Pu-erh Tea
普洱茶
Tea TypesDefinition
Pu-erh is a post-fermented tea from Yunnan, made from the large-leaf assamica variety and sold either as loose maocha or compressed into cakes, tuo and bricks. Sheng (raw) pu-erh is sun-dried and then left to age slowly, gaining depth over years; shou (ripe) pu-erh is pile-fermented under controlled heat and moisture to approximate that aged character within months. It is the rare tea valued for changing with time, and it is usually brewed repeatedly in a small vessel rather than once.
Etymology
Named after Pu'er in Yunnan, a tax and trading town on the ancient tea horse road where compressed tea was weighed, stamped and sent onward to Tibet and Southeast Asia.
In use
Used for pressed, aged or fermented Yunnan teas, especially when talking about vintage cakes, gongfu brewing or long-term storage.