What is Pu'er tea?

Pu'er is an area of Yunnan Province with a very special connection to tea. It is famous for its unique style of dark tea, to which it gives its name. All dark teas undergo a process of oxidation, where different flavours are developed in the tea. Unlike green teas, dark teas get better with age, making them more suitable for trade, especially before modern freight and storage technologies were available.

Whilst many such dark teas rely upon the enzymes in the leaves themselves for this oxidisation, Pu'er tea uses fermentation from naturally occurring microbes to heighten the flavours brought forward. There are two types of Pu'er tea, namely “raw tea” 生茶 and “ripe tea” 熟茶. Raw Pu'er is the older technique. It uses a more natural fermentation approach, storing the leaves in conditions that encourage the microbes needed over long periods. Ripe tea uses a more modern induced fermentation, which may be more finely controlled and can produce on a much larger scale. A well-made and aged raw tea is considered the pinnacle of Pu'er, but ripe products provide consistent quality.