying a vintage or any tea to drink? Consequently, be sure to temper all having discussions with connoisseurs. To us, Tea is med- this left brain with some right, all this mind with some icine, and aged puerh teas hold the highest vibration. spirit—all these tea words with some tea wisdom! Puerh is magical in its ability to connect us with our- selves, Mother Earth and each other. It is stronger and more vibrant than most other teas. We hope to cover Tea from many perspectives in these pages, including linear information about tea, tea production, history and cul-

23/ Processing Puerh Tea “I’m using bamboo bark to wrap seven cakes up into tongs. This is a very old tradition. The bam- boo bark helps protect the tea from the elements and humidity, and lends it a nice fragrance as well. The bamboo has good energy.”