Pu Erh Teas

Pu Erh is one of China’s most distinctive and fascinating styles of tea, originating in Yunnan Province, one of the world’s most ancient tea-growing regions. Named after the town of Pu’er, through which the tea was historically traded, these teas are also sometimes described as dark teas because of the way their character develops through fermentation and ageing.

Unlike most teas, Pu Erh undergoes post-fermentation after the leaves have been processed. Microbial activity gradually changes the tea, developing deeper, smoother and often earthier flavours. Pu Erh may be sold as loose leaf or compressed into cakes, bricks, tuo cha and many other traditional shapes.

There are two principal styles: raw (sheng) and ripe (shou). Raw Pu Erh develops gradually with age, its flavour changing over many years under suitable storage conditions. Ripe Pu Erh undergoes an accelerated fermentation process in which the leaves are carefully piled, moistened and turned, producing the darker colour and mellow character associated with mature Pu Erh in a much shorter time.

Pu Erh has a long history in China and was once sufficiently valuable for compressed bricks of tea to be used as a form of currency along the old tea-trading routes. Ageing and collecting fine Pu Erh has since developed into a specialist market of its own, with particular vintages, mountains and producers sometimes commanding remarkable prices.

Flavours vary enormously. Ripe Pu Erh can be smooth, mellow, earthy, woody and naturally sweet, while raw Pu Erh may begin fresher and more lively before becoming softer, richer and more complex with age. Some styles are immediately approachable; others have more unusual flavours that can be something of an acquired taste.

One of the pleasures of Pu Erh is its ability to produce repeated infusions, with the flavour developing from one brewing to the next. Whether loose or traditionally compressed, these are intriguing teas with a character quite unlike any other tea style and a history stretching back through centuries of Chinese tea culture.