Pu-erh Tea - Production

Production

Pu-erh tea processing, although straightforward, is complicated by the fact that the tea itself falls into two different categories: the "raw" green tea and the "ripe" post-fermented tea. All types of pu-erh tea are created from máochá (毛茶), a mostly unoxidized green tea processed from a "large leaf" variety (C. sinensis assamica) of Camellia sinensis found in the mountains of southern Yunnan. Maocha can undergo ripening for several months prior to being compressed to produce ripened pu-erh (also commonly known as cooked pu-erh), or be directly compressed to produce raw pu-erh.

While unaged and unprocessed, raw pu-erh is technically a type of green tea. Ripened or aged raw pu-erh has occasionally been mistakenly categorised as a subcategory of black tea due to the dark red colour of its leaves and liquor. However, pu-erh in both its ripened and aged forms has undergone secondary oxidization and fermentation caused both by organisms growing in the tea and free-radical oxidation, thus making it a unique type of tea.

The post-fermented tea, dark tea (黑茶), is one of the six classes of tea in China, and pu-erh is sometimes classified as a dark tea (defined as post-fermented), something which is resented by some who argue for a separate category for pu-erh tea. (Cf. Su Fanghua 苏芳华, "Pu'er cha bu shu heicha de pingxi 普洱茶不属黑茶的评析", Zhongguo chaye 中国茶叶: 2005:1, pp. 38-39. For a rebuttal, see Xia Chengpeng 夏成鹏, "Pu'er cha jishu heicha 普洱茶即属黑茶", Zhongguo chaye 中国茶叶 2005:4, pp. 45-46.) As of 2008, only the large-leaf variety from Yunnan can be called a pu-erh.