Professional China Puerh Cake - Raw Yunnan Puerh Sheng Puerh Tea#2 – Goodtea

All Puerh tea comes from Yunnan Province, a remarkable place in the Southwest of China. Puerh tea is picked, withered (to oxidize and dehydrate the tea), fried (to kill green enzymes that make tea bitter and to arrest oxidation), rolled (to break down the cells and expose the inner essence of the tea), and finally sun-dried. If the tea is then left to ferment naturally, in conjunction with the endless microbes in it, we call it “sheng” or “raw” Puerh. If the tea is then piled and sprayed with water, covered with thermal blankets and turned, in order to artificially ferment it, we call it “shou” or “ripe” Puerh.cous taste and enveloping a pleasant aftertaste.

Sheng Puerh is biologically very similar to modern green tea. It presents vegetal and fruity flavors and aromas. Unlike Ripe (Shou) Puerh, it doesn’t have an earthy or mushroomy taste. This is a tea that can present a face of bitterness and astringency that quickly escapes into a natural sweetness.

Historically, Sheng Puerh generally has been consumed after extensive fermentation (15+ years) that occurs due to natural microbial/fungal growth in the pressed tea over time. The time Sheng Puerh takes to reach maturation is highly dependent on storage location, tightness of the pressed material, temperature, and humidity. With proper production and aging the natural fungal growth is very beneficial for our health. In modern terms, we can say that a well aged and fermented tea has pro-biotics that are beneficial for our digestive system and overall body constitution.

An aged Sheng Puerh often has earthy/woody/camphor notes, is sweet, has an agarwood/chen xiang smell, and can be very warming when consumed. Authentic, high quality aged Sheng Puerh (25+ years old) is worth large sums of money, and is collected, auctioned, gifted, etc. In modern times, Sheng Puerh is often consumed when it is still very young (a few months to a few years). In this form, the tea will tend to be more bitter/astringent than its aged counterpart, and the flavor profile will be more vegetal and fruity.

Puerhtea ｜ Yunnan ｜ After fermentation ｜ Spring, Summer and Autumn