What kind of tea can be called pu-erh tea and what is the relationship between pu-erh tea and the city of Pu-erh?
When it comes to pu-erh tea, many tea lovers may mistakenly think that pu-erh tea is only produced in the city of Pu-erh. In fact, there are two points that need to be taken out here.
(1) This Pu-erh is not the other Pu-erh
1, Pu’er was originally a county under the jurisdiction of Simao City, called Pu’er Hani and Yi Autonomous County. The current Pu’er City refers to the former Simao City, because of the growing development of the Pu’er tea industry and other factors, in 2007 Simao City changed its name to Pu’er City, Pu’er also changed its name to Ning’er Hani and Yi Autonomous County.
1, In fact, history books record that Pu’er does not produce tea (because there is no large area of tea plantations, not forming the main production area of Pu’er tea), but is only a tea distribution, trading and further processing area.
(2) Nowadays, tea is not only produced in Pu’er
Many places in Yunnan produce tea, mainly divided into four major production areas: Baoshan tea area, Lincang tea area, Simao tea area, and Xishuangbanna tea area. Nowadays, Pu’er is only a part of Simao tea area.
Not all tea is called – Pu-erh tea
To understand Pu-erh tea, you need to know the definition of its name first.
According to the definition of Pu’er tea announced by Yunnan Provincial Bureau of Standards and Metrology in March 2003: Pu’er tea is the loose tea and tightly pressed tea made from the raw material of Yunnan big-leaf species sun-blue maocha in a certain area of Yunnan Province, which is processed through fermentation.
It includes the pu-erh tea (raw tea) which was fermented naturally in history and also includes the pu-erh tea (ripe tea) which is fermented artificially nowadays.
The simplified definition conditions are
(1) Produced in Yunnan
(1) Produced in Yunnan, meaning tea from outside Yunnan Province, such as Guizhou, cannot be called Pu-erh tea if it is transported to Yunnan for further processing.
(2) Large-leaf tea
Large-leaf species, must be Yunnan large-leaf species. If differentiated according to the area of mature leaves, it is calculated as length x width x 0.7. If the area is greater than 60, it is a large leaf variety; between 40 and 60, it is a large leaf variety; between 20 and 40, it is a medium leaf variety; and below 20, it is a small leaf variety.
(3) Sun-blue process
Those that meet the above two conditions but are made with other non-sun-blue tea-making processes, such as oolong tea, cannot be called pu-erh tea either.
Post time: Apr-25-2023